Datasets:
clapAI
/
FinData-dedup

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
1
text
stringlengths
1
675k
⌀
This Giant Spider Literally Ate a Possum and the Photos Will Haunt Your Dreams Photo credit: Simon McGill - Getty Images From Country Living After seeing a video of a swimming tarantula ( watch it here , if you dare), I decided that summer was cancelled. "Surely things can't get worse," I thought, resolving to stay safely indoors until September. Silly, silly me. New photos of another eight-legged creature doing something terrifying just appeared on the internet and I think it's officially time to leave the planet. Justine Latton recently shared two very disturbing images to " Tasmanian Insects and Spiders ," a public Facebook group dedicated to discussing "the many and fabulously varied Tasmanian insects, spiders and other small invertebrates." (Side note: This group has more 6,000 members and that feels kind of shocking?) Anyway, I haven't slept since seeing them. (Warning: If you ever want to sleep again, do not scroll any further.) (Seriously.) (Last warning and then you're on your own.) Photo credit: Courtesy of Justine Latton We warned you. Oh, you'd like a better angle? Say no more! Photo credit: Justine Latton Apparently, Justine's husband and a friend were fixing a door inside an old ski lodge at Mount Field National Park in Tasmania when they realized they weren't alone. The two men spotted this huntsman spider (which is about the size of a large adult's hand) hanging from the top of the door with a dead pygmy possum hanging from its fangs. Kay. If you'd like more information about huntsman spiders, please see here . I don't have time to explain because, as I mentioned, I need to catch the next shuttle to Mars. ('You Might Also Like',) 60+ Grilling Recipes for an Epic Summer Cookout The Best Reese Witherspoon Movies, Ranked 70 Impressive Tiny Houses That Maximize Function and Style
Boris Johnson admits 'deep sense of anguish' over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case Boris Johnson has admitted feeling a deep sense of anguish over the case of jailed British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (Picture: AP Photo/Rui Vieira) Boris Johnson has admitted feeling a "deep sense of anguish" over the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The former Foreign Secretary said he feels “sorry” for the jailed British-Iranian charity worker but rejected responsibility for her plight, saying it lies with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Mr Johnson has come under fire for remarks he made in 2017 while Foreign Secretary in which he said Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was teaching people journalism. The 40-year-old was arrested at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport while travelling with her young daughter in April 2016 and was accused of spying. She denied the charge but was sentenced to five years in prison. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, pictured with husband Richard Ratcliffe, was jailed in Iran after being charged with spying (Picture: John Stillwell/PA via AP) Appearing on Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Tory leadership hopeful Mr Johnson said: "I feel sorry for her, for her daughter, for her husband Richard and I've said this many, many times. “I feel a deep sense of anguish for what she has been going through." READ MORE Trump becomes first sitting US president to enter North Korea Mr Johnson added: "When it comes to responsibility for what she is suffering I think that is incredibly important that we in the UK do not unwittingly give aid and succour to the people who are really responsible, which is not the Foreign Office, not the former foreign secretary, and no-one in London is responsible for incarcerating Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. "The people who are responsible are the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and anything you do to exculpate them is, I think, a great shame." Nazanin's husband Richard has been protesting outside the Iranian Embassy in London (Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA via AP) Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband, who is protesting outside the Iranian Embassy in London, have both been on hunger strikes in protest at her “unfair imprisonment”. Mr Ratcliffe said his wife had decided to end her 15-day hunger strike and had eaten some porridge with apple and banana. READ MORE Baby delivered at crime scene as pregnant woman fatally stabbed in London It was put to Mr Johnson that Mr Ratcliffe believes his words had ‘traumatic’ effects for his wife. Mr Johnson replied: "I do feel a deep sense of anguish about it as I have said and I have apologised several times in the House of Commons and elsewhere. Story continues "But it is very very important that in this conversation we don't allow whatever I may have said or done to cloud the issue." He repeated his criticism of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and urged them to release Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and others. Conservative former cabinet minister Sir Patrick McLoughlin, a supporter of Jeremy Hunt as the next Tory leader, said Mr Johnson's language had "not helped" Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case. Speaking on the same programme as Mr Johnson, he said: "Obviously Iran is responsible for holding somebody in their jail and somebody that should be released as soon as possible. "I think everybody has great sympathy with her family... I think some of the language that Boris has used has not helped her case." Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
4 Reasons to Buy AbbVie Now That It's Acquiring Allergan What in the world wasAbbVie(NYSE: ABBV)thinking? The big drugmaker stunned investors by announcing last Tuesday that it plans to acquireAllergan(NYSE: AGN)for $63 billion. Many view the deal asa huge mistake for AbbVie. I'll admit that I was highly skeptical about the Allergan acquisition. Of all the deals that I thought AbbVie might make, Allergan never entered my mind. After having some time to think more on the proposed buyout, I'm still not totally convinced that acquiring Allergan is the smartest move for AbbVie. However, I do see some merits to the transaction. More importantly, I think AbbVie is now a better stock for long-term investors to buy than it was prior to its announcement of plans to acquire Allergan. Here are four reasons why buying AbbVie makes more sense now than it did a week ago. Image source: Getty Images. Investors' worries about biosimilar competition for Humira have weighed on AbbVie stock for a while. Sales for AbbVie's top-selling drug are already slipping with European biosimilars on the market. In January, the company providedweaker-than-expected full-year 2019 guidanceafter international sales for Humira fell more than executives had anticipated. There's no question that these worries about Humira have been the main reason for AbbVie's dismal stock performance this year. But with the Allergan deal, Humira is much less of a problem for AbbVie. The drug currently generates around 60% of AbbVie's total revenue. After the Allergan acquisition closes, Humira will account for less than 40%. Of course, Humira will continue to generate lots of cash flow for AbbVie through 2023 (when U.S. biosimilars hit the market) and beyond. AbbVie basically sees the drug as its way to pay for the Allergan acquisition. The company plans to use the cash pulled in by Humira to pay down debt associated with buying Allergan. Yes, several of Allergan's products face challenges of their own. Botox has a new lower-cost competitor on the market. Sales for Restasis are under pressure, and the drug will battle generic versions in a few years. Sales are also falling for glaucoma drug Lumigan and Allergan's Coolsculpting body contouring products. But even with these challenges, the acquisition of Allergan should significantly boost AbbVie's growth prospects. Prior to announcing the Allergan deal, AbbVie projected that it would grow revenue by around 7% annually through 2023. With Allergan, the company expects revenue to increase by close to 10% per year -- higher than any other big pharma stock. AbbVie also forecasts that the Allergan acquisition will increase its adjusted earnings per share by 10% in the first full year after the transaction closes. After that, the company expects a positive impact to peak adjusted EPS of more than 20%. The initial reaction to AbbVie's proposed buyout of Allergan was harsh, with AbbVie's share price plunging 15%. However, the flip side to this bad news was that the lower stock price makes AbbVie's dividend look more attractive than ever. AbbVie's dividend yield now stands at a mouth-watering 6.5%. Does the Allergan acquisition change AbbVie's commitment to its dividend program? Not at all. AbbVie CEO Rick Gonzalez even told analysts in the conference call related to the Allergan transaction that AbbVie remains "absolutely committed" to growing its dividend. AbbVie appeared to be a bargain even before the Allergan acquisition was announced. Thanks to the sell-off last week, though, the stock is now ridiculously cheap. Shares trade at a little over seven times expected earnings. That kind of valuation might make sense for a stock with no growth prospects. AbbVie, though, should have solid growth prospects. And I'm not talking about just over the next few years with Humira protected from biosimilar competition in the U.S.; AbbVie should be able to grow throughout the next decade. Sure, I had hoped AbbVie would scoop up a few promising smaller biotechs in a "string-of-pearls" strategy that would cement the company's position as a leader in oncology. I didn't think that a big acquisition was the best move for AbbVie. But while I still have some misgivings about the Allergan deal, I also think that the negative reaction to the transaction was way overdone. AbbVie is a stock that should deliver strong revenue and earnings growth plus fantastic dividends for years to come. The company has several new drugs with blockbuster potential -- including Orilissa, Skyrizi, and upadacitinib -- with others likely on the way. It's picking up a couple of blockbusters with solid growth prospects in Botox and Juvederm plus a fast-rising star with antipsychotic drug Vraylar. Whatever you think about the merits of the Allergan acquisition, AbbVie appears to be a better stock to buy as a result of the announcement of this deal. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Keith Speightsowns shares of AbbVie. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Breaking free from the consumer-citizen deadlock Facebook has thrown its hat into the crypto ring by announcing its plans to launch a global currency . What to make of this initiative? What is its origin and where is it leading to? In this article, we examine these questions from the perspective of consumers and citizens and from what we refer to as the consumer-citizen deadlock that individuals across the world are caught in. As it turns out, Facebook’s initiative is only making this predicament worse. The internet, as the old cliché says, has made our world smaller. Geographical borders have become less relevant in recent decades. It is not only trade, commerce and the flow of information that are less bound to geography, it is also what we do and what we want. Our day-to-day life is now coupled with issues for which the national scale is irrelevant or ineffective . In many ways, we are citizens of the world in addition to being citizens of our respective nation states. Hence, it is not surprising that our governments are struggling (and often failing) to represent our preferences on issues which are not inherently national, for example regulating global corporations or protecting the environment. This is one face of the deadlock; citizens are no longer effectively represented by their nation states. Who do corporations represent? The digital revolution, coupled with globalisation and the agility, motivation and efficiency of the private sector have all contributed to a growing role for corporations in our everyday lives. Large businesses are seemingly filling a void left by governments. But unlike governments, corporations do not represent the interests of their consumers. Instead, they hold one central and legitimate aim — maximising their shareholders’ wealth. So by definition, they cannot fill the representational void. In other words, powerful economic players which have a significant and growing presence in our lives, and are literally shaping them, do not have the best interests of consumers at their heart. Story continues This is the essence of the consumer-citizen deadlock — we are caught between our nation-state that cannot effectively represent many of our preferences as citizens, and corporations that are agile and effective but do not aim to represent us. Global money and Facebook’s Libra The efforts to create global money demonstrate this deadlock. Until not long ago, national currencies served most of our needs as trade and commerce occurred within the borders of our nation. This is clearly not the situation today, and the need for a global currency is becoming evident. Nation states and international institutions have been unable or unwilling to provide a global solution. In this respect, Facebook is trying to fill the void with Libra. But Facebook and the other corporations involved act on behalf of their shareholders, and not in the interest of the Libra’s general holders — whose interests would be weakly represented, if at all. In theory, market forces can protect the interests of consumers as long as the market is competitive and consumers have the liberty to choose the service provider that best represents their needs. In reality, we have seen that market forces can lead to unacceptable outcomes. In this respect, Facebook’s move to gather a network of strong commercial partners around Libra limits the potential of issuing competing currencies and will further limit consumers’ choice. From the perspective of the citizen-consumer deadlock, Libra is a development for the worse. Money — a fundamental public service — is moving from the hands of representative entities (even if they have limited effectiveness) to entities with a narrow focus on profit and shareholder wealth maximisation to the exclusion of other interests. Moreover, Facebook’s initiative potentially usurps and damages governments’ essential role — protecting their citizens. Harshly put, it is another nail in the coffin of the individual’s ability to influence those in power and protect their fundamental interests. In our view, the solution to the consumer-citizen deadlock is to create organisations that operate globally and represent their users. This would create a new ‘class’ — not consumers, nor citizens, but participants. Participants would define the future by taking part in these non-national representative organisations. Such organisations should work in parallel and together with nation-states to represent citizens, especially where nation states are struggling and failing. In stark contrast, Libra will create a centralised structure governed by an unelected “association” composed exclusively of large institutions who have purchased their voting rights, while the holders of Libra will have no voice. And it is time we understood that nation-states and corporations cannot deliver many of our needs and legitimate expectations and that the digital revolution also necessitates new forms of representational governance. By Ido Sadeh, Founder and President, Saga Foundation The post Breaking free from the consumer-citizen deadlock appeared first on Coin Rivet .
Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski on Netflix, Social Media, and Opening a Restaurant Antoni Porowski might be best known as one of the five friendly hosts on Netflix’sQueer Eye, the effervescent update to the reality program encouraging everyday people across the country tolive their best lives. As the culinary expert of the quintet, Porowski has expanded his role as the cast chef and parlayed that into a growing brand, most notably with the opening of his new fast-casual restaurantVillage Denin Manhattan last fall. These days, part of building up a personal brand that comes with hosting a lifestyle, reality, or game show is a strong social media presence. For celebrities and Instagram “influencers,” that now entails signing contracts and deals forpaid partnershipsto boost not only the brand but also the pocketbook. But sorting out which paid partnerships are valuable should require both strategy and sincerity. Much of Porowski’sInstagram feedfeatures stylized food shots of Village Den dishes (brunch is especially ’gram-worthy), professional portraits, professional-looking selfies, the occasional doggo snuggle, and some scattered sponsored content. Among them are Instagrams advertising Olly Nutrition gummies, Boursin cheese, and Whole Foods meal planning. Porowski’s latest deal is a partnership withSaeco, an Italian manufacturer of manual, automatic, and capsule espresso machines. In light of the new collaboration (as well as the news this month thatQueer Eyehas beenrenewed for at least two more seasonson Netflix), Porowski sat down withFortuneto review some of his latest business dealings—not to mention share a few lifestyle secrets, tips, and tricks so that we, too, might be able to finally throw that perfect dinner party. This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Fortune:Congratulations onQueer Eyebeing renewed for two more seasons! What are you looking forward to most coming up for the show? AP: Thank you! The second season of Kansas City starts Season 4. It’s confusing because we also have Japan season. (It’s not really a season, but it kind of is.) We’re going to be starting in Philly very soon, and it’s just going to be great to be back with the boys and doing the thing that we love to do, and just meeting new people. I love meeting people. I’m such a people-person, and getting to know their stories, getting as much information as I can, and then figuring out, “Okay, I have a limited amount of time with you, and what are we going to do that I hope you’re going to remember for the rest of your life? No pressure!” But that’s always a fun, stressful, but emotional and exciting challenge. And it’s different every single time because every person is different in their own way. I think with everybody, it’s just being excited about the individual. I had never been in Tokyo before. I had never been to Missouri before. I’d been to Philly a few times, but really for weekends with friends and just have dinner at their homes. I don’t know too much about the city. I like that it’s close to New York. So it is going to be really nice because I’m hoping to sleep in my own bed. I’ve had an apartment for seven months, and I’ve slept like a month-and-a-half in it! So, selfishly, that’s very exciting. But also, multiculturalism means something different wherever you are. And it exists in Kansas City as much as it does in New York. There may be more diversity in New York. Even statistically—it’s not even a subjective thing. But I’m always curious to see what does that mean here. With a city as historical as Philadelphia, it feels very old-world America, with the cobblestoned streets and the architecture. I want to see like, “What’s the immigrant story there?” Like who immigrated there, and when. Who stayed, and which food stayed? And that’s something that’s so fascinating to me because I think it feels so much of how we behave and the type of people we’ve become, the people that we’re surrounded by, even if they’re a different culture. How did you get involved with Saeco? What is your thought process about which brand collaborations and sponsored ads you should run? Have you ever turned down sponsored content? If so, why? It didn’t take too much investigative journalism to find out that I’m obsessed with coffee. I mention it in almost every single interview that we’ve been in. I talk about it, ad nauseam. I post it on Instagram Stories, supporting all kinds of different coffee from like the big guys to the smaller little roasteries. Whoever it is. I just frickin’ love coffee. It brings me so much joy. One of my favorite writers and poets and musicians—like Patti Smith talks about her cup of black coffee.Coffee and Cigarettesis one of my favorite little vignette films of all time. So when the team at Saeco came up, we just started having a conversation and trying to figure out like how are we going to develop meaningful content. I think we were on the same page from the get-go: It has to be personal. They didn’t come with guidelines like, “So this is what we want you to do.” It was a very open-ended question: Tell us about coffee in your life. And it feels like that’s so general. But then when I started thinking about it, and I started breaking it down, I was like, “Oh, I get what you’re saying.” It literally wakes me up in the morning. It gets me going. It allows me to function in front of other people because I work a lot. But also, it’s my way of having a little moment of self-care on a Saturday, when I want to take the time and adjust it, and customize it, and make my beautiful cappuccino with the foam that reminds of the way that it was in Italy when I was there. And at night, if I’m making an espresso glaze for my braised beef short ribs, it’s there for me. It’s like my best freakin’ friend. And I just love the ritual of it. I love the smell. There are two different smells that come out of this machine. That’s a weird sentence. One is when the coffee, when the espresso beans are being ground. There’s this freshness of it. And then there’s a second whenever it’s brewing, and it comes out. Then there’s just that light purring-kitten sound, when the machine gets activated, that’s very sensory. How is the restaurant business treating you? What advice would you give to other culinary entrepreneurs looking to open their own restaurants and small businesses? It’s doing great. I had no idea how powerful catering is. And at first I was like, “No, I want single plates.” But businesses love to have fresh food. But they don’t have the premises or basically the setup to create their own food, and they want to have things catered. So that’s been amazing. We’ve been doing delivery for SNL to Instagram. It’s a really fun part of the business because it’s self-sufficient. I’m not there every day because I’m traveling all the time, but food, obviously, is a super-important element, and the number one word for me is consistency. Every dish has to taste exactly the same every single time. If somebody comes in and gets that Thai chicken bowl, when they come back, I want them to have that experience re-created. Whatever it is. Whether it’s their coffee drink, whether it’s their smoothie. It has to be the same every time. And successful restaurants have mastered it, from Jean-Georges with ABC Kitchen to Mercer Kitchen. Like that tuna pizza and that spring roll have been exactly identical—every single time I go. They never waver. So that’s my goal. And by being on Instagram, people always tag me when they’re there with photos of the food. So when I don’t see micro-cilantro and crushed peanuts on my Thai chicken bowl, I text my business partners right away, and be like, “Guys, let’s do better. Please.” For entrepreneurs, just make sure that you have consistency and know what your strong suits are. And just make sure that it’s done the same every single time. How does social media play into all of your different projects and businesses? Especially in regard to the culinary industry, should it be the centerpiece of your marketing strategy or is there something else that should take precedence? Whether it should be there, I’m not going to answer because I’m not in control of that. But with some things, I think it’s as important as it is to be creative and to plant seeds for birth and growth. It’s very important to be perceptive and to know when to be reactive and to respond to something that’s already there. Whether you love it or you hate it, Instagram is there for now. So let’s use it as a tool. And in the position that I’m in, everyone’s following what I do organically, and it’s bringing it back to your initial question of why it’s important for me to collaborate with brands like Saeco. Like for me, I’ve been familiar with the brand since I was a kid, and that was the brand that people had in their homes. It was very familiar to me. I didn’t have a fantasy as a kid of representing an espresso machine brand company. But still, to be attached to something that you really love, even other brands, like Boursin cheese that I ate as a child, it makes me proud and excited to sort of like talk about it. And Instagram is a perfect medium where you get to express yourself in that way because not everyone does it. I know influencers and personalities have other people manage their accounts, and that’s fine. Zero judgment. But I need to be fully in control because I know that fans of the show are smart. They know who we are. They know what’s real and they know what’s fake. And the stuff that I do that is most organic is the stuff that I get the best feedback from. On the show and with endorsements alike. So honesty is always key. Finally: The perfect dinner party. What should it entail, and how can the rest of us ever hope to achieve it? Absolutely! I had the perfect dinner party about a week ago. There were two people that I’d never met before, and one like a good acquaintance and one of my best friends. And I didn’t know what the hell I was going to make! Sometimes it’s a mistake, but I made a dish that I had never prepared before, and thank goodness it was successful. But make something that you’re comfortable with. The thing with me is when I cook on the show and when I’m working on the cookbook, I make so much food. So when I go to someone’s house, I always get uncomfortable when they’re like, “Oh, I didn’t want to make anything for you because I’m like afraid you’re going to judge it.” And it’s like, “If you make me burnt toast, with butter, I’m going to be thrilled because I just know that you made it for me, and that brings me joy. Not too burnt, but medium-burned, you know?” Just the thought, the effort that somebody puts into making something. You can do simple things. I don’t pay attention to tablescapes, but I love flowers. I live very close to the floral market. So I love my peonies and my parrot tulips, and just fill a vase up. Get some nice linens that you buy on sale somewhere, Williams-Sonoma or Ikea, or wherever it is. Get some cutlery on the nice little farm table. Keep it simple, and always have a board when everyone comes in, so they have something to nosh on—whether it’s charcuterie, cheese, or make a nice gooey cheese. Just have food, have alcohol. Play music, dim the lights. You don’t need bright lights at dinner. I like it to be moody. Play some Miles Davis, and just do things that are important to you. Whenever I keep it specific to what my interests are, I get to create an experience for somebody. And people always leave remembering that. The joke with me is at my dinner parties, everyone’s like, “I’m always passing out at the end of your dinner parties because I get drunk, and I fall, and the lights are always so dim.” But that’s exactly what I want! I want your tummy to hurt. Listen to good music. Be a little tipsy, so you take an Uber home. And be full. That, for me, is the making of a perfect dinner party. Yes, there’s a perfect way of roasting a chicken, filleting fish, of doing all these things. But it really doesn’t have to be complicated. —Big Gay Ice Cream cofounderon growing a small business from coast to coast —Israeli pastries get a New York City makeoverat this six-seat bakery —To combat food waste, these Brooklyn businesses teamed up to brewbagel beer —One of Mexico City’s hottest restaurant groups fuzesMexican and Japanese influences —Listen to our new audio briefing,Fortune500 Daily FollowFortuneon Flipboardto stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.
Judge orders permanent halt on construction of Trump’s US-Mexico border wall at four high priority sites A federal judge on Friday expanded a ban on construction of President Donald Trump ’s signature southern border wall that would have used money secured under his declaration of a national emergency, but that Congress never approved for the purpose. US District Judge Haywood S Gilliam Jr, of Oakland, California , blocked construction on four of the administration’s highest-priority projects on the US-Mexico border spanning 79 miles near El Centro, California, and Tucson . The Pentagon had moved to fund the projects using $1.5bn (£1.18bn) transferred into a Defence Department counter-drug programme from military pay and training accounts. In his order granting a permanent halt on the construction, Mr Gilliam also cleared the path for an immediate appeal. Mr Gilliam last month in part of the same case temporarily stopped another $1bn (£787 million) transfer for work on stretches totalling 50 miles in eastern New Mexico and Yuma, Arizona. But he signalled then that environmentalists and border communities covered in Friday’s ruling were likely to prevail in their claims that the administration illegally shifted money that Congress never intended or approved for the wall. Mr Gilliam last month cited “Congress’ ‘absolute’ control over federal expenditures – even when that control may frustrate the desires of the executive branch”, and on Friday saw no reason to reverse course. “Defendants do not have the purported statutory authority to reprogram and use funds for the planned border barrier construction,” Mr Gilliam wrote. He acknowledged the government’s “strong interest in border security”, but said: ”Absent such authority, defendants’ position on these factors boils down to an argument that the Court should not enjoin conduct found to be unlawful because the ends justify the means. No case supports this principle.” Mr Gilliam’s latest 11-page opinion delivered a victory to the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which had argued the wall would irreparably harm “recreational and aesthetic interests” in desert expanses that include national monuments, wildlife refuge and reserves and rivers, they said. Story continues Together with the US Justice Department , both sides had asked Mr Gilliam to speed up his ruling and enter final judgment so one of the president’s signature initiatives could quickly go before the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Friday. However, earlier in the day, attorneys for the Justice Department and ACLU notified Mr Gilliam that the government had said it planned to move ahead by Monday on the El Centro and Tucson border barrier projects and asked Mr Gilliam if he intended to rule before then, so if he didn’t they could file emergency motions over the weekend. In all, Mr Gilliam’s rulings blocked $2.5bn (£1.97bn) of the $6.7bn (£5.28bn) that the administration planned to transfer for the effort beyond the $1.375bn (£1.08bn) Congress allotted last winter. When Congress declined to sign off on spending at the levels sought by the president, Mr Trump eventually declared a national emergency in February to redirect mostly military-designated funding to pay for the project. Mr Gilliam said the administration’s plan to transfer counter-drug funding appeared to be illegal because the law the administration invoked applies only to “unforeseen” needs, whereas Trump had demanded funding since early 2018 and even in his campaign. “We applaud the court’s decision to protect our Constitution, communities, and the environment today,” said Gloria Smith, managing attorney at the Sierra Club. “Walls divide neighbourhoods , worsen dangerous flooding, destroy lands and wildlife, and waste resources that should instead be used on the infrastructure these communities truly need.” “Congress was clear in denying funds for Trump’s xenophobic obsession with a wasteful, harmful wall,” said Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. “This decision upholds the basic principle that the president has no power to spend taxpayer money without Congress’s approval.” On a separate legal challenge to wall funding, US District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington DC, in May tossed out a lawsuit by the Democrat-led House of Representatives to block the spending transfers, arguing that President Trump unconstitutionally diverted appropriated funds in violation of Congress’s power of the purse. The House has appealed that case to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Washington Post
Emergency EU summit on top jobs runs into trouble again By Belén Carreño, Daphne Psaledakis and Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A deal hatched among several key European leaders to award a former Dutch foreign minister the post of EU chief executive broke down at an emergency summit on Sunday after eastern European and centre-right European leaders rejected the plan. Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans had appeared the favorite to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission after the leaders of Germany, France and Spain agreed to back him while in Japan last week. But they ran into unexpectedly tough opposition on Sunday from Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The summit dinner began three hours late after bilateral meetings to find a solution dragged on. The impasse underlined the broader decision-making problem facing the EU's 28 governments, who hail from a range of political groups, and who have struggled to respond to a series of crises in recent years from migration to the economy. The summit is a third attempt to fill five top posts running the European Union for the next five years, forging policy for 500 million Europeans from November. EU leaders were also meant to choose the next president of the European Central Bank (ECB), but that decision seems likely to be postponed for lack of consensus. "There's been a centre-right revolt against Timmermans. They stand by their choice," said one senior EU official at the summit. The European People's Party (EPP) says it won the most seats in May's European election and thus under the bloc's lead candidate, or Spitzenkandidat process, deserves the Commission president post. Its pick is Manfred Weber, a German EU lawmaker. "The vast majority of EPP prime ministers don't believe that we should give up the presidency quite so easily, without a fight," Ireland's centre-right Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters. That was despite a decision by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who leads the EPP bloc but has seen her political powers weaken, to acquiesce to French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron, a centrist, has argued that the centre-right share power after 15 years of dominating the Commission, even though the EPP won the biggest share of seats in the May European Parliament elections and remains the biggest party. Liberals and Socialists led by Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez say they are pushing back at what they see as increasing centre-right German domination in Brussels and want to focus less on financial austerity and more on issues such as climate change and a higher minimum wage. "NOT THE RIGHT ONE" But Eastern European leaders at the summit said they were opposed to Timmermans, who in his current role as vice president of the Commission has repeatedly accused Poland and Hungary of violating civil rights. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote to EU conservative leaders before the summit to underline his opposition. Poland and Croatia have also expressed concerns. "I'm afraid that this person is not really the right one to unite Europe," Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters. To be appointed, the next Commission president needs the support of at least 72% of the 28 member states, who must represent at least 65% of the EU population. According to voting projections, Timmermans could be blocked by Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary if Italy's eurosceptic government, which has spoken out against Timmermans, and Britain, which is leaving the EU, abstained. BACK ON JULY 15? Antti Rinne, Finland's first left-leaning prime minister in 20 years, told Reuters he backed Timmermans as Commission chief. Macron said Timmermans was one of the candidates capable of doing the job, along with Danish liberal Margrethe Vestager, currently competition commissioner, and Frenchman Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator. Barnier, a member of the EPP, could yet become the candidate acceptable to all governments, one diplomat said. Earlier on Sunday, current European Council president Donald Tusk proposed giving the Commission post to the Socialist and Democrats political bloc, for which Timmermans was the lead candidate in May's European Parliament elections. The president of the EU Commission should be chosen before Wednesday, when the parliament elects its president, but some diplomats said there was talk of another EU summit on July 15. The other main jobs up for grabs are the presidency of the European Council - grouping the EU governments - the EU's foreign policy chief and the governor of the ECB. Leaders are seeking a balance of men and women at the top, and also a balance between eastern and western member states. Female candidates include Vestager; Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian head of the World Bank for foreign affairs chief; and Christine Lagarde as ECB president, sources said. (Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Andreas Rinke, Richard Lough, Alexandra Regida and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Daniel Wallis)
Real estate stocks have room to gain, residential in favor By Sinéad Carew (Reuters) - The once-sleepy U.S. real estate sector could be poised to continue its revival into the second half of 2019 but investors are selective in their bets on property companies. While residential and industrial Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are the most popular bets, office REITs look less attractive and retail is out of favor. The dividend-rich, slow-growth S&P 500 Real Estate index <.SPLRCR> has risen 18.5% so far in 2019, beating the S&P 500's 16.99% gain. Unless the tide turns, real estate is on track for its biggest annual advance since 2014. At several points this year and as recently as June 5, the real estate's index's year-to-date gains outpaced even the high-flying tech sector <.SPLRCT>. Sector investors are optimistic that REITs can advance more as long as broader U.S. earnings growth stays weak and interest rates stay low. "If the Fed policy is benign and you don't see an acceleration of earnings, (REIT) dividend yields and a steady cash flow are pretty attractive to investors," said Bob Zenouzi, Macquarie Investment's chief investment officer for real estate. He sees REIT dividend yields of 4.5% and cash flow growth of 4-5% bringing a high-single digit to low-double digit percentage return rate for REIT investors in the next 12 to 18 months. Also citing solid REIT earnings expectations and high dividends, Gina Szymanski, portfolio manager, at AEW Capital Management, is looking for REIT returns in the high single-digit range in the next 12 months. However, the sector's price to net asset book value multiple is 3.8, higher than its historical average of less than 2.5 and the broader S&P's ratio of 3.2, according to data from Datastream by Refinitiv. S&P 500 real estate sector versus broader S&P 500 : https://tmsnrt.rs/2FFUPAU The rapid gain, driven by low U.S. interest rates and concerns about U.S.-China trade relations as well as economic growth, has given some investors pause and the sector has underperformed in the last five days. But in residential REITs AEW's Szymanski favors landlords of single family houses. Companies in this sector include American Homes 4 Rent <AMH.N>, up 21.6% so far this year, and Invitation Homes <INVH.K>, up 32.1%. "The demand is strong. There's decent visibility. Investors aren't rewarding it with same premium as industries around a lot longer," said Szymanski. Cedrik Lachance, Director of REIT Research at Green Street Advisors said residential REITs are benefiting from trends such as "limited supply and pricing power that's good to great depending on the subsector." In single family residential, he said there is strong pricing power, limited supply and strong demand as younger people are looking to move from apartments to houses but - weighed down by student debt - many can't afford to buy a house. "Incomes are moving nicely but it's still challenging to put together a down payment for a home," he said adding that in multi-family homes, supply and demand are in balance. The FTSE Nareit equity residential index <.FTFN17> has risen 17.8% so far this year, just below the broader S&P REIT index. The FTSE Nareit Equity Industrial index <.FTFN14> has risen 29.1% so far in 2019 making it the biggest gainer of the main REIT subsectors. Investors favor the sector, which include warehouses used by online retailers such as Amazon.com <AMZN.O>, over traditional retail malls which have struggled horribly. The FTSE Nareit Equity Regional Mall index <.FTFN2> has fallen 6.4% so far this year. If the Trump administration were to escalate its trade war with China and slap more tariffs on imports as threatened, that could hurt online retailers and hurt warehouse demand, but investors are still bullish. "There are trade risks but the e-commerce effect has been disruptive," said Macquarie's Zenouzi. Office REIT's are less popular with the FTSE Nareit equity office index <.FTFN15> 4.5% in the last 3 months though it is still up 13.5% year-to-date, as investors are less bullish about that's sector's outlook. "We're cautious about the office business," said Green Street's Lachance. "There's been a fair amount of supply and at the same time there's been a trend in towards densification. You're sitting closer to your colleagues than you were before." AEW's Szymanski has a preference for Asia-Pacific and European real estate over U.S. investments but notes that one wrinkle in Europe is the uncertain UK outlook because of Brexit. Since the U.S. real estate sector has underperformed in the last five sessions with a 4% decline versus the S&P's 1% drop, Green Street's Lachance says REIT's have moved back "squarely into fair value range." Wells Fargo's Head of Real Asset Strategy, John LaForge did not see much upside for REITs, as he expected 10-year yields to rise again this year, adding more competition for high-yielding REITs. But with lingering investor concern about global economic growth and the U.S.-China trade war, he does not expect a big sell-off in the safe-haven sector either. "People like the safety for now. What would roil them a little bit and shake people out of REITs is if China and the U.S. do a trade deal." LaForge said. (Reporting by Sinéad Carew, additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, April Joyner and Herb Lash, editing by Alden Bentley and David Gregorio)
Syrians dig, cook, fill sandbags in war with Assad By Khalil Ashawi ATARIB, Syria (Reuters) - Away from the frontlines, volunteers are helping in the war against President Bashar al-Assad by cooking, filling sandbags, collecting old tyres and digging trenches, aiming to help ward off his assault on northwestern Syria. It is part of the civilian effort to help defend the last major rebel stronghold from Assad and his Russian allies who have been pounding it for weeks. Abu Abdo, 51, says he is playing his part by collecting old tyres to be burned by fighters to create a smoke screen from hostile warplanes. "We go to places where tyres are repaired, collect them and take them to the fighters," said Abu Abdo, 51, as he piled tyres into the back of a truck with the help of his sons in the town of Salqin. "These tyres have no value but protect (the fighters) and keep the enemy busy," said Abu Abdo, as two of sons sat atop the pile of tyres in the back of the truck. In recent years, Assad's opponents have poured into northwestern Syria from other parts of Syria that have been taken from rebels. The region, which includes Idlib province and parts of neighboring provinces, has an estimated 3 million inhabitants, about half of whom had already fled fighting elsewhere according to the United Nations. With nowhere else for these people to flee, many have a stake in fending off the attack on the northwest. To this end, activists and religious leaders launched a campaign in May called "fire an arrow with them". Volunteers at work in a kitchen in the town of Atarib are preparing 2,000 meals a day for fighters as part of the campaign. Yellow rice is spooned from large vats into polystyrene trays and lentil soup is poured into bags ready for delivery to fighters. "The car leaves from here to the frontlines under air strikes and surveillance sometimes," said a 40-year-old man at work in the kitchen who gave his name as Abu Wael. "God willing we continue so these meals reach the fighters." FILLING SAND BAGS, DIGGING TRENCHES At a nearby quarry, sacks that once contained rice were being filled with grit for use as sandbag defenses. "We are filling according to the demand of the frontline. The command center, for example, requests 200 bags or 1,000 bags for one position," said Khaled al-Jamal, 26, at work with a group of other volunteers. He finished his high school education but was unable to register at university once the war began in 2011. He hopes his effort will help fighters so "all their effort is directed at repelling the regime". Story continues In Salqin, men use shovels, pick axes and pneumatic drills to dig a trench in an olive grove as part of another civilian campaign, this one called "the Popular Resistance Battalions". A long way from the frontline, Yehya al-Sheikh, 38, says the trench he is digging with others will provide protection from air strikes for a family living nearby. "We came to dig trenches to defend ourselves and our people and to support our Mujahideen brothers against Bashar al-Assad." Some 300,000 people in the northwest have been uprooted since late April and local sources have reported that hundreds of civilians including women and children have been killed, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says. The territory is largely controlled by Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist group representing the latest incarnation of the Nusra Front, formerly al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, though groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army also have a presence. The Syrian government, which has vowed to recover "every inch" of Syria, says it is responding to attacks by al Qaeda-linked jihadists. (Writing by Tom Perry in Beirut, editing by Deepa Babington) View comments
2 Things You Must Do Before Saving for Retirement Lack of retirement savings is fast becoming a crisis in this country. One in three Americans has less than $5,000 saved for retirement, and one in five have no savings at all, according to a Northwestern Mutual survey. If you're among that group, you should consider boosting your retirement savings, but there are a couple of other things you really need to tend to first. Nothing derails your finances quite like an emergency. If you don't have any savings, you may have to take out a loan or charge expenses to your credit card that you can't pay back at the end of the month. Once you fall into that cycle of debt, it can be difficult to get out, and the money you otherwise could have saved has to go toward interest on your debts. Image source: Getty Images. You can avoid this by proactively saving for these unanticipated events in anemergency fund. Open a separate account or keep the money in your existing savings account. Just make sure you dip into your emergency savings. You should have three months' worth of living expenses, at a minimum, but six months is even better. If you'd like, you can save for retirement and your emergency fund at the same time. But give the edge to your emergency fund. Once you've met your goal, you can put more of your extra cash toward retirement each month. There's a debate about whether it's best to pay down high-interest debt before you save for retirement or whether you should do both at the same time. It's not an easy decision. The longer you take to pay off credit card debt, the more you're going to pay in interest. That's a guaranteed loss, and depending on how much you owe and what your credit card's interest rate is, it could amount to thousands of dollars. But by delaying retirement savings to pay down debt, you're missing out on months or even years when that money could have been growing, and when it's time to retire, you'll have a smaller nest egg to show for it. The right way to handle this dilemma depends on your situation. If your employer offers a401(k) match, you shouldn't skip this unless you absolutely can't afford to contribute to it. Contribute enough to take advantage of the free money and then put the rest toward debt repayment. Look for ways to reduce your debt, like transferring a balance to a card with a0% APRor consolidating your debt with apersonal loan. This may help you get your debt under control more quickly. If your employer doesn't offer a 401(k) or doesn't match your contributions, it's a little trickier. If you only have a small amount of high-interest debt, you may be better off throwing all your extra cash at it for a month or two to knock it out. Then, you can devote all that money to savings once your debts are paid off. But if you have a lot of high-interest debt, consider paying it down and saving for retirement at the same time. You could split your money evenly between the two or favor whichever one is a higher priority for you. You may have to make some lifestyle changes to free up extra cash, like traveling and dining out less or picking up a side hustle. If you're struggling to find a plan that works for you, consider consulting a financial advisor who can give you personalized advice. They may be able to come up with a plan you hadn't thought of. More From The Motley Fool • Everything You Need to Know About Retirement • Don't Retire Early Until You Do This • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Can’t Afford to Miss The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Bitcoin Technical Analysis – Support Levels in Play Bucking the trend from across the broader market, Bitcoin fell by 3.38% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 10.18% rally from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $11,920. A particularly bearish start to the day on Saturday saw Bitcoin slide from an intraday high $12,338 to an early morning intraday low $11,354. In spite of the early sell-off, Bitcoin steered clear of the first major support level at $11,285.67 and the 23.6% FIB of $11,275. Finding support from the broader market, Bitcoin managed to recover to $12,200 levels before sliding back to sub-$12,000 levels. For the current week, Bitcoin was up by 9.3%, which came off the back of 4 days in the green out of the last 6. In what was a choppy week for the broadercrypto market, Bitcoin was one of just 3 of the top 10 cryptos to be in positive territory for the current week. As a result of the current week gains, Bitcoin’s dominance continued to hold at 62%. Bitcoin’s bullish week saw the Bitcoin’s market cap rise from $190bn to a Thursday high $245.13bn before easing back. At the time of writing, the market cap stood at $210.82bn. 24-hour trading volumes were also on the up, rising from $20bn levels to hit $46bn levels on Thursday. At the time of writing, 24-hour trading volumes stood at $39.4bn. For the Bitcoin bulls, the near-term bullish trend, formed at mid-December’s swing lo $3,215.2 remained intact. Bitcoin continued to hold above the 23.6% FIB of $11,275, with a 39.7% rally for the current month leading to a 211% gain year-to-date. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down by 0.59% to $11,850. A choppy morning saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning high $12,234 before hitting reverse. Falling short of the first major resistance level at $12,390.33, Bitcoin fell to a mid-morning intraday low $11,681. In spite of the pullback, Bitcoin steered clear of the first major support level at $11,397.33 and the 23.6% FIB of $11,275. A move back through to $12,000 levels would support another run at the first major resistance level at $12,390.33. Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from this morning’s high $12,234.0. Barring a broad-based crypto rebound, Bitcoin would likely come up short of $12,300 levels on the day. In the event of a 2ndhalf of a day bounce, a breakthrough the first major resistance level would bring $12,500 levels into play before any pullback. Failure to move back through to $12,000 levels could see Bitcoin fall deeper into the red. A fall through the morning low $11,681 would bring the first major support level at $11,397.33 into play. Barring an extended broad-based crypto sell-off, Bitcoin should steer clear of the 23.6% FIB of $11,275 on the day. The article was written byBharat Gohri, Chief Market Analyst ateasyMarkets Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire • AUD/USD Price Forecast – Aussie forms bearish candle • Part II – Are Real Estate Etf’s The Next Big Trade? • E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis – Strengthens Over 7830.25, Weakens Under 7818.75 • Crude Oil Price Update – Straddling Retracement Zone at $58.51 to $60.33 • Natural Gas Price Forecast – Natural gas markets roll over on Monday • EUR/USD Price Forecast – Euro falls yet finds support
Kim-Trump border meeting: History or just a photo-op? TOKYO (AP) — It sure looked historic: President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un strode toward each other Sunday from opposite sides of a strip of land that marks one of the world's most dangerous places. They shook hands and then Trump stepped over the concrete slab that marks the borderline between the Koreas, becoming the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korean territory. But then again, the undeniably made-for-TV moment also had all the elements, as a cacophony of critics will quickly remind you, of the grandstanding photo-ops that some say characterize the Trump era. So what was it? A crass, reality-show grab for attention? Another history-making step forward — Trump called it "legendary" — in two highly unorthodox leaders' attempts to fundamentally change a relationship marked by decades of mistrust, bloodshed and frustration? Sunday's sometimes surreal, sometimes chaotic encounter in the divided border village of Panmunjom was probably a little of both. In one moment, reporters and security officials jostled each other in a scrum to get a shot of the action; in the next, Kim and Trump emerged from private meetings with an agreement to restart nuclear disarmament talks. It's never easy to sift through the frenzied reactions that proliferate whenever Trump and Kim take to the world stage, and the dramatic setting of this meeting was bound to heighten the noise. But whatever you might think of what happened, history will likely judge it on a single point: Will it help address the North's headlong pursuit of a fully functioning arsenal of nuclear weapons that can strike anywhere in the U.S.? ___ IT'S A REALITY SHOW With a single tweet inviting Kim to the border, Trump on Saturday overshadowed the summit in Japan of the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies he'd ostensibly come to Asia for and back-footed the small army of Democrats jockeying to replace him in next year's presidential election. The world's attention Sunday was suddenly riveted on the Demilitarized Zone that separates the rival Koreas, waiting to see if Kim would accept the hasty invitation to a place where burly troops from two nations that are still technically at war glare at each other across the borderline. Once you move past the striking backdrop, however, there is a persistent and deepening skepticism among many experts that Trump is pursuing anything more than his own narrow interests. They point out that for all the drama that has accompanied the Kim-Trump meetings, nothing has yet settled the stalemate the rivals now find themselves in: Washington wants the North to move much faster toward full nuclear disarmament before it grants the security guarantees and huge cuts in crushing outside sanctions Pyongyang wants; North Korea says the United States is losing a crucial opportunity by not providing concessions for the North's offer to scrap its main nuclear plant. Story continues Widespread doubt has met each step in the strange, surprising relationship Trump and Kim have been building — from Kim's 2017 insults on Trump's intelligence and Trump's vows to unleash "fire and fury" that had many fearing war to the professions of love and respect and the exchange of "beautiful" letters after diplomacy took hold in early 2018. The diplomacy beats the threats, these critics say, but each time Trump comes away emptyhanded from a new meeting, he only further legitimizes Kim as an accepted nuclear power. ___ NO, NO: IT'S SOMETHING BIG The feeling that the handshake and brief march by Trump and Kim into the North could be part of something special is linked in part to just how far North Korea and the United States have come to get here. The Korean Peninsula was split at the end of World War II into a Soviet-controlled north and U.S.-backed South. Then, after the terror of the 1950-53 Korean War, it was divided permanently along the Demilitarized Zone, with a U.S.-led U.N. Command controlling the southern side of the border area. A succession of U.S. presidents and senior officials has trooped up to the DMZ over the decades to look with steely resolve into the North. There have been ax killings, U.S. bomber fly-bys and desperate defections — and that's just at the border. Since the early 1990s, Washington and Pyongyang have been locked in confrontation as the North has steadily, through famine, leadership changes and crushing poverty, built its nuclear bomb program. While it's open to debate if Sunday's meeting will be ultimately transforming, overall there has certainly been a sea change in the relationship between Trump and Kim — something Trump regularly mentions. To take it to the next level, John Delury, a Korea expert at Seoul's Yonsei University, tweeted, "North Korea has to be made to feel less threatened, more secure, less under siege, more welcome in the world. ... For Donald Trump to meet with Kim Jong Un, however briefly, on a Sunday in the DMZ — a barren no man's land that embodies the unhealed wound of post-WWII division, the Korean War, and 70 years of animosity — advances the cause of 'establishing new relations.'" There's also hope that even if this was mostly for the cameras, it can still push forward the diplomacy and help Kim build momentum domestically for stronger engagement — and possible disarmament. The Kim-Trump summits have been breakthroughs in relations, "but they also revealed the limits of personality-driven diplomacy when it's not backed up by working-level talks held on a regular basis," according to Suzanne DiMaggio, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank. What's needed now, she wrote earlier this month, is "serious diplomacy to manage the uncertainties ahead and resolve a range of difficult issues." ___ Foster Klug is the AP news director for the Koreas, Japan, Australia and the South Pacific, and has covered North Korea since 2005. Follow him at www.twitter.com/apklug View comments
This Is Not a Drill: 'Good Witch' Season 4 Is Finally Coming to Netflix Photo credit: Steve Wilkie From Country Living Season 5 of Good Witch is already up and running, and we’re loving every minute of the bewitching Hallmark series (sorry, had to). That said, we can never, ever get enough of JAG star Catherine Bell and the rest of the cast, which is why we’re always on the hunt for reruns. Netflix currently offers seasons 1-3 for free with a subscription, but fans have been eagerly awaiting season 4’s arrival on the streaming service since it concluded in July 2018. Prepare for some magical news, Goodies: According to International Business Times , season 4 will arrive on July 2, 2019. We think we can guess what your 4th of July plans are… If you simply can’t wait that long to catch up, you can also purchase the episodes on Amazon . It’s totally worth the price to own them forever, especially because-let’s be honest-you’re going to want to watch them more than once. Looking to catch up on the current season? Don’t worry, there are plenty of ways to do so. Here’s how to watch and stream the new episodes so you never miss another minute: Catch Good Witch on TV Photo credit: Steve Wilkie Good Witch airs at 8 p.m. EST Sunday nights on Hallmark channel. It’s the perfect series to hold you over while you wait for When Calls the Heart to come back! Stream on Hallmark Channel Everywhere Download Hallmark Channel Everywhere in the App Store or Google Play Store and you’ll have Good Witch , as well as your other favorite Hallmark shows and movies , at your fingertips. Watch on Other Streaming Services You can totally catch up on Netflix, but if that’s not your thing, stream Good Witch on Amazon , Vudu , or iTunes . Have a spellbinding time! ('You Might Also Like',) 60+ Grilling Recipes for an Epic Summer Cookout The Best Reese Witherspoon Movies, Ranked 70 Impressive Tiny Houses That Maximize Function and Style
Why the Best Thing to Pair With Oysters Is a Deeply Smoky Scotch For Andrew O’Reilly, it was love at first dram. While studying wine in France (he’s now the wine director at New York City’sOceanarestaurant), O’Reilly decided to take his education in an unconventional direction by writing his dissertation not on Burgundies or bubbly, but on Scotch whisky makerLaphroaig. Seated at a bar in Bowmore—a tiny town on the windswept Scottish island of Islay, not far from the Laphroaig distillery—he faced a question that would lead to a gastronomic epiphany: “I’m sitting at the bar with a big plate of oysters, and the bartender says, ‘Would you like a whisky to go with it?’” Through all his studies of flavor profiles and food pairings, the notion of placing oysters alongside Scotch whisky had never occurred to O’Reilly. “[The bartender] poured a couple of things,” O’Reilly says, “And I was just like, ‘This is fantastic. Why isn’t this a regular part of my life?’” Oysters, it turns out, pair fantastically withwhiskey, particularlyScotch whiskysfrom Scotland’s coastal regions, which provide a certain mix of spice, salinity, and (often) smoke that can simultaneously complement an oyster’s brininess while also cutting right through its rich creaminess. It’s a nearly surreal sort of symbiosis in which one side of the duo both echoes and contrasts with flavors from the other, opening up an entirely new way to enjoy oysters beyond the traditional Champagne or white wine companion. And yet, as O’Reilly observes, “no one really thinks about it.” “I think the biggest issues with the American consumer is that with oysters we are so trained that it has to be Champagne, or it has to be Chablis, or something bright and crisp, like Sancerre,” says Adam Petronzio, wine director atPorter House Bar and Grillin New York City. “There are all sorts of ways we need to un-train ourselves to think about pairings.” Petronzio—who first learned of the whisky-oyster duo a decade ago while sampling West Coast oysters with friends in Oregon—is still firmly on board with Champagne-oyster pairings. But he’s also respectful of the notion that “If it grows together, it goes together,” he says.Champagne, after all, grows fairly far inland in northeastern France, far from the oyster beds of the North Atlantic. In Scotland, barley fields line that country’s abundant coastlines, and distilleries often produce and age Scotch whisky mere feet from some of the best oyster-producing waters in the country. It’s no accident then that just a short walk up the hill from the waterfront Talisker Distillery on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, a tiny, mostly outdoor seafood shack known appropriately as The Oyster Shed draws huge lunchtime crowds with massive platters of freshly shucked, local oysters. Or that Ardbeg, on Islay, occasionally hosts oyster-whisky pairings on the jetty just outside its seaside distillery. Or that a bar in Bowmore offers up drams of lightly smoky Scotch alongside oysters plucked from the waters around Islay. Yet the notion of putting oysters and Scotch together on the same table remains foreign to most consumers outside Scotland. “People think you can’t pair spirits with oysters, and there’s absolutely no foundation for that whatsoever,” says Diageo global whisky master Ewan Gunn. “Some of the great seafood restaurants in Scotland, that’s a pairing they often introduce people to, partly because people are always very surprised. But it’s not just something for fancy restaurants. If you think about where most of the smoky whiskeys that are made in Scotland are produced, they’re generally produced on the islands or in the coastal distilleries, often very near where oysters are found. It’s a combination that’s enjoyed locally in those places and has been for many, many years.” Gunn fell in love with the pairing outside a seaside restaurant on the Isle of Skye many years ago, where he was first encouraged not only to enjoy a sip of whisky alongside some oysters but to pour a dollop of Scotch into the half shell with the oyster itself, consuming both together. “This is a really vivid memory for me, because at the time, these were flavors that I knew separately,” he says. “But when you brought them together it was just an explosion of taste, each bringing out flavors in the other.” Pairing spirits with food can prove a tricky business, particularly when many spirits can be quite assertive. Complementing the flavor profiles found in oysters poses an even greater challenge, hence the tendency to fall back on proven standbys likeChampagne. “Oysters can be very subtle, and they have many subtle flavors, but the taste of an oyster is very present,” Petronzio says. “It’s not something that’s very light and ethereal.” But it’s that presence that makes whisky a natural fit, particularly those whiskeys with some spice and—depending on the taste of the consumer—some smoke that can stand up to the oysters’ forcefulness, complementing their salinity while cutting through that silky creaminess. “I would definitely be looking for a distillery that has some of that coastal element to it,” Gunn says. “A lot of coastal distilleries, when you’re nosing a taste, you do get a very subtle briny, salty-air kind of note, particularly when you’re smelling it. I’d be looking for that, because that that does complement the aroma and the flavor really nicely.” Gunn, generally speaking, prefers something like a Talisker with its medium smoke and peppery spice that can push through the brininess of even the most aggressive oyster. Petronzio turns to smokier Islay Scotches to pair with U.S. East Coast oysters and their saltier flavor profile but will often look inland to Speyside or the Highlands—Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or and Dalwhinnie are favorites—to complement the subtler fruity and vegetal notes associated with West Coast oysters. For O’Reilly, it’s tough to beat a smoky 10-year-old Ardbeg whisky with a good, briny East Coast oyster like a Pemaquid from Maine, though he’ll look as far away as Ireland for an unpeated Teeling Small Batch as well if the oyster (or consumer) requires something unpeated. The key, of course, is balance, he says—knowing what whisky you enjoy and finding a good fresh oyster that strikes the right notes (or vice versa). You can also simply ask a professional, like himself, for help in finding the right pairing. Following a whisky-oyster tasting O’Reilly set up to assist in research for this story, he even ruminated on the possibility of adding a whisky-oyster pairing to the menu at Oceana to help more people find an entry point into what he sees as a highly underrated food-drink pairing. “No one else is doing it,” he says. “And it works. Obviously.” —Howmillennials’ wine preferencesdiffer from boomers’ —Why champagne brands arepartnering with art fairs —Anew style of winemakingcould take sherry mainstream —Prepackaged sangriais having a moment this summer —Listen to our new audio briefing,Fortune500 Daily FollowFortuneon Flipboardto stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.
World's central banks tackle technology with innovation hub By John Miller ZURICH (Reuters) - Central banks grappling with fast-changing financial technology and companies like Facebook moving into finance will aim to work together more closely through an innovation hub approved on Sunday by the Bank for International Settlements. The BIS said the intention of the hub, which will be based in Basel, Hong Kong and Singapore, is to improve the functioning of the global financial system and it will identify and develop insights into trends in technology affecting central banking. Facebook's plan to expand into payments and launch its own Libra cryptocurrency were not mentioned in the BIS statement, but the social media giant's move has helped crystallise opinion among central bankers on the urgency of coordinating regulatory responses to financial technology trends. "The IT revolution knows no borders and therefore has repercussions in multiple locations simultaneously," BIS Chairman Jens Weidmann said in a statement following the decision to create the hub at a BIS board meeting. The hub will focus on helping central banks to "identify relevant trends in technology, supporting these developments where this is consistent with their mandate, and keeping abreast of regulatory requirements with the objective of safeguarding financial stability," he added. Basel-based BIS, a central bank umbrella group, has already called on politicians to closely scrutinise Big Tech's incursion into finance, a move that raises questions about data privacy, competition, markets and banking. Details about the hub were limited, and the BIS said it was not able to provide details on investment or staffing levels. The Swiss National Bank (SNB), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have all signed up to support the initiative. SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan said the central bank would step up its efforts in scrutinizing new financial technology. "The SNB is already keeping very close track of technological innovations in the financial area, and works actively within the central banking community in identifying and assessing relevant developments at an early stage," Jordan said. (Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Alexander Smith)
What Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas' Candlelit, 'Emotional' French Wedding Was Like Photo credit: Splash News From ELLE Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas wed in front of family and friends in France yesterday in a private candlelit evening ceremony. E! , People , Us Weekly , and Entertainment Tonight all got some details on what the romantic wedding was like, which took place at two castles, Château du Martinay in Carpentras for the ceremony, and Château de Tourreau for the reception. This was Turner and Jonas' second wedding; the two legally got married in a quick and very quirky Las Vegas chapel ceremony presided by an Elvis impersonator in May, with plans to have their more traditional wedding abroad later in the summer. According to E! , white flowers and glass candles adorned the aisle Turner walked down. Turner got ready for her ceremony at Château du Martinay, while Jonas prepared separately with his groomsmen. Jonas and his groomsmen were seen taking portraits ahead of the wedding at Château de Tourreau. "Sophie was drinking champagne with her girlfriends and brunch was also delivered," the source said. "Joe had a few shots with his groomsmen to ease the nerves." E! also got a little intel on Turner's dress from a second source: "Sophie wore a long lace dress with sleeves. She had her hair down with a veil and had light makeup." Us Weekly reports that Turner wore a "stunning" wedding dress by Louis Vuitton. The vow exchange was sweet and intense, E!'s source said. "Joe and Sophie both teared up while reading their vows. Everyone stood and cheered, and they had huge smiles as they left as a couple. It was an emotional ceremony." First photos of the ceremony showed that Priyanka Chopra wore a beautiful pink dress to the wedding alongside Nick Jonas, who was in a black and white suit. And Turner and Jonas even had their dog Porky Basquiat wear a tux to the wedding. Twitter loved the little canine. Entertainment Tonight was told by its own source that Turner and Jonas were very happy with how their wedding turned out. "Joe and Sophie were married today in front of family and friends," its source said on Saturday. "The couple enjoyed a nice week having fun at numerous events celebrating their union. Today was everything they wanted." Story continues Those events included a Red Wedding-themed rehearsal dinner (where everyone wore white but Turner and Jonas, who were in bright red), a pre-wedding pool party at Château de Tourreau on Thursday, a separate pre-wedding party that evening where Turner wore her first wedding-like white dress , and boat rides and dinners out in Paris last week. Photo credit: Arnold Jerocki - Getty Images ('You Might Also Like',) 10 Pairs of White Sneakers That Go With Everything 50 Surprising Things You Never Knew About 'Sex and the City' 20 Serums to Solve All Your Skincare Problems
3 Top Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now Over the prior decade, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better performing subsector than biotechnology. A number of biotech stocks, after all, have produced life-changing returns on capital over this period. Nonetheless, the industry's best days are far from over. With a wave of groundbreaking products in the pipeline, biotechnology is poised to keep churning higher for the foreseeable future. With this favorable long-term outlook in mind, we asked three of our Motley Fool contributors for their top biotech stock picks. They selectedBiogen(NASDAQ: BIIB),AbbVie(NYSE: ABBV), andMirati Therapeutics(NASDAQ: MRTX). Here's a brief rundown on why each of these biotech stocks might be worth adding to your portfolio soon. Image Source: Getty Images. George Budwell(Biogen):Biogen, a top 10 biotech bymarket capitalization, has been a rather disappointing investing vehicle for going on five years at this point. The biotech's shares, in fact, have lost an eye-popping 46% from their five-year highs achieved back in 2015. Despite this dreadful performance over the past five years, though, Wall Street still isn't convinced that this beaten-down biotech stock is a bargain at current levels. Biogen, after all, is experiencing a steady decline in its core multiple sclerosis franchise; its spinal muscular atrophy revenue stream is under threat following the FDA approval ofNovartis' novel gene therapy; and its high-value Alzheimer's disease drug, aducanumab, failed to make the grade earlier this year in either of its late-stage trials. Compounding matters, management has been reluctant to address the company's falling top line via a tuck-in acquisition. However, Biogen's brain trust may no longer have any choice in the matter. The company's top line is slated to fall by around 1% next year, and this downward trend could start to accelerate in a big way beginning in 2021 -- that is, if the biotech doesn't take action soon. Fortunately, Biogen does have around $20 billion to spend on M&A (through a mixture of cash on hand, new debt, and incoming free cash flows). So, with a clear need for new sources of top-line growth and ample financial capacity for M&A, Biogen appears destined to pull the trigger on one or more bolt-on acquisitions before year's end -- a move that should finally change the narrative around its underperforming stock. Keith Speights(AbbVie):Biotech stocks, in general, have performed pretty well so far in 2019. Not AbbVie. The big biotech is down year to date as investors worry about what's in store for the company now that sales for its top-selling drug, Humira, are beginning to slip. Many don't like AbbVie'splanned acquisition ofAllergan. I think, though, that this big beaten-down biotech stock has plenty to offer. For one thing, AbbVie is dirt cheap right now. The stock trades at only seven times expected earnings. That low valuation would be warranted if AbbVie didn't have very good growth prospects. But that's not the case. AbbVie recently won FDA approval for Skyrizi in treating psoriasis. The company should pick up another approval within the next few months for upadacitinib. The rheumatoid arthritis drug proved better than Humira in clinical studies. Market researcher EvaluatePharma thinks that it will be theNo. 2 biggest new drug launch of 2019. Meanwhile, AbbVie's cancer drugs Imbruvica and Venclexta continue to pick up momentum. The biotech thinks that Orilissa will become a blockbuster in managing endometriosis pain (an indication for which it's already won approval) and in treating uterine fibroids. Don't forget AbbVie's juicy dividend, either. Its dividend currently yields north of 6.5%. And AbbVie has a terrific track record of hiking its dividend. I'm skeptical about AbbVie's deal to buy Allergan. However, the company thinks that the acquisition will boost earnings by 10% within the first full year after the transaction closes and by more than 20% after then. We'll see, but the acquisition doesn't change my overall view about AbbVie. Todd Campbell(Mirati Therapeutics):Mutations to a gene contributing to cell growth and maturation called KRAS have been a focus of cancer research for 30 years, but until recently, KRAS mutations that can cause cancer cell growth and spreading have been considered "undruggable" because the gene lacked a specific target that a treatment could latch onto. Last month,Amgen(NASDAQ: AMGN)reportedclinical trial results for AMG-510, the first KRAS-mutation targeting medicine, that suggests researchers may have finally overcome this roadblock. If so, then Mirati Therapeutics shares could be worth buying ahead of the release of data from its own KRAS-targeting therapy, MRTX849, in Q4 2019. In Amgen's phase 1 study, 5 out of 10 heavily pretreated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients had a partial response and 90% had a partial response or stable disease following AMG-510. One of the five partial responders advanced to a complete response following the cutoff date for collecting data. Furthermore, 13 of 18 colorectal cancer patients achieved stable disease after beginning treatment. There's no telling if Mirati's data will be similarly encouraging, but if it is, then it could be needle moving. Late-stage solid tumor cancer patients have limited treatment options and historically poor survival rates. The specific KRAS mutation targeted by Amgen and Mirati -- KRASG12C -- is found in roughly 13% of NSCLC and up to 5% of colorectal cancers. Across all solid tumor cancers, Mirati estimates the G12C addressable population to be as large as 24,500 in the U.S. alone. Since Mirati is a clinical-stage, pure-play biotech and Amgen is a biopharma behemoth, a win for Mirati's drug will likely reward investors more -- especially if the data attracts the attention of a suitor looking to bolster its cancer R&D pipeline. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market George Budwellhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Keith Speightsowns shares of AbbVie.Todd Campbellowns shares of Amgen. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Biogen. The Motley Fool recommends Amgen. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
The 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe Is a Big SUV that Will Pack Big Changes Underneath Photo credit: Illustration by Radovan Varicak - Car and Driver From Car and Driver A new Chevrolet Tahoe large SUV is on the way, and here's what we know about the next-generation model. It will use GM's new T1 truck platform and switch to an independent rear suspension, which should improve ride and handling and increase the amount of passenger and cargo space inside. The new Tahoe is expected to be revealed later in 2019 and arrive as a 2021 model. The Chevrolet Tahoe, the Silverado's uptown relative and the gold standard of large American SUVs, is about to get redone. This next-generation Tahoe will make the long-awaited switch to an independent rear suspension . Without the solid axle bouncing around under the feet of third-row occupants, the ride and handling should improve. We also expect increases in passenger and cargo volumes as a result of the new rear end. The underpinnings are known within GM as the T1 truck platform, which the Tahoe will share with the next-generation Suburban , Cadillac Escalade , and GMC Yukon . These rigs will also employ GM's all-new Global B electrical architecture, which provides added computing power, over-the-air updates, and advanced network security for highly automated vehicles. The Tahoe will offer GM's 3.6-liter V-6 as well as the corporate 5.3- and 6.2-liter V-8s. There's a very strong possibility that the Silverado 's new turbocharged 2.7-liter inline-four will find its way into the Tahoe as well. Hybrid powertrains may also appear further down the line. Eight- and 10-speed transmissions will manage the torque, and rear- and all-wheel drive will be available. Other big SUVs in the Tahoe's crosshairs include the Ford Expedition , Nissan Armada , and the Toyota Land Cruiser and Sequoia . For the Chevy to best compete with these entries, our hope is that the Tahoe's cabin will gets its own richer look and feel compared with the new Silverado's drab interior. The Tahoe will be revealed this fall and should go on sale shortly after, with a starting price north of $50,000. ('You Might Also Like',) Unclogging Streets Could Help City Dwellers Save 125 Hours a Year The 10 Cheapest New Cars of 2018 Get Out Early, Get In Late: What to Know About Auto Lease Transfers
Is L Brands, Inc.'s (NYSE:LB) CEO Paid Enough Relative To Peers? Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Les Wexner became the CEO of L Brands, Inc. ( NYSE:LB ) in 1963. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO. View our latest analysis for L Brands How Does Les Wexner's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? At the time of writing our data says that L Brands, Inc. has a market cap of US$7.2b, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$4.6m. (This number is for the twelve months until February 2019). That's below the compensation, last year. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$1.0m. We examined companies with market caps from US$4.0b to US$12b, and discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was US$6.9m. This would give shareholders a good impression of the company, since most similar size companies have to pay more, leaving less for shareholders. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance. You can see, below, how CEO compensation at L Brands has changed over time. NYSE:LB CEO Compensation, June 30th 2019 Is L Brands, Inc. Growing? Over the last three years L Brands, Inc. has shrunk its earnings per share by an average of 18% per year (measured with a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 3.3% over the last year. Unfortunately, earnings per share have trended lower over the last three years. The fairly low revenue growth fails to impress given that the earnings per share is down. It's hard to argue the company is firing on all cylinders, so shareholders might be averse to high CEO remuneration. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings . Story continues Has L Brands, Inc. Been A Good Investment? Given the total loss of 55% over three years, many shareholders in L Brands, Inc. are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn't be too generous with CEO compensation. In Summary... It looks like L Brands, Inc. pays its CEO less than similar sized companies. Shareholders should note that compensation for Les Wexner is under the median of a group of similar sized companies. But then, EPS growth is lacking and so are the returns to shareholders. Considering all these factors, we'd stop short of saying the CEO pay is too high, but we don't think shareholders would want to see a pay rise before business performance improves. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling L Brands shares (free trial). Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com . This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
What The Hell Is Nancy Pelosi Doing? On Thursday morning, a reporter asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) what her party planned to do about writer E. Jean Carroll ’s recent rape allegation against President Donald Trump. Pelosi’s response was not a profile in courage. “I haven’t spent any time on that,” she said, raising her arms in frustration. “I don’t know the people you’re referencing, I don’t know the person making the accusation. I haven’t paid that much attention to it.” Not only was the top Democrat in Congress oddly unfamiliar with one of the biggest political stories of the past month, she did not believe her caucus had a responsibility to do anything about it. “I don’t know what Congress’ role would be in any of this. But in any of these things, this isn’t about what Congress would do, this is about what the president’s own party would do. You’d really have to ask them. I’m busy worrying about children not being in their mothers’ arms,” she added. That last bit was a reference to the other major political story of the past month ― the horrific conditions at overcrowded immigrant detention centers, where at least six child migrants have died in government custody since September. But a few hours after Pelosi declared her devotion to the children suffering at the border, she deferred to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on their fate. As horror stories detailing conditions at the border began piling up this week, McConnell passed a bipartisan bill expanding funding for Trump’s immigration authorities by $4.6 billion. Progressive Democrats in the House, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), wanted to include some basic humanitarian safeguards on that money, but Pelosi, citing resistance from self-described moderate Democrats, decided instead to just pass the Senate bill, no strings attached. “We didn’t even bother to negotiate,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN , calling the bill “completely irresponsible to the American people and to those kids on the border.” Story continues Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was even more critical : “A vote for Mitch McConnell’s border bill is a vote to keep kids in cages and terrorize immigrant communities.” The Trump administration’s immigration atrocities cannot, of course, be chalked up solely to financial constraints. Its flagship immigration-deterrence policy ― separating children from their parents ― was not adopted out of budgetary desperation. But under Pelosi’s guidance, the official Democratic Party response to the Trump administration abusing immigrant children is to give more money to the agencies the Trump administration relies on to abuse immigrant children. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared her devotion to the children suffering at the U.S.-Mexico border, then deferred to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on their fate. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS) This is not how Democrats told voters they would wield power. During the 2018 midterm elections, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders repeatedly made two campaign promises: Democrats would conduct rigorous oversight of a corrupt, lawless administration and fight to reduce sky-high prescription drug costs burdening American families. “We have a constitutional responsibility for oversight,” Pelosi said on a media tour following the party’s November triumph. “This is a perilously constitutional moment.” Over the past six months, that oversight has been a farce. We know about the conditions at border detention facilities not because of any investigations from House Democrats, but thanks to an outcry from nonprofit immigration attorneys and a draft report by the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security . Pelosi, famously, has refused to countenance impeachment as a response to the criminal activities described in the report compiled by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller . It’s not surprising that she would resist opening an impeachment inquiry over a sexual assault that allegedly occurred more than two decades ago. Yes, it is not obvious precisely what Congress should do about it. But there are plenty of oversight options available to Democrats, ranging from private interviews with Carroll to public hearings to launching an investigation and publishing an official report. Pelosi can’t be faulted for treading carefully. The outrage is her complete disavowal of responsibility. This inaction might be excusable if the party were busy pursuing important legislative priorities. But Pelosi has yet to produce a prescription drug bill . And much of the agenda House Democrats displayed this past week was simply grotesque. Shortly before Pelosi rubber-stamped McConnell’s immigration bill, 17 House Democrats wrote to a slate of Trump appointees and asked them to relax rules governing trading in financial derivatives , a business dominated by the nation’s six largest banks. On Tuesday, Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee devoted an entire hearing to the property tax complaints of wealthy suburbanites . Under Trump’s 2017 tax bill, the government began collecting roughly $60 billion a year in new revenue from well-to-do households in higher-taxed blue states. The Trump provision, according to its architects , was a political attack on Democratic voters. But the Democratic Party’s effort to reverse the tax hike is bizarre: About 52 percent of the money is extracted from families bringing in at least $1 million a year. Democrats are quite literally working to cut taxes for millionaires. Pelosi can’t do all of this on her own. As the Democratic Party’s most powerful leader, she sets the tone for her caucus, but she doesn’t dictate what every member can and cannot do. About 18 House Democrats refused to vote for new migrant protections in the McConnell bill. But even progressive firebrand Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), who represents a wealthy conservative district, ended up voting for the McConnell bill on the floor. To sum up the week for House Democrats: no oversight of the rape allegation against the president, no protections for abused immigrant children, a hearing on tax cuts for millionaires and a request that Trump officials deregulate big banks. Democrats did pass a bill trying to guard voting systems from foreign intrusion. But at the moment, it appears the most serious threat to the party’s electoral future is coming from inside the House. Related Coverage Democratic Leaders Ignore Simmering Support For Impeachment Nancy Pelosi On Trump Rape Allegation: 'I Haven't Paid Much Attention To It' Nancy Pelosi Gives In To Mitch McConnell As House Passes Senate Version Of Border Aid Bill Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost .
G20 leaders must embrace crypto regulation, says deVere Group boss The world’s financial leaders must take decisive steps towards a multilateral cryptocurrency regulatory framework, according to Nigel Green, Chief Executive and Founder of deVere Group. “Due to the astonishing and quickening pace of the digitalisation of the global economy – and the far-reaching impact of this – political leaders, finance ministers, central bank representatives and others at this year’s G20 summit must ensure decisive steps towards a multilateral cryptocurrency regulatory framework are taken,” he says. “A failure to do so would be, in my opinion, irresponsible and negligent.” The cryptocurrency sector continues to grow, he notes. Indeed, the value of Bitcoin has soared 193% in value year-to-date, which has had the effect of pulling up all other major digital currencies. “This isn’t solely an impressive rally – which it is too, of course. It also underscores that the already burgeoning sector is becoming unstoppable as institutional investors increasingly step off the sidelines and jump into the sector,” Green comments. “They understand, as do retail investors, that in our ever-more digitalised, globalised world, borderless, digital currencies are the future of money and they want to be and need to be part of it. It’s now high-time the leaders at the G20 summit caught up. Or do they seriously think that traditional, fiat currencies are the way forward? The G20 summit is a golden opportunity for leaders to position themselves on the right side of history.” By adopting a common set of regulatory guidelines, Green believes, the world’s financial leaders can harness the potentially enormous economic benefits that digital money can bring and mitigate the risks. “Now is the time – especially given that at the summit in Japan, one of the most crypto-advanced jurisdictions, has drawn on its experience and is preparing to share a crypto regulation solution at the summit. It would be foolhardy not to seize the opportunity that this summit represents,” Green concludes. The post G20 leaders must embrace crypto regulation, says deVere Group boss appeared first on Coin Rivet .
Would Higher Estate Taxes Save Social Security? Tens of millions of Americans rely onSocial Securityto make ends meet in retirement, and many more expect to use the program when they retire. Yet Social Security faces a financial crisis of epic proportions, as demographic shifts put pressure on its trust funds and threaten to leave it without enough money to pay full benefits by the mid-2030s. Many proposals have surfaced over the years to try to shore up Social Security's financial condition, with tactics ranging from means-testing and changes to year-to-year benefit adjustments to higher payroll taxes and more extensive taxation of benefits. A new proposal from one senator instead focuses on using a renewed estate tax to help solve the Social Security problem, and the resulting debate has reawakened a longer battle about estate taxation more broadly. The latest new Social Security proposal comes from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who made his case to the public last week. His bill, called the Strengthen Social Security by Taxing Dynastic Wealth Act, aims to address the financial shortfall in Social Security by boosting tax revenue from the estates of wealthy Americans. Image source: Getty Images. In particular, the legislation has two primary elements. First, it would boost the current estate tax rate from 40% to 45%. More importantly, it would reduce the size of estates that would qualify for a full exemption from the estate tax. Under current law, estates as large as $11.4 million in 2019 wouldn't have to pay any estate tax. The legislation would instead restore levels last seen in the estate tax laws for the late 2000s, cutting the exemption amount to $3.5 million. Van Hollen specifically criticized the changes to the estate tax included in the tax reform package that passed through Congress and the White House in late 2017. By doubling the per-person estate tax exemption amount, tax reform gave couples an extra $11 million that could pass free of the tax. By the senator's calculations, that helped 1,900 estates each save $4.4 million that they otherwise would've had to pay. In order to tie the estate tax into the Social Security debate, the Strengthen Social Security by Taxing Dynastic Wealth Act would change the sources of funding for Social Security to include estate tax revenue. In other words, the law would divert money that currently goes into the federal government's general fund and instead redirect it specifically into the Social Security trust funds. Income and wealth inequality have become hot-button topics in the presidential campaign, and this isn't the first time that the estate tax has found itself at the center of proposed policy changes. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) discussed legislation earlier this year that would reset the estate tax exemption to $3.5 million. It went further than the Van Hollen proposal, setting aminimum estate tax rate of 45%that would ramp up to 77% for estates valued at more than $1 billion. The primary problem with using the estate tax as a policy tool is that it's relatively small. A spokesperson for Van Hollen noted that even with the bill's changes, the resulting revenue would cover just over one-fifth of the estimated long-range shortfall in funding for Social Security. It would require other more extreme measures, such as boosting payroll tax levels, to raise enough revenue to close the funding gap fully. Meanwhile, opponents of the measure argue that although theestate tax aims to tax the wealthy, it often snares taxpayers that aren't easily able to pay it. For example, farming families often have assets that on paper are worth enough to trigger estate tax liability. However, most of those families have nearly all of their wealth tied up in their farms, and short of selling their entire operation and giving up their livelihood, they often struggle to find ways to pay estate taxes even with the help of special payment plans. If Social Security's financial challenges were easy to fix, it would've been done by now. It's critical to keep an eye on what lawmakers are suggesting as solutions to Social Security financing so that you can adjust your financial planning accordingly -- and express your opinion about whether you agree or disagree with proposals like these. More From The Motley Fool • Here's How to Get the Maximum Social Security Benefit • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Can’t Afford to Miss • 5 Top Dividend Kings to Buy and Hold Forever • Is Social Security Taxable? The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Will Lockheed Martin Corporation's (NYSE:LMT) Earnings Grow In The Year Ahead? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Since Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) released its earnings in March 2019, it seems that analyst forecasts are fairly optimistic, with earnings expected to grow by 7.8% in the upcoming year against the past 5-year average growth rate of 3.9%. With trailing-twelve-month net income at current levels of US$5.0b, we should see this rise to US$5.4b in 2020. In this article, I've outlined a few earnings growth rates to give you a sense of the market sentiment for Lockheed Martin in the longer term. For those interested in more of an analysis of the company, you canresearch its fundamentals here. Check out our latest analysis for Lockheed Martin Longer term expectations from the 18 analysts covering LMT’s stock is one of positive sentiment. Since forecasting becomes more difficult further into the future, broker analysts generally project out to around three years. To reduce the year-on-year volatility of analyst earnings forecast, I've inserted a line of best fit through the expected earnings figures to determine the annual growth rate from the slope of the line. From the current net income level of US$5.0b and the final forecast of US$6.7b by 2022, the annual rate of growth for LMT’s earnings is 8.6%. This leads to an EPS of $27.46 in the final year of projections relative to the current EPS of $17.74. Margins are currently sitting at 9.4%, which is expected to expand to 11% by 2022. Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For Lockheed Martin, there are three important factors you should further research: 1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Valuation: What is Lockheed Martin worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether Lockheed Martin is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Lockheed Martin? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Shareholders Are Thrilled That The Boot Barn Holdings (NYSE:BOOT) Share Price Increased 296% Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! It might seem bad, but the worst that can happen when you buy a stock (without leverage) is that its share price goes to zero. But in contrast you can make muchmorethan 100% if the company does well. For instance theBoot Barn Holdings, Inc.(NYSE:BOOT) share price is 296% higher than it was three years ago. Most would be happy with that. It's also up 36% in about a month. View our latest analysis for Boot Barn Holdings While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Boot Barn Holdings was able to grow its EPS at 54% per year over three years, sending the share price higher. We don't think it is entirely coincidental that the EPS growth is reasonably close to the 58% average annual increase in the share price. That suggests that the market sentiment around the company hasn't changed much over that time. Quite to the contrary, the share price has arguably reflected the EPS growth. The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). We know that Boot Barn Holdings has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? It might be well worthwhile taking a look at ourfreereport on how its financial position has changed over time. It's nice to see that Boot Barn Holdings shareholders have gained 72% (in total) over the last year. So this year's TSR was actually better than the three-year TSR (annualized) of 58%. Given the track record of solid returns over varying time frames, it might be worth putting Boot Barn Holdings on your watchlist. If you would like to research Boot Barn Holdings in more detail then you might want totake a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company. But note:Boot Barn Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
With A 2.7% Return On Equity, Is The Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSE:HHC) A Quality Stock? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). We'll use ROE to examine The Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSE:HHC), by way of a worked example. Over the last twelve monthsHoward Hughes has recorded a ROE of 2.7%. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity in the company, it was able to earn $0.027. Check out our latest analysis for Howard Hughes Theformula for return on equityis: Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity Or for Howard Hughes: 2.7% = US$87m ÷ US$3.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets. ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else equal,investors should like a high ROE. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses. One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, Howard Hughes has a lower ROE than the average (14%) in the Real Estate industry. That certainly isn't ideal. We'd prefer see an ROE above the industry average, but it might not matter if the company is undervalued. Nonetheless, it might be wise tocheck if insiders have been selling. Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same. While Howard Hughes does have some debt, with debt to equity of just 0.99, we wouldn't say debt is excessive. Its ROE is rather low, and it does use some debt, albeit not much. That's not great to see. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the company's ability to take advantage of future opportunities. Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. In my book the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE. But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to check this FREEvisualization of analyst forecasts for the company. But note:Howard Hughes may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online Provides Several Top Advantages LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2019 /Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains what advantages are gained by using freeonline car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visithttps://compare-autoinsurance.org/top-advantages-drivers-get-by-comparing-online-quotes/ Policyholders that are searching for better insurance deals should consider obtaining online car insurance quotes. Drivers can benefit from the following advantages if they decide to use a brokerage website or an insurer's official site in order to gain online quotes: • Get access to price estimates anytime and anywhere. Drivers are no longer required to travel from one insurance agency to another in order to obtain a few insurance offers. Drivers can search the insurance market while sitting in the comfort of their homes, or while they are on vacation on another continent. It doesn't matter when and from where a policyholder is searching for online quotes. All he needs is an internet connection and a device that can browse and display quotes like a smartphone or a notebook. • It takes only a couple of minutes to obtain car insurance quotes. Back in the days, policyholders could have spent days obtaining different insurance offers from multiple insurance agencies. Nowadays, with the help of the internet, online insurance quotes can be obtained extremely fast. All that a driver has to do is to complete an online form and wait for several seconds for a quote to be displayed. • Online quotes will help drivers save money. On average, policyholders can find deals that are 5% to 10% cheaper than their current insurance policy. This means, that a driver can save even hundreds of dollars each year. • Get access to really accurate price values. In many cases, online estimates are really close to the final price of the insurance policy. For that, the policyholder will have to provide correct and accurate info when completing an online questionnaire. • Compare multiple insurers. Online quotes will help drivers compare multiple insurance companies that compete with each other. Online quotes will also help drivers find smaller, newly established regional or local insurance companies. These new insurance companies will probably have better insurance deals in order to attract new customers. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visithttps://compare-autoinsurance.org/ Compare-autoinsurance.orgis an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Drivers that don't have time to waste, should considerusing online car insurance quotes. They are the fastest way to obtain insuranceoffers and will help drivers save money", said Russell Rabichev,Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. Contact:cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz SOURCE:Internet Marketing Company View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/550399/Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online-Provides-Several-Top-Advantages
3 IPO Stocks With Plenty of Growth Ahead If you feel like there has been an avalanche of new companies hitting the market recently, you're not wrong. The IPO market is the hottest it’s been for years. Indeed, the second quarter saw 62 IPOs raise $25 billion, which according to Renaissance Capital represents the most active quarter by deal count in four years and the most capital raised in five years. However, from an investor perspective, not all these stocks make compelling investing opportunities. Many new stocks simply rallied too fast out the gate- and are now teetering towards overvalued territory (see, for example Beyond Meat (BYND), Rattler Midstream (RTLR) and Zoom Video Communications (ZM)). So which new stocks are worth a closer look? Here are three stocks that analysts believe have plenty of growth potential aheadandstill good offer value for money: Welcome to Jumia, the first startup from Africa to list on a major global exchange. Africa's leading online shopping giant hit the markets in April this year. And the debut was a big success. According to Renaissance Capital, Jumia delivered a whopping 80.1% return from the $196 million IPO, making it one of the top 10 IPOs so far this year. In fact, Jumia, often referred to as the ‘Amazon of Africa’ also has another claim to fame. In 2016, the company became the first African startup unicorn, after a funding round from Goldman Sachs, AXA and MTN and others pushed its valuation past the $1 billion mark. Since the launch, the stock has faced a rocky road with April’s momentous climb quickly followed by a 38% plunge in May. The reason: a short seller report that rattled investors. Citron Research argued that Jumia represented the "worst abuse of the IPO system since the Chinese RTO fraud boom almost a decade ago." However encouraging earnings results prompted a wave of support from the Street, and the selloff seems to have ground to a halt. Shares are currently trading up 4% in the last month. Five-star Raymond James analystAaron Kesslerupgraded Jumia from hold to buy post-earnings, with a price target of 36%.  From current levels that suggests sizable upside potential of 36%. Indeed, Kessler believes Jumia is now trading at more attractive levels following the May pullback. The analyst explains: "Our investment thesis for Jumia is based on: 1) we expect robust eCommerce growth in Africa; 2) Jumia is the leading pan-African marketplace and has become a trusted brand with consumers and sellers; 3) we believe Jumia has significant potential beyond its core marketplaces including payments and other services (e.g. food delivery); 4) we expect 50%+ GMV growth and increasing revenue monetization; and 5) we expect scale efficiencies and improving monetization to drive significant EBITDA leverage." Similarly, Berenberg’sSarah Simontold investors: “Strong first-quarter results confirm continued progress… For the first time ever, Jumia’s gross profit covered total fulfillment costs, having previously achieved this only in Nigeria.” Her $45 price target indicates upside potential of 70%. However Simon did add that given the company is so new to the markets “it is obviously not easy to take a firm view on what should be exactly the right price for this company.” One of the most hyped IPOs of 2019 turned out to be something of a flop. Uber had one of the largest IPOs of the last few months, raising a whopping $81 billion. However shares pulled back on the first day of trading from the IPO share price of $45 to just above $41. According to Renaissance Capital, the company succeeded in “having lost more cash than any IPO ever.” It took over a month from the IPO for Uber to start trading above its IPO price. Even now the stock continues to hover around $46. But that’s not to say its all doom and gloom for ridesharing service Uber. Quite the opposite. The stock boasts a ‘Strong Buy’ Street consensus with a top analyst price target of $55 (18% upside potential). And that’s just in the short term. It’s Uber’s long-term potential that really makes the company stand out from the crowd. “The ridesharing industry has become one of the most transformational growth sectors of the global consumer market over the past five years with Uber establishing itself as the clear #1 player and in our opinion is paving a similar road to what Amazon did to transform retail/ecommerce and Facebook did for social media” cheers Wedbush analystYgal Arounian. He has a $65 price target on the stock, for upside potential of 40%, and explains that “We believe SOTP [sum of the parts] is the best way to value Uber as saying it’s just a ridesharing platform would be undervaluing the value of the entire company which has the DNA to become a game changing consumer distribution ecosystem over the coming years.” Indeed, a core tenet of his Uber bull thesis is around the company’s ability to morph its unrivaled ridesharing platform into a broader consumer engine. That’s with Uber Eats and Uber Freight “just scratching the surface” of the full monetization potential that the company is set to demonstrate over the next decade. So watch this space. TransMedics has the potential to make an enormous difference to the world of healthcare. The company, which specializes in transporting organs, hit the markets back in May with an IPO that grossed nearly $105 million. Since then, TMDX has soared from its IPO price of $16 to its current share price of $29. What’s exciting about TransMedics is that it transports organs in near-living conditions. One year ago the company won pre-market approval from the FDA for its OCS Lung transplant device for standard double-lung transplantation procedures, while in Europe the OCS Heart and OCS Lung devices are already on the market. Cowen & Co analystJosh Jenningshas a buy rating on TMDX with a bullish $40 price target (38% upside potential). He comments "TMDX's Organ Care System (OCS) is revolutionizing the organ preservation market from cold storage to warm ex-vivo perfusion.” The analyst believes Transmedics is “filling a unique white space in transplant medicine and creating an $8B market.” And with multiple clinical and operational catalysts on the horizon, he expects OCS adoption and utilization trends to soon hit an inflection point. Meanwhile JP Morgan’sRobbie Marcuscalls the company’s organ transplant system ‘disruptive’ and forecasts a potential annual growth rate of 70% for TMDX over the next five years. Discover the latest buy ratings from the Street's best-performing analysts here
At US$124, Is It Time To Put The Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSE:HHC) On Your Watch List? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSE:HHC), which is in the real estate business, and is based in United States, led the NYSE gainers with a relatively large price hike in the past couple of weeks. As a well-established company, which tends to be well-covered by analysts, you could assume any recent changes in the company’s outlook is already priced into the stock. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Today I will analyse the most recent data on Howard Hughes’s outlook and valuation to see if the opportunity still exists. See our latest analysis for Howard Hughes The stock seems fairly valued at the moment according to my valuation model. It’s trading around 18.04% above my intrinsic value, which means if you buy Howard Hughes today, you’d be paying a relatively fair price for it. And if you believe that the stock is really worth $104.91, there’s only an insignificant downside when the price falls to its real value. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that Howard Hughes’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility. Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. Howard Hughes’s earnings growth are expected to be in the teens in the upcoming years, indicating a solid future ahead. This should lead to robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value. Are you a shareholder?HHC’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at the stock? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuates below the true value? Are you a potential investor?If you’ve been keeping tabs on HHC, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for the company, which means it’s worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on Howard Hughes. You can find everything you need to know about Howard Hughes inthe latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Howard Hughes, you can use our free platform to see my list of over50 other stocks with a high growth potential. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Should We Be Delighted With Intelligent Systems Corporation's (NYSEMKT:INS) ROE Of 26%? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Intelligent Systems Corporation (NYSEMKT:INS). Intelligent Systems has a ROE of 26%, based on the last twelve months. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated $0.26 in profit. See our latest analysis for Intelligent Systems Theformula for ROEis: Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity Or for Intelligent Systems: 26% = US$7.4m ÷ US$28m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) Most know that net profit is the total earnings after all expenses, but the concept of shareholders' equity is a little more complicated. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. You can calculate shareholders' equity by subtracting the company's total liabilities from its total assets. ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else equal,investors should like a high ROE. That means it can be interesting to compare the ROE of different companies. Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. Pleasingly, Intelligent Systems has a superior ROE than the average (9.7%) company in the Software industry. That's what I like to see. We think a high ROE, alone, is usually enough to justify further research into a company. For example,I often check if insiders have been buying shares. Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking. One positive for shareholders is that Intelligent Systems does not have any net debt! Its high ROE indicates the business is high quality, but the fact that this was achieved without leverage is veritably impressive. After all, when a company has a strong balance sheet, it can often find ways to invest in growth, even if it takes some time. Return on equity is useful for comparing the quality of different businesses. In my book the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better. Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. So I think it may be worth checking thisfreethisdetailed graphof past earnings, revenue and cash flow. Of courseIntelligent Systems may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of other companies that have high ROE and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
A Closer Look At Intelligent Systems Corporation's (NYSEMKT:INS) Impressive ROE Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). We'll use ROE to examine Intelligent Systems Corporation (NYSEMKT:INS), by way of a worked example. Our data showsIntelligent Systems has a return on equity of 26%for the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity in the company, it was able to earn $0.26. Check out our latest analysis for Intelligent Systems Theformula for ROEis: Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity Or for Intelligent Systems: 26% = US$7.4m ÷ US$28m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) Most readers would understand what net profit is, but it’s worth explaining the concept of shareholders’ equity. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. Shareholders' equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company. ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else equal,investors should like a high ROE. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies. By comparing a company's ROE with its industry average, we can get a quick measure of how good it is. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, Intelligent Systems has a better ROE than the average (9.7%) in the Software industry. That's clearly a positive. In my book, a high ROE almost always warrants a closer look. For example,I often check if insiders have been buying shares. Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, or debt. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same. Intelligent Systems is free of net debt, which is a positive for shareholders. Its high ROE indicates the business is high quality, but the fact that this was achieved without leverage is veritably impressive. After all, with cash on the balance sheet, a company has a lot more optionality in good times and bad. Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better. But ROE is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, since high quality businesses often trade on high multiples of earnings. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. You can see how the company has grow in the past by looking at this FREEdetailed graphof past earnings, revenue and cash flow. Of course,you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere.So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
International forum: Don't expect cheap money to do it all FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Stocks have risen on expectation of more help from central banks, but an international financial forum warned Sunday that the global recovery can't just rely on support from the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to get past its current shaky stretch. The admonition from the Bank for International Settlements comes as the Fed and the ECB are signaling that more stimulus could be on the way. That message from Fed chair Jay Powell and ECB head Mario Draghi has helped send stock higher in Europe and the S&P 500 in the U.S. to a record high. The BIS is cautioning that governments need to bring other policies into the game — and that there are risks in relying too much on central bank stimulus such as cuts in interest rates and bond purchases that lower market borrowing costs. Those other policies include government spending where possible on growth-friendly infrastructure as well as pro-growth reforms such as slashing red tape for business. "Monetary policy can no longer be the main engine of economic growth, and other policy drivers need to kick in to ensure the global economy achieves sustainable momentum," the BIS said in its annual economic report. BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens warned that while stimulus can help in the short run, it can have side effects further out such as over-inflating asset prices such as stocks and bonds, and feeding less productive zombie firms that wouldn't survive without cheap borrowing. Policymakers, he said, need "to be mindful of all those tradeoffs." The BIS, a forum for central banks based in Basel, Switzerland, said the service industries and falling unemployment can shore up the ailing global recover in coming months. Rising wages and less unemployment are offsetting a slowdown in manufacturing and global trade. Still, it said significant risks remain, notably related to trade tensions between the U.S. and China. U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to reduce China's trade surplus and has imposed new tariffs, or import taxes, while negotiating for a trade deal. Despite some apparent progress at a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit of leaders from the Group of 20 countries in Osaka, Japan, there's uncertainty about the outcome, and whether more tariffs might be coming. Story continues "The trade tensions bring up questions about the viability of existing supply chain structures and the very future of the global trading system," Carstens said in a speech to the BIS annual meeting Sunday. "It bears repeating: trade wars have no winners, only losers. Another risk he identified is high levels of corporate debt. Carstens pointing to "clear signs of overheating in the corporate sector in a number of advanced countries." He called attention to the $3 trillion market in so-called leveraged loans — those that are made to already indebted companies and then often sliced up and sold on to investors. "Credit standards have been declining as investors have searched for yield," he said. "Should the leveraged loans sector deteriorate, the economic impact could be amplified through the banking system."
Why We Think V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) Could Be Worth Looking At Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) is a company with exceptional fundamental characteristics. Upon building up an investment case for a stock, we should look at various aspects. In the case of VFC, it is a financially-robust , dividend-paying company with a a great track record of performance. Below is a brief commentary on these key aspects. For those interested in understanding where the figures come from and want to see the analysis, read the fullreport on V.F here. Over the past year, VFC has grown its earnings by 64%, with its most recent figure exceeding its annual average over the past five years. This illustrates a strong track record, leading to a satisfying return on equity of 29%. which paints a buoyant picture for the company. VFC is financially robust, with ample cash on hand and short-term investments to meet upcoming liabilities. This implies that VFC manages its cash and cost levels well, which is an important determinant of the company’s health. VFC seems to have put its debt to good use, generating operating cash levels of 0.6x total debt in the most recent year. This is also a good indication as to whether debt is properly covered by the company’s cash flows. For those seeking income streams from their portfolio, VFC is a robust dividend payer as well. Over the past decade, the company has consistently increased its dividend payout, reaching a yield of 2.3%. For V.F, I've put together three pertinent aspects you should look at: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for VFC’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor VFC’s outlook. 2. Valuation: What is VFC worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether VFC is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other Attractive Alternatives: Are there other well-rounded stocks you could be holding instead of VFC? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Joe Biden criticised by crowd for suggesting mocking a 'gay waiter' was more socially acceptable five years ago Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been challenged by members of the crowd after suggesting mocking a “gay waiter” was seen as socially acceptable five years ago. Mr Biden made the remarks at a fundraising event hosted by former Microsoft President Jon Shirley in the wealthy Seattle suburb of Medina which is home to billionaires such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos . The former Vice President suggested that half a decade ago someone at a business lunch could poke fun at a gay waiter and others at the table would silently sit by. But some in the crowd interjected by saying: “Not in Seattle”. Mr Biden said an individual who made such homophobic remarks would not be welcome back at a restaurant today. The Democratic frontrunner argued public feeling had come along way on LGBT+ issues but also noted it was wrong that in 22 states a gay couple could get married one day and then fired the next. Mr Biden spent a great deal of his speech criticising Donald Trump – accusing the US president of ingratiating himself with authoritarian foreign leaders such as Russian president Vladimir Putin . The politician argued Mr Trump was responsible for dividing America in a way that no other president has – drawing attention to Mr Trump’s reaction to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in summer 2017. Mr Trump pointed blame at “both sides” for the violence, drawing a moral equivalence between white supremacists and anti-fascists. The president’s response to the ugly clashes between Neo-Nazis, KKK members and “alt-right” supporters and anti-fascists at Charlottesville, which culminated in Heather Heyer being killed after a car ploughed into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters, sparked condemnation from members of Congress, leading business executives and military leaders at the time. Mr Biden argued that “with that one statement of moral equivalence”, Mr Trump “ripped the moral fabric of this country.” He directly linked Mr Trump’s comments to an increase in antisemitism and hate crimes. Story continues At another recent event, Mr Biden said enshrining LGBT+ protections into the nation’s labour and civil rights law would be his main priority if he wins the White House. Passing the Equality Act “will be the first thing” he would “ask to be done” he said during a keynote address to hundreds of activists at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Ohio gala on the first day of Pride Month. The Equality Act would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to ban discrimination in employment, housing, jury selection and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Mr Biden also condemned the Trump administration during that peech. He hit out at attempts to bar transgender troops in the US military, allowing medical workers to refuse treatment to members of LGBT+ community and homeless shelters to bar transgender people.
Joe Biden criticised by crowd for suggesting mocking a ‘gay waiter’ was more socially acceptable five years ago Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been challenged by members of the crowd after suggesting that mocking a “gay waiter” was seen as socially acceptable five years ago. Mr Biden made the remarks at a fundraising event hosted by former Microsoft president Jon Shirley in the wealthy Seattle suburb of Medina, which is home to billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos . The former vice president suggested that half a decade ago, someone at a business lunch could poke fun at a gay waiter and others at the table would silently sit by. But some in the crowd interjected by saying: “Not in Seattle”. Mr Biden said an individual who made such homophobic remarks would not be welcomed back at a restaurant today. The Democratic frontrunner argued public feeling had come along way on LGBT+ issues but also noted it was wrong that in 22 states a gay couple could get married one day and then fired the next. Mr Biden spent a great deal of his speech criticising Donald Trump – accusing the president of ingratiating himself with authoritarian foreign leaders such as Russian president Vladimir Putin . The politician argued Mr Trump was responsible for dividing America in a way that no other president has – drawing attention to Mr Trump’s reaction to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in summer 2017. Mr Trump said blame lay at “both sides” for the violence, drawing moral equivalence between white supremacists and anti-fascists. One woman was killed after a car ploughed into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters. The president's response sparked condemnation from members of congress, leading business executives and military leaders at the time. Mr Biden argued that “with that one statement of moral equivalence”, Mr Trump “ripped the moral fabric of this country.” He directly linked Mr Trump’s comments to an increase in antisemitism and hate crimes. At another recent event, Mr Biden said enshrining LGBT+ protections into labour and civil rights laws would be his priority if he won the White House. Story continues Passing the Equality Act “will be the first thing” he would ask for, he told hundreds of activists at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Ohio gala on the first day of Pride Month. The Equality Act would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to ban discrimination in employment, housing, jury selection and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Mr Biden also condemned the Trump administration during that speech. He hit out at attempts to bar transgender troops from the US military and criticised how LGBT+ people were blocked from medical treatment and homeless shelters.
What Should We Expect From V.F. Corporation's (NYSE:VFC) Earnings In The Next 12 Months? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! After V.F. Corporation's (NYSE:VFC) earnings announcement in March 2019, analysts seem fairly confident, as a 6.0% increase in profits is expected in the upcoming year, relative to the past 5-year average growth rate of -1.3%. Presently, with latest-twelve-month earnings at US$1.3b, we should see this growing to US$1.3b by 2020. Below is a brief commentary around V.F's earnings outlook going forward, which may give you a sense of market sentiment for the company. Investors wanting to learn more about other aspects of the company shouldresearch its fundamentals here. See our latest analysis for V.F The longer term view from the 23 analysts covering VFC is one of positive sentiment. Generally, broker analysts tend to make predictions for up to three years given the lack of visibility beyond this point. To get an idea of the overall earnings growth trend for VFC, I’ve plotted out each year’s earnings expectations and inserted a line of best fit to determine an annual rate of growth from the slope of this line. From the current net income level of US$1.3b and the final forecast of US$1.7b by 2022, the annual rate of growth for VFC’s earnings is 11%. This leads to an EPS of $4.35 in the final year of projections relative to the current EPS of $3.19. With a current profit margin of 9.1%, this movement will result in a margin of 13% by 2022. Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For V.F, I've compiled three relevant aspects you should further research: 1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Valuation: What is V.F worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether V.F is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of V.F? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
If You Had Bought Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) Stock Five Years Ago, You Could Pocket A 106% Gain Today Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But on the bright side, you can make far more than 100% on a really good stock. For instance, the price ofAnalog Devices, Inc.(NASDAQ:ADI) stock is up an impressive 106% over the last five years. It's also up 15% in about a month. View our latest analysis for Analog Devices While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. During five years of share price growth, Analog Devices achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 12% per year. This EPS growth is lower than the 16% average annual increase in the share price. So it's fair to assume the market has a higher opinion of the business than it did five years ago. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth. The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). We know that Analog Devices has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? You could check out thisfreereport showing analyst revenue forecasts. When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference betweentotal shareholder return(TSR) andshare price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Analog Devices, it has a TSR of 132% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted thetotalshareholder return. We're pleased to report that Analog Devices shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 20% over one year. Of course, that includes the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 18% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You canclick here to see if insiders have been buying or selling. But note:Analog Devices may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Is Now The Time To Put Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) On Your Watchlist? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! For beginners, it can seem like a good idea (and an exciting prospect) to buy a company that tells a good story to investors, even if it completely lacks a track record of revenue and profit. But as Warren Buffett has mused, 'If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy.' When they buy such story stocks, investors are all too often the patsy. If, on the other hand, you like companies that have revenue, and even earn profits, then you may well be interested inActivision Blizzard(NASDAQ:ATVI). While that doesn't make the shares worth buying at any price, you can't deny that successful capitalism requires profit, eventually. In comparison, loss making companies act like a sponge for capital - but unlike such a sponge they do not always produce something when squeezed. View our latest analysis for Activision Blizzard The market is a voting machine in the short term, but a weighing machine in the long term, so share price follows earnings per share (EPS) eventually. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. As a tree reaches steadily for the sky, Activision Blizzard's EPS has grown 25% each year, compound, over three years. If the company can sustain that sort of growth, we'd expect shareholders to come away winners. Careful consideration of revenue growth and earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margins can help inform a view on the sustainability of the recent profit growth. While revenue is looking a bit flat, the good news is EBIT margins improved by 7.7 percentage points to 28%, in the last twelve months. That's a real positive. The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart. The trick, as an investor, is to find companies that aregoing toperform well in the future, not just in the past. To that end, right now and today, you can checkour visualization of consensus analyst forecasts for future Activision Blizzard EPS100% free. Like standing at the lookout, surveying the horizon at sunrise, insider buying, for some investors, sparks joy. Because oftentimes, the purchase of stock is a sign that the buyer views it as undervalued. However, insiders are sometimes wrong, and we don't know the exact thinking behind their acquisitions. We do note that, in the last year, insiders sold -US$269.2k worth of shares. But that's far less than the US$4.3m insiders spend purchasing stock. I find this encouraging because it suggests they are optimistic about the Activision Blizzard's future. We also note that it was the Independent Director, Peter Nolan, who made the biggest single acquisition, paying US$4.3m for shares at about US$42.95 each. The good news, alongside the insider buying, for Activision Blizzard bulls is that insiders (collectively) have a meaningful investment in the stock. Indeed, they have a glittering mountain of wealth invested in it, currently valued at US$407m. I would find that kind of skin in the game quite encouraging, if I owned shares, since it would ensure that the leaders of the company would also experience my success, or failure, with the stock. For growth investors like me, Activision Blizzard's raw rate of earnings growth is a beacon in the night. Not only that, but we can see that insiders both own a lot of, and are buying more, shares in the company. So I do think this is one stock worth watching. Of course, identifying quality businesses is only half the battle; investors need to know whether the stock is undervalued. So you might want to consider thisfreediscounted cashflow valuationof Activision Blizzard. The good news is that Activision Blizzard is not the only growth stock with insider buying. Here'sa a list of them... with insider buying in the last three months! Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Why Charleston’s Food Scene Is Stronger Than Ever Right Now When a city falls for a chef’s cooking, it’s easy to forget the dining experience is a temporary sensation. Though chef Sean Brock’s efforts both in and out of the kitchen helped raise Charleston’s profile to that of a global dining destination, the announcement last summer that Brock was officially taking a step back—or severing ties in some cases—from his Charleston restaurants left residents of the Holy City muttering a few words you wouldn’t say in church. Charleston’s changing of the guard isn’t just relegated to a celebrity chef’s departure. In April, chef Robert Stehling, who won a James Beard Award in 2018 at Hominy Grill, announced he was closing the beloved restaurant after 24 years in business. With the city’s reputation for hospitality firmly entrenched, two prominent ambassadors reshifting their focus might prompt the question: What will happen to the city’s food scene? However, with crowds continuing to pour in, Charleston isn’t about to leave visitors wishing they dined somewhere else. Pastries at La Pâtisserie | Andrew Cebulka Not just bachelorette parties According to Explore Charleston , a recent annual report from the College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism Analysis revealed that 7.28 million visitors descended upon the South Carolina port city in 2018. As you might expect, food and history were the two biggest tourism draws. For a city within a county of nearly 406,000 residents, according to the last U.S. Census , it’s easy to see that the hospitality industry is powering the local economy. And with an estimated $8.13 billion tied to tourist activities in 2018, Charleston’s growing number of restaurants, bars, and hotels is crucial to keeping the spotlight shining on this city. Renzo embodies the new wave of restaurants launching in Charleston, S.C. right now. | Leslie Ryann McKellar “If anything, the industrywide changes that have swept Charleston recently have only served to reinforce, at least within local circles, that the city is not a monolith,” says Nayda Hutson, a co-owner and general manager of Renzo . The restaurants (and chefs) you need to seek out Located on Huger Street (pronounced “u-Gee” street if you want to sound like a local), Renzo embodies the new wave of restaurants that make Charleston exciting. On the first floor of a charming house, on a street that you won’t discover on a horse-drawn carriage tour, chef Evan Gaudreau is still coming to terms with his James Beard Foundation nomination as a Rising Star Chef for 2019. His cuisine—think boquerones draped on top of grapefruit slices followed by a freshly made pizza covered in piquillo pepper sauce—represents the next phase of Charleston’s storied dining scene. Story continues “My goal at Renzo has always been to buy the best ingredients and cook the most delicious food I could, but the thought never even occurred to me that we could be featured on a national platform in this way,” says Gaudreau. “I was just focused on cooking tasty food and figuring out my personal style. I’m still figuring it out.” Renzo serves wood-fired Neopolitan pizza and pasta and features an extensive wine list in an upscale neighborhood trattoria. | Olivia Rae James Chefs like Gaudreau and Josh Walker of Xiao Bao Biscuit and Tu have looked beyond the Low Country for creative inspiration, and their restaurants represent one aspect of why Charleston’s dining scene is so unique. Historic Southern culinary traditions such as Gullah Geechee cuisine and whole hog barbecue have also found an audience in Charleston, thanks to the work of chef BJ Dennis and James Beard Award–winning pitmaster Rodney Scott . However, it’s not just eclectic menus and the preservation of historic Southern fare that are shaping the city’s new culinary reputation. Charleston is in the midst of a building boom, and luxury hotels are becoming popular gathering places for visitors and residents alike. Duck à l'orange at Gabrielle. | Andrew Cebulka At the newly opened Hotel Bennett , the on-site restaurant Gabrielle is ushering in a new era of fine dining with a traditional tin of caviar, duck à l’orange, and a selection of seafood and steaks served with accompaniments like foie gras butter. “I’d like to think we’re updating traditional Low Country cooking the way Escoffier modernized cuisine in France,” says Gabrielle’s executive chef Michael Sichel. New luxury hotels like The Dewberry provide everything from scenic rooftop bars to full-service dining rooms, making them a popular escape for anyone who’s had enough of the Charleston heat on their historic downtown walking tour. An estimated 35 hotels are expected to be finalized over the next few years in the greater Charleston area, according to a report from the commercial real estate firm CBRE, ensuring that hotel restaurants will play an even bigger role in setting the table for where guests choose to dine. Gabrielle's executive chef Michael Sichel. | Andrew Cebulka Drinks to consider (besides sweet tea) Distilled-spirit and wine bars have also elevated Charleston’s drinking culture. High Wire Distilling , a small-batch spirits maker, is nationally recognized for its amaro made with locally foraged and sourced ingredients including Charleston black tea. As for wine bars, Stems & Skins and Graft Wine Shop have received extensive praise for their selection and non-pretentious approach to wine service. “In the past three years, so much has changed for the better in the wine scene, and to think that we were an active part of that is pretty sweet,” says Graft Wine Shop co-owner Miles White, who, along with co-owner Femi Oyediran, was included in Food & Wine ’s list of top sommeliers for 2019. “When you look at the food and wine scene in this town, for how small it is, it doesn’t make any sense,” White says. “It’s this weird paradox that works, and you get the benefit of living in a small town with big city amenities.” Fiat Lux at Hotel Bennett offers spectacular rooftop views of Charleston as well as poolside cabanas. Preserving facts, not myths If the narrative of Charleston’s hospitality industry is that of a small town holding its own against big-city powerhouses, it’s thanks to a collective effort. “There’s been a lot of discussion about what Sean Brock’s departure from Charleston means for the industry as a whole,” Hutson reflects. “And while chef Brock was certainly a great ambassador for and champion of Southern foodways, it’s important that we not get so caught up in this ‘great man’ myth that we overlook the very real contributions that so many other figures have made and continue to make in our city.” As the city works to maintain its glowing reputation, the biggest challenge might not be retaining talent, but finding a way to fit everyone. No matter what the future brings, the conversations being shaped by chefs, established and new, aren’t going to be forgotten anytime soon. After all, Charleston is known for preserving its history. More must-read stories from Fortune : — Big Gay Ice Cream cofounder on growing a small business from coast to coast — Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski on Netflix , social media, and opening a restaurant —To combat food waste, these Brooklyn businesses teamed up to brew bagel beer —One of Mexico City’s hottest restaurant groups fuzes Mexican and Japanese influences —Listen to our new audio briefing, Fortune 500 Daily Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.
Who Has Been Buying Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D) Shares? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So before you buy or sellDominion Energy, Inc.(NYSE:D), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling. Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required. We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard Universitystudyfound that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.' View our latest analysis for Dominion Energy Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Lead Director John Harris for US$712k worth of shares, at about US$71.15 per share. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$77.32 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. If someone buys shares at well below current prices, it's a good sign on balance, but keep in mind they may no longer see value. Happily, the Dominion Energy insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices. In the last twelve months insiders purchased 22567.98 shares for US$1.7m. On the other hand they divested 3715 shares, for US$271k. Overall, Dominion Energy insiders were net buyers last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at thisfreelist of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Dominion Energy insiders own 0.3% of the company, worth about US$170m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders. It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Dominion Energy shares in the last quarter. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Judging from their transactions, and high insider ownership, Dominion Energy insiders feel good about the company's future. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at thisFREEreport showing analyst forecasts for Dominion Energy. Of courseDominion Energy may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
How National General Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:NGHC) Could Add Value To Your Portfolio Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! I've been keeping an eye on National General Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:NGHC) because I'm attracted to its fundamentals. Looking at the company as a whole, as a potential stock investment, I believe NGHC has a lot to offer. Basically, it is a financially-healthy company with a a strong track record of performance, trading at a great value. Below is a brief commentary on these key aspects. For those interested in digger a bit deeper into my commentary, read the fullreport on National General Holdings here. NGHC delivered a bottom-line expansion of 88% in the prior year, with its most recent earnings level surpassing its average level over the last five years. Not only did NGHC outperformed its past performance, its growth also exceeded the Insurance industry expansion, which generated a 6.6% earnings growth. This paints a buoyant picture for the company. With a debt-to-equity ratio of 30%, NGHC’s debt level is acceptable. This indicates a good balance between taking advantage of low cost funding through debt financing, but having enough financial flexibility and headroom to grow debt in the future. NGHC's has produced operating cash levels of 0.93x total debt over the past year, which implies that NGHC's management has put its borrowings into good use by generating enough cash to cover a sufficient portion of borrowings. NGHC's shares are now trading at a price below its true value based on its discounted cash flows, indicating a relatively pessimistic market sentiment. Investors have the opportunity to buy into the stock to reap capital gains, if NGHC's projected earnings trajectory does follow analyst consensus growth, which determines my intrinsic value of the company. Compared to the rest of the insurance industry, NGHC is also trading below its peers, relative to earnings generated. This supports the theory that NGHC is potentially underpriced. For National General Holdings, there are three key factors you should look at: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for NGHC’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor NGHC’s outlook. 2. Dividend Income vs Capital Gains: Does NGHC return gains to shareholders through reinvesting in itself and growing earnings, or redistribute a decent portion of earnings as dividends? Ourhistorical dividend yield visualizationquickly tells you what your can expect from NGHC as an investment. 3. Other Attractive Alternatives: Are there other well-rounded stocks you could be holding instead of NGHC? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
All You Need To Know About West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.'s (NYSE:WST) Financial Health Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Small-caps and large-caps are wildly popular among investors; however, mid-cap stocks, such as West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) with a market-capitalization of US$9.2b, rarely draw their attention. However, generally ignored mid-caps have historically delivered better risk adjusted returns than both of those groups. Today we will look at WST’s financial liquidity and debt levels, which are strong indicators for whether the company can weather economic downturns or fund strategic acquisitions for future growth. Don’t forget that this is a general and concentrated examination of West Pharmaceutical Services's financial health, so you should conduct further analysisinto WST here. See our latest analysis for West Pharmaceutical Services Over the past year, WST has ramped up its debt from US$198m to US$273m , which includes long-term debt. With this rise in debt, WST currently has US$266m remaining in cash and short-term investments , ready to be used for running the business. On top of this, WST has produced US$291m in operating cash flow in the last twelve months, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 107%, indicating that WST’s debt is appropriately covered by operating cash. At the current liabilities level of US$301m, it appears that the company has been able to meet these obligations given the level of current assets of US$868m, with a current ratio of 2.88x. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. For Medical Equipment companies, this ratio is within a sensible range since there's a sufficient cash cushion without leaving too much capital idle or in low-earning investments. With debt at 14% of equity, WST may be thought of as appropriately levered. WST is not taking on too much debt commitment, which may be constraining for future growth. We can check to see whether WST is able to meet its debt obligations by looking at the net interest coverage ratio. A company generating earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at least three times its net interest payments is considered financially sound. In WST's, case, the ratio of 40.66x suggests that interest is comfortably covered, which means that debtors may be willing to loan the company more money, giving WST ample headroom to grow its debt facilities. WST has demonstrated its ability to generate sufficient levels of cash flow, while its debt hovers at a safe level. In addition to this, the company exhibits an ability to meet its near term obligations should an adverse event occur. Keep in mind I haven't considered other factors such as how WST has been performing in the past. I recommend you continue to research West Pharmaceutical Services to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for WST’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor WST’s outlook. 2. Valuation: What is WST worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether WST is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore ourfree list of these great stocks here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Read This Before You Buy WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE:WNS) Because Of Its P/E Ratio Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today, we'll introduce the concept of the P/E ratio for those who are learning about investing. We'll show how you can use WNS (Holdings) Limited's (NYSE:WNS) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. Looking at earnings over the last twelve months,WNS (Holdings) has a P/E ratio of 28.15. That means that at current prices, buyers pay $28.15 for every $1 in trailing yearly profits. Check out our latest analysis for WNS (Holdings) Theformula for P/Eis: Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for WNS (Holdings): P/E of 28.15 = $59.2 ÷ $2.1 (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) A higher P/E ratio implies that investors paya higher pricefor the earning power of the business. That isn't necessarily good or bad, but a high P/E implies relatively high expectations of what a company can achieve in the future. Earnings growth rates have a big influence on P/E ratios. Earnings growth means that in the future the 'E' will be higher. That means even if the current P/E is high, it will reduce over time if the share price stays flat. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others -- and that may attract buyers. It's great to see that WNS (Holdings) grew EPS by 23% in the last year. And it has bolstered its earnings per share by 21% per year over the last five years. So one might expect an above average P/E ratio. The P/E ratio essentially measures market expectations of a company. If you look at the image below, you can see WNS (Holdings) has a lower P/E than the average (35.8) in the it industry classification. This suggests that market participants think WNS (Holdings) will underperform other companies in its industry. Since the market seems unimpressed with WNS (Holdings), it's quite possible it could surprise on the upside. You should delve deeper. I like to checkif company insiders have been buying or selling. It's important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. That means it doesn't take debt or cash into account. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings. While growth expenditure doesn't always pay off, the point is that it is a good option to have; but one that the P/E ratio ignores. Since WNS (Holdings) holds net cash of US$92m, it can spend on growth, justifying a higher P/E ratio than otherwise. WNS (Holdings) trades on a P/E ratio of 28.2, which is above the US market average of 18.1. With cash in the bank the company has plenty of growth options -- and it is already on the right track. Therefore it seems reasonable that the market would have relatively high expectations of the company Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.' So thisfreevisual report on analyst forecastscould hold the key to an excellent investment decision. Of course,you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates.So take a peek at thisfreelist of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM): What Does The Future Look Like? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! As The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) announced its earnings release on 30 April 2019, analysts seem extremely confident, with earnings expected to grow by a high double-digit of 52% in the upcoming year, relative to the past 5-year average growth rate of 17%. Presently, with latest-twelve-month earnings at US$514m, we should see this growing to US$780m by 2020. In this article, I've outline a few earnings growth rates to give you a sense of the market sentiment for J. M. Smucker in the longer term. Readers that are interested in understanding the company beyond these figures shouldresearch its fundamentals here. View our latest analysis for J. M. Smucker The longer term expectations from the 14 analysts of SJM is tilted towards the positive sentiment. Given that it becomes hard to forecast far into the future, broker analysts tend to project ahead roughly three years. I've plotted out each year's earnings expectations and inserted a line of best fit to calculate an annual growth rate from the slope in order to understand the overall trajectory of SJM's earnings growth over these next few years. This results in an annual growth rate of 21% based on the most recent earnings level of US$514m to the final forecast of US$1.1b by 2022. EPS reaches $9.54 in the final year of forecast compared to the current $4.52 EPS today. With a current profit margin of 6.6%, this movement will result in a margin of 13% by 2022. Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For J. M. Smucker, I've put together three key aspects you should look at: 1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Valuation: What is J. M. Smucker worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether J. M. Smucker is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of J. M. Smucker? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Nigel Farage blasts Channel 4 comedy showing assassination of right-wing campaigner named Nigel Fromage Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage during a presentation on postal votes at Carlton House Terrace in London. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images) Nigel Farage has slammed a Channel 4 comedy show which shows a right wing public figure named Nigel Fromage being assassinated as ‘sick and irresponsible’. The Brexit Party leader is spoofed in the comedy series Year of the Rabbit which stars Matt Berry and Keeley Hawes. The character is making a public speech about the dangers of immigration when he is shot in the head. Farage has now blasted the scene, warning it could incite violence. He told the Daily Star Sunday: “This scene is totally sick and frankly irresponsible.” Read more: Nigel Farage is now more popular than Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn The former Ukip leader also slammed Channel 4 executives for not censoring the scene. Nigel Farage parody Nigel Fromage. Photo credit: Channel 4 He said: “I think with Channel 4 we have reached a point where they are so partisan politically in everything they do that they now consistently go beyond what’s acceptable.” However, a spokesman for Channel 4 claims it is ‘clear to views characters are not to be taken seriously’. The spokesman said: “Year of the Rabbit is a purposefully outrageous and heightened comedy set in Victorian era London featuring exaggerated and ridiculous fictional characters. It is clear to viewers that the characters are preposterous and not to be taken seriously.” Former leader of UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage speaks to journalists as he arrives ahead of a meeting with European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain at the EU headquarters in Brussels on January 8, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / JOHN THYS (Photo credit should read JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images) The stance taken from Channel 4 is similar to that taken by the BBC after comedian Jo Brand joked about throwing battery acid instead of milkshakes, after right wing figures such as Farage and Tommy Robinson both were subject to milkshake attacks while campaigning. On Radio 4 show Heresy , Brand quipped: "Why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?" Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is escorted to a car after having what is thought to be milkshake thrown over him as he visits Northumberland Street in Newcastle Upon Tyne during a whistle stop UK tour on May 20, 2019 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images) Farage took to Twitter to accuse the comedian of ‘inciting violence’ and insisted ‘the police need to act’. Read more: Jo Brand: The BBC can't sack me, I don't think I made a mistake However, the BBC responded to the furore, saying: “ Heresy is a long-running comedy programme where, as the title implies and as our listeners know, panellists often say things which are deliberately provocative but are not intended to be taken seriously.” The controversial episode of Year of the Rabbit is currently available via Sky’s OnDemand service and will air on Monday night (1 July).
Does Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Like a puppy chasing its tail, some new investors often chase 'the next big thing', even if that means buying 'story stocks' without revenue, let alone profit. But as Peter Lynch said inOne Up On Wall Street, 'Long shots almost never pay off.' If, on the other hand, you like companies that have revenue, and even earn profits, then you may well be interested inTrimble(NASDAQ:TRMB). While profit is not necessarily a social good, it's easy to admire a business than can consistently produce it. In comparison, loss making companies act like a sponge for capital - but unlike such a sponge they do not always produce something when squeezed. View our latest analysis for Trimble As one of my mentors once told me, share price follows earnings per share (EPS). That means EPS growth is considered a real positive by most successful long-term investors. Who among us would not applaud Trimble's stratospheric annual EPS growth of 39%, compound, over the last three years? That sort of growth never lasts long, but like a shooting star it is well worth watching when it happens. Careful consideration of revenue growth and earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margins can help inform a view on the sustainability of the recent profit growth. The good news is that Trimble is growing revenues, and EBIT margins improved by 2.8 percentage points to 12%, over the last year. That's great to see, on both counts. You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers. Fortunately, we've got access to analyst forecasts of Trimble'sfutureprofits. You can do your own forecasts without looking, or you cantake a peek at what the professionals are predicting. Since Trimble has a market capitalization of US$11b, we wouldn't expect insiders to hold a large percentage of shares. But we are reassured by the fact they have invested in the company. Given insiders own a small fortune of shares, currently valued at US$52m, they have plenty of motivation to push the business to succeed. This should keep them focused on creating long term value for shareholders. Trimble's earnings per share have taken off like a rocket aimed right at the moon. That sort of growth is nothing short of eye-catching, and the large investment held by insiders certainly brightens my view of the company. At times fast EPS growth is a sign the business has reached an inflection point; and I do like those. So yes, on this short analysis I do think it's worth considering Trimble for a spot on your watchlist. Of course, just because Trimble is growing does not mean it is undervalued. If you're wondering about the valuation, check outthis gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry. You can invest in any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here isa list of companies with insider buying in the last three months. Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
3 Ways Being Single Impacts Your Retirement Planning Planning forretirementis a good way to avoid financial struggles later in life. But retirement planning is very different for single folks than it is for those who are married. If you fall into the former camp, here are a few things you should know. Married couples have an advantage on the retirement savings front in that they get to pool resources once their careers end and benefit from each other's good habits. When you're single, you only have your own savings to rely on, so if you're at all behind in this regard, it's critical that you ramp up while you can. At present, you can contribute up to $19,000 annually to a 401(k) or $6,000 to an IRA if you're under 50. If you're 50 or older, you can capitalize on a catch-up provision that raises these limits to $25,000 and $7,000, respectively. Even if you can't max out your retirement plan, adjusting your savings rate upward could make a big difference in the long run. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. Imagine you're 57 and want to retire in 10 years. Let's also assume you're sitting on $200,000 in savings and are currently contributing $400 a month to a retirement plan. If your savings generate an average annual 7% return, you'll have $460,000 by the time you retire. But if you're able to sock away $600 a month over the next 10 years instead, you'll get to retire with $493,000, assuming that same return. And that extra $33,000 could easily translate into an additional $100 per month in retirement income over a 30-year period. When you're married, it's important to consider your spouse's needs when filing forSocial Security. For example, spousal and survivor benefits are based on eligible recipients' benefits, so those needing to look out for a spouse may have no choice but todelay benefitsin order to increase them. When you're single, however, you only have your personal needs to account for, so you're free to claim Social Security when it suits you. For example, if you've saved nicely in your IRA or 401(k) and want to file for benefits a little early (meaning beforefull retirement age), you can feel free to do so without having to worry that by reducing your benefits, you're also reducing a spouse's benefits. Furthermore, when you're single, you can base your Social Security filing decision on your ownhealth. Generally speaking, the better your health going into retirement, the more it pays to delay benefits and boost them in the process, since you're likely to come out with a larger payout in your lifetime. On the other hand, if your health isn't great, filing early generally makes sense. And as a single person approaching retirement, you don't have to factor a spouse's health into that decision. Married seniors who retire can often fall back on each other to provide care when one gets injured or falls ill. When you're single, you may not have that same built-in caregiver, so your need forlong-term care insuranceis amplified. Long-term care insurance can help defray the often-astronomical cost of assisted living or nursing home care, and it can cover in-home care if you need it. The best time to apply for a policy is during your 50s, and the good news is that if you're applying alone, you won't run the risk that a spouse's bad health will drive your premium costs up or, worse yet, put you at risk of seeing your coverage request denied. Retiring single means getting to call your own shots throughout your golden years. Just be sure to plan appropriately so you're able to enjoy retirement the way you've always wanted to. More From The Motley Fool • Everything You Need to Know About Retirement • Don't Retire Early Until You Do This • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Can’t Afford to Miss The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Nordea says CEO von Koskull to retire by end-2020 June 30 (Reuters) - Nordea, one of the Nordic region's biggest banks, said on Sunday its Chief Executive Casper von Koskull would retire by the end of 2020 and it had begun the process of finding a successor for the 58-year-old. Koskull joined Nordea in 2010 after working at Goldman Sachs and was named President and Group CEO in November 2015. "Casper will turn 60 in 2020 and has wished to make that the point of retirement following a long and intense career in banking," Nordea said in a statement. Nordea booked a 95 million euro ($108 million) provision in April for a possible fine for alleged money-laundering, and also posted a bigger-than-expected drop in its first-quarter operating profit. Nordic banks are facing intense scrutiny after Danske Bank became embroiled in a huge money laundering scandal at its Estonian branch. ($1 = 0.8797 euros) (Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Are Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) Investors Paying Above The Intrinsic Value? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Does the June share price for Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward. Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in theSimply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Garmin We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: [{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2019": "$670.57", "2020": "$695.47", "2021": "$738.50", "2022": "$751.88", "2023": "$767.58", "2024": "$785.08", "2025": "$804.04", "2026": "$824.22", "2027": "$845.45", "2028": "$867.62"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x4", "2020": "Analyst x4", "2021": "Analyst x2", "2022": "Est @ 1.81%", "2023": "Est @ 2.09%", "2024": "Est @ 2.28%", "2025": "Est @ 2.42%", "2026": "Est @ 2.51%", "2027": "Est @ 2.58%", "2028": "Est @ 2.62%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.2%", "2019": "$619.78", "2020": "$594.10", "2021": "$583.08", "2022": "$548.68", "2023": "$517.70", "2024": "$489.40", "2025": "$463.25", "2026": "$438.91", "2027": "$416.11", "2028": "$394.68"}] Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $5.07b "Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 10-year government bond rate (2.7%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.2%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$868m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (8.2% – 2.7%) = US$16b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$16b ÷ ( 1 + 8.2%)10= $7.42b The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is $12.48b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of $65.76. Relative to the current share price of $79.81, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Garmin as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.917. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Whilst important, DCF calculation shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For Garmin, I've put together three important factors you should look at: 1. Financial Health: Does GRMN have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Future Earnings: How does GRMN's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with ourfree analyst growth expectation chart. 3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of GRMN? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NASDAQ every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks justsearch here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Does CNA Financial Corporation's (NYSE:CNA) P/E Ratio Signal A Buying Opportunity? Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today, we'll introduce the concept of the P/E ratio for those who are learning about investing. We'll apply a basic P/E ratio analysis to CNA Financial Corporation's ( NYSE:CNA ), to help you decide if the stock is worth further research. CNA Financial has a price to earnings ratio of 14.79 , based on the last twelve months. That means that at current prices, buyers pay $14.79 for every $1 in trailing yearly profits. View our latest analysis for CNA Financial How Do You Calculate CNA Financial's P/E Ratio? The formula for price to earnings is: Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for CNA Financial: P/E of 14.79 = $47.07 ÷ $3.18 (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good? The higher the P/E ratio, the higher the price tag of a business, relative to its trailing earnings. That isn't a good or a bad thing on its own, but a high P/E means that buyers have a higher opinion of the business's prospects, relative to stocks with a lower P/E. How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. That's because companies that grow earnings per share quickly will rapidly increase the 'E' in the equation. That means unless the share price increases, the P/E will reduce in a few years. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up. CNA Financial shrunk earnings per share by 7.2% last year. But EPS is up 40% over the last 3 years. Does CNA Financial Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry? The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. We can see in the image below that the average P/E (17.4) for companies in the insurance industry is higher than CNA Financial's P/E. Story continues NYSE:CNA Price Estimation Relative to Market, June 30th 2019 This suggests that market participants think CNA Financial will underperform other companies in its industry. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitor director buying and selling . A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank It's important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. That means it doesn't take debt or cash into account. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings. Such expenditure might be good or bad, in the long term, but the point here is that the balance sheet is not reflected by this ratio. CNA Financial's Balance Sheet CNA Financial's net debt is 7.5% of its market cap. So it doesn't have as many options as it would with net cash, but its debt would not have much of an impact on its P/E ratio. The Verdict On CNA Financial's P/E Ratio CNA Financial trades on a P/E ratio of 14.8, which is below the US market average of 18.1. The debt levels are not a major concern, but the lack of EPS growth is likely weighing on sentiment. When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.' So this free visualization of the analyst consensus on future earnings could help you make the right decision about whether to buy, sell, or hold. Of course you might be able to find a better stock than CNA Financial . So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com . This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Is There An Opportunity With Stamps.com Inc.'s (NASDAQ:STMP) 44% Undervaluation? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Stamps.com Inc. (NASDAQ:STMP) as an investment opportunity by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward. Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in theSimply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Stamps.com We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: [{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2019": "$76.67", "2020": "$179.67", "2021": "$165.31", "2022": "$157.42", "2023": "$153.45", "2024": "$152.00", "2025": "$152.23", "2026": "$153.65", "2027": "$155.90", "2028": "$158.78"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x1", "2020": "Analyst x2", "2021": "Est @ -7.99%", "2022": "Est @ -4.77%", "2023": "Est @ -2.52%", "2024": "Est @ -0.95%", "2025": "Est @ 0.16%", "2026": "Est @ 0.93%", "2027": "Est @ 1.47%", "2028": "Est @ 1.85%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 12.01%", "2019": "$68.45", "2020": "$143.21", "2021": "$117.65", "2022": "$100.02", "2023": "$87.05", "2024": "$76.98", "2025": "$68.84", "2026": "$62.03", "2027": "$56.19", "2028": "$51.10"}] Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $831.52m "Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 10-year government bond rate (2.7%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 12%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$159m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (12% – 2.7%) = US$1.8b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$1.8b ÷ ( 1 + 12%)10= $565.89m The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is $1.40b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of $80.7. Compared to the current share price of $45.27, the company appears quite good value at a 44% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Stamps.com as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 12%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.556. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For Stamps.com, I've compiled three relevant aspects you should further research: 1. Financial Health: Does STMP have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Future Earnings: How does STMP's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with ourfree analyst growth expectation chart. 3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of STMP? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NASDAQ every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks justsearch here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
3 Great Cannabis Stocks to Buy in July Cannabis stocks roared out of the gate early in 2019. Over the last few months, though, the initial momentum for many of these stocks has largely evaporated. Long-term investors shouldn't be bothered by these temporary lulls. There are still plenty of cannabis stocks with strong growth prospects. Three that I think appear to be great picks to buy in July areCharlotte's Web Holdings(NASDAQOTH: CWBHF),Constellation Brands(NYSE: STZ), andCresco Labs(NASDAQOTH: CRLBF). Here's why these three cannabis stocks look attractive right now. Image source: Getty Images. Charlotte's Web Holdings ranks as one ofthe most profitable cannabis stocks on the market. The company also claims the leading market share in the U.S. hemp cannabidiol (CBD) industry. That's not surprising since Charlotte's Web is a pioneer in the industry. What I like most about Charlotte's Web is that it's well-positioned to deliver tremendous growth. The company added 2,300 retail locations to its distribution network in the first quarter -- more than were added in all of 2018. Charlotte's Web also has more than doubled its hemp acreage planting compared to last year. Hemp CBD has now hit the mainstream, with big retailers likeCVS Healthselling Charlotte's Web's products on its shelves. I expect the company's momentum to pick up as more Americans become receptive to using hemp CBD. And when the FDA finalizes its regulations for CBD, the opportunity should really explode. Despite its great growth prospects, Charlotte's Web stock trades at less than 19 times earnings. That's dirt cheap for a cannabis stock. And it makes Charlotte's Web a top pick for investors hoping to profit from the hemp CBD boom. I know some might not think of Constellation Brands as a cannabis stock. The company's primary focus is on its beer and wines business. But Constellation's 38% stake in leading Canadian cannabis producerCanopy Growth(NYSE: CGC)gives it a bigger position in the cannabis industry than many smaller pure-play cannabis stocks. Granted, the main reason to buy Constellation right now is its core business. The company's premium beers continue to deliver solid sales growth. Constellation's decision tosell over 30 of its wine brandsshould enable it to strengthen its higher-profit premium wines and spirits. Don't overlook Constellation's cannabis prospects, though. Canopy Growthdisappointed investors with its latest quarterly results, but I think that disappointment should be only temporary. Canopy should see higher sales throughout the remainder of this year with added capacity coming on line. Like Charlotte's Web, Constellation Brands shares trade at less than 19 times expected earnings. The stock also gives investors an added bonus with its dividend yield of 1.63%. You might not have heard of Cresco Labs. But with the company's pending acquisition ofOrigin House(NASDAQOTH: ORHOF), Cresco isabout to become a North American cannabis powerhouse. Cresco already operates 21 marijuana retail stores in seven U.S. states. The company should soon boost its presence into four additional states, with binding transactions pending in Florida, Massachusetts, and New York plus its approved expansion into Michigan. The acquisition of Origin House will make Cresco the leading cannabis distributor in California, which claims the biggest legal recreational marijuana market in the world. This deal will also give Cresco a presence in Canada, particularly with the vape retail operations of 180 Smoke acquired by Origin House earlier this year. Cresco's growth opportunities look fantastic as more states legalize medical and/or recreational cannabis. Meanwhile, its stock trades at close to 27 times expected earnings. I think this attractive valuation combined with strong growth prospects should make Cresco Labs a top marijuana stock for investors to consider buying. There's one important common denominator for all three of these cannabis stocks: They all are based in the U.S. I think that this is an especially important detail for Charlotte's Web and Cresco Labs. Canadian cannabis stocks sport much higher valuations than their U.S. counterparts. This is due primarily to cannabis remaining illegal at the federal level and some uncertainties for the hemp CBD market as the FDA moves forward with establishing regulations for the industry. I think that changes will be made sooner or later to federal laws in the U.S. that will recognize the rights of states to establish and enforce their own cannabis laws. I also expect that the FDA will issue reasonable regulations related to hemp CBD in the not-too-distant future. When these events happen, it will unlock the value for U.S.-based cannabis stocks. It will also provide a big boost for Canadian cannabis companies like Canopy Growth that are already entering the U.S. hemp CBD market and have laid the groundwork to jump into the U.S. marijuana market. Of course, what's good for Canopy is also good for Constellation Brands. Don't be distracted by temporary pullbacks with any of these stocks. Charlotte's Web, Constellation Brands, and Cresco Labs should be big winners over the long run. More From The Motley Fool • Beginner's Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks • Marijuana Stocks Are Overhyped: 10 Better Buys for You Now • Your 2019 Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks Keith Speightshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Constellation Brands, CVS, and Origin House. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
3 Hot Growth Stocks I'd Buy Right Now Overpriced. Overhyped. Unsustainable momentum. You've probably heard people say these kinds of things about hot growth stocks. For some stocks, the descriptions are applicable -- but not for all of them. Some hot growth stocks deserve the attention that they attract from investors and their premium valuations. Why? Their business models and growth prospects are simply that good. Three hot growth stocks that I'd buy right now areGuardant Health(NASDAQ: GH),MongoDB(NASDAQ: MDB), andThe Trade Desk(NASDAQ: TTD). Here's why I think these stocks still have plenty of room to run. Image source: Getty Images. Guardant Health conducted its initial public offering (IPO) in October 2018 and has absolutely skyrocketed since then. Shares are up nearly 170% over the last nine months. Investors have flocked to Guardant Health because of the tremendous potential for its liquid biopsy products. Liquid biopsies are blood tests used to detect cancer. Instead of using an invasive procedure to obtain cancerous tissue, liquid biopsies work by spotting tiny fragments of DNA that have broken away from tumors or sometimes intact tumor cells that have separated from the main tumor. Guardant Health's Guardant360 liquid biopsy matches advanced-stage cancer patients with the most applicable treatment. Its GuardantOmni product helps drugmakers screen patients for clinical trials of cancer drugs. The company's latest product is its Lunar DNA tests for detecting early-stage cancer and cancer recurrence. For now, the Lunar tests can only be used by researchers. How big is the potential market for these liquid biopsies? Guardant Health thinks there's a $6 billion opportunity in the U.S. alone for Guardant360 and GuardantOmni. But that's practically chump change compared to the $33 billion estimated U.S. market for the Lunar tests. With a market cap of around $7.4 billion, Guardant Health doesn't have to capture all that much of its potential market to keep its sizzling momentum going. I don't own this stock yet, but it'sat the top of my list to buy. MongoDB's share price has more than tripled over the last 12 months and is up more than 80% so far this year. These huge gains have given the company a market cap of more than $8 billion despite MongoDB continuing to lose money. That doesn't bother me a bit, though. The company is a leader in what are called NoSQL databases. Most databases used by businesses were designed decades ago for structured data organized in rows and columns. MongoDB, though, designed its database for today's world of both structured and unstructured data. MongoDB also uses an open-source model, which means that developers can see the source code for its database software and even make changes to it. This model has been a winner for the company. MongoDB offers a free basic version of its open-source database that initially attracts developers. They often then move up to the premium version, which has more features. The company's database is such a hit that MongoDB'srevenue soared 78% year over year in the last quarter. But MongoDB hasn't even scratched the surface of its potential. The company has less than 1% penetration in the addressable database market. I expect MongoDB will continue to grow at a rapid pace as it captures more market share. The Trade Desk stock has nearly doubled so far in 2019. That makes me very glad that I scooped up shares of this fantastic company in the early part of the year. My only regret is that I didn't buy The Trade Desk sooner. It's up more than 670% since its IPO in September 2016. Although its name might prompt thoughts of a stock-trading system, The Trade Desk focuses on the advertising market. The company's technology enables ad buyers to quickly and easily purchase digital advertising across a wide spectrum of outlets. The Trade Desk is disrupting the advertising industry, which was accustomed to long and drawn-out negotiations over ad buys. The company's revenue growth reflects how well the disruption is going. The Trade Deskreported year-over-year sales growth of over 41% in the first quarter,which is typically a sluggish period for the ad industry. There are plenty of reasons why The Trade Desk's momentum should continue. Digital advertising is overtaking traditional print and broadcast television advertising. Programmatic advertising, which uses algorithms to automate ad buying, is the wave of the future. The Trade Desk is at the front and center of these trends. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Keith Speightsowns shares of MongoDB and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Guardant Health, MongoDB, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Where Will Canopy Growth Be in 10 Years? It's nice being No. 1. And that's whereCanopy Growth(NYSE: CGC)ranks in the cannabis industry in terms of market cap and market share in the key Canadian adult-use recreational market. It isn't easy staying at the top, though. That's especially true in a fast-changing market like cannabis. Where will Canopy Growth be in 10 years? There's no way to know for sure, of course, but here's a prediction of what the future could hold for this top cannabis producer. Image source: Getty Images. Let's first make a few assumptions about the global cannabis industry. The most critical assumption is that the U.S. will revise federal laws in a way that allows Canopy Growth to enter the U.S. marijuana market. This seems like a pretty safe bet to happen at some point within the next few years. Public support among Americans for marijuana legalizationis at an all-time high. Passage of legislation to change federal marijuana laws looks like a slam-dunk in the U.S. House of Representatives. The votes are probably there in the Senate, as well, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellcould prevent the bill from coming to a vote on the Senate floor. President Trump has expressed his willingness to support changes to federal laws on marijuana. All of the current Democratic presidential candidates, with one exception, support the legalization of pot. The one holdout is former Vice-President Joe Biden, who currently leads in national polls for the Democratic presidential nomination. But there's probably a pretty good chance that Biden wouldn't oppose a measure that left marijuana legalization up to the states. Another key assumption is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) establishes regulations for cannabidiol (CBD) products that aren't too burdensome for the industry. The FDA is in the process of gathering information to help in this process,recently conducting a public hearingthat included input from a wide range of participants. Shifting away from the U.S., it's important that European countries that have already legalized CBD and medical cannabis don't put too many obstacles in the way of a robust industry emerging. Germany already has laws in place that are fostering a rapidly growing medical cannabis market. It's probably not a bad assumption that other European countries will learn from Germany's success. Finally, I'd count on a shakeout in the Canadian cannabis industry within the next two or three years as supply catches up with capacity. But I also expect that Canopy Growth will be one of the companies to emerge relatively unscathed, while lots of small cannabis producers get gobbled up or go out of business. The dust should be settled from this shakeout well before our 10-year window winds down. With these assumptions in mind, where does that put Canopy Growth 10 years from now? My prediction is that the company will easily be in the top tier of global cannabis producers. Tilray CFO Mark Castanedarecently statedthat he thinks that "only three or four large players" will dominate the cannabis industry in the future. He expects that these top companies will split around 80% of the global market. I agree with this view. But could Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy's prediction that these top-tier companies will have market caps of $100 billion or more come true? I don't see that happening by 2029. However, I'm not as skeptical about Canopy Growth co-CEO Bruce Linton's idea that his companycould eventually be bigger than its partner, alcoholic-beverage makerConstellation Brands(NYSE: STZ). Currently, Constellation's market cap stands at nearly $36 billion. It's possible that Canopy could reach or surpass that level within the next 10 years. Canopy Growth has plenty of what's called optionality -- multiple pathways for growth. There's the recreational market in Canada and the U.S. (assuming federal laws change in a way that allows Canopy to enter the U.S. market). Other countries are likely to legalize recreational pot over the next few years, as well. Medical cannabis presents a huge global opportunity. And the use of cannabinoids such as CBD could be an even bigger market over the long run. I think that the best answer to the question of where Canopy Growth will be in 10 years is this one: It will be part of Constellation Brands. If the assumptions laid out earlier are right, a full acquisition of Canopy by Constellation seems like a no-brainer. Constellation already owns 38% of Canopy Growth. It holds warrants that allow it to up its stake to more than 50%. IfCanopy's right to acquire U.S.-basedAcreage Holdingsis exercised, though, the exercising of Constellation's warrants wouldn't give the big beverage company majority control of Canopy. However, I don't think that will be an impediment to Constellation buying Canopy outright if it chooses to do so. If my earlier assumptions don't pan out -- especially the changes to U.S. federal marijuana laws -- everything changes for Canopy Growth's future. But I think the odds are in Canopy's favor to stay No. 1 or at least in a close second place for a long time to come -- whether as a stand-alone entity or a division within Constellation Brands. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Keith Speightshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Constellation Brands. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Are Insiders Selling Columbus McKinnon Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCO) Stock? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares inColumbus McKinnon Corporation(NASDAQ:CMCO). It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia Universitystudyfound that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'. Check out our latest analysis for Columbus McKinnon In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Vice President of Crane Solutions, Peter McCormick, sold US$801k worth of shares at a price of US$38.88 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$41.97, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling on market, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. We note that the biggest single sale was only 49.9% of Peter McCormick's holding. Peter McCormick was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months. Peter McCormick ditched 36299 shares over the year. The average price per share was US$38.46. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! I will like Columbus McKinnon better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out thisfreelist of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying. Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 1.9% of Columbus McKinnon shares, worth about US$19m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment. An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. On the plus side, Columbus McKinnon makes money, and is growing profits. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at thisFREEreport showing analyst forecasts for Columbus McKinnon. Of courseColumbus McKinnon may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
The 10 Highest-Yielding Dividend Stocks in the S&P 500 One of the most enticing numbers for a bargain-hunting stock picker is a high dividend yield. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index includes about 80% of the value of the entire U.S. stock market, including most of the big names. Screening for the top 10 yielders in the S&P 500 gives us a nice way to combine those two concepts. Doing this periodically can be a good idea generator for income-focused investors interested in major companies that may be out of favor in the market. Before we dive deeper, here are the current top 10 dividends: 1. Macerich(NYSE: MAC)-- 9.0% 2. CenturyLink(NYSE: CTL)-- 8.6% 3. Iron Mountain(NYSE: IRM)-- 7.9% 4. Macy's(NYSE: M)-- 7.0% 5. Altria(NYSE: MO)-- 6.7% 6. Occidental Petroleum(NYSE: OXY)-- 6.3% 7. Nielsen(NYSE: NLSN)-- 6.3% 8. AT&T(NYSE: T)-- 6.2% 9. AbbVie(NYSE: ABBV)-- 6.1% 10. Invesco(NYSE: IVZ)-- 6.1% Next, some color and analysis on each. Read further for three things to do before buying any dividend stock. Macerich is a mall REIT. It specializes in "town squares" with major flagship stores, preferably in higher-income areas. It has 51 million square feet of gross leasable area across 52 properties, so the typical property is close to a million square feet (think the size of about 500 houses). An example of one of these properties is Eastland Mall in Evansville, Indiana. It's right around a million square feet with over 100 stores, including anchorsJ.C. Penney,Dillard's, and Macy's. One thing investors should keep in mind before investing include the peculiarities ofREITs, including that they have to pay out 90% of their taxable income as dividends to receive special tax status. In addition, bricks-and-mortar retailer closures or bankruptcies and higher interest rates could negatively affect Macerich. CenturyLink is a major U.S. telecom that grew over the past decade with acquisitions including Qwest and Level 3 Communications. It serves both business and residential customers. The combination of a levered balance sheet (i.e. high debt levels) and revenue growth challenges in areas like landline voice have seen its stock price fall fairly steadily the past few years (it's around a quarter of where it was five years ago). The result is a huge dividend yield even with a dividend cut earlier this year. Hence, theremay be opportunityfor value investors who buy into CenturyLink's cost-cutting and stabilization efforts. The Top 10 Highest-Yielding Stocks in the S&P 500. Image Source: Getty Images. Iron Mountain's services are less well-known than many of the names on this list, but over 90% of the Fortune 1000 uses Iron Mountain. As Iron Mountain puts it, the company focuses on "storing, protecting and managing, information and assets." For the most part, that means shredding documents or storing documents, but it also gets into data storage and can even brag about storing Frank Sinatra's master recordings. Note: like Macerich, Iron Mountain is a REIT. Macy's has 800+ bricks-and-mortar locations under its namesake brand, Bloomingdale's, and specialty stores like Bluemercury. Despite efforts by management to make Macy's "omnichannel" (i.e. grow online sales), its trailing 12 months' revenue is lower today than it was in 2007. That said, Macy's is still profitable and is being proactive about making asset sales and making the most of its real estate holdings. When you're dealing with a business facing industry decline, the last thing you want is management that buries its head in the sand. Bulls can take heart that Macy's management appears proactive and is working with a profit that results in a low P/E ratio and a nicely sized dividend. Marlboro cigarette maker Altria has been an unbelievably great dividend stock over the decades. Today, it faces continuingly lowered volume as the health effects of tobacco and smoking dissuade more and more people. Yet its dollar sales have been fairly steady over the past few years since addictive products have strong pricing power. Altria has also bought itself optionality with large stakes in e-cigarette producer JUUL and cannabis companyCronos. That's especially true when you consider what Altria's brand power and distribution network could do to boost those operations. Occidental has made many headlines for its pending $38-billion-dollar acquisition ofAnadarko Petroleum. It's a big bet (notice that it's roughly the size of Occidental's market cap) and one it had to outbidChevronfor by $5 billion to win. It's also been complicated and messy. To afford the deal, Occidental needed $10 billion in financing fromWarren Buffett'sBerkshire Hathawayand a side deal withTotalto sell $8.8 billion of Anadarko's assets. It's likely both Berkshire and Total got good deals from a motivated Occidental. Meanwhile, activist investor and Occidental shareholder Carl Icahn has been complaining and looking to boost his influence on the board of directors. On the organic side, Occidental's been lowering its cost structure to the point that it thinks it can fund its non-Anadarko operations and pay its dividend if oil averages only $40 per barrel. Even if we assume those estimates are accurate, an acquisition this large can have many hard-to-predict effects, both positive and negative. And as with any company in the space, the underlying price of oil will have a massive role in determining success vs. failure. Although well-known for its self-named TV ratings and other audience measurements, Nielsen's had problems growing its top line in recent years. With its share price already sliding for a couple of years, last summer Nielsen announced it was seeking strategic options. In other words, it's been open to selling parts of itself or the whole enchilada. In the past year, reports have had various private equity players including The Blackstone Group and Apollo Global Management showing some interest in making offers. As of this writing, Nielsen is still accepting bids if there is actual interest. Potential investors (especially those looking to buy and hold a high-yielder for years) should factor all the uncertainty into their decision-making. Like CenturyLink, AT&T is a major telecom that makes this top 10 dividend list. However, unlike CenturyLink, AT&T is quite profitable and seemingly stable. It has both mobile and landline operations as well as acquisitions DirecTV (2015) and more recently TimeWarner (now WarnerMedia). With both content and distribution in hand, AT&T promises to be a formidable player no matter how things shake out. AbbVie is yet another company in the middle of an M&A event. It recently announced an agreement to buy fellow drugmakerAllerganfor about $63 billion. The combination would diversify AbbVie's sales. Currently, more than half of adjusted sales come from anti-inflammatory treatment Humira (the world's #1 drug in 2018). However, Humira and Botox (Allergan's top seller), face future competition via a patent cliff or a potentially superior alternative, respectively. Someone considering AbbVie stock should think through both the effects of the massive combination and the longer-term viability of Abbvie's combined portfolio and pipeline. Invesco is an asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets under management. Its well-known funds include variations of its Invesco branding as well as its recently acquired OppenheimerFunds. Profitability has been a strong suit for Invesco over the years. It's been consistent with strong profit margins (currently 15%). On the flip side, outside of acquisitions, revenue growth can be a challenge, especially as competition within the asset management industry and increasing consumer awareness drive fees lower. Before buying any dividend stock (and especially a high-yield dividend stock), you should do these three things: 1. Evaluate dividend stocksjust as you would any other stock. 2. Make sure you understand the special nuances if it's organized as a master limited partnership (MLP) or a real estate investment trust (REIT). 3. Determine how sustainable the dividend is. This sounds obvious, but in addition to the general problem of investors getting carried away and neglecting to evaluate a stock as buying part of a business, dividend stocks have the specific problem of investors thinking of dividends as free money the stock is paying out. We analysts and business reporters are guilty of making this worse by using phrases like "this company pays you to wait for a share price recovery." Even the most educated and experienced of us can't help but gawk at high-yield dividends like the ones we've listed above. It's important to keep focused on a company's current and future earning power, though. From these earnings, dividends are just one of five things a company can do: 1. Re-invest in the business:When a company IPO's or floats additional shares, investors are giving the business capital to invest. Before giving some of that capital back via dividends, a company can reinvest its earnings to fund future operations, either for maintenance or growth. 2. Mergers and acquisitions:In addition to organic growth, a company can grow by buying competitors or adjacent businesses. 3. Share buybacks:In theory, buying back shares can be a more efficient way of returning capital to shareholders than dividends. You save shareholders the tax hit of dividends. Also, once one is established, a regular dividend is expected to be paid out quarterly and rise over time whereas there's more expectation for share buybacks to be lumpy at management's discretion. And if you have a management team that's smart about buying when shares are undervalued (a rarity, unfortunately), all the better! 4. Build a stronger balance sheet:Paying down debt or increasing a cash balance gives a company added flexibility for future opportunities and helps protect against recessions, industry downturns, and problems of a company's own doing. 5. Dividends:Paying shareholders out. On why you may prefer the other options to a dividend, consider this admittedly imperfect thought experiment. Someone you know starts a business and promises a 10% annual dividend yield. You say "Great!" and invest $1,000. And they do as they said they would. But they don't do anything except pay you $100 each year for 10 years until they run out of the money. Then they shut the company down. Was the 10% dividend worth it? Of course not! You don't want what amounts to a zero-interest savings account. You want a business to do something and make your $1,000 worth more than $1,000. Hopefully much more! So make sure not to make the rookie investing mistake of thinking of dividends as "free money." Instead, dividends are what management does when it has no better uses for the capital. That may sound like a ding on dividends, but it's not meant to be. Let's be clear that when it comes to what we care about -- investing results -- dividends are a wonderful thing. Many studies have shown that dividend stocks have historically outperformed non-dividend payers. There are many theories as to why. For example, the fact that a company can pay a regular dividend is a signal that it's strong enough to produce enough cash flow to do so. Also, some would suggest dividends are a way of ensuring management discipline. Many companies that pay high dividends are structured as MLPs or REITs, especially in the oil and gas and real estate spaces. In exchange for abiding by certain rules and limitations, companies in these structures get tax benefits. The upshot for investors is that these companies tend to pay high dividends because MLPs are pass-through entities and REITs must pay out 90% of their taxable income. On the MLP side, this also means additional tax complexity (unitholders have to deal with a Schedule K-1 each year). Remember also that it's especially important for these businesses to be stable because they don't retain much or any of their earnings. If cash needs arise, that can mean raising capital at inopportune times. Read more aboutMLPsandREITsby following the links. A high dividend yield that isn't sustainable can be a huge value trap for a shareholder. When a dividend is cut, not only does the income go away, but the share price also tends to fall. Beyond the actual dividend cut, investors worry about the viability of the business and the competence of management. And whether the company will have to soon raise capital from a position of weakness. A basic check on dividend sustainability is looking at a company's payout ratio. The payout ratio is simply the percentage of a company's earnings that is paid out in dividends. As a general rule of thumb, under 50% is preferred, but there are many nuances and exceptions. By definition, if a company's payout ratio is above 100%, it means its dividends are greater than its earnings and it needs to dip into its cash, borrow, or float some equity to pay up. Let's look at a summary table of our top 10 dividend payers and see how they do on payout ratio. [{"Company": "Macerich", "Industry": "Real Estate (REIT)", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "5", "Payout Ratio": "80%*", "Dividend Yield": "9%"}, {"Company": "CenturyLink", "Industry": "Telecom", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "13", "Payout Ratio": "NM", "Dividend Yield": "8.6%"}, {"Company": "Iron Mountain", "Industry": "Storage and Information Management (REIT)", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "9", "Payout Ratio": "106%*", "Dividend Yield": "7.9%"}, {"Company": "Macy's", "Industry": "Retail", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "7", "Payout Ratio": "42%", "Dividend Yield": "7%"}, {"Company": "Altria", "Industry": "Tobacco", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "90", "Payout Ratio": "92%", "Dividend Yield": "6.7%"}, {"Company": "Occidental Petroleum", "Industry": "Oil and Gas", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "37", "Payout Ratio": "59%", "Dividend Yield": "6.3%"}, {"Company": "Nielsen", "Industry": "Business Services", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "8", "Payout Ratio": "NM", "Dividend Yield": "6.3%"}, {"Company": "AT&T", "Industry": "Telecom", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "241", "Payout Ratio": "75%", "Dividend Yield": "6.2%"}, {"Company": "AbbVie", "Industry": "Drug Manufacturer", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "103", "Payout Ratio": "113%", "Dividend Yield": "6.1%"}, {"Company": "Invesco", "Industry": "Investment Management", "Market Capitalization ($Billions)": "10", "Payout Ratio": "61%", "Dividend Yield": "6.1%"}] Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence. As of June 27, 2019. *For REITs Macerich and Iron Mountain, the payout ratios are calculated using the industry-preferred funds from operation rather than net income. At a high level, we can see that the price of a high dividend yield is often a high payout ratio. Notice that only Macy's has a payout ratio below 50%, and that was achieved with the help of unsustainable gains on the sale of assets. This actually makes sense when you think about it. To achieve a huge dividend yield with a low payout ratio, you'd need a company that has both a beaten-down share price and a lot of earnings. For example, if a dream company had a dividend yield of 7% and a payout ratio of 30%, that would imply a P/E ratio of just 4.3. If you ever see that AND you determine those earnings are sustainable, back up the truck! Back to the real world. A few other things you should note about some of the payout ratios above. Macerich and Iron Mountain are REITs, so their payout ratios are supposed to be very high (recall that they have to pay out at least 90% of their taxable income each year). The ratios for CenturyLink and Nielsen are not meaningful because neither is currently profitable. Both were hit with large goodwill impairments that took them into the red. Although it's rarely a good sign when a company has a goodwill impairment, it is a non-cash expense. As a result, each company's free cash flow is positive and greater than its dividend payouts. This is an example of why it's a good idea to check out a company's payout ratio on both a net income basis AND a free cash flow basis. Now that we've shared some initial analysis of this list of the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the S&P 500 and some tips on evaluating dividend stocks, it's up to you to decide whether any are interesting enough to research further. We're here to help! More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Anand Chokkavelu, CFAowns shares of Altria Group and Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
2 Top Stocks for Retirees Two strong go-to dividend stocks for retireesare energy-industry bellwethersEnterprise Products Partners(NYSE: EPD)andExxonMobil(NYSE: XOM). But they aren't the only options retirees should consider.Magellan Midstream Partners(NYSE: MMP)andRoyal Dutch Shell(NYSE: RDS-B)have higher yields and very similar businesses. Here is what you need to know about Magellan and Shell if you're retired and looking to boost the income your portfolio generates. Enterprise is one of the largestmidstreamcompanies in North America, with a conservative management team and a yield of 6%. Magellan is roughly a quarter the size, but is even more conservative and offers a yield of 6.5%. Enterprise is a great option, but that extra 50 basis points from Magellan could be well worth dropping down to a smaller industry player. Image source: Getty Images. Like Enterprise, the bulk of Magellan's revenue comes from assets backed by fee-based contracts. That means its collection of pipelines and storage assets are largely protected from volatile energy prices, with demand for oil and natural gas (and the products they're made into) the bigger driver of performance. On that front, U.S. onshore production growth isoutstriping midstream capacity, providing a solid runway for growth in the industry. Magellan, meanwhile, has long taken a conservative approach with itsbalance sheet, with leverage at the low end of the industry. In fact, the partnership's debt-to-EBITDAratio is lower than Enterprise's. Magellan has also long focused on self-funding its growth projects so it could minimize the number ofdilutiveshares it issues -- a business modelto which Enterprise is only now shiftingtoward. Put simply, you will not be taking on extra financial risk going with Magellan. What you will get, however, is a 50-basis-point boost in yield and an incredible distribution record. Magellan has upped its disbursement every quarter since it came public in 2001. Enterprise has a longer streak of annual distribution increases only because it has been around longer. Distribution coverage is 1.2 times, which is good for a partnership. And while that's lower than Enterprise, the difference is partly because of Enterprise's shifting business model (a transition that is still in progress). MMP Financial Debt to EBITDA (TTM)data byYCharts. Looking to the future, Magellan has roughly $1.25 billion in projects on tap for 2019 and 2020. It expects that to support distribution growth in the 5% range. That's a bit higher than what Enterprise is likely to provide (again because of its transition) and roughly in line with Enterprise's longer-term historical distribution growth rate.Magellan just nixed a large project, which is partly why the units are offering such a generous yield (historically it has yielded less than Enterprise). But management has a solid history of success and it deserves the benefit of the doubt right now since it is highly likely to find new ways to continue growing over time. If you are looking to maximize your income in retirement, Magellan is a great option today. Exxon is one of the most conservative integrated oil giants around, focused on low levels of debt and a balanced portfolio of assets spanning theupstream, midstream, anddownstreamenergy sectors. With a roughly 4.5% yield, it is a great option for risk-averse investors. However, if you want to maximize your dividend income, Shell's 5.6% yield should also be alluring. For starters, Shell is one of the few companies that can compete with Exxon's size and reach. And while Shell has a long history of using debt more aggressively than Exxon, it also typically carries materially more cash on its balance sheet. Based on first-quarter 2019 balance sheet data, long-term debt is roughly 10% of Exxon's capital structure and it holds around $4.5 billion in cash. Shell's debt is roughly 30% of its capital structure and it has $23 billion in cash. Although Shell's debt isn't outlandish, adjusting for the cash drops long-term debt to a more comforting 20% of the capital structure. And, for investors who think long-term, Shell might actually have a portfolio edge over Exxon. Exxon is focused on carbon fuels. Shell is branching out into electricity, so it can participate as the world moves away from carbon fuels.Shell has been more aggressivethan Exxon at shifting its business to fit better with long-term trends lately. If global warming's impact on the energy industry worries you, then Shell might be the better bet -- and you'll collect a higher yield along the way. XOM Dividend Per Share (Quarterly)data byYCharts. The one place where Shell falls well short of Exxon is dividend growth. The dividend hasn't been increased since 2014, when oil prices nosedived. However, Shell didn't cut the dividend, either, and has beenperforming quite well recently. Still, the lack of growth may keep some income investors away. That's an understandable decision, but investors looking to maximize income today would do well to strongly consider the higher yield combined with Shell's diversification into electricity. Those two factors might be enough to tip the needle back in favor of Shell. When you hit retirement, you shift from building a nest egg to living off of what you have saved. For many retirees, that means a focus on dividend-paying stocks like Exxon, Shell, Enterprise, and Magellan. All of them are great options. That said, if you are looking to maximize income today, Magellan and Shell offer higher yields and similar risk profiles. You might just find that you like them better than the industry bellwethers they compete against. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Reuben Gregg Brewerowns shares of ExxonMobil. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners and Magellan Midstream Partners. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Is Now The Time To Put Sterling Bancorp (NYSE:STL) On Your Watchlist? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! It's only natural that many investors, especially those who are new to the game, prefer to buy shares in 'sexy' stocks with a good story, even if those businesses lose money. And in their study titledWho Falls Prey to the Wolf of Wall Street?'Leuz et. al. found that it is 'quite common' for investors to lose money by buying into 'pump and dump' schemes. In the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, my choice may seem old fashioned; I still prefer profitable companies likeSterling Bancorp(NYSE:STL). Now, I'm not saying that the stock is necessarily undervalued today; but I can't shake an appreciation for the profitability of the business itself. While a well funded company may sustain losses for years, unless its owners have an endless appetite for subsidizing the customer, it will need to generate a profit eventually, or else breathe its last breath. See our latest analysis for Sterling Bancorp If a company can keep growing earnings per share (EPS) long enough, its share price will eventually follow. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. Who among us would not applaud Sterling Bancorp's stratospheric annual EPS growth of 49%, compound, over the last three years? Growth that fast may well be fleeting, but like a lotus blooming from a murky pond, it sparks joy for the wary stock pickers. One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. Not all of Sterling Bancorp's revenue this year is revenuefrom operations, so keep in mind the revenue and margin numbers I've used might not be the best representation of the underlying business. Sterling Bancorp maintained stable EBIT margins over the last year, all while growing revenue 38% to US$1.0b. That's progress. In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings, and revenue, over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart. In investing, as in life, the future matters more than the past. So why not check out thisfreeinteractive visualization of Sterling Bancorp'sforecastprofits? It makes me feel more secure owning shares in a company if insiders also own shares, thusly more closely aligning our interests. So it is good to see that Sterling Bancorp insiders have a significant amount of capital invested in the stock. Given insiders own a small fortune of shares, currently valued at US$83m, they have plenty of motivation to push the business to succeed. That's certainly enough to make me think that management will be very focussed on long term growth. It's good to see that insiders are invested in the company, but are remuneration levels reasonable? Well, based on the CEO pay, I'd say they are indeed. For companies with market capitalizations between US$2.0b and US$6.4b, like Sterling Bancorp, the median CEO pay is around US$5.2m. The Sterling Bancorp CEO received US$4.3m in compensation for the year ending December 2018. That comes in below the average for similar sized companies, and seems pretty reasonable to me. CEO remuneration levels are not the most important metric for investors, but when the pay is modest, that does support enhanced alignment between the CEO and the ordinary shareholders. It can also be a sign of a culture of integrity, in a broader sense. Sterling Bancorp's earnings per share have taken off like a rocket aimed right at the moon. The sweetener is that insiders have a mountain of stock, and the CEO remuneration is quite reasonable. The sharp increase in earnings could signal good business momentum. Sterling Bancorp certainly ticks a few of my boxes, so I think it's probably well worth further consideration. If you think Sterling Bancorp might suit your style as an investor, you could go straight to its annual report, or you could first checkour discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation for the company. Of course, you can do well (sometimes) buying stocks thatare notgrowing earnings anddo nothave insiders buying shares. But as a growth investor I always like to check out companies thatdohave those features. You can accessa free list of them here. Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
The 10 Fastest-Growing Pot Stocks in 2020 In case you haven't heard, the marijuana industry is forecast to grow at one of the fastest paces of any industry in the world. A newly released report, "State of the Legal Cannabis Markets," from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, forecasts anear-quadrupling in global licensed-store salesin the six-year period between 2018 and 2024, with some estimates on Wall Street calling for worldwide cannabis sales to climb to $75 billion by 2030. If these estimates prove even remotely accurate, there could be plenty of green to be made by pot stocks and investors. The big question is: Which marijuana stocks are slated to see the most growth in the near term? While a single year doesn't make a cannabis stock a success, the following 10 pure-play pot stocks are currently projected by Wall Street to grow the fastest in 2020. Image source: Getty Images. Keeping in mind that it's starting from a small full-year sales base in 2019, marijuana royalty companyAuxly Cannabis Group(NASDAQOTH: CBWTF)should be the fastest-growing cannabis stock next year, with sales rising to almost 186 million Canadian dollars. Having royalty deals in place with more than a dozen other growers, as well as wholly owned grow farms and joint-venture projects, Auxly has beenpatiently waitingfor its partnered projects to come online. Next year, many of these licensed partners will finally be delivering product, which Auxly predominantly plans to utilize in derivative pot products, such as oils, edibles, topicals, and so on. Another late bloomer that's beginning from a relative low sales base isThe Green Organic Dutchman(NASDAQOTH: TGODF), with sales expected to grow to almost CA$295 million in 2020. The Green Organic Dutchman projects as possibly the fourth- or fifth-largest grower by peak annual output (219,000 kilos), and itrecently signed the largest extraction deal in historywithNeptune Wellness Solutions, spanning three years and covering an aggregate of 230,000 kilos of hemp and cannabis biomass. Suffice it to say, Green Organic Dutchman is eagerly awaiting the start of derivative sales in Canada. Niche marijuana growerFlowr Corp.(NASDAQOTH: FLWPF)slots in third, with Wall Street looking for 469% year-on-year sales growth to CA$141 million. Unlike most growers, which are expected to flood the market with discount or average-quality cannabis, Flowr is using genetics to focus its efforts on ultra-premium marijuana, which should protect it from pricing pressures. Flowr also recently announced theacquisition of a massive outdoor grow farmin Portugal, giving it access to Europe's burgeoning but high-margin medical marijuana market. Image source: Getty Images. Growth should be exceptionally strong at Quebec-basedHEXO(NYSEMKT: HEXO)in 2020, with sales forecast to rise to CA$317 million, up 425% from 2019, despite the company continuing to hold firm on its own projections of CA$400 million in sales next year. HEXO's big bump in revenue comes from the combination of its 1.3-mlllion-square-foot Gatineau campus ramping up, the addition of Newstrike Brands, which was recently acquired for just shy of $200 million (that's U.S. dollars), and the rollout of derivative products toward the end of this calendar year in Canada andcannabidiol (CBD) products in the U.S. in 2020. Not surprisingly, the largest pot stock in the world and the company slated to produce the second-most cannabis on an annual basis when at peak capacity,Canopy Growth(NYSE: CGC)looks poised to grow sales rapidly in fiscal 2020. Wall Street will be looking for CA$757 million in full-year sales as the company's more than 4.8 million square feet of licensed grow space is ramped up and Canopypushes into the U.S. hemp market. The launch of derivative products later this year and the slow but steady resolution of supply issues in Canada should also lift Canopy's top line. Despite internal struggles andscathing reports from short-sellers,Aphria(NYSE: APHA)should have no trouble quickly growing revenue in 2020. The Street is currently looking for Aphria to generate CA$708 million in sales as its organically developed Aphria One facility, which is capable of 110,000 kilos of output per year, begins to ramp up. Maybe the bigger questions are whether Aphria will land a partner anytime soon and how long it might take for its joint-venture greenhouse retrofit project with Double Diamond Farms (known as Aphria Diamond) to get its cultivation license. Image source: Getty Images. AlthoughCronos Group's(NASDAQ: CRON)market cap isn't a laggard among its peers,its production certainly has been. Building from a smaller revenue base in 2019, Cronos should have little trouble more than tripling sales in 2020 to an estimated CA$130 million, per Wall Street's consensus. Since the company is known more for its cannabinoid development than for dried flower production, Cronos Group's investors will be looking for sales of its high-margin derivatives and commercially produced cannabinoids to pick up significantly next year. Among U.S. pot stocks, the fastest growing looks to be upscale dispensary operatorMedMen Enterprises(NASDAQOTH: MMNFF), with the consensus on Wall Street calling for nearly $450 million (MedMen reports in U.S. dollars). By 2020, MedMen should have completed its $682 millionall-stock acquisition of PharmaCann, which'll add a number of new operational dispensaries and two dozen more retail licenses to its portfolio. MedMen is also set to open new retail locations in the medical marijuana-legal state of Florida, where it may soon have up to 30 stores. No surprise here, either: Thelargest cannabis producer in the world,Aurora Cannabis(NYSE: ACB), should be one of the 10 fastest-growing pot stocks next year. Estimates call for 171% sales growth to CA$717 million, with the ramp-up of Aurora Sky and a number of smaller facilities doing the work in the early part of the year. The key to Aurora Cannabis' rapid sales growth will be getting licensing approval for Aurora Sun, Aurora Nordic 2, and Exeter, its three largest facilities based on peak production, before the midpoint of 2020. Like Canopy Growth, Aurora is also eager to see Canada work through near-term supply issues in order to boost its sales. Image source: Getty Images. U.S. multistate dispensary operatorCresco Labs(NASDAQOTH: CRLBF)rounds things out with expected sales growth of 161% in 2020 and forecasted sales of $725 million (again, U.S. dollars). Believe it or not, Cresco Labs is projected tolead all pure-play marijuana stocks in 2020 revenue. Aside from expanding the number of open dispensary locations across the country, Cresco should benefit from the pending acquisition ofOrigin House. Once complete, this deal will give Cresco access to more than 500 California dispensaries with its in-house-branded products, as well as Origin House's valuable cannabis distribution license in California. Though revenue isn't everything, these 10 pot stocks are a good place to start your research if you're looking for budding growth in the cannabis industry. More From The Motley Fool • Beginner's Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks • Marijuana Stocks Are Overhyped: 10 Better Buys for You Now • Your 2019 Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Auxly Cannabis Group, HEXO, and Origin House. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Who Has Been Selling Sterling Bancorp (NYSE:STL) Shares? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares inSterling Bancorp(NYSE:STL). It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Columbia Universitystudyfound that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'. Check out our latest analysis for Sterling Bancorp The Independent Director, James Landy, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.1m worth of shares at a price of US$19.36 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$21.28. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling on market, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was just 12.6% of James Landy's stake. All up, insiders sold more shares in Sterling Bancorp than they bought, over the last year. They sold for an average price of about US$19.81. It's not too encouraging to see that insiders have sold at below the current price. Since insiders sell for many reasons, we wouldn't put too much weight on it. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. The last three months saw significant insider selling at Sterling Bancorp. Specifically, insiders ditched US$291k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain. Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Sterling Bancorp insiders own about US$83m worth of shares. That equates to 1.9% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment. Insiders haven't bought Sterling Bancorp stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. Despite some insider buying, the longer term picture doesn't make us feel much more positive. But since Sterling Bancorp is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at thisFREEreport showing analyst forecasts for Sterling Bancorp. Of courseSterling Bancorp may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Is First Solar a Buy? Shares ofFirst Solar(NASDAQ: FSLR)have been blistering hot this year, surging more than 50%. That outperformance likely has investors wondering if the solar panel maker has enough power to continue the trend. Here's a closer look at the bull and bear case for the renewable energy stock. Solar panel makers have struggled in recent years. While the industry hasgrown installationsat a blistering pace, the price of solar panels has been under pressure due to intense competition. That has put pressure on margins. Image source: Getty Images. First Solar, however, is working to boost its profitability by transitioning to a new higher-margin solar panel, Series 6, which should enhance its future results. While the company posted a loss of $0.64 per share in thefirst quarter, it sees its full-year profit coming in between $2.25 and $2.75 per share, which would be more than 80% above 2018's level. Earnings should continue growing in future years as the company finishes up its manufacturing capacity expansions to support the robust demand for Series 6. First Solar has the potential to grow at a fast pace for years to come given the jaw-dropping investment potential of the renewable energy industry. According to one estimate, the global economy needs toinvest $10 trillion to transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Given that First Solar makes some of the most cost-competitive panels in the industry, it should be able to capture a meaningful portion of these investment dollars. In addition to its high-powered earnings growth, First Solar also has the best balance sheet in the solar industry. The company currently expects to end this year with between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion of net cash, which should only increase as it cashes in on Series 6. That gives it the funds to potentially enhance shareholder returns in the future. It could do that by investing in additional expansion initiatives or returning some of this money to investors via a dividend or share repurchase program. The rally in First Solar's stock this year has its shares trading at a premium price. With the stock currently above $65 and the company on track to earn $2.50 per share at the midpoint of its guidance range, it implies that First Solar trades at 26 times earnings. That's well above the 21.7 times multiple of the S&P 500. While the company does expect to grow at a fast pace in the coming years, shares could tumble if it misses expectations. Another concern with First Solar is that it needs to continue investing in new products so that it doesn't fall behind the competition. While the company doesn't make the most efficient panel, it does build one of the more cost-competitive ones. However, if future products don't stay ahead of the competition, the company could lose market share, which would impact profitability. A third potential issue that could affect the company is government interference, such as tariffs on solar panels or changes in incentives. Since First Solar has more manufacturing capacity in the U.S. than any of its peers, it's not getting burned by the tariffs that the U.S. imposed on China. However, if those two countries work out a trade deal eliminating those tariffs, it could boost competition in the U.S., which might pressure First Solar's margins. Meanwhile, governments have been cutting back on their financial support for renewables in recent years as costs have come down. If they cut back too far, it could negatively impact panel demand, which would likely hurt First Solar's margins. While First Solar's stock is trading at a higher price after rallying 50% this year, it could have much more room to run. That's because the company is just starting to transition to its new Series 6 panel, which should help power high-margin growth for the next few years. Add that to its top-tier balance sheet and the overall growth potential of the renewable energy market, and First Solar is one of the top stocks to buy in the sector. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Matthew DiLalloowns shares of First Solar. The Motley Fool recommends First Solar. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
The Schweitzer-Mauduit International (NYSE:SWM) Share Price Is Down 25% So Some Shareholders Are Getting Worried Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! For many, the main point of investing is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment inSchweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.(NYSE:SWM), since the last five years saw the share price fall 25%. And it's not just long term holders hurting, because the stock is down 24% in the last year. Furthermore, it's down 14% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders. See our latest analysis for Schweitzer-Mauduit International There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. While the share price declined over five years, Schweitzer-Mauduit International actually managed toincreaseEPS by an average of 5.4% per year. Given the share price reaction, one might suspect that EPS is not a good guide to the business performance during the period (perhaps due to a one-off loss or gain). Alternatively, growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past. Due to the lack of correlation between the EPS growth and the falling share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics to try to understand the share price movement. We note that the dividend has remained healthy, so that wouldn't really explain the share price drop. It's not immediately clear to us why the stock price is down but further research might provide some answers. The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). We know that Schweitzer-Mauduit International has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? So we recommend checking out thisfreereport showing consensus forecasts It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Schweitzer-Mauduit International's TSR for the last 5 years was -7.2%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments! Schweitzer-Mauduit International shareholders are down 20% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 7.8%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 1.5% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You canclick here to see if insiders have been buying or selling. Of course,you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere.So take a peek at thisfreelist of companies we expect will grow earnings. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
The FDA Has Identified A Possible Link Between 16 Dog Food Brands And Canine Heart Disease Photo credit: FatCamera - Getty Images From Delish The U.S. Food and Drug Administration published a report Thursday stating they've identified a potential link between a particular type of canine heart disease and 16 different brands of dog food . This is the third update the FDA has released on the topic after the agency opened its investigation nearly a year ago, in July 2018. The heart disease, called canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), can cause congestive heart failure in dogs. It is believed to also have a genetic component and more often affects larger dog breeds. Many of the 16 identified brands in the FDA's report have "grain-free" labels, and as such, contain a large amount of peas, lentils, pulses, and/or potatoes (in various forms) as main ingredients (meaning they're "listed within the first 10 ingredients in the ingredient list, before vitamins and minerals"). The brands are listed in descending order of the number of incidents of reported heart disease, as follows: Acana, Zignature, Taste of the Wild, 4Health, Earthborn Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Nature’s Domain, Fromm, Merrick, California Natural, Natural Balance, Orijen, Nature’s Variety, NutriSource, Nutro and Rachael Ray Nutrish. A disproportionate number of cases reported in the FDA's study were from owners of golden retrievers, and the FDA is looking into the reason. They suspect it has to do with "breed-specific social media groups and activities that have raised awareness of the issue in these communities and urged owners and vets to submit reports to FDA," according to the report. That said, research has shown that golden retrievers may be genetically predisposed to a condition called taurine dificency, which can cause dilated cardiomyopathy. Based on the newfound diet and disease connection, the report states, "The FDA is using a range of science-based investigative tools as it strives to learn more about this emergence of DCM and its potential link to certain diets or ingredients." Story continues It should be noted that, as part of its investigation, the FDA went back to reports of DCM from 2014, and found 560 cases (119 of those dogs have died). "The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that there are 77 million pet dogs in the United States. Most dogs in the U.S. have been eating pet food without apparently developing DCM," the FDA wrote in its report. But because of the increasing trend, they're continuing to look in to the matter. If your dog is experiencing any DCM symptoms, the FDA suggests you contact your veterinarian immediately. And if you have any relevant information to the investigation, you can visit the agency's page, How to Report a Pet Food Complaint . ('You Might Also Like',) Crave Carbs? We Created This 21-Day Keto Plan Just for You Insanely Easy Weeknight Dinners To Try This Week 29 Insanely Delicious Vodka Cocktails
Has Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. (NYSE:SWM) Been Employing Capital Shrewdly? Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today we are going to look at Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. ( NYSE:SWM ) to see whether it might be an attractive investment prospect. In particular, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that can give us insight into how profitably the company is able to employ capital in its business. Firstly, we'll go over how we calculate ROCE. Then we'll compare its ROCE to similar companies. Finally, we'll look at how its current liabilities affect its ROCE. Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it? ROCE measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. All else being equal, a better business will have a higher ROCE. In brief, it is a useful tool, but it is not without drawbacks. Renowned investment researcher Michael Mauboussin has suggested that a high ROCE can indicate that 'one dollar invested in the company generates value of more than one dollar'. How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed? The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) Or for Schweitzer-Mauduit International: 0.098 = US$132m ÷ (US$1.5b - US$140m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) Therefore, Schweitzer-Mauduit International has an ROCE of 9.8%. See our latest analysis for Schweitzer-Mauduit International Does Schweitzer-Mauduit International Have A Good ROCE? When making comparisons between similar businesses, investors may find ROCE useful. We can see Schweitzer-Mauduit International's ROCE is around the 11% average reported by the Forestry industry. Separate from how Schweitzer-Mauduit International stacks up against its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms is mediocre; relative to the returns on government bonds. It is possible that there are more rewarding investments out there. Story continues You can click on the image below to see (in greater detail) how Schweitzer-Mauduit International's past growth compares to other companies. NYSE:SWM Past Revenue and Net Income, June 30th 2019 Remember that this metric is backwards looking - it shows what has happened in the past, and does not accurately predict the future. ROCE can be deceptive for cyclical businesses, as returns can look incredible in boom times, and terribly low in downturns. This is because ROCE only looks at one year, instead of considering returns across a whole cycle. Since the future is so important for investors, you should check out our free report on analyst forecasts for Schweitzer-Mauduit International . Schweitzer-Mauduit International's Current Liabilities And Their Impact On Its ROCE Current liabilities are short term bills and invoices that need to be paid in 12 months or less. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets. Schweitzer-Mauduit International has total assets of US$1.5b and current liabilities of US$140m. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 9.4% of its total assets. Schweitzer-Mauduit International reports few current liabilities, which have a negligible impact on its unremarkable ROCE. What We Can Learn From Schweitzer-Mauduit International's ROCE Based on this information, Schweitzer-Mauduit International appears to be a mediocre business. Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Schweitzer-Mauduit International . So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly. I will like Schweitzer-Mauduit International better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com . This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Kamala Harris rivals defend her after Donald Trump Jr. tweet The primary rivals of Sen. Kamala Harris , D-Calif., came to her defense over the weekend, pushing back against a claim fueled by Donald Trump Jr. that she isn't an “American black.” During the Thursday night presidential debate, Harris pointedly challenged former Vice President Joe Biden's record on race. At one point, she noted that she was the beneficiary of a busing program as a child in Berkeley, Calif. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public school, and she was bused to school every day,” Harris said. “And that little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly.” Sen. Kamala Harris at the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday. (Photo: Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS via Getty Images) On Twitter, Trump Jr. promoted a post questioning the racial identity of Harris, the Oakland-born biracial child of a Jamaican father and Indian mother. "Kamala Harris is *not* an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican," the tweet shared by Trump Jr. said. "Is this true? Wow," Trump Jr. added before deleting his tweet. His spokesman labeled it a misunderstanding, saying that “once he saw that folks were misconstruing the intent of his tweet, he quickly deleted it,” according to the New York Times . The since-deleted tweet. All of Harris's major primary rivals united in her defense. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was perhaps the bluntest. . @KamalaHarris doesn’t have shit to prove. https://t.co/OQm8wVub7W — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) June 29, 2019 Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent-Vt., called out Trump Jr. by name and connected his debate tweet to President Trump, who spent years promoting the "birther" conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. Donald Trump Jr. is a racist too. Shocker. https://t.co/cy0N6fUseX — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 29, 2019 Biden, who had sparred with Harris during the debate , did the same without naming Trump Jr. Story continues The same forces of hatred rooted in 'birtherism' that questioned @BarackObama 's American citizenship, and even his racial identity, are now being used against Senator @KamalaHarris . It’s disgusting and we have to call it out when we see it. Racism has no place in America. — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 29, 2019 "There's a long history of black Americans being told they don't belong—and millions are kept down and shut out to this day," said former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas. There's a long history of black Americans being told they don't belong—and millions are kept down and shut out to this day. @KamalaHarris is an American. Period. And all of us must call out attempts to question her identity for what they are: racist. https://t.co/g3n7lmoU2h — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) June 29, 2019 South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg further condemned "birther-style" attacks. The presidential competitive field is stronger because Kamala Harris has been powerfully voicing her Black American experience. Her first-generation story embodies the American dream. It’s long past time to end these racist, birther-style attacks. https://t.co/x5Wdx8DKr8 — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) June 29, 2019 Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called the attacks "racist and ugly." The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist and ugly. We all have an obligation to speak out and say so. And it’s within the power and obligation of tech companies to stop these vile lies dead in their tracks. — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 29, 2019 Washington Gov. Jay Inslee labeled them "racist and vile." The coordinated smear campaign on Senator @KamalaHarris is racist and vile. The Trump family is peddling birtherism again and it’s incumbent on all of us to speak out against it. — Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) June 29, 2019 Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., blasted such "vile behavior." These troll-fueled racist attacks on Senator @KamalaHarris are unacceptable. We are better than this (Russia is not) and stand united against this type of vile behavior. — Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) June 29, 2019 Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., directly said, "This is racism." This is racism. It was wrong before, and it’s wrong now. We won’t allow it again. https://t.co/MCkHFdronw — Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) June 29, 2019 Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, similarly weighed in, as well as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. The attack on @KamalaHarris is racist and we can't allow it to go unchecked. We have a responsibility to call out this birtherism and the continued spread of misinformation. — Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) June 29, 2019 The attacks against @KamalaHarris are racist & un-American, period. — Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 29, 2019 The racist attacks against @KamalaHarris are ugly and go directly against the values I and so many Americans fight to protect everyday. The American people deserve much more from their leaders, their media, and their platforms. — Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) June 30, 2019 The ugly, racist attacks against @KamalaHarris represent the worst of us. As Americans, we’ve got to call out conspiracy theories like these — rooted in nothing less than hatred — when we see them. — Steve Bullock (@GovernorBullock) June 30, 2019 Read more from Yahoo News: For several of the Democratic underdogs, the first debate gave a much-needed boost Dear debaters: You don't need a 'breakout moment' to break through Democrats unite at debate in endorsing health care to undocumented immigrants NBC hot mic mars a moment Health care question divides the field
Is Now An Opportune Moment To Examine EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE:EME)? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE:EME), which is in the construction business, and is based in United States, received a lot of attention from a substantial price increase on the NYSE over the last few months. With many analysts covering the mid-cap stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stock’s share price. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at EMCOR Group’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists. View our latest analysis for EMCOR Group According to my relative valuation model, the stock seems to be currently fairly priced. I’ve used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 16.73x is currently trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 18.78x, which means if you buy EMCOR Group today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe EMCOR Group should be trading in this range, then there isn’t much room for the share price grow beyond where it’s currently trading. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that EMCOR Group’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility. Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. Though in the case of EMCOR Group, it is expected to deliver a relatively unexciting earnings growth of 9.1%, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. Growth doesn’t appear to be a main reason for a buy decision for the company, at least in the near term. Are you a shareholder?It seems like the market has already priced in EME’s growth outlook, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at EME? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the true value? Are you a potential investor?If you’ve been keeping an eye on EME, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive growth outlook may mean it’s worth diving deeper into other factors in order to take advantage of the next price drop. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on EMCOR Group. You can find everything you need to know about EMCOR Group inthe latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in EMCOR Group, you can use our free platform to see my list of over50 other stocks with a high growth potential. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Is Exelixis a Buy? After a dismal performance in 2018 withExelixis(NASDAQ: EXEL)shares sinking 35%, the biotech stock is doing much better so far this year. But Exelixis still trails behind the top two biotech exchange-traded funds as well as the major market indexes. Is Exelixis a smart pick to buy now? Here are the top arguments for and against the stock. Image source: Getty Images. Exelixis' sales appear poised to shoot through the roof. Actually, they already are to some extent. The biotechposted a 20% year-over-year revenue jump in the first quarterof 2019. That increase was less than it could have been due to an inventory drawdown and higher discounts and allowances given for patients covered by government healthcare programs. The company's top drug, Cabometyx, has gained a significant market share as a second-line treatment for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common type of kidney cancer. Exelixis picked up an additional approval for Cabometyx as a first-line treatment for RCC in December 2018 followed by another approval as a second-line treatment for liver cancer less than a month later. Cabometyx is still in the very early stages of competing in its latest approved indications. Meanwhile, Exelixis is hoping to fuel even more growth by exploring opportunities for Cabometyx in combination with other drugs. Two late-stage clinical studies are currently underway evaluating combinations of Cabometyx withBristol-Myers Squibb's immunotherapies. In addition, Exelixis thinks that there's potential for Cabometyx as a stand-alone therapy in treating other types of cancer. Although Exelixis' melanoma drug Cotellic isn't a big winner for the biotech yet, there's a chance that it could become a more important contributor in the future. A couple ofphase 3 studiesare in progress testing Cotellic withRoche's Tecentriq and Zelboraf in treating melanoma. The company also has amassed a nice cash stockpile of more than $1 billion that it could put to work in augmenting its pipeline. Still, the main attraction with Exelixis is Cabometyx. The drug could generate peak annual sales of around $2 billion. With Exelixis' market cap at only $6.5 billion, the biotech appears to be attractively valued. Exelixis' greatest strength also appears to be its biggest weakness. The biotech's fortunes hinge on success for Cabometyx. Although the drug is very effective and likely to capture more market share, many investors might not be comfortable with Exelixis depending so much on one product. Cabometyx competes in a crowded market against well-funded rivals. And those rivals aren't resting on their laurels.Merck, for example, recently won Food and Drug Administration approval for a combination of its powerhouse immunotherapy Keytruda withPfizer's Inlyta as a first-line treatment for kidney cancer. There's no guarantee that Exelixis will be able to broaden its lineup beyond Cabometyx in a meaningful way. Cotellic could flop in its phase 3 studies in combination with Tecentriq and Zelboraf. Exelixis might not be successful in acquiring other candidates to build out its pipeline. It's also important to remember that the clock is ticking on Exelixis' patents for Cabometyx. The company's strongest U.S. patent for the drug expires in 2026. Exelixis does have other patents that could allow it to protect its market share several more years, but there's a real risk that those patents might not hold up in court challenges. As always with investing, the decision comes down to weighing the potential rewards against the potential risks. For Exelixis, I think that the potential rewards are greater than the risks. Although the biotech might be a one-trick pony right now, it has a really great horse to ride with Cabometyx. I suspect that the drug will prove to be effective in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo, clearing the way for even greater growth over the next decade. The dynamics could change in the future for Exelixis. For now, though, I think the stock is a buy. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Keith Speightsowns shares of Pfizer. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Exelixis. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Is Marijuana Stock KushCo Holdings a Buy? No one knows for surehow bigthe global cannabis market will get, but one thing is certain: It's growing fast, and an ecosystem of businesses that serve it is forming before our eyes. Most companies in the space are foregoing profit to grab market share, build brands, make alliances, and carve out sustainable niches. The result is a bewildering number of companies with rapidly expanding businesses but uncertain futures. KushCo Holdings(NASDAQOTH: KSHB)is awholesale supplierto companies serving the marijuana industry, primarily in the U.S. The company doesn't deal in marijuana or cannabis derivatives itself, but sells supplies such as vaporizer parts, solvents, pre-roll papers, packages, and labels to customers throughout the cannabis value chain. It's a small company based in California, but it has put up breathtaking sales growth numbers for three years. Can its stock make you rich? Image source: Getty Images. Although the company started out selling packaging solutions, that segment has diminished in importance -- it comprised only 14% of revenue in thelatest quarter, and its sales actually declined from the previous quarter. KushCo's growth is now coming from its largest segment, vaporizer parts, which supply 69% of revenue, and from energy and natural products, which supplies extraction businesses with solvents and oil bases and contributed 11% of revenue last quarter. KushCo's pivot to vaporizers and solvents for producing extracts is paying off brilliantly, as the U.S. market for concentrates is growing much faster than the market for marijuana flowers. While growth has gone negative in the company's original two categories, the two segments supporting the concentrate market are on fire. In the most recent quarter, vape grew 383% year-over-year and 58% sequentially. The company's energy and natural products category essentially didn't exist a year ago, and had sales growth of 69% over the previous quarter. Chart by author. Data source: KushCo Holdings. Put that all together and the company produced second-quarter revenue growth of 240% year-over-year, and 39% quarter-over-quarter, for a total of $35.2 million. KushCo raised its revenue guidance for the full year by $30 million, a whopping 26% at the midpoint. It's like another quarter of sales appeared out of nowhere. This kind of head-over-heels top-line growth is nothing new for KushCo, having more than doubled sales in both 2017 and 2018. Clearly the company is serving its customers well and adding new ones every quarter. But there's no real playbook for that kind of growth, especially for a business that outsources its production overseas, and losses have mounted as the company has had problems with execution. As CEO Nick Kovacevich admitted last year, the young company didn't have the proper processes and systems in place to support its growth. As a result, KushCo has had massive challenges in managing its supply chain. KushCo's problems with managing growth started showing up late last year. The company uses contract manufacturers in China, and ordinarily ships goods by surface to keep costs low. With transit times from China to the West Coast of about five weeks and supplier lead times on top of that, KushCo needs to be very good at forecasting demand well in advance of orders. Unfortunately, the marijuana industry is experiencing chaotic growth, and KushCo has a complicated offering, with its biggest customers ordering 70 different SKUs (stock keeping units) on average. Forecasting all those orders accurately and filling them in a timely way is a herculean effort. KushCo had to take some extraordinary measures to serve customers well. For products that were in short supply, the company resorted to costly air freight to eliminate the transit time across the ocean. In fiscal Q1, the three months ended November 30, the company spent $1.25 million on air freight, almost 5% of revenue. KushCo also ran up additional costs by shipping directly to customers on the East Coast from California rather than stocking inventory in its Massachusetts distribution center, and by taking some extra measures to address quality control issues. Altogether, KushCo's gross margin plummeted from 24% in fiscal 2018 to 13% in the first half of 2019. Getting back to historical margins while maintaining high product availability meant that KushCo needed to bring on new factories in China and make huge investments in inventory to stock its distribution centers with enough supply to get ahead of demand. Also, in order to move SKUs from air shipment back to surface freight, the five-week pipeline of parts in transit had to be refilled. The cost of doing this showed up in the latest quarter, which ended February 28. Inventory doubled from the quarter before to $36 million, and the company reported negative operating cash flow of $34.8 million. With only $13.5 million in cash at the beginning of the quarter, KushCo had to use external means to fund working capital, raising $34 million through an equity offering that diluted existing shareholders. In the current quarter, the company raised an additional $21.3 million in debt through the placement of a senior note. Going forward, KushCo says that maintaining supply chain lead times of two to three months coupled with its crazy growth rate will force it to spend more money than it is taking in for the foreseeable future. It plans to prioritize funding its ballooning need for working capital through debt, but the banking environment around cannabis makes that a challenge. Further dilutive equity financing is a virtual certainty. As if it didn't have enough problems managing exploding expenses, the company has been hit with a new supply chain cost: tariffs. KushCo's air freight bill came down significantly in Q2, but it paid even more in tariffs in the quarter: $1.4 million from the second round of tariffs on Chinese goods, which went into effect on January 1. KushCo is looking at passing on some of the cost of tariffs to its customers through a tariff supplement fee it implemented this quarter. But the current quarter will have three full months of tariffs on ever-increasing purchases to support sales and inventory growth. And if President Trump makes good on his threat to raise China tariffs from 10% to 25%, the company will have even tougher demands on its cash. KushCo reported a quarterly profit as recently as Q1 of fiscal 2018, but with its current problems it's nowhere close to that now. Net loss in the second quarter was $8.9 million, or $0.10 per share, but that includes a paper gain of $5.6 million on the fair value of contingent consideration. Excluding that, but also subtracting out those air freight, product quality, and tariff costs -- which definitely won't be one-time events -- the company still lost $7.1 million, compared with a loss of $7.6 million in the period a year ago. KushCo will need torestate its resultsof the last two years because of an accounting error, but that's merely a distraction. The real issue for investors is the fact that the company's current business doesn't come close to generating enough cash to fund its growth. Kovacevich is optimistic that the company will grow out of its problems. KushCo is optimizing its warehouses with a new management system, discontinuing free shipping to its customers, and solving quality problems, and will be enjoying some cost benefits from its increased scale. He believes the company could achieve 30% gross margin and be profitable in fiscal 2020. And if theSTATES Actpasses, the company should be able to finance further growth with debt rather than another run to the equity market. KushCo is obviously doing a lot of things right to be able to grow its business at the breakneck speed of its first few years in business. The company has 10 customers that have generated over $1 million in sales, whereas in fiscal 2018 there were only four and in 2017 there were none. Vaporizer sales are expected to become legal in Canada later this year, which could be a big boost to sales. States such as Michigan andIllinoisthat have recently relaxed marijuana laws are a tailwind, and sales into the company's biggest market, California, nearly tripled from a year earlier. But along with that growth comes the biggest reason to be wary of KushCo stock: a rapacious need for cash that isn't going to get better any time soon. KushCo has 40% more shares outstanding now than it did a year ago, which is a big reason why the stock price hasn't gone anywhere in that time. It's the nature of KushCo's business that will continue to drive its need for working capital. The company is a middleman for a large variety of inexpensive products for an industry in a state of relative chaos. That means large and growing inventory needs in an environment where long term debt is difficult to obtain, and that, in turn, means further dilution of shareholders. The other risk for KushCo's shareholders is its dependence on the vape category. While it's a hot area of growth right now, it's also vulnerable to competition, and the company needs more diversification. KushCo doesn't own the proprietary rights to the vaporizer products it sells, but is one of four licensed distributors of CCELL technology, owned by Chinese company Shenzhen SMOORE Technology Limited. KushCo is attempting to build a moat by being a "one stop shop" for the customers it serves, but other well-funded players are alsopursuing vaporizer development, and market disruption is a strong possibility. On the surface, KushCo Holdings, with a market capitalization under $400 million, looks like a small company with fantastic growth that's just waiting to be discovered. In reality, the company faces tough challenges managing that growth in a chaotic environment. The company has done a fantastic job of serving its customers and navigating uncharted waters so far, but shareholders haven't profited. KushCo may emerge from its present challenges as a profitable company in 2020, as it expects. Adventurous investors may want to make a bet on the market rewarding that. But they should keep a sharp eye on the cash flow statement rather than on the income statement. And most investors should avoid KushCo entirely until it can demonstrate that its business is sustainable. More From The Motley Fool • Beginner's Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks • Marijuana Stocks Are Overhyped: 10 Better Buys for You Now • Your 2019 Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks Jim Crumlyhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends KushCo Holdings. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Can TELUS Corporation's (TSE:T) ROE Continue To Surpass The Industry Average? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand TELUS Corporation (TSE:T). Our data showsTELUS has a return on equity of 16%for the last year. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each CA$1 of shareholders' equity it has, the company made CA$0.16 in profit. View our latest analysis for TELUS Theformula for ROEis: Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity Or for TELUS: 16% = CA$1.6b ÷ CA$10b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is the capital paid in by shareholders, plus any retained earnings. You can calculate shareholders' equity by subtracting the company's total liabilities from its total assets. ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else equal,investors should like a high ROE. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies. By comparing a company's ROE with its industry average, we can get a quick measure of how good it is. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, TELUS has a better ROE than the average (11%) in the Telecom industry. That is a good sign. We think a high ROE, alone, is usually enough to justify further research into a company. For example,I often check if insiders have been buying shares. Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used. It's worth noting the significant use of debt by TELUS, leading to its debt to equity ratio of 1.58. There's no doubt the ROE is respectable, but it's worth keeping in mind that metric is elevated by the use of debt. Debt increases risk and reduces options for the company in the future, so you generally want to see some good returns from using it. Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. In my book the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt. But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to take a peek at thisdata-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company. If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss thisfreelist of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Southwest Airlines Cancels More Flights as Boeing 737 MAX Woes Continue TheBoeing(NYSE: BA)737 MAX was grounded this March following two fatal crashes. At the time, it appeared that Boeing would be able to fix the safety issues created by its faultyManeuvering Characteristics Augmentation System(MCAS) software relatively quickly, clearing the way for its best-selling jet to return to the skies for the busy summer travel season. However, the timeline for recertifying the Boeing 737 MAX has been slipping over the past few months. As recently as one month ago,a return to service in Augustseemed likely. That's out of the question now, as FAA test pilots recently discovered new potential vulnerabilities. As a result, U.S. airlines are once again delaying the return of the 737 MAX to their fleets and canceling flights. On Thursday,Southwest Airlines(NYSE: LUV)extended its 737 MAX cancellations by another month -- and further cancellations are virtually inevitable. Southwest Airlines has removed the 737 MAX from its September schedule. Image source: Southwest Airlines. Boeing finished developing updated MCAS software more than a month ago. It began flight testing in April, and by mid-May, the company had logged more than 360 hours in the air across 207 test flights using the new software. This made it seem realistic for Boeing to complete certification flights with FAA personnel on board in June and get 737 MAX jets flying again beginning in August. However, during simulator testing this month, FAA pilots encountered a data processing issue that made it difficult to execute the standard recovery procedures in case of the MCAS software erroneously pushing the 737 MAX's nose down. The FAA has instructed Boeing to address this issue prior to scheduling certification flights. In a statement released on Wednesday, Boeing said that it agreed with the FAA's assessment. The good news is that Boeing thinks it can resolve this latest issue with another software update rather than any hardware changes. Nevertheless, Boeing doesn't expect to have a fix ready for certification until at least September,according to Reuters. After that, it will take weeks for the FAA to make a final decision. It would then take at least a month for most airlines to get their 737 MAX fleets back in the air, due to the need for software updates, maintenance work, and additional pilot training. As of earlier this week,American Airlines(NASDAQ: AAL)and Southwest Airlines expected to put their 737 MAX fleets back into service in early September. On Wednesday,United Airlines(NASDAQ: UAL)adopted the same timetable, canceling another 1,900 flights between early August and Labor Day weekend. Image source: American Airlines. Yet the most recent setback for the 737 MAX means that Boeing's troubled jet won't be ready to fly until October in a best-case scenario -- and possibly even November or December. This has made another round of flight cancellations inevitable. Even before the latest delay surfaced, Southwest Airlines had decided to postpone the return of the 737 MAX by a month, from Sept. 2 to Oct. 1. That means it will scrap about 150 daily flights in September: nearly 4% of its total schedule. Ultimately, a similar number of flight cancellations will be necessary until the Boeing 737 MAX is finally ready. American Airlines also could be forced to cancel more than 100 flights a day for much of the fall if it forges ahead with a plan toretire all of its MD-80sin early September. (The impact will be smaller at United, which has fewer 737 MAX aircraft.) The 737 MAX grounding has upended capacity plans at Southwest, American, and United -- but particularly at Southwest. Whereas the low-fare airline giant had initially planned to grow its capacity by as much as 5% this year, its capacity is on track todecline 3.5% year over yearin the second quarter. With a substantial proportion of its fleet out of service, Southwest Airlines will continue to shrink (albeit temporarily) in the coming months. This unplanned capacity crunch means that airlines aren't growing as quickly as air travel demand is rising. As a result, airlines' pricing power in the domestic market will continue to improve this summer and into the fall. In short, travelers should expect higher airfares. For Boeing 737 MAX operators, the unit revenue benefits of flying fewer planes will be more than offset by higher unit costs related to the grounding. By contrast, airlines that don't rely on the 737 MAX can look forward to unusually strong profits for the next quarter or two. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Adam Levine-Weinbergowns shares of Southwest Airlines and is long January 2020 $20 calls on American Airlines Group. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Southwest Airlines. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Why You Should Like Fortinet, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FTNT) ROCE Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today we are going to look at Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) to see whether it might be an attractive investment prospect. To be precise, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that will inform our view of the quality of the business. First of all, we'll work out how to calculate ROCE. Second, we'll look at its ROCE compared to similar companies. Last but not least, we'll look at what impact its current liabilities have on its ROCE. ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. In general, businesses with a higher ROCE are usually better quality. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Author Edwin Whitingsaysto be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since 'No two businesses are exactly alike.' Analysts use this formula to calculate return on capital employed: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) Or for Fortinet: 0.13 = US$249m ÷ (US$3.2b - US$1.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) Therefore,Fortinet has an ROCE of 13%. View our latest analysis for Fortinet One way to assess ROCE is to compare similar companies. Using our data, we find that Fortinet's ROCE is meaningfully better than the 9.5% average in the Software industry. I think that's good to see, since it implies the company is better than other companies at making the most of its capital. Independently of how Fortinet compares to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears decent, and the company may be worthy of closer investigation. In our analysis, Fortinet's ROCE appears to be 13%, compared to 3 years ago, when its ROCE was 1.8%. This makes us think the business might be improving. You can see in the image below how Fortinet's ROCE compares to its industry. Click to see more on past growth. When considering this metric, keep in mind that it is backwards looking, and not necessarily predictive. Companies in cyclical industries can be difficult to understand using ROCE, as returns typically look high during boom times, and low during busts. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. Future performance is what matters, and you can see analyst predictions in ourfreereport on analyst forecasts for the company. Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way the ROCE equation works, having large bills due in the near term can make it look as though a company has less capital employed, and thus a higher ROCE than usual. To check the impact of this, we calculate if a company has high current liabilities relative to its total assets. Fortinet has total liabilities of US$1.3b and total assets of US$3.2b. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 39% of its total assets. Fortinet has a middling amount of current liabilities, increasing its ROCE somewhat. With a decent ROCE, the company could be interesting, but remember that the level of current liabilities make the ROCE look better. There might be better investments than Fortinet out there,but you will have to work hard to find them. These promising businesses withrapidly growing earningsmight be right up your alley. For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
What Can We Expect From Fortinet, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:FTNT) Earnings In Next 12 Months? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Based on Fortinet, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:FTNT) earnings update in March 2019, the consensus outlook from analysts appear pessimistic, with earnings expected to decline by 19% in the upcoming year relative to the past 5-year average growth rate of 60%. Presently, with latest-twelve-month earnings at US$332m, we should see this fall to US$268m by 2020. I will provide a brief commentary around the figures and analyst expectations in the near term. For those keen to understand more about other aspects of the company, you canresearch its fundamentals here. View our latest analysis for Fortinet Over the next three years, it seems the consensus view of the 27 analysts covering FTNT is skewed towards the positive sentiment. Since forecasting becomes more difficult further into the future, broker analysts generally project out to around three years. To get an idea of the overall earnings growth trend for FTNT, I’ve plotted out each year’s earnings expectations and inserted a line of best fit to determine an annual rate of growth from the slope of this line. This results in an annual growth rate of 11% based on the most recent earnings level of US$332m to the final forecast of US$350m by 2022. This leads to an EPS of $2.19 in the final year of projections relative to the current EPS of $1.96. However, the near term margins may change heading into 2022, from the current levels of 18% to 14%. Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For Fortinet, I've compiled three fundamental factors you should look at: 1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Valuation: What is Fortinet worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether Fortinet is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Fortinet? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Chris Pratt's Honeymoon Sunburn Will Have You Reaching For the Sunscreen Photo credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin - Getty Images From Men's Health Chris Pratt might have raised some eyebrows earlier this year when he preached about the benefits of the Biblical "Daniel diet," but right now his lobster-red back and lily-white butt are teaching fans a valuable lesson about the importance of wearing sunscreen. The actor shared an Instagram photo on Saturday which revealed the painful-looking sunburn he got while on his honeymoon in Hawaii with Katherine Schwarzenegger. "Suns out guns out," he wrote in the caption. "I might have got a toouuuch crispy on the honeymoon #Aloe ". In the photo, Pratt's entire back, shoulders and arms are bright red. To provide contrast, he also bared his butt in the picture - which is so pale it looks like it's just seen a ghost. {% verbatim %} View this post on Instagram Suns out guns out I might have got a toouuuch crispy on the honeymoon #Aloe A post shared by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Jun 29, 2019 at 9:30am PDT {% endverbatim %} The photo elicited a number of sympathetic comments, including a tongue-in-cheek remedy suggestion from actress-turned-lifestyle-entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow, who wrote: "I’ve got some goop for that." Pratt alluded to aloe vera in the post as his go-to sunburn treatment, and that's a smart move: aloe-based products soothe the skin, reduce inflammation, and speed up healing. Pratt might also want to try upping his water intake, as sunburn doesn't just dry out the skin, it dehydrates the entire body. If you're suffering with Pratt levels of sunburn, there are other home remedies which can help. "The best method is to apply cool compresses for 10 minutes several times a day," says Lindsey Bordone, MD , a dermatologist at Columbia Doctors Midtown in New York. She also recommends trying one part fat-free milk mixed with one part water for a quick and easy facial soak to help skin recover: "The protein in the milk as well as the pH-which is close to neutral-help restore balance to the skin." Story continues And whatever you do, resist the temptation to pick at your sunburned skin as it starts to peel! It causes further dermatological damage and can increase your risk of infection. ('You Might Also Like',) A Vegan Diet Helped This Man Lose 150 Pounds and Improve His Mental Health How to Cool Down After Your Hardest Workouts What Is The Lectin-Free Diet?
Does The Colliers International Group Inc. (TSE:CIGI) Share Price Fall With The Market? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! If you own shares in Colliers International Group Inc. (TSE:CIGI) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market. Some stocks mimic the volatility of the market quite closely, while others demonstrate muted, exagerrated or uncorrelated price movements. Some investors use beta as a measure of how much a certain stock is impacted by market risk (volatility). While we should keep in mind that Warren Buffett has cautioned that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk', beta is still a useful factor to consider. To make good use of it you must first know that the beta of the overall market is one. Any stock with a beta of greater than one is considered more volatile than the market, while those with a beta below one are either less volatile or poorly correlated with the market. Check out our latest analysis for Colliers International Group Looking at the last five years, Colliers International Group has a beta of 1.52. The fact that this is well above 1 indicates that its share price movements have shown sensitivity to overall market volatility. If the past is any guide, we would expect that Colliers International Group shares will rise quicker than the markets in times of optimism, but fall faster in times of pessimism. Share price volatility is well worth considering, but most long term investors consider the history of revenue and earnings growth to be more important. Take a look at how Colliers International Group fares in that regard, below. Colliers International Group is a reasonably big company, with a market capitalisation of CA$3.7b. Most companies this size are actively traded with decent volumes of shares changing hands each day. It takes deep pocketed investors to influence the share price of a large company, so it's a little unusual to see companies this size with high beta values. It may be that that this company is more heavily impacted by broader economic factors than most. Beta only tells us that the Colliers International Group share price is sensitive to broader market movements. This could indicate that it is a high growth company, or is heavily influenced by sentiment because it is speculative. Alternatively, it could have operating leverage in its business model. Ultimately, beta is an interesting metric, but there's plenty more to learn. In order to fully understand whether CIGI is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Colliers International Group’s financial health and performance track record. I urge you to continue your research by taking a look at the following: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for CIGI’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor CIGI’s outlook. 2. Past Track Record: Has CIGI been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of CIGI's historicalsfor more clarity. 3. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how CIGI measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with thisfree list of prospective options. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
With EPS Growth And More, Colliers International Group (TSE:CIGI) Is Interesting Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Some have more dollars than sense, they say, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can easily find investors. And in their study titled Who Falls Prey to the Wolf of Wall Street?' Leuz et. al. found that it is 'quite common' for investors to lose money by buying into 'pump and dump' schemes. So if you're like me, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, like Colliers International Group ( TSE:CIGI ). While that doesn't make the shares worth buying at any price, you can't deny that successful capitalism requires profit, eventually. While a well funded company may sustain losses for years, unless its owners have an endless appetite for subsidizing the customer, it will need to generate a profit eventually, or else breathe its last breath. Check out our latest analysis for Colliers International Group How Fast Is Colliers International Group Growing Its Earnings Per Share? In the last three years Colliers International Group's earnings per share took off like a rocket; fast, and from a low base. So the actual rate of growth doesn't tell us much. As a result, I'll zoom in on growth over the last year, instead. Like the last firework on New Year's Eve accelerating into the sky, Colliers International Group's EPS shot from US$1.41 to US$2.40, over the last year. You don't see 70% year-on-year growth like that, very often. One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. Colliers International Group maintained stable EBIT margins over the last year, all while growing revenue 15% to US$2.9b. That's a real positive. The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. For finer detail, click on the image. Story continues TSX:CIGI Income Statement, June 30th 2019 The trick, as an investor, is to find companies that are going to perform well in the future, not just in the past. To that end, right now and today, you can check our visualization of consensus analyst forecasts for future Colliers International Group EPS 100% free. Are Colliers International Group Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders? I like company leaders to have some skin in the game, so to speak, because it increases alignment of incentives between the people running the business, and its true owners. As a result, I'm encouraged by the fact that insiders own Colliers International Group shares worth a considerable sum. Notably, they have an enormous stake in the company, worth US$332m. This suggests to me that leadership will be very mindful of shareholders' interests when making decisions! Does Colliers International Group Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist? Colliers International Group's earnings per share have taken off like a rocket aimed right at the moon. That sort of growth is nothing short of eye-catching, and the large investment held by insiders certainly brightens my view of the company. At times fast EPS growth is a sign the business has reached an inflection point; and I do like those. So yes, on this short analysis I do think it's worth considering Colliers International Group for a spot on your watchlist. If you think Colliers International Group might suit your style as an investor, you could go straight to its annual report, or you could first check our discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation for the company . Of course, you can do well (sometimes) buying stocks that are not growing earnings and do not have insiders buying shares. But as a growth investor I always like to check out companies that do have those features. You can access a free list of them here . Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com . This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Big Lots (BIG) Up 10% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Continue? A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Big Lots (BIG). Shares have added about 10% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Big Lots due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers. Big Lots Beats on Q1 Earnings, Updates FY19 ViewBig Lots reported better-than-expected first-quarter fiscal results. The company commenced fiscal 2019 on a strong note, with sales growth and comparable store sales coming in line with expectations, and the bottom line surpassing management’s guided range, driven by better expense management.The company is making meaningful progress on the front of Store of the Future initiative along with increased focus on Rewards loyalty program and e-commerce business. Quarterly results and strategic endeavors prompted it to raise fiscal 2019 earnings view.Let’s Delve DeeperThe company posted adjusted earnings of 92 cents a share that surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 69 cents and also came above its earlier guidance of 65-75 cents. However, the bottom line was below 95 cents reported in the prior-year quarter.Net sales grew 2.2% to $1,295.8 million and marginally surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,289.3 million. The top line increased on comparable store sales and sales growth in high-volume new stores, partly offset by reduced store count year over year. Furniture, Soft Home, Seasonal and Consumables drove sales higher.Comparable store sales improved 1.5% and were in line with the company’s prior guidance of low-single-digit increase. This marked the fourth successive quarter of comparable store sales growth.With respect to merchandising categories, Furniture, Seasonal and Soft Home were up in mid-single digits. We note that the consumables category was up in a low-single digit while Hard Home and Electronics, Toys & Accessories, and Food were down.Adjusted gross profit increased 2.6% year over year to $525.1 million while gross margin expanded 10 basis points to 40.5%. In the reported quarter, adjusted SG&A expenses were $438 million, up 2.4% year over year, while as a percentage of net sales, the same deleveraged 10 basis points to 33.8%.Adjusted operating income was $54.3 million, down 2.8% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, operating margin contracted 20 basis points to 4.2% in the quarter.Other Financial DetailsThe company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $63.6 million. Inventories were up 9.1% to $927 million. Total shareholders’ equity was $648.3 million.Management informed that increases in inventory were due to “general impact of tariffs on higher first cost of merchandise, our intentional decision to move forward inventory commitments in key categories of Furniture and Soft Home to support earlier resets of fresh, new product, and the slower than anticipated sell-through of seasonally sensitive product in Q1 largely due to weather.”Long-term obligations under the bank credit facility totaled $470.4 million, up from $174 million in the prior-year period. This was due to the timing of share buyback activity, higher strategic investments and the timing of increased inventory levels. Big Lots incurred capital expenditure of roughly $77 million during the quarter.During the quarter under review, the company returned about $61 million to shareholders, with $13 million as dividends and $48 million in the form of share repurchases. We note that Big Lots exhausted $50 million share repurchase authorization approved in March 2019. Management anticipates adjusted cash flow of approximately $100 million for fiscal 2019.Store UpdatesIn the quarter, Big Lots opened nine outlets and shuttered six, taking the total to 1,404 stores. Going ahead, it intends to open 50 new or relocated stores, and remodel more than 200 stores in fiscal 2019.GuidanceBig Lots now expects fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings to be 35-45 cents a share compared with 59 cents reported in the year-ago period.The company projects low to mid-single-digit growth in sales, and low-single-digit increase in comparable store sales. Gross margin is likely to be marginally down during the fiscal second quarter, owing to higher markdown.For fiscal 2019, management now expects adjusted earnings per share to be $3.70-$3.85, up from the earlier view of $3.55-$3.75. However, the updated range is still below the prior-year period’s reported figure of $4.04. The company projects a low-single-digit increase in both sales and comparable store sales for fiscal 2019. How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then? In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates. VGM Scores At this time, Big Lots has an average Growth Score of C, however its Momentum Score is doing a lot better with an A. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of A on the value side, putting it in the top 20% for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of A. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Outlook Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Notably, Big Lots has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportBig Lots, Inc. (BIG) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Oil dips on demand worries despite OPEC cut extension By Noah Browning LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as concerns that the global economy could be slowing outweighed an agreement by producer club OPEC on Monday to extend supply cuts until next March. Brent crude futures were down 18 cents, or 0.28%, at $64.88 a barrel by 0845 GMT. U.S. crude futures for August were down 20 cents, or 0.34%, at $58.89 a barrel, after touching their highest in more than five weeks on Monday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Monday to extend oil supply cuts until March 2020 as members overcame their differences to try to prop up the price of crude. "It appears that the supply side of the oil equation is supportive for oil prices but demand concerns are forcing oil bulls to keep at least part of their gunpowder dry," PVM analyst Tamas Varga wrote in a note. OPEC is slated to meet with Russia and other producers, an alliance known as OPEC+, later on Tuesday to discuss supply cuts amid surging U.S. output. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he had agreed with Saudi Arabia to extend global output cuts until December 2019 or March 2020, and Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday he was 100% confident of an OPEC+ deal. Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil stockpiles were seen falling for a third consecutive week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday, also supporting prices. Still, concerns of a weaker global economy denting oil demand growth capped price gains. While the U.S. and China agreed at a recent Group of 20 leaders summit to restart trade talks, factory activity shrank across much of Europe and Asia in June while growth in manufacturing cooled in the United States weighed on oil prices. Asian shares wobbled on Tuesday, U.S. Treasury yields fell and gold rebounded, while a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump saying any trade deal with China would need to be "somewhat tilted" in favour of Washington also stoked doubt over prospects for a trade deal between the top two economies. "Oil traders will now turn their attention to the economic data, as the weakening global activity and waning demand could again weigh on the sentiment", Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said in a note. (Additional reporting by Jessica Jaganathan, editing by Louise Heavens)
Genpact Limited (NYSE:G) Insiders Have Been Selling Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So before you buy or sellGenpact Limited(NYSE:G), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling. Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Columbia Universitystudyfound that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'. Check out our latest analysis for Genpact The Senior VP & CFO, Edward Fitzpatrick, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.7m worth of shares at a price of US$33.03 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$38.09). When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. It is worth noting that this sale was 65.4% of Edward Fitzpatrick's holding. In the last twelve months insiders netted US$2.0m for 61581 shares sold. Genpact insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! If you are like me, then you willnotwant to miss thisfreelist of growing companies that insiders are buying. Over the last three months, we've seen a bit of insider selling at Genpact. Senior VP Heather White divested only US$38k worth of shares in that time. It's not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the amount sold isn't enough for us to put any weight on it. For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Genpact insiders own 0.8% of the company, worth about US$56m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders. We did not see any insider buying in the last three months, but we did see selling. But given the selling was modest, we're not worried. Recent insider selling makes us a little nervous, in light of the broader picture of Genpact insider transactions. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at thisFREEreport showing analyst forecasts for Genpact. Of course,you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere.So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Joanna Page: 'New 'Gavin and Stacey' script made me cry' The cast of Gavin and Stacey (L-R) Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, Melanie Walters, Ruth Jones and James Corden arrive for the 2007 British Comedy Awards at The London Studios, Upper Ground, London, SE1. (Photo by Yui Mok - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images) Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page has said the cast reunion for the much-loved comedy show was ‘so emotional’ and admits the script made her cry. Show writers James Corden and Ruth Jones revealed last month the comedy was returning for a one-hour special to be aired Christmas Day. Read more: Gavin & Stacey return will be ‘nostalgic joy-bomb’, says James Corden Last week Corden tweeted a photo of the cast at the script read-through, and Page has revealed the first day was emotional for those involved. She told the Daily Star Sunday: “When we had the read-through, I walked in and it was so emotional. “I hadn’t seen so many of the cast for so many years. “I kept touching everybody’s face and saying, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s you – I’ve missed you so much’. “Then we sat down to read the script and it was like we’d never been away. We all came together like a big ­family. It was really lovely. We had a right laugh.” 42-year-old Page went on to say fans of the show ‘will love’ the Christmas special. She said: “The script is brilliant. It’s really good. It made me cry, it made me laugh and it made me think, ‘I just want to spend Christmas with this family’. “I think fans will love it. It’s quite nostalgic, but it also feels quite modern and funny.” The actress, who plays Stacey to Mathew Horne’s Gavin, added: “We start filming it in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait to get started. Joanna Page and Mathew Horne pose with the award for Comedy for Gavin & Stacey during the South Bank Show Awards 2008 held at The Dorchester on January 29, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage) “Fingers crossed when everybody has eaten their Christmas dinner, and they’re so stuffed that they can’t move, they’ll tune in.” Read more: James Corden: 'We have to keep talking about Grenfell' Talking about the return of the show, Corden, recently told The Sunday Times Culture magazine: “We owed it to the characters. We wanted to see if there was something there, and for a while we weren’t sure. “Then, once there was, my feeling was, life’s too short. Fear is the absolute reason to do it. We just want the new show to be a nostalgic joy-bomb.” Ruth Jones and James Corden attend the Channel 4 Comedy Gala, in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital, at the O2 Arena, London. (Photo by Ian Nicholson/PA Images via Getty Images) Gavin and Stacey ran for three series between 2007 and 2010, with a Christmas special in between the second and third series. It made household names of Corden, who played Smithy, and Ruth Jones, who played Smithy’s off-again-on-again lover, Nessa.
Is PBF Energy Inc.'s (NYSE:PBF) 11% ROE Better Than Average? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! While some investors are already well versed in financial metrics (hat tip), this article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE) and why it is important. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF). Over the last twelve monthsPBF Energy has recorded a ROE of 11%. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated $0.11 in profit. Check out our latest analysis for PBF Energy Theformula for ROEis: Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity Or for PBF Energy: 11% = US$326m ÷ US$3.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) Most know that net profit is the total earnings after all expenses, but the concept of shareholders' equity is a little more complicated. It is the capital paid in by shareholders, plus any retained earnings. You can calculate shareholders' equity by subtracting the company's total liabilities from its total assets. ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else being equal,a high ROE is better than a low one. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses. One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. You can see in the graphic below that PBF Energy has an ROE that is fairly close to the average for the Oil and Gas industry (11%). That's not overly surprising. ROE tells us about the quality of the business, but it does not give us much of an idea if the share price is cheap. I will like PBF Energy better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out thisfreelist of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying. Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the debt used for growth will improve returns, but won't affect the total equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same. While PBF Energy does have some debt, with debt to equity of just 0.64, we wouldn't say debt is excessive. The fact that it achieved a fairly good ROE with only modest debt suggests the business might be worth putting on your watchlist. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the company's ability to take advantage of future opportunities. Return on equity is a useful indicator of the ability of a business to generate profits and return them to shareholders. In my book the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better. But ROE is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, since high quality businesses often trade on high multiples of earnings. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So you might want to take a peek at thisdata-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company. If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss thisfreelist of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
What Does PBF Energy Inc.'s (NYSE:PBF) Balance Sheet Tell Us About It? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Investors are always looking for growth in small-cap stocks like PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF), with a market cap of US$3.6b. However, an important fact which most ignore is: how financially healthy is the business? Evaluating financial health as part of your investment thesis is essential, as mismanagement of capital can lead to bankruptcies, which occur at a higher rate for small-caps. We'll look at some basic checks that can form a snapshot the company’s financial strength. Nevertheless, these checks don't give you a full picture, so I suggest youdig deeper yourself into PBF here. Over the past year, PBF has ramped up its debt from US$2.2b to US$2.4b – this includes long-term debt. With this growth in debt, PBF's cash and short-term investments stands at US$418m , ready to be used for running the business. Additionally, PBF has generated cash from operations of US$773m over the same time period, leading to an operating cash to total debt ratio of 32%, indicating that PBF’s current level of operating cash is high enough to cover debt. At the current liabilities level of US$2.6b, it appears that the company has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of US$4.0b, leading to a 1.53x current account ratio. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Usually, for Oil and Gas companies, this is a suitable ratio since there's a sufficient cash cushion without leaving too much capital idle or in low-earning investments. With a debt-to-equity ratio of 64%, PBF can be considered as an above-average leveraged company. This is a bit unusual for a small-cap stock, since they generally have a harder time borrowing than large more established companies. We can test if PBF’s debt levels are sustainable by measuring interest payments against earnings of a company. Ideally, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) should cover net interest by at least three times. For PBF, the ratio of 3.44x suggests that interest is appropriately covered, which means that lenders may be inclined to lend more money to the company, as it is seen as safe in terms of payback. PBF’s high cash coverage means that, although its debt levels are high, the company is able to utilise its borrowings efficiently in order to generate cash flow. Since there is also no concerns around PBF's liquidity needs, this may be its optimal capital structure for the time being. I admit this is a fairly basic analysis for PBF's financial health. Other important fundamentals need to be considered alongside. I suggest you continue to research PBF Energy to get a better picture of the small-cap by looking at: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PBF’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor PBF’s outlook. 2. Valuation: What is PBF worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether PBF is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore ourfree list of these great stocks here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
The 2019 IMSA 6 Hours of Watkins Glen As It Happened Photo credit: Brian Cleary - Getty Images From Road & Track 0:00 Remaining: Mazda wins, with the #55 of Harry Tincknell being the one to take the honors. That car wins even as its engine cover peels away, perhaps an apt metaphor for the constant issues those cars have had and this team has endured on the way to this win. #77 of Oliver Jarvis comes in second, with the #6 Penske Acura finishing in third. The timing of the overall not lapping the GTLM battle gave that pair an extra lap, but the #3 Corvette can't get to the #911, and Nick Tandy takes the win in that car for Porsche. Four in a row for that program in GTLM, with the #67 Ford GT roundin out the podium. The #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Mario Farnbacher wins in GTD over the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW of Bill Auberlin, who was, and is now still, seeking what would have been a record number of IMSA class wins. The #52 Oreca takes the win in LMP2, a class which had more instances of cars involved in incidents than it did cars entered. No other gap from first to second was above a second, but that class was won by twenty full laps. 0:02 Remaining: White flag. Gaps in all three major classes are half a second. In the two-car LMP2 class, the #52 leads by twenty laps. 0:05 Remaining: The gaps for the win are now floating around a second in all three major classes: Mazda #55 leads Mazda #77, Porsche #911 leads Corvette #3, and Acura NSX #86 leads BMW #96. 0:10 Remaining: Audi #8 has run out of fuel on the pit lane. An unfortunate end for a bold call by that team, which comes up ten full minutes short. The gap in GTLM is now down to two seconds, from the #911 Porsche to the #3 Corvette, and the gap from the #86 Acura NSX to the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW is comparable in GTD. 0:12 Remaining: The #55 Mazda's aerodynamic problems have gone from bad to worse, with half of the engine cover now slowly peeling off. These are the sort of things that aren't issues in an endurance race, where there would be time to replace these interchangeable parts, but in a more sprint-like race like this it could be catastrophic for that car. The gap overall is now just a second, but Mazda's 1-2 may be safe yet; the gap to third is a full twenty seconds. Story continues Porsche #912 has given up its fuel mileage gambit, giving way for Porsche #911 to lead GTLM by five seconds. 0:14 Remaining: Dalziel is still out on track in the #8 Audi, but he's lost the GTD lead on track to the #86 Acura. That big gamble will not bring Starworks a win today. 0:22 Remaining: Mazda's gap from first to third is now up to a full thirteen seconds. The #55's rear wing assembly is clearly in dire straits, but it's still nearly as fast as the #77. 0:30 Remaining: In GTD, the #8 Starworks Audi is on something of a wild gamble in an attempt to save enough fuel to win. Most likely, that will fail, and that car will cede the GTD class lead to the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX of Mario Farnbacher. Porsche #912 is on a similar fuel saving run in GTLM, twenty seconds ahead of the many-car pack led by its sister #911 entry. 0:32 Remaining: Mazda #77 gets ahead of Acura #6 in the pit lane. Oliver Jarvis is in that car and about five seconds behind the leading Mazda, but, crucially, a few car lengths ahead of the Acura that will try to break up Mazda's first-ever IMSA DPi win. 0:34 Remaining: Some issues with the #55 Mazda's final stop, with the car struggling to find a gear on the way out of the pits. Alarming for that team. Even more alarming is minor damage to that car's rear wing assembly, which is missing two of the connecting pieces that attach the wing to the bumper. That piece is still attached at the fin, but not to the assembly itself. Just over half an hour remains. It would be in Mazda's best interest to get in the #77 ahead of the #6 Acura as fast as possible. 0:41 Remaining: NBC confirms no review on the Tincknell pass. Mazda leads this race yet again. 0:43 Remaining: Harry Tincknell finally makes his move with a fairly aggressive cut inside at the edge of the boot. There's a potential track limits issue with the pass, but that may well be negated by Oliver Jarvis, who makes an aggressive move of his own heading into the bus stop to try to get into second. Montoya retains second, for now. 0:50 Remaining: Tincknell in the #55 Mazda sees a line on the outside of the boot as a chance to take the lead, but ends up running through the runoff and losing time. Montoya still leads overall in the #6 Acura, and the gap to second is still under half a second. 0:54 Remaining: Harry Tincknell, in the #55 Mazda, is pressuring Juan Pablo Montoya for the race lead. That car was previously content to save fuel, but now wants the overall lead on track. 1:00 Remaining: The #25 BMW, the one involved in the earlier altercation with an LMP2 car, is on fire in the pit lane. Generally, that is not considered an ideal state for a car. 1:07 Remaining: Back to green. Both Mazdas are putting immediate pressure on Juan Pablo Montoya in the leading Penske Acura. 1:10 Remaining, Full Course Caution: The GTLM running order is now Porsche #911, Ford GT #67, Ford GT #66, BMW #25, Porsche #912, Corvette #3, and BMW #24. All of the cars in that class still running are on the lead lap, and all stopped either just before or during this safety car period. The two Meyer Shank Racing Acuras still lead GTD over the Land Audi. 1:16 Remaining, Full Course Caution: The closed pits are open to prototypes, so both of the Mazdas stop, ending their time on a split strategy. The #6 Penske Acura also came in to top off fuel, so all three DPi contenders are now on the same fuel strategy and will be running on track together. The Mazdas have both been much faster for most of the race, but they weren't notably faster over the last stint. 1:26 Remaining, Full Course Caution: The #38 LMP2 Oreca is stopped on the racing line in the boot. The #6 Acura and a few of the GTLM leaders get into the pits before they close, which will give those teams a fairly sizable advantage over anyone either stopping in a closed pit or stopping while the field is bundled together after it goes back to green. 1:36 Remaining: The GTLM leading battle of the #911 Porsche and #25 BMW, there due to off-sequence pit cycles, are both the victims of the LMP2 class, as the #38 Oreca somehow makes contact with and damages both of them on the way to spinning in the bus stop. Both continue. Blomqvist has more visible damage, but Pilet's car seems to be damaged, as well. Mazda #77 finally moves past Mazda #55 for the overall lead, but those cars remain on different strategies and Mazda will likely decide a winner among itself through that. 1:56 Remaining: Corvette #3 is back past Porsche #912 for the GTLM lead. Those cars now have a five second gap on the #25 BMW, but the Porsches and Fords are on a slightly different strategy than the Corvette and the BMWs. 1:58 Remaining: The #5 Action Express Cadillac is blocking the two Mazdas heavily, refusing to cede its place two laps down, for some reason. Tristan Nunez is briefly forced into the grass to avoid a GTD car in his attempts to pass that car, and now Nunez is applying a little bit less pressure to avoid any further risk. 2:06 Remaining: The two Mazdas, for the first time in an hour, are together on track. The #77 leads, currently being driven by Tristan Nunez, but Olivier Pla is providing significant pressure in the #55. Mazda, surely, has told the pair that they are on different strategies, are in complete control of the race as a team, and have never won a DPi race. 2:23 Remaining: Helio Castroneves, driving the #7 Penske Acura, has made contact with the #52 LMP2 car into turn 1, spinning both cars. Castroneves is forced to stop early and that car has fallen to fifth, but there doesn't appear to be any lasting damage to the car itself. The #52 was and is the leader in LMP2, a two-car class that has yet to have a competitive race since being split off from DPi this offseason. 2:41 Remaining: Nissan #54, the CORE DPi entry, is stopped on the NASCAR bypass of the Boot with the door open. That car isn't somewhere where a safety car would be called for it to be recovered, so it may be there for the rest of the race. The gap from Mazda #77 to Mazda #55 is down to just 15 seconds after the last 40 minutes of cycling stops, a much smaller gap than before. This is, seemingly, a three-horse race between those two cars and Penske Racing's #6 Acura. 3:10 Remaining: The #96 Turner BMW, leading in GTD, makes some contact with another yellow car, the #85 Cadillac DPi. It was enough contact to break a wheel, a rare and strange occurrence, but after a quick tire change that car returns, seemingly escaping without any major issue. The #540 Porsche of Marc Miller now leads GTD. Acura DPi short filled during the last set of stops in an attempt to leapfrog the overall leaders, so it comes in fairly early to fully refuel now. No tires for that car and we now have three separate strategies in the top four in that class. 3:17 Remaining: Mazda #77, the one that's off-strategy, has actually been growing its lap over the course of this stint. The lead has grown from 20 seconds to 27, a considerable gap. At this pace, that car could be far enough ahead to lead after its stop two stops from now. On the other hand, this has been a weak stint for Mazda #55, which still has a gap of just a few seconds on Acura #6 despite coming into the pits with a comfortable ten second gap about fifteen minutes back. 3:30 Remaining: Daniel Morad brings in the #29 Land Audi from the GTD lead. That car was 30 minutes off strategy, a significant enough gap that it will likely stay off strategy for most of the rest of the race. The #96 Turner BMW now leads in that class, ahead of the #63 Ferrari and #12 Lexus. The #86 Acura NSX that led the first two hours of this race is now down to fifth. Most of the DPi field has now stopped as well, so the off-strategy Mazda #77 is again the leader on track by about twenty seconds on Mazda #55, which held a ten second lead on the #6 Acura DPi until that stop, but now has a gap of just a few seconds for the net lead. Corvette #3 is now leading again in GTLM, still ahead of the #25 and #24 BMWs. Porsches #912 and #911 are now in fourth and fifth, both moving past the Fords that have faded over the course of the early running. 3:39 Remaining: Acura #6 is up to third overall after nearly falling a lap down during the last hour of running. That car will likely cycle back to fourth, with the #77 Mazda behind it a few laps off the primary strategy of the rest of the DPi field, but it's a strong run for a car that started last on the grid after a pre-race issue. Mazda #55's lead on Acura #7 is ten seconds after about 25 minutes of green flag running. 4:03 Remaining: Back to green. BMW #25 and Audi #29 lead in GTLM and GTD, respectively, but the #3 Corvette and #86 Acura NSX that have led for much of the day in those classes are close behind. 4:08 Remaining, Full Course Caution: The #84 Cadillac and #77 Lamborghini get into it in turn 5, bringing out another full course yellow. That's a catastrophic day for JDC Miller, which is now down two Cadillac DPi entries in today's race. Mazda is splitting its strategies, pitting the #55 Mazda short under this safety car while leaving the #77 out. the #77 will lose the lead when it stops in a few laps, but leaving out that car will prevent a few other cars, most notably the #5 Action Express Cadillac of Mike Conway, from getting a lap back on the leaders. 4:25 Remaining: Though his lead is not as impressive as Mazda's in DPi, Justin Marks and his #86 Acura NSX have a fairly impressive 20 second gap over the #96 Turner BMW in GTD. The lead in GTLM, meanwhile, is just two seconds. 4:43 Remaining: The Mazdas have an incredible speed advantage in this race, and their lead on third is now nearly a minute. They have also lapped up to sixth overall, including the #6 Acura that would have started on pole if not for a penalty pre-race that dropped it to last in class. 4:53 Remaining: Big contact with the wall for the #85 Cadilac DPi of Misha Goikhberg, which spins where the NASCAR track layout meets the full layout. That car rejoins the track and gets to the pit lane under its own power and with surprisingly little damage, impressive given how significant the hit looked. The GTLM leaders have begun their stops, the last class to complete its first cycle of stops. 4:56 Remaining: A quick mistake for the #67 Ford GT and Richard Westbrook falls all the way to third in GTLM in that car, with the #3 Corvette now leading and the #24 BMW M8 in second. 5:04 Remaining: An overall lead change during the first cycle of stops, as the #55 Mazda that stopped sooner gets ahead of the #77 and will take that position once everything cycles out. Corvette #3 moves to second in GTLM. 5:14 Remaining: Twenty minutes from the restart, the top five in GTLM are still covered by a second and a half and under constant pressure from one another. 5:22 Remaining: Mazda #55 gets to second after a nifty little pass around the #7 Acura DPi. Those cars now run first and second overall. 5:35 Remaining: Back to green. Four different manufacturers now hold the top four spots in GTLM, with a Ford leading a BMW, a Corvette, and a Porsche. With Risi Competizione's Ferrari now a part-time program, every manufacturer in today's field is represented in that incredibly close lead group. The #54 Nissan and #50 Cadillac are serving a long stop-and-hold penalty for disobeying safety car procedure and will fall off the lead lap in DPi. 5:38 Remaining, Full Course Caution: Repairs for the #31 Cadillac are minor, but some issues with the bodywork have made them particularly slow, so that car is now two full laps down. 5:45 Remaining, Full Course Caution: Cadillacs #5 and #31, teammates from the rebranded Action Express Racing, have collided with one another from fourth overall and in class. The #5 rejoins without issue, but the #31 is beached in the gravel. seemingly having begun the incident when braking in front of its with a punctured tire. That car, the one driven by Pipo Derani and former Formula 1 driver Felipe Nasr, is leading the championship in DPi. That would be difficult to describe as an ideal result for that team. 5:50 Remaining: Back to green. Dane Cameron was granted a nice bit of relief by the timing of this safety car, with the by-class grid sorting done during even short periods of slowdown allowing his #6 Acura to move in front of the entire GT field and closer to the DPi leaders. 5:59 Remaining, Full course Caution: The race begins and, for the second straight weekend of IMSA racing, is under yellow by the end of lap 1. It's a collision between two GTLM contenders, the #912 Porsche and the #4 Corvette C7.R, beginning the incident, with the #4 Corvette, the same car that ran as #64 at Le Mans, suitably destroyed for the second time this month. Porsche #912 escapes without major damage, but the #33 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Ben Keating is less lucky. That Riley Motorsports team ran the Keating Ford GT in GTE-Am at Le Mans, the car that had its win vacated on a penalty. The #48 Lamborghini Huracan joins it s a GTD car to collect damage, but that Paul Miller Racing car seems to have suffered little more than a flat left-rear tire. The #6 Acura DPi started from the rear of the field, surrendering its front row starting position. Antonio Garcia had a poor start in the #3 Corvette and dropped from the lead to third in GTLM, handing that class lead to Richard Westbrook and the #67 Ford GT. Pole sitters lead in all other classes, including the two-car LMP2 category that will go scarcely mentioned today. 6:00 Remaining: The Six Hours of the Glen, one if IMSA's oldest and most famous races, is about to begin. Mazda, which has shown impressive speed for the past two seasons but has been plagued by significant reliability issues since the program began, has its #55 on pole in DPi , ahead of Penske's two Acuras and its sister #77 Mazda on the front two rows. Antonio Garcia put the #3 Corvette on pole in GTLM, sharing that class front row with the #67 Ford GT, while Trent Hindman leads an Acura NSX front row lockout in GTD. The race begins shortly and will last the track's traditional six hours. It can be streamed on NBC Sports streaming services and IMSA.com in the U.S., airing on American television later today. ('You Might Also Like',) 16 of the Most Interesting Engine Swaps We've Ever Seen See 70 Years of the Greatest Ferraris Ever Built These Are the 14 Best New Cars for Less Than $45,000
How, where to get free food and discounts in June June brings the summer heat and some good deal days. The sweetest is June 7 forNational Doughnut Day, which is celebrated annually on the first Friday in June. There are some deals to help with the heat including National Iced Tea Day (June 10) and then the officialfirst day of summer(June 21), which also isNational Smoothie Day. Here are some of the big days for free food and discounts along with ongoing specials, available at participating locations. To be on the safe side, always check with your closest location before heading out. Also, some will require you to have a restaurant's app or be signed up for emails. Bookmark this page because it'll be updated frequently with more specials. Businesses with 20 or more locations cansubmit meal deals here. Year of freebies:Free coffee, doughnuts, cheeseburgers and more: How to fill 2019 with freebies and deals Super saving:How to use Target Cartwheel to save money and time New doughnuts have landed at Krispy Kreme. On Monday, the doughnut chain announced it has added new Original Filled Doughnuts in two flavors – Classic Kreme and Chocolate Kreme – to its permanent U.S. menu. The launch is tied to the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. “Delivering a new taste experience for the doughnut-verse, Krispy Kreme’s Original Filled is a whole new interpretation of the brand’s iconic Original Glazed doughnut,” Krispy Kreme said in a statement, noting it is initially offered with a choice of two fillings: Classic Kreme and Chocolate Kreme. “As America prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, we want to give our fans a new taste experience that is out of this world,” said Dave Skena, Krispy Kreme chief marketing officer, in a statement. Through Sunday, June 23, get a large, two-topping Thin 'N Crispy or Hand-Tossed Pizza for $5.99 Pizza Hut when you order online atwww.pizzahut.comand carry out. Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites Pizza also is back for a limited time. “This appetizer-and-pizza-in-one has a little something for everyone, whether you’re feeling generous and feeding the neighborhood block party with the 28 craveable, cheese-filled bites, or just satisfying a personal, cheesy craving,” Pizza Hut said in a statement. Through Sunday, July 14, get a free half-size Berry Burst Salad with any purchase using theWendy’s mobile app. Download the app atwww.wendys.comor at app stores. Coming soon:Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets return Aug. 19 and you can thank Chance the Rapper Through July 29, Olive Garden has its popular “Buy One, Take One” promotion. Starting at $12.99, order select items and take a second entree home. Learn more atwww.olivegarden.com. Applebee's:The June Neighborhood Drink of the Month is the $1 Vodka Raspberry Lemonade, which is served in a 10-ounce mug with vodka, Tropicana Lemonade, raspberry and lemon juice. Buffalo Wild Wings:During Team USA Soccer matches, Buffalo Wild Wings will have $3 Budweiser and Bud Light tall draughts. Burger King:For a limited time, the fast-food chain has a $4 Whopper Jr. meal, a $5 Whopper meal and a $6 Double Whopper meal. No coupon is needed. Chili’s:The $5 Margarita for June is the Stay-Cay 'Rita, which is made with 1800 Reposado Tequila. Chuck E. Cheese:Through June 30, buy one large pizza, get one free when you use the phrase "friends eat free.” Learn more atwww.chuckecheese.com. Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries:Through June 30, get a four-inch cheesesteak with fries or tots and a drink for $6.99. Krystal:For a limited time, All-You-Can-Eat original Krystal burgers and fries for $5.99 per person available at participating locations. Sonic Drive-In:Through Sept. 2, shakes are included in the ongoing Sonic Nights promotion and are half-price after 8 p.m. Ice cream cookie sandwiches are also part of the promotion. Taco Bell:Through Sept. 1 at 2:59 ET,get 15% off one Party Pack. Sign up for offers atwww.tacobell.com/register. Tropical Smoothie Cafe:As part of its National Flip Flop Day promotion, the chain is collecting donations through June 30. Donate $5 or more and get a discount for 5% off your purchases for the rest of the year. Learn more atwww.nationalflipflopday.com. Uno Pizzeria & Grill:For a limited time, get $2 Sauza margaritas and $4 Patron margaritas all day at participating locations. Yardhouse:On Mondays through July 8, Yardhouse has the Summer Beer Fest special with more than 12,000 beer combinations with the "$5 Build Your Own Four-Pack" beer flight. Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter:@KellyTyko This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:How, where to get free food and discounts in June
A Look At TECSYS Inc.'s (TSE:TCS) Exceptional Fundamentals Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Attractive stocks have exceptional fundamentals. In the case of TECSYS Inc. (TSE:TCS), there's is a company with strong financial health as well as a excellent future outlook. Below is a brief commentary on these key aspects. For those interested in understanding where the figures come from and want to see the analysis, read the fullreport on TECSYS here. TCS is an attractive stock for growth-seeking investors, with an expected earnings growth of 92% in the upcoming year. Earnings growth is paired with an eye-catching top-line trajectory of 56%, which indicates a high-quality bottom-line expansion, as opposed to those driven simple by unsustainable cost-cutting activities. TCS's strong financial health means that all of its upcoming liability payments are able to be met by its current cash and short-term investment holdings. This implies that TCS manages its cash and cost levels well, which is an important determinant of the company’s health. TCS's has produced operating cash levels of 0.34x total debt over the past year, which implies that TCS's management has put its borrowings into good use by generating enough cash to cover a sufficient portion of borrowings. For TECSYS, there are three relevant aspects you should look at: 1. Historical Performance: What has TCS's returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of our analysisfor more clarity. 2. Valuation: What is TCS worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether TCS is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other Attractive Alternatives: Are there other well-rounded stocks you could be holding instead of TCS? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Goldman Sachs ‘Absolutely’ Eyeing Crypto, Doesn’t Expect Stock Market Crash If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. That’s the prevailing mindset on Wall Street when it comes to crypto. The latest to (re)-hop on the bitcoin/blockchain bandwagon isGoldman SachsCEO David Solomon. Solomon told French financial newspaperLes Echosthat Goldman Sachs is “absolutely” considering its own cryptocurrency — following the lead of rival JPMorgan, which istesting its JPM Coin. In fact, Solomon says you should assume that all major investment banks are considering making a foray into crypto. “Absolutely! Many people are looking in this direction. But it is too early to say which platform will prevail…Assume that all major financial institutions around the world are looking at the potential of “tokenization,” “stable wedge” and frictionless payments.” When asked if Goldman Sachs is talking to Facebook about itsLibracrypto project, Solomon coyly suggested that it’s likely. Solomon says he can neither confirm nor deny if Goldman has been in discussions with Facebook. However, he admits that the disruptive potential of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is undeniable. Read the full story on CCN.com.
5 Things to Do Before Leaving Your Job Maybe you've held down the same job for several years and have finally grown tired of it. Or maybe you like your job, but just got offered a new one with a higher salary and more compelling work. There are plenty of good reasons to leave a job, but before you do, make sure to cross the following items off your list. Even if you have a great relationship with your boss, you should make a point of writing a formalresignation letteras you gear up to leave your job. This way, your employer has that note on file, and you'll be able to clearly define when you'll be leaving (though you should always aim to provide at least two weeks' notice before separating willingly from an employer). Just as importantly, your resignation letter is your chance to go out on a professional note, and if you fill that letter with statements of gratitude, it'll help you look good in your company's eyes (and perhaps help soften the blow of your departure). Image source: Getty Images. Chances are, you have a number of colleagues you enjoy spending time with at the office or want to stay in touch with for professional purposes. It's always smart to have a way of reaching those people outside of their work email accounts or office-based landlines, so once you've submitted your resignation letter, let those people know you're leaving and take down their personal contact info. Depending on your company's time off policy, you may be entitled to cash out unused vacation days upon your departure, even if the decision to leave is yours alone. Similarly, you may be entitled to get paid forsick daysyou accrued. Read up on your employer's policy, or talk to someone in your human resources department who can help you determine what last-minute compensation, if any, you're entitled to. If you've been getting health insurance from your employer, leaving your job will mean losing that coverage. Now if you're headed to a new job whose health benefits kick in right away, this won't be a problem. But if youwillbe looking at a coverage gap, you'll need to solve for that, since walking around uninsured foranyperiod of time is a highly risky move. If you need health insurance for just a month or two during that transition period,COBRAmay be your best bet. With COBRA, you can retain your former employer's health plan, the only difference being that you'll need to pay your premium costs yourself, as opposed to counting on your employer to subsidize them. The result could be pretty expensive, but if you're only looking at a brief coverage gap, the convenience may be worth the cost. If you had a401(k) planthrough work, you'll generally have the option to leave your money where it is, even once you're no longer an employee. But doing so may not be ideal, in which case it pays to have a plan for where you'll put your retirement savings. Now if you have another job lined up and you know that employer has its own 401(k), you can roll your money from your old plan into that new one directly. If you don't have a replacement job secured, or your new company doesn't offer a 401(k), then you can roll your old 401(k) into an IRA. Switching jobs is a big deal. Before you leave your current employer, be sure to tackle these key items. Doing so will allow you to move on in a smooth, stress-free fashion. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Does Genesco Inc.'s (NYSE:GCO) P/E Ratio Signal A Buying Opportunity? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! This article is for investors who would like to improve their understanding of price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll apply a basic P/E ratio analysis to Genesco Inc.'s (NYSE:GCO), to help you decide if the stock is worth further research.Genesco has a price to earnings ratio of 14.35, based on the last twelve months. That is equivalent to an earnings yield of about 7.0%. See our latest analysis for Genesco Theformula for price to earningsis: Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Genesco: P/E of 14.35 = $42.29 ÷ $2.95 (Based on the trailing twelve months to May 2019.) A higher P/E ratio means that investors are payinga higher pricefor each $1 of company earnings. That isn't a good or a bad thing on its own, but a high P/E means that buyers have a higher opinion of the business's prospects, relative to stocks with a lower P/E. Companies that shrink earnings per share quickly will rapidly decrease the 'E' in the equation. That means even if the current P/E is low, it will increase over time if the share price stays flat. So while a stock may look cheap based on past earnings, it could be expensive based on future earnings. Genesco's earnings made like a rocket, taking off 51% last year. On the other hand, the longer term performance is poor, with EPS down 5.8% per year over 5 years. The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. The image below shows that Genesco has a P/E ratio that is roughly in line with the specialty retail industry average (15.2). Its P/E ratio suggests that Genesco shareholders think that in the future it will perform about the same as other companies in its industry classification. If the company has better than average prospects, then the market might be underestimating it. Further research into factors such asinsider buying and selling, could help you form your own view on whether that is likely. The 'Price' in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth. Such expenditure might be good or bad, in the long term, but the point here is that the balance sheet is not reflected by this ratio. Genesco has net cash of US$83m. This is fairly high at 12% of its market capitalization. That might mean balance sheet strength is important to the business, but should also help push the P/E a bit higher than it would otherwise be. Genesco trades on a P/E ratio of 14.3, which is below the US market average of 18.1. The net cash position gives plenty of options to the business, and the recent improvement in EPS is good to see. The relatively low P/E ratio implies the market is pessimistic. Given analysts are expecting further growth, one I would have expected a higher P/E ratio.So this stock may well be worth further research. When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. So thisfreevisualization of the analyst consensus on future earningscould help you make theright decisionabout whether to buy, sell, or hold. But note:Genesco may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20). We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Investors Who Bought Calian Group (TSE:CGY) Shares Five Years Ago Are Now Up 72% Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! When we invest, we're generally looking for stocks that outperform the market average. Buying under-rated businesses is one path to excess returns. For example, long termCalian Group Ltd.(TSE:CGY) shareholders have enjoyed a 72% share price rise over the last half decade, well in excess of the market return of around 0.4% (not including dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 12% in the last year, including dividends. View our latest analysis for Calian Group In his essayThe Superinvestors of Graham-and-DoddsvilleWarren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. Over half a decade, Calian Group managed to grow its earnings per share at 5.0% a year. This EPS growth is slower than the share price growth of 12% per year, over the same period. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth. The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image). Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination ofhistoric growth trends, available here.. As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Calian Group the TSR over the last 5 years was 118%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments! It's good to see that Calian Group has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 12% in the last twelve months. Of course, that includes the dividend. However, that falls short of the 17% TSR per annum it has made for shareholders, each year, over five years. If you would like to research Calian Group in more detail then you might want totake a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company. For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on CA exchanges. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
How Do Analysts See Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) Performing In The Next 12 Months? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! After Harley-Davidson, Inc.'s (NYSE:HOG) earnings announcement in March 2019, analysts seem fairly confident, as a 5.3% increase in profits is expected in the upcoming year, against the past 5-year average growth rate of -12%. Currently with trailing-twelve-month earnings of US$531m, we can expect this to reach US$560m by 2020. In this article, I've outline a few earnings growth rates to give you a sense of the market sentiment for Harley-Davidson in the longer term. For those keen to understand more about other aspects of the company, you canresearch its fundamentals here. Check out our latest analysis for Harley-Davidson The 18 analysts covering HOG view its longer term outlook with a positive sentiment. Broker analysts tend to forecast up to three years ahead due to a lack of clarity around the business trajectory beyond this. I've plotted out each year's earnings expectations and inserted a line of best fit to calculate an annual growth rate from the slope in order to understand the overall trajectory of HOG's earnings growth over these next few years. By 2022, HOG's earnings should reach US$612m, from current levels of US$531m, resulting in an annual growth rate of 5.5%. This leads to an EPS of $3.68 in the final year of projections relative to the current EPS of $3.21. In 2022, HOG's profit margin will have expanded from 9.3% to 12%. Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For Harley-Davidson, I've compiled three key factors you should further examine: 1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Valuation: What is Harley-Davidson worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether Harley-Davidson is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Harley-Davidson? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Japanese whaling ships prepare first commercial hunt in more than 30 years A Minke whale being lifted by a crane during the North Pacific research whaling programme at Kushiro port in 2017 - AFP Japanese whaling ships were preparing on Sunday to set to sea, with crews gathering on decks in a northern port as Japan undertakes its first commercial whaling hunt in more than 30 years on Monday. Japan announced last year it was leaving the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and would resume commercial whaling on July 1, sparking global condemnation and fears for the world’s whales. Japan has long maintained that eating whale is an important part of its culture and that most species are not endangered. A global whaling moratorium was imposed in 1986, but Japan then began what it called scientific research whaling in the North Pacific and Antarctic. Critics said the it was simply commercial whaling in disguise. "I used to eat whale when I was young, but it's been too expensive recently,” said Sachiko Sakai, 66, a taxi driver waiting for fares in Kushiro, a port town on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido. "Maybe now that commercial whaling is going to restart, it’ll be cheaper and we can get our hands on it more easily.” The hunt will be confined to Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Whaling vessels ready to be deployed in Kushiro on Sunday Credit: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon The five small whaling ships due to set off early Monday morning were moored at a wharf in a quiet corner of Kushiro port. On their decks were what appeared to be harpoon guns covered in tarpaulins. The vessels come from whaling ports around Japan, including one from Taiji, the town made notorious for its dolphin drive-hunts featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove”. Some vessels were decorated with good luck flags, flapping in a cold wind. Some crew members carried groceries while others held towels and shampoo, apparently headed to a public bath. One wore brightly coloured shorts decorated with images of whales and other animals. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose district includes the old whaling centre of Shimonoseki, has long campaigned to restart commercial whaling, but the industry’s future is far from clear. Story continues Only about 300 people around Japan are directly connected to whaling, and the annual supply of whale – about 5,000 tonnes – amounts to roughly 40-50 grams per Japanese person a year. "To resume this so we can eat it – well, that’s good,” said Yuya Kusakari, 37, who was fishing for flounder with his 8-year-old son not far from where the whaling ships were docked. Mr Kusakari said he ate whale maybe once or twice a year. "It’s really not all that available now, and it’s expensive,” he said.
Is Calian Group Ltd.'s (TSE:CGY) CEO Paid At A Competitive Rate? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Kevin Ford has been the CEO of Calian Group Ltd. (TSE:CGY) since 2015. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels. View our latest analysis for Calian Group Our data indicates that Calian Group Ltd. is worth CA$266m, and total annual CEO compensation is CA$858k. (This figure is for the year to September 2018). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at CA$410k. When we examined a selection of companies with market caps ranging from CA$131m to CA$523m, we found the median CEO total compensation was CA$875k. That means Kevin Ford receives fairly typical remuneration for the CEO of a company that size. This doesn't tell us a whole lot on its own, but looking at the performance of the actual business will give us useful context. You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Calian Group has changed over time. Over the last three years Calian Group Ltd. has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 6.3% per year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 7.4% over last year. I would argue that the improvement in revenue isn't particularly impressive, but I'm happy with the modest EPS growth. It's clear the performance has been quite decent, but it it falls short of outstanding,based on this information. It could be important to checkthis free visual depiction ofwhat analysts expectfor the future. I think that the total shareholder return of 93%, over three years, would leave most Calian Group Ltd. shareholders smiling. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size. Kevin Ford is paid around what is normal the leaders of comparable size companies. While we would like to see improved growth metrics, there is no doubt that the total returns have been great, over the last three years. So all things considered I'd venture that the CEO pay is appropriate. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want tocheck if insiders are buying or selling Calian Group shares (free trial). Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out thisfreelist of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
All About Brittany Cartwright's 3-in-1 Wedding Dress: 'It's Fit for a Castle!' Brittany Cartwright’s been dreaming about her wedding since she was 5 years old. So when she went dress shopping for her June 29 Kentucky nuptials to Vanderpump Rules costar Jax Taylor, 39, she knew exactly what she was looking for. In fact, she found the dress while filming an episode of the hit Bravo reality show, but made sure producers stopped filming the intimate moment. “I didn’t want the dress to be on the show, because I didn’t want Jax to see it,” Cartwright told PEOPLE exclusively. “And for me, I was so nervous about even going dress shopping because I always thought I wanted to go to New York City, but I ended up finding the perfect dress the very first place that I went too.” That place was Kinsley James Couture Bridal in West Hollywood, California , and Cartwright, 30, had her close friends, costars and bridesmaids Kristen Doute, Katie Maloney-Schwartz and Stassi Schroeder at her side when she found the gown. Malicote Photography “They had picked out a couple dresses, and the one that I actually went with Stassi had picked up first,” Cartwright told PEOPLE, adding, “Which does not mean that I wouldn’t have picked it out for myself, but it’s just funny that Stassi actually grabbed it before I got in for me to try-on.” The Malicotes RELATED: See Vanderpump Rules Stars Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright’s Beautiful Wedding Photos Malicote Photography The dress that Cartwright said yes to was a strapless sweetheart style Netta BenShabu beaded gown, featuring a pearl-covered bodice. But with the help of the team of seamstresses at Kinsley James Couture, the gown was transformed into a 3-in-1 convertible wedding dress for her ceremony, reception and afterparty. “This one dress turns into three looks for the night,” she told PEOPLE. “I’m going to wear the same dress all night long but it will turn into three different looks.” For the ceremony, Cartwright walked down the aisle in the gown with an over-skirt attached that featured a four-foot train. Story continues “The tulle skirt makes it more regal, and the train is super-long,” Cartwright said. “It looks really, really cool.” RELATED: Vanderpump Rules ’ Jax Taylor Marries Brittany Cartwright: Inside Their Fairy-Tale Wedding The Malicotes The ceremony look also featured a drop princess detachable sleeve that has a cape-like effect that trails the length of the train. To finish off the look, Cartwright added a custom veil covered in tiny pearls. “That one is definitely fit for a castle,” Cartwright said of her reception gown. “It’s so pretty. I couldn’t wait for everybody to finally see it. I couldn’t wait for Jax to finally see it.” For the reception, Cartwright took off the overskirt, sleeves and veil to transform the look into the original strapless mermaid style gown, which was bustled at the bottom so she can dance. And then at the after party, tulle was removed from the bottom of the dress to turn it into a mini skirt. “It’s super, super cool,” the bride said of the dress metamorphosis. RELATED: Taco Bell, Hooters and Beer Cheese: All the Food at Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright’s Wedding Cartwright said that all her bridesmaids came with her to the final fitting to learn how to “work” her dress so they could help with the quick changes. “They were all in there learning and taking videos to show everybody how to take apart my dress so that they could all learn before we got there on the day of,” she shared. As for her something old and borrowed, Cartwright’s garter belt is made from her mom’s wedding dress. And her something new is the wedding shoes she bought on her recent girls’ trip to Paris with the Vanderpump Rules gang. Cartwright’s glam also matched her three different looks. For the ceremony, she wore her makeup natural and her hair in big, glamorous Old Hollywood waves. For her final look, she wore her hair in a ponytail. RELATED: Vanderpump Rules Cast Celebrates Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright’s Bachelor/Bachelorette Bash The Malicotes Cartwright also worked with the same glam squad for the couple’s wedding rehearsal on June 27 also hosted at their wedding venue, the Kentucky Castle in Versailles, Kentucky. Cartwright revealed at the Vanderpump Rules reunion last month that she’s had her heart set on their venue since she was a child. “I started planning my engagement party and wedding [when] I was like, 5,” she said. “I knew no matter what I would get married in the castle, so all of the things have to go together.” The Bravo stars announced their engagement in June 2018 after a rocky year, with Cartwright showing off her cushion-cut halo diamond engagement ring on Instagram. “Omg omg!! We are ENGAGED! What a way to start our summer and season 7!! I am so happy, so in love, and so beyond excited for this next chapter of our lives!” she wrote. “I can’t wait for all of you to see how he proposed! I am the happiest girl ever right now.”
‘Great Replacement’ ideology is spreading hate in U.S. and across the globe Martin Sellner speaks during an Identitarian protest in front of the Justice Ministry in Vienna in April. (Photo: Imago via ZUMA Press) BARCELONA — “I just had a house raid by the police,” Martin Sellner said last weekend from his apartment in Vienna, where he makes YouTube videos , sometimes in his kitchen, warning about the dangers of multiculturalism and how Muslim immigrants are replacing the white population across Europe. This wasn’t the first time Austrian authorities have taken an interest in the articulate, engaging 30-year-old activist, known for the “actions” he plots as one of the leaders of an ethno-nationalist movement known as Generation Identity . Its members, believed to number about 10,000 , are fighting back against what they consider Europe’s forced “Islamization” and a “dilution” of its original genetic stock. But last week’s sweep of Sellner’s apartment wasn’t the result of Generation Identity’s usual stunts — like throwing a giant burqa over the head of a 65-foot-high statue of revered Austrian archduchess Maria Theresa with a sign saying “Islamization — No Thanks!” or chartering a boat to hinder rescue vessels from picking up drowning Africans whose dinghies capsized in the Mediterranean. This raid concerned a donation — a gift of 1,500 euros (over $1,800), one of the biggest in Generation Identity’s seven-year existence. The donor was Brenton Tarrant , accused of opening fire on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, leaving 50 dead. This was the second time police raided Sellner’s apartment to investigate his connections with Tarrant, seizing his phones, cameras and computers. Sellner protests that there aren’t any links — Tarrant was just “a random Australian guy” whom he thanked via email in 2018 for his donation and invited to share a beer if he visited Vienna. Even if they never met to share a pitcher, Sellner and Tarrant share a controversial belief, one that’s integral to Generation Identity and to scores of extremist groups worldwide: the Great Replacement of white Christians by dark-skinned “invaders,” an idea that is driving right-wing politics in many European countries — and has echoes in the United States, not just in politics, but in terror attacks against minorities and Jews. Story continues The veiled statue of Empress Maria Theresa. (Photo: krone.at) Sellner views the Great Replacement as “a mathematical fact,” the result of cultural, political and economic decisions made over recent decades. “Since the ’60s and ’70s, Europe’s population [of indigenous white Europeans] has been shrinking,” he says, largely because white European women, like their American counterparts, were not bearing the 2.1 children considered necessary to maintain a stable population. But Europe’s population is rising — due to the influx of immigrants, or what he calls “replacement migration.” That part, statistics show, is true at least in some countries: The numbers of incoming immigrants have offset deaths in European nations, such as Germany and Sweden , leading to overall population growth. But the Great Replacement theory goes entirely off the rails when proponents, such as Sellner’s group, assert, as they do on the Generation Identity website , that “Low birth rates of German and European people and simultaneous massive Muslim immigration will turn us into minorities in our own countries in a few decades,” leading to “the disappearance of Germans and Europeans in their own countries." Even given the higher birthrate of immigrants, that’s an unlikely scenario , according to demographer Landis Mackellar of the Population Council and editor of Population and Development Review . “The Great Replacement and statements attributed to Generation Identity distort the demographic and sociological evidence,” he says. Hélène Ducros, human geographer at Columbia University's Council for European Studies, questions what data the group is using to make such projections. Some European countries, like France, don't ask about ethnicity or religion on their census forms, making statistics unreliable, and many "migrants" into European countries actually come from other European countries. "The reality is that Europe — in the largest sense, not just the EU — has always been a continent where people moved around a lot," she says. "I would say that mobility, and thus intermixing, is what characterizes Europeans across time, not ethnicity." Dylann Roof and Timothy McVeigh. (Photos: Chuck Burton/AP, Bob Daemmerich/AFP/Getty Images) A report from the Pew Research Center released in late 2017, “ Europe’s Growing Muslim Population ,” estimated the number of Muslims in Europe to be less than 5 percent. Even using the highest estimates for migration rates, the report estimated that in 2050, the number of Muslims continent-wide would be around 14 percent. Sellner counters that going further out on the timeline, “if you just continue the trend, the population decline plus the replacement migration will lead to a total replacement.” Despite its shaky premises, the concept of the Great Replacement is so potent that it has inspired mass shootings. Beyond Tarrant — who was so moved by it that he titled his 74-page manifesto about his attack “The Great Replacement” — authorities believe it motivated the synagogue shooter in Pittsburgh who killed 11 in October; the Poway, Calif., synagogue shooter who killed one and injured three worshippers in the spring; and Dylann Roof, who in 2015 gunned down nine African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church. Echoes of it showed up in the ramblings of Anders Breivik, who killed 77 in Norway in 2011 “in defense of my culture and my people,” and Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City terror bomber of 1995, owned a copy of a novel based on its ideas. A leitmotif in neo-Nazi circles, the Great Replacement may have also motivated the neo-Nazi-linked fatal shooting in early June of German politician Walter Lübcke, who supported the immigration policies of German chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as the threats posted by two neo-Nazis in Britain to Prince Harry, who was called a “race traitor,” evidently for having a child with his biracial wife, Meghan Markel. It could be heard in the chants of white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Va., yelling, “You will not replace us” and “Jews will not replace us.” A white supremacist who drove into a crowd of counter-demonstrators, killing one, was sentenced Friday to life in prison for hate crimes. The Great Replacement theory is also believed to be one factor in the push to outlaw abortion in the United States. An honor guard stands at the coffin of murdered German politician Walter Lübcke at his memorial service on June 13. (Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images) As in much of Europe, in the U.S. “the white population is getting older, which means proportionately few white women are in their childbearing years,” says William Frey, author of “Diversity Explosion” and in-house demographer at Brookings Institute. As of last year, he wrote , “for the first time there are more children [in the U.S.] who are minorities than who are white, at every age from zero to nine.” That’s just a hint at the changing ethnicity of America. Frey says that across the entire U.S. population, the percentage of whites — or “non-Hispanic whites” as they are called in the census — is projected to dip below the 50 percent mark in about 25 years. That shift in racial balance is earth-shaking for some. According to Keegan Hankes, a research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, that predicted demographic change — the projection that “by 2040, or around then, whites will no longer be an absolute majority is … the No. 1 driver in anxiety for people who join these [hate] groups.” He says the number of hate groups in the United States is rising, with white supremacist groups, only one subset of the hate groups tracked by the SPLC, jumping from 100 to 150 last year. “White nationalism is the ideology at the core” of the Great Replacement, he says, defining it as “based on a conspiratorial idea that these demographic changes are the product of a calculated plan of enemies of the white race.” Indeed, Great Replacement adherents often assign blame for ethnic shifts to a conspiracy, by plotters whose identity varies depending on which group is pointing fingers. Sellner believes that “replacement migration” was a deliberate decision by liberal politicians and big enterprises who “wanted cheap labor,” as well as by certain (unspecified) agents hoping to achieve “a dilution of the indigenous (European) population” and impose “multiculturalism to overcome nationalism and European identity.” And to counteract the influx of immigrants, Generation Identity is demanding drastic cuts in immigration and the deportation and “repatriation” of immigrants already on the Continent. They refer to this as the “Reconquista” of Europe by white Christians, a name borrowed from Spain’s 15th century military campaign to push out Muslims and Jews. Brenton Tarrant, the man charged in the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shootings, in court on March 16. (Photo: Mark Mitchell/AP) Sellner says his movement isn’t racist and doesn’t advocate violence. Tarrant, however, took the idea to a new level in the document he sent to politicians before allegedly storming Christchurch mosques. Explaining his motivation, Tarrant’s “Great Replacement” manifesto begins with “It’s the birthrates, it’s the birthrates, it’s the birthrates…” “Why did you target those people?” Tarrant, who considers himself of European origin, writes of his attack on Christchurch Muslims. “They were an obvious, visible and large group of invaders, from a culture with higher fertility rates … that seek to occupy my people’s lands and ethnically replace my own people…” Viewing immigrants, especially dark-skinned Muslims, whether from Africa or Asia, as “invaders” is commonplace for many who buy into the Great Replacement idea, including the man generally credited with devising the phrase, French writer Renaud Camus . In 2012, Camus (no relation to Albert Camus) published a nonfiction book with that title warning of the cultural dangers of Muslim immigrants in France. He said in an interview last year that “too often, for us, by their number, by their behavior, by their growing attachment to their cultures, manners and religion of origin, they have become, with a few exceptions, invaders, conquerors, and colonizers.” An anti-immigration demonstrator in Amsterdam in 2016, when thousands of people took part in protests against Islam and immigration in several European cities. (Photo: Peter Dejong/AP) But the ideas in his book — and others of the “Muslim horror genre” such as Bat Ye'or’s “Eurabia” and Michel Houellebecq’s “Submission” — go back decades, to the 1960s and ’70s when guest workers were invited from countries such as Turkey and Algeria for jobs in construction, mining and transportation. In 1973, when the worldwide oil crisis slammed the brake on many European economies, jobs for guest workers dried up, but many chose to stay. It was that year that Jean Raspail unleashed his macabre vision of France besieged by dark-skinned invaders in the stomach-wrenching novel “The Camp of the Saints,” a book often referenced by proponents of the Great Replacement. In a 2015 radio broadcast , future White House strategist Steve Bannon remarked that the flood of refugees fleeing civil war in Syria was “almost a Camp of the Saints-type invasion into Central and then Western and Northern Europe.” Other extremists and rabble-rousers in the web of far-right hate groups, including Jason Kessler, who organized the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, spin the Great Replacement into a “white genocide” plot foisted on civilization by a shadowy global elite, the European Union, United Nations, attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos , feminists and/or Jews. That “white genocide” terminology stems from “ The Turner Diaries ,” an apocalyptic novel published in 1978 by American neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce, who envisioned a disarmed white populace, beaten down by a black majority led by Jews, who are overthrown by a band of white supremacist guerrillas, known as “the Order.” When Timothy McVeigh was arrested, a copy of “The Turner Diaries” was found in his car. Neo-Nazi David Lane , part of the Order, a real-life terror group modeled on the one in the novel, added more touches to that idea: While serving a 190-year sentence in prison for racketeering, conspiracy and his involvement in the 1984 murder of Alan Berg, a Jewish radio host, he penned the “White Genocide Manifesto” and a slogan called the Fourteen Words: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The number 14, which stands as neo-Nazi code for that phrase, was scrawled on one of Tarrant’s weapons, and shortly before the attack in Charleston, Dylann Roof was photographed on a beach, kneeling before a sand image with that number and 88 , code for “Heil Hitler.” John Earnest, who opened fire at the synagogue in Poway, wrote in a letter explaining his actions that “Every Jew is responsible for the meticulously planned genocide of the European race.” Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. (Photos: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images; Stefano Montesi/Corbis/Getty Images) Some European political figures are now referencing the “Great Replacement” in their speeches and policies, among them Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of Austria’s Freedom Party and vice chancellor of that country, until he resigned in a recent unrelated scandal. “Italy’s Matteo Salvini and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán have mentioned replacement theory,” says Louie Dean Valencia-García, an assistant professor of Digital History at Texas State University, who is editing a book about the role of small publishers and the distortion of history by the far right. “They take the ideas of the identitarian movement and put them in a framework that is more sanitized and palatable” he says, couching them in broader terms like “Western civilization.” It usually means, he says, “we don’t want brown people in Europe.” As he studied the emergence of identitarians and white-power groups, Valencia-García has come to believe that they share “an obsession with a purity that’s usually imagined” and is based on an imagined history refashioned for their purposes, and conflating Caucasian ancestry with Christian culture. Throughout history, says Andrew Wilson, a sociologist who teaches at the University of Derby, in England, and writes about the conspiratorial elements of extremist groups , “we see a constant interplay of cultures”— including how the Renaissance kicked off because of writings from ancient Greeks and Romans that had been translated and preserved by Muslims during the Middle Ages. The groups pushing the Great Replacement, he says, are trying to portray “monolithic cultures which they perceive as being under threat.” It taps into an ideology in which “they are being persecuted” often by “a group secretly working behind the scenes.” Demonstrators bear torches at a far-right rally in Jena, Germany, in 2016. (Photo: Jens Meyer/AP) “Culture is always changing — that is the nature of culture,” Valencia-García says. “Having a fixed identity is impossible.” For Valencia-García, it all raises the question, “What is white anyway?” He says it’s a relatively novel concept, first given importance in the 1800s. “The idea of whiteness,” he says, “is a new category that humans use to divide themselves.” Demographer Frey notes that in the 1920s, immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe were considered a threat to American culture, leading to harsh immigration laws restricting their entry. In fact, they were viewed as such a liability to the American blood line that eugenicists were consulted to help draft laws banning intermarriage. Yet today, of course, citizens whose ancestors came from countries such as Italy, Greece or Spain are considered “white” while those with origins in Central and South America, with Spanish surnames, are counted as “Hispanic” regardless of their skin color. The ethnic group that is becoming a smaller share of the U.S. population is, in census terms, “non-Hispanic white.” If Hispanics were counted as white — which many consider themselves to be — the issue of “white replacement,” in the U.S. at least, could be solved merely by changing a box on the census form. Melissa Rossi is a U.S. journalist based in Western Europe. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Former top U.S. diplomat deplores policy toward Iran 'untethered to any coherent strategy' Pentagon secretly struck back against Iranian cyberspies targeting U.S. ships Trump admits his Cabinet had 'some clinkers' For Dems, there's no chickening out at Clyburn's fish fry Chore wars: Are men doing enough housework? PHOTOS: Moon rock samples sealed since Apollo missions
Barron's Picks And Pans: AbbVie, Crocs, RealReal, Roku And More This weekend's Barron's cover story takes a look at whether the hot IPO market is a bubble. Other featured articles review Dividend Aristocrats on a roll and offer the results from a survey of tech CIOs. Also, the prospects for a pharmaceutical merger, a best-in-class cruise line operator, a momentum stock that stumbled and an unlikely comeback candidate. This weekend's Barron's cover story, " Today's IPO Market Is Not the Next Dot-Com Bubble " by Eric J. Savitz asks whether RealReal Inc (NASDAQ: REAL ) is the next Pets.com. See what may come for Lyft Inc (NYSE: LYFT ) and others. Josh Nathan-Kazis's " AbbVie Buying Allergan Isn't the Right Remedy for the Stock " points out that AbbVie Inc (NYSE: ABBV ) is acquiring a company with problems like its own, an expensive life raft for the 45% premium it is paying over the Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN ) stock price. In " Carnival Stock Is Headed for Smoother Sailing ," Andrew Bary says Carnival Corp (NYSE: CCL ) now looks like a bargain, after hitting the rocks on reduced 2019 financial guidance. Plus, it has the best balance sheet in the cruise-line operator industry. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) led the way in a recent survey of chief information officers, according to "Who's Winning Over the Big Tech Spenders—and Who May Be Left Behind" by Tae Kim. In Lawrence C. Strauss's "6 Dividend Stocks That Beat the S&P 500," see why the so-called Dividend Aristocrats have fared so well this year and are set up to outperform if rates fall. Discover how Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE: KMB ), Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE: PG ) and others have fared. See Also: Bulls & Bears Of The Week: AT&T, Carnival, McDonald's, Microsoft And More "Move Over, FAANGs. Here Come the WPPCKs." by Nicholas Jasinski makes the case that when economic conditions get hairy, then boring, dividend-paying consumer-staples stocks like PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP ) and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) become a lot more appealing. Story continues In "Roku's Rapidly Rising Stock Takes a Timeout," David Marino-Nachison examines what it means that previously hot shares of streaming-video company Roku Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU ) dropped so sharply this past week. Find out whether Amazon is to blame. Even when initial public offerings sizzle, that doesn't mean they will stay that way forever. So says Al Root's "Can Crocs Make a Comeback?." Does former darling polymer-shoe maker Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX ) signal that there can be second acts? Photo courtesy of Roku. See more from Benzinga Bulls & Bears Of The Week: AT&T, Carnival, McDonald's, Microsoft And More Notable Insider Buys This Past Week: American Airlines, MGM and More Barron's On: Why JPMorgan Is A Solid Bet Now © 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Facebook Libra: Weighing The Pros And Cons This article was originally published onETFTrends.com. By Agustin Lebron viaIris.xyz. By now you’ve probably heard of Facebook’s latest take-over-the-world proposal: Libra. And perhaps your clients, family and friends are asking you about it already. What is it? Does this affect me? Should I care? In this article we’ll examine this question from the perspective ofthe investment advisorfaced with answering these questions. Libra is Facebook’s attempt to enter the cryptocurrency world. And with Facebook’s reach and market dominance, this attempt could well be successful. But what is it, exactly? Well, according to the whitepaper put out by the Libra Association, Libra is a cryptocurrency whose goal is to facilitate the creation of a parallel financial infrastructure that isn’t necessarily tied to any specific country, currency, or existing regulatory framework. The natural question is: how does Libra propose to do this? Backed by a basket Libra claims that every token issued will be backed not by promises, nor by dollars, but rather by a “basket of bank deposits and short-term government securities […] held in the Libra Reserve”. Instead of the value of the Libra being tied to a specific currency (usually dollars, known as a stablecoin), its value will fluctuate based on prevailing exchange rates and the specific composition of the basket. This immediately raises some interesting questions: • How is this basket determined, and how does it change over time? The Libra whitepaper says that “the association may occasionally change the composition of the basket…” but doesn’t specify exactly what processes and events would lead to those changes. It’s early days yet, but potential investors will need to get a lot more detail on this question in order to understand how Libra value will change over time. • Currency deposits pay interest. Will Libra deposits do the same? The answer is a clear no: the currency basket in which Libra will hold the money backing it will pay interest, but that interest will be kept by the association and investors the so-called Libra Investment Token. • Where is this money being held? The whitepaper states: “The reserve will be held by a geographically distributed network of custodians with investment-grade credit rating to limit counterparty risk.” Again questions: who determines the counterparty risk? Are these geographically distributed custodians insured against each other’s failure? Under which set of laws are disputes resolved? Other questions also present themselves. In particular, what happens when your real-world job pays you in dollars but most of your expenses are denominated a currency whose value fluctuates with respect to the dollar? Imagine living in the US but getting paid in Japanese yen. Read thefull articleat Iris.xyz. POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM • SPY ETF Quote • VOO ETF Quote • QQQ ETF Quote • VTI ETF Quote • JNUG ETF Quote • Top 34 Gold ETFs • Top 34 Oil ETFs • Top 57 Financials ETFs • Facebook Libra: Weighing The Pros And Cons • As Bitcoin Surges Past $13K, Calls to Embrace Crypto Grow • GLDM Marks One Year Anniversary Today, Leads Gold-Backed ETF Flows • ROBO Global Healthcare Technology ETF Debuts on NYSE • Gold And Silver Rally On Unusual Options Activity READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM >
The Bahrain Conference: What the Experts and the Media Missed Amid the constant recycling of commentary about the recent Democratic Party candidate debates, you might have thought the world was riveted only by this intra-family food fight. If you didn’t read or hear anything about last week’s Bahrain economic summit, you are not alone. But while U.S. media largely ignored this event, the global media saw something remarkable and historic unfold. The summit, organized by the U.S. government and hosted by Bahrain’s crown prince, showcased different voices with new ideas and the economic resources to bring to life dreams of progress in Palestine. Over 300 top delegates came from 30 countries, from Australia and Argentina; Dubai and Delhi; Nigeria and Norway; and even such unlikely pairings as Saudi Arabia and Qatar or Greece and Turkey. The explicit purpose was to reverse the sequence of the past 50 years of peace efforts (e.g. Oslo, Paris, Annapolis) – that is, to share an economic vision before delving into divisive political real estate battles. (I served as a volunteer moderator at one panel during the summit.) White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner unveiled a $50 billion economic plan, one whose implementation would be predicated on a future political peace agreement. His plan gives the opposing parties a chance to visualize what the quality of life could be like when tensions subside. Drawing on the remarkable economic-development successes in other countries that have been torn by past political violence, including Bangladesh and South Korea, the proposal details highly specific uses of grants, low-interest loans, and private investment intended to double the size of the Palestinian economy, create one million new jobs, reduce Palestinian unemployment from 30% to single digits, and reduce Palestinian poverty by 50%. Roughly 190 specific projects in the Bahrain plan would aim to increase export revenue from 17% to 40% of Palestinian GDP; ensure reliable electricity; double the drinkable water supply; connect more schools to high-speed data services; increase women’s participation in the work force; and generate a 500% increase in foreign direct investment. The plan would boost investment in key industries such as tourism, agriculture, digital services, housing, and manufacturing; it would also provide for infrastructure enhancements such as a $5 billion high-speed highway connecting Gaza to the West Bank. While many of these projects echo goals of earlier development plans from the World Bank and other organizations, this is the first plan that aims to comprehensively integrate these efforts—and to adequately fund them. U.S. business leaders, including Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman andAT&TCEO Randall Stephenson, were present to give these plans their endorsement. They and dozens of other executives cited the proposals as attractive investment opportunities, with very reasonable financial targets, in an environment where the rule of law could help them thrive. A hush fell over the Four Seasons banquet hall in Manama during Wednesday’s closing panel, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Top officials, diplomats and business leaders, including the host, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, watched approvingly asforeign affairs and finance ministers from the Gulf Coast countries joined Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa on stage. The minister proclaimed: “Israel is a country in the region and it is there to stay, of course. As much as Camp David was a major game-changer…if this succeeds, and we build on it, and it attracts attention and momentum, this would be the second game-changer.” Much media coverage focused on who wasnotpresent in Bahrain.The Palestinian Authority called for a boycott of the conference. Hamas, which effectively rules the Gaza Strip, condemned it. And due to Israeli political turmoil, the administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not send a delegation. But if anything, this event demonstrated that “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” In the absence of Palestinian and Israeli politicians who have been frustrating each other for decades, and with no risk of the event being packaged as a campaign rally for Netanyahu, who faces upcoming elections, dialogue and comity could grow. To cynics, the absences provided ammunition to condemn the conference. Opponents allied with both the Palestinians and Israeli sides have argued that diplomatic agreements must precede economic ones. More specifically, many oppose the Bahrain approach because it doesn’t provide for a so-called two-state solution that creates a sovereign Palestinian nation. Jared Kushner addressed this mindset in his opening comments on Wednesday, saying, “Enough of the old broken record” of handwringing over how things cannot change. Schwarzman told the attendees that “it is important to think big and to have a dream.” As a discussion facilitator, I attended virtually every second of the formal and informal elements of this event. I did not hear even passing anti-Zionist comments, as much as I would have expected them in an atmosphere where Israel’s historic critics outnumbered its allies. Instead, Arab leaders echoed comments like Kushner’s and Schwarzman’s. Negotiation experts talk of the importance of separating the emotions of people from the positions they take, and then separating divisive positions from issues where there may be common ground. The Bahrain summit seemed to accomplish that, and spirits soared over what was said and who said it. Over many centuries, relations between Jews and Palestinians have fluctuated between long periods of violent conflict and peaceful coexistence. At this conference, prominent Palestinian business leader Ashraf Jabari, who heads a large clan in Hebron on the West Bank, explained how he has advanced bonds with Jewish settlers—even creating a business association for Palestinian and settlement businesses to work collaboratively. As he said on Wednesday, “I have no problem working with Israel. It is time to move on.” Smiling and nodding as he spoke were not only a dozen fellow Palestinian leaders but also the dozen Israeli business leaders present, including shipping magnate Shlomi Fogel. Despite the well air-conditioned ballroom, Jabari’s brow glistened with sweat as he addressed the group. I went to shake his hand after he spoke and he gave me a bear hug. Since then, I’ve learned what he put at risk by being there and speaking out. Sadly, another member of the Palestinian delegation was arrested by the Palestinian Authority at a family event upon returning home; other delegation members saw their homes raided. “The Palestinian Authority does not want peace. They told the families of the businessmen that they are wanted for participating in the Bahrain workshop,”Jabari told theJerusalem Post,adding that the workshop was “a big success and that’s why [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas is very worried.” The Bahrain summit’s projection of a spirit of hope, from Palestinian and Israeli business leaders and their peers around the globe, providesa welcome response to the growing dismay among younger people in the region—and a counter to growing cynicism about the failures ofIsraeliand Palestinian political leadership. Weary of decades of violence, younger people are demanding change and are open to direct appeal from their Arab neighbors. The plans discussed in Bahrain offer younger people a path to become relevant and effective. That’s especially true of the Palestinians, whose communal identity has been trapped for too long in the default position of “refugee.”A senior Saudi diplomat recently said Palestinian should stop thinking of themselves as victims, the better to empower themselves. Mohamed Allabar of the United Arab Emirates, founder of Emmar Properties and one of the world’s biggest commercial builders, told the conference, “The younger generation will not let us continue trapped by our past. Palestinian people are our people. We get up every morning positive, and we want to do more…By generating jobs, income opportunities and filling gaps in delivering basic services, the private sector can help build momentum behind a fragile economy and instill hope in the people of the region.” Conflict management experts, including Kurt Lewin andHerbert Kelman, have cautioned that the diversionary details of plan execution are less valuable than a shared vision of how life could be after a transformation. Before a political solution can be sold, all parties have to imagine a highly desirable scenario far better than the status quo. Perhaps unschooled in this research,theNew York Timesin an editorial on Fridaydismissed the Bahrain initiative as “big-dream plans divorced from reality,” echoing the historically unfounded cliché that diplomatic solutions must precede economic plans. What theTimesoverlooks is the failed history of “political solution first,” which so far has usually meant there will be no solution. There are myriad self-interested advocacy groups, international bodies, and politicians, unfortunately, who read from the same script. People who witnessed the spirit of Bahrain feel otherwise. As former Obama administration Mideast peace envoy David Makovsky said to me at the event, “My hope is that after Bahrain…we’re not just saying we’ve put forth a compelling vision of an endgame, but we’re starting down that road to make it more tangible in the short term. Israeli-Arab cooperation has been going on for years under the table, but the table seems to be levitating, because it’s very crowded under there.” It was under that levitating table that Palestinian business leaders joined with Arab leaders from around the Gulf Coast, along with Israeli, African, European and American sponsors. The self-interest of these leaders has been put on alert as confusion in the region gives way to pragmatism. Let’s hope leaders embrace the opportunities for regional vitality with economic resources and investments across the boundaries of religions and ethnicities. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is Senior Associate Dean and Lester Crown Professor of Management Practice at the Yale School of Management. He served as a moderator of the Bahrain “Peace to Prosperity” economic summit.
Estimating The Fair Value Of ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Does the June share price for ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This is done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of theSimply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for ITT We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: [{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2019": "$305.92", "2020": "$340.90", "2021": "$365.25", "2022": "$392.95", "2023": "$423.00", "2024": "$447.80", "2025": "$469.84", "2026": "$489.88", "2027": "$508.52", "2028": "$526.23"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x5", "2020": "Analyst x4", "2021": "Analyst x2", "2022": "Analyst x2", "2023": "Analyst x1", "2024": "Est @ 5.86%", "2025": "Est @ 4.92%", "2026": "Est @ 4.27%", "2027": "Est @ 3.8%", "2028": "Est @ 3.48%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 9.1%", "2019": "$280.40", "2020": "$286.39", "2021": "$281.25", "2022": "$277.34", "2023": "$273.64", "2024": "$265.52", "2025": "$255.35", "2026": "$244.03", "2027": "$232.18", "2028": "$220.22"}] Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $2.62b "Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 10-year government bond rate of 2.7%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.1%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$526m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (9.1% – 2.7%) = US$8.5b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$8.5b ÷ ( 1 + 9.1%)10= $3.55b The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is $6.17b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of $70.24. Compared to the current share price of $65.48, the company appears about fair value at a 6.8% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at ITT as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 9.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.069. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For ITT, I've compiled three additional factors you should further examine: 1. Financial Health: Does ITT have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Future Earnings: How does ITT's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with ourfree analyst growth expectation chart. 3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of ITT? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NYSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks justsearch here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Want To Invest In Cineplex Inc. (TSE:CGX)? Here's How It Performed Lately Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Examining Cineplex Inc.'s (TSE:CGX) past track record of performance is a valuable exercise for investors. It enables us to understand whether the company has met or exceed expectations, which is a powerful signal for future performance. Below, I will assess CGX's latest performance announced on 31 March 2019 and weigh these figures against its longer term trend and industry movements. Check out our latest analysis for Cineplex CGX's trailing twelve-month earnings (from 31 March 2019) of CA$54m has declined by -13% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, this one-year growth rate has been lower than its average earnings growth rate over the past 5 years of -4.1%, indicating the rate at which CGX is growing has slowed down. Why is this? Well, let's look at what's transpiring with margins and if the entire industry is feeling the heat. In terms of returns from investment, Cineplex has fallen short of achieving a 20% return on equity (ROE), recording 8.5% instead. Furthermore, its return on assets (ROA) of 3.1% is below the CA Entertainment industry of 7.0%, indicating Cineplex's are utilized less efficiently. And finally, its return on capital (ROC), which also accounts for Cineplex’s debt level, has declined over the past 3 years from 12% to 4.2%. This correlates with an increase in debt holding, with debt-to-equity ratio rising from 51% to 97% over the past 5 years. Cineplex's track record can be a valuable insight into its earnings performance, but it certainly doesn't tell the whole story. Typically companies that endure a prolonged period of reduction in earnings are going through some sort of reinvestment phase with the aim of keeping up with the latest industry growth and disruption. I suggest you continue to research Cineplex to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at: 1. Financial Health: Are CGX’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out ourfinancial health checks here. 2. Valuation: What is CGX worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether CGX is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore ourfree list of these great stocks here. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 31 March 2019. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
A Look At The Fair Value Of Genesco Inc. (NYSE:GCO) Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Genesco Inc. (NYSE:GCO) as an investment opportunity by taking the foreast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward. We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in theSimply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for Genesco We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: [{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2019": "$87.88", "2020": "$86.18", "2021": "$83.91", "2022": "$67.07", "2023": "$59.08", "2024": "$54.64", "2025": "$52.21", "2026": "$51.02", "2027": "$50.62", "2028": "$50.76"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x3", "2020": "Analyst x2", "2021": "Analyst x3", "2022": "Analyst x1", "2023": "Est @ -11.91%", "2024": "Est @ -7.51%", "2025": "Est @ -4.44%", "2026": "Est @ -2.29%", "2027": "Est @ -0.78%", "2028": "Est @ 0.27%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 11.66%", "2019": "$78.70", "2020": "$69.12", "2021": "$60.27", "2022": "$43.14", "2023": "$34.03", "2024": "$28.19", "2025": "$24.12", "2026": "$21.11", "2027": "$18.75", "2028": "$16.84"}] Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $394.27m "Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 10-year government bond rate of 2.7%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 11.7%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$51m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (11.7% – 2.7%) = US$584m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$584m ÷ ( 1 + 11.7%)10= $193.66m The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is $587.93m. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of $35.56. Relative to the current share price of $42.29, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Genesco as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 11.7%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.499. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Whilst important, DCF calculation shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Genesco, I've compiled three important factors you should look at: 1. Financial Health: Does GCO have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Future Earnings: How does GCO's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with ourfree analyst growth expectation chart. 3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of GCO? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NYSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks justsearch here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Notable Insider Buys This Past Week: AbbVie, MGM and More • Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors. • Some insiders made return trips to the buy window in the past week. • Health care companies featured prominently in the week's insider purchases. Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10% owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. Soinsider buyingcan be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly with markets near all-time highs. Below is a look at a few notable insider purchases reported in the past week, but also note that beneficial owners ofBeacon Roofing Supply, Inc.(NASDAQ:BECN) andSunrun Inc(NASDAQ:RUN) made some sizable buys as well. MGM Resorts MGM Resorts International(NYSE:MGM) had a director continue to make indirect share purchases this past week. At $27.31 to $28.00 apiece, the more than 488,600 shares acquired most recently totaled almost $13.62 million. Note that these purchases were pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan and continued a buying streak that began in early June. MGM investors did not seem too concerned about theCaesars-Eldorado deal. MGM stock rose about 2% in the past week, while the S&P 500 was essentially flat. Shares closed most recently at $28.57, above the director's latest purchase price range. Note that shares have traded as high as $31.66 in the past 52 weeks, and the analysts' consensus price target is $33.09. Immunomedics Immunomedics, Inc.(NASDAQ:IMMU) saw its executive board chair, Behzad Aghazadeh, step up again and indirectly purchase a million more shares of this biopharmaceutical company. At prices ranging from $13.21 to $13.84 per share, that cost him almost $13.55 million. Note that Aghazadeh also acquired shares earlier in the month and back in May. With a stake now of 21 million shares, he is a beneficial owner. The Immunomedics chief medical officer stepped down earlier this year. Because the stock ended the past week at $13.87 per share, after rising more than 6% in the past week, the above purchases seem to be well-timed. The consensus target was last seen at just $25.30, but the stock has traded as high as $27.33 in the past 52 weeks. See Also:End Of An Era: What To Make Of Jony Ive's Departure From Apple AbbVie Last week, twoAbbVie Inc(NYSE:ABBV) directors and an executive acquired 49,400 shares altogether of this pharmaceutical company. At prices ranging from $67.30 to $67.50 per share, those transactions totaled more than $3.32 million. Note that the shares were changing hands at more than $78 apiece at the beginning of the week. AbbVie announcedits intention to acquire Ireland-domiciled pharma companyAllergan plc(NYSE:AGN). AbbVie shares dropped sharply after the announcement but ended the past week trading at $72.72, so a nice quick pop for those insiders. The consensus target is $86.21, though the stock has traded as high as $100.23 in the past 52 weeks. Note that the shares still down around 21% year to date. Medicines Company The Medicines Company(NASDAQ:MDCO) saw a director last week return to acquire indirectly an additional 50,000 shares of this biopharmaceutical company in anew public offering of common stockat $33.00 apiece. That transaction totaled $1.65 million. Note that this same director purchased 516,000 shares in late May. The director's stake was last seen at over 4.20 million shares. Options traders were bullish on the stock early in June. Shares ended last week more than 8% higher and closed Friday at $36.47, so the timing of the director's latest purchase was fortunate. The shares have traded as high as $41.57 in the past 52 weeks, and the analysts' consensus price target is up to $57.36. See more from Benzinga • Barron's Picks And Pans: AbbVie, Crocs, RealReal, Roku And More • Bulls & Bears Of The Week: AT&T, Carnival, McDonald's, Microsoft And More • Notable Insider Buys This Past Week: American Airlines, MGM and More © 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
How Does Investing In Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ:TECD) Impact The Volatility Of Your Portfolio? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! If you're interested in Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ:TECD), then you might want to consider its beta (a measure of share price volatility) in order to understand how the stock could impact your portfolio. Modern finance theory considers volatility to be a measure of risk, and there are two main types of price volatility. The first category is company specific volatility. This can be dealt with by limiting your exposure to any particular stock. The other type, which cannot be diversified away, is the volatility of the entire market. Every stock in the market is exposed to this volatility, which is linked to the fact that stocks prices are correlated in an efficient market. Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Some investors use beta as a measure of how much a certain stock is impacted by market risk (volatility). While we should keep in mind that Warren Buffett has cautioned that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk', beta is still a useful factor to consider. To make good use of it you must first know that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price. See our latest analysis for Tech Data With a beta of 1.05, (which is quite close to 1) the share price of Tech Data has historically been about as voltile as the broader market. Using history as a guide, we might surmise that the share price is likely to be influenced by market voltility going forward but it probably won't be particularly sensitive to it. Many would argue that beta is useful in position sizing, but fundamental metrics such as revenue and earnings are more important overall. You can see Tech Data's revenue and earnings in the image below. Tech Data is a fairly large company. It has a market capitalisation of US$3.8b, which means it is probably on the radar of most investors. It's not overly surprising to see large companies with beta values reasonably close to the market average. After all, large companies make up a higher weighting of the index than do small companies. It is probable that there is a link between the share price of Tech Data and the broader market, since it has a beta value quite close to one. However, long term investors are generally well served by looking past market volatility and focussing on the underlying development of the business. If that's your game, metrics such as revenue, earnings and cash flow will be more useful. In order to fully understand whether TECD is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Tech Data’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for TECD’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor TECD’s outlook. 2. Past Track Record: Has TECD been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of TECD's historicalsfor more clarity. 3. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how TECD measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with thisfree list of prospective options. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.