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Email API Platforms Gather Steam: VG, TWLO and AMZN in View The cloud communications market is rapidly evolving and becoming increasingly competitive with players striving hard to gain an edge. Per IDC, worldwide voice and text messaging communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) market is likely to reach a value of $10.9 billion by 2022 from $2 billion in 2017. As a result, cloud communication providers like Vonage VG and Twilio TWLO among others are undertaking key partnerships and also resorting to acquisitions to bring a bouquet of various marketing channels to attract customers. Notably, despite the growing popularity of video, voice and chat communications, demand for transactional email services is also shooting up. Significantly, email still remains an imperative conduit for businesses to communicate with customers as it aids in more prudently addressing the respective client's engagement strategy. Given these, demand for email application program interfaces (API) providers like SendinBlue, SendGrid, Amazon’s AMZN Simple Email Service (SES) and Mailgun is shoring up. Vonage Partners Sendinblue Recently, Vonage in its bid to bolster the number of communication channels it offers, partnered Sendinblue to add email capabilities to its API platform, Nexmo. Reportedly, the collaboration with Sendinblue email platform will enable Nexmo to provide businesses with the force to apply programmable capabilities to springboard the email marketing campaigns. Further, it will allow direct exchanges with customers for emergency data or time-sensitive offers. Moreover, Nexmo will deliver as the sole SMS provider for Sendinblue. In the last reported quarter, Vonage’s API platform delivered adjusted revenue growth of 42%, driven by higher value APIs like voice and video. The import of Sendinblue’s expertise to its portfolio is likely to lend a further stimulus. Twilio’s Acquisition of Sendgrid — A Key Catalyst In February 2019, Twilio completed the buyout of SendGrid, the leading email API platform. With this transaction, Twilio’s onmichannel communications capabilities are likely to be strengthened by enhancing its Programmable Communications Cloud software, which allows developers to embed voice, messaging, video and authentication skills. Through the integration of SendGrid’s services, Twilio expects to add more than half a trillion customer interactions annually to its communications platform. Notably, Twilio ended the last reported quarter boasting 154,797 active customer accounts with SendGrid contributing more than 84,000 to the count. Moreover, SendGrid boosted gross margins by 300 basis points sequentially. Thomas Bravo Purchases Mailgun In April, private equity firm Thoma Bravo purchased a majority stake in Mailgun Technologies, which provides API services for developing email functionality to more than 150,000 customers. Amazon SES — Smart Warhorse In 2011, Amazon launched a cloud-based email sending service — Amazon SES — designed to help digital marketers and application developers send marketing, notification and transactional emails. Amazon SES is a cost-effective service for businesses of all scales that use email to connect with customers. The company boasts clientele like Vodafone, SIEMENS, HBO and Allergan AGN among others, per its website. Amazon’s financial forte coupled with its technical knowhow helps it respond more promptly and adeptly to variable opportunities, technologies, standards or customer needs, which is an alarm bell for players like Vonage and Twilio. Year-to-Date Price Performance Twilio, Amazon and Vonage carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce ""the world's first trillionaires,"" but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportAmazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTwilio Inc. (TWLO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAllergan plc (AGN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportVonage Holdings Corp. (VG) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
IBM & Trifacta to Jointly Develop Data Preparation Tool International Business MachinesIBM and Trifacta have entered into an agreement to jointly develop a new data preparation tool called InfoSphere Advanced Data Preparation. The solution is aimed at bringing big data, machine learning and AI solutions to users thereby easing there DataOps and accelerating the process. The initiative is intended at helping users in managing their data and access analytical and decision-making applications by “formatting, structuring and enriching the datasets.” The move is also aimed at managing big data workloads across multi-cloud, edge architectures and hybrid on-premises for AI related demands of businesses. We believe, customers pertaining to manufacturing, healthcare, retail, IoT and financial services are well poised to benefit from the deal. With rapid accumulation of data, enterprises require applications and security to help them arrive at business decisions faster than ever. The collaboration will cater to this need and also provide customized tools to address problems related to AI solutions owing to reduced data quality and ineffective preparation procedures. International Business Machines Corporation Price and Consensus International Business Machines Corporation price-consensus-chart | International Business Machines Corporation Quote More About The Deal Trifacta is a big data startup that helps businesses structure globally via data preparation. Notably, more than 50,000 Data Wranglers across 12,000 companies utilize the company’s solutions. The agreement will expand IBM’s capabilities in big data analytics. Enterprises are increasingly striving to digitally transform their business methods by leveraging AI. This shift calls for an innovative AI-infrastructure, which dynamically keeps customers abreast with the digital trends. Both the companies are leaving no stone unturned to constantly enhance their solutions, which in turn accelerate AI. Consequently, combining ML tools into their AI platform drives innovation. According to Daniel G. Hernandez, Vice President of IBM Data and AI, "The new InfoSphere solution adds to our growing stable of dataops services and capabilities that are designed to help organizations automate much of the cumbersome preparation work and get to the business of conducting data science and building AI models fast." Through this collaboration IBM will provide clients a solution that helps to accelerate analytics, business processes, data processing and predictive capabilities. Additionally, the agreement will help organizations in generating instant results and vast storage. Consequently, the agreement will improve business performance of IBM’s clients. What Investor’s Need to Know Tech companies are ramping up their AI portfolios to meet emerging demands. The basic needs can only be met when the companies enhance their software systems to incorporate modern ML capabilities. This in turn helps them make AI more accessible to clientele. In fact, per Gartner data, 40% of new enterprise applications deployed by service providers will comprise AI technologies, by 2021. Moreover per a Forbes article, ML patents witnessed a CAGR of 34% between 2013 and 2017, making it the most rapidly growing category among all patents granted. The article also reveals that per IDC, spending on AI and ML is expected to grow to $57.6B by 2021 from $12B in 2017. We believe that enhancement of the ML tools is important for an AI-driven future in tech sector and consequently, the collaboration to develop this new tool will act as a tailwind for IBM. Zacks Rank & Key Picks IBM carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Match Group, Inc. MTCH, Universal Display Corporation OLED and Autohome Inc. ATHM, each flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Match Group, Universal Display and Autohome have a long-term earnings growth rate of 15.2%, 30% and 20.9%, respectively. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce ""the world's first trillionaires,"" but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportInternational Business Machines Corporation (IBM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMatch Group, Inc. (MTCH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAutohome Inc. (ATHM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportUniversal Display Corporation (OLED) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
5 Ways to Bring Vacation Vibes Into Your Home When You Can’t Get Away It’s no secret that our environment affects our mood and overall outlook. You know that laid-back, blissed-out vacation version of you? You may be able to bring her home by setting some sensory cues in place. Here, five little ways to channel OOO happiness in your own home. 1. Add Decor That Alludes to Your Happy Place One great way to remind yourself of your favorite vacation spot is by copying some of its signature design notes—in tasteful micro-doses, of course. Think: adding a few wicker or rattan accent pieces that bring to mind the beach, or perhaps highlighting some found objects (shells, driftwood). You can take this one step further by having them framed or mounted as a true art piece. 2. Capture Sense of Place With Scent The easiest way to create getaway vibes within your home? With a relaxing aroma that evokes a day spent at your favorite vacation destination the moment it hits your senses. For long-lasting fragrance (seriously, the refills last up to 50 days ), consider the stylishly redesigned Glade® PlugIns ® Scented Oils . With notes of warm beachwood, plumeria and tropical fruits, a scent like Hawaiian Breeze™ is the next best thing to spending a day at the beach. 3. Make Your Bed Like a Posh Hotel There’s just something about hotel beds: The sheets are crisper, the corner tucks are snugger, and the pillows are fluffier. All of which results in a decadent feeling the minute you sink into one. A friendly reminder that you can re-create this in your own bedroom with a little extra effort. Invest in quality sheets (Egyptian or Supima cotton) and new pillows (they’re supposed to be replaced every few years , anyway), and learn how to make the bed like a professional with perfect hospital corners and all. 4. ...And Spa-ify Your Bathroom Similarly, there’s no reason your bath shouldn’t feel (almost) as peaceful and luxurious as a high-end spa. Swap your standard showerhead for a rain head (no reno necessary). Edit down your toiletries so that you only have lovely, matching ones on display. And consider upping the presentation of some of your utilitarian items (see: a chic tissue-box cover and a drawstring bag for your hair dryer to live in). Don’t forget to treat yourself to a big, fluffy bathrobe! Story continues 5. Bring Nature In Our internal clocks crave nature in all its forms. (Just look at the popularity of forest bathing .) With this in mind, it’s no wonder that we automatically unwind when we find ourselves by the sea or on a lake or deep in the woods. The fix at home? Bring as much of the outdoors in as possible, both via living things—like houseplants and cut flowers—and through aesthetic decisions that maximize natural elements. For example, we’re big fans of skipping window treatments (in rooms where privacy isn’t an issue) in favor of outside views and tons of vitamin D–rich sunshine.
Innovator Lists the First MSCI EAFE and Emerging Markets Defined Outcome Buffer ETFs on NYSE Arca • The only international buffer ETFs • New ETFs provide exposure to international developed and emerging markets, up to a cap, with downside buffer levels of 15% over a one year outcome period • Expands opportunity for investors seeking to mitigate downside risk and participate in the growth of international equity markets CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / July 1, 2019 /Innovator Capital Management, LLC(Innovator) announced today the July Series of Innovator MSCI EAFE and MSCI Emerging Markets Buffer ETFs have begun trading on the NYSE Arca. "We are pleased to be expanding our Defined Outcome ETFsmsuite with MSCI EAFE and Emerging Markets exposures," said Bruce Bond, CEO of Innovator ETFs. "The defined outcome ETF space has solved a key challenge by providing the ability for people to stay invested in the stock market, knowing they have upside growth potential and a downside buffer. Today, advisors now have the tools to build globally diversified equity portfolios with measurable downside buffers." Return profiles for the July Series ofInnovator MSCI EAFEand MSCI Emerging Markets Power Buffer ETFsas of 7/1/19 [{"Ticker": "EJUL", "Name": "Innovator MSCI Emerging Markets Power Buffer ETF", "Buffer Level": "15.00%", "Cap *": "9.36% (gross)8.47% (net of management fee)", "Outcome Period": "12 months7/1/19 - 6/30/20"}, {"Ticker": "IJUL", "Name": "Innovator MSCI EAFE Power Buffer ETF", "Buffer Level": "15.00%", "Cap *": "10.21% (gross)9.36% (net of management fee)", "Outcome Period": "12 months7/1/19 - 6/30/20"}] * The Caps above are shown gross and net of EJUL's 0.89% management fee, and IJUL's 0.85% management fee. "Cap" refers to the maximum potential return, before fees and expensesand any shareholder transaction fees and any extraordinary expenses,if held over the full Outcome Period. "Buffer" refers to the amount of downside protection the fund seeks to provide, before fees and expenses, over the full Outcome Period. Outcome Period is the intended length of time over which the defined outcomes are sought.Upon fund launch, the Caps can be found on a daily basis viawww.innovatoretfs.com. TheInnovator MSCI Emerging Markets Power BufferandInnovator MSCI EAFE Power BufferETFs seek to provide exposure to the price return of their respective indexes up to a Cap, with a downside buffer level of 15%, over an Outcome Period of approximately one year. The ETFs reset annually and can be held indefinitely. Upcoming Webinars Continuing educational efforts around Defined Outcome ETF investing, Innovator will be hosting its next webinar, titled, "Implementing the Only ETFs with Built-In Buffers", on July 9, 2019 at 2pm ET. Additional information including event registration is available using the following link:http://www.innovatoretfs.com/webinars. The Funds have characteristics unlike many other traditional investment products and may not be suitable for all investors. For more information regarding whether an investment in the Fund is right for you, please see "Investor Suitability" in the prospectus. TheInnovator S&P 500 Buffer ETFsmsuite, the first set of funds in Innovator's Defined Outcome series, seeks to provide investors with exposure to the S&P 500 Price Return Index (S&P 500) up to a Cap, with downside buffer levels of 9%, 15%, or 30% over an Outcome Period of approximately one year. The ETFs reset annually and can be held indefinitely. Innovator S&P 500 Buffer ETFs, with over $954 million in AUM as of June 28 2019, are among the fastest growing new category of ETFs in the market today. MSCI Emerging Markets: InnovatorMSCI Emerging Markets Power Buffer ETF (NYSE:EJUL):Designed to track the price returns of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (up to a predetermined Cap) while buffering investors against the first 15% of losses over the Outcome Period, before fees and expenses. MSCI EAFE: InnovatorMSCI EAFE Power Buffer ETF (NYSE:IJUL):Designed to track the price returns of the MSCI EAFE Index (up to a predetermined Cap) while buffering investors against the first 15% of losses over the Outcome Period, before fees and expenses. About Innovator Defined Outcome ETFs Each Innovator Defined Outcome ETFSMseeks to provide a defined exposure to a broad market index (such as the S&P 500, MSCI EAFE or MSCI EM) where the downside buffer level, upside growth potential to a Cap, and Outcome Period are all known, prior to investing. Innovator recently began expanding its suite of S&P 500 Buffer ETFs into a monthly series to provide investors more opportunities to purchase shares as close to the beginning of their respective Outcome Periods as possible. Investors can purchase shares of a previously listed Defined Outcome Buffer ETF throughout the entire Outcome Period, obtaining a current set of defined outcome parameters, which are disclosed daily through a web tool available at:http://innovatoretfs.com/define/. Innovator is focused on delivering defined outcome based solutions inside the benefit-rich ETF wrapper, retaining many of the features that have contributed to the success of structured products1(e.g., downside buffer levels, upside participation, defined outcome parameters), but with the added benefits of transparency, liquidity and lower costs afforded by the ETF structure. Interim Period Shareholders Unlike structured notes, which offer limited liquidity, Innovator Defined Outcome ETFs trade throughout the day on an exchange, like a stock. As a result, investors purchasing shares of a Fund after its launch date may achieve a different payoff profile than those who entered the Fund on day one. Innovator recognizes this as a benefit of the Funds and provides a web-based tool that allows investors to know, in real-time throughout the trading day, their potential defined outcome return profile before they invest, based on the current ETF price and the Outcome Period remaining. Innovator's web tool can be accessed athttp://www.innovatoretfs.com/define. ETF Construction Each Fund will hold a portfolio of custom exchange-traded FLEX Options that have varying strike prices (the price at which the option purchaser may buy or sell the security, at the expiration date), and the same expiration date (approximately one year). The layering of these FLEX Options with varying strike prices provides the mechanism for producing a Fund's desired outcome (i.e. Cap or buffer). Each Fund intends to roll options components annually, on the last business day of the month associated with each Fund. The ETFs are subadvised by Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC (Milliman FRM), a global leader in financial risk management. Milliman FRM was also instrumental in the design of the Cboe S&P 500 Target Outcome Indexes, which theInnovator S&P 500 Buffer ETFsmsuiteare benchmarked against. Although each Fund seeks to achieve the defined outcomes stated in its investment objective, there is no guarantee that it will do so. The returns that the Funds seek to provide do not include the costs associated with purchasing shares of the Fund and certain expenses incurred by the Fund. About Innovator Capital Management, LLC Innovator Capital Management, LLC is an SEC registered investment advisor (RIA) based in Wheaton, IL. Formed in 2014, the firm is currently headed by ETF visionaries Bruce Bond and John Southard, founders of one of the largest ETF providers in the world. Innovation is our hallmark and acts as a guide to our company principles. Innovator is committed to helping investors better control their financial outcomes by providing investment opportunities they never considered or thought possible. For additional information, visitwww.innovatoretfs.com. About Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC (Milliman FRM) is a global leader in financial risk management to the retirement industry, providing investment advisory, hedging, and consulting services on over $147.6 billion in global assets as of March 31, 2019. For more information about Milliman FRM, visitwww.Milliman.com/FRM. MediaContactBill Conboy+1 (303) 415-2290bill@bccapitalpartners.com 1Structured notes and structured annuities are financial instruments designed and created to afford investors exposure to an underlying asset through a derivative contract. It is important to note that these ETFs are not structured notes or structured annuities. Investing involves risks.The Funds face numerous market trading risks, including active markets risk, authorized participation concentration risk, buffered loss risk, Cap change risk, capped upside return risk, correlation risk, FLEX Option counterparty risk, cyber security risk, fluctuation of net asset value risk, investment objective risk, limitations of intraday indicative value risk, liquidity risk, management risk, market maker risk, market risk, non-diversification risk, operation risk, options risk, Outcome Period risk, tax risk, trading issues risk, upside participation risk and valuation risk. Unlike mutual funds, the Funds may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. ETFs are bought and sold at market price and not individually redeemed from the Fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. The outcomes that a Fund seeks to provide may only be realized if you are holding shares on the first day of the Outcome Period and continue to hold them on the last day of the Outcome Period, approximately one year. If you purchase shares after the Outcome Period has begun or sell shares prior to the Outcome Period's conclusion, you may experience very different investment returns from those that a Fund seeks to provide. These Funds are designed to provide point-to-point exposure to the price return of the S&P 500, MSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI EAFE indexes via a basket of FLEX Options. As a result, the ETFs are not expected to move directly in line with the indexes during the interim period. FLEXOptions Risk.The Fund will utilize FLEX Options issued and guaranteed for settlement by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). FLEX options, are non-standard options that allow both the writer and purchaser to negotiate various terms. Terms that are negotiable include the exercise style, strike price, expiration date, as well as other feature. The Fund bears the risk that the OCC will be unable or unwilling to perform its obligations under the FLEX Options contracts. In the unlikely event that the OCC becomes insolvent or is otherwise unable to meet its settlement obligations, the Fund could suffer significant losses. Additionally, FLEX Options may be less liquid than certain other securities such as standardized options. In less liquid market for the FLEX Options, the Fund may have difficulty closing out certain FLEX Options positions at desired times and prices. The values of FLEX Options do not increase or decrease at the same rate as the reference asset and may vary due to factors other than the price of reference asset. Fund shareholders are subject to an upside return cap (the "Cap") that represents the maximum percentage return an investor can achieve from an investment in the funds' for the Outcome Period, before fees and expenses. If the Outcome Period has begun and the Fund has increased in value to a level near to the Cap, an investor purchasing at that price has little or no ability to achieve gains but remains vulnerable to downside risks. Additionally, the Cap may rise or fall from one Outcome Period to the next. The Cap, and the Fund's position relative to it, should be considered before investing in the Fund. The Funds' website, www.innovatoretfs.com, provides important Fund information as well information relating to the potential outcomes of an investment in a Fund on a daily basis. The Funds only seek to provide shareholders that hold shares for the entire Outcome Period with their respective buffer level againstS&P 500,MSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI EAFEPrice Index losses during the Outcome Period. You will bear allS&P 500 Price Indexlosses exceeding 9%, 15%, and 30%,respectively, and bear allMSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI EAFEPrice Index losses exceeding 15% respectively. Depending upon market conditions at the time of purchase, a shareholder that purchases shares after the Outcome Period has begun may also lose their entire investment. For instance, if the Outcome Period has begun and the Fund has decreased in value beyond the pre-determined buffer, an investor purchasing shares at that price may not benefit from the buffer. Similarly, if the Outcome Period has begun and the Fund has increased in value, an investor purchasing shares at that price may not benefit from the buffer until the Fund's value has decreased to its value at the commencement of the Outcome Period. The ETFs referred to herein is not sponsored, endorsed, or promoted by MSCI Inc. or based upon the MSCI EAFE and MSCI Emerging Markets Indexes. MSCI Inc. bears no liability with respect to the ETFs. MSCI, MSCI EAFE, and MSCI Emerging Markets are trademarks or service marks of MSCI Inc. or its affiliates ("Marks") and are used hereto subject to license from MSCI. All goodwill and use of Marks inures to the benefit of MSCI and its affiliates. No other use of the Marks is permitted without a license from MSCI. Cboe Global Markets, Inc., and its affiliates do not recommend or make any representation as to possible Benefits from any securities, futures or investments, or third-party products or services. Cboe Global Markets, Inc., is not affiliated with S&P DJI, Milliman, or Innovator Capital Management. Investors should undertake their own due diligence regarding their securities, futures and investment practices. Cboe Global Markets, Inc., and its affiliates make no warranty, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties as of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness or timeliness, or as to the results to be obtained by recipients of the products. Each Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses should be considered before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information, and may be obtained at www.innovatoretfs.com or 800.208.5212. Read it carefully before investing. Innovator ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Copyright © 2019 Innovator Capital Management, LLC. 800.208.5212 SOURCE:Innovator View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/550455/Innovator-Lists-the-First-MSCI-EAFE-and-Emerging-Markets-Defined-Outcome-Buffer-ETFs-on-NYSE-Arca
Here's Why NY Times' (NYT) Marching Ahead of the Industry The U.S. newspaper publishing industry has been grappling with declining print readership and advertising revenues for quite some time now. Nevertheless, the industry participants are evolving from being just pure news-content providers and advertisement platforms. In this regard,The New York Times CompanyNYT has done a commendable job. Rapid digitization in the core areas of advertising, subscriptions and sales, printing, and distribution services has turned out to be a major source of revenues. Notably, this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock has surged 49.3% in the past six months, outperforming the industry’s rally of 25.9% and the S&P 500’s growth of approximately 15.9%. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The New York Times Company has been contemplating new avenues of revenue generation in a bid to counter dwindling print advertising revenues. As readers started thronging the Internet for news, advertisers followed suit, and so did the newspaper companies. Trimmed print operations paved the way for online publications that led to the development of a pay-and-read model. Notably, the number of paid digital subscribers reached 3,583,000 at the end of first quarter of 2019 — rising 223,000 sequentially and 28.7% year over year. Subscription revenue grew 3.9% principally due to increase in the number of subscriptions to the company’s digital-only products. Revenue from digital-only subscriptions products jumped 15.1%. Management now projects total subscription revenue in the second quarter to increase in the low to mid-single digits, while digital-only subscription revenue is likely to rise in the mid-teens. The company has set a goal to reach more than 10 million subscriptions by 2025. The New York Times Company is not only gearing up to become an optimum destination for news and information but is also focusing on service journalism, with verticals like Cooking, Watching and Well. In this regard, it acquired The Wirecutter and its sister site, The Sweethome that recommends technology gear, home products and other consumer services. The company also acquired a digital marketing agency and portfolio company, HelloSociety, from Science Inc. The buyout complements its T Brand Studio that helps in creating digital ad innovation and branded content. Further, it launched digital subscriptions for NYT Cooking, its popular recipe site and app. The New York Times Company is diversifying business, adding new revenue streams, strengthening balance sheet and restructuring portfolio. It offloaded assets in order to re-focus on its core newspapers and pay more attention to online activities. Other publishing companies such as New Media Investment Group Inc. NEWM, Gannett Co., Inc. GCI and The McClatchy Company MNI are also trying to adapt to different ways of revenue generation. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce ""the world's first trillionaires,"" but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportGannett Co., Inc. (GCI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMcClatchy Company (The) (MNI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportThe New York Times Company (NYT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportNew Media Investment Group Inc. (NEWM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Bitcoin dominance on the rise: Will altcoins recover? If you’ve been following the most recent price action in the crypto markets, you’re probably wondering what’s going to happen within the next couple of weeks – especially if you’re holding some altcoins. Will the bull market be kind to the majority of cryptos like in 2017? Or will we see a sudden drop in interest around altcoins as Bitcoin’s market dominance continues to rise? Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market underwent a sharp correction on Sunday , knocking more than $20 billion off the total market capitalisation in less than 24 hours. The pullback followed a brief period of consolidation that saw Bitcoin struggle to get back above the $12,000 mark. All of the top-20 coins reported losses on Sunday, with Bitcoin falling 6.9% to $11,155, according to TradingView. With the reversal, Bitcoin’s market cap has slipped back below $200 billion for the first time since last Thursday. Bitcoin dominance on the rise Even though many cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors are still hoping for an altcoin bull season, the data shows that BTC market dominance is once again on the rise – and it is showing no signs of slowing down. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s market dominance is sitting close to 65%. What this shows us is that investors have been betting heavily on Bitcoin and are not so sure about altcoins – even major ones. Apart from Litecoin and Binance Coin , most of the top-10 cryptocurrencies have been underperforming against Bitcoin during 2019. It seems some lessons have been learned from the ICO craze of 2017/18. Of course, we now have the rise of IEOs, which aim to “disrupt” how cryptocurrency projects raise funds by giving the gatekeeping power to exchanges – entities that have proven time and time again to be untrustworthy. My guess is that Bitcoin market dominance will keep rising until it breaks new all-time highs. There is little evidence that shows an opposite path developing ahead, as most institutional investment is focusing on Bitcoin. Will altcoins recover? There are a couple of things I would like to focus on in this graph. First, let’s take a look at that beautiful pink trend line that started at the top of the bull market in early 2018 and is still going today. What this shows is that bear markets are extremely painful for altcoin holders – but that is not news. More interestingly, we can see there’s a trend for Bitcoin to keep gaining dominance past 70%. If what I believe is correct and Bitcoin dominance grows another 10% before it stabilises, what will happen to altcoins? Well, for starters, I believe most will never recover. The ones that do will moon past previous highs as well. Story continues Another interesting indicator is the volume profile on the left, which shows us that Bitcoin’s dominance just crossed an important level: 60% dominance. This level had the most volume both from Bitcoin buyers and sellers. Now that volumes are super thin, I expect Bitcoin to reach $20,000 by the end of the year, and when price plateaus, new entrants will look toward altcoins for gains. We can’t forget that one of the most important drivers of human behaviour is greed. FOMO is what pumps price past previous highs and is what brings new people into the market. Despite everyone, or mostly everyone, saying volatility is bad for Bitcoin and for the cryptocurrency market in general, they seem to forget that without great volatility, there’s no room for huge price swings. And what attracts traders and new entrants the most? Precisely. Conclusion Bitcoin dominance is clearly on the rise, and it will keep going until it reaches a maximum of 80%. I believe that will happen close to the top of the current bull cycle , and afterwards we’ll see investors and traders switching to altcoins for gains. If you want to get into the market, look at the top performers of 2019, like Litecoin (LTC) and Binance Coin (BNB), and think of what will happen to those coins when Bitcoin dominance declines. I’m pretty confident their prices will go berserk and power past previous highs. Safe trades! The post Bitcoin dominance on the rise: Will altcoins recover? appeared first on Coin Rivet . View comments
IBM Garage Aids Enterprises to Devise & Deploy Business Ideas International Business Machines CorporationIBM recently announced that IBM Garage is enabling approximately 500 enterprises to implement robust business transforming strategies.Notably, IBM Garage leverages AI, machine learning, blockchain, IoT, DevOps tools and robust cognitive capabilities to provide clientele with end-to-end workflows. The customized workflows are steps that the companies need to follow which will eventually lead to the final business growth outcome.Moreover, IBM Garage Methodology is based on Enterprise Design Thinking. Further, IBM Garage enables access to IBM Research via latest Innovation Hub. This enables clientele to utilize the rich library of IBM’s innovative offerings to fulfill their respective business goals.To quote IBM, “With an IBM Garage experience, you can move faster, work smarter, ideate more rapidly and fundamentally change the way you work.” The rich functionalities of IBM Garage are favoring adoption in the digital transformation era. IBM Revenue (Quarterly) International Business Machines Corporation revenue-quarterly | International Business Machines Corporation Quote Expanding Clientele Holds PromiseIBM Garage boasts of a notable clientele comprising CEMEX, Mueller, Inc., Volkswagen VWAGY, American Airlines, to name a few. The offering is being increasingly utilized by companies to accelerate their digital transformation journey.For instance, the Kraft Heinz Company KHC devised an algorithm with the help of IBM Garage, which improves product distribution and stock management. Moreover, IBM Garage is enabling ADP ADP to infuse AI capabilities across business processes to bolster customer engagement.The expanding customer base strengthens IBM’s growth prospects in the digital transformation market, which per a MarketsandMarkets report, is envisioned to hit $665 billion by 2023.Courses to Democratize Benefits of AIHuge volume of data is being generated through a wide range of sources. The companies want to leverage AI to provide specific solutions and gain competitive edge.As a result, the number of companies utilizing enterprise AI is increasing. In fact, IDC projects worldwide spending on AI systems to hit $79.2 billion by 2022.In a bid to capitalize on the growing enterprise AI market, IBM recently announced two courses. The courses are aimed at enabling enterprises to adopt cloud platforms, upscale operations and infuse AI into business processes.The IBM Garage Methodology for businesses can be availed via IBM Garage Method for Cloud course.IBM also rolled out nine-lesson course on Team Essentials for AI. The company notes that the first of five levels can be availed by individuals free of cost through Jul 31. Post the date, the course will be a part of the company’s comprehensive Enterprise Design Thinking core curriculum, which is priced at $300 for a year.We believe the strategic framework of the courses aimed at enabling companies to harness customer data and implement AI techniques to obtain business insights bodes well.Wrapping UpOngoing digital transformation initiatives are anticipated to bolster adoption of IBM Garage and two new courses, eventually benefiting the top line in the days ahead.However, increasing expenditure on portfolio expansion and product enhancement is likely to weigh on margins at least in the near term.Currently, IBM carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of AllLast year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportInternational Business Machines Corporation (IBM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportThe Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAutomatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportVolkswagen AG (VWAGY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Wish You Were Here: How Burford Capital (LON:BUR) Shareholders Made A Stonking Gain Of 1197% 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 in the stock market is to achieve spectacular returns. While the best companies are hard to find, but they can generate massive returns over long periods. To wit, theBurford Capital Limited(LON:BUR) share price has soared 1197% over five years. And this is just one example of the epic gains achieved by some long term investors. The last week saw the share price soften some 2.5%. It really delights us to see such great share price performance for investors. Check out our latest analysis for Burford Capital 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. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price. Over half a decade, Burford Capital managed to grow its earnings per share at 160% a year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 67% over the same period. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock. The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). It is of course excellent to see how Burford Capital has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. If you are thinking of buying or selling Burford Capital stock, you should check out thisFREEdetailed report on its balance sheet. As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Burford Capital the TSR over the last 5 years was 1302%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! We're pleased to report that Burford Capital shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 4.2% over one year. And that does include the dividend. Having said that, the five-year TSR of 70% a year, is even better. Potential buyers might understandably feel they've missed the opportunity, but it's always possible business is still firing on all cylinders. Before forming an opinion on Burford Capital you might want to consider these3 valuation metrics. If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love thisfreelist of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on GB 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.
Coca-Cola gets green signal to sell energy drink under Monster contract (Reuters) - An arbitration tribunal has ruled that Coca-Cola Co <KO.N> can sell its energy drink globally under the terms of the contract with Monster Beverage Corp <MNST.O>, the two companies said on Monday, months after the launch of the product in Europe. The soda maker was in arbitration with Monster Beverage over the launch of Coca-Cola Energy, as it would put the company in direct competition with Monster and violate their initial agreement in 2015. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola launched the drink as a part of its efforts to break away from its traditional fizzy sodas and shift to health-focused trends. Coca-Cola Energy, first launched in Spain and Hungary in April, has caffeine from naturally derived sources, guarana extracts, B vitamins and no taurine - a stimulant often found in energy drinks. According to the ruling, the beverage maker can continue to sell and distribute Coca-Cola Energy, including in markets where it has already been launched, and is free to launch the product in new markets globally. Coca-Cola said it would continue its partnership with Monster, in which it holds a stake of nearly 19%. Shares of Monster fell 3% before the opening bell, while Coca-Cola's shares rose marginally. (Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
Is Now The Time To Put Burford Capital (LON:BUR) 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! 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. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses. In contrast to all that, I prefer to spend time on companies likeBurford Capital(LON:BUR), which has not only revenues, but also profits. 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. View our latest analysis for Burford Capital Over the last three years, Burford Capital has grown earnings per share (EPS) like young bamboo after rain; fast, and from a low base. So I don't think the percent growth rate is particularly meaningful. As a result, I'll zoom in on growth over the last year, instead. Like a wedge-tailed eagle on the wind, Burford Capital's EPS soared from US$1.20 to US$1.51, in just one year. That's a commendable gain of 26%. 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. I note that Burford Capital's revenuefrom operationswas lower than its revenue in the last twelve months, so that could distort my analysis of its margins. While we note Burford Capital's EBIT margins were flat over the last year, revenue grew by a solid 25% to US$426m. That's a real positive. In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings, and revenue, over time. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers. In investing, as in life, the future matters more than the past. So why not check out thisfreeinteractive visualization of Burford Capital'sforecastprofits? 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 Burford Capital shares worth a considerable sum. Indeed, they have a glittering mountain of wealth invested in it, currently valued at US$277m. This suggests to me that leadership will be very mindful of shareholders' interests when making decisions! You can't deny that Burford Capital has grown its earnings per share at a very impressive rate. That's attractive. I think that EPS growth is something to boast of, and it doesn't surprise me that insiders are holding on to a considerable chunk of shares. Fast growth and confident insiders should be enough to warrant further research. So the answer is that I do think this is a good stock to follow along with. While we've looked at the quality of the earnings, we haven't yet done any work to value the stock. So if you like to buy cheap, you may want tocheck if Burford Capital is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry. Although Burford Capital certainly looks good to me, I would like it more if insiders were buying up shares. If you like to see insider buying, too, then thisfreelist of growing companies that insiders are buying, could be exactly what you're looking for. 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.
Here's Why We Think First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Is Well Worth Watching Want to participate in ashort 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. Unfortunately, high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson. In contrast to all that, I prefer to spend time on companies likeFirst Busey(NASDAQ:BUSE), which has not only revenues, but also profits. 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. Conversely, a loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the sweet milk of external capital may run sour. View our latest analysis for First Busey If a company can keep growing earnings per share (EPS) long enough, its share price will eventually follow. That means EPS growth is considered a real positive by most successful long-term investors. Over the last three years, First Busey has grown EPS by 13% per year. That growth rate is fairly good, assuming the company can keep it up. I like to see top-line growth as an indication that growth is sustainable, and I look for a high earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margin to point to a competitive moat (though some companies with low margins also have moats). Not all of First Busey'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. First Busey maintained stable EBIT margins over the last year, all while growing revenue 12% to US$338m. 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. You don't drive with your eyes on the rear-view mirror, so you might be more interested in thisfreereport showing analyst forecasts for First Busey'sfutureprofits. Like that fresh smell in the air when the rains are coming, insider buying fills me with optimistic anticipation. That's because insider buying often indicates that those closest to the company have confidence that the share price will perform well. However, insiders are sometimes wrong, and we don't know the exact thinking behind their acquisitions. It's a pleasure to note that insiders spent US$1.9m buying First Busey shares, over the last year, without reporting any share sales whatsoever. And so I find myself almost expectant, and certainly hopeful, that this large outlay signals prescient optimism for the business. It is also worth noting that it was Director Stephen King who made the biggest single purchase, worth US$1.5m, paying US$26.83 per share. The good news, alongside the insider buying, for First Busey 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$134m. 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. While insiders are apparently happy to hold and accumulate shares, that is just part of the pretty picture. The cherry on top is that the CEO, Van Dukeman is paid comparatively modestly to CEOs at similar sized companies. I discovered that the median total compensation for the CEOs of companies like First Busey with market caps between US$1.0b and US$3.2b is about US$4.0m. First Busey offered total compensation worth US$2.1m to its CEO in the year to 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. I'd also argue reasonable pay levels attest to good decision making more generally. As I already mentioned, First Busey is a growing business, which is what I like to see. Better yet, insiders are significant shareholders, and have been buying more shares. To me, that all makes it well worth a spot on your watchlist, as well as continuing research. 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 First Busey. As a growth investor I do like to see insider buying. But First Busey isn't the only one. You can see aa 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.
Exxon expects weak gas prices to offset gains from higher crude prices July 1 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp said on Monday that in the second quarter it expects higher oil prices and refining margins compared to the prior quarter, but the gains will be offset by lower natural gas and weaker margins in its chemicals business. The U.S. oil major said in a filing http://bit.ly/2RL5hMp it expected change in crude prices to boost second-quarter profit by $400 million to $600 million. However, lower gas prices were expected to offset it by an equal measure. Natural gas prices have dropped to multi-year lows in the face of tepid demand. The slump comes amid an economic slowdown and escalating global trade tensions, especially between the United States and China. Weaker margins from its chemical business is expected to impact the company's second-quarter profit by $100 million to $300 million, Exxon said. Exxon also estimated a potential second-quarter gain of $200 million over the first quarter from a lack of impairment charges. The company posted a 49% slump in first-quarter profit and missed forecasts due to a weakness across its major businesses, an indication that the turnaround at the company remains a work in progress. (Reporting by Shanti S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
Harris lands 2020 endorsement from 2 Black Caucus members BALTIMORE (AP) Two more members of the Congressional Black Caucus are backing Kamala Harris's bid for the presidency: Reps. Bobby Rush of Illinois and Frederica Wilson of Florida. Endorsements from the caucus, which counts more than 50 members, could be influential in the Democratic presidential primary. With these two new supporters, Harris now has six endorsements from the CBC. Rush has been sharply critical of former Vice President Joe Biden in the wake of comments in which he recalled working alongside two segregationist Southern senators. Rush told Politico that Biden, another Democratic presidential candidate, was "wholly out of touch and woefully ignorant of the nuances of the black American experience." Rush will serve as Harris' Illinois campaign chair. Rush said Harris was "the only candidate prepared to fight for all Americans against a Trump Administration that has left them behind" and that she is a "once-in-a-lifetime leader" who "exemplifies what global leadership is all about." Harris and Biden clashed during the first Democratic primary debate after Harris, who is black, directly challenged Biden over his history of opposing school integration through federally ordered busing. Harris said Biden's recollections of working with the two senators were hurtful. Harris's campaign announced on Saturday that she had raised $2 million in the first 24 hours following the start of Thursday's debate. Aides to her campaign said she received donations from 63,277 people, and that 58 percent of those donors had not contributed to her campaign before. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Rush is Illinois chair, not co-chair.
Liz Weston: How to nag new coworkers to save for retirement The most important thing you can say to a new hire may well be: "Have you signed up for the 401(k) yet?" An astounding 3 out of 10 workers don't know whether their employers offer retirement plans, according to a survey by research firm Morning Consult for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. "That was, quite frankly, shocking," says Kevin Keller, the board's CEO. "But it clearly shows that people just don't know what their options are." You might think people don't know because their employers don't offer such plans. After all, companies that lack retirement benefits typically don't point it out. And the 3-in-10 figure appears to line up nicely with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' figures showing that 30% of workers don't have access to401(k)s, 403(b)s, pensions or other retirement plans at work. But when the CFP Board asked 2,200 American adults if their current employer offered a retirement savings plan for employees, 38% said yes, 32% said no and 30% didn't know. So, with the definite "No" answer accounted for, that leaves many, if not most, of that last uncertain group who may actually have access to a plan. WHY YOU SHOULD CARE This survey finding should dismay employers, because retirement benefits are supposed to help attract and retain workers. If your employees don't know about them, those benefits aren't doing their job. Rather than assume new hires are getting the word, companies should take every opportunity to explain the value of retirement savings plans and encourage participation. Better yet, make enrollment automatic — an increasingly common and effective option to start people saving. The survey should concern you as well. Taxpayers shoulder the burden when people hit their retirement years unprepared. Impoverished seniors mean more strain on public assistance, especially Medicaid, the health care system for the poor that also pays for a lot of long-term care expenses. This is where you come in. Sometimes, a one-on-one conversation can do more to persuade someone than any glossy brochure or email campaign. YOUR NUDGE COULD SPUR ACTION In Josh Overmyer's case, it was a two-on-one conversation. Overmyer took a job in a Florida county planning department after college. Two of the department's administrative assistants, both in their mid-40s, dubbed themselves his "work moms" and took Overmyer under their collective wing. Among the many conversations they had about getting launched in the work world was one about the importance of paying himself first, or putting money into savings before spending on anything else. They recommended he sign up for the agency's 457 deferred compensation plan, a type of tax-advantaged retirement account. "When you're 22, you're not thinking about retirement," says Overmyer, who is now 36 and works for the Florida Division of Emergency Management in Fort Myers. "You earn the money, you spend the money." Overmyer was particularly taken with the idea that he could contribute $25 to the plan, but only $20 would disappear from his paycheck because the money was pre-tax. "I thought that was really cool," Overmyer says. Jackie Beck was persuaded by the company match. Beck says she was "19 or 20" and worked in a newspaper's classified advertising department when her supervisor encouraged her to sign up for the company 401(k) plan. "She pointed out that the match was basically free money, that there wasn't a downside, and that I could stop participating at any time if I wanted to," says Beck, now 51 and a personal finance writer in Phoenix. "'Free money' did the trick for me." DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DID You don't have to be a great saver to nudge others, by the way. If you wish you'd started saving earlier or saved more, you can share that sentiment while suggesting your coworkers not make the same mistake. If you're not saving because you don't have a retirement account at work, know that you have plenty of company. Without a workplace plan, most people don't save: An AARP survey found workers are 15 times more likely to put aside money for retirement if they can contribute through payroll deduction. That's why 10 states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — are rolling out plans to give small-business employees access to simple retirement plans through payroll deduction. Many other states are considering similar legislation. You don't have to wait, though. You can contribute to an IRA and encourage your coworkers to do the same. Then you can start looking for a job with better benefits. ________________________________________________ This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Liz Weston is a columnist at NerdWallet, a certified financial planner and author of "Your Credit Score." Email: lweston@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @lizweston. RELATED LINK: What is a 401(k)?http://bit.ly/nerdwallet-what-is-401k
Should You Be Tempted To Sell Starrag Group Holding AG (VTX:STGN) 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 apply a basic P/E ratio analysis to Starrag Group Holding AG's (VTX:STGN), to help you decide if the stock is worth further research.Starrag Group Holding has a P/E ratio of 20.7, based on the last twelve months. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 4.8%. See our latest analysis for Starrag Group Holding Theformula for price to earningsis: Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Starrag Group Holding: P/E of 20.7 = CHF51.5 ÷ CHF2.49 (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) 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. Companies that shrink earnings per share quickly will rapidly decrease the 'E' in the equation. Therefore, even if you pay a low multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become higher in the future. So while a stock may look cheap based on past earnings, it could be expensive based on future earnings. Starrag Group Holding's earnings per share fell by 30% in the last twelve months. And over the longer term (5 years) earnings per share have decreased 8.9% annually. This growth rate might warrant a below average P/E ratio. One good way to get a quick read on what market participants expect of a company is to look at its P/E ratio. As you can see below Starrag Group Holding has a P/E ratio that is fairly close for the average for the machinery industry, which is 19.7. Its P/E ratio suggests that Starrag Group Holding shareholders think that in the future it will perform about the same as other companies in its industry classification. The company could surprise by performing better than average, in the future. 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. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings. Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context. Starrag Group Holding's net debt is 3.1% of its market cap. It would probably trade on a higher P/E ratio if it had a lot of cash, but I doubt it is having a big impact. Starrag Group Holding's P/E is 20.7 which is above average (18.3) in the CH market. With modest debt but no EPS growth in the last year, it's fair to say the P/E implies some optimism about future earnings, from the market. Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If the reality for a company is better than it expects, you can make money by buying and holding for the long term. So thisfreevisualization of the analyst consensus on future earningscould help you make theright decisionabout whether to buy, sell, or hold. Of courseyou might be able to find a better stock than Starrag Group Holding. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection 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 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.
Dow Stock Is a Misjudged, Undervalued Dividend Play Worth a Shot Owners of chemical giantDow Inc(NYSE:DOW) expecting the recent three-way split to immediately “unlock value” are likely to be disappointed. DOW stock is down — again — since its late-March separation from parent companyDuPont de Nemours(NYSE:DD) and fellow spinoff siblingCorteva(NYSE:CTVA). Even more worrisome, the technical chart suggests more pain to follow. Source:Roy Luck via Flickr (modified) However, you may want to catch this falling knife for a few reasons. First, we don’t know much about the true fundamentals driving Dow Inc stock. Thus, current investors are somewhat acting on blind faith. The other reason? Chemical stocks have performed relatively poorly. Therefore, mere association keeps a lid on DOW. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Don’t let either impasse deter you though. It was a curious if not confusing saga. Dow and DuPontcompleted their mergerin 2017, but with the ultimate intent of splitting into the three companies. For management to implement greater fiscal efficiencies and more effective groupings, they consolidated the various pieces and acquisitions. • The 7 Top Small-Cap Stocks Of 2019 With the improvements and restructuring finally falling into place last year, management spun off DOW in March. Shares of Dow Inc stock began trading independently on March 20th. Agricultural chemical outfit Corteva became a fully independent company with its own stock on May 24th. Investors weren’t particularly kind to either name, initially. They’ve also been notably wary of DuPont, superficially suggesting the split may have been a mistake. Some value exists in levering expertise in a specific area. But perhaps in this instance it wasn’t necessary. Or, the market was simply dragging all three names lower. That is largely what happened, by the way. TheS&P 500rolled over in early May, accelerating the selloff Dow stock was already working on. Chemicals as a group fared no better. The market-wide (and industry-wide) tide also lifted DOW in early June; Corteva shares finally caught up in the latter half of June. Click to Enlarge None of the early weaknesses properly represents their true fundamental value. Instead, mere technical factors drove them down. That said, it’s difficult to blame investors for letting Dow Inc stock roll with the tide. While the spinoff was completed in March, critical fundamental data about Dow remains elusive. However, elusive doesn’t mean that it’simpossibleto obtain.Thomson Reuterscan supply it to those who are willing to dig. And what various analysts have dug up so far is compelling. Namely, experts predict Dow — the new and improved standalone Dow — to remain profitable, and grow. Click to Enlarge Value exists here too. The expected earnings of $4.37 per share this year translates into a price-earnings ratio of 11.5. Next year’s projected bottom line of $5.28 per share of DOW stock becomes a price-earnings of 9.5. Those profit projections leave plenty of room for dividends too, which Dow has already been readily willing to pay. It dished out 70 cents worth of per-share dividend in June. Annualizing that figure to $2.80 is still only a little over half the company’s likely income. It also represents an above-average yield of 5.6% for investors that step into a position at today’s prices. Investors are struggling to see it though, mostly because there’s no recorded history for this particular version of Dow Inc. Admittedly, it’s not a black-and-white matter. While the average retail investor may not see it, the institutional investors are likely at least moderately aware of the reliable growth narrative here. After all, they largely control the market, and individual stock prices. The smart-money crowd clearly didn’t keep Dow stock propped up against the market’s bearish tide when they arguably should have. That’s still a rather tall order just three months out from the spinoff though. Even the professionals are still struggling to gather and digest all the relevant data. At the same time, they’re adjusting their guesses to reflect the impact of the U.S.-China tariff war. As time passes and the fog lifts though, look for the value play for Dow stock to conspicuously emerge. As of this writing, James Brumley held no position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can learn more about James at his site,jamesbrumley.com, orfollow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley. • 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid • The 7 Top Small-Cap Stocks Of 2019 • Critical Levels to Watch in 7 Marijuana Stocks • 5 Smaller Cloud Stocks That Have Plenty of Potential Compare Brokers The postDow Stock Is a Misjudged, Undervalued Dividend Play Worth a Shotappeared first onInvestorPlace.
‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ Trailer: Kevin Hart and The Rock Return for Another Wild Ride Kevin Hart , Dwayne Johnson , Karen Gillan , and Jack Black are thrown into another crazy adventure in the first trailer for Sony Pictures’ “ Jumanji : The Next Level.” The film is the sequel to 2017’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” a surprise Christmas smash hit that went on to earn $404 million in the U.S. and a huge $964 million worldwide. The film set a domestic record for Sony and passed “Spider-Man” to become the studio’s highest-grossing U.S. release (unadjusted for inflation), which means the pressure is on for “The Next Level” to deliver the box office goods this upcoming holiday season. In “The Next Level,” Hart, Johnson, Gillan, and Black return as their video game avatars while Ser’Darius Blain, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, and Madison Iseman once again play their original real-world counterparts. Nick Jonas and Colin Hanks are back as well, while new additions to the “Jumanji” franchise include Awkwafina, Danny DeVito, and Danny Glover. The twist this time around is that DeVito and Glover get pulled into Johnson and Hart’s avatars, giving the latter two the chance to show off some new comedy skills. Re-joining the actors is co-writer and director Jake Kasdan who, before the family adventure film, was best known for helming R-rated comedies such as “Bad Teacher” and “Sex Tape.” “Welcome to the Jungle” marked the third entry in the “Jumanji” film franchise after the 1995 Robin Williams classic “Jumanji” and the 2005 spinoff/sequel “Zathura: A Space Adventure.” “The Next Level” is set to give Johnson another 2019 blockbuster after this summer’s “Fast and Furious” spinoff movie “Hobbs and Shaw.” Gillan has already been part of a $2 billion blockbuster thanks to her role as Nebula in “Avengers: Endgame.” While Hart’s indie drama “The Upside” had a strong box office run at the start of 2019, “The Next Level” will mark his first major live-action studio role in over a year. He’s currently in theaters as the voice of Snowball in “The Secret Life of Pets 2.” Story continues Sony Pictures will release “Jumanji: The Next Level” in theaters nationwide December 13. Watch the first official trailer in the video below. Related stories: 'Hobbs & Shaw' Trailer: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, and Idris Elba Make Action Movie Heaven Dwayne Johnson on Surviving 'Southland Tales' and His Big Plans as a Super Producer Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter . For the latest news, follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .
What Kind Of Investor Owns Most Of Starrag Group Holding AG (VTX:STGN)? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Every investor in Starrag Group Holding AG (VTX:STGN) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Warren Buffett said that he likes 'a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people'. So it's nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented. Starrag Group Holding is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of CHF173m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it's seems that institutions are not really that prevalent on the share registry. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about STGN. View our latest analysis for Starrag Group Holding Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. Institutions own less than 5% of Starrag Group Holding. That indicates that the company is on the radar of some funds, but it isn't particularly popular with professional investors at the moment. So if the company itself can improve over time, we may well see more institutional buyers in the future. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Starrag Group Holding. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage. The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group. Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Starrag Group Holding AG. This gives them effective control of the company. That means they own CHF114m worth of shares in the CHF173m company. That's quite meaningful. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You canclick here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling. The general public, with a 22% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. We can see that Private Companies own 9.3%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company. While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. I like to dive deeperinto how a company has performed in the past. You can findhistoric revenue and earnings in thisdetailed graph. Ultimatelythe future is most important. You can access thisfreereport on analyst forecasts for the company. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. 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.
Insurance Experts Explain How To Handle A Car Insurance Lapse LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / July 1, 2019 /Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains what is acar insurancelapse and how they can avoid these situations. For more info and free quotes, please visithttps://compare-autoinsurance.org/what-to-do-after-a-car-insurance-lapse/ It's not unusual for someone to forget to pay the car insurance premiums. Many persons are busy with their daily routines and jobs, and sometimes they forget that certain bills must be paid. However, the situation can get be bad for drivers that have a coverage lapse. Driving without insurance can be risky. Depending on the state laws, the penalties for driving without insurance can range from hefty fines to one year in prison. Drivers who are having a coverage lapse should follow the next steps: • Drivers that discovered they have a coverage lapse should contact their insurers immediately. In most cases, the driver has forgotten to pay the insurance. Nevertheless, the insurance provider will apply some rules and negotiate to reinstate coverage, even though the driver had no intention to not pay the premiums. • Drivers that are having just a few days of coverage lapse can be easily reinstated to the same insurance carriers after they have paid their premiums. • Drivers with long coverage lapses have different negotiations with their insurers. It depends on the insurance provider and some factors regarding the driver, if the insurance policy is to be reinstated or not. Drivers that have been with the same insurer for a long period of time and they are good drivers, have a higher chance or reinstating their policies on the same insurer. However, there are many drivers that need to look for a different insurance provider. • There are different reinstatement procedures among insurance companies. Usually, the insurers will simply renew the previous policy. In some cases, the insurance company will impose the driver to apply for a new and costlier insurance policy. Also, these insurers will require the driver to provide an electronic payment method from where automatic monthly withdrawals can be done. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visithttps://compare-autoinsurance.org/ Compare-autoinsurance.org is 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. "People that live in today's society have busy lives, so forgetting to pay the insurance bill is not unheard of. However, it is important to do everything you can in order to get your insurance back after you discovered you have an insurance lapse", 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/550489/Insurance-Experts-Explain-How-To-Handle-A-Car-Insurance-Lapse
Is Entravision Communications (EVC) Stock Undervalued Right Now? The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks. Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment. One stock to keep an eye on is Entravision Communications (EVC). EVC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 13.71 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 20.13. Over the last 12 months, EVC's Forward P/E has been as high as 55.55 and as low as 12.82, with a median of 20. Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. EVC has a P/S ratio of 0.9. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.23. Finally, investors should note that EVC has a P/CF ratio of 8.03. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. EVC's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 26.11. Over the past 52 weeks, EVC's P/CF has been as high as 14.48 and as low as 2.12, with a median of 8.44. These are just a handful of the figures considered in Entravision Communications's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that EVC is an impressive value stock right now. 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 reportEntravision Communications Corporation (EVC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Why Barco NV (EBR:BAR) Is A Financially Healthy Company Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Mid-caps stocks, like Barco NV (EBR:BAR) with a market capitalization of €2.3b, aren’t the focus of most investors who prefer to direct their investments towards either large-cap or small-cap stocks. Surprisingly though, when accounted for risk, mid-caps have delivered better returns compared to the two other categories of stocks. Let’s take a look at BAR’s debt concentration and assess their financial liquidity to get an idea of their ability to fund strategic acquisitions and grow through cyclical pressures. Note that this information is centred entirely on financial health and is a top-level understanding, so I encourage you to look furtherinto BAR here. View our latest analysis for Barco BAR has shrunk its total debt levels in the last twelve months, from €58m to €40m – this includes long-term debt. With this reduction in debt, the current cash and short-term investment levels stands at €365m to keep the business going. On top of this, BAR has produced cash from operations of €90m in the last twelve months, leading to an operating cash to total debt ratio of 226%, meaning that BAR’s operating cash is sufficient to cover its debt. At the current liabilities level of €320m, it appears that the company has been able to meet these obligations given the level of current assets of €689m, with a current ratio of 2.15x. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. For Electronic 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 a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.3%, BAR's debt level is relatively low. This range is considered safe as BAR is not taking on too much debt obligation, which may be constraining for future growth. BAR’s high cash coverage and low debt levels indicate its ability to utilise its borrowings efficiently in order to generate ample cash flow. Furthermore, the company exhibits an ability to meet its near term obligations should an adverse event occur. I admit this is a fairly basic analysis for BAR's financial health. Other important fundamentals need to be considered alongside. I suggest you continue to research Barco to get a better picture of the stock by looking at: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for BAR’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor BAR’s outlook. 2. Valuation: What is BAR 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 BAR 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.
Is Barco NV's (EBR:BAR) 1.2% Dividend Worth Your Time? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Could Barco NV (EBR:BAR) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. If you are hoping to live on your dividends, it's important to be more stringent with your investments than the average punter. Regular readers know we like to apply the same approach to each dividend stock, and we hope you'll find our analysis useful. With a 1.2% yield and a eight-year payment history, investors probably think Barco looks like a reliable dividend stock. A 1.2% yield is not inspiring, but the longer payment history has some appeal. That said, the recent jump in the share price will make Barco's dividend yield look smaller, even though the company prospects could be improving. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding Barco for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below. Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis Dividends are usually paid out of company earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Comparing dividend payments to a company's net profit after tax is a simple way of reality-checking whether a dividend is sustainable. Barco paid out 38% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. This is a middling range that strikes a nice balance between paying dividends to shareholders, and retaining enough earnings to invest in future growth. Besides, if reinvestment opportunities dry up, the company has room to increase the dividend. Another important check we do is to see if the free cash flow generated is sufficient to pay the dividend. Of the free cash flow it generated last year, Barco paid out 40% as dividends, suggesting the dividend is affordable. It's positive to see that Barco's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut. Remember, you can always get a snapshot of Barco's latest financial position,by checking our visualisation of its financial health. One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. The first recorded dividend for Barco, in the last decade, was eight years ago. During the past eight-year period, the first annual payment was €1.00 in 2011, compared to €2.30 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 11% a year over that time. Barco has been growing its dividend quite rapidly, which is exciting. However, the short payment history makes us question whether this performance will persist across a full market cycle. The other half of the dividend investing equation is evaluating whether earnings per share (EPS) are growing. Over the long term, dividends need to grow at or above the rate of inflation, in order to maintain the recipient's purchasing power. Barco has grown its earnings per share at 6.4% per annum over the past five years. Earnings per share have been growing at a credible rate. What's more, the payout ratio is reasonable and provides some protection to the dividend, or even the potential to increase it. When we look at a dividend stock, we need to form a judgement on whether the dividend will grow, if the company is able to maintain it in a wide range of economic circumstances, and if the dividend payout is sustainable. Firstly, we like that Barco has low and conservative payout ratios. Unfortunately, earnings growth has also been mediocre, and we think it has not been paying dividends long enough to demonstrate resilience across economic cycles. Barco has a number of positive attributes, but it falls slightly short of our (admittedly high) standards. Were there evidence of a strong moat or an attractive valuation, it could still be well worth a look. Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 4 Barco analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with ourfreereport on analyst estimates for the company. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try ourcurated list of dividend stocks with a yield above 3%. 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 MYR Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MYRG) Create Value For Shareholders? 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. By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of MYR Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MYRG). Our data showsMYR Group has a return on equity of 9.7%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 $0.097. Check out our latest analysis for MYR Group Theformula for return on equityis: Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity Or for MYR Group: 9.7% = US$33m ÷ US$331m (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. You can calculate shareholders' equity by subtracting the company's total liabilities from its total assets. Return on Equity measures a company's profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). 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 being equal,a high ROE is better than a low one. 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. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. You can see in the graphic below that MYR Group has an ROE that is fairly close to the average for the Construction industry (9.7%). That isn't amazing, but it is respectable. 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. For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, 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. MYR Group has a debt to equity ratio of 0.34, which is far from excessive. Although the ROE isn't overly impressive, the debt load is modest, suggesting the business has potential. 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. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. 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 I think it may be worth checking thisfreereport on analyst 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.
Brazil ETFs Poised For Breakthrough This article is part of a regular series of thought leadership pieces from some of the more influential ETF strategists in the money management industry. Today's article is by James Calhoun, portfolio manager at Accuvest Global Advisors in Walnut Creek, California. Brazil equities, as measured by theiShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ), have underperformed the broader emerging market segment over the last 10 years. However, while thoughtful pension and economic reform is urgently needed, financial markets are signaling optimism. Our own multifactor analysis currently ranks Brazil No. 2 out of 35 countries. The MSCI Brazil Index outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index by 957% from the start of 2002 to mid-2008. However, the last 10 years (ending May 31, 2019) have seen EWZ deliver underperformance of -47.8% versus theiShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM). Over the last decade, Brazil has transitioned from rising power to fallen star. What Happened? Brazil enjoyed prosperous years under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose tenure coincided with a global commodities boom. Now Lula is in jail, his successor has been impeached and her replacement has been charged in an ongoing corruption investigation. Street crime is epidemic, and the country has endured its deepest-ever recession, -3.54% real GDP growth in 2015 followed by -3.30% real GDP growth in 2016. What Now? Fed up, Brazilians in 2018 elected a former Army captain, Jair Bolsonaro, to reverse the decline. Ending the 13-year rule of the leftist Workers’ Party, Bolsonaro promised to remake Brazil with an aggressive approach to crime and pro-market economic policies. Bolsonaro’s University of Chicago-trained economy minister, Paulo Guedes, set out to privatize some of Brazil’s long-protected stable of 400 state-owned companies. Within five months, a newly minted infrastructure ministry had auctioned off 23 of them, including airports, port terminals and a railway, raising 8 billion reais ($2 billion). What Next? The Bloomberg consensus real GDP growth forecast for Brazil in 2020 is +2.20%, but an annual fiscal deficit of about 7% of GDP still weighs heavily on the economy. Outsized government spending and inefficiency result in higher interest rates for private borrowers. Importantly, pensions account for one-third of total public spending, and are a primary reason the government spends so little on Brazil’s depleted infrastructure. On June 13, a draft bill was presented to overhaul Brazil's social security system. The government’s reform bill imposes a minimum retirement age, raises contributions, closes loopholes, and is expected to generate savings of 913.4 billion reais ($237 billion) over the next decade. Brazilian financial markets responded to the draft bill optimistically: The benchmark Bovespa stock index rose 0.9% to a three-month high above 99,000 points, the real firmed 0.6% to 3.8400 per dollar, and 2020 interest rate futures contracts fell below 6.0% for the first time. The reform bill will now be debated, voted on and sent to the lower house plenary for a vote. If passed in the form presented on June 13, it will be seen as a success for the Bolsonaro administration. Tricky Timing However, the timing of ratification remains unclear. The pension reform seems certain to suffer both delays and dilution. Approval will require leadership from the top, and Bolsonaro faces an uphill task to get congress to approve an “unappetizing” pension reform despite the benefits to Brazil’s fiscal health. “We have two alternatives,” President Bolsonaro’s spokesman said. “Approve pension reform or sink into a bottomless pit.” Earlier in the year, Vice President Hamilton Mourao said he expects the proposal to be approved by August. Morgan Stanley economists expect a House vote in August, while Goldman Sachs does not see pension reform turning into law before October. What To Do? Investors in Brazil and across the world appear hopeful that President Bolsonaro will push through key changes to the social security system in Latin America’s largest economy. The stakes are high, because pension reform could boost the country’s flagging economy and give it some stability in the long run. Failure to enact the changes could stymie growth. The chart below reveals Brazil’s positive momentum and technical improvement (testing support and breaking downtrends over the last few months) EWZ ETF (MSCI Brazil 25/50 Index) Price Chart: The Last 5 Years The odds of successful pension reform remain uncertain, but current multifactor analysis suggests Brazil is an attractive global equity allocation. As of May 31, Brazil (EWZ) ranks No. 2 out of 35 countries in Accuvest’s Global Core Equity – Country First Rankings. Brazil is highlighted by strong growth fundamentals, positive momentum, decreasing risk and better than average valuations. Default risk in Brazil has dropped over the last 12 months (see chart below), allowing investors to refocus on the country’s high profitability, strong expected earnings growth and a very competitive currency. A breakthrough on pension reform and public finances would support Brazil’s constructive investment thesis. Brazil 5-Year Credit Default Swap (CDS) Spread: The Last 5 Years (Lower = Less Default Risk) Key Takeaways • After a decade of underperformance, Brazil appears poised for a rebound • Brazil is an attractive global portfolio allocation based upon balanced multifactor analysis • Key social security and pension reforms are progressing toward ratification • Financial markets and price momentum suggest optimism Sources: MSCI, Thomson Reuters, CNBC, Bloomberg, Economist For a list of all relevant disclosures, please clickhere. Recommended Stories • ETF Growth Sparkles In July • ETFs With The Most Liquid Options • ETF Prime Podcast: Investing In eSports • Hot Reads: Top 5 Questions About ETFs Permalink| © Copyright 2019ETF.com.All rights reserved
Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) Could Be a Great Choice Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus. While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases. Kaiser Aluminum in Focus Based in Foothill Ranch, Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) is in the Industrial Products sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 9.32%. The aluminum products company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.6 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.46%. This compares to the Metal Products - Procurement and Fabrication industry's yield of 0.41% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.91%. Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.40 is up 9.1% from last year. Kaiser Aluminum has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 11.69%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Kaiser's payout ratio is 36%, which means it paid out 36% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend. Looking at this fiscal year, KALU expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $7.14 per share, with earnings expected to increase 10.36% from the year ago period. Bottom Line Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout. High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, KALU is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). 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 reportKaiser Aluminum Corporation (KALU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
AptarGroup (ATR) Soars to 52-Week High, Time to Cash Out? Have you been paying attention to shares of AptarGroup (ATR)? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 9.5% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $124.75 in the previous session. AptarGroup has gained 32.2% since the start of the year compared to the 20.6% move for the Zacks Industrial Products sector and the 21.4% return for the Zacks Containers - Paper and Packaging industry. What's Driving the Outperformance? The stock has a great record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on April 30, 2019, AptarGroup reported EPS of $1.07 versus consensus estimate of $0.98 while it beat the consensus revenue estimate by 1.4%. For the current fiscal year, AptarGroup is expected to post earnings of $4.35 per share on $2.96 billion in revenues. This represents an 8.75% change in EPS on a 6.97% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $4.81 per share on $3.07 billion in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of 10.54% and 3.86%, respectively. Valuation Metrics AptarGroup may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself. On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as these give investors a variety of ways to comb through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style. AptarGroup has a Value Score of C. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are A and C, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of B. In terms of its value breakdown, the stock currently trades at 28.6X current fiscal year EPS estimates. On a trailing cash flow basis, the stock currently trades at 18.1X versus its peer group's average of 9.5X. Additionally, the stock has a PEG ratio of 2.77. This isn't enough to put the company in the top echelon of all stocks we cover from a value perspective. Zacks Rank We also need to look at the Zacks Rank for the stock, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, AptarGroup currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) thanks to rising earnings estimates. Since we recommend that investors select stocks carrying Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B, it looks as if AptarGroup passes the test. Thus, it seems as though AptarGroup shares could still be poised for more gains ahead. 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 reportAptarGroup, Inc. (ATR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Why Central Valley Community Bancorp (CVCY) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus. Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases. Central Valley Community Bancorp in Focus Headquartered in Fresno, Central Valley Community Bancorp (CVCY) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 13.78% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.11 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.05%. In comparison, the Banks - West industry's yield is 2.05%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.91%. In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.44 is up 41.9% from last year. In the past five-year period, Central Valley Community Bancorp has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 11.53%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Central Valley Community Bancorp's payout ratio is 26%, which means it paid out 26% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend. Looking at this fiscal year, CVCY expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $1.57 per share, with earnings expected to increase 1.95% from the year ago period. Bottom Line Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout. High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, CVCY is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). 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 reportCentral Valley Community Bancorp (CVCY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Robert Half (RHI) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy? Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. But when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments. While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases. Robert Half in Focus Headquartered in Menlo Park, Robert Half (RHI) is a Business Services stock that has seen a price change of -0.33% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.31 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.18%. In comparison, the Staffing Firms industry's yield is 1.25%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.91%. In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.24 is up 10.7% from last year. Robert Half has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 11.49%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Robert Half's current payout ratio is 33%. This means it paid out 33% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend. Looking at this fiscal year, RHI expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $3.98 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 10.25%. Bottom Line From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout. High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, RHI is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). 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 reportRobert Half International Inc. (RHI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Camden National (CAC) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy? All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus. Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns. Camden National in Focus Headquartered in Camden, Camden National (CAC) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 27.52% so far this year. The bank is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.3 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.62%. This compares to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 1.89% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.91%. Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.20 is up 9.1% from last year. In the past five-year period, Camden National has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 11.02%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Camden National's current payout ratio is 34%, meaning it paid out 34% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend. Earnings growth looks solid for CAC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $3.75 per share, with earnings expected to increase 10.62% from the year ago period. Bottom Line Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout. For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that CAC is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). 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 reportCamden National Corporation (CAC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Amtek (AME) Hits Fresh High: Is There Still Room to Run? Have you been paying attention to shares of AMETEK (AME)? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 8.4% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $90.87 in the previous session. AMETEK has gained 34.2% since the start of the year compared to the 19% move for the Zacks Computer and Technology sector and the 21.6% return for the Zacks Electronics - Testing Equipment industry. What's Driving the Outperformance? The stock has a great record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on May 1, 2019, Amtek reported EPS of $1 versus consensus estimate of $0.97 while it beat the consensus revenue estimate by 1.09%. For the current fiscal year, Amtek is expected to post earnings of $4.08 per share on $5.25 billion in revenues. This represents a 24.01% change in EPS on an 8.41% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $4.36 per share on $5.46 billion in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of 6.84% and 3.95%, respectively. Valuation Metrics Amtek may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself. On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as these give investors a variety of ways to comb through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style. Amtek has a Value Score of D. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are A and B, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of B. In terms of its value breakdown, the stock currently trades at 22.3X current fiscal year EPS estimates. On a trailing cash flow basis, the stock currently trades at 21.8X versus its peer group's average of 21.3X. Additionally, the stock has a PEG ratio of 2.32. This isn't enough to put the company in the top echelon of all stocks we cover from a value perspective. Zacks Rank We also need to look at the Zacks Rank for the stock, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, Amtek currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) thanks to favorable earnings estimate revisions from covering analysts. Since we recommend that investors select stocks carrying Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B, it looks as if Amtek passes the test. Thus, it seems as though Amtek shares could have potential in the weeks and months to come. How Does Amtek Stack Up to the Competition? Shares of Amtek have been rising, and the company still appears to be a decent choice, but what about the rest of the industry? Some of its industry peers are also impressive, including Cubic (CUB), Keysight Technologies (KEYS), and OSI Systems (OSIS), all of which currently have a Zacks Rank of at least #2 and a VGM Score of at least B, making them well-rounded choices. However, it is worth noting that the Zacks Industry Rank for this group is in the bottom half of the ranking, so it isn't all good news for Amtek. Still, the fundamentals for Amtek are promising, and it still has potential despite being at a 52-week high. 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 reportAMETEK, Inc. (AME) : Free Stock Analysis ReportOSI Systems, Inc. (OSIS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportKeysight Technologies Inc. (KEYS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCubic Corporation (CUB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Casey's (CASY) Soars to 52-Week High, Time to Cash Out? Have you been paying attention to shares of Caseys General Stores (CASY)? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 19.9% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $156.82 in the previous session. Caseys General Stores has gained 21.7% since the start of the year compared to the 17.9% move for the Zacks Retail-Wholesale sector and the 20.5% return for the Zacks Retail - Convenience Stores industry. What's Driving the Outperformance? The stock has a great record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on June 10, 2019, Casey's reported EPS of $0.68 versus consensus estimate of $0.42 while it beat the consensus revenue estimate by 2.15%. For the current fiscal year, Casey's is expected to post earnings of $5.82 per share on $9.8 billion in revenues. This represents a 5.63% change in EPS on a 4.81% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $6.19 per share on $10.7 billion in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of 6.29% and 9.12%, respectively. Valuation Metrics Casey's may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself. On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as these give investors a variety of ways to comb through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style. Casey's has a Value Score of B. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are A and B, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of A. In terms of its value breakdown, the stock currently trades at 26.8X current fiscal year EPS estimates. On a trailing cash flow basis, the stock currently trades at 12.7X versus its peer group's average of 7.6X. Additionally, the stock has a PEG ratio of 2.86. This isn't enough to put the company in the top echelon of all stocks we cover from a value perspective. Zacks Rank We also need to look at the Zacks Rank for the stock, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, Casey's currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) thanks to rising earnings estimates. Since we recommend that investors select stocks carrying Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B, it looks as if Casey's meets the list of requirements. Thus, it seems as though Casey's shares could have potential in the weeks and months to come. How Does Casey's Stack Up to the Competition? Shares of Casey's have been rising, and the company still appears to be a decent choice, but what about the rest of the industry? Some of its industry peers are also looking good, including IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC), MercadoLibre (MELI), and AutoZone (AZO), all of which currently have a Zacks Rank of at least #2 and a VGM Score of at least B, making them well-rounded choices. The Zacks Industry Rank is in the top 1% of all the industries we have in our universe, so it looks like there are some nice tailwinds for Casey's, even beyond its own solid fundamental situation. 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 reportCaseys General Stores, Inc. (CASY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportIAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAutoZone, Inc. (AZO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Why Boston Properties (BXP) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus. While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns. Boston Properties in Focus Boston Properties (BXP) is headquartered in Boston, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 14.62% since the start of the year. The real estate investment trust is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.95 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.95%. This compares to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry's yield of 4.19% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.91%. Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.80 is up 8.6% from last year. In the past five-year period, Boston Properties has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 8.95%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Boston Properties's current payout ratio is 58%. This means it paid out 58% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend. Earnings growth looks solid for BXP for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $6.99 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 10.95%. Bottom Line Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout. Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, BXP is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). 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 reportBoston Properties, Inc. (BXP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
PennyMac Mortgage (PMT) Hits Fresh High: Is There Still Room to Run? Have you been paying attention to shares of PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT)? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 4.4% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $22.14 in the previous session. PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust has gained 17.2% since the start of the year compared to the 12.3% move for the Zacks Finance sector and the 22.8% return for the Zacks Real Estate - Operations industry. What's Driving the Outperformance? The stock has a great record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on May 2, 2019, PennyMac Mortgage reported EPS of $0.68 versus consensus estimate of $0.42 while it beat the consensus revenue estimate by 19.66%. For the current fiscal year, PennyMac Mortgage is expected to post earnings of $2.06 per share on $397.28 million in revenues. This represents a 3.52% change in EPS on a 13.16% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $2.05 per share on $437.5 million in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of -0.49% and 10.13%, respectively. Valuation Metrics PennyMac Mortgage may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself. On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as these give investors a variety of ways to comb through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style. PennyMac Mortgage has a Value Score of B. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are D and B, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of B. In terms of its value breakdown, the stock currently trades at 10.6X current fiscal year EPS estimates. On a trailing cash flow basis, the stock currently trades at 9.3X versus its peer group's average of 11.4X. Additionally, the stock has a PEG ratio of 2.12. This isn't enough to put the company in the top echelon of all stocks we cover from a value perspective. Zacks Rank We also need to look at the Zacks Rank for the stock, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, PennyMac Mortgage currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) thanks to rising earnings estimates. Since we recommend that investors select stocks carrying Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B, it looks as if PennyMac Mortgage fits the bill. Thus, it seems as though PennyMac Mortgage shares could have potential in the weeks and months to come. How Does PennyMac Mortgage Stack Up to the Competition? Shares of PennyMac Mortgage have been moving higher, and the company still appears to be a decent choice, but what about the rest of the industry? Some of its industry peers are also looking good, including Legacy Housing (LEGH), Invitation Home (INVH), and FirstService (FSV), all of which currently have a Zacks Rank of at least #2 and a VGM Score of at least B, making them well-rounded choices. The Zacks Industry Rank is in the top 39% of all the industries we have in our universe, so it looks like there are some nice tailwinds for PennyMac Mortgage, even beyond its own solid fundamental situation. 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 reportPennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportFirstService Corporation (FSV) : Free Stock Analysis ReportInvitation Home Inc. (INVH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportLegacy Housing Corporation (LEGH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Comerica (CMA) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy? All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus. While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases. Comerica in Focus Headquartered in Dallas, Comerica (CMA) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 5.75% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.67 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.69%. In comparison, the Banks - Major Regional industry's yield is 2.89%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.91%. Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.68 is up 45.7% from last year. In the past five-year period, Comerica has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 25.63%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Comerica's current payout ratio is 34%. This means it paid out 34% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend. CMA is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $8.26 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 14.72%. Bottom Line Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout. Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, CMA is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). 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 reportComerica Incorporated (CMA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Iraq oil minister says OPEC members seek inventories control, market balance DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraq's oil minister said on Monday that his government and the rest of OPEC seek to control global oil inventories and restore balance to the oil market which faces "huge challenges", according to a ministry statement. Minister Thamer Ghadhban met his Saudi and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting in Vienna on Monday. They discussed oil market developments and exchanged views on extending oil supply cuts, the statement said. OPEC is meeting on Monday and will hold talks on Tuesday with Russia and other allies, a grouping known as OPEC+, which Ghadhban said would involve discussing production cuts, compliance of oil producers and market movements. "Targets set by the oil producers have not been reached yet due to the huge challenges that face the global oil market, and we seek with the rest of (OPEC's) members to control global inventories and restore balance to the market to support oil prices," Ghadhban was quoted as saying. These decisions should be taken unanimously by OPEC's members, he added. OPEC and its allies led by Russia have been reducing oil output since 2017 to prevent prices from sliding amid soaring production from the United States, which this year has become the world's top producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia. OPEC and its allies look set to extend oil supply cuts this week at least until the end of 2019 as Iran joined top producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Russia in endorsing a policy aimed at propping up crude oil prices amid a weakening global economy. (Reporting by Dahlia Nehme; editing by Jason Neely)
S&P 500 Gains Can Earn You Bitcoin on New Bain Capital-Backed Exchange Crypto investors have a new way to bet on the price ofbitcoin– or on traditional assets – with the formal launch of EverMarkets Exchange (EMX)’s derivatives platform. The Palo Alto, California-based startup was founded two years ago and opened the exchange to a restricted audience at the end of May 2019. Effective Monday, the market is now available to participants worldwide – though U.S. residents are excluded. Co-founder Craig Austin told CoinDeskthat the companywants to give customers access to a “world market” by trading derivatives tied both to crypto and traditional assets, and while it bills itself as “institutional-grade,” EMX is primarily interested in a retail market. Related:May Was Best Month for CME Bitcoin Futures Volume Since 2017 “We kind of over the last year and a half built one platform to let traders from around the world trade global markets collateralized in cryptocurrency,” he said. “That’s the key idea for us, to let anyone in the world outside the U.S. to send cryptocurrencies to a marketplace and get exposure to the world market, so not just cryptocurrencies but also equity markets.” At present, EMX offers two products: a bitcoin perpetual swap contract and a U.S. 500 Equity Index perpetual swap (based on the S&P 500).Perpetual swapsare futures contracts with no expiration date; the underlying asset is never delivered, and payments are periodically exchanged between the buyer and seller. The contract type was initially designed for the crypto market by derivatives exchange BitMex. Down the road, EMX will look at other traditional swaps, such as gold and crude oil, as well as different cryptocurrencies to build futures contracts on top of. Notably, while EMX isn’t licensed as an exchange or financial services business by any jurisdiction, it is registered in Bermuda. Austin said, “we’re trying to offer a more regulatory-safe market” by abiding by know-your-customer and anti-money laundering guidelines. Related:Open Bets On CME’s Bitcoin Futures Hit Record High He added: “A lot of those markets don’t have strong KYC and AML procedures. We see the regulatory environment changing over the next 12 months and we want to be positioned that we’re trading on the platform but we’re also ready for more exchanges, more regulations.” The company currently sees a few hundred traders active on its site every week, as part of the company’s initial testing phase, Austin said. “We were testing internally for about two months now with friends and family,” he said. The company selectively invited external users shortly thereafter. Roughly 25,000 individuals signed up to trial the platform, with the entire list being granted access a few weeks ago. When EMX first announced its intention of building a derivatives exchange in March 2018, the company intended to utilize a blockchain-based trading platform, co-founder Jim Bai told CoinDesk at the time. However, the company has since moved away from this model. Austin explained that, in his team’s view, the technology is not yet mature enough to support a widely accessible trading platform. “I guess our thesis is in the next 12 months we won’t see DEXs take off for broad adoption,” he said, referring to decentralized exchanges. As of right now, EMX’s trading platform is based on “standard, cloud-based” technology, he said. Moving forward, the company does intend to make its trading platform compatible with different blockchains, allowing users to collateralize their trades with multiple cryptocurrencies. Austin wouldn’t commit to any specific tokens just yet, though he said “maybe a stablecoin makes the most sense.” The fact that EMX is only a derivatives exchange means that customers won’t actually be trading crypto, he noted, adding: “You get exposure to markets like us equities and other cryptocurrencies. You won’t actually trade the token, you just get exposure to a future or a swap.” At any rate, EMX will only launch with its existing products in order to build up liquidity. Only once the platform sees higher transaction volumes, will it start adding its other products. The company previously raised $1 million in early-stage financing from Bain Capital Ventures and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn. EMX is now in the middle of raising another $2 million, Austin said. These funds will be aimed at improving the customer experience, including by building a mobile application. “We found that half of our users are accessing us on the go,” Austin said. “No one really has a great [mobile app] yet but being on everyone’s devices is important to us.” Also included in EMX’s roadmap is a plan to launch a spot market for crypto traders, though this is further down the road and not necessarily a priority. Ultimately, once the exchange has raised sufficient funding, Austin said the company will try to apply for the requisite U.S. licenses to offer services in its home country. “As a U.S. company, as U.S. people we are interested in the U.S. market but … there’s a ton of hurdles to offer to the U.S. people that we’d have to get through and it’s not even determined which hurdle we’d have to get through,” he said, concluding: “You’ve seen Kraken and other exchanges try to navigate that so we’re going to let a couple pioneers do it first.” EMX Co-founders Craig Austin, Jim Bai image courtesy EMX • Public Perceptions of the Bitcoin Spot Market Are Wrong, Says Bitwise • Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin Futures Volumes Top $150 Million at Kraken Exchange
10 killed when small plane crashes on takeoff in Texas DALLAS (AP) All ten people on board a small plane were killed in a fiery crash Sunday morning when the aircraft struggled to gain altitude after taking off from a suburban Dallas airport, veered to one side and plunged into a hangar, local authorities and witnesses said. Federal officials said two crew members and eight passengers were killed when the twin-engine plane, scheduled to fly to St. Petersburg, Florida, crashed at the Addison Municipal Airport at 9:11 a.m. The identities of those killed were not immediately released. "We don't know a lot about the people on board at this point," National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said. Officials say the Beechcraft BE-350 King Air hit a hangar that then burst into flames with black smoke billowing from the building as firefighters sprayed it with water. A plane and helicopter in the hangar were damaged, but there were no people in the building. The crash left a gaping hole in the hangar, which sits not far from a busy commercial strip and densely populated residential neighborhoods of the northern suburb of Dallas. Landsberg said the plane had recently changed hands so its tail number was not yet certain.Jennifer Rodi, the NTSB's lead investigator on the accident, said it had previously been owned by a private charter company in Chicago. Edward Martelle, a spokesman for the town of Addison, said the plane was taking off at the south end of the airport and had just lifted off the runway when it veered left, dropped its left wing and went into the hangar. Asked if the behavior of the plane indicated engine failure, Landsberg said: "We cannot confirm that there was an engine failure at this point." "There are any number of possibilities that could occur," he said. David Snell, who was getting ready to fly from Addison with a friend Sunday morning, told KDFW TV that the plane didn't sound right on takeoff. "It looked like it was clearly reduced power. I didn't know if it was on purpose or not, but then, when the plane started to veer to the left, you could tell it couldn't climb. My friend and I looked at each other and we're like, 'Oh my God. They're going to crash,'" Snell said. Story continues Peter Drake says he saw the plane crash into the hangar. "He got onto the runway, went down the runway, started taking off. He got to about 200 feet, and I saw him starting to lose power and his altitude, and then I see him just roll over and came straight down right into the building," Drake said. Air traffic control tower audio from around the time of the crash does not capture any pilot indicating an emergency or trouble with a plane. But pilots waiting to take off soon thereafter can be heard seeking updates and being told repeatedly to wait. "Everybody just stand by," a controller said. "We had an accident on the field, so expect not to go out anytime soon." Dallas County was helping the city of Addison set up a family assistance center for people affected by the crash, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. The center is staffed with chaplains, counselors and other mental health and support workers, he said. "It's a horrible, sad, shocking thing to lose a family member like this," Jenkins told The Associated Press. "So we're doing whatever we can to comfort them." ___ AP writers Jamie Stengle and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.
Facebook Stock Is Great, but FB Is a Terrible Company There’s no question that whatever was plaguingFacebook(NASDAQ:FB) and FB stock in the second half of 2018 has left the building. Facebook is on fire in 2019, up 47% year to date, getting closer to its all-time high of $218.62. Source: Shutterstock InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips I don’t think there’s any doubt that Facebook is a great stock to own. Investors who bought FB stock during the company’s initial public offering back in May 2012, when it went public at$38a share, today would have an annualized total return of about 26%. • 7 F-Rated Stocks to Sell for Summer If Facebook were to keep this up for another 13 years, anyone who was still holding FB stock 20 years after its IPO would have almost $1 million from an initial  investment of $10,000. While FB might be a great stock, I doubt many Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)  investors, who look for sustainable, ethical stocks,  are clamoring to own it. Here’s why. On several occasions in the past, I have been supportive of Facebook stock. Most recently, on May 21, Icalledit a buy despite the fact that Facebook’s management was being less than transparent with FB’s employees. But aCNBCarticle about former Facebook recruiters suggested that top college graduates have been more frequently refusing to work for the company. Not only that, but potential recruits were asking tough questions of the company, many of which were ESG-related. Young people are starting to recognize that the social media platform enjoyed by billions isn’t the employmentShangrilathat everyone thought it was. Life at Facebook is pretty good for Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. They’re billionaires who are getting a chance to shape the world we live in. Life isn’t  as good for many of the contracted employees FB uses to keep a lid on extremist views, advertising scams, and any other materials that might be offensive to its 1.5 billion daily users. A recent report from theWashington Postsuggested that FB contractors working in Austin, TX posted an internal letter complaining about their treatment. “Low pay, increased monitoring from managers, and strictly enforced production quotas have played a significant role in diminished morale in our workplace,” the lettersaid, according to the Post. “People have been pushed to a point where they feel that their personhood, as well as their work, has been devalued because they are viewed as interchangeable parts in a machine.” While the authenticity of this letter hasn’t been determined, it begs the question of why people who are dealing with some ugly materials aren’t receiving more support from FB. Given what’s happened to shake people’s trust of the platform, Zuckerberg and company should bend over backward to make these employees comfortable in their jobs.Not fire someone for putting BruceSpringsteen and Clash words on their internal corporate profile. In fairness to Facebook, COO Sheryl Sandberg did say on Workplace, the company’s internal forum, that these contracted employees would soon receive $20 an hour in the Bay Area, while in the rest of the country in places like Austin, they would get a raise to $18 an hour. $18 an hour to be exposed to PTSD-causing materials? I don’t think that’s fair. In mid-June,S&P Dow Jones Indicesannounced that it was removing Facebook from its S&P 500 ESG Index. Facebook’s ESG score fell due to privacy concerns, knocking it out of the index along withWells Fargo(NYSE:WFC),Oracle(NASDAQ:ORCL) andIBM(NYSE:IBM). “The specific issues resulting in these scores had to do with various privacy concerns, including a lack of transparency as to why Facebook collects and shares certain user information,” Reid Steadman, S&P’s global head of ESG,wrotein a release. While the company’s environmental score was an impressive 82 out of 100, its social and governance ratings both failed miserably, at 22 out of 100 and six out of 100, respectively. Given the latest news stories about the way FB is treating its contracted employees, I don’t see how any investors concerned about ESG can own Facebook stock. For investors who can turn a blind eye to what Facebook is doing to some of its employees, not to mention its inability to take privacy concerns as seriously as they should be taken, I don’t think there’s any question that FB is a great stock. But as a company, it’s got a lot of work to do if it wants to get back on the S&P 500 ESG Index. At the time of this writing Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. • 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid • 7 F-Rated Stocks to Sell for Summer • 7 Stocks to Buy for the Same Price as Beyond Meat • 7 Penny Marijuana Stocks That Are NOT Cheap Stocks Compare Brokers The postFacebook Stock Is Great, but FB Is a Terrible Companyappeared first onInvestorPlace.
Despite Its High P/E Ratio, Is Bridgford Foods Corporation (NASDAQ:BRID) Still Undervalued? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll apply a basic P/E ratio analysis to Bridgford Foods Corporation's (NASDAQ:BRID), to help you decide if the stock is worth further research.Bridgford Foods has a price to earnings ratio of 35.53, based on the last twelve months. That means that at current prices, buyers pay $35.53 for every $1 in trailing yearly profits. See our latest analysis for Bridgford Foods Theformula for P/Eis: Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Bridgford Foods: P/E of 35.53 = $29.78 ÷ $0.84 (Based on the year to April 2019.) A higher P/E ratio implies that investors paya higher pricefor the earning power of the business. 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. Therefore, even if you pay a low multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become higher in the future. So while a stock may look cheap based on past earnings, it could be expensive based on future earnings. Bridgford Foods saw earnings per share decrease by 5.0% last year. But EPS is up 191% over the last 5 years. And EPS is down 22% a year, over the last 3 years. So it would be surprising to see a high P/E. The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. As you can see below, Bridgford Foods has a higher P/E than the average company (25) in the food industry. That means that the market expects Bridgford Foods will outperform other companies in its industry. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn't guarantee future growth. So further research is always essential. I often monitordirector buying and selling. The 'Price' in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth. Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context. Bridgford Foods's net debt is 2.4% of its market cap. The market might award it a higher P/E ratio if it had net cash, but its unlikely this low level of net borrowing is having a big impact on the P/E multiple. Bridgford Foods trades on a P/E ratio of 35.5, which is above the US market average of 18.1. With a bit of debt, but a lack of recent growth, it's safe to say the market is expecting improved profit performance from the company, in the next few years. 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.' We don't have analyst forecasts, but you might want to assessthis data-rich visualizationof earnings, revenue and cash flow. You might be able to find a better buy than Bridgford Foods. If you want a selection of possible winners, check out thisfreelist of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20 (but have proven they can grow earnings). 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.
UPDATE 2-Freeport-McMoRan expects Q2 loss, cuts gold sales outlook (Adds shares, details on gold miners, analyst comment) July 1 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Inc said on Monday it expects to report a loss in the second quarter, hit by lower gold production, weaker copper prices and higher costs, sending the U.S. miner's shares down nearly 6%. The shares were further pressurized as gold prices fell following signs of easing trade tensions between the United States and China that reduced the attraction of safe-haven assets. Freeport also cut its gold sales outlook for the quarter ended June 30 to about 190,000 ounces from 265,000 ounces. The company has undertaken a project to expand Indonesia's massive Grasberg copper and gold mines, it partly owns, from an open pit to an underground operation, a complex process that is necessary to help fix an erosion in production at the mines. In the second quarter, Freeport expects a loss of 5 cents per share and an adjusted EBITDA of about $430 million. Same quarter last year, the company earned a profit of 59 cents per share. Analysts at Jefferies were expecting a profit of 16 cents per share for the quarter. "We expect FCX shares to be volatile in the near term as the market will likely focus more on the negatives of the bad 2Q," they said. The world's largest publicly traded copper miner said it expected lower copper prices in the quarter and reduced revenue by about $85 million. Freeport also expects net cash cost to be about 15% higher than its previous estimates of $1.67 per pound of copper. The company is expected to report quarterly results on July 24. (Reporting by Debroop Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
How Much is Bridgford Foods Corporation's (NASDAQ:BRID) CEO Getting Paid? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The CEO of Bridgford Foods Corporation (NASDAQ:BRID) is William Bridgford. 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. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels. See our latest analysis for Bridgford Foods At the time of writing our data says that Bridgford Foods Corporation has a market cap of US$270m, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$589k. (This number is for the twelve months until November 2018). We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$287k. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of US$100m to US$400m. The median total CEO compensation was US$1.1m. Most shareholders would consider it a positive that William Bridgford takes less total compensation than the CEOs of most similar size companies, leaving more 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 Bridgford Foods has changed over time. Bridgford Foods Corporation has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 23% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 5.6% over last year. Unfortunately, earnings per share have trended lower over the last three years. And the modest revenue growth over 12 months isn't much comfort against the reduced earnings per share. It's hard to argue the company is firing on all cylinders, so shareholders might be averse to high CEO remuneration. We don't have analyst forecasts, but you might want to assessthis data-rich visualizationof earnings, revenue and cash flow. I think that the total shareholder return of 134%, over three years, would leave most Bridgford Foods Corporation shareholders smiling. So they may not be at all concerned if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for companies around the same size. Bridgford Foods Corporation is currently paying its CEO below what is normal for companies of its size. William Bridgford receives relatively low remuneration compared to similar sized companies. And while the company isn't growing earnings per share, total returns have been pleasing. We would like to see EPS growth, but in our view it seems the CEO is remunerated reasonably. So you may want tocheck if insiders are buying Bridgford Foods shares with their own money (free access). If you want to buy a stock that is better than Bridgford Foods, thisfreelist of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look. 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.
Pfizer's DMD Gene Therapy Shows Severe Side Effects in Study Pfizer, Inc.PFE announced promising data from an early-stage study on its investigational gene therapy for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a rare muscular degenerative disease. However, further dosing in the study has been stopped as serious side effects were observed in two participants in the study. The phase Ib study is an open-label, non-randomized, ascending dose assessment, to be conducted on approximately 12 boys with DMD. The study is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of PF-06939926 and assess muscle strength, quality and function in the given patient population. In the phase Ib study, two doses of PF-06939926 were tested in six boys with DMD aged 6 to 12 years. Preliminary safety data from the study showed that one of the six boys was hospitalized for two days for severe nausea and vomiting. Moreover, one of the boys also developed a severe immune response, which led to renal complications. Pfizer said that no other participants will be dosed until specific additional safety monitoring obtains all appropriate approvals. The data also showed that two months after being administered one-time intravenous dose of PF-06939926, mini-dystrophin expression levels ranged from 10% to 60% of normal. The data was promising enough for Pfizer to announce plans to begin a phase III study in the first half of 2020. Pfizer’s shares have declined 0.8% this year so far against an increase of 2.2% for the industry. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a rare genetic disease and a severe form of muscular dystrophy, primarily affecting males. It progressively weakens and degenerates skeletal and heart muscles. DMD is caused by the absence of a particular gene, dystrophin, which the body uses to keep the muscle cells intact. Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.'s SRPT Exondys 51 and PTC Therapeutics, Inc.’s PTCT Emflaza are among the approved treatments of DMD in the United States. However, the focus for DMD treatment is currently shifting to development of gene therapies. Gene therapies deliver a functional copy of the dystrophin to muscle cells to restore its production In response to the safety concerns observed in Pfizer’s study, shares of Sarepta rose more than 17%. Sarepta is also conducting studies to evaluate gene therapies for DMD. Solid Biosciences Inc. SLDB also has an early-stage gene therapy candidate, SGT-001, which is being developed for DMD. Solid Biosciences’ shares were up around 14% on Friday. Pfizer currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce ""the world's first trillionaires,"" but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportPfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportPTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSolid Biosciences Inc. (SLDB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Body of zookeeper mauled to death by tiger was spotted by visitor in viewing area, inquest hears Rosa King died at Hamerton Zoo Park in May 2017 after she was attacked by a tiger - ©Peterborough Tel / SWNS.com A zookeeper who was mauled to death by a tiger was discovered by a visitor who spotted her dead body from the public viewing area, an inquest heard. Rosa King , 33, was cleaning the windows of the tiger enclosure when she was attacked by a Malayan male called Cicip at Hamerton Zoo Park in Cambridgeshire. She died at the scene on May 29 2017, an inquest in Huntingdon was told. Nicholas Moss, Cambridgeshire's assistant coroner, said that immediately after the attack two gates and a metal vertical slide, designed to ensure staff and tigers were not in the paddock at the same time , were found to have been open. Ms King, who was working alone, entered the enclosure shortly before the zoo opened to the public at 10am. Ms King worked 45 hours a week at the zoo during the summer months and also worked some overtime Credit: SWNS The male tiger Cicip "would tend to urinate on the windows during the day so they need to be cleaned so the public have a good view", Mr Moss said. Frank York, a visitor to the zoo, saw her body from the viewing area and raised the alarm. Keepers fetched the zoo's tranquiliser gun, while armed firearms officers and paramedics attended. Neither the tranquiliser nor police firearms were used. Mr Moss said keepers "were able to entice Cicip back into his run and the slide was closed behind him to make the area safe again". The lion enclosure at Hamerton Zoo in Cambridgeshire where Rosa King was killed Credit: SWNS He added: "It had been apparent from as soon as Rosa was seen that she had died." Her death was formally pronounced at 11.46am, with her many injuries including lacerations and puncture wounds. Mr Moss said "immediately after the attack" the slide intended to separate the main paddock from a run leading to the tiger house was found to be in the open position. The slide was raised and lowered by wires attached to a system of pulleys. The two gates used by keepers to access the paddock, one wooden and one metal, were also both open, Mr Moss said. "We're going to need to explore how that happened and what the reason for that was," he said. Mr Moss said a police investigation "suggested there was not any mechanical fault with the gates and slides". Story continues The inquest will hear evidence about the system used to ensure staff could not enter the paddock when tigers were present and whether that system "allowed protection against human error by the zookeeper who was in the tiger area", Mr Moss said. The inquest heard Ms King worked 45 hours a week during the summer months and also worked some overtime. Her parents Peter and Andrea King listened to coroner Mr Moss open the inquest on Monday. Mrs King, wiping tears from her eyes, said in evidence it was clear from the age of two that her daughter would end up working with animals. She described her as "knowledgeable about all the animals in her care", adding: "She followed her dreams and it wasn't very often you wouldn't see her with a smile on her face." Ms King, who worked at the zoo for 13 years, did not express concerns about working conditions, her mother said. "She thought two people working together wasn't as safe as it would be easier to become complacent," she said. The inquest continues.
David Ortiz shooting was $30,000 hit gone wrong, per police Police in the Dominican Republic announced in a news conference on Sunday that the shooting that injured retired Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was a hit that did not go according to plan. Via the Associated Press, national police spokesman colonel Frank Felix Duran Mejia said that the alleged mastermind behind the shooting, Victor Hugo Gómez, had arranged to have his cousin killed for $30,000. The cousin, Sixto David Fernandez, is friends with Ortiz, and was sharing a table with him at the club where the June 9 shooting happened. It is believed that Ortiz was shot in a case of mistaken identity. Duran Mejia said that Gómez allegedly blamed his cousin for an earlier arrest, and supposedly took out the hit because he was afraid that his cousin would tell the authorities about his presence in the country. Gómez was thought to have been in the U.S. until recently, and is being investigated for his suspected ties to the Gulf Cartel in Mexico. Gómez was arrested on Friday along with Alberto Rodriguez Mota, who allegedly paid the hit men. The hit men had only been paid $10,000 of the $30,000 fee. Ortiz, 43, was shot in the back in the attack, and sustained injuries to several organs before the bullet exited through his stomach. He underwent emergency surgery in the Dominican Republic to repair some of the damage. The Red Sox arranged for him to be airlifted to Boston in the team plane to receive further care just days after Ortiz was shot. Ortiz lost parts of several affected organs in a subsequent surgery, but is expected to make a full recovery. Dominican National Police spokesman Colonel Frank Felix Duran Mejia announced Sunday that the alleged mastermind behind the shooting that injured David Ortiz intended for Ortiz's friend to be shot, but the hit was botched. (Photo by ERIKA SANTELICES/AFP/Getty Images) More from Yahoo Sports: Durant, Irving take less than max with Nets for Jordan Mets put living players in ‘In Memoriam’ montage Gronk's physical appearance sends a clear message about retirement Here are the full rosters for the 2019 MLB All-Star Game
What You Should Know About Entra ASA's (OB:ENTRA) Financial Strength Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! While small-cap stocks, such as Entra ASA (OB:ENTRA) with its market cap of øre24b, are popular for their explosive growth, investors should also be aware of their balance sheet to judge whether the company can survive a downturn. Assessing first and foremost the financial health is vital, since poor capital management may bring about bankruptcies, which occur at a higher rate for small-caps. Let's work through some financial health checks you may wish to consider if you're interested in this stock. However, this is not a comprehensive overview, so I suggest youdig deeper yourself into ENTRA here. ENTRA has built up its total debt levels in the last twelve months, from øre17b to øre19b – this includes long-term debt. With this rise in debt, the current cash and short-term investment levels stands at øre343m to keep the business going. Additionally, ENTRA has generated cash from operations of øre1.5b in the last twelve months, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 8.0%, meaning that ENTRA’s debt is not covered by operating cash. Looking at ENTRA’s øre4.6b in current liabilities, it seems that the business arguably has a rather low level of current assets relative its obligations, with the current ratio last standing at 0.38x. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. With debt reaching 82% of equity, ENTRA may be thought of as relatively highly levered. This is somewhat unusual for small-caps companies, since lenders are often hesitant to provide attractive interest rates to less-established businesses. No matter how high the company’s debt, if it can easily cover the interest payments, it’s considered to be efficient with its use of excess leverage. A company generating earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at least three times its net interest payments is considered financially sound. In ENTRA's case, the ratio of 5.48x suggests that interest is appropriately covered, which means that debtors may be willing to loan the company more money, giving ENTRA ample headroom to grow its debt facilities. Although ENTRA’s debt level is towards the higher end of the spectrum, its cash flow coverage seems adequate to meet debt obligations which means its debt is being efficiently utilised. Though its low liquidity raises concerns over whether current asset management practices are properly implemented for the small-cap. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure ENTRA has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. I recommend you continue to research Entra to get a better picture of the stock by looking at: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ENTRA’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor ENTRA’s outlook. 2. Valuation: What is ENTRA 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 ENTRA 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.
Exxon quarterly profit to feel pinch of weaker natural gas, chemical earnings By Shanti S Nair (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N> said on Monday lower natural gas and chemical margins in its second quarter would offset improved crude and refining operations, pointing to flat profits sequentially and down from a year-earlier. The U.S. oil major said in a securities filing http://bit.ly/2RL5hMp it expected improved crude prices to boost second-quarter profit by $400 million to $600 million. However, natural gas <NGc1> prices which have dropped to multi-year lows in the face of tepid demand, were expected to offset it by an equal measure. RBC Capital Markets analysts in a note said the magnitude of weakness across refining, chemicals and natural gas and the lack of sequential improvement, "leaves us heading into another disappointing quarter for Exxon's earnings momentum." Jennifer Rowland, analyst at Edward Jones, expects second-quarter upstream earnings to be weaker compared with a year ago. She lowered the brokerage's profit estimates to 88 cents per share from 95 cents previously. That is below Wall Street's mean estimates of 97 cents and the year-ago quarter's 92 cents a share. "We have to be more patient with their turnaround plan," said Rowland. Exxon said weaker margins in its chemical business is expected to reduce second-quarter profit by $100 million to $300 million over the first quarter. It also estimated a potential gain of $200 million over the first quarter from a lack of impairment charges. The company is scheduled to release its results on July 26. Rowland expects refining and marketing to return to profitability due to higher margins while chemicals should continue to post weaker results given lower margins and scheduled maintenance. In April, the company reported first-quarter profit that slumped 49% to $2.4 billion and missed analysts' estimates due to a weakness across its major businesses. Exxon shares, which have risen about 12% this year to Friday's close, ended the day off 7 cents a share at $76.56 compared with a 0.1% rise in the S&P 500 Energy index <.SPNY> as a result of oil prices that steadied as OPEC extended supply cuts until March 2020 during a meeting in Vienna. (Reporting by Shanti S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Lisa Shumaker)
Does Saga Tankers ASA's (OB:SAGA) CEO Pay Reflect Performance? Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! In 2012 Espen Lundaas was appointed CEO of Saga Tankers ASA ( OB:SAGA ). This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. 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. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid. See our latest analysis for Saga Tankers How Does Espen Lundaas's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? At the time of writing our data says that Saga Tankers ASA has a market cap of øre279m, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of øre2.0m. (This number is for the twelve months until December 2018). It is worth noting that the CEO compensation consists almost entirely of the salary, worth øre2.0m. We took a group of companies with market capitalizations below øre1.7b, and calculated the median CEO total compensation to be øre2.7m. So Espen Lundaas receives a similar amount to the median CEO pay, amongst the companies we looked at. 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. The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Saga Tankers has changed from year to year. OB:SAGA CEO Compensation, July 1st 2019 Is Saga Tankers ASA Growing? Over the last three years Saga Tankers ASA has shrunk its earnings per share by an average of 70% per year (measured with a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 11%. Few shareholders would be pleased to read that earnings per share are lower over three years. There's no doubt that the silver lining is that revenue is up. But it isn't sufficiently fast growth to overlook the fact that earnings per share has gone backwards over three years. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. We don't have analyst forecasts, but shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow. Story continues Has Saga Tankers ASA Been A Good Investment? Given the total loss of 11% over three years, many shareholders in Saga Tankers ASA are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously. In Summary... Espen Lundaas is paid around the same as most CEOs of similar size companies. Returns have been disappointing and the company is not growing its earnings per share. Suffice it to say, we don't think the CEO is underpaid! CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling Saga Tankers (free visualization of insider trades). Important note: Saga Tankers may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list 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 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.
Libra, Iran and the potential end of cryptocurrencies as we know them Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, libra, is being heralded as the moment that cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the technology that supports them,become truly mainstream. A notablerise in the price of bitcoin and many other cryptocurrenciesin the run up to the libra announcement on June 18, and since, suggests a market directly responding to this possibility and bolstered by it. Of course, the price of bitcoin is known to rise and fall sharplyon a fairly regular basis. Yet there is no doubt that having one of the world’s largest and most influential corporations throwing its weight behind the technology will calm nerves and build confidence. More importantly, it gives legitimacy to the idea that cryptocurrencies and blockchain are here to stay. And, as I have argued in my research, must betaken seriously, not least byregulators. Read more:Facebook's libra has staggering potential – state control of money could end In the same moment the world is introduced to libra, tensions between the United States and Iran continue to grow, withPresident Donald Trumpincreasing US sanctions against Iran. The two are not directly connected, but libra (or other cryptocurrencies) could offer Iran a route round its sanctions. This, of course, is not something Facebook intends – but Iran’s interest in cryptocurrencies could have a serious influence on libra’s future. In their contemporary forms, bitcoin and blockchain have been around forroughly ten years. In this time cryptocurrencies have proliferated wildly. According to the cryptocurrency platform,CoinMarketCap, there are now at least 2,248 different kinds of tokens. Many of these are actively and enthusiastically exchanged and traded by a growing number of people. The recent history of cryptocurrencies, and bitcoin specifically, has not been all that positive. Famously, in 2013, theillicit darknet marketplace Silk Road was shut downfollowing an FBI investigation. The site’s founder, Ross Ulbricht, was imprisoned for life. Silk Road users relied heavily on bitcoin to ensure anonymity, and the libertarian ethos underpinning bitcoin appeared to fit well with Silk Road’s rejection and evasion of authority and regulation. What was so attractive for many about Silk Road, bitcoin and aspects of blockchain technology in general, was the fact that together they enable people to side step the usual legal constraints and regulations that apply online and offline when it comes to financial transactions. The anonymity bitcoin offers enables people to buy and selljust about anythingwithout detection. Read more:The fall of Silk Road isn't the end for anonymous marketplaces, Tor or bitcoin Silk Road offered a form of freedom to its users they were unlikely to have enjoyed previously. But this, of course, put it at loggerheads with laws and regulations in most countries and jurisdictions. While the Silk Road marketplace is now gone, cryptocurrency and blockchain are attracting more interest than ever before. At the same time governmental oversight of the technologycontinues to lag behind. Although things may be about to changeon that front. Iran has long recognised the benefits ofdeveloping capabilitiesaround crypto-assets and blockchain technology to counter US sanctions. This has included attempts to develop its ownstate-backed cryptocurrency. That Iran might use Facebook’s new cryptocurrency libra to dance around US sanctions, a la Silk Road, is entirely speculative. Given Facebook’s contentious track record on the management ofuser datain recent years, and the fact that it is yet to convinceUS lawmakers and financial regulatorsof the legitimacy of its project, Iran, let alone billions of Facebook users, may not even get a chance to use libra at all. Read more:US-Iran tensions: no route for de-escalation in sight However, the potential for Iran to use libra raises serious questions about the level of control that should be demanded over cryptocurrency use. Robust state or corporate oversight of the technology (or perhaps a troubling blend of the two,as some have argued), could kill, once and for all, thelibertarian dreamthat blockchains and cryptocurrencies have long encapsulated. Facebook may well find stiff opposition to libra based on the vagaries of financial regulations. But it could well face stiffer opposition both politically, from governments who don’t want their foreign policies undermined – and commercially, from users not getting the empowering financial infrastructurethey were promised, but, instead, a heavily controlled one. Iran’s interest in cryptocurrencies encapsulates how, in today’s world, the empowerment and transparency that many advocates of cryptocurrencies and blockchains like to think is only a piece of code away is little more than afantasy. Something always seems to spoil the party. Blockchain has been celebrated as a technology to circumvent authority and regulation – the role of bitcoin in Silk Road and its continueduse on the “dark web” sinceis evidence of this. Put simply, Iran is just another example of wanting to avoid the authorities. But this could be a step too far for authorities. And this could have a serious effect on all cryptocurrencies – not just Facebook’s libra. If the perception in the US and elsewhere is that Iran intends to use the technology, this could require a significant rethink regarding the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchains. It won’t mean the end of them, certainly not. But if this is the moment the technology truly became mainstream, then it could equally be the moment it finally yields to control and regulation – and the end of founder “Satoshi’s vision”. Libra could be a solution, but for some it may also look a lot like a problem. This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article. Robert Herian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Atara Reports Initial Data for Multiple Sclerosis Candidate Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc.ATRA announced initial ATA188 phase I safety results for patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) at the 5thCongress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in Oslo, Norway. The primary objective of the ongoing ATA188 phase I, dose-escalating clinical study is to evaluate safety and tolerability for patients with progressive MS. ATA188 is a T-cell immunotherapy targeting Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antigens, believed to be important for the potential treatment of MS.  MS is a chronic autoimmune, inflammatory disease that affects axons in the central nervous system (CNS). Shares of the company have plunged 42.2% year to date against the industry’s growth of 5.7%. Initial safety results, as of Apr 8, 2019, showed that the first three ATA188 dose cohorts were well tolerated, with no dose-limiting toxicities and no ≥3 grade treatment-related, treatment-emergent adverse events. The key secondary endpoints of the phase I study include measures of clinical improvement, such as expanded disability status scale (EDSS), MRI imaging and other clinical activity measures. The study is ongoing and aims to identify a recommended phase II dose (RP2D). Further, a phase Ib extension period for this study, using the RP2D, is now planned following the completion of the open-label, dose-escalation period. MS is a crowded market, with many companies already having drugs in their portfolio approved for this indication. Biogen, Inc. BIIB holds a strong position in this market with a wide range of products, including Avonex, Tysabri, Tecfidera and Plegridy. In March, swiss pharma giant Novartis AG NVS received FDA approval for its pipeline candidate Mayzent (siponimod), a next generation, selective sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulator, for the treatment of adults with relapsing forms of MS. Also Celgene’s CELG ozanimod, being developed for the treatment of people with relapsing forms of MS, is under review in the United States and Europe. Zacks Rank Atara currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportNovartis AG (NVS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAtara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (ATRA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBiogen Inc. (BIIB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCelgene Corporation (CELG) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Apple has apparently decided to make Apple TV+ the anti-Netflix Click here to read the full article. So many times in tech and even general business journalism, the tendency is to pit a new thing against its closest rival. To measure everything as a kind of tit-for-tat, binary comparison in which one company, product or service wins, and the other doesn’t. Or the strengths of one must be weighed against the shadow of another, and so on. Even though business leaders take great pains to point out that quite often, there is actually room for multiple winners in a category. Or, at least, multiple contenders. Related Stories: Brilliant 'Stranger Things' theory explains Microsoft's puzzling Windows 1.0 teaser No, Tim Cook never told Apple TV+ showrunners to stop being 'so mean' Netflix is finally going to stop spending so much money on original projects Streaming video is like that, says pretty much everyone who’s trying to compete with Netflix. Heck, even Netflix’s top executives like CEO Reed Hastings have said on more than one occasion that there’s plenty of room for Netflix and other rivals to be successful together in this space. Which brings us to a new interview that Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue gave to Britain’s The Sunday Times that was published over the weekend. Among the points he stressed relative to Apple TV+, which is Apple’s forthcoming Netflix-like TV service that users will have to pay to subscribe to and which will host exclusive series commissioned by Apple: Apple is basically trying to build the anti-Netflix, putting a premium on a strongly curated library of content instead of following the Netflix model of an insanely massive pile of shows and movies that keeps growing with no end in sight. The iPhone maker really doesn’t “know a lot about television other than we are big consumers of it,” Cue explained, noting at another point during the interview that Apple won’t be creating “the most” content for subscribers but that the goal it’s aiming for is “creating the best.” Story continues “Nothing wrong with (Netflix’s) model, but it’s not our model,” he says. One of the first new original series the new service will reportedly air, according to the interview with Cue, is The Morning Show — a workplace drama that goes behind the scenes of a fictional TV morning show and stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, who teased the project back in March when Apple formally unveiled Apple TV+ for the first time. “On the quality bar, it is really, really good,” Cue promises. Cue’s comments are very much in line with remarks Apple CEO Tim Cook shared during the company’s earnings call back at the end of April when Cook explained to analysts how Apple regards Apple TV+. Not as a Netflix rival, but as a likely choice to be one of a handful of streaming options that consumers decide to sign up for. “There’s a huge move from the cable bundle to over-the-top,” Cook said at the time. “We think that most users are going to get multiple over-the-top products, and we’re going to do our best to convince them that the Apple TV+ product should be one of them.” We still don’t know how much the new service will cost. Or a full lineup of the shows to come. We did get a kind of sizzler reel at that March event, which included a trailer for a forthcoming Apple sci-fi series that presents an alternative history of the space race called For All Mankind . All of this represents a high-profile plunge into completely new territory for Apple and comes at a time when the company wants to dramatically jack up how much of a contribution its revenue-generating services make to the overall bottom line. Apple CFO Luca Maestri said during that April earnings call that Apple has 390 million paid subscriptions at the moment and is on pace to grow that at a double-digit percentage. The iPhone maker is forecasting that number to pass half a billion next year. And Apple’s foray into the world of TV will be just one of many drivers helping to ensure that the goal ends up coming true. BGR Top Deals: This $16 clip-on lens kit fits the iPhone or any Android phone, and it’s awesome Amazon deal offers a 7-inch Android tablet for under $43 See the original version of this article on BGR.com
Here's What Entra ASA's (OB:ENTRA) P/E Is Telling Us 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 written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use Entra ASA's (OB:ENTRA) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity.Entra has a price to earnings ratio of 9.58, based on the last twelve months. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 10%. Check out our latest analysis for Entra Theformula for price to earningsis: Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Entra: P/E of 9.58 = NOK131 ÷ NOK13.67 (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.) A higher P/E ratio means that buyers have to paya higher pricefor each NOK1 the company has earned over the last year. All else being equal, it's better to pay a low price -- but as Warren Buffett said, 'It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.' Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. Earnings growth means that in the future the 'E' will be higher. 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. Entra's earnings per share fell by 39% in the last twelve months. But it has grown its earnings per share by 34% per year over the last five years. The P/E ratio essentially measures market expectations of a company. As you can see below Entra has a P/E ratio that is fairly close for the average for the real estate industry, which is 9.6. Entra's P/E tells us that market participants think its prospects are roughly in line with its industry. So if Entra actually outperforms its peers going forward, that should be a positive for the share price. Checking factors such asdirector buying and selling. could help you form your own view on if that will happen. It's important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future) by investing in growth. That means taking on debt (or spending its cash). Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof). Entra's net debt is 78% of its market cap. If you want to compare its P/E ratio to other companies, you should absolutely keep in mind it has significant borrowings. Entra has a P/E of 9.6. That's below the average in the NO market, which is 13.3. Given meaningful debt, and a lack of recent growth, the market looks to be extrapolating this recent performance; reflecting low expectations for the future. 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. But note:Entra 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.
Pier 1 Imports' Downward Spiral Will Boost TJX Over the past five years, numerous traditional retailers have experiencedweak sales and plunging profits, because of the growth of e-commerce, as well as rising brick-and-mortar competition from off-price retailers such asTJX Companies(NYSE: TJX). Pier 1 Imports(NYSE: PIR)has been no exception. Pressure began mounting around 2014, and the downward spiral in sales and profitability has accelerated dramatically over the past year and a half. This is threatening the home furnishings chain's very survival -- and creating another superb growth opportunity for TJX. A little over a year ago, Pier 1 Imports' management team held an investor day to lay out a new strategy for turning around the struggling company. Management noted that comparable-store sales growth had begun to slow in fiscal 2016, roughly corresponding to the 2015 calendar year, before turning negative in fiscal 2017. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share plunged by nearly 80% between fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2018. Pier 1's sales and earnings have plummeted in recent years. Image source: Pier 1 Imports. Management's goal was to grow sales 4% to 6% over a three-year period and roughly triple EPS through margin expansion. The company expected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to fall to a range of $30 million to $50 million in fiscal 2019 from $89 million a year earlier, before rebounding to between $120 million and $150 million by fiscal 2021. That plan is now in tatters. Comparable sales plunged 11% and total sales decreased 13.7% to $1.55 billion last year. Adjusted EBITDA fell deep into negative territory at negative-$136.7 million. The company also burned $135 million of cash. Pier 1's CEO resigned in late 2018, and several other top executives have been replaced over the past year. Pier 1 Imports is off to a terrible start in fiscal 2020, too. Last week, the company reported that total sales plummeted 15.5% to $314 million in the first quarter on a 13.5% comp sales decline. As a result, Pier 1 has already abandoned its earlier forecast that EBITDA would improve by $45 million to $55 million this year. Much of Pier 1 Imports' struggles can be traced to strategic missteps. But rising competition has also been a huge headwind, contributing to Pier 1 stock's nearly 98% plunge over the past five years. Pier 1 Imports stock performance data byYCharts. No competitor has been more of a headache for Pier 1 Imports than TJX. Last year, the off-price giant's HomeGoods unit posted sales of $5.79 billion, up from just $1.58 billion 10 years earlier. HomeGoods continued its strong growth last quarter, with sales up 10% year over year. HomeGoods has gained market share rapidly over the past decade because of its low prices and its constantly changing merchandise assortment, which creates a "treasure hunt" atmosphere and drives customers to return frequently. The threat from TJX is only growing. Two years ago, TJX launched anew home store conceptin the U.S., called HomeSense, to complement HomeGoods. Whereas HomeGoods sells lots of home decor in competition with Pier 1, HomeSense features an expanded furniture section. Thus, Pier 1 Imports now faces competition from TJX across an even broader portion of its merchandise assortment. TJX ended last quarter with 792 HomeGoods and HomeSense stores in the United States. It also has 132 HomeSense stores in Canada, another market where it competes with Pier 1. TJX sees room to expand to at least 1,400 domestic stores across the two home concepts over time. Over the past five years, TJX has added $9 billion to its top line in the U.S., even as many other brick-and-mortar retailers have struggled. TJX is clearly gaining market share at the expense of competitors that have been closing stores -- and, in some cases, going out of business entirely. Pier 1 Imports currently expects to close at least 57 stores this year, and that figure could go even higher if the retailer continues to miss its targets. Moreover, with cash flow steadily falling deeper into negative territory, Pier 1's chances of long-term survival are dimming. Despite its terrible sales results since the beginning of last year, Pier 1 still generates well over $1 billion in annual revenue. As the company retrenches -- and particularly if it eventually goes out of business -- it will add to the massive growth momentum of TJX's HomeGoods and HomeSense chains. 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 The TJX Companies. The Motley Fool recommends The TJX Companies. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Estimating The Fair Value Of Suez SA (EPA:SEV) Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Suez SA (EPA:SEV) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them 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. Check out our latest analysis for Suez 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 (\u20ac, Millions)", "2019": "\u20ac1.0b", "2020": "\u20ac721.0m", "2021": "\u20ac669.1m", "2022": "\u20ac582.0m", "2023": "\u20ac526.5m", "2024": "\u20ac492.5m", "2025": "\u20ac471.3m", "2026": "\u20ac458.2m", "2027": "\u20ac450.2m", "2028": "\u20ac445.8m"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x3", "2020": "Analyst x5", "2021": "Analyst x3", "2022": "Analyst x1", "2023": "Est @ -9.54%", "2024": "Est @ -6.46%", "2025": "Est @ -4.3%", "2026": "Est @ -2.79%", "2027": "Est @ -1.73%", "2028": "Est @ -0.99%"}, {"": "Present Value (\u20ac, Millions) Discounted @ 6.05%", "2019": "\u20ac981.0", "2020": "\u20ac641.0", "2021": "\u20ac561.0", "2022": "\u20ac460.1", "2023": "\u20ac392.4", "2024": "\u20ac346.2", "2025": "\u20ac312.4", "2026": "\u20ac286.3", "2027": "\u20ac265.3", "2028": "\u20ac247.7"}] ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= €4.5b After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the intial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. 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 (0.7%) 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 6.1%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = €446m × (1 + 0.7%) ÷ (6.1% – 0.7%) = €8.4b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= €€8.4b ÷ ( 1 + 6.1%)10= €4.69b The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is €9.18b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of €14.86. Relative to the current share price of €12.69, the company appears about fair value at a 15% discount to where the stock price trades currently. 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. 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 Suez 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 6.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. 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 Suez, There are three relevant aspects you should look at: 1. Financial Health: Does SEV 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 SEV'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 SEV? 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 EPA 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.
Ample Hills Debuts Captain America, Black Panther, and Spider-Man Ice Cream Flavors It’s been a busy year for Marvel fans, with the release of Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame this spring—plus, Spider-man: Far From Home is set to premiere on July 2. If you're a super fan, you'll also know that 2019 marks Marvel’s 80th anniversary, and to celebrate, Ample Hills Creamery has a sweet treat that will launch just in time for Spider-Man to hit theaters. On July 1, the Brooklyn -based ice cream company will add three superhero-themed flavors to the menu, inspired by Captain America, the Black Panther, and of course, Spider-Man. “When we found out we could make Captain America, Black Panther and Spider-Man ice cream we knew we wanted to do mini-comics and wrap them around our pint containers. We wrote stories and sketched out illustrations,” Brian Smith, co-founder and CEO of Ample Hills Creamery, said in a statement. “Marvel was wonderful and open to our creative interpretations. It was important to us to capture the superheroes in our Ample Hills Creamery watercolor aesthetic and yet remain faithful to the look of the old comics. With Marvel's superheroes, we didn't think of flavor first. We studied the characters, their backgrounds, origin stories. We let them lead us to a flavor.” First up is Captain America, who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1940s. Accordingly, Ample Hills created an “old-fashioned” vanilla malt ice cream for his flavor, made with pieces of Brooklyn Blackout Cake (made famous by Ebinger’s Bakery) and ribbons of chocolate pudding. As for the Black Panther ice cream, it’s purple-tinged, flavored by black raspberry mixed with single-origin “ Wakandan chocolate fudge” chunks—a nod to the purple heart-shaped herb concoction T’Challa has to drink in order to turn into the Black Panther. Finally, Spider-Man , who grew up in Queens , will get a flavor inspired by cherry pie, made with a sweet cream base that’s swirled with cherry pie filling and pieces of pie crust. Our ice cream senses are already tingling. We got to try the new pints right when they launched, and found we all had different favorites. Captain America’s flavor is reminiscent of cookies & cream “on steroids” according to one editor (or maybe that should be Super Soldier Serum?), packed with cake bites that replace the standard chocolate cookie; the Black Panther black raspberry was sweet, smooth, and understated, with a hint of tartness and chunks of bittersweet chocolate strewn throughout (editors also praised it for tasting very natural). Spider-Man’s flavor was definitely cherry-forward, bright against the sweet cream base flavor—there wasn’t as much of a pie aspect as expected, but it was still enjoyable. Story continues “The Cap one is my absolute jam, so good,” one editor wrote. If you want to try out the Marvel flavors yourself, they’ll launch at scoop shops and “select wholesalers” nationwide on July 1. (You can also order them online , in individual pints or packaged as a collection.) The first 500 online customers will receive a “special edition one of a kind art piece” in the box. Just make sure you act fast—they're limited-edition, and won't be on the menu for long. View comments
UnitedHealthcare Awards Goodwill Industries of Kentucky $90,000 to Benefit Workforce Re-entry Program • Grant will help provide wage assistance and support services for people overcoming employment barriers and becoming self-sufficient. LOUISVILLE, Ky.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kentucky awarded Goodwill Industries of Kentucky (Goodwill Kentucky) a $90,000 grant to help support people eligible for Medicaid, including those in the justice system who are re-entering society, with resources to find and sustain employment. Through this grant, UnitedHealthcare and Goodwill Kentucky are partnering to enhance wage assistance and support services for program participants. The grant funding period began May 1, 2019, and will benefit Louisville RISE (Reintegrating Individuals Successfully Every Day), a Goodwill Kentucky program that provides Kentuckians with skills training and mentorship. The partnership will support events including expungement clinics, which help people clear certain cases from their criminal records, as well as literacy classes, health and wellness presentations, and career-development resources. “At UnitedHealthcare, we look at an individual’s medical needs, but also at behavioral, functional and social needs, which are supported by programs like RISE,” said Amy Johnston, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kentucky. “The unique value that managed care offers Kentuckians includes working with community-based organizations to identify and address areas that affect health outcomes and quality of life. We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Goodwill Kentucky on this program.” UnitedHealthcare’s support will help participants overcome barriers to self-sufficiency, emphasize finding employment and promote employment retention. Program participants enter RISE after completing Goodwill’s Soft Skills Academy where they earn a Work Ready Certificate by learning and practicing six key skills necessary for maintaining employment. “An integral part of our mission is to empower ‘second chance’ participants to achieve economic independence through professional skills training and educational development tools,” said Dennis Ritchie, career services manager, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky. “Our partnership with UnitedHealthcare helps address a unique set of challenges for our population to get them on a path to self-sufficiency.” The initial goal of the grant is to move 200 people through the program in one year. RISE is currently available in Jefferson County, with the possibility to expand statewide in 2020. The grant is part of UnitedHealthcare’s Empowering Health initiative focused on expanding access to care and addressing the social determinants of health for people in underserved communities. About Goodwill Industries of KentuckyIn the 2018 fiscal year, Goodwill Kentucky placed Kentuckians into more than 2,600 jobs across the state – both inside and outside of Goodwill. Goodwill Kentucky’s career path programs and employment services, which serve Kentuckians who have disabilities or other challenges, are funded through a combination of grants, corporate and individual giving, and its retail stores, which sell donated clothing and household items at 65 locations across Kentucky. About UnitedHealthcareUnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.3 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare atwww.uhc.com/or follow @UHC on Twitter. Click here to subscribe to Mobile Alerts for UnitedHealth Group. Contacts Media Contact:Isaac SorensenUnitedHealthcareIsaac.Sorensen@uhc.com952.931.5705
FIBK vs. CBSH: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option? Investors interested in Banks - Midwest stocks are likely familiar with First Interstate BancSystem (FIBK) and Commerce Bancshares (CBSH). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look. There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits. Right now, First Interstate BancSystem is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Commerce Bancshares has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that FIBK has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors. Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels. Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use. FIBK currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.89, while CBSH has a forward P/E of 16.26. We also note that FIBK has a PEG ratio of 1.43. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. CBSH currently has a PEG ratio of 2.03. Another notable valuation metric for FIBK is its P/B ratio of 1.39. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, CBSH has a P/B of 2.29. Based on these metrics and many more, FIBK holds a Value grade of B, while CBSH has a Value grade of C. FIBK is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that FIBK is likely the superior value option right now. 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 reportFirst Interstate BancSystem, Inc. (FIBK) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCommerce Bancshares, Inc. (CBSH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Stock Market News for Jul 1, 2019 Wall Street closed higher on Friday buoyed by strong performance of bank stocks after the Fed released results for the second round of stress test. Investors also cautiously awaited for the outcome of the meeting between U.S. President Donald trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping scheduled to take place at the G-20 summit in Japan. All three major stock indexes finished in the green. However, for the week as a whole, all three indexes closed in the red. In contrast, for the month of June, the indexes hit record highs. The Dow and S&P 500 posted their best June in 81 and 64 years, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite recorded its best June in nearly two decades. In the second quarter and first half of 2019, the indexes also performed impressively. Notably, the S&P 500 registered its strongest gains for the first half in 22 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 0.3% to close at 26,599.96. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to close at 2,941.76. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 8,006.24, rising 0.5%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 4.7% to close at 15.08. A total of 10.26 billion shares were traded on Friday, higher than the last 20-session average of 7.11 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.84-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.66-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues. How Did The Benchmarks Perform? The Dow closed in positive territory with 17 components of the 30-stock blue-chip index closing in the green while thirteen finished in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended in the green due to strong performance by large-cap stocks. The S&P 500 also closed in positive territory. The Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) surged 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively. Notably, nine out of total 11 sectors of the benchmark index closed in the green while two ended in the red. Bank Stocks Surge After the market close on Jun 27, the Federal Reserve declared results of the second round of stress test of 18 major banks operating in the United States. Barring the one, all seventeen banks successfully cleared the requirements of the Fed. With this, these banks got the central bank’s approval to raise dividend and enlarge their share repurchase programs. Consequently, shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS and Citigroup Inc. C climbed 2.7%, 2.7% and 2.8%, respectively. All three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Trump – Xi Meeting in Focus President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet to discuss trade during the G-20 meeting at Osaka, Japan. Notably, U.S.-China trade negotiations broke down abruptly on May 5 when market participants were thinking that a near-term deal was possible. The United States blamed China for backtracking on its previous commitments. So far, the United States has imposed 25% tariffs on $250 billion Chinese goods. China has retaliated by levying 25% tariff on $160 billion U.S. exports. Additionally, President Trump had threatened imposing 25% tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods if stalemate prevails in trade negotiations for an indefinite time period. Economic Data The Department of Commerce reported that personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index increased 0.2% in May, unchanged from April’s pace. Year over year, PCE inflation declined to 1.5% in May from 1.6% in April. Core PCE inflation (excluding food and energy items) grew 0.2% in May, in line with April and the consensus estimate. Year over year, core PCE inflation rose 1.6%, flat with April. Personal income grew 0.5% in May, flat with April but surpassed the consensus estimate of 0.3%. Personal disposable income also grew 0.5% in May, in line with April. Personal spending increased 0.4% in May compared with the revised estimate of an increase of 0.6% in April. The consensus estimate was 0.5%. Personal saving rate in May was 6.1%, in line with April. Weekly Roundup Last week was a disappointing one for U.S. stock markets. The Dow declined 0.5% while both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.3%. Wall Street plummeted as uncertainty rose over possible rate cut by the Fed in July and the outcome from the upcoming meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi. Monthly Roundup Wall Street witnessed an impressive turnaround in June after major indexes plunged in May following an abrupt broke down of the U.S-China trade negotiations. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq Composite jumped 7.2%, 6.9% and 7.4%, respectively. This was the Dow’s best June since 1938. The S&P 500 witnessed best June since 1955 and Nasdaq Composite recorded the same since 2000. The Fedwas largely responsible for the June rally. The Fed Chair and other senior members of the central bank have hinted that they could adopt a softer approach to policy. Market participants feel that it is highly likely that one or more rate cuts will take place this year. In fact, several market watchers are expecting a quarter to half a percentage point cut in benchmark rate throughout the rest of 2019. Quarterly Roundup After a successful first quarter, Wall Street continued to rally in the second quarter too. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite gained 2.8%, 3.4% and 4.2%, respectively. Stock gains continued in April after witnessing volatility in the second half of March when a bond yield inversion occurred for the first time since 2007. However, U.S. stocks plunged in May after President Trump halted trade talks with China, alleging that the latter had backtracked from promises given earlier. Finally the market rebounded in June on rate cut hopes from the Fed. Half Yearly Roundup Wall Street has completed a record-breaking first half of 2019. Three major stock indexes --- the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite --- are up 14%, 17.4% and 20.7%, respectively. The S&P 500 posted its best first-half performance since 1997. Positive developments on the trade war front, a dovish monetary stance adopted by the Fed and rebound of crude oil prices primarily owing to supply cut by OPEC and Russia are major reasons for Wall Street’s rally. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of AllLast year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportJPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCitigroup Inc. (C) : Free Stock Analysis ReportThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Is Kelly Services (KELYA) a Great Pick for Value Investors? Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldn’t want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value? One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Let’s putKelly Services, Inc. KELYAstock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or if investors subscribing to this methodology should look elsewhere for top picks: PE Ratio A key metric that value investors always look at is the Price to Earnings Ratio, or PE for short. This shows us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings in a given stock, and is easily one of the most popular financial ratios in the world. The best use of the PE ratio is to compare the stock’s current PE ratio with: a) where this ratio has been in the past; b) how it compares to the average for the industry/sector; and c) how it compares to the market as a whole. On this front, Kelly Services has a trailing twelve months PE ratio of 11.05, as you can see in the chart below: This level actually compares pretty favorably with the market at large, as the PE for the S&P 500 stands at about 18.21. If we focus on the long-term PE trend, Kelly Services’ current PE level puts it below its midpoint over the past three years. Further, the stock’s PE compares favorably with the Zacks Business Services sector’s trailing twelve months PE ratio, which stands at 29.70. At the very least, this indicates that the stock is relatively undervalued right now, compared to its peers. We should also point out that Kelly Services has a forward PE ratio (price relative to this year’s earnings) of just 10.69, so it is fair to say that a slightly more value-oriented path may be ahead for Kelly Services stock in the near term too. P/S Ratio Another key metric to note is the Price/Sales ratio. This approach compares a given stock’s price to its total sales, where a lower reading is generally considered better. Some people like this metric more than other value-focused ones because it looks at sales, something that is far harder to manipulate with accounting tricks than earnings. Right now, Kelly Services has a P/S ratio of about 0.19. This is lower than the S&P 500 average, which comes in at 3.29 right now.  Also, as we can see in the chart below, this is below the highs for this stock in particular over the past few years. If anything, KELYA is in the higher end of its range in the time period from a P/S metric, suggesting some level of overvalued trading—at least compared to historical norms. Broad Value Outlook In aggregate, Kelly Services currently has a Zacks Value Score of B, putting it into the top 40% of all stocks we cover from this look. This makes Kelly Services a solid choice for value investors, and some of its other key metrics make this pretty clear too. For example, the P/CF ratio comes in at 8.79, which is lower than the industry average of 9.16. Clearly, KELYA is a solid choice on the value front from multiple angles. What About the Stock Overall? Though Kelly Services might be a good choice for value investors, there are plenty of other factors to consider before investing in this name. In particular, it is worth noting that the company has a Growth Score of B and a Momentum Score of F. This gives KELYA a Zacks VGM score — or its overarching fundamental grade — of B. (You can read more about the Zacks Style Scores here >>) Meanwhile, the company’s recent earnings estimates have been encouraging. The current quarter has seen one estimate go higher in the past sixty days compared to no movement in the opposite direction, while the current year estimate has seen one upward revision compared to no downward in the same time period. This has had a positive impact on the consensus estimate though as the current quarter consensus estimate has risen by 7.7% in the past two months, while the current year estimate has increased by 4.3%. You can see the consensus estimate trend and recent price action for the stock in the chart below: Kelly Services, Inc. Price and Consensus Kelly Services, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Kelly Services, Inc. Quote This bullish trend is why the stock boasts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and why we are expecting outperformance from the company in the near term. Bottom Line Kelly Services is an inspired choice for value investors, as it is hard to beat its incredible line up of statistics on this front. A solid Zacks Rank #1 further instils our confidence. However, a sluggish industry rank (among bottom 24% of more than 250 industries) makes it hard to get too excited about this company overall. In fact, over the past two years, the Zacks Staffing industry has clearly underperformed the market at large, as you can see below: So, value investors might want to wait for industry trends to turn favorable in this name first, but once that happens, this stock could be a compelling pick. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportKelly Services, Inc. (KELYA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Is Cisco Systems (CSCO) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year? Investors focused on the Computer and Technology space have likely heard of Cisco Systems (CSCO), but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Computer and Technology peers, we might be able to answer that question. Cisco Systems is one of 634 companies in the Computer and Technology group. The Computer and Technology group currently sits at #6 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. CSCO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSCO's full-year earnings has moved 1.86% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive. Based on the most recent data, CSCO has returned 26.31% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Computer and Technology group have gained about 18.99% on average. This means that Cisco Systems is outperforming the sector as a whole this year. To break things down more, CSCO belongs to the Computer - Networking industry, a group that includes 8 individual companies and currently sits at #166 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 27.01% so far this year, so CSCO is slightly underperforming its industry in this area. CSCO will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Computer and Technology stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company. 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 reportCisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Is Fortinet (FTNT) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year? Investors interested in Computer and Technology stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Fortinet (FTNT) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out. Fortinet is a member of the Computer and Technology sector. This group includes 634 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #6. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group. The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. FTNT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FTNT's full-year earnings has moved 4.71% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving. Our latest available data shows that FTNT has returned about 9.09% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Computer and Technology sector has returned an average of 18.99% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Fortinet is outperforming the sector as a whole this year. Looking more specifically, FTNT belongs to the Security industry, a group that includes 11 individual stocks and currently sits at #30 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 14.32% so far this year, so FTNT is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Investors with an interest in Computer and Technology stocks should continue to track FTNT. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance. 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 reportFortinet, Inc. (FTNT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
FCCY vs. FCF: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option? Investors interested in Banks - Northeast stocks are likely familiar with 1st Constitution Bancorp (FCCY) and First Commonwealth Financial (FCF). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look. There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits. Right now, 1st Constitution Bancorp is sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while First Commonwealth Financial has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that FCCY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FCF has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this. Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels. Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use. FCCY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.62, while FCF has a forward P/E of 12.36. We also note that FCCY has a PEG ratio of 1.45. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. FCF currently has a PEG ratio of 1.54. Another notable valuation metric for FCCY is its P/B ratio of 1.21. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, FCF has a P/B of 1.33. These metrics, and several others, help FCCY earn a Value grade of B, while FCF has been given a Value grade of C. FCCY sticks out from FCF in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that FCCY is the better option right now. 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 report1st Constitution Bancorp (NJ) (FCCY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportFirst Commonwealth Financial Corporation (FCF) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
PUB vs. FRC: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option? Investors interested in Banks - West stocks are likely familiar with Peoples Utah Bancorp (PUB) and First Republic Bank (FRC). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look. There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits. Right now, Peoples Utah Bancorp is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while First Republic Bank has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that PUB likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than FRC has recently. However, value investors will care about much more than just this. Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels. Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use. PUB currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.91, while FRC has a forward P/E of 18.48. We also note that PUB has a PEG ratio of 1.61. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. FRC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.64. Another notable valuation metric for PUB is its P/B ratio of 1.83. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, FRC has a P/B of 2.02. These metrics, and several others, help PUB earn a Value grade of B, while FRC has been given a Value grade of C. PUB sticks out from FRC in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that PUB is the better option right now. 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 reportPeople's Utah Bancorp (PUB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportFirst Republic Bank (FRC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
If You Had Bought Suez (EPA:SEV) Stock A Year Ago, You Could Pocket A 14% 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 simplest way to invest in stocks is to buy exchange traded funds. But investors can boost returns by picking market-beating companies to own shares in. For example, theSuez SA(EPA:SEV) share price is up 14% in the last year, clearly besting than the market return of around 3.6% (not including dividends). If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! Zooming out, the stock is actuallydown11% in the last three years. Check out our latest analysis for Suez There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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). During the last year Suez grew its earnings per share (EPS) by 3.9%. The share price gain of 14% certainly outpaced the EPS growth. This indicates that the market is now more optimistic about the stock. You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination ofhistoric growth trends, available here.. It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Suez the TSR over the last year was 21%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! It's good to see that Suez has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 21% in the last twelve months. That's including the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 2.5% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. Keeping this in mind, a solid next step might be to take a look at Suez's dividend track record. Thisfreeinteractive graphis a great place to start. If you are like me, then you willnotwant to miss thisfreelist of growing companies that insiders are buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on FR 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.
German/French 10-year bond yields hit record lows after ECB's Knot comments LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - German and French 10-year bond yields fell to fresh record lows on Monday after comments from a hawkish member of the European Central Bank boosted expectations for monetary easing soon. Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot said that while the euro zone was not in recessionary territory, expectations for the second and third quarter were less favourable than the first quarter and that the ECB was determined to act in adverse scenarios. France's 10-year bond yield fell deeper into sub-zero territory to a record low of -0.034% and Germany's 10-year bond yield hit a fresh record low of -0.35%, just five basis points away from the ECB's deposit rate. "Since he (Knot) is a hawk, the comments suggest the governing council is coming around to the need for more stimulus, so the market is reacting to that," said DZ Bank rates analyst Rene Albrecht. (Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe, Editing by Abhinav Ramnarayan)
FSD Pharma Gets License to Sell Cannabis for Medical Use FSD Pharma (CSE:HUGE) (OTCQB:FSDDF) (FRA:0K9)announced that its subsidiary FV Pharma has received its full sale for medical purposes license to sell cannabis under the Cannabis Act of Canada. The license, effective as of June 21, allows the FSD facility in Cobourg, Ontario, to supply and sell cannabis products, including dried and fresh cannabis to the medicinal use marketplace. FV Pharma can now begin delivering cannabis to patients who hold prescriptions from authorized healthcare providers. “Achieving this final step in the sales licensing process is much awaited positive news for all of our shareholders and stakeholders. We can now serve the needs of patients who rely on medicinal cannabis products to manage a range of illnesses and diseases,” stated Raza Bokhari, executive co-chairman and CEO. FSD Pharma is focused on the development of the indoor grown, pharmaceutical grade cannabis and on the research and development of novel cannabinoid-based treatments for several central nervous system disorders, including chronic pain, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome. The company has 25,000 square feet that is licensed at its Ontario facility and expansion is currently underway. FSD facilities sit on 70 acres of land with 40 acres primed for development and an expansion capability of up to 3,896,000 square feet by 2025. FSD’s subsidiary FV Pharma is a licensed producer under the Cannabis Act and Regulations, having received its cultivation license on October 13, 2017 and its sale for medical purposes license on April 18, 2019. FV Pharma is working to transform its current headquarters in a Kraft plant in Cobourg, Ontario into the largest hydroponic indoor grow facility in the world. The postFSD Pharma Gets License to Sell Cannabis for Medical Useappeared first onMarket Exclusive.
Reliance Group to lease out company headquarters to cut debt MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Group is looking to lease out its headquarters in one of Mumbai's prime suburbs, the telecoms to infrastructure conglomerate said, a move that will help the company to raise funds to pay off debt. Some of the companies under the Reliance Group conglomerate, controlled by businessman Anil Ambani, have been hit by a spate of credit ratings downgrades and auditing issues. "Reliance infrastructure plans to monetise its marquee Reliance Center Office located in Santacruz East, Mumbai," the company said in a statement. Reliance will continue to own the premises and proceeds from the leasing deal will go only for debt reduction, the company said. It did not comment on the financial details of the deal or the group's financial condition. Ambani is the younger brother of Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani. A feud between the brothers over control the Reliance empire broke out after the death of their father in 2002. The Reliance businesses were split up in 2005 as part of a settlement between them. That made them both billionaires but while Mukesh's energy, telecoms and retail conglomerate had gone from strength to strength, Anil's companies have struggled. Mukesh, however, appears more recently to have offered some kind of support to his younger brother so he could repay $80 million in debt to Swedish telecom company Ericsson. DEBTS The company headquarters, located along a busy highway in the premium commercial area of western Mumbai, is spread over 0.7 million square feet and accommodates more than 3,000 employees, a Reliance executive said. The property is under control of the flagship company of the group, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. Reliance Infrastructure, known as R-Infra, builds and runs bridges, roads, metro rail and power plants, and operates the company's fledgling defence business. It is one of the most indebted companies under the Reliance umbrella and has sold off assets in the past two years. It currently has debts of 150 billion rupees ($2.17 billion) and Ambani said last month that he would sell off all its road assets as it seeks to become a debt-free company by next year. Reliance Infrastructure reported heavy losses in its fourth quarter results. Its auditors raised red flags around the latest results and cast doubts over the manner in which the firm had accounted for several transactions. Ambani's financials business, Reliance Capital Ltd also came under scrutiny when global audit firm PwC resigned citing irregularities in the books of accounts. The company rejected the auditor's report. The company has appointed real estate consulting firm JLL as advisers for leasing out the its headquarters, the executive said. JLL did not reply to an email seeking comment. ($1 = 69.0550 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Martin Howell and Jane Merriman)
The Fourth-Most-Popular Pot Stock Was Downgraded Twice in June Despite a rough second quarter, marijuana remains the buzziest investment on Wall Street. And it's not hard to see why, either, if you look at the industry's long-term growth potential. Depending on your favorite Wall Street projection, annual sales for the worldwide weed industry will grow fourfold to sixfold over the next decade andhit as high as $75 billion. That should, presumably, lead to plenty of winners in the space and allow investors to make a handsome profit if they pick the right basket of companies to invest in. The big question is, which pot stocks to buy? According to investment app Robinhood, a favorite of millennial investors,four marijuana stocksare among its 14 most-held companies. This includes top producerAurora Cannabis,Cronos Group,Canopy Growth, andHEXO(NYSEMKT: HEXO), in that order. However, investing isn't a popularity contest, and in June, the fourth-most-popular pot stock, HEXO, faced two Wall Street downgrades. Shortly after reportingdisappointing fiscal third-quarter operating resultsin mid-June, analyst John Zamparo at CIBClowered his rating on the companyto neutral from outperform and reduced his firm's price target by more than 10% to 8.50 Canadian dollars (about $6.48) from CA$9.50. The reason behind the downgrade and target price reduction was the expectation that HEXO's derivative launch wouldn't go as smoothly as expected. Derivatives are alternative consumption options, such as oils, edibles, infused beverages, tinctures, topicals, vapes, and so on. Then this past week, investment firm Oppenheimer threw its hat in the ring with a downgrade of its own. Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh downgraded the company to perform from outperform and had this to say in a note to clients: With our updated forecasts and incorporating Newstrike, we now view shares as more fairly valued. ... Although we are stepping to the sidelines, we still see many positives to the HEXO story longer term and believe the name should remain on the radar for investors. But is this pessimism warranted? Let's take a closer look. On one hand, Zamparo and Parikh have valid reasons for exercising caution. To begin with, supply-side issues in Canada are unlikely to disappear overnight, which means the ramp-up in sales and push to profitability for cannabis stocks will take longer than initially expected. Even withlicensing application changesbeing implemented at Health Canada, it'll take a few quarters to work through a long backlog of cultivation and sales applications. These supply-side issues could keep both dried flower and higher-margin derivative products from hitting dispensary store shelves. To build on this point, the rollout of high-margin derivative products is going to comelater than most investors had expected. Wall Street had been expecting sales of alternative consumption options to begin by mid-October at the latest. But a recent update from Health Canada points to mid-December as the earliest date at which these products will appear in licensed cannabis stores. That means the impact of these high-margin products won't even be felt until possibly April or May of next year, which is when pot stocks will report their operating results from the calendar-year first quarter of 2020. Competition in the derivatives spaceis also going to be a lot fiercer than folks probably realize. HEXO is far from the only marijuana stock involved in creating nonalcoholic cannabis-infused beverages, cannabidiol (CBD) products, and other forms of derivatives. In short, recurring profitability could be further off than Wall Street's current estimates account for. But there's a big difference between dampening HEXO's 6- to 12-month outlook and raining on its long-term parade. Whereas the company could face a host of supply-side challenges and growing pains in the interim, its dealmaking ability and focus on high-margin derivatives should pay off for the company and investors. As I noted recently, HEXO has beena marvel on the dealmaking front. It added at least 42,000 kilos of annual capacity with its $197 million acquisition of Newstrike Brands, and a recently struck deal withValens GroWorkswill see an aggregate of 80,000 kilos of cannabis and hemp biomass converted into distillates and high-quality resins for use in those aforementioned high-margin derivative products. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that, in addition to working out one of the largest extraction deals signed to date, HEXO also has more than 600,000 square feet of space devoted to processing and manufacturing. This is a fancy way of saying that HEXO understands the importance of diversifying beyond simple dried flower and into a variety of higher-margin alternative consumption options. Speaking of dried cannabis flower, HEXO also has themost de-risked cannabis portfolio of all major growers. By signing a five-year, 200,000-kilo-in-aggregate supply agreement with its home province of Quebec in April 2018, HEXO, inclusive of its recent Newstrike acquisition, and factoring in its ongoing ramp-up, probably has 30% of its production already spoken for by the wholesale market through 2023. That's predictable cash flow that's hard to come by in the still-nascent legal cannabis space. So yes, HEXO has plenty of near-term concerns, but it could also make these neutral and perform ratings look pretty silly three or five years from now. 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 HEXO. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Sarepta Up as Pfizer's DMD Gene Therapy Faces Safety Issues Shares ofSarepta Therapeutics, Inc.SRPT increased 17.1% on Jun 28 after Pfizer PFE announced initial data from its phase Ib study evaluating gene therapy candidate, PF-06939926, as a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (“DMD”). Serious side effects were observed in two participants in the study. Two patients dosed with PF-06939926 were hospitalized, one for severe nausea and vomiting and the other for a severe immune response, which resulted in renal complications. Pfizer has stopped further dosing in the study until specific additional safety monitoring obtains all appropriate approvals. Moreover, improvement in dystrophin levels in patients seemed inferior to Sarepta’s gene therapy candidate. Sarepta is evaluating its micro-Dystrophin gene therapy candidate, SRP-9001, in early- to mid-stage studies. Preliminary data from the studies showed that treatment with SRP-9001 had no adverse effects on patients. A mean of 81.2% of muscle fibers were dystrophin positive after nine months of dosing based on Western blot method. Pfizer’s PF-06939926 achieved a mean of 69% dystrophin positive fibers for the higher dose (3E14 vg/kg) after one year of treatment, based on Pfizer’s proprietary measurement technique. Although gene therapies of both the companies are in early stage of development, preliminary data suggests better prospects for Sarepta’s candidate. Sarepta also has better knowledge and more experience of the DMD disease due to its string of therapies. We remind investors that Pfizer discontinued clinical development of its DMD candidate, domagrozumab, last year due to its failure in meeting primary endpoints in clinical studies. DMD is a genetic disorder caused by a mutation that prevents the body from producing dystrophin, a protein that muscles need to function properly. Shares of Solid Biosciences Inc. SLDB, another company developing gene therapy for treating DMD, also increased 13.9% last Friday following Pfizer’s setback. Sarepta’s shares have rallied 39.2% so far this year compared with the industry’s increase of 5.3%. Sarepta holds a strong position in the DMD segment with its sole marketed drug, Exondys 51 approved for  treating DMD patients with certain mutation in their gene. The drug generated sales of $87 million in the first quarter of 2019, up almost 35% year over year and % sequentially. The company’s another DMD candidate, golodirsen, is under review in the United States. A decision in expected by the end of August. It also has a late-stage DMD candidate, casimersen. In March, Sarepta announced interim data from the phase III study evaluating casimersen. It showed that treatment with the candidate led to statistically significant mean increase of dystrophin protein production compared to baseline and placebo with 100% response rate. A new drug application seeking approval for casimersen is expected to be filed shortly. The company expects to double the eligible DMD patient population for its marketed products in 2020 compared to 2018 on potential approval of golodirsen and casimersen. Other companies developing therapies targeting DMD include Wave Life Sciences WVE and PTC Therapeutics. Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. Price Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. price | Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. Quote Zacks Rank Sarepta currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportPfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportWAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (WVE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSolid Biosciences Inc. (SLDB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Do You Know What Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:PBTS) P/E Ratio Means? 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 Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:PBTS), to help you decide if the stock is worth further research. Based on the last twelve months,Powerbridge Technologies's P/E ratio is 15.99. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 6.3%. View our latest analysis for Powerbridge Technologies Theformula for price to earningsis: Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Powerbridge Technologies: P/E of 15.99 = $3.58 ÷ $0.22 (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) The higher the P/E ratio, the higher the price tag of a business, relative to its trailing earnings. All else being equal, it's better to pay a low price -- but as Warren Buffett said, 'It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.' Companies that shrink earnings per share quickly will rapidly decrease the 'E' in the equation. Therefore, even if you pay a low multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become higher in the future. Then, a higher P/E might scare off shareholders, pushing the share price down. Powerbridge Technologies saw earnings per share decrease by 61% last year. And EPS is down 15% a year, over the last 5 years. This growth rate might warrant a below average P/E ratio. 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 (51.5) for companies in the software industry is higher than Powerbridge Technologies's P/E. Powerbridge Technologies's P/E tells us that market participants think it will not fare as well as its peers in the same industry. Since the market seems unimpressed with Powerbridge Technologies, it's quite possible it could surprise on the upside. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitordirector buying and 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. The exact same company would hypothetically deserve a higher P/E ratio if it had a strong balance sheet, than if it had a weak one with lots of debt, because a cashed up company can spend on growth. 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. The extra options and safety that comes with Powerbridge Technologies's US$2.8m net cash position means that it deserves a higher P/E than it would if it had a lot of net debt. Powerbridge Technologies's P/E is 16 which is below average (18.1) in the US market. Falling earnings per share are likely to be keeping potential buyers away, the relatively strong balance sheet will allow the company time to invest in growth. If it achieves that, then there's real potential that the low P/E could eventually indicate undervaluation. Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. So thisfreereport on the analyst consensus forecastscould help you make amaster moveon this stock. But note:Powerbridge Technologies 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.
WRAPUP 2-U.S.-China trade agreement takes little pressure off Fed to cut rates (Adds U.S. manufacturing data, background on case for a rate cut) By Trevor Hunnicutt and Balazs Koranyi NEW YORK/HELSINKI, July 1 (Reuters) - A ceasefire in the U.S.-China trade war is doing little to relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy. The two countries agreed on Saturday to resume trade talks after President Donald Trump offered concessions to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, when the two met at the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Japan. As part of their latest agreement, Washington promised no new tariffs and an easing of restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co. China agreed to make unspecified new purchases of U.S. farm products and return to the negotiating table. But the Fed, which signaled rate cuts could come soon due partly to uncertainty caused by the trade war, still faces a slowing global economy as well as businesses domestically putting off spending until China and the United States reach a lasting truce. "It does appear that, in particular, the negotiations between the U.S. and China are resuming, which is obviously a positive development," Fed Board of Governors Vice Chair Richard Clarida said on Monday at an economics conference in Helsinki, "but beyond that, ultimately, how those negotiations are resolved is certainly going to be an important factor in thinking about prospects for the global economy." Clarida said the U.S. economy is currently "in a good place" but that "uncertainties have increased along several dimensions." Data released on Monday by the Institute for Supply Management showed the U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in June but at the slowest pace since October 2016. Markets are overwhelmingly betting the Fed's next move will be its first rate cut since the global financial crisis a decade ago, and Trump has demanded easier policy to strengthen the economy and his hand at the negotiating table with Beijing. On Monday, global stock benchmarks jumped on the weekend's trade news, with the S&P 500 opening at a record high. Still, U.S. Treasury bonds traded well within recent ranges, pointing to investors' continued expectations that the Fed's next move will be a rate cut as soon as its July 30-31 policy meeting. Interest-rate futures are currently pricing in the certainty of a cut at that meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has repeatedly said the central bank makes decisions independently from both financial markets and the White House. Not everyone is convinced. The Fed significantly reduced its rate forecasts this year after markets did so, a shift that, "contributed to an impression that Fed officials feel or should feel pressure to meet bond market expectations," according to a Goldman Sachs research note on Saturday. The analysts said a rate cut could raise markets' expectations for even more easing in the future, undermine financial stability and make the bond market "a channel for political pressure on Fed decisions." Disappointing rate-cut expectations could also come at a cost of roiling markets and hurting the economy. Bank of America analysts, meanwhile, said in a note on Sunday that the Fed's willingness to offset the trade war's negative impact on the economy "could encourage an even tougher stance on trade, which would trigger even more Fed accommodation, and so on. The end result would be a loss of Fed policy ammunition, with an economy that is still soft." With target rates at 2.25-2.50%, the Fed has little room to cut before they fall back near 0% and force them to consider alternative ways to stimulate the economy, including buying bonds. Policymakers are debating whether there is currently a case for cutting rates as "insurance" against subpar growth that could tamp down inflation and make it even more likely that rates will have to be cut even more aggressively in the future. "We would stress that it is important to preserve some room for maneuver for more serious downturns," Agustín Carstens, chief of the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements, which is dubbed the central bank for the world's central banks, said on Sunday. "Monetary policy should be considered more as a backstop rather than as a spearhead of a strategy to induce higher sustainable growth." (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York and Balazs Koranyi in Helsinki; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Do You Know What Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:PBTS) P/E Ratio Means? 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 written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:PBTS) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity.Powerbridge Technologies has a P/E ratio of 15.99, based on the last twelve months. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 6.3%. See our latest analysis for Powerbridge Technologies Theformula for price to earningsis: Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Powerbridge Technologies: P/E of 15.99 = $3.58 ÷ $0.22 (Based on the year to December 2018.) A higher P/E ratio implies that investors paya higher pricefor the earning power of the business. That is not a good or a bad thingper se, but a high P/E does imply buyers are optimistic about the future. When earnings fall, the 'E' decreases, over time. Therefore, even if you pay a low multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become higher in the future. Then, a higher P/E might scare off shareholders, pushing the share price down. Powerbridge Technologies's earnings per share fell by 61% in the last twelve months. And EPS is down 15% a year, over the last 5 years. This could justify a pessimistic P/E. We can get an indication of market expectations by looking at the P/E ratio. The image below shows that Powerbridge Technologies has a lower P/E than the average (51.5) P/E for companies in the software industry. Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Powerbridge Technologies shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. It is arguably worth checkingif insiders are buying shares, because that might imply they believe the stock is undervalued. Don't forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future) by investing in growth. That means taking on debt (or spending its cash). 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. The extra options and safety that comes with Powerbridge Technologies's US$2.8m net cash position means that it deserves a higher P/E than it would if it had a lot of net debt. Powerbridge Technologies has a P/E of 16. That's below the average in the US market, which is 18.1. Falling earnings per share are likely to be keeping potential buyers away, the relatively strong balance sheet will allow the company time to invest in growth. If it achieves that, then there's real potential that the low P/E could eventually indicate undervaluation. Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. So thisfreevisual report on analyst forecastscould hold the key to an excellent investment decision. But note:Powerbridge Technologies 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.
What Kind Of Shareholder Owns Most Nederman Holding AB (publ) (STO:NMAN) Stock? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Every investor in Nederman Holding AB (publ) (STO:NMAN) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership. With a market capitalization of kr4.0b, Nederman Holding is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutional investors have bought into the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about NMAN. Check out our latest analysis for Nederman Holding Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. We can see that Nederman Holding does have institutional investors; and they hold 44% of the stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Nederman Holding, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Nederman Holding. As far I can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar. The definition of company insiders can be subjective, and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO. Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group. We can see that insiders own shares in Nederman Holding AB (publ). As individuals, the insiders collectively own kr51m worth of the kr4.0b company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checkingif those insiders have been buying. The general public, with a 14% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run. With a stake of 40%, private equity firms could influence the NMAN board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public. It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Nederman Holding better, we need to consider many other factors. I always like to check for ahistory of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart ofhistoric revenue and earnings in thisdetailed graph. Of coursethis may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at thisfreefreelist of interesting companies. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. 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.
Epic! New York's Pride parade lasted over 12 hours NEW YORK (AP) — Crowds and rainbow colors filled New York City streets for possibly the largest parade in the history of the gay rights movement, a dazzling celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the infamous police raid on the Stonewall Inn. New York's Pride march, which involved an estimated 150,000 marchers in 677 marching contingents, ended around 12:30 a.m. Monday, 12½ hours after it began, police said. Some groups waited nine hours or more just to start marching. Marchers and onlookers took over much of midtown Manhattan with a procession that paid tribute to the uprising that began at the tavern when patrons resisted officers on June 28, 1969. Eraina Clay, 63, of suburban New Rochelle, New York, came to celebrate a half-century of fighting for equality. "Everybody should be able to have the chance to enjoy their lives and be who they are," Clay said. "I have a family. I raised kids. I'm just like everybody else." "We've come so far in the past 20 years," said 55-year-old Gary Piper, who came from Kansas to celebrate Pride with his partner. "I remember friends who would be snatched off the streets in Texas for dressing in drag. They'd have to worry about being persecuted for their identity. "But now we're so much more accepted. I'm not saying we don't have a ways to go, but let's celebrate how far we've come," he said. Other cities around the U.S. and the world also marked the occasion with big Pride parades. In San Francisco, about 40 people interrupted the parade for about an hour and two people were arrested while protesting police and corporation presence. In Chicago, the city's first openly gay mayor was one of seven grand marshals. Lori Lightfoot walked alongside her wife and wore a "Chicago Proud" T-shirt. In Turkey, police dispersed activists who gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to promote rights for gay and transgender people. Turkish authorities had banned the Pride event for the fifth year. ___ Find complete AP Stonewall anniversary coverage here: https://apnews.com/Stonewallat50
Hemptown USA Projects $204M in Revenue for 2020 ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / July 1, 2019 /CannaInvestor Magazine, the leading industry investment magazine for cannabis investors, analysts, executives, entrepreneurs, and financial media, today announced an update for Hemptown USA. Hemptown USA is growing some of the finest high cannabinoid hemp plants in the world. Following an impressive first year yield, Hemptown USA is scaling up its operation to meet the ever-increasing global demand for cannabinoid products. In fact, Hemptown USA is projecting a 3 million pound harvest in 2019 and $23 million in revenue (based on 2018 crop yield) and is projecting $204 million in revenue for 2020. Hemptown USA is positioned to be the largest producer of CBG in North America, growing over 500 acres focused exclusively on rare genetics and is projecting to control 40% of the total North American supply by Q4 2019. The company is currently growing over 1,500 acres in Oregon, Kentucky, and Colorado. This distributed production is combined with industry leading growing and harvesting methods, delivering the best quality product in the industry. Hemptown USA's premium genetics allow for unparalleled biomass yielding 12-20% broad spectrum cannabinoid content. Hemptown USA's quality leads to increased extraction efficiency and maximum profitability. The company also offers a diversified product line of flower, pre-rolls, biomass and more with an average margin of 76% to 88%. Several consumer brands are in development with launch dates set for fall 2019. Learn more about Hemptown USA and see firsthand why the company's vertically integrated business model is well positioned to capitalize on a global market expected to exceed $22 billion by 2020. Go to:WWW.HemptUSA.comto learn more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_bbIjs8j7M About Cannabis Investor Magazine Cannabis Investor Magazine is a monthly subscription based digital magazine with an exclusive focus on Cannabis finance that delivers convenient insights on publicly-traded and privately-held cannabis companies through informative articles, company profiles, and market trends that inform and educate global investors. In accordance with Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, you are hereby advised that Investor Webcast & Magazine, Inc. received a fee in cash, from companies featured as compensation for investor awareness services. Please click on the magazine links above and view the the disclaimer under the Editors Note for compensation. For more information about Cannabis Investor Magazine please visit our websiteswww.cannainvestormag.comandwww.cannainvestormag.ca. Contact Investor Webcast & Magazine, Inc.1-888-575-1254, Ext. 1team@cannainvestormag.comteam@cannainvestormag.ca SOURCE:Cannabis Investor Magazine View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/550500/Hemptown-USA-Projects-204M-in-Revenue-for-2020
Should You Be Worried About Bollore's (EPA:BOL) 3.9% Return On Equity? 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. By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Bollore (EPA:BOL). Over the last twelve monthsBollore has recorded a ROE of 3.9%. That means that for every €1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated €0.039 in profit. Check out our latest analysis for Bollore Theformula for ROEis: Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity Or for Bollore: 3.9% = €235m ÷ €28b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) 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. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets. Return on Equity measures a company's profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else being equal,a high ROE is better than a low one. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses. 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, Bollore has a lower ROE than the average (8.8%) in the Logistics industry. That's not what we like to see. We'd prefer see an ROE above the industry average, but it might not matter if the company is undervalued. Nonetheless, it could be useful todouble-check if insiders have sold shares recently. Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, or debt. In the case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. 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 Bollore does have some debt, with debt to equity of just 0.36, we wouldn't say debt is excessive. Although the ROE isn't overly impressive, the debt load is modest, suggesting the business has potential. Conservative use of debt to boost returns is usually a good move for shareholders, though it does leave the company more exposed to interest rate rises. Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. 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. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. So you might want to check this FREEvisualization of analyst 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.
4 Reasons Why You’re Wrong About Nio Stock NioInc(NYSE:NIO), China’s luxury electric vehicle-maker frequently compared toTesla(NASDAQ:TSLA), has had a rough year. Since the beginning of 2019, Nio stock has retreated almost 60% due to a soft Chinese economy and weak sales guidance. Source: Shutterstock Worse yet, China’s government is phasing out EV credits, and foreign EV competition in China is just beginning to increase. Because of this, many analysts believe there will be a “shakeout,” where only the strongest Chinese players survive. While investors have thought of many reasons to sell Nio right now, you shouldn’t be too hasty. Consider these four reasons to be less bearish on Nio stock going forward: InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips The current sentiment around NIO is pessimistic at best. The macroeconomic picture for China is negative as its economy slows due to the U.S.-China trade war. China’s EV sector fundamentals are negative, too, as China phases out some of its EV subsidies and causes growth to decelerate sharply. • 10 Best Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever Therecent recallhasn’t helped. Around 5,000 SUVs were recalled due to battery fires. This has added to Nio’s costs, creating additional uncertainty. And consider that 20% of Nio’s float is short … this means that there is some big money betting against it. Yet, all the negative sentiment and short interest could be a positive in the short term. Here’s why: If Nio’s shipments for next quarter are higher than expected — or if the Chinese government supports the EV sector more than expected — Nio’s stock could rally, potentially squeezing the short-sellers. China’s government recentlyopenedup its electric vehicle battery sector to foreign competition, allowing the entry of leading battery makers such asSamsungandLG Chem Ltd. The new foreign competition could cause quality EV battery costs to fall faster than expected. Considering that batteries are the largest cost-component of electric vehicles, NIO’s margins could benefit from lower battery costs. Although China’s EV market is slowing, the sector is still expected to grow long-term. This is due to China’s large population and government policies that promote clean transportation vehicles. Automakers sold 1.3 million electric vehicles in the country in 2018, representing around 4% market share. Some analysts believe EVs could command asmuch as 50% market share by 2025! If Nio can adjust its cash burn to meet demand and management executes, the stock has substantial potential. Just asApple(NASDAQ:AAPL) could potentially buy Tesla,Tencent(OTCMKTS:TCEHY) could potentially invest more into Nio. Tencentinvested in Niowhen it was a private company and as a result, Tencent held 5.2 million class A shares and 132 million class B shares of Nio after its initial public offering (IPO). Considering that the social media company had $26.25 billion of cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet at the end of March, Tencent has the financial resources to invest and make a big difference in Nio’s operations if it wanted to. Any sort of big investment by Tencent could cause Nio’s stock to surge. As of this writing, Jay Yao did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. • 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid • 7 F-Rated Stocks to Sell for Summer • 7 Stocks to Buy for the Same Price as Beyond Meat • 7 Penny Marijuana Stocks That Are NOT Cheap Stocks Compare Brokers The post4 Reasons Why You’re Wrong About Nio Stockappeared first onInvestorPlace.
UPDATE 2-Argentine central bank lowers interest rate floor, peso rises (Adds details on money supply, analyst comment) By Jorge Otaola and Gabriel Burin BUENOS AIRES, July 1 (Reuters) - Argentina's central bank said on Monday it would set a new lower interest rate floor on its benchmark "Leliq" notes at 58% for the month of July, buoying the peso currency in morning trading. The new rate floor - while still one of the highest reference interest rates in the world - was lower than the previous minimum of 62.5%. On Friday the notes had been auctioned at a average rate of 62.688%. The South American nation has had to hike interest rates to stem a slide in the peso currency since last year, though the rate, set by daily auctions of short-term Leliq notes, has been coming down steadily over the past few months. The central bank's monetary policy committee also decided to cut by 3 percentage points the reserve requirements for fixed-term deposits, effectively releasing around 45 billion Argentine pesos ($1.07 billion). The bank added it would reduce the base money target for the August-October period to offset that reduction, and that the "strict control" of money supply would "continue to guide the disinflation process in the coming months." July usually sees a peak in demand for local currency in Argentina due to the collection of bonuses and expenses linked to the southern hemisphere winter vacation. Goldman Sachs said in a note that slowly improving inflation and a less volatile peso had "created room for the central bank to gradually and responsibly ease the monetary stance." The peso currency opened 1.0% stronger at 42.09 per U.S. dollar after the bank announced the lower rate floor. The central bank also said it had ratified a plan announced earlier this year to keep a static reference trading band for the peso currency in place until the end of the year between 39.755 pesos and 51.448 pesos per U.S. dollar. ($1 = 42.1000 Argentine pesos) (Reporting by Gabriel Burin and Jorge Otaola; writing by Adam Jourdan and Hugh Bronstein; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
All You Need To Know About PageGroup plc's (LON:PAGE) 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-cap and large-cap companies receive a lot of attention from investors, but mid-cap stocks like PageGroup plc (LON:PAGE), with a market cap of UK£1.6b, are often out of the spotlight. While they are less talked about as an investment category, mid-cap risk-adjusted returns have generally been better than more commonly focused stocks that fall into the small- or large-cap categories. This article will examine PAGE’s financial liquidity and debt levels to get an idea of whether the company can deal with cyclical downturns and maintain funds to accommodate strategic spending for future growth. Don’t forget that this is a general and concentrated examination of PageGroup's financial health, so you should conduct further analysisinto PAGE here. See our latest analysis for PageGroup What is considered a high debt-to-equity ratio differs depending on the industry, because some industries tend to utilize more debt financing than others. As a rule of thumb, a financially healthy mid-cap should have a ratio less than 40%. For PageGroup, investors should not worry about its debt levels because the company has none! This means it has been running its business utilising funding from only its equity capital, which is rather impressive. Investors' risk associated with debt is virtually non-existent with PAGE, and the company has plenty of headroom and ability to raise debt should it need to in the future. Given zero long-term debt on its balance sheet, PageGroup has no solvency issues, which is used to describe the company’s ability to meet its long-term obligations. However, another measure of financial health is its short-term obligations, which is known as liquidity. These include payments to suppliers, employees and other stakeholders. Looking at PAGE’s UK£224m in current liabilities, it seems that the business has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of UK£464m, leading to a 2.07x current account ratio. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. For Professional Services companies, this ratio is within a sensible range as there's enough of a cash buffer without holding too much capital in low return investments. PAGE has no debt in addition to ample cash to cover its short-term commitments. Its safe operations reduces risk for the company and shareholders, but some degree of debt may also boost earnings growth and operational efficiency. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure PAGE has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. I suggest you continue to research PageGroup to get a better picture of the stock by looking at: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PAGE’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor PAGE’s outlook. 2. Valuation: What is PAGE 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 PAGE 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.
Pfizer's (PFE) Avastin Biosimilar Zirabev Gets FDA Approval Pfizer, Inc. PFE announced that the FDA has granted approval to Zirabev, its biosimilar version of Roche’s RHHBY blockbuster cancer drug, Avastin for several types of cancer. Zirabev can be prescribed for the treatment of five types of cancer — metastatic colorectal cancer, unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer; recurrent glioblastoma, metastatic renal cell carcinoma and persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer. This is Pfizer’s second oncology biosimilar to be approved in the United States, the first being a biosimilar of Roche’s breast cancer drug, Herceptin. Pfizer gained FDA approval for Trazimera, its biosimilar version of Herceptin in March this year. Amgen/Allergan’s biosimilar version of Avastin, Mvasi was approved by the FDA in 2017 and in the EU in early 2018. However, Mvasi has not been launched yet. Several other companies like Samsung Bioepis and Boehringer Ingelheim are also developing biosimilar versions of Avastin. Pfizer’s shares have declined 0.8% this year so far against an increase of 2.2% for the industry. At present, in the United States, Pfizer has six approved biosimilar products including Inflectra, its first biosimilar version of J&J/Merck’s Remicade, which was launched in November 2016. Pfizer also markets biosimilar versions of Amgen’s AMGN drugs, Neupogen and Epogen in Europe and the United States. Pfizer is gradually venturing into the oncology biosimilars space. A biosimilar version of Roche’s another cancer medicine, Rituxan is also under review and FDA’s decision on the same is expected this year. With a biosimilar version of AbbVie’s ABBV Humira also under review in the United States, Pfizer expects potential U.S. approvals for up to four biosimilar products in 2019. Of these, the company has already received approval for Zirabev and Trazimera. Story continues Biosimilar versions of Herceptin and Avastin are already approved in the EU while that of Rituxan is under review in the EU. Meanwhile, Pfizer is evaluating several biosimilar molecules in various stages of development. In a separate press release, Pfizer announced that a phase III study evaluating its pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug, Revatio (sildenafil citrate)  for another indication did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint. The study was evaluating intravenous sildenafil added to inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) for the treatment of newborns with persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN). Presently, Revatio is not approved for the treatment of PPHN. The data showed that treatment with sildenafil+iNO did not result in a statistically significant reduction in treatment failure rate or time on iNO versus iNO alone. Revatio is the trade name of sildenafil citrate in EU and Japan while in the United States, Pfizer markets it by the trade name of Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction and PAH. Pfizer currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here . The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce ""the world's first trillionaires,"" but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 report Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Pfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis Report AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amgen Inc. (AMGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research
UPDATE 1-Brazil manufacturing sector avoids contraction in June as PMI rebounds (Adds detail, context, comment) By Jamie McGeever BRASILIA, July 1 (Reuters) - Brazil's manufacturing sector ended the second quarter on a stronger footing, avoiding slipping into contraction territory in June and breaking a three-month run of slowing growth, a survey of purchasing managers' activity on Monday showed. The IHS Markit Brazil manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 51.0 in June from a 10-month low of 50.2 in May, having steadily declined for three months in a row to the point of stagnation and brink of contraction. A reading above 50.0 marks expansion in the sector, while a reading below signifies contraction, and the figures are one of the first snapshots of economic activity for June, the final month of the second quarter. While some of the underlying data reflected continued weakness in the sector, such as a sharp fall in exports and more job cuts, the headline number might cool some of the talk of recession that has built up Amid a string of subpar economic indicators for April and May. "There was a mild improvement in growth of Brazilian manufacturing output during June, after a considerable slowdown in May," said Pollyanna De Lima, principal economist at IHS Markit, adding that the data will likely bring "some relief to policymakers." The headline PMI index's rise to 51.0 from 50.2 marked the strongest month-on-month rebound since November. Still, the latest three-month average was the lowest since the third quarter of 2018, His Markit noted. Exports contracted at their fastest pace in 2-1/2 years, IHS Markit said, while companies cut headcount for the second month in a row. Earlier on Monday, a central bank survey of economists showed that Brazilian economic growth forecasts for this year were cut for the 18th consecutive week, but by such a tiny extent to suggest forecasts might be close to bottoming out. (Reporting by Jamie McGeever; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
3 Top Infrastructure Stocks to Watch This Month Infrastructure stocks won't come up in many growth conversations, but the companies providing pipelines, electrical transmission and distribution, and products to make roads can be stable additions for any portfolio. And they may even give investors a good dividend. We asked three of our contributors for their top infrastructure picks, andTarga Resources(NYSE: TRGP),Caterpillar(NYSE: CAT), andBrookfield Infrastructure Partners(NYSE: BIP)made the list. Here's why. Image source: Getty Images. Matt DiLallo(Targa Resources):Oil and gas companies in the U.S. are growing their production at a blistering pace. That's fueling the need for newmidstreaminfrastructure to transport, process, and store this output, which is allowing companies like Targa Resources to make needle-moving investments to expand their footprints. The company currently expects to spend $2.3 billion on expanding its infrastructure this year and at least another $1.8 billion in the 2020 to 2021 timeframe. These investments include large-scale pipelines such as Grand Prix, which will move natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the fast-growingPermian BasinandSTACK/SCOOPregions to processing complexes and market centers near the Gulf Coast. These investments not only provide much-needed infrastructure to support the expansion efforts of U.S. oil and gas production, but they should fuel significant earnings growth for Targa Resources. In the company's estimation, its earnings are on track to expand from $1.37 billion last year to as much as $2.5 billion by 2021 as these assets enter service. That high-octane growth rate has the potential torichly reward Targa's investors. However, Targa Resources isn'twithout risksince it has a tight financial profile. Because of that, the company has had to get creative in funding construction projects by selling assets and signing joint ventures so it could maintain its high-yielding dividend. Those moves could pay off since the company is on track to deliver big-time growth in the coming years. That upside potential makes it a compelling infrastructure stock to put on your watchlist this month. Rich Smith(Caterpillar):"Building better" is Caterpillar's tag line, and it's true: If you want to do an infrastructure project in America -- or anywhere -- it's hard to make that happen without involving Caterpillar's portfolio of drillers, excavators, dozers, graders, telehandlers, and other powerful construction equipment. What makes Caterpillarstockan interesting one to watch, though, can be boiled down to just one word: valuation. With its stock down 22% over the past year over concerns about a housing slowdown, and a trade war with China, Caterpillar stock in June is trading for a historically low multiple to earnings: 11.4 times trailing earnings, to be precise. And to put that number in context, over the past five years (even excluding the outlier year 2017, when Caterpillar was hit by both a large restructuring chargeanda massive tax hit fromtax reform), Caterpillar's averagelowpoint valuation on its stock was 12.9 times trailing earnings. That's right: Not only is Caterpillar currently valued below its long-term average valuation, it's trading below its long-termtroughvaluation. Maybe it's not "cheaper than it's ever been," exactly, but Caterpillar stock is certainly cheaper than it's been in a long while. At 11.4 times earnings, with a projected 11.3% long-term earnings growth rate (according toS&P Global Market Intelligence) and a generous 3.4% dividend yield, I think Caterpillar is a great infrastructure stock to watch in June. Travis Hoium(Brookfield Infrastructure Partners):A lot of infrastructure companies operate in specific segments like midstream oil and gas, or equipment supply. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners casts a much wider net, owning "diverse infrastructure networks over which energy, water, goods, people and data flow, or are stored." The company owns everything from data centers in South America to wireless towers in Europe and smart-home technology in the U.S. The combination of assets allows Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to acquire assets that have a high return and sell assets when returns fall, known as recycling capital. Combined with the regular cash flow from operations, this has allowed the company to grow distribution per unit from $0.71 in 2009 to $2.01 in 2019. Long term, management aims togenerate a return of 12% to 15% on equityand grow the dividend 5% to 9% per year. That's a very sustainable baseline of growth that can be driven by organic acquisitions, recycling capital, or issuing new capital that then funds new projects. Brookfield Asset Management, which controls Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, also has a long history of generating solid returns in infrastructure and energy, and that's a big reason this is my pick for infrastructure today. There are a lot of companies building the infrastructure we use everyday, but they aren't very visible to consumers or investors. Targa, Caterpillar, and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners are three examples of great ways investors can buy into billions of infrastructure investment each year, and it's why they're our top stocks today. 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 DiLallohas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Rich Smithhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Travis Hoiumhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Targa Resources. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Active Fixed Income ETFs Gaining Ground While it has been a record-breaking first half for fixed income ETFs driven by low cost index-based strategies, investors also continue to pour new money into actively managed ones. Managers of such funds can seek attractively valued bonds as well as adjust the interest rate sensitivity to reflect shifting sentiment on the Federal Reserve’s next move. As of late June, fixed income ETFs gathered approximately $70 billion this year, with more than $7 billion pouring into actively managed ETFs. While the active component remains relatively small, the $63 billion base has climbed to 8.3% of the $763 billion fixed income ETF market, up from a 5.3% share at the midpoint of June 2017. We presume much of the demand in 2018 was due to a flight to safety amid rising interest rate concerns. Indeed, the four largest active fixed income ETFs invest in bonds with maturities of less than one year: thePIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active ETF (MINT), theJPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF (JPST), theiShares Short Maturity Bond ETF (NEAR)and theFirst Trust Enhanced Short Maturity (FTSM).These four ETFs gathered $15 billion in 2018 and some of them more than doubled in size. Change In Direction Investors reversed course in the first half of 2019, and market sentiment is now for three interest rate cuts in 2019, even as CFRA is skeptical of the Fed meeting such expectations. In this environment, it is more surprising that the leading ultra-short bond quartet pulled in more than $3 billion in new money thus far in 2019. But MINT offers a 2.6% yield, easily above the 10-year Treasury bond, while incurring average duration of just three months. NEAR has an identical yield, but there are slight differences between it and MINT. NEAR’s expense ratio is more modest (0.25% vs. MINT’s 0.35%), but its average duration is slightly higher. Active Fixed Income ETFs Gaining Ground [{"Ticker": "MINT", "Fund": "PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity", "AUM ($B)": "11.9", "2018 Flows ($B)": "4.22", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "-0.35"}, {"Ticker": "JPST", "Fund": "JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income", "AUM ($B)": "7.5", "2018 Flows ($B)": "5.00", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "2.34"}, {"Ticker": "NEAR", "Fund": "iShares Short Maturity Bond", "AUM ($B)": "6.5", "2018 Flows ($B)": "3.00", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "0.57"}, {"Ticker": "FTSM", "Fund": "First Trust Enhanced Short Maturity", "AUM ($B)": "4.6", "2018 Flows ($B)": "2.63", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "0.48"}, {"Ticker": "FPE", "Fund": "First Trust Preferred Securities", "AUM ($B)": "3.7", "2018 Flows ($B)": "0.17", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "0.42"}, {"Ticker": "TOTL", "Fund": "SPDR Doubleline Total Return Tactical", "AUM ($B)": "3.3", "2018 Flows ($B)": "-0.50", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "0.23"}, {"Ticker": "LMBS", "Fund": "First Trust Low Duration Opportunities", "AUM ($B)": "3.0", "2018 Flows ($B)": "1.09", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "0.90"}, {"Ticker": "GSY", "Fund": "Invesco Ultra Short Duration", "AUM ($B)": "2.4", "2018 Flows ($B)": "1.00", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "0.32"}, {"Ticker": "BOND", "Fund": "PIMCO Active Bond", "AUM ($B)": "2.4", "2018 Flows ($B)": "-0.11", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "0.29"}, {"Ticker": "SRLN", "Fund": "SPDR Blackstone/GSO Senior Loan", "AUM ($B)": "2.2", "2018 Flows ($B)": "0.01", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "-0.04"}, {"Ticker": "Total", "Fund": "", "AUM ($B)": "47.5", "2018 Flows ($B)": "16.51", "YTD 2019 Flows ($B)": "5.16"}] Source: ETF.com, June 21, 2019 In 2019, demand also has been strong for those active ETFs that incur greater interest rate risk. For example, thePIMCO Active Bond ETF (BOND), which currently has duration of 4.8 years, had approximately $300 million of net inflows to start 2019, after experiencing slight outflows in 2018. The fund’s 3.2% yield is higher than the ultra-short funds listed above. Meanwhile, theFirst Trust Preferred Securities & Income ETF (FPE)added more than $400 million in new money this year, more than double the net inflows from all of 2018. The fund’s yield of 5.8% partially reflects its 3.8 years of average duration and exposure primarily to bonds rated BBB and BB. Rounding Out The Top 10 The 10 largest actively managed fixed income ETFs recently had $48 billion in assets, aided by $16.5 billion of net inflows in 2018 and $5.2 billion to start 2019. TheSPDR Doubleline Total Return Tactical ETF (TOTL), theFirst Trust Low Duration Opportunities ETF (LMBS), theInvesco Ultra Short Duration ETF (GSY)and theSPDR Blackstone / GSO Senior Loan ETF (SRLN)are other ETFs in the top 10. Fidelity, Janus Henderson and PGIM also offer active fixed income ETFs. CFRA will be discussing the active fixed income ETF landscape and what makes fixed income ETFs different in an upcoming webinar on July 10 at 11 a.m. ET. Join us and PIMCO Funds by registering athttps://go.cfraresearch.com/Active-Fixed-Income-ETFs. Recommended Stories • ETF Growth Sparkles In July • Hot Reads: Bond ETFs In Steepest Rally Since 2011 • ETF Of The Week: Beyond Meat In Tech? • Marijuana ETFs Slide In Rough Summer Permalink| © Copyright 2019ETF.com.All rights reserved
Huawei Gets Only Partial Reprieve From Tough Trump Sanctions (Bloomberg) -- Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd got a much needed reprieve from some of the trade sanctions leveled against it by the U.S. when President Donald Trump said over the weekend he would ease restrictions on the Chinese tech giant. In a sign of market bullishness, shares of Huawei suppliers rallied around the globe Monday, with Taiwan’s Largan Precision surging 10% in Taipei and Taiyo Yuden rising 15% at the close in Tokyo. NeoPhotonics Corp., which gets half of its sales from Huawei according to Bloomberg supply chain data, soared as much as 21% in New York, it’s biggest intraday gain in almost a year. Micron Technology Inc. was also up. Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB, Huawei’s major 5G gear rivals, opened lower in Europe. But constraints on Huawei’s business abound and some analysts said the optimism is overdone -- with many still trying to figure out what form the relief will take. Huawei remains squarely on the U.S. Commerce Department’s "entity list" usually reserved for rogue regimes and their associated companies. U.S. lawmakers from both parties have also reiterated pleas to not to let up on Huawei. On Sunday, White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Trump didn’t offer a "general amnesty" to the world’s second largest smartphone maker and telecom gear titan. "There were few concrete details about when Huawei can be removed from the entity list," said Jeff Pu, a Hong Kong-based analyst at GF Securities. "But investors are showing optimism without waiting for a final outcome." Pu said that Huawei would be waiting to see which U.S. companies will resume shipping and whether companies like Google and Qorvo Inc. are among them. Both Google’s Android OS and Qorvo’s radio frequency chips are key to Huawei’s smartphone business. The Trump administration hasn’t said whether it will remove Huawei from the blacklist, or indicated any specific time frame for considering such a move. Trump said U.S. companies can sell their equipment to Huawei "where there’s no great national security problem with it.” He didn’t define what he considers a national security threat or specify which companies can apply for shipment licenses. Brock Silvers, managing director at China-based fund Kaiyuan Capital, said that despite claims that only a subset of exports to Huawei will be allowed, the ramifications are significant. "This weekend’s agreement can only weaken U.S. claims regarding Huawei’s inherent security risk," he said. "It’s tough to argue that Huawei’s Android handsets are a security threat," Raymond James analysts Chris Caso and Melissa Fairbanks wrote in a note on Monday. "We therefore think there’s a chance that handset components will again be permitted." Nicole Peng, an analyst with research firm Canalys, said it would be "a big win" for Huawei if Google could get a temporary license and continue its business with the company. "In the meantime, for the American suppliers whose business is heavily exposed to Huawei, and a ban would benefit other non-American competitors, getting a license should also be relatively easy," Peng added. Huawei has not been able to source key components such as radio frequency chips from Qorvo and Skyworks or the latest Android operating system from Google since the Commerce Department in May blacklisted Huawei and scores of its affiliates around the globe from doing business with U.S. companies. Given such sourcing restraints, Huawei said it was preparing for a drop in international smartphone shipments of up to 60 million units this year, partially because the Trump ban would cut off Huawei’s access to an array of Google’s services from Play Store to YouTube and Gmail on Huawei handsets. One employee of an Asian supplier to Huawei, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private, said that statements from Trump and Kudlow could be just part of negotiations, and that Huawei suppliers would need to wait for more details. American companies are certainly keen to resume business with their key Chinese customers as they could suffer from being replaced by foreign competitors, that person added. Even before Trump’s Osaka announcement, a number of American suppliers including Micron and Intel Corp. had already resumed selling certain products to Huawei after concluding there are legal ways to bypass the ban. The chipmakers are taking advantage of certain exceptions to the U.S. export restrictions. If less than 25% of the technology in a chip originates in the U.S., for example, then it may not be covered by the ban, under current rules. Some in China are painting Trump’s reversal as a victory for Huawei. "Trump allowing continuous supplies to Huawei is actually a forced concession, not a friendly conciliation with China," said Zhu Min, former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund who now serves as director of Tsinghua University’s National Institute of Financial Research. Zhu’s comment came after a tweet by Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin, who has a track record of accurately forecasting retaliatory moves from China during the trade talks. "The laws of the economics are stronger than the will of U.S. government," Hu tweeted. "U.S. tariffs can disrupt global supply chains, but cannot reshape them." (Updates shares in second paragraph. A previous version of this story corrected spelling of Taiyo Yuden in second paragraph.) To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199@bloomberg.net;Debby Wu in Taipei at dwu278@bloomberg.net;Yinan Zhao in Beijing at yzhao300@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Colum Murphy, Molly Schuetz For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com ©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – July 1, 2019 Forecast September E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are trading higher at the cash market opening. During the early futures market opening, the Dow gapped higher and followed through to the upside before stalling. Most of the early buying was fueled by aggressive Asian buying in reaction to the news of renewed trade talks between the United States and China. At 14:34 GMT,September E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Averagefutures are trading 26845, up 253 or +0.94%. The news is bullish on paper, but U.S. investors have to decide whether it was bullish enough to trigger a further rally right after the U.S. opening, or to wait for a pullback into support. This could mean filling the gap. The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. A trade through 26922 will negate a closing price reversal top and signal a resumption of the uptrend. This could trigger a rally into the October 3, 2018 main top at 27031. A move through 26445 will change the main trend to down. The minor range is 26922 to 26445. Its 50% level or pivot at 26684 is support. Holding above this level is helping to support the intraday upside bias. The short-term range is 25897 to 26922. If the trend changes to down then its retracement zone at 26410 will become the next downside target. Momentum is driving the market higher on Monday. If it continues to increase then look for the move to possibly extend into the main top at 26922. Taking out this level will indicate the buying is getting stronger with the October 3, 2018 main top at 27031 the next major target. On the downside, the nearest support angle comes in at 26701. This is followed closely by the pivot at 26684 and another uptrending Gann angle at 26665. Let’s call it a support cluster. If 26665 fails as support then look for the selling to possibly extend into the next support angle at 26573. The major decision for investors is whether to chase the market higher after the gap opening or play for a pullback into support. Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire • Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Setting Up for Volatile Breakout • Crude Oil Price Forecast – Crude oil markets fall hard on Tuesday • U.S. Dollar Index Futures (DX) Technical Analysis – Greenback Short-Covering Rally Losing Steam Amid Falling Yields • GBP/JPY Price Forecast – British pound continues to grind sideways • S&P 500 Price Forecast – Stock markets tread water • Silver Price Forecast – Silver markets filled the gap
What Type Of Shareholder Owns Nederman Holding AB (publ)'s (STO:NMAN)? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The big shareholder groups in Nederman Holding AB (publ) (STO:NMAN) have power over the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned. With a market capitalization of kr4.0b, Nederman Holding is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutional investors have bought into the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about NMAN. See our latest analysis for Nederman Holding Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices. As you can see, institutional investors own 44% of Nederman Holding. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Nederman Holding's historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Nederman Holding is not owned by hedge funds. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known. The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO. Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group. Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Nederman Holding AB (publ). In their own names, insiders own kr51m worth of stock in the kr4.0b company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checkingif those insiders have been selling. The general public, with a 14% stake in the company, will not easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. With a stake of 40%, private equity firms could influence the NMAN board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public. I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Many find it usefulto take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can accessthisdetailed 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. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. 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.
Meghan and Harry hire third nanny after the first two 'quit' It seems yet more drama is surrounding the Sussexes - this time from within their own household. After the pair were seen to be churning through staff like nobody’s business prior to baby Archie’s arrival, fresh reports suggest the trend is continuing. According toThe Sun,the Sussex household had churned through as many as three nannies in the six weeks since Archie was born. Onto their third nanny, the couple reportedly had the two former staffers leave just weeks into their appointments but insiders say it’s not necessarily down to the couple. “... Harry and Meghan do not want to rush this or take any risks getting this decision right. It’s deeply personal and can depend on the needs of the baby and parents,” one source told the site. The couple has been dogged by rumours of their difficult and ‘sulky’ behaviour, after aroyal photographer penned a scathing insightinto the pair’s demeanour off camera. It also comes on the back of Meghan and Harrylosing three staff membersjust months after their wedding last year, before losing private secretary Samantha Cohen, at Christmas time, then her replacement Amy Pickerill just three months later. Any hopes the revolving door of staff would stabilise in time for the arrival of Archie and the establishment of the family’s new home in Frogmore cottage seem to be dashed. READ MORE:Harry and Meghan reveal baby Archie will join them on South Africa tour this autumn That said, sources have argued that the loss of the nannies is not down to any difficult behaviour, but rather the natural process of carefully selecting your child’s caretaker. “Often there are different needs at different stages of the baby’s life,” the source argued. “The first nanny was a night nurse.” Meanwhile royal watchers are eagerly awaiting another look at the famous family, catching just a few glimpses of Archie so far in the official press photos and an adorable Instagram post. As the couple gear upto take on Africa on their first royal tour as a family, they will certainly be looking for a committed nanny to support them in the busy period. • This article was initially published on AOL.com:Meghan and Harry hire third nanny after the first two 'quit'
Will Inclusion in the Russell 1000 Index Aid Uber Stock? Uber TechnologiesUBER has not performed as per expectations since the ride-hailing giant went public in May. In fact, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock closed at its highest level of $46.38 on Jun 28 since the May 10 public debut (IPO price was $45). Uber also incurred a loss in its first quarter post commencement of trading on the NYSE, primarily due to high costs. Uber Technologies, Inc. Price Uber Technologies, Inc. price | Uber Technologies, Inc. Quote Notably, the inclusion of Uber into the highly sought-after US large-cap Russell 1000 Index provided a boost to this San Francisco-based company’s price performance. Uber’s inclusion into the index, which track’s the 1,000 largest companies in the United States, followed the completion of FTSE Russell indexes annual reconstitution on Jun 28. We expect the upside in the stock price to continue in the coming days. Additionally, Uber’s membership in the Russell 1000 Index is likely to provide it with certain advantages. Russell indexes are widely used by institutional investors and investment managers not only for index funds but also as benchmarks for prudent investment strategies. Apart from Uber, other stocks like Lyft LYFT, Beyond Meat BYND and PagerDuty PD that went public this year have been included in the Russell 1000 Index. According to media reports, the inclusion of the companies implies that index funds will have to pump in nearly $1 billion into these stocks as funds that track the Russell benchmarks need to buy them. Also, the liquidity position of a stock is bound to improve owing to such investments. With such a huge amount of cash being invested in a stock (on being included in the Russell 1000 Index), we expect the likes of Uber to register a gain in the coming days. However, the extent of stock price improvement and the time period for which it sustains is debatable. Consequently, we expect investors interested in Uber to remain focused on its share price movement going forward. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of AllLast year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportLyft, Inc. (LYFT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBeyond Meat, Inc. (BYND) : Free Stock Analysis ReportPagerDuty Inc. (PD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportUber Technologies, Inc. (UBER) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Should You Investigate BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) At US$75.49? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF), operating in the financial services industry based in United States, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the NASDAQGS over the last few months, increasing to $88.2 at one point, and dropping to the lows of $73.81. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether BOK Financial's current trading price of $75.49 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at BOK Financial’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change. View our latest analysis for BOK Financial The stock seems fairly valued at the moment according to my valuation model. It’s trading around 3.3% below my intrinsic value, which means if you buy BOK Financial today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe that the stock is really worth $78.09, then there’s not much of an upside to gain from mispricing. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since BOK Financial’s share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market. Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. BOK Financial’s earnings growth are expected to be in the teens in the upcoming year, indicating a solid future ahead. This should lead to robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value. Are you a shareholder?BOKF’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 BOKF, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the optimistic prospect 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 BOK Financial. You can find everything you need to know about BOK Financial inthe latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in BOK Financial, 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.
An Examination Of Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:GTE) Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! As an investor, I look for investments which does not compromise one fundamental factor for another. By this I mean, I look at stocks holistically, from their financial health to their future outlook. In the case of Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:GTE), it is a company with a excellent growth outlook, which has not yet been reflected in the share price. Below is a brief commentary on these key aspects. For those interested in digger a bit deeper into my commentary, take a look at thereport on Gran Tierra Energy here. One reason why investors are attracted to GTE is its earnings growth potential in the near future of 39%, bolstered by its impressive cash-generating ability, as analysts predict its operating cash flows will rise by 63% over the same time period. This is a sustainable driver of high-quality earnings, as opposed to pure cost-cutting activities. GTE's share price is trading at below its true value, meaning that the market sentiment for the stock is currently bearish. Investors have the opportunity to buy into the stock to reap capital gains, if GTE's projected earnings trajectory does follow analyst consensus growth, which determines my intrinsic value of the company. Compared to the rest of the oil and gas industry, GTE is also trading below its peers, relative to earnings generated. This further reaffirms that GTE is potentially undervalued. For Gran Tierra Energy, there are three fundamental aspects you should further research: 1. Historical Performance: What has GTE'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. 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. 3. Other Attractive Alternatives: Are there other well-rounded stocks you could be holding instead of GTE? 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.
Is Western Union (WU) A Great Pick for Value Investors? Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldn’t want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value?One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Let’s putThe Western Union CompanyWU stock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or if investors subscribing to this methodology should look elsewhere for top picks:PE RatioA key metric that value investors always look at is the Price to Earnings Ratio, or PE for short. This shows us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings in a given stock, and is easily one of the most popular financial ratios in the world. The best use of the PE ratio is to compare the stock’s current PE ratio with: a) where this ratio has been in the past; b) how it compares to the average for the industry/sector; and c) how it compares to the market as a whole.On this front, Western Union has a trailing twelve months PE ratio of 10.69, as you can see in the chart below: This level actually compares pretty favorably with the market at large, as the PE for the S&P 500 compares in at about 18.21. If we focus on the stock’s long-term PE trend, the current level puts Western Union’ current PE ratio slightly below its midpoint (which is 10.83) over the past three years. Further, the stock’s PE also compares favorably with the Zacks Business Services sector’s trailing twelve months PE ratio, which stands at 29.70. At the very least, this indicates that the stock is relatively undervalued right now, compared to its peers. We should also point out that Western Union Holdings has a forward PE ratio (price relative to this year’s earnings) of just 11.07, so it is fair to expect an increase in the company’s share price in the near future.P/S RatioAnother key metric to note is the Price/Sales ratio. This approach compares a given stock’s price to its total sales, where a lower reading is generally considered better. Some people like this metric more than other value-focused ones because it looks at sales, something that is far harder to manipulate with accounting tricks than earnings.Right now, Western Union has a P/S ratio of about 1.58. This is substantially lower than the S&P 500 average, which comes in at 3.29 right now. Also, as we can see in the chart below, this is somewhat below the highs for this stock in particular over the past few years. If anything, this suggests some level of undervalued trading—at least compared to historical norms.Broad Value OutlookIn aggregate, Western Union currently has a Value Style Score of A, putting it into the top 20% of all stocks we cover from this look. This makes WU a solid choice for value investors, and some of its other key metrics make this pretty clear too.For example, the P/CF ratio (another great indicator of value) comes in at 7.73, which is somewhat better than the industry average of 16.78. Clearly, WU is a solid choice on the value front from multiple angles.What About the Stock Overall?Though Western Union might be a good choice for value investors, there are plenty of other factors to consider before investing in this name. In particular, it is worth noting that the company has a Growth grade of B and a Momentum score of F. This gives WU a VGM score—or its overarching fundamental grade—of B. (You can read more about the Zacks Style Scores here >>) Meanwhile, the company’s recent earnings estimates have been mixed at best. The current quarter has seen four estimates go higher in the past sixty days and four lower, while the full year estimate has seen seven downward and two upward revision in the same time period.This has had a noticeable impact on the consensus estimate, as the current quarter consensus estimate has risen 4.3% in the past two months, while the full year estimate has fallen 3.7%. You can see the consensus estimate trend and recent price action for the stock in the chart below: The Western Union Company Price and Consensus The Western Union Company price-consensus-chart | The Western Union Company Quote This mixed trend is why the stock has just a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and why we are looking for in-line performance from the company in the near term.Bottom LineWestern Union is an inspired choice for value investors, as it is hard to beat its incredible lineup of statistics on this front. Moreover, a strong industry rank (top 12% out of more than 250 industries) further supports the growth potential of the stock. However, with a Zacks Rank #3, it is hard to get too excited about this company overall. Nonetheless, over the past one year, the sector has clearly outperformed the broader market, as you can see below: So, value investors might want to wait for estimates and analyst sentiment to turn favorable in this name first, but once that happens, this stock could be a compelling pick. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportThe Western Union Company (WU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Is Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:GTE) Trading At A 33% Discount? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:GTE) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. I will be using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of theSimply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for Gran Tierra Energy We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: [{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2020": "$29.1m", "2021": "$40.7m", "2022": "$52.5m", "2023": "$63.5m", "2024": "$73.4m", "2025": "$82.0m", "2026": "$89.3m", "2027": "$95.7m", "2028": "$101.3m", "2029": "$106.2m"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2020": "Analyst x3", "2021": "Est @ 40.03%", "2022": "Est @ 28.84%", "2023": "Est @ 21.01%", "2024": "Est @ 15.52%", "2025": "Est @ 11.69%", "2026": "Est @ 9%", "2027": "Est @ 7.12%", "2028": "Est @ 5.8%", "2029": "Est @ 4.88%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 10.71%", "2020": "$26.3", "2021": "$33.2", "2022": "$38.7", "2023": "$42.3", "2024": "$44.1", "2025": "$44.5", "2026": "$43.8", "2027": "$42.4", "2028": "$40.5", "2029": "$38.4"}] ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $394.3m 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 10.7%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$106m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (10.7% – 2.7%) = US$1.4b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$1.4b ÷ ( 1 + 10.7%)10= $494.01m The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is $888.29m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of $2.36. Compared to the current share price of $1.59, the company appears quite undervalued at a 33% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. Now 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 Gran Tierra Energy 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 10.7%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.339. 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. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For Gran Tierra Energy, I've compiled three further factors you should look at: 1. Financial Health: Does GTE 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 GTE'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 GTE? 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 NYSEMKT 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.
Chipmakers Surge as Trade Truce Removes Key Overhang (Bloomberg) -- Shares of semiconductor companies and other suppliers to Huawei Technologies Co. spiked on Monday, after President Donald Trump said he would delay trade restrictions against the China-based company, suggesting an easing to one of the biggest headwinds facing the group. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped as much as 5%, putting the industry benchmark on track for its highest close since early May, as well as its fourth straight positive session. While the index is still about 4.3% below record levels, it has surged more than 17% off a low from late May. Among notable gainers, Western Digital Corp. spiked as much as 7.4% in what was set to be its 10th positive session, its longest rally since a 10-day gain that ended in March 2018. WDC, which gets about 4.3% of its revenue from Huawei, according to supply chain data compiled by Bloomberg, has surged nearly 41% over the 10-day rally. Micron Technology jumped 8.1%. The company gets 13% of its revenue from Huawei. Chipmakers were broadly higher across the globe, supported after the U.S. and China declared a truce in their trade war over the weekend. The industry has been highly correlated to this issue, given that China is both a major market for companies, as well as a critical part of their supply chains. Separately, Lam Research was up 3%, and U.S.-listed shares of ASML Holding NV rose 3.6%. Applied Materials rose 5.9%; the company earlier announced it would buy Kokusai Electric from KKR & Co. in a deal worth about $2.2 billion. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves wrote that he viewed the Huawei announcement “as a large positive for the semiconductor industry even though it is unclear if the lift will be permanent in nature.” He added that the implications of the announcement were “unclear for Nvidia, AMD and Analog Devices given that their products represent potential security risks.” Nevertheless, these names were were also among the day’s gainers. Nvidia rose 5.9%, Advanced Micro Devices climbed 5.5%, and Analog Devices gained 4.7%. Among other major Huawei suppliers, NeoPhotonics Corp. -- which gets nearly half its revenue from Huawei -- spiked nearly 22%. Lumentum Holdings jumped 9%; more than 18% of its revenue is derived from Huawei. Semiconductor stocks have performed well throughout the first half of 2019, despite waning optimism that they could see improvements in such key issues as demand, pricing and inventory levels over the remainder of the year. (Updates trading to market open throughout, adds chart.) To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm, Janet Freund For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com ©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Is Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) Excessively Paying Its CEO? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Oleg Khaykin became the CEO of Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) in 2016. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid. Check out our latest analysis for Viavi Solutions At the time of writing our data says that Viavi Solutions Inc. has a market cap of US$3.0b, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$5.0m. (This is based on the year to June 2018). While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$750k. We examined companies with market caps from US$2.0b to US$6.4b, and discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was US$5.2m. So Oleg Khaykin is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. Although this fact alone doesn't tell us a great deal, it becomes more relevant when considered against the business performance. The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Viavi Solutions has changed from year to year. Viavi Solutions Inc. has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 45% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 36% over the last year. Investors should note that, over three years, earnings per share are down. On the other hand, the strong revenue growth suggests the business is growing. In conclusion we can't form a strong opinion about business performance yet; but it's one worth watching. It could be important to checkthis free visual depiction ofwhat analysts expectfor the future. Boasting a total shareholder return of 101% over three years, Viavi Solutions Inc. has done well by shareholders. 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. Oleg Khaykin 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 Viavi Solutions shares (free trial). Important note:Viavi Solutions may not be the best stock to buy. You might find somethingbetterinthis list 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.
3 Top Renewable Energy Stocks to Buy Right Now Renewable energy may be one of the highest potential industries in the world today, but it's been a land mine for investors over the past decade. Very few companies have outperformed the market, and dozens of big names have gone out of business. We asked three of our energy contributors to navigate the renewable energy waters and find their top stocks in the industry, today andSolarEdge(NASDAQ: SEDG),Brookfield RenewablePartners(NYSE: BEP), andFirst Solar(NASDAQ: FSLR)made the list -- and for good reason. Image source: Getty Images. Rich Smith(SolarEdge):Solar stocks got a boost earlier this week when Goldman Sachs issued a trio of upgrades, pushingSunrunandSunPowerto "buy," and removing its sell rating on SolarEdge, upping it to neutral. Goldman cited California's (relatively) new mandate that requires that all new homes built in the state incorporate solar panels beginning in 2020, in support of its upgrades. (As Travis has previously noted, this mandate is likely to generate $2 billion in additional revenues for the solar industry in its first four years.) Goldman seemed to prefer Sunrun and SunPower as the best ways to play this development, but as for me, I prefer SolarEdge. Why? As suppliers of solar power systems, Sunrun and SolarEdge are the obvious choices to benefit from a mandate that homebuilders buy solar systems. But in order to turn sunlight, collected by solar panels, into usable electric power, you also need inverters -- which are what SolarEdge sells and how SolarEdge will also benefit from California's mandate. Moreover, even without the mandate, SolarEdge is already profitable and free-cash-flow positive. Sunrun and SunPower aren't. Now, maybe the mandate will fix that or maybe it won't. I don't know. What I'm fairly certain of, though, is that if SolarEdge were able to make money even before the mandate, it's almost certainly going to be able to make even more money after it. At a valuation of less than 20 times free cash flow, and with analysts predicting 22% annual growth ahead of it, SolarEdge gets my vote for the top renewable energy stock to buy right now. Matt DiLallo(Brookfield Renewable Partners):Brookfield Renewable Partners offers investors the best of both worlds. The hydroelectric-focused company generates very stable cash flow backed by long-term, fixed-priced contracts. That allows the company to pay a sustainable dividend that currently yields a well above-average 5.8%. On top of that, the company has attractive growth prospects. In Brookfield's estimation, it can increase the cash flows of its existing portfolio of renewable energy assets at a 3%-5% annual rate over the next five years. Powering that growth will be its ability to capture higher power prices as existing contracts expire while at the same time reducing costs. Also, the company aims to build 1,000 MW of new renewable energy-generating capacity over the next five years. These investments should grow its earnings at another 3% to 5% annual pace over that time frame. Added up, Brookfield Renewable Partners estimates that it can expand cash flow per share at a 6% to 11% annual pace over the next five years. That should enable the company to increase its cash distributions to investors at a 5% to 9% yearly pace. Meanwhile, there's lots of additional upside to that base plan if the companycontinues making acquisitions. Brookfield Renewable's strategic plan has it on track to generate total annual returns in the 12% to 15% range. That should enable the company to continue delivering market-beating results -- which it has done since its formation -- making it an ideal renewable energy stock to buy right now. Travis Hoium(First Solar):The U.S. solar industry has seen a number of positive data points in the past few weeks, highlighted byWood Mackenzieand theSEIAreporting record first-quarter installations to start the yearand predictions of higher-than-expected demand for the next five years. There are a lot of companies that will benefit but a big one will be First Solar, the thin-film solar manufacturer. First Solar isn't just any solar manufacturer -- it has more U.S. solar capacity than any other company and its technology is excluded from tariffs. It also develops about 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar projects each year, creating a flow of captive demand for some of that product. If the U.S. solar industry is doing well, there will be a pull for both solar panels as well as solar projects the company has developed. FSLR free cash flow (TTM). Data byYCharts. What makes First Solar unique among solar companies is its strong operating performance. Until the past year, when it was investing heavily in upgrading production equipment, the company was generating positive free cash flow, which few competitors can claim. First Solar won't be a huge growth stock, but it'll be a moneymaker in an improving industry, which is right where investors want to be in renewable energy. All three of these companies are leaders in their portion of the industry, but they have risks as well. SolarEdge could lose market share to installers and panel manufacturers that are vertically integrating, Brookfield Renewable Partners may see borrowing costs or interest rates rise, and First Solar's technology may not hold a lead over competitors. This is a fast-changing industry that investors will want to stay on top of, but that's why these three best-in-class companies are our picks today. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today Matthew DiLalloowns shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P., First Solar, and Verisk Analytics.Rich Smithowns shares of SolarEdge Technologies.Travis Hoiumowns shares of First Solar and SunPower. The Motley Fool recommends First Solar. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Is Walgreens Boots Alliance a Buy? Walgreens Boots Alliance(NASDAQ: WBA), the second-largest drugstore chain in the United States behind onlyCVS Health, is under siege. Falling generic drug prices in the U.S., reimbursement pressures from third-party payers, Brexit, and the so-called "retail apocalypse" have all taken a massive toll on the iconic drugstore chain over the last three years. The net result is that Walgreens' shares have dramatically underperformed the broader indexes during this aging bull market. The drugstore giant's stock, for instance, has lost an unsightly 32% of its value over the prior 36 months. That's a particularly tough pill to swallow for long-term shareholders, given that theS&P 500has appreciated by a whopping 53% over this same period. Image source: Getty Images. Can Walgreens mount a comeback, or is it time for shareholders to cut their losses? Let's take a look at both sides of argument to find out. Despite all these negative headwinds, Walgreens does offer investors a handful of compelling reasons to stay the course. First off, the company's shares are now trading at a meager 9.1 times next year's projected earnings and at a near industry-lowprice-to-sales ratio of 0.37. That's bargain territory any way you slice it -- especially for a household name that's been business for a whopping 118 years at this point. Additionally, Walgreens has proven its worth as a top income play by paying a dividend for 86 straight years. The company has also raised its dividend for a noteworthy 43 consecutive years, earning its title as a Dividend Aristocrat. Moreover, Walgreens' dividend yield of 3.23% is slightly above average for its peer group and its trailing payout ratio of 32.4% implies that its dividend program is sustainable for the long haul. Most large healthcare stocks that pay a dividend, after all, sport far higher trailing payout ratios. Lastly, Walgreens has been taking drastic steps to reduce costs by closing underperforming stores and accelerating its digital footprint through a unique collaboration withMicrosoft. The drugstore giant is also attempting to give customers a solid reason to actually visit its stores, such as its recent partnership with food store stalwartKroger. Walgreens, in short, does have a plan in place to beef up its digital footprint and to increase traffic at its various brick-and-mortar locations. The bad news is that this cost-cutting effort won't change the company's near-term outlook from a top-line perspective. While Walgreens' store optimization and transformational cost management program are slated tostabilize its bottom lineover the next two years, these cost-reduction moves simply don't solve the company's core problem -- that is, customers shifting toward online retailers likeAmazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN)as their preferred shopping destination. Making matters worse, Amazon's recent purchase of PillPack gives the e-retail behemoth a foothold in the world of prescription drugs, putting it in direction competition with drugstore chains like Walgreens. Now, Walgreens has made strides toward making its digital store a top destination for its core customer base, ensuring that it won't be easily overtaken by newcomers like Amazon. That said, Amazon still holds a key advantage over Walgreens in the field of e-commerce. Amazon, in effect, has a loyal customer base that has become accustomed to the ease with which they can order almost anything through the company's app. So, if Amazon does start offering a wide variety of prescription drugs across the United States, Walgreens might have a hard time retaining its market share. Walgreens might come across as a highly attractive value stock and income play at these levels. But the company's future is arguably too uncertain to buy its stock right now. After all, Amazon's ability to offer consumers an unparalleled one-stop shopping experience, excellent customer service, and rapid home delivery could prove to be too much for traditional drug store chains like Walgreens. To be fair, Walgreens is trying to improve its value proposition to customers through multiple partnerships, but taking on Amazon is no easy feat. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.George Budwellhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends CVS Health. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Is WPP PLC (WPP) a Profitable Pick for Value Investors Now? Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldn’t want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value?One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Let’s putWPP PLCWPP stock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or if investors subscribing to this methodology should look elsewhere for top picks:PE RatioA key metric that value investors always look at is the Price to Earnings Ratio, or PE for short. This shows us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings in a given stock, and is easily one of the most popular financial ratios in the world. The best use of the PE ratio is to compare the stock’s current PE ratio with: a) where this ratio has been in the past; b) how it compares to the average for the industry/sector; and c) how it compares to the market as a whole.On this front, WPP PLC has a trailing twelve months PE ratio of 8.73, as you can see in the chart below: This level actually compares favorably with the market at large, as the PE for the S&P 500 stands at about 18.21. If we focus on the long-term PE trend, WPP PLC’ current PE level puts it below its midpoint of 11.67 over the past three years, with the number having risen rapidly over the past few months. However, the current level stands below the highs for the stock, suggesting that it can be a solid entry point. However, the stock’s PE also compares favorably with the Zacks Business Services Market sector’s trailing twelve months PE ratio, which stands at 29.7. At the very least, this indicates that the stock is relatively undervalued right now, compared to its peers. We should also point out that WPP PLC has a forward PE ratio (price relative to this year’s earnings) of 9.92, so it is fair to expect an increase in the company’s share price in the near future.P/S RatioAnother key metric to note is the Price/Sales ratio. This approach compares a given stock’s price to its total sales, where a lower reading is generally considered better. Some people like this metric more than other value-focused ones because it looks at sales, something that is far harder to manipulate with accounting tricks than earnings.Right now, WPP PLC has a P/S ratio of about 0.81. This is much lower than the S&P 500 average, which comes in at 3.29 right now. Also, as we can see in the chart below, this is well below the highs for this stock in particular over the past few years. Broad Value OutlookIn aggregate, WPP PLC currently has a Value Score of A, putting it into the top 20% of all stocks we cover from this look. This makes WPP PLC a solid choice for value investors.What About the Stock Overall?Though WPP PLC might be a good choice for value investors, there are plenty of other factors to consider before investing in this name. In particular, it is worth noting that the company has a Growth Score of B and Momentum Score of F. This gives WPP a Zacks VGM score — or its overarching fundamental grade — of B. (You can read more about the Zacks Style Scores here >>)Meanwhile, the company’s recent earnings estimates have been disappointing. The current year consensus estimate declined 1.55 % in the past two months, whereas the full year 2020 estimate declined 6.98%. You can see the consensus estimate trend and recent price action for the stock in the chart below: WPP PLC Price and Consensus WPP PLC price-consensus-chart | WPP PLC Quote Owing to such mixed estimate trends, the stock has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which is why we are looking for in-line performance from th company in the near term.Bottom LineWPP PLC is an inspired choice for value investors, as it is hard to beat its incredible lineup of statistics on this front. However, with a Zacks Rank #3 it is hard to get too excited about this company overall.So, value investors might want to wait for estimates to turn around in this name first, but once that happens, this stock could be a compelling pick.The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of AllLast year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> 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 reportWPP PLC (WPP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research
Meet the dogs of the 2020 presidential race Updated July 1, 2019 The Democratic field for the 2020 presidential election is already crowded , with 25 declared candidates, and several more waiting in the wings. Jeffrey Epstein’s fortune is built on fraud, a former mentor says Most are running on similar platforms, promising a reversal of Donald Trump’s climate change–denying policies, better wages for the middle class, expanded healthcare benefits, and electoral reform that would beat back the influence of dark money. But several also have a four-legged secret weapon—a dog. Trump is the first US president in more than 100 years not to have a dog in the White House, and Democratic candidates who do have one are flaunting their dog ownership, a crowd-pleasing way to put more distance between themselves and the president. Tapping into America’s deep and growing love of dogs is a politically savvy move. About 68% of all American homes have a pet, the American Pet Products Association reported last year , up from 56% three decades ago, and 62% of all homes have a dog. Dog culture is everywhere, from Twitter account Breitbark News (Home of the #AltBite) that pens dog-based parodies of political events to the televised Philadelphia’s National Dog Show, which drew some 20 million viewers in November. Hong Kong’s protesters put AirDrop to ingenious use to breach China’s Firewall No wonder they’re becoming running mates. Here’s the pups to watch, roughly in order of when their owners were considered serious contenders: Elizabeth Warren and Bailey The Massachusetts Senator’ s golden retriever hit the campaign trail with her last month, when Warren introduced the “two guys” her life, Bailey and her husband Bruce: Bailey snoozed all the way home from New Hampshire – campaigning is tiring work for a dog! Check out his view from Saturday's event in Manchester. pic.twitter.com/OwKxQG0oYv — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 16, 2019 Warren named Bailey after the main character George Bailey in the film It’s a Wonderful Life, she said when she got the new puppy as a surprise gift from her husband last summer. “We named him after George Bailey, the community banker in It’s a Wonderful Life — a guy who was decent, determined & saw the best in people,” Warren wrote . “I always thought the role of GB was written for a Golden Retriever, but Jimmy Stewart did a nice job with it.” Story continues Pete Buttigieg and Buddy The South Bend, Indiana mayor introduced Americans to “Buddy,” his new shelter dog, on Dec. 19, 2018, on Twitter: Let me formally introduce you to our new dog Buddy. Buddy is a big source of joy in our household. Like his “brother” @firstdogtruman he represents the many loving dogs in shelters who need homes. pic.twitter.com/UaDr4g0FAP — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) December 19, 2018 Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Glezman already have another rescue dog, Truman, who is dubbed the “First Dog of South Bend.” Truman stars in a Facebook video about the city’s dog parks, and Buttigieg’s emphasis on investment in parks: Kirsten Gillibrand and Maple The New York senator announced her family had the new Labradoodle puppy in July of 2017 on Twitter. Meet Maple, the newest member of the Gillibrand family! pic.twitter.com/mCpVz8sGsb — Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) July 17, 2017 While Maple is mentioned in Gillibrand’s Twitter bio, she hasn’t been featured on the campaign trail. Yet. Joe Biden and Major The former vice president officially entered the race April 25 with a direct attack on Trump, accusing the president of destroying American democracy. He’s already got the dog for it (and the name recognition—Biden is voters’ favorite candidate in most polls). Biden adopted Major, a German Shepherd, from the Delaware Humane Association in November after fostering the puppy for months. Major was part of a litter that was exposed to toxic chemicals before they were brought to the shelter, but is in fine health now Delaware Online reports. Biden wanted a new puppy to be a companion to his elderly dog, Champ, another German Shepherd . The human association distributed the “official adoption photo” of Biden and an incredulous-looking Major in November: Can you believe it? Beto O’Rourke and Artemis The former Texas Congressman and avowed dog-lover joined the race on the morning of March 14, promising to “build a movement that includes all of us.” Expect to see a lot of Artemis, his black dog who was featured during his 2018 battle with incumbent Senator Ted Cruz: Kids and I agree that Artemis is best in show. #NationalDogShow pic.twitter.com/LahNLojca0 — Rep. Beto O'Rourke (@RepBetoORourke) November 23, 2017 O’Rourke mentioned Artemis several times in his letter to supporters after he lost to Cruz; earlier he shared a Facebook broadcast of him and his family picking up runaway dogs from the side of the road in Texas. O’Rourke also has a second black dog named Rosie (and a cat named Silver), who he cheered on social media on National Pet Day: Rosie, left, and Artemis, right. (And O’Rourke’s son, Henry, center). O’Rourke spent at least as much time in the 2018 campaign cuddling dogs as he did babies. John Hickenlooper and Skye The former Colorado governor ‘s rescue dog, an “ Akita-bulldog-chow chow mix, ” was a regular presence in his office. Skye kept a watchful eye to insure our Long Bill was signed in the most timely & efficient manner. #StateOfCO #coleg pic.twitter.com/5DjVwaBvtz — John Hickenlooper (@Hickenlooper) May 3, 2016 Hickenlooper launched a political action committee in December and officially joined the race on March 4, 2019, with a pledge to bring people together . Eric Swalwell and Penny The California Congressman , who joined the race on April 9 , is the enthusiastic owner of Penny: Even the best dogs get a little dirty sometimes. Luckily, Penny loves a good shower. #LoveYourPetDay pic.twitter.com/gdOuXMghos — Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) February 20, 2019 Swalwell and his wife Brittany “think Penny is a black lab—she looks and acts like one,” his spokesperson explains. “They were sent a Craigslist ad posted for her by a constituent. Within minutes of seeing her puppy picture, they were in the car to meet her, and within hours of seeing the ad, they had a new companion.” Tim Ryan and Bear and Buckeye The Ohio Congressman , who joined the race April 4 , didn’t mean to get two dogs. But a few months after he and his wife Andrea’s wedding, they brought their two older kids, Mason and Bella, to a shelter in Struthers, Ohio “to pick out ONE puppy,” a spokesman emails Quartz. “Needless to say, they brought home TWO.” Bear and Buckeye had a ruff day. But they always know how to stay pawsitive! pic.twitter.com/Ii6pOwEbJ5 — Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) December 13, 2018 Bear and Buckeye are littermates, Ryan’s office says. Their mother was a Lab, and their father may be a Husky or German Shepherd. Michael Bennet and Pepper The Colorado senator , who entered the race May 2, adopted Pepper from a Colorado prison program that saves dogs from shelters, then trains and cares for them, his press office says. The senator had promised his three daughters (Caroline, Halina, and Anne) they could get a dog after the 2010 election; the family isn’t sure what Pepper’s parentage is. The Bennet family. Joe Sestak and Belle The retired Navy admiral and former Congressman entered the race on June 23 with a pledge to reverse Trump’s withdrawal from international agreements and upsetting of foreign policy norms. The Sestak family’s cockapoo Belle was a present to Joe’s daughter Alex on her third birthday, Alex explains in a short video the campaign sent to Quartz: Candidates who don’t have dogs (yet) Cory Booker’s dog promise New Jersey senator Cory Booker does not have a dog, he said in response to a question from an 11-year-old boy on a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But he plans to get one to live with him in the White House if he is elected, he added to cheers from the crowd. As mayor of Newark, Booker famously rescued a freezing dog left outdoors in the winter. Jay Inslee’s granddogs Jay Inslee, the Washington state governor who joined the race March 1 , no longer has a dog after his last, Hailey, passed away a decade ago, his office told Quartz. But, Inslee’s spokesman noted, he has “grand dogs” (owned by his sons) named Pepper and Tilly. Inslee once named an Irish setter spaniel mix the “Washingtonian of the day,” for standing guard over a trapped fellow canine and alerting humans to the situation. Harris, Bloomberg, Klobuchar, etc. Kamala Harris , the California senator, is an enthusiastic tweeter of doggy things, and the supporter of animal protection bills, but has not introduced the public to any dogs of her own. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders did not have a dog during the last presidential race, and doesn’t seem to have gotten one since. Neither Amy Klobuchar , the Minnesota Senator, nor Julian Castro , the former Housing Secretary, nor Tulsi Gabbard , the Hawaii Congresswoman, nor Seth Moulton , the Massachusetts Congressman, have mentioned owning dogs during the early days of the race. Howard Schultz mentions his family’s love of dogs in his bio, but hasn’t during his exploratory presidential bid, while Mike Bloomberg doesn’t really seem to care for them at all. Hoover and King Tut. Candidates who are trotting out their dogs are following in a long tradition. Herbert Hoover was the first presidential candidate to use his dog for political purposes, to combat a stiff, severe public image, writes Jennifer Boswell Pickens , a historian and author of Pets at the White House. He released a photo of him holding his German Shepard “King Tut” begging for votes during the 1928 election, which he later won. Candidates who have dropped out These potential candidates with prominent four-legged friends have officially dropped out of the race. Their former running mates are still good dogs, though. Sherrod Brown and Franklin The Ohio Senator made Franklin, a rescue dog, a key part of his successful 2018 campaign, naming him Manager of Morale , putting his face on mugs, and featuring him in ads. Proud to fight for Ohioans of all species. pic.twitter.com/Va9g6MktU3 — Sherrod Brown (@SherrodBrown) October 9, 2018 When Brown won, Franklin accompanied him on stage for his victory speech. Brown did a tour of primary states early in 2019, as part of a “Dignity of work” tour, but said on March 7 that he wouldn’t run for president, because he could be more effective in the Senate. When speculation swirled that he could be a good vice president for Biden that day, Brown said he wasn’t interested . 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Electric cars grab almost half of sales in oil-producing Norway OSLO (Reuters) - Almost half of new cars sold in Norway in the first six months of 2019 were powered by fully electric engines, up from just over a quarter in the same period last year, ensuring the Nordic nation retains its top global ranking in electric vehicle sales. Tesla's Model 3 was Norway's top-selling vehicle, the Norwegian Road Federation (NRF) said when announcing the latest sales data on Monday. In total, 48.4% of all new cars sold from January to June were electric, surpassing the 31.2% seen for the full year 2018, and making oil-producing Norway the global leader in per-capita electric car sales by a wide margin. Seeking to end the sale of diesel and petrol engines by the middle of the next decade, Norway exempts battery-driven cars from the heavy taxes imposed on vehicles powered by fossil fuel. It also offers benefits such as discounts on road tolls. The policy has boosted brands such as Tesla, Nissan, Hyundai and BMW, which all offer fully electric vehicles, rather than hybrids that use electric motors to drive the car but also have a combustion engine. Brands without fully electric offerings, such as Ford and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, have seen sales drop, although Ford and Mercedes are among several auto makers that have promised to offer electric cars in Norway from 2020. California-based Tesla sold 3,760 vehicles in Norway in June, for a 24.5% share of all cars during the month, and was also the top-selling brand for the first six months. Most of its sales were of the mid-sized Model 3, while the bigger Model S and Model X have seen lower year-on-year volumes. The International Energy Agency (IEA), which includes the more widely-sold plug-in hybrids when counting electric cars, measured Norway's share at 39% of sales in 2017, far ahead of second-placed Iceland on 12% and Sweden on 6%. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Edmund Blair)
Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Shareholders Have Enjoyed An Impressive 101% Share Price Gain Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! The worst result, after buying shares in a company (assuming no leverage), would be if you lose all the money you put in. But if you buy shares in a really great company, you canmorethan double your money. To wit, theViavi Solutions Inc.(NASDAQ:VIAV) share price has flown 101% in the last three years. How nice for those who held the stock! In more good news, the share price has risen -2.3% in thirty days. But the price may well have benefitted from a buoyant market, since stocks have gained 6.7% in the last thirty days. View our latest analysis for Viavi Solutions Because Viavi Solutions is loss-making, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth. Viavi Solutions's revenue trended up 5.6% each year over three years. Considering the company is losing money, we think that rate of revenue growth is uninspiring. In contrast, the stock has popped 26% per year in that time - an impressive result. Shareholders should be pretty happy with that, although interested investors might want to examine the financial data more closely to see if the gains are really justified. It may be that the market is pretty optimistic about Viavi Solutions if you look to the bottom line. You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). Viavi Solutions is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. So we recommend checking out thisfreereport showing consensus forecasts Investors should note that there's a difference between Viavi Solutions's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. We note that Viavi Solutions's TSR, at 101% is higher than its share price return of 101%. When you consider it hasn't been paying a dividend, this data suggests shareholders have benefitted from a spin-off, or had the opportunity to acquire attractively priced shares in a discounted capital raising. It's nice to see that Viavi Solutions shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 30% over the last year. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 13% 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. 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.
Giovanna Fletcher says romance looks different these days Giovanna Fletcher appeared on White Wine Question Time last week with (from left) Kate Thornton, Kris Hallenga, Giovanna, and Nadia Sawalha Giovanna Fletcher says her McFly hubby, Tom, cries more often than she does. Talking to Kate Thornton on the latest episode of White Wine Question Time , the author and podcaster said her husband is much more of a softie than she is. “Tom cries a lot,” she said. “Happy tears! But he cries more than me.” The couple met, aged 13, at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and years later Tom proposed in the same spot where they first set eyes on each other. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, as the school had been sold and moved to another building. “He (Tom) had to get in touch with the people who had bought it and were doing it up,” explained Giovanna. “Walls were missing, there weren't mirrors where they were before… He'd put rose petals everywhere and candles. It was absolutely beautiful.” READ MORE 'You feel like your body has failed you': Giovanna Fletcher opens up about her miscarriage Giovanna Fletcher says she was 'selfish' for crying over unplanned pregnancy WATCH Tom Fletcher's son reveal his own hilarious version of the ABCs Tom’s speech at his 2012 wedding to Giovanna has more than 20 million views on YouTube . Not only did he sing the entire thing, but he was also accompanied by a choir from the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Kris Hallenga appears on on White Wine Question Time this week with Giovanna Fletcher and Nadia Sawalha. Asked by Kate during the podcast if Tom was just as romantic now, Giovanna laughed: “We've had three kids now. A romantic night for us is on the sofa with a glass of wine and watching Game of Thrones. That's real life.” Giovanna joined Coppafeel founder Kris Hallenga and TV presenter Nadia Sawalha on this week’s episode of White Wine Question Time to chat about their Himalayan trek later this year. Listen below to hear all about their reasons for signing up. To donate, visit Coppafeel.org .