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Ironwood's Linzess Lowers Abdominal Symptoms in IBS-C Patients
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.IRWD along with partner Allergan AGN announced positive top-line data from the phase IIIb study on Linzess (linaclotide) for treating multiple abdominal symptoms in adult patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C).
The study met both primary and secondary endpoints with statistical significance and showed that Linzess improved the overall abdominal symptoms of bloating, pain and discomfort in adult patients with IBS-C as compared to placebo.
Shares of Ironwood were up almost 8.1% following this news on Tuesday. In fact, the stock has rallied 11% so far this year, outperforming the industry’s rise of 6.6%.
Linzess is marketed to treat IBS-C as well as chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) in the United States and across 30 other countries. It is commercialized in collaboration with Allergan in the United States. Ironwood and Allergan co-develop and co-commercialize Linzess and equally share the U.S. collaboration profits or losses as well as development costs of the drug.
Linzess is marketed by Allergan for IBS-C in Europe and Canada under the brand name, Constella.
However, in the United States, majority of adult IBS-C patients complain of symptoms, such as abdominal bloating, pain and discomfort at least once a week. If approved, this new indication would expand the eligible patient population for the drug and drive its sales higher.
This double-blind placebo-controlled phase IIIb study evaluated the safety and efficacy of Linzess 290 mcg in adult IBS-C patients, who took the drug once daily for 12 weeks, followed by a four-week withdrawal period. The primary efficacy endpoint measured the change in patients’ abdominal score based on daily assessments of their abdominal bloating, discomfort and pain. Additional endpoints included change in the spontaneous bowel movement frequency, complete spontaneous bowel movement frequency, stool consistency and straining.
Ironwood plans to present additional results from this analysis at an upcoming scientific conference and via peer-reviewed publications.
Notably, Linzess has performed encouragingly on the back of strong demand and expansion in new patient population and geographical regions. Sales of Linzess were impressive in 2018 and the drug also started 2019 on a strong note. It generated net sales of $161.3 million in the United States during the first quarter of 2019. Label expansion and approval in new countries for this medicine are driving its sales higher. The product is set to achieve a blockbuster status by 2020 end.
Earlier this month, Ironwood and Allergan initiated its dosing in the phase II study on MD-7246, a delayed release version of Linzess. The study is evaluating the candidate on patients suffering abdominal pain associated with irritable bowel syndrome alongside diarrhea (IBS-D). Top-line data from the study are expected in the second half of 2020.
Earlier this January, Linzess received an approval in China for IBS-C. The company along with its partner AstraZeneca AZN will launch the same in the country in the second half of 2019. This, in turn, is likely to boost Ironwood’s top line.
Zacks Rank & Key Pick
Ironwood currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the same sector is Evotec AG EVTCY, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Evotec’s earnings estimates have been revised 14.4% upward for 2019 and 41.2% for 2020 over the past 60 days. The stock has surged 32.7% year to date.
This Could Be the Fastest Way to Grow Wealth in 2019
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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 reportAllergan plc (AGN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAstraZeneca PLC (AZN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportEvotec AG (EVTCY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportIronwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (IRWD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Analysts Expect Breakeven For Comet Ridge Limited (ASX:COI)
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Comet Ridge Limited's (ASX:COI): Comet Ridge Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and appraisal of coal seam gas and sandstone reserves in Eastern Australia. With the latest financial year loss of -AU$2.2m and a trailing-twelve month of -AU$3.3m, the AU$200m market-cap amplifies its loss by moving further away from its breakeven target. The most pressing concern for investors is COI’s path to profitability – when will it breakeven? In this article, I will touch on the expectations for COI’s growth and when analysts expect the company to become profitable.
View our latest analysis for Comet Ridge
COI is bordering on breakeven, according to the 2 Oil and Gas analysts. They anticipate the company to incur a final loss in 2020, before generating positive profits of AU$13m in 2021. COI is therefore projected to breakeven around 2 years from now. How fast will COI have to grow each year in order to reach the breakeven point by 2021? Working backwards from analyst estimates, it turns out that they expect the company to grow 108% year-on-year, on average, which is extremely buoyant. If this rate turns out to be too aggressive, COI may become profitable much later than analysts predict.
Given this is a high-level overview, I won’t go into details of COI’s upcoming projects, however, bear in mind that generally an oil and gas business has lumpy cash flows which are contingent on the natural resource and stage at which the company is operating. This means that a high growth rate is not unusual, especially if the company is currently in an investment period.
One thing I’d like to point out is that COI has no debt on its balance sheet, which is quite unusual for a cash-burning oil and gas company, which typically has high debt relative to its equity. This means that COI has been operating purely on its equity investment and has no debt burden. This aspect reduces the risk around investing in the loss-making company.
There are key fundamentals of COI which are not covered in this article, but I must stress again that this is merely a basic overview. For a more comprehensive look at COI, take a look atCOI’s company page on Simply Wall St. I’ve also put together a list of important aspects you should further research:
1. Historical Track Record: What has COI's performance 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. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look atwho sits on Comet Ridge’s board and the CEO’s back ground.
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. |
Buckhaven Capital Corp. Announces Closing of Initial Public Offering
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 19, 2019) - Buckhaven Capital Corp. ("Buckhaven" or the "Company") (TSXV: BKH.P) is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed its initial public offering of 2,150,000 common shares of the Company ("Common Shares") at a price of $0.15 per Common Share for gross proceeds of $322,500 (the "Offering"). The Company now has 3,530,000 Common Shares issued and outstanding.
Haywood Securities Inc. (the "Agent") acted as the agent for the Offering and in connection therewith, the Company granted the Agent non-transferable warrants (the "Agent's Warrants") to purchase 100,000 Common Shares at an exercise price $0.15 per Common Share. The Agent's Warrants will expire 24 months from the date the Common Shares were listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"), which was June 19, 2019. In connection with the Offering, the Agent also received a cash commission equal to 7.5% of the gross proceeds of the Offering, a corporate finance fee, and was reimbursed for its legal fees and reasonable expenses.
Concurrent with the closing of the Offering, the Company also granted options to directors and officers of the Company to acquire an aggregate of 300,000 Common Shares at an exercise price of $0.15 per Common Share, which options expire five years from the date of grant.
The Company is a "capital pool company" and intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to identify and evaluate assets or businesses for acquisition with a view to completing a "Qualifying Transaction" under the policies of the Exchange. On June 17, 2019, the Exchange issued a bulletin listing the Common Shares as of market open on June 19, 2019 and immediately halting trading pending completion of closing. The Common Shares will resume trading under the trading symbol "BKH.P" on June 21, 2019.
Investors are cautioned that trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.
For further information, please contact:
Buckhaven Capital Corp.Santo Iacono - President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary, and DirectorPhone: 604-689-1428
Forward-Looking Information Cautionary Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance. The use of any of the words"could","expect","believe","will","projected","estimated"and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, the Company's stated use of proceeds and its expectation as to the resumption of trading of the Common Shares on the Exchange constitute forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The statement made in this press release are made as of the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be expressly required by applicable securities laws.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
To view the source version of this press release, please visithttps://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/45750 |
Facebook's Digital Currency Is a 'Long Way From Launch' but It's Already Under Government Scrutiny
FacebookChief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said Wednesday that the company’s planned cryptocurrency coin is a “long way from launch,” but policy makers are already gearing up toscrutinize itwith U.S. lawmakers planning to hold a hearing next month.
“Regulators have concerns,” Sandberg acknowledged Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France. “We’re already meeting with them. We know we have a lot of work to do, but this was an announcement of what we would like to do with a roadmap for people to jump in and help us do it.”
A day earlier, the social-media giantunveiled plansfor a new global financial system based on astablecoin—a digital currency that’s supported by established government-backed currencies and securities.
The project, more than a year in the making and including 27 partners, was immediately met with criticism from politicians in the U.S. and Europe. Some representatives in Washington questioned whether it would have appropriate oversight, while the French finance ministersaid he was concerned about money laundering and terrorism finance.
In a Wednesday statement, the Senate Banking Committee said it had scheduled a July 16 hearing that will focus on “examining Facebook’s proposed digital currency and data privacy considerations.”
Senator Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the banking panel, is among lawmakers who’ve expressed skepticism that the tech giant canprotect consumers’ financial datafollowing allegations that it failed to safeguard users’ personal information.
Facebook has said the new digital token, named Libra, isn’t expected to launch until at least next year.
“We announced this early,” Sandberg said. “We know this is a heavy, heavily regulated space. We need to talk to people, meet with people, and that’s what we’re doing and we are then going to launch.” |
U.S. Senate to vote Thursday on whether to block Trump Saudi arms sale plan
WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote on Thursday on legislation seeking to block President Donald Trump's plan to sidestep congressional review and go ahead with more than $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced an agreement to hold the vote on Wednesday, after a group of lawmakers, including some of Trump's fellow Republicans, filed 22 separate resolutions of disapproval objecting to the deals.
Lawmakers objected to Trump's decision to declare an emergency tied to threats from Iran in order to go ahead with the military sales despite congressional objections.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) |
These 5 Unexpected Costs Could Ruin Your Retirement
You may have a retirement savings goal in mind that includes basic living expenses, travel, and any major purchases you plan to make. If so, you're ahead of the game. About 46% of Americans are just guessing at how much they need, according to arecent Transamerica survey.But your retirement plan still may not be complete if you've forgotten about the following five costs.
All retirement accounts, including 401(k)s, charge administrative fees that cover the costs of record keeping and special services, like account rollovers. The investments within your accounts may charge their own fees as well.Mutual funds-- collections of stocks and bonds you buy as a package -- charge an annual fee known as an expense ratio. You may also incur fees whenever you buy or sell an asset. These fees are automatically deducted from your account, so you may not even realize you're paying them. But they can add up over time.
Image source: Getty Images.
If your total401(k) feesadd up to 1% of your assets, you're giving away $10 for every $1,000 you have in the account. On a $1 million portfolio, that adds up to $10,000 in fees in one year. While you may be able to make some adjustments to reduce your costs, like investing inindex fundsor other low-fee investments, you'll always have to pay something. Your exact costs will depend on your account balance and your plan's fee schedule, which you can find in your investment prospectus or your plan summary. Use the fee information and your estimated 401(k) balance in retirement to estimate how much you'll pay in 401(k) fees, and make sure you have enough savings to cover these costs in addition to your living expenses.
Medicare will cover some of your health expenses in retirement, but it has its own costs, including deductibles, premiums, and copays. Plus, there are some services it doesn't cover at all. If you want coverage for these things, you'll have to purchase a supplemental health insurance policy and pay its premiums and deductibles, too.
Ideally, you'll stay healthy in your old age, but you can't count on that. The average 65-year-old couple retiring in 2019 will need $285,000 to cover their out-of-pocket retirement medical expenses,according to Fidelity. (Assumes both are eligible for Medicare, which between Medicare Part A and Part B covers expenses such as hospital stays, care at a skilled nursing facility, doctor visits and services, physical therapy, lab tests and more.) If you experience chronic health problems, that number could be much higher.
Build healthcare costs into your retirement plan if you haven't already. You can use the figure above as a baseline, but if you're a long way off from retirement, you should figure higher. It's not unreasonable to need $300,000 or more.
Inflationdrives up the cost of living, so $1,000 won't get you as far next year as it does today. Most retirement calculators take inflation into account so you don't need to worry about calculating this. The inflation rate changes from year to year, but historically it's averaged around 3% annually. This is a good starting point, but if you're concerned about not having enough, consider using a 4% annual inflation rate to be safe.
Once you turn age 70 1/2, the government forces you to start takingrequired minimum distributions (RMDs)from all your retirement accounts except Roth IRAs. It's Uncle Sam's way of ensuring he gets his cut of your savings. The amount you're required to withdraw every year depends on your account balance and your age. You can usethis tableto figure out yours. Divide your account balance by the distribution period next to your age.
You must take out at least this much during the year. Otherwise you'll pay a 50% penalty on the amount you should have withdrawn. It's better to take the RMDs than to risk the penalty, but RMDs can have unintended consequences. They could force you to withdraw more than you wanted in a single year, which could raise your tax bill. You can avoid this by withdrawing more money from your tax-deferred retirement accounts before you have to start taking RMDs, though this will increase your tax bill during the early years of your retirement. Or you could move some of your money to a Roth IRA, but then you'll have to pay taxes on the money in the year you do the conversion.
Unless all your retirement savings are in Roth accounts, which are allowed to grow tax-free after you pay taxes on your initial contributions,you will owe the government some money in retirement. It's difficult to say how much because you can't know exactly how much you'll withdraw in retirement or how the tax brackets will change. But you can use today's tax brackets and your estimates of your retirement living expenses to get an idea of how much taxes could cost you.
Look at your estimated annual retirement income and subtract the amount you intend to withdraw from nontaxable sources, like Roth retirement accounts. Figure out which tax bracket that would put you in today and multiply that percentage by your estimated taxable income in retirement. Use this as a baseline to help you determine how much you need to cover taxes. You may want to leave yourself a cushion in case tax brackets change.
If you missed one or more of these five things when creating your retirement plan, take some time to redo it. It's always best to figure high in case one or more of them end up costing you more than you planned.
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Slack reference price for direct listing set at $26/share
(Reuters) - The New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday set the reference price for Slack Technologies Inc's direct listing at $26 per share.
At this price, the owner of the workplace instant messaging app is valued at around $16 billion.
Slack, which will list its shares directly on the NYSE on Thursday, is the second high profile technology company after Spotify Technology SA to shun a traditional listing.
The reference price is not an offering price, the NYSE notice said. The opening public price will be determined by buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE from broker-dealers.
Slack's direct listing could further pave the way for companies looking to go public without the help of Wall Street underwriters who charge millions of dollars in fees.
The company offers an internet-based platform that allows teams and businesses to communicate with each other and directly competes with Microsoft Corp's Teams.
San Francisco-based Slack, whose customers include Electronic Arts Inc, Nordstrom Inc and Ford Motor Co, has around 600,000 organizations using its service, and 95,000 paid customers.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur) |
Natural Gas Price Prediction – Prices Tumble Ahead of EIA Report
Natural gas prices tumbled on Wednesday breaking down below support levels. Prices are facing headwinds as cooling demand has been lighter than expected do to milder than normal weather that has covered most of the mid-west and east coast. On Thursday the Department of Energy will report natural gas inventories, which are expected to increase by 104 Bcf according to Estimize.
Natural gas prices tumbled on Wednesday dropping 2.2%, and slicing through support levels near the prior June lows which is now seen as short term resistance near 2.30. Additional resistance is seen near the 10-day moving average at 2.35. Support is seen near the 2016 lows at 1.91. Medium term momentum has reversed as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index generated a crossover sell signal. This occur as the MACD line (the 12-day moving average minus the 26-day moving average) crosses below the MACD signal line the 9-day moving average of the MACD line. The MACD histogram is now printing in the red with a declining trajectory which points to lower prices. Short term momentum has turned negative. The fast stochastic generated a crossover sell signal. The current reading on the fast stochastic is 2.6, well below the oversold trigger level of 20 which could foreshadow a correction.
The EIA reports that the average rate of net injections into storage is 40% higher than the five-year average so far in the refill season, which is April through October. If the rate of injections into storage matched the five-year average of 9.4 Bcf per day for the remainder of the refill season, total inventories would be 3,462 Bcf on October 31, which is 230 Bcf lower than the five-year average of 3,692 Bcf for that time of year.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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A technical perspective on Facebook’s LibraBFT Consensus algorithm
Rag BhagavathaandChris McCoyare the co-creators ofStorecoin
Facebook yesterday unveiled its new low-volatility cryptocurrency Libra, powered by a smart contract platform that’s designed to be “secure, scalable, and reliable”.
Libra Blockchain uses a robust and efficient state machine replication system called LibraBFT [1], which is the focus of this technical analysis. We discuss its properties and compare it to other Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus protocols with similar properties.
Consensus is a process used to achieveagreementon a single data value among distributed processes or systems. The processes participating in the consensus may or may not trust each other and yet, they will be able to arrive at an agreement on a single data value. There are two classes of consensus algorithms.
• Nakamoto style algorithms— This class of consensus algorithms, popularized by Bitcoin, elect a leader randomly via a cryptographic puzzle and the leader proposes a block of transactions along with a proof-of-work (PoW) to all the other processes in the network. The majority decision is represented by the longest chain, which has the greatest proof-of-work effort invested in it. If the majority is controlled by honest processes, the honest chain will grow the fastest and outpace any competing chains.
• Classical consensus algorithms— In this class of algorithms, the participating processes reach consensus using multiple rounds of message exchanges carrying votes and safety-proofs. A majority of processes must agree on the votes and safety-proofs in order to achieve consensus.
Classical consensus algorithms satisfy the following general properties.
Validity— If a correct processpbroadcasts a messagem, thenpeventually deliversm.
Agreement— If a messagemis delivered by some correct process, thenmis eventually delivered by every correct process.
Integrity— No correct process delivers the same message more than once; moreover, if a correct process delivers a messagemand the senderpofmis correct, thenmwas previously broadcast byp.
Total order— For messagesm1andm2, supposepandqare two correct processes that deliverm1andm2. Thenpdeliversm1beforem2if and only ifqdeliversm1beforem2.
When a network of disparate processes participate in a consensus process, failures occur. For example, processes may crash, experience power and network failures, or simply be unable to make progress because they are stuck in a certain state. These are generally classified ascrash failures. On the other hand, some processes may intentionally act maliciously to steer the consensus to their benefit. Such failures are called Byzantine failures. Consensus algorithms that tolerate Byzantine failures are called Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) algorithms. BFT consensus algorithms are also capable of handling crash failures automatically.
The network of processes participating in the consensus process can be configured in permissioned or permissionless setups.
1. Permissioned network— In a permissioned network, the identity and the count of processes in the network are known to all processes. Thus, a process can trust the messages originating from another process in the same network. While processes may leave and join the network at will, their identities must be known apriori to all the processes in the network.
2. Permissionless network— In a permissionless network, neither the process identities nor their counts are known to other processes. So, when a new process joins the network it must provide some form of proof-of-work to prove its membership to other processes.
Libra Blockchain will be configured as apermissioned networkat launch with a known set of processes calledValidators. This means, all Validators in the Libra network know each other’s identities.
LibraBFT belongs to the class of classical BFT consensus algorithms. It is based on another consensus algorithm called HotStuff [2], which in turn borrows some of its consensus logic from yet another classical BFT algorithm called Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance, pBFT [3].
pBFT uses a system model, which assumes an asynchronous distributed system where processes are connected by a network. The network may fail to deliver messages, delay them, duplicate them, or deliver them out of order. IfNis the total number of processes in the network andfis the number of faulty (including Byzantine) processes, then pBFT requires:
N ≥ 3f + 1
processes to provide tolerance against Byzantine failures.
pBFT consensus algorithm makes progress in multiple rounds, where each round accomplishes agreement on some stage in the consensus process. Fig. 1 illustrates pBFT consensus rounds, which proceed as follows.
Fig. 1 — pBFT consensus rounds
1. A clientCsends a request to invoke a service operation to the primary process0. This is theleaderfor this round of consensus.
2. The primary multicasts the request to other processes,1, 2and3. These processes are called replicas.
3. Replicas execute the request and send a reply to the client.
4. The client waits forf+1replies from different replicas with the same result; this is the result of the operation.
The protocol makes progress and guaranteesliveness, if the leader doesn’t fail. In case of leader failures, aview-changeprotocol is triggered after atimeoutto prevent the replicas from waiting forever for messages from the leader. In a geographically distributed asynchronous network, leader failures may be more common than one can imagine, so view-change triggers may also be commonplace. So, the execution complexity of pBFT with view-changes is O(n3) wherenis the number of processes in the network.
The protocol providessafetyif all non-faulty replicas compute the same result. This means (N-f) processes must compute the same result and send the results to the client to guarantee safety.
HotStuff consensus algorithm attempts to address the O(n3) complexity of pBFT. Thelivenessproperty requires that (N−f) non-faulty replicas will run commands identically and produce the same response for each command. As is common, with the partially synchronous communication model, whereby a known bound — ∆ — on message transmission holds after some unknown global stabilization time (GST). In this model,N ≥ 3f + 1is required for non-faulty replicas to agree on the same commands in the same order and progress can be ensured deterministically only after GST as we have discussed earlier with view-changes. HotStuff improves upon pBFT with the following two additional properties.
1. Linear View Change— After GST, any correct leader, once designated, sends onlyO(n)authenticators to drive a consensus decision. This includes the case where a leader is replaced. Consequently, communication costs to reach consensus after GST is O(n2) authenticators in the worst case of cascading leader failures.
2. Optimistic Responsiveness— After GST, any correct leader, once designated, needs to wait just for the first (N − f)responses to guarantee that it can create a proposal that will make progress. This includes the case where a leader is replaced.
Table-1 below shows the resulting improvements in the message complexity. With the correct leader, the complexity improved from O(n2) to O(n). With leader failure and the resulting view-change protocol, the complexity improved from O(n3) to O(n).
Table 1 — Comparison of message complexities of some classical BFT consensus algorithms
In pBFT each round in the consensus performs similar work (like, collecting votes from replicas etc.), which HotStuff optimizes by chainingQuorum Certificates(QC) as shown in fig. 2. With this the consensus rounds can be chained, thus improving theliveness.kview-changes requiresk+2rounds of communication instead of2*k.
Fig. 2 — Chained HotStuff
HotStuff also implements a mechanism calledPacemaker, that guarantees liveness after GST. Pacemaker a) synchronizes all correct replicas and a unique leader into a common height for a sufficiently long period of time. It chooses the unique leader such that the correct replicas synchronized will make progress with the chosen leader. This mechanism decoupleslivenessfrom the protocol, which in turn decouples it fromsafety.
LibraBFT improves upon HotStuff with a detailed specification and implementation of the Pacemaker mechanism discussed above. It also comes with a liveness analysis that consists of concrete bounds to transaction commitment. Other than these enhancements, LibraBFT is essentially HotStuff and makes the same assumptions about the system model with a partially synchronous network.
In LibraBFT processes are called Validators and they make progress in rounds, each having a designated validator called aleader. Leaders are responsible for proposing new blocks and obtaining signed votes from the validators on their proposals. LibraBFT follows the Chained HotStuff model described in fig. 2, which works as follows.
1. A round is a communication phase with a single designated leader, and leader proposals are organized into a chain using cryptographic hashes.
2. During a round, the leader proposes a block that extends the longest chain it knows.
3. If the proposal is valid and timely, each honest node will sign it and send a vote back to the leader.
4. After the leader has received enough votes to reach a quorum, it aggregates the votes into a Quorum Certificate (QC) that extends the same chain again.
5. The QC is broadcast to every node.
6. If the leader fails to assemble a QC, participants will timeout and move to the next round.
7. Eventually, enough blocks and QCs will extend the chain in a timely manner, and a block will match the commit rule of the protocol.
8. When this happens, the chain of uncommitted blocks up to the matching block become committed.
The above consensus process can be compared with another popular classical BFT consensus algorithm, Tendermint [4], which is illustrated in fig. 3.
Fig. 3 — Tendermint consensus process
Like LibraBFT, Tendermint proceeds in multiple rounds — pre-vote, pre-commit, and commit — and collects Validator signatures for each round, similar to the QCs in LibraBFT. The main difference between the two algorithms is that in Tendermint each round has a timeout and the Validators wait even if they finish the round sooner whereas in LibraBFT, once the network is synchronous, the protocol speed is based on the network latency,as long as the leader is correct.
The qualification highlighted above is important. The protocol terminates without having to wait for a timeout, only if the leader is correct. If the leader fails, the view-change protocol triggers after GST and while the view-change islinearand is optimized when compared to pBFT, it may not perform any better than Tendermint’s implementation.
Libra Blockchain is launched as a permissioned network. The founding Validators include the likes of Uber, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, etc. Founding members are required to meet strict guidelines to be part of the early Validator set. For instance, crypto hedge funds had to have an AUM above $1 billion while digital asset-focused custodians had to store at least $100 million. Non-crypto firms needed to have a market cap of more than $1 billion or boast customer balances equaling more than $500 million. With such stringent requirements in place, one can assume that the Validators will more likely be run in data centers with private or highly reliable networking connecting them. They are likely be fault tolerant, similar to the setup required to run Cosmos Validators (which run Tendermint consensus algorithm). So practically speaking, Chained HotStuff will likely be the only important design that improves thelivenessof the protocol. All other design improvements may be less useful in the practical deployment described above. On the other hand, if the network is assumed to be unreliable, the assumptions made about the correctness of leaders for fast termination may in fact fail, resulting in worst case performance.
1. LibraBFT —https://developers.libra.org/docs/assets/papers/libra-consensus-state-machine-replication-in-the-libra-blockchain.pdf
2. HotStuff BFT consensus —https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.05069.pdf
3. Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance —http://pmg.csail.mit.edu/papers/osdi99.pdf
4. Tendermint consensus algorithm —https://arxiv.org/pdf/1807.04938.pdf |
BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH, EOS, BNB, BSV, XLM, ADA: Price Analysis 19/06
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Market data is provided by theHitBTCexchange.
Facebookreleased the white paper for its cryptocurrencyprojecton June 18. The researchers atBinanceresearch opine that Facebook’s Libra can boost cryptocurrencyvolume“due to increased accessibility from both institutional players and everyday retail users.” While the researchers have pointed to the huge potential of Libra, they have raised concern that regulators and financial institutions might act as obstacles.
The Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire said that he would “ask for guarantees” from Facebook to ensure that thestablecoinis not used forunlawfulactivities. However, the project found somesupportfrom Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England who said that Libra might have genuine use cases if it meets regulatory standards. David Marcus, head of blockchain at Facebook has said that the Libra project will sharedatawith the authorities to comply with regulations and for crime prevention.
While this news is positive in the long term, it is likely to have a limited effect in the short term. So, what should traders do now? Buy or wait for a dip? Let’s analyze the charts.
Bitcoin (BTC) remains in a strong uptrend. Both the moving averages are sloping up and the RSI is close to the overbought zone. This suggests that the bulls have the upper hand. The next target to watch on the upside is $10,000.
We anticipate strong selling close to $10,000 because it is a psychological resistance. It is also the level from where theBTC/USDpair had turned down at the end of April 2018. The resistance line of the ascending channel is also close to this level.
A pullback is likely to find support at the 20-day EMA and below it at the support line of the ascending channel. If theses supports break, the fall can extend to $7413.46, below which the short-term trend will turn negative. The only bearish development on the chart is a minor negative divergence on the RSI. However, if the bulls scale $10,000, the next level to watch on the upside is $12,000.
Ethereum (ETH) is consolidating between $225.39 and $280 since May 16. Repeated attempts by the bulls to break out of the range have failed to find buyers at higher levels. Though the price rose above $280 on June 16 and 17, the bulls could not sustain it. However, with both the moving averages sloping up and the RSI in the positive zone, we expect the bulls to make another attempt to breakout of the consolidation.
If successful, theETH/USDpair can rally to $322.06 and above it to $335. We anticipate this zone to offer a stiff resistance. On the other hand, if the pair fails to scale above the range, it will continue to consolidate for a few more days. The trend will turn negative on a breakdown of $225.39.
Ripple (XRP) continues to trade inside the symmetrical triangle as the attempt to break out of it failed on June 17 and 18. It has since then corrected to the 20-day EMA, which has started to turn up. If the price stays above the 20-day EMA, we expect the bulls to make another attempt to break out of the triangle. If successful, it can rally to $0.57259 and above it to $0.6250.
Contrary to our assumption, if theXRP/USDpair plunges below the 20-day EMA, it can slide to the trendline of the symmetrical triangle. A breakdown of this level will signal weakness and can drag the price lower. Therefore, traders can keep the stop loss on thelongposition at $0.37. Profits on about 40% of the positions can be booked closer to $0.45 if the next attempt to ascend it fails.
Litecoin (LTC) has been consolidating near the overhead resistance for the past few days. In a strong uptrend, when the pullbacks are shallow, it is usually an indication that further upside is likely. Both the moving averages are trending up and the RSI is close to the overbought zone, which suggests that the bulls are firmly in the driver’s seat.
If theLTC/USDpair breaks out and closes (UTC time frame) above $143.3047, it can rally to $158.91 and above it to $184.7949. Therefore, traders can continue to trail the stops on the remaininglongposition below 20-day EMA. As the price moves up, we might suggest to tighten the stops further.
A breakdown of the 20-day EMA will be the first indication that momentum is weakening. The trend will turn down on a breakdown and close below the support line of the ascending channel.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is struggling to stay above the 20-day EMA. This shows a lack of demand at higher levels. The 20-day EMA is flattening out and the RSI is also close to 50. This points to range bound action in the short term.
If theBCH/USDpair slides below the 20-day EMA, it can drop to the 50-day SMA. We anticipate strong support between $360 and the 50-day SMA. A breakdown of this support zone can drag the pair to the support line of the ascending channel. The trend will turn negative on a breakdown of the channel.
On the upside, a breakout of the $440–$451 resistance zone can propel the price to $481.99. The resistance line of the channel is just above this level, hence, we expect it to act as a strong barrier. If the bulls scale this resistance zone, the pair is likely to pick up momentum.
EOScould not pick up momentum after breaking out of the overhead resistance of $6.8299, which is a bearish sign. It shows a lack of buyers at higher levels. The 20-day EMA is flattening out and the RSI is close to the midpoint. This shows a balance between bulls and bears.
Currently, the bulls are attempting to hold the price above the 20-day EMA. If it can move above $7.2691, a rally to the resistance line of the channel is probable. If this level is crossed, then the next target to watch is $8.6503.
Contrary to our expectation, if the bears sink theEOS/USDpair below the 20-day EMA, it can dip to the 50-day SMA. The zone between the support line of the channel and 50-day SMA is critical because if it breaks down, the pair can plunge to $4.4930. Therefore, traders who holdlongpositions can retain the stop loss at $5.80.
Binance Coin (BNB) is attempting to resume its uptrend. Both the moving averages are gradually moving up and the RSI is above 50, which shows that the bulls have the advantage. We anticipate another attempt to break out of the overhead resistance of $38.6463356. If successful, the uptrend will resume and the next target to watch is $46.1645899.
On the other hand, if theBNB/USDpair fails to rise above $38.6463356, it might correct to the 20-day EMA. If this support breaks down, the next level to watch is the 50-day SMA. Another possibility is that the pair remains range bound between $28 and $38.6463356 for a few days. The trend will turn down if the bears sink the price below $28. For now, traders can protect theirlongposition with the stop at $28. We will trail the stops higher in a couple of days.
Bitcoin SV (BSV) is consolidating in an uptrend. Both the moving averages are sloping up and the RSI is close to the overbought zone, which suggests that the bulls have the upper hand. Currently, the bulls are facing minor resistance at $237.390 but the positive thing is that it has not given up much ground.
TheBSV/USDpair formed an inside day candlestick pattern yesterday, which shows equilibrium between bulls and bears. If the bulls can push the price above $237.390, a move to $254 is likely. If this level is scaled, the pair will pick up momentum and rally to $307.789. Above this level, the next level to watch is $340.248.
Conversely, if the pair fails to break out of the overhead resistances, it might remain range-bound for a few days. The trend will turn bearish on a breakdown and close below $176.083, which is the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the recent rally.
Stellar (XLM) continues to trade inside the descending triangle. The 20-day EMA is flat and the RSI is just below 50, which points to a consolidation in the short term. A breakdown of the triangle will complete the bearish pattern that has a target objective of $0.06678607. However, there is strong support at $0.0855 and below it at the lows.
Conversely, if the bulls scale above the downtrend line of the triangle, it will invalidate the bearish setup and can carry theXLM/USDpair to $0.14861760. The inverse head and shoulders pattern will complete on a breakout and close above $0.14861760, which has a target objective of $0.22466773. As the risk to reward ratio is attractive, we retain the buy recommendation given in thepreviousanalysis.
Cardano (ADA) has pulled back to the 20-day EMA, which is acting as a strong support. If this level cracks, the cryptocurrency might enter into a consolidation between $0.076254 and $0.10. A breakdown of this range can sink it to $0.057898.
Currently, both the moving averages are gradually sloping up and the RSI is close to the midpoint, which suggests that bulls have a slight advantage. A breakout and close (UTC time frame) above $0.10 will complete a reversal pattern that has target objective of $0.22466773. Traders can look to initiate long positions on theADA/USDpair as recommended in anearlieranalysis.
Market data is provided by theHitBTCexchange. Charts for analysis are provided byTradingView.
• BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH, EOS, BNB, BSV, XLM, ADA: Price Analysis 17/06
• BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH, EOS, BNB, BSV, XLM, ADA: Price Analysis 12/06
• BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH, EOS, BNB, BSV, XLM, ADA: Price Analysis 14/06
• BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH, EOS, BNB, BSV, XLM, ADA: Price Analysis 10/06 |
Steelcase (SCS) Misses Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
Steelcase (SCS) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.15 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.19 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.14 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -21.05%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this office furniture maker would post earnings of $0.26 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.29, delivering a surprise of 11.54%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.
Steelcase, which belongs to the Zacks Business - Office Products industry, posted revenues of $824.30 million for the quarter ended May 2019, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.55%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $754 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.
Steelcase shares have added about 18.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 16.4%.
What's Next for Steelcase?
While Steelcase has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Steelcase was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.43 on $938.70 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.31 on $3.71 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Business - Office Products is currently in the top 26% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
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 reportSteelcase Inc. (SCS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Charles Schwab CEO: Actually, We're Killing It With Millennials
At 58,Charles SchwabCEO Walt Bettinger is demographically a baby boomer. Sartorially, too: Speaking to a casually dressed, tech-oriented crowd at a beachside resort on Wednesday, he joked, “I fit in really well with my suit and tie.”
But in an onstage interview at Fortune’s Brainstorm Finance conference, Bettinger disputed the conventional wisdom that his legacy brokerage firm was at a disadvantage in serving the hoodies-and-Allbirds crowd. “The math backs it up: We’re bringing in hundreds of thousands of millennials every year,” Bettinger said. What’s more, “If you map out [the investing needs] of Gen Y and Gen X, they don’t look very different” in the products and services they seek. “The behavior of millennials is quite consistent with other generations.”
“About 53% of our new-to-firm accounts are millennials,” he said. “What’s really important is that it’s not just any millennial…our average retail household has in the vicinity of $350,000 [in assets]. So the average millennial we’re winning has that level of affluence today already.”
Bettinger (whose tie, by the way, was baby blue) has been Charles Schwab’s CEO since 2008. The brokerage has logged significant gains in recent years under his leadership after weathering a tough patch during the financial crisis. Originally a discount brokerage specializing in inexpensive stock trades, Schwab has evolved into a broader operation over the years—offering “high touch” wealth management and advice services alongside dirt-cheap mutual fund and ETF trading. (For more, read “How Schwab Got Robots to Play Nice With Humans.”)
Revenue growth has averaged 13% over the past three years, falling just short of $11 billion in 2018; and profit growth was 20% annually over the same span. The firm has just under $3.7 trillion under management, in about 15 million brokerage, bank and retirement accounts.
Schwab has recently rolled out the kinds of leading-edge fintech products and services that some millennials have gravitated toward. The firm is considered a pioneer in using artificial intelligence to steer customer service and, in some cases, investment advice. Its Intelligent Portfolios robo-adviser service has been growing steadily, though it accounts for only around 1% of Schwab customer assets.
Schwab faces competition in both the robo-adviser space and in its stock- and fund-trading businesses from startups offering very-low- or zero-commission trading, including Betterment, Robinhood and Brainstorm Finance participant Wealthfront. Bettinger had some praise for those operations: “The consumer probably wins at the end,” he said. “Models like a Wealthfront or a Betterment in some cases do better for consumers than many consumers could get from an investment advisory model in years past.”
At the same time, Bettinger was skeptical that those companies would be able to pressure Schwab to lower its own prices over the long run. “Let’s not kid ourselves: Everybody’s paying, nothing is free…it’s just a matter of how you pay,” he said. “If you are an accountholder at a firm that is charging a zero commission, you’re just paying in other ways—whether it’s in yields on cash, whether it’s in quality of execution.”
Venture capital funding is enabling those startups to keep fees low or nonexistent, he noted, but that wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run: “We’re planning for a multi-decade time frame.”
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Trump's 'Nightmare' China Tariffs Could Destroy the U.S. Bridal Gown Industry
U.S. bridal gown designers and retailers are saying “I don’t” toPresident Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with China, arguing his latest call for tariffs on Chinese imports will devastate the $2 billion industry.
Trump’s proposed 25% tariff hit list on$200 billion of Chinese importsincludes silk and other materials used to make wedding dresses.
“Suddenly raising tariffs to 25% is like a heroin overdose,” Stephen Lang, owner of New Jersey-based Mon Cheri Bridals, tellsFortune.
Lang testified to his concerns Wednesday at the third day of hearings before the U.S. Trade Representative,joining other business leaders. “It will wipe us out completely. My industry could be out of business in a year. I will lose my home and all my assets,” Lang said.
Instead of spending his pre-retirement years transferring ownership of Mon Cheri to his 100 employees—most of whom are women and with the company since its 1991 founding—Lang, 65, is calculating how to save a successful gown production and importing business.
“I never was up at night worrying about competition, and now I’m looking at my own government putting me out of business,” he said.
U.S. companies relying on Chinese imports are numerous, from retailers of various goods to manufacturers that rely on components. Among business officials testifying before the USTR this week, are those from the bicycle, underwear, jewelry, electronics, lighting, and footwear industries. Of particular note, footwear makerNew Balance withdrew its previous supportof the president’s China trade policies.
Bridal designers, manufacturers, and shop owners argue wedding dress makers, who already pay a 16% duty, are particularly at risk—even if the gowns are made in America because fabric and other materials often come from China.
“As a designer, I’ve always been passionate of keeping labor inside the U.S. as much as possible and supporting local textiles,” says Rebecca Schoneveld, who sells her own and like-minded designers’ lines of handcrafted gowns at her Brooklyn-based shop Schone Bride.“But specialty fabric, trims, and silks—most of those don’t exist in the U.S. We don’t have silk worms or mulberry trees. The Silk Road is called the Silk Road for a reason.”
And although she’s planning on relying on other material in future collections, what of her pre-existing six years of dress designs?
“We aren’t making designs where we can rapidly change for tariffs,” Schoneveld tellsFortune.“And it’s important to us that our brides don’t get something that looks different.”
Likewise, Lang, who relies on 49 Chinese factories for his gowns, said he can’t switch to another country for imports.
“If I was making socks, I could go to Bangladesh or India or the Caribbean,” said Lang. “But for bridal, I can’t get the material I need from anywhere but China. And there’s no way that these other countries would be able to absorb the production that this industry needs.”
The timeline for wedding dress sales and production also create unique concerns. As Trump seeks to initiate another round of tariff increases on Chinese imports, businesses are already struggling to adjust to higher costs caused by his earlier tariff hikes.
“What’s weird about our industry is that brides pay for goods four to five months before they ship to us,” Ann Campeau, president of the National Bridal Retail Association and co-owner of five independent bridal shops, tellsFortune.“Now our goods are coming at higher price points, which the manufacturers have to absorb because they are contractually locked into that price.”
Although Campeau said many American manufacturers are now absorbing higher tariff costs rather than passing them on to some 6,400 independently owned bridal shops, this can’t fiscally be sustained in the long term.
“I think short term it won’t put my stores out of business,” she said, “but if I’m paying more, I buy fewer dresses so it will eventually affect manufacturers.”
In the debate over slapping additional tariffs on Chinese imports, the Trump administration asserts U.S. businesses benefit from the tariffs. However, it’s the opposite for U.S. importers of Chinese products.
“Tariffs are taxes paid by American consumers, not foreign countries,” said Bethany Aronhalt, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. “If the administration’s latest tariff threat takes effect, just about every U.S. industry would take a hit, and the bridal industry is no exception. Everything from a bridal dress and the groom’s suit to jewelry, shoes, and wedding decor could cost more if the trade war escalates.”
As a result of the earlier Trump tariffs and possibility for more, Campeau wonders if her customers will be able to afford higher prices of already expensive gowns—an issue with which Schoneveld is grappling.
“Last week I had to go through our inventory. We had to raise prices,” she said. “There are some styles that cost $2,200, which now have to be sold at $2,800.”
And ifAmerican consumers can’t pay the difference, Lang said he’s worried they’ll turn to online counterfeits—often sourced from China—undoing much of the work his bridal association has accomplished to fight forgeries over six years, removing 30 million illegally used product photos and shutting down 3,000 counterfeit websites.
“Millennials and younger generations don’t always want to go out and buy a nice dress, they’d rather go on vacation,” he said. “So counterfeiters will take our intellectual property, put it on websites with our brand names for much less money, and customers think they’re getting the same thing while they’re usually getting cheap knockoffs.”
Ultimately, counterfeits could be perpetrated by the same Chinese manufacturers American bridal companies might no longer be able to use.
“If good factories can’t sell to us, they’ll sell to our counterfeiters,” Lang said. “If the tariffs are upheld, counterfeiters will come out of the woodwork again.”
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Boeing (BA) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
Boeing (BA) closed at $368.56 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.44% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.42%.
Coming into today, shares of the airplane builder had gained 4.24% in the past month. In that same time, the Aerospace sector gained 5.21%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.2%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from BA as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect BA to post earnings of $1.81 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 45.65%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $19.48 billion, down 19.69% from the prior-year quarter.
BA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $14.37 per share and revenue of $98.87 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -10.24% and -2.23%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for BA. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.46% lower within the past month. BA is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that BA has a Forward P/E ratio of 26.03 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.14.
We can also see that BA currently has a PEG ratio of 2.33. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Aerospace - Defense industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.88 as of yesterday's close.
The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 35, which puts it in the top 14% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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 Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Zynerba Pharmaceuticals (ZYNE) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Zynerba Pharmaceuticals (ZYNE) closed at $13.91 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.87% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.42%.
Heading into today, shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company had lost 6.95% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 4.2% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.2% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from ZYNE as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, ZYNE is projected to report earnings of -$0.50 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 43.82%.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for ZYNE should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.83% higher. ZYNE is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
The Medical - Generic Drugs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 172, which puts it in the bottom 33% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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 reportZynerba Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ZYNE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here. |
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup: Argentina stuns Scotland with three-goal comeback, England tops Group D
This is Yahoo Soccer’s daily Women’s World Cup recap. From the best performances to the buzziest moments, we’ll make sure you don’t miss a thing from France. Key result Scotland 3-3 Argentina Argentina pulled off the biggest comeback in the history of the Women’s World Cup, scoring three times in the final 20 minutes to stun Scotland and hand the Scots their walking papers. And like plenty of other instances so far in France, VAR played a role. Scotland took a three-goal lead on the strength of a goal and an assist by Erin Cuthbert, and Milagros Menendez handed Argentina hope by pulling one back in the 74th minute. A few minutes later, Flor Bonsegundo heightened tensions even further when she fired from long range and caught a fortunate bounce past the goal line off the outstretched hand of Scotland keeper Lee Alexander. Shortly before stoppage time, Sophie Howard brought down Argentina’s Aldana Cometti in the box, and while referee Ri Hyang-ok waved off any infraction, VAR buzzed her to take another look and she correctly awarded the penalty. Bonsegundo’s attempt was saved by Alexander, but for seemingly the umpteenth time this World Cup, VAR ruled the keeper left her line early. Bonsegundo converted the second kick, salvaging a miraculous and potentially critical point. Florencia Bonsegundo and Argentina pulled off a stunner against Scotland. (Getty) So now Argentina, which overcame plenty of obstacles just to reach the World Cup, would make the knockout stage provided neither Chile nor Cameroon win on Thursday. If they don’t, Argentina qualifies as the last of four third-place teams eligible thanks to tiebreakers. And all Scotland can do is wonder what went wrong. One thing’s for sure: Nobody in Scotland, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, is happy with VAR right now. I still don’t fully understand how it works, but I understand enough to know that I hate VAR! @FIFAWWC — Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 19, 2019 Standout player Ellen White, England With all the fireworks over in Paris, it’s easy to forget the Group D winner was decided in Nice as England beat Japan 2-0. White scored both goals for the Three Lionesses, once in the first half and once in the second, each a clever finish to shirk Japanese keeper Ayaka Yamashita. England gets a measure of revenge for its semifinal loss to Japan four years ago, and after winning all three group games, the Lionesses head into the knockout stage brimming with confidence. Story continues Best goal Flor Bonsegundo, Argentina Yes, it was technically an own goal, and yes, we said earlier it caught a fortunate bounce. But just look at this hit by Bonsegundo. Look at its placement and pace. What exactly is Alexander supposed to do with that? IT'S NOT OVER YET! Argentina score their second goal in five minutes to pull within one of Scotland! pic.twitter.com/7RKbxpPQK7 — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 19, 2019 Headlines from the touchlines Hope Solo blames equal pay fight, not ‘cowards’ comment, for ban Why integral Lindsey Horan has gone unnoticed for USWNT How Argentina went from non-existent to Women’s World Cup FIFA: Officials were wrong to boot pro-Iran fans from match Thursday’s games Netherlands vs. Canada, Group E, Noon ET Cameroon vs. New Zealand, Group E, Noon ET Thailand vs. Chile, Group F, 3 p.m. ET Sweden vs. United States, Group F, 3 p.m. ET More from Yahoo Sports: CP3, Harden relationship deemed ‘unsalvageable’ From mid-major to NBA draft: Morant's historic rise Coach K on Zion’s NBA potential: 'He’s a gift from God' Why D-Wade supported son at Miami Pride |
Pot, guns, sports betting on agenda for lawmakers' last day
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers were hoping to finish their work on marijuana sales, renewable energy and online sports betting during the last scheduled day of this session Wednesday. As lawmakers worked into the evening on the agenda, legislative leaders trumpeted bipartisan deals and their largely cordial debate following years of discord among Republicans and Democrats. But tensions flared at one point, and a Republican lawmaker was escorted out of the chamber by his colleagues after yelling at the speaker. Several of the session's biggest bills touch on issues long blocked under the previous Republican administration, including allowing pot sales first approved by voters in 2016, requiring the use of a hands-free device to access a mobile phone while driving, and boosting the solar industry. By mid-day Wednesday, the Legislature passed a bill to prohibit drivers from "using, manipulating, talking into or otherwise interacting with a handheld electronic device or mobile telephone" — unless they are using hands-free technology. Drivers would face a fine of at least $50 for the first offense and $250 for subsequent offenses. TO-DO LIST The Legislature still faces decisions on several high-profile bills, including whether to join the growing number of states that allow online sports wagers. Lawmakers have yet to pass rules and regulations to allow the sale of legalized recreational marijuana, though votes are possible Wednesday. The state's rules are designed to allow municipalities to opt in or out of allowing sales of adult-use marijuana, which voters legalized in 2016. Maine could also ban adults from furnishing tobacco products to anyone under age 21 and raises fees on drug manufacturers to fund opioid treatment. ___ CONTROVERSIAL BILLS It appears unlikely Maine will pass a bill to join states pledging to award Electoral College votes to the national popular vote winner in presidential elections. Legislation aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of certain individuals also face long odds. The House and Senate on Tuesday voted down a Democrat's bill to allow law enforcement or family members to ask courts to order the temporary surrender of an individual's firearms if there's probable cause. Story continues But lawmakers may also consider a compromise bill. Maine law allows officers to take a person into protective custody for a mental health evaluation. The compromise bill would require such a person to surrender dangerous weapons if a medical practitioner decides such access is seriously harmful. Then a judicial hearing held within 14 days could extend those restrictions for one year. ___ ON THE GOVERNOR'S DESK Mills put her signature on several bills Wednesday, including a switch to an automatic voter registration system. Her office says Maine is now the 19th state with such a system, which will let residents opt-out of being registered when they do business with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. She also signed a bill requiring state utility regulators to approve a long-term contract for the University of Maine's offshore wind project. There is still a pile of bills on Mills' desk, including a Student Loan Bill of Rights, an act to protect tribal fishing and automatic voter registration, and a bill that would prohibit profiling by law enforcement officers. ___ SPENDING BILLS, BONDS Legislators will decide which bonds to send to voters in November and how to dole out roughly $6 million in funds left over from budget negotiations. Maine could borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in renewable energy, infrastructure, broadband expansion and workforce training under proposed bonds. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has proposed $239 million worth of bonds, and voters could approve an initial $189 million in November. Meanwhile, lawmakers have passed scores of bills this year that will end up dying without funding. Lobbyists representing nonprofits and advocacy groups are making the case for which bills to fund. ___ GREEN ENERGY Lawmakers have passed several bills with a goal of encouraging more renewable energy development, a goal sought by Mills. A major solar bill will remove restrictions on new community solar projects while directing the Maine Public Utilities Commission to seek 375 megawatts of solar power by July 1, 2024, through competitive bidding. The bill says its eventual price tag of over $800,000 will be covered by increased assessments on transmission and distribution utilities, a cost that could eventually be passed onto customers. Another bill that faces action by Mills would double the amount of renewable electricity sold in the state to 80% by 2030, and 100% by 2050. |
Fed leaves its key rate unchanged but hints of future cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday but signaled that it's prepared to start cutting rates if needed to protect the U.S. economy from trade conflicts and other threats.
The Fed kept its benchmark rate — which influences many consumer and business loans — in a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, where it's been since December.
It issued a statement saying that because "uncertainties" have increased, it would "act as appropriate to sustain the expansion." That language echoed a remark Chairman Jerome Powell made two weeks ago that analysts interpreted as a signal that rate cuts were on the way.
The uncertainties the Fed referred to clearly include President Donald Trump's trade conflicts, especially with China. The effects of tariffs and counter-tariffs between the United States and China have become perhaps the leading threat to the U.S. economic expansion, which next month will become the longest on record.
In its statement, the Fed removed a reference to being "patient" about adjusting rates. That suggested that it's now inclined to begin cutting rates for the first time in more than a decade. It remains unclear, though, when that might happen.
The Fed's decision was approved on a 9-1 vote, with James Bullard, president of the Fed's St. Louis regional bank, dissenting because he thought the central bank should begin cutting rates now. It marked the first dissent from a Fed decision since Powell became chairman in February last year.
On Wall Street, stocks rose and bond yields dipped, reflecting investor expectations of lower rates ahead. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added a modest 38 points. But investors snapped up bonds and sent their yields tumbling. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank to 2.03 percent, its lowest point since Trump's election in November 2016.
A survey of the 17 Fed officials showed that nearly half now expect at least one rate cut this year, with seven projecting two cuts. When they previously issued forecasts in March, none had predicted a rate cut in 2019.
Many Fed watchers have said they think the policymakers want to first see whether a meeting that Trump and President Xi Jinping are to hold late next week at a Group of 20 nations summit in Japan produces any breakthrough in the U.S.-China trade war.
That meeting carries opportunity as well as risks, said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wells Fargo.
It's possible the meeting could lead to the removal of tariffs that would help growth and nullify the need for rate cuts. But it's also possible that the leaders of the world's two largest economies could deepen their feud and that new import taxes could be launched.
"The clearest and present danger is the G-20 meeting next week," Bryson said. "It could go either way."
Many analysts think the central bank will wait until September at the earliest to announce its first drop in its benchmark short-term rate since 2008 and might not cut again in 2019. A few Fed watchers foresee no rate cut at all this year, especially if the United States and China reach some tentative resolution to the trade war.
Complicating the timing of possible rate cuts is an escalation of attacks on the Fed by Trump as he gears up for his 2020 re-election campaign. Trump's public criticism, a highly unusual action for a president, has raised concern that he is undermining the Fed's independence as a central bank. The president has asserted that under Powell's leadership, the Fed hurt the economy by tightening credit too much last year and by failing to lower rates since then.
This week, Trump was asked about a news report that the White House in February had explored whether the president had the authority to demote Powell as chairman while leaving him on the Fed's board.
"Let's see what he does," Trump said of Powell. "They're going to be making an announcement very soon. So we'll see what happens."
The president has previously explored firing Powell. But under the law, a Fed board member, like Powell, can be fired only for cause.
At his news conference, Powell was asked what he would do if Trump said he intended to demote him.
"I think the law is clear that I have a four-year term, and I fully intend" to fulfill it," the chairman said, reiterating what he has said previously.
The Fed is meeting at a time when the U.S.-China trade war has magnified concern and uncertainty for businesses and investors about whether and how much the economy will suffer. The U.S. manufacturing sector, in particular, is weakening. This week, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that an index it compiles of manufacturing in New York state plunged this month into negative territory — to its lowest point since 2016. The index reflects manufacturing conditions in the state.
In some encouraging news, Trump tweeted Tuesday that he had spoken by phone with Xi and that the two leaders plan "an extended meeting" at a Group of 20 nations summit in Japan late next week. Trump also said that before his meeting with Xi, negotiators for the two sides will resume talks.
Also Tuesday, Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, said the ECB was ready to provide further stimulus, including rate cuts, if the eurozone economy doesn't strengthen soon.
Draghi's comments sent the value of the euro tumbling against the dollar, prompting an angry tweet from Trump accusing the ECB leader of acting to weaken the euro to gain a competitive trade advantage against the United States.
___
AP Economics Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report. |
Fed Not Threatened by Facebook Libra, Has No ‘Plenary Authority’ Over It
ByCCN Markets: Federal Reserve members held discussions with Facebook over the company’sLibra project. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell during today’s press conference, monetary policy makers are not worried that Libra will replace fiat money. He said:
“I think we’re a long way from that…Digital currencies are in their infancy. So essentially, [I’m] not too concerned about central banks no longer being able to carry out monetary policy because of digital currencies or cryptocurrencies.”
Meanwhile, regulating Facebook’s Libra is not on the agenda because the Fed doesn’t have specific authority to do so.
“We don’t have plenary authority over cryptocurrencies as such. They play into our world through consumer protection and money laundering…But I would say through international forums we have significant input into the payment system and as you know play an important role in the payment system in the United States.”
Read the full story on CCN.com. |
BP (BP) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
BP (BP) closed at $41.09 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.02% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.3% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.15%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.42%.
Heading into today, shares of the oil and gas company had lost 3.91% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 1.46% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.2% in that time.
BP will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.83, down 2.35% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $81.13 billion, up 5.5% from the year-ago period.
BP's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.27 per share and revenue of $311.73 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -13.95% and +2.63%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for BP should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 3.7% lower within the past month. BP is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, BP is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.57. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.72.
Investors should also note that BP has a PEG ratio of 1.77 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.77 at yesterday's closing price.
The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 216, putting it in the bottom 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow BP in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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 reportBP p.l.c. (BP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here. |
Kemet (KEM) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Kemet (KEM) closed at $17.88 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.65% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.3% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.15%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.42%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the electronic capacitor maker had gained 1.03% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 0.55% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 2.2% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from KEM as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.75, up 36.36% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $343.47 million, up 4.84% from the year-ago period.
KEM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.11 per share and revenue of $1.39 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -12.15% and +0.78%, respectively.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for KEM. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. KEM currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, KEM is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 5.65. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.39.
The Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, putting it in the top 41% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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 reportKemet Corporation (KEM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
DXC Technology (DXC) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
DXC Technology (DXC) closed at $53.11 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.34% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.3% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.15%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.42%.
Heading into today, shares of the information technology company had lost 3.53% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 0.55% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.2% in that time.
DXC will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.73, down 10.36% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.92 billion, down 6.84% from the year-ago period.
DXC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.18 per share and revenue of $20.83 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -1.92% and +0.39%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for DXC should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 11.38% lower within the past month. DXC is currently a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
In terms of valuation, DXC is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 6.52. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.84.
Investors should also note that DXC has a PEG ratio of 1.66 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Computers - IT Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.69 at yesterday's closing price.
The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 152, putting it in the bottom 41% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow DXC in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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 reportDXC Technology Company. (DXC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Geo Group (GEO) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Geo Group (GEO) closed at $23.83, marking a -0.13% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.15%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.42%.
Heading into today, shares of the private prison operator had gained 7.91% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's gain of 2.14% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.2% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from GEO as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect GEO to post earnings of $0.66 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 10%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $610.10 million, up 4.56% from the year-ago period.
GEO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.68 per share and revenue of $2.48 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +8.5% and +6.54%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for GEO should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 14.07% higher. GEO currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that GEO has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.92 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 15.59, which means GEO is trading at a discount to the group.
Investors should also note that GEO has a PEG ratio of 1.49 right now. 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. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 3.07 as of yesterday's close.
The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 87, which puts it in the top 34% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow GEO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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 reportGeo Group Inc (The) (GEO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Molina (MOH) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Molina (MOH) closed the most recent trading day at $146.37, moving +0.36% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.15%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.42%.
Heading into today, shares of the provider of Medicaid-related services had gained 8.52% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 4.2% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.2% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MOH as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect MOH to post earnings of $2.56 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 13.78%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.08 billion, down 16.49% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.93 per share and revenue of $16.39 billion. These totals would mark changes of +3.02% and -13.24%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MOH. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% higher within the past month. MOH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Digging into valuation, MOH currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.34. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.86, which means MOH is trading at a discount to the group.
We can also see that MOH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.01. 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. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.03 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 19, putting it in the top 8% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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 reportMolina Healthcare, Inc (MOH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here. |
Flexible Solutions International (FSI) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Flexible Solutions International (FSI) closed at $4.20, marking a +0.72% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.42%.
Coming into today, shares of the company had gained 34.52% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector gained 4.7%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.2%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from FSI as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.06, up 50% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $8.35 million, up 101.69% from the prior-year quarter.
FSI's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $0.31 per share and revenue of $32.74 million. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +342.86% and +83.62%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for FSI. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 63.16% higher within the past month. FSI is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
In terms of valuation, FSI is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.45. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.95.
The Chemical - Specialty industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 93, which puts it in the top 37% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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 reportFlexible Solutions International Inc. (FSI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Cumberland Pharmaceuticals (CPIX) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Cumberland Pharmaceuticals (CPIX) closed at $6.19, marking a -0.16% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.3% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.15%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.42%.
Coming into today, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 1.59% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 4.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.2%.
CPIX will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect CPIX to post earnings of $0.07 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 600%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $12.59 million, up 23.92% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.37 per share and revenue of $49.09 million, which would represent changes of +1333.33% and +20.49%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for CPIX should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. CPIX is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.
In terms of valuation, CPIX is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.76. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.11.
The Medical - Drugs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 89, which puts it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow CPIX in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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 reportCumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CPIX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Wells Fargo (WFC) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Wells Fargo (WFC) closed at $45.65, marking a -0.98% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.42%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had lost 0.5% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's gain of 2.14% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.2% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from WFC as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 16, 2019. On that day, WFC is projected to report earnings of $1.16 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 7.41%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $20.92 billion, down 2.95% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.70 per share and revenue of $83.48 billion. These totals would mark changes of +9.81% and -3.39%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WFC should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.68% lower within the past month. WFC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, WFC is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.81. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.88, which means WFC is trading at a discount to the group.
It is also worth noting that WFC currently has a PEG ratio of 0.88. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Banks - Major Regional was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.32 at yesterday's closing price.
The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 98, putting it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow WFC in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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 reportWells Fargo & Company (WFC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here. |
Facebook discussed their plans for Libra with the Federal Reserve
Tech giant Facebook (FB) consulted the Federal Reserve ahead of the launch of its cryptocurrency Libra, according to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
“Facebook has made quite broad rounds around the world, with regulators, supervisors, and lots of people to discuss their plans. That certainly includes us, and it’s something that we’re looking at,” Powell said Wednesdayat a press conference.
On Tuesday,Facebook announced its plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Librawithin the first half of 2020. Libra, which is looking to change the way payments are being made globally, is being backed by a slew of tech and payment companies such as Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), PayPal (PYPL), Uber (UBER), Lyft (LYFT), eBay (EBAY) and Spotify (SPOT).
[Read more:Facebook's cryptocurrency project is called Calibra]
“We meet with a broad range of private-sector firms all the time on financial technology, and there’s just a tremendous amount of innovation going on out there,” Powell explained.
While there is a lot of excitement around Libra and Facebook on Wall Street, lawmakers are much more cautious. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee announced on Wednesday that it would be holding a hearing on July 16 to discuss Facebook’s Libra and the privacy concerns surrounding the project.
“Digital currencies are in their infancy,” Powell warned. “There are potential benefits here, there are also potential risks. Particularly of a currency that could potentially have large application. So, I would echowhat [Bank of England Governor Mark] Carney said, which was that we will wind up having quite high expectations from safety and soundness from a regulatory standpoint, if they do decide to go forward with something.”
—
Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter:@heidi_chung.
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GM seeks to avoid Takata recalls for fourth straight year
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is trying to avoid recalling potentially deadly Takata air bag inflators in thousands of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs for the fourth straight year, leaving owners to wonder if vehicles are safe to drive.
The automaker petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to exempt it from recalls that were required under a 2015 agreement between Takata and the government.
Takata inflators can explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and spewing shrapnel.
Twenty-four people have been killed and hundreds injured by the inflators worldwide.
For GM, the stakes are high. If NHTSA requires it to do all the recalls, the company will have to repair more than 6 million trucks and SUVs at a cost of $1.2 billion, more than half the profit reported by the company in its most recent quarter.
GM's petition, posted Wednesday by the government, says the inflators are unique to GM and are safe, with no explosions even though nearly 67,000 air bags have deployed in the field.
But Takata declared the GM front passenger inflators defective under a 2015 agreement with the government. GM's efforts to avoid the recalls raise questions about whether the inflators are safe and why NHTSA has taken more than three years to rule on GM's petitions. The first one was filed in May of 2016.
"Any fool can see that they're just stalling for time," said Craig Kohlhorst of Wellington, Florida, who recently traded in a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban in part because of the danger presented by the air bags. "They figure if they keep stalling, it'll go away and they won't have to expend the funds to address the issue."
Takata used the volatile chemical ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion and inflate air bags. But high humidity and hot temperatures can cause the chemical to deteriorate and burn too fast, blowing apart metal canisters designed to contain the explosions and hurling shrapnel.
The problem forced the Japanese company into bankruptcy protection and touched off the largest series of automotive recalls in U.S. history, including up to 69 million inflators in the U.S. alone. The recalls are being phased in based on the age of vehicles and exposure to high temperatures and humidity.
Kohlhorst said he was afraid to drive the Suburban because his wife and 15-year-old daughter sat in the front passenger seat and would have been hit by shrapnel if the inflator exploded. Also, shrapnel could have flown into the back seat where his 4-year-old daughter sat. He traded in the Suburban because of its age and rising cost of maintenance, but said the air bags made him trade sooner than he would have liked. In its place he got a new Toyota Corolla, largely for his older daughter to drive.
Even though GM filed the petition in January, NHTSA didn't publish it in the Federal Register as required until Wednesday. GM also had to file recall paperwork, but NHTSA does not make that public until a decision is made on the petitions.
A spokeswoman for NHTSA did not directly answer questions Wednesday about the length of time it's taking to make a decision.
The agency consolidated all four GM petitions into one and said it would takepublic commentuntil July 18.
In its petition, GM said Northrop Grumman tested 4,270 inflators by artificially exposing them to added humidity and temperature cycling, and there were no explosions or abnormal deployments. It says GM has "established that worse-than-worst-case humidity exposure and temperature cycling will not cause inflator ruptures ... at any point within even unrealistically conservative vehicle service life estimates."
The company simulated aging of the inflators for an estimated 35 years, the petition said.
GM said in a prepared statement that it's confident the vehicles "do not present an unreasonable risk to safety, continue to perform as designed in the field and will continue to perform as designed."
Tests on one inflator taken from a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado showed abnormally high pressure inside the canister, but it did not rupture.
GM also said its trucks have solar-absorbing glass that holds down cabin temperatures, keeping the inflators cooler and reducing hot-and-cold cycles that cause the ammonium nitrate to deteriorate.
Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit consumer group, said NHTSA appears to be paralyzed in the GM case. Information provided by GM thus far isn't sufficient for NHTSA to approve the petition, said Levine, who questions the validity of some tests done for GM. He questioned the need for a delay by NHTSA in making a decision.
"There's millions of these things on the road. It is not right. It's bad policy, bad practice," Levine said. "It only engenders concern and fear potentially unnecessarily. NHTSA needs to do its job."
Under NHTSA's agreement with Takata, GM should be recalling the 2010-2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy duty pickups this year, as well as 2010-2013 light duty Silverados and Sierras. Also covered are the 2010-2014 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban SUVs, the 2010-2014 Cadillac Escalade SUV, and the 2010-2014 GMC Yukon SUV.
All of the recalls are being phased in by age of vehicles and areas of the country where they are located. Because GM filed its petition to avoid the recalls, owners will not be notified that their vehicles have the potentially dangerous inflators, according to NHTSA.
Shares of General Motors Co. rose 8 cents to close at $36.78 on Wednesday. |
Dell, HP, Intel, and Microsoft Team Up to Oppose Trump Tariffs on Laptops and Tablets
Dell Technologies,HP,Intel, andMicrosoftare joining forces to oppose President Donald Trump’sproposed tariffson laptop computers and tablets among $300 billion in Chinese goods targeted for duties.
The companies submitted joint comments opposing the tariff escalation, saying it would hurt consumer products and industry, while failing to address China’s trade practices. The tariffs are poised to hit during the peak holiday and back-to-school sales period, they said.
“The tariffs will harm U.S. technology leaders, hindering their ability to innovate and compete in a global marketplace,” the companies said in comments posted online.
Dell, HP, and Microsoft said they account for about half of the notebooks and detachable tablets sold in the U.S. Prices for laptops and tablets will increase by at least 19%—about $120 for the average retail price of a laptop—if the proposed tariffs are implemented, according to astudyreleased this week by the Consumer Technology Association.
The companies said they spent a collective $35 billion on research and development in 2018 alone, and tariff costs would divert resources from innovation while providing “a windfall” to manufacturers based outside the U.S. that are less dependent on American sales.
The Trump administration is considering public comments on the proposed duties and hearing testimony from more than 300 U.S. companies and trade groups through June 25. The tariffs could be imposed after a rebuttal period ends July 2.
The U.S. and China said their presidents will meet in Japan next week to relaunch trade talks after a month-long stalemate. |
Some Astron (ASX:ATR) Shareholders Have Copped A Big 59% Share Price Drop
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We think intelligent long term investing is the way to go. But that doesn't mean long term investors can avoid big losses. Zooming in on an example, theAstron Corporation Limited(ASX:ATR) share price dropped 59% in the last half decade. That is extremely sub-optimal, to say the least. Furthermore, it's down 13% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.
See our latest analysis for Astron
Astron isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.
Over five years, Astron grew its revenue at 21% per year. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. In contrast, the share price is has averaged a loss of 16% per year - that's quite disappointing. This could mean high expectations have been tempered, potentially because investors are looking to the bottom line. Given the revenue growth we'd consider the stock to be quite an interesting prospect if the company has a clear path to profitability.
The graphic below shows how revenue and earnings have changed as management guided the business forward. If you want to see cashflow, you can click on the chart.
Thisfreeinteractive report on Astron'sbalance sheet strengthis a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
Astron shareholders are down 15% for the year, but the market itself is up 11%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 16% doled out over the last five years. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. Shareholders might want to examinethis detailed historical 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 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 AU 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. |
Bank of America CEO: 'We want a cashless society'
Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan embraced the digital money movement on Wednesday, saying his firm has “more to gain than anybody” from the booming trend of non-cash transactions.
“We want a cashless society,” Moynihan, who heads up the second largest U.S. bank, told attendees atFortune’s Brainstorm Finance conference.
He pointed out that more than half of all money transactions are already processed electronically, with the rise of cryptocurrencies, and payment systems like PayPal (PYPL), Zelle, and digital wallets.
A 2018 San Francisco Federal Reserve report found that “cash continues to be the most frequently used payment instrument, representing 30 percent of all transactions and 55 percent of transactions under $10.”
Still, the combination of cryptocurrencies, cashless payments, and electronic wallets like Google Pay (GOOG,GOOGL) and Apple Pay (AAPL) are slowly eroding the need for hard currency. In particular, consumers have adopted mobile banking more widely, and use debit cards with increasing regularity.
Businesses, and even entire countries like Sweden, have also jumped on the movement, disrupting the hard currency that’s underpinned the modern economy.
Noncash transactions are forecast to grow by a compounded annualized growth rate of 12.7% through 2021, according to a 2018 study produced by BNP Paribas and Capgemini. Those vast volumes put financial intermediaries in a prime position to benefit from processing those transactions.
The banking sector has “already digitized,” Moynihan said on Wednesday. “The business has moved digitally and it will continue to move that way. It’s just figuring out how to add the value.”
Javier is an editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow Javier on Twitter:@TeflonGeek
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
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• Jim Chanos on Tesla: Cars are 'poorly made' — but you can't fire Elon Musk
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Apple Is Partnering With Best Buy for Repairs. Is That Enough to Fix Consumers' Complaints?
Apple announced Wednesday that it’sadding Best Buy retailersto its previously-exclusive list of authorized repair locations.
The facts of the exchange are simple: Nearly 1,000Best Buylocations can now offer Apple-certified repairs with an Apple-certified technician. This brings the number of the third-party repair locations to 1,800, a figure that doesn’t include the just under 300 U.S. Apple Store locations.
But beyond the numbers, this means a few things for Apple customers. For one, fixing a broken iPhone screen just got much easier. Repair appointments at Best Buy, and other third-party locations, can all be booked through Apple’s support page the same as Apple Store ones.
In addition, Apple’s announcement says there are now three times more authorized service locations than there were three years ago. With the addition of the Best Buy stores, eight in ten Apple customers are within 20 minutes of an authorized repair location, Apple says.
Paul Roberts, founder of pro-right to repair organization Securepairs.org, notes that while this makes repairs generally more accessible, there’s still much more Apple could do to take the burden off owners of its devices.
Firstly, authorized repair locations aren’t typically allowed to do all the repairs the Apple Store’s Genius Bar would be able to do. (Like fixingthose pesky MacBook keyboards, for example.) And Roberts says the Genius Bar’s capabilities are already limited, due to lack of training and on-site tools.
“It doesn’t actually address the core right to repair argument, which is to allow owners and independent repair shops, mom and pop repair shops, to do a full range of repairs on Apple devices,” Roberts says.
Roberts says the move does show that Apple is starting to listen to activists, consumers, and even lawmakers who have been calling for the company to open up its repair options. “Apple is inching, inching, inching away from their very hardline stance on repair and servicing for Apple devices,” he says. |
Alphabet's Annual Meeting Draws Protests on Multitude of Issues
(Bloomberg) -- Google workers, shareholders and activists used the annual meeting of parent Alphabet Inc. to protest a range of issues, including contractor rights, the tech giant’s business in China and the absenteeism of Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Larry Page.
Shareholders filed proposals asking Alphabet management to scrap non-compete agreements, claw back compensation from executives who were found to have harassed employees and put an employee representative on its board.
Several activist groups, sometimes in conjunction with Google employees, protested outside the meeting and at company offices around the world. Topics include diversity, ethics around product launches, housing affordability and working conditions for temporary and contract staff.
About 30 protesters, including Google workers and outside activists, gathered outside the event holding signs that read "Not OK Google" and "Google creates homelessness." Tibetan, Uighur and Chinese rights activists called on Google management to clearly confirm the company will not re-establish business relations with China, citing what they said is the government’s mass surveillance and human-rights abuses.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company’s huge scale comes with a “deep sense of responsibility to create things that improve people’s lives” and benefit society as a whole. Executive Chairman John Hennessy said Alphabet’s board of directors is making sure the company focuses on diversity, sustainability and societal impact. “We are deeply committed to do the right thing on these issues,” he said.
The meeting is the latest flare-up in a roughly two-year effort by some Google employees and outside activists to push the company to be more accountable to workers, stockholders and the communities where it operates.
Listen to a Google insider’s account of the protests from Bloomberg’s Decrypted podcast.
Google has a famously open work culture, where employees of all levels are encouraged to speak their mind and suggest changes to company policy. That’s created some headaches for the tech giant. Google shelved a plan to build a censored search engine for China after news of the project leaked and employees rebelled against it. The company also stepped back from one military contract and stopped forcing employees to sign away their right to bring claims against it in court.
Google’s critics only have so much power though. Shareholder proposals like the ones advanced at the annual meeting are almost always rejected because the company’s founders control the majority of the votes through special shares.
“I was wondering where the CEO of Alphabet is. Year after year there’s no CEO here. It’s a glaring omission,” especially for someone with such a large stake in the company, one shareholder said during the meeting. Page and Google co-founder Sergey Brin control Alphabet through special voting shares, but they have stopped showing up at annual meetings in recent years.
Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker responded, saying Page wasn’t able to attend this year. He has attended every board meeting, Walker said.
The shareholder replied that the annual meeting is the only time investors have a chance to ask the CEO questions directly.
Marie Collins, a Google employee who has worked there for about six years, said the company lacks accountability, citing Page and Brin’s absence as part of the problem. The executives rarely attend companywide employee meetings anymore, she added. Google used to have a good relationship with employees, but that changed about a year ago, Collins said.
Google engineer Irene Knapp spoke in favor of a proposal to tie executive compensation to the company’s progress on diversity and inclusion. Knapp cited research by the group AI Now showing that bias in artificial intelligence technology is related to the lack of diversity in the industry.
Other Google employees spoke in favor of proposals on adding a worker representative to the board and a call for a report on the impact of Google’s Dragonfly Chinese search project.
While Ruth Porat, Google’s chief financial officer, spoke about autonomous vehicle technology, protesters outside the building chanted and shouted through loud speakers.
“Alphabet sits at an inflection point,” facing antitrust investigations and other issues, one employee said, in support of the proposal to add a worker representative to the board. “It cannot afford to ignore the storm brewing.”
(Updates with Google employee comments in 13th paragraph.)
To contact the reporters on this story: Alistair Barr in San Francisco at abarr18@bloomberg.net;Gerrit De Vynck in New York at gdevynck@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Robin Ajello
For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P. |
One Thing To Remember About The VPower Group International Holdings Limited (HKG:1608) Share Price
Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Anyone researching VPower Group International Holdings Limited ( HKG:1608 ) might want to consider the historical volatility of the share price. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. The first category is company specific volatility. This can be dealt with by limiting your exposure to any particular stock. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market. Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Beta can be a useful tool to understand how much a stock is influenced by market risk (volatility). However, Warren Buffett said 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk' in his 2014 letter to investors. So, while useful, beta is not the only metric to consider. To use beta as an investor, you must first understand that the overall market has a beta of one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price. View our latest analysis for VPower Group International Holdings What does 1608's beta value mean to investors? Given that it has a beta of 0.83, we can surmise that the VPower Group International Holdings share price has not been strongly impacted by broader market volatility (over the last 5 years). This means that -- if history is a guide -- buying the stock would reduce the impact of overall market volatility in many portfolios (depending on the beta of the portfolio, of course). Beta is worth considering, but it's also important to consider whether VPower Group International Holdings is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below. Story continues SEHK:1608 Income Statement, June 19th 2019 Does 1608's size influence the expected beta? With a market capitalisation of HK$7.0b, VPower Group International Holdings is a small cap stock. However, it is big enough to catch the attention of professional investors. Small cap stocks ofthen have a higher beta than the overall market. However, small companies can also be strongly impacted by company specific developments, which can move the share price in ways that are unrelated to the broader market. That could explain why this one has a low beta value. What this means for you: Since VPower Group International Holdings is not heavily influenced by market moves, its share price is probably far more dependend on company specific developments. It could pay to take a closer look at metrics such as revenue growth, earnings growth, and debt. In order to fully understand whether 1608 is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as VPower Group International Holdings’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following: Future Outlook : What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for 1608’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for 1608’s outlook. Past Track Record : Has 1608 been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of 1608's historicals for more clarity. Other Interesting Stocks : It's worth checking to see how 1608 measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with this free list of prospective options . We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor 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. |
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About The Southern Company (SO)
Hedge funds and other investment firms run by legendary investors like Israel Englander, Jeffrey Talpins and Ray Dalio are entrusted to manage billions of dollars of accredited investors' money because they are without peer in the resources they use to identify the best investments for their chosen investment horizon. Moreover, they are more willing to invest a greater amount of their resources in small-cap stocks than big brokerage houses, and this is often where they generate their outperformance, which is why we pay particular attention to their best ideas in this space.
IsThe Southern Company (NYSE:SO)a buy right now? Hedge funds are in a bearish mood. The number of long hedge fund bets went down by 1 recently. Our calculations also showed that so isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.SOwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 20 hedge funds in our database with SO holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio.
We're going to go over the recent hedge fund action surrounding The Southern Company (NYSE:SO).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -5% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 15 hedge funds with a bullish position in SO a year ago. With hedgies' positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO), with a stake worth $466.2 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Point72 Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $94.7 million. Citadel Investment Group, AQR Capital Management, and GLG Partners were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Seeing as The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it's safe to say that there were a few hedgies that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Stuart J. Zimmer'sZimmer Partnersdropped the biggest investment of the "upper crust" of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at about $84.5 million in stock, and Matthew Tewksbury's Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $21.5 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds last quarter.
Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX), Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE), Crown Castle International Corp. (REIT) (NYSE:CCI), and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM). This group of stocks' market values match SO's market value.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BSX,47,2098911,1 SNE,22,569371,-3 CCI,35,2190500,1 GM,53,5393147,-7 Average,39.25,2562982,-2 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 39.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2563 million. That figure was $847 million in SO's case. General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is even less popular than SNE. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on SO as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on SO as the stock returned 3.7% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Ventas, Inc. (VTR)
With the first-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world preferred to invest or sell heading into the first quarter. One of these stocks was Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR).
Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds of late. Our calculations also showed that vtr isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We're going to check out the key hedge fund action surrounding Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 36% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in VTR over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR), with a stake worth $208.1 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Balyasny Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $30.8 million. Adage Capital Management, AQR Capital Management, and Citadel Investment Group were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Now, specific money managers have jumped into Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) headfirst.Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, assembled the largest position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR). Balyasny Asset Management had $30.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Noam Gottesman'sGLG Partnersalso made a $0.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new VTR positions are Mike Vranos'sEllington, Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capital, and John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisors.
Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR). These stocks are Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN), Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC), Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WLTW), and Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF). All of these stocks' market caps match VTR's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ALGN,30,1756917,-7 APC,50,2096400,-4 WLTW,33,1631672,8 SYF,45,2701973,5 Average,39.5,2046741,0.5 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 39.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2047 million. That figure was $300 million in VTR's case. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) is the least popular one with only 30 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) is even less popular than ALGN. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on VTR, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 0.5% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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The DJ-inspired production platform Serato Studio arrives today
If you're aSerato DJuser with an unfulfilled desire to make beats and missed the beta for the company's new production platform, now's your chance. Today is the official launch ofSerato Studio 1.0and it's in good form following a little feedback from the initial test group. As we mentionedback in March, Serato Studio is an easy entry point into music production for DJs and novices alike. The software ties into existing DJ hardware for those already invested in mixing tunes, letting you manage many of the on-screen tools right from your controller. It's also chock full of familiar features including colored waveforms, cue points and direct access to your Serato DJ library.
Serato Studio 1.0 isavailable todayas a subscription of $15 per month -- or $10 per month billed annually -- and you can test the waters first with afree trial. Subscribers will get regular software updates, along with access toSerato Soundswhich provides new audio packs each month. They'll be loaded with instruments, drum kits, loops and FX spanning a variety of styles from sound designers like Decap, Goldbaby, MSXII Sound Design and more.
Along with today's release, Serato Sounds kicks off its artist series with a sound pack fromJust Blaze, the producer behind many tracks from artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar. There will be sounds mastered with his own vintage studio gear, plus original self-recorded samples. Just Blaze said "I wanted to actually get on the drum kit, smack the sticks around. Bang on different things in my house and pick up different sounds..." so you may just get the kitchen sink in there, who knows.
While I covered much of Serato Studio's core elements in mybeta overview, there are plenty of new and expanded features to note with this 1.0 release. There's now the ability to perform a master key change across an entire song in one click. Triplets and swing have been added to the step sequencer to add a little variance to your beats and you can now enjoy more spacious layouts with up to 32-beat scenes. Additionally, stem exports have arrived for those who want to work with their creation in other platforms and there's now a master deck waveform so you can get a visual of your entire piece in one go.
All these updates seem to take the software a few steps further into the realm of complete DAW products, letting you lay out more complex compositions beyond a basic chain of short looped segments. With the available catalog of sounds, the sampler and Pitch 'n Time tools, you can really dig into sound creation and get the core of a track together quickly. You can tap out beats or record filter sweeps live using your existing DJ controller or MIDI keyboard. This can save you the cost of additional gear while providing a more tactile and fluid interface than a computer keyboard. Although that works just fine, too.
• DJ Style Library - Access your entire Serato DJ library with crates, cue points, BPM and key information.
• Works with DJ hardware- Studio works with a range of DJ controllers and mixers, as well as MIDI controllers, or just your laptop.
• Quality Content Built In - Studio comes with a huge amount of built-in drum kits, instruments, audio loops and samples, with frequent content updates for subscribers.
• Serato Colored Waveforms - See your audio and MIDI sequences in Serato's famous colored waveforms.
• Supports VST and AU plug-ins- Customise your sound in Studio using your own plug-ins
• Master Key Change- Transpose the entire key of your project to match the key of your acapella
• Master Key and BPM- Let the project key automatically update as you start making your beat. Adjust the BPM to extremes with world-class Pitch 'n Time stretching
• Export Stems- Export your track as individual audio stems
• Play in Key mode - Play any instrument or plug-in in key, without knowing music theory.
• Make Beats- Get inspired with over 300 pre-made drum patterns across a range of different genres.
• Simple Sequencer - Get creative with your drum patterns using the simple and easy-to-use 808-style step sequencer
• High Quality FX- Tweak your beats using over 30 built-in FX presets that will feel instantlyfamiliar to DJs.
• DJ-style mixing- Mix your sounds using a familiar DJ channel mixing strip, with dedicated gain, EQs, filters and more. |
1 Hot Marijuana Stock to Buy in June
No industry is as hot as the marijuana industry right now. Within the U.S. alone, sales of state-regulated cannabis will grow to more than $22 billion by 2022, according to the Arcview Group, up from $8.6 billion in 2017. And this doesn't account for the possibility of federal legalization during this time.
Within this explosive market, one company, in particular, is delivering scorching gains to shareholders.
Image source: Getty Images.
Marijuana-focusedreal estate investment trust (REIT)Innovative Industrial Properties(NYSE: IIPR)has seen the value of its stock surge 47% so far in June -- and an incredible 250% in the past year. Fueling these gains is the company's proven strategy of turning medical marijuana facilities into cash for its shareholders.
As a REIT, Innovative Industrial Properties pools investor capital and uses it to acquire income-producing real estate. In IIP's case, it purchases regulated facilities used to grow medical marijuana and leases them to state-licensed producers. These tend to be industrial buildings with enclosed greenhouses. IIP then upgrades their electrical, plumbing, lighting, and security systems to make them suitable for cannabis growers.
IIP owns 21 properties in 11 U.S. states comprising more than 1.5 million rentable square feet. These buildings generate strong returns on invested capital of nearly 15%. They also produce bountiful, recurring cash flow, with average lease lengths or more than 15 years.
With the cannabis industry expanding rapidly, these buildings are in high demand. And by briskly growing its portfolio of properties, IIP is enjoying sharp increases in revenue and profits. In thefirst quarter of 2019, IIP's net rental revenue, earnings per share, and adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share surged 146%, 267%, and 135%, respectively, compared to the prior-year period.
Besides being profitable -- a rarity in the marijuana industry -- several aspects of Innovative Industrial Properties' business help to reduce risk for investors.
The company rents its properties to state-licensed producers under long-term, triple-net leases. Thus, tenants pay property taxes, building insurance, and maintenance expenses, in addition to their rent payments. This helps to insulate Innovative Industrial Properties from escalating costs.
Additionally, these lease agreements include annual rent increases of 3%-4%. This helps to grow IIP's revenue and profits above the rate of inflation, even without purchasing any new properties.
Moreover, Innovative Industrial Properties has a seasoned management team with a prudent approach to leverage. Executive chairman Alan Gold co-founded two real estate companies,Alexandria Real Estateand BioMed Realty, which was acquired byBlackstonefor $8 billion in 2015. CEO Paul Smithers, meanwhile, has more than 35 years of legal and regulatory experience within the real estate industry. Together, they've helped to drive IIP's growth without the use of excessive leverage. IIP's debt-to-gross-assets ratio checks in at a conservative 34%.
Image source: Getty Images.
Perhaps the most intriguing reason to invest in Innovative Industrial Properties is its rapidly growing dividend. The REIT recently boosted its quarterly cash payout to $0.60 per share. That was a 33% increase from the previous quarter and a 140% jump from the prior-year period. At current prices, IIP's dividend equates to an annualized yield of about 2%.
The yield would be even higher had Innovative Industrial Properties' stock not appreciated as much as it has over the past year. But even after torrid gains, IIP's shares can currently be had for less than 40 times analysts' earnings estimates for 2020 -- a fair price to pay for a business growing at triple-digit rates.
And the explosive growth of the marijuana market is likely to help this budding REIT implement many more dividend increases in the years ahead. Income-seeking investors may want to consider buying some shares of Innovative Industrial Properties today.
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
Joe Tenebrusohas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Innovative Industrial Properties. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Liberty Broadband Corp (LBRDA)
Hedge funds and other investment firms run by legendary investors like Israel Englander, Jeffrey Talpins and Ray Dalio are entrusted to manage billions of dollars of accredited investors' money because they are without peer in the resources they use to identify the best investments for their chosen investment horizon. Moreover, they are more willing to invest a greater amount of their resources in small-cap stocks than big brokerage houses, and this is often where they generate their outperformance, which is why we pay particular attention to their best ideas in this space.
Hedge fund interest inLiberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDA)shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR), and Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) to gather more data points.
Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
[caption id="attachment_30647" align="aligncenter" width="478"]
Boykin Curry of Eagle Capital[/caption]
Let's view the recent hedge fund action regarding Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDA).
At Q1's end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards LBRDA over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey's hedge fund database, Bob Peck and Andy Raab'sFPR Partnershas the most valuable position in Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDA), worth close to $128.2 million, accounting for 3.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On FPR Partners's heels isEagle Capital Management, managed by Boykin Curry, which holds a $106.9 million position; the fund has 0.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other members of the smart money with similar optimism consist of D. E. Shaw'sD E Shaw, William Crowley, William Harker, and Stephen Blass'sAshe Capitaland Roberto Mignone'sBridger Management.
Seeing as Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDA) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, it's safe to say that there exists a select few hedge funds that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. It's worth mentioning that Glenn Russell Dubin'sHighbridge Capital Managementsold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising about $11.1 million in stock. Joe DiMenna's fund,ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS, also cut its stock, about $2.8 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDA) but similarly valued. These stocks are CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR), Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS), and L3 Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LLL). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to LBRDA's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CBRE,31,1403036,-3 QSR,37,3609311,0 KEYS,37,967108,3 LLL,28,1233217,6 Average,33.25,1803168,1.5 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 33.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1803 million. That figure was $580 million in LBRDA's case. Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand L3 Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LLL) is the least popular one with only 28 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ:LBRDA) is even less popular than LLL. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on LBRDA as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on LBRDA as the stock returned 7.5% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV)
Is Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) a good bet right now? We like to analyze hedge fund sentiment before doing days of in-depth research. We do so because hedge funds and other elite investors have numerous Ivy League graduates, expert network advisers, and supply chain tipsters working or consulting for them. There is not a shortage of news stories covering failed hedge fund investments and it is a fact that hedge funds' picks don't beat the market 100% of the time, but their consensus picks have historically done very well and have outperformed the market after adjusting for risk.
Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV)was in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. FNV has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 23 hedge funds in our database with FNV holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that fnv isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We're going to take a glance at the key hedge fund action surrounding Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -17% from the fourth quarter of 2018. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in FNV over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV), with a stake worth $229.2 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Horizon Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $73.7 million. AQR Capital Management, GLG Partners, and Royce & Associates were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Due to the fact that Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, it's safe to say that there is a sect of fund managers who were dropping their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capitalsaid goodbye to the largest stake of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $8.7 million in call options, and Benjamin A. Smith's Laurion Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $6.1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV). We will take a look at Cincinnati Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CINF), Host Hotels and Resorts Inc (NYSE:HST), Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE:NLY), and Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble FNV's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CINF,21,545563,-1 HST,27,576569,5 NLY,21,339026,5 WDC,33,387729,8 Average,25.5,462222,4.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $462 million. That figure was $458 million in FNV's case. Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Cincinnati Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CINF) is the least popular one with only 21 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) is even less popular than CINF. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on FNV, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned -0.3% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Delivery startup Rappi partners with Visa to offer pre-paid cards in Brazil
By Gabriela Mello
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Delivery startup Rappi is partnering with Visa Inc to offer a prepaid card linked to its digital wallet in Brazil, expanding the product's rollout from Mexico and Colombia, where Rappi was founded, executives from the two companies told Reuters.
The tie-up, the latest sign of intensifying competition between app-based wallets in Latin America's largest economy, will give Rappi customers a new way to pay using money saved to the app beyond its current QR code payment feature.
"It is the first of many financial solutions we plan to offer to our users," Rappi co-founder in Brazil, Ricardo Bechara, said in an interview on Tuesday.
Singapore-based Grab, which has a similar business to Rappi's in Asia, struck a deal with Mastercard last year.
Bechara did not specify what other services could be provided in the future. For the moment, he added, the company is focusing on rolling out the pre-paid card throughout Brazil.
Rappi arrived in Brazil in July 2017 and is now present in more than 20 cities across the country, growing an average of 30% per month, which Bechara said is the highest rate among the seven countries in Latin America where it operates.
Its financial services unit, however, is newer. Launched in October, Rappi Pay started by allowing transfers between app users before introducing QR Code payments.
"We do not disclose transaction numbers, but our goal is to have over 100,000 commercial establishments accepting Rappi Pay by year-end," Bechara said.
Besides giving Rappi users an alternative to spending funds kept in the App-based wallet, the prepaid cards could handle transactions beyond the Internet, said Fernando Pantaleao, Visa's vice-president for sales and commerce solutions in Brazil.
It will also allow Rappi to develop better rewards programs, including cash back, and expand its customer base by luring clients who want a debit card but lack a bank account, suffer from a low credit score or do not have regular jobs, he added.
"Rappi has an engagement capacity that nobody else does and this prepaid card will grant its users access to all of Visa's benefits and anti-fraud security", Pantaleao said.
(Reporting by Gabriela Mello; Editing by Bill Berkrot) |
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Natera Inc (NTRA) ?
Hedge funds are known to underperform the bull markets but that's not because they are terrible at stock picking. Hedge funds underperform because their net exposure in only 40-70% and they charge exorbitant fees. No one knows what the future holds and how market participants will react to the bountiful news that floods in each day. However, hedge funds' consensus picks on average deliver market beating returns. For example in the first 5 months of this year through May 30th the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index returned approximately 12.1% (including dividend payments). Conversely, hedge funds’ top 20 large-cap stock picks generated a return of 18.7% during the same 5-month period, with the majority of these stock picks outperforming the broader market benchmark. Interestingly, an average long/short hedge fund returned only a fraction of this value due to the hedges they implemented and the large fees they charged. If you pay attention to the actual hedge fund returns versus the returns of their long stock picks, you might believe that it is a waste of time to analyze hedge funds' purchases. We know better. That's why we scrutinize hedge fund sentiment before we invest in a stock like Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA).
IsNatera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA)an excellent investment right now? Hedge funds are betting on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund positions advanced by 1 recently. Our calculations also showed that NTRA isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.NTRAwas in 18 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with NTRA positions at the end of the previous quarter.
To the average investor there are a lot of metrics market participants put to use to size up publicly traded companies. Two of the most innovative metrics are hedge fund and insider trading moves. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see the details here).
We're going to take a gander at the new hedge fund action surrounding Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 6% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 12 hedge funds with a bullish position in NTRA a year ago. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds,Millennium Managementheld the most valuable stake in Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA), which was worth $62.2 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Deerfield Management which amassed $27.3 million worth of shares. Moreover, OrbiMed Advisors, Renaissance Technologies, and Foresite Capital were also bullish on Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers were breaking ground themselves.PDT Partners, managed by Peter Muller, initiated the most outsized position in Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA). PDT Partners had $1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Costen Haley'sHBK Investmentsalso initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new NTRA investors: Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capitaland Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLP.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA). We will take a look at First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG), Varex Imaging Corporation (NASDAQ:VREX), Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC), and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). All of these stocks' market caps are similar to NTRA's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position AG,8,8553,-2 VREX,20,110554,5 ALEC,12,358037,12 SSYS,14,137475,0 Average,13.5,153655,3.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $154 million. That figure was $154 million in NTRA's case. Varex Imaging Corporation (NASDAQ:VREX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on NTRA as the stock returned 15.2% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Seattle Genetics, Inc. (SGEN)
There are several ways to beat the market, and investing in small cap stocks has historically been one of them. We like to improve the odds of beating the market further by examining what famous hedge fund operators such as Jeff Ubben, George Soros and Carl Icahn think. Those hedge fund operators make billions of dollars each year by hiring the best and the brightest to do research on stocks, including small cap stocks that big brokerage houses simply don't cover. Because of Carl Icahn and other elite funds' exemplary historical records, we pay attention to their small cap picks. In this article, we use hedge fund filing data to analyze Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN).
Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN)investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest of late. Our calculations also showed that sgen isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Let's view the recent hedge fund action encompassing Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 19% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 21 hedge funds with a bullish position in SGEN a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) was held byBaker Bros. Advisors, which reported holding $3738.9 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Matrix Capital Management with a $230.1 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Rock Springs Capital Management, Citadel Investment Group, and D E Shaw.
As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were breaking ground themselves.Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the largest position in Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN). Millennium Management had $3.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steve Cohen'sPoint72 Asset Managementalso initiated a $2.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new SGEN positions are Israel Englander'sMillennium Management, Mike Vranos'sEllington, and Dmitry Balyasny'sBalyasny Asset Management.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN). We will take a look at Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN), Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL), Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU), and SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB). All of these stocks' market caps match SGEN's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ELAN,33,1055959,15 ODFL,26,220250,6 KSU,26,560883,6 SIVB,29,551951,-4 Average,28.5,597261,5.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 28.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $597 million. That figure was $4016 million in SGEN's case. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) is the least popular one with only 26 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) is even less popular than ODFL. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards SGEN. Our calculations showed that the top 15 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately SGEN wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); SGEN investors were disappointed as the stock returned -7.7% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (WPM)
Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds' and successful investors' positions as of the end of the first quarter. You can find write-ups about an individual hedge fund's trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves and analyze what the smart money thinks of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) based on that data.
IsWheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)the right pick for your portfolio? The best stock pickers are in a bearish mood. The number of long hedge fund bets dropped by 2 lately. Our calculations also showed that wpm isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.WPMwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with WPM positions at the end of the previous quarter.
Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
[caption id="attachment_30621" align="aligncenter" width="487"]
Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management[/caption]
Let's go over the new hedge fund action surrounding Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -10% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in WPM over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds,Horizon Asset Managementheld the most valuable stake in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM), which was worth $72.5 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Kopernik Global Investors which amassed $71.4 million worth of shares. Moreover, Renaissance Technologies, Sprott Asset Management, and AQR Capital Management were also bullish on Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Since Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, it's easy to see that there is a sect of funds that elected to cut their full holdings heading into Q3. Interestingly, John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorssold off the largest investment of the "upper crust" of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $6.3 million in stock. Bruce Kovner's fund,Caxton Associates LP, also sold off its stock, about $2.9 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q3.
Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) but similarly valued. We will take a look at TechnipFMC plc (NYSE:FTI), Ubiquiti Networks Inc (NASDAQ:UBNT), Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII), and Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN). This group of stocks' market valuations are similar to WPM's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position FTI,25,617440,4 UBNT,17,668120,-2 LII,19,138812,-5 EMN,30,518981,-3 Average,22.75,485838,-1.5 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $486 million. That figure was $325 million in WPM's case. Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Ubiquiti Networks Inc (NASDAQ:UBNT) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately WPM wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); WPM investors were disappointed as the stock returned -10.6% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Is Zscaler, Inc. (ZS) A Good Stock To Buy?
Based on the fact that hedge funds have collectively under-performed the market for several years, it would be easy to assume that their stock picks simply aren't very good. However, our research shows this not to be the case. In fact, when it comes to their very top picks collectively, they show a strong ability to pick winning stocks. This year hedge funds' top 20 stock picks easily bested the broader market, at 18.7% compared to 12.1%, despite there being a few duds in there like Berkshire Hathaway (even their collective wisdom isn't perfect). The results show that there is plenty of merit to imitating the collective wisdom of top investors.
Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)has seen an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds in recent months. Our calculations also showed that zs isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
According to most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as slow, old investment vehicles of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation today, We choose to focus on the elite of this club, around 750 funds. These money managers manage bulk of the hedge fund industry's total asset base, and by shadowing their top stock picks, Insider Monkey has deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points a year since its inception in May 2014 through the end of May. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 30.9% since February 2017 (through May 30th) even though the market was up nearly 24% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 11.9% in less than a couple of weeks whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2 percentage points in this volatile 2 week period.
[caption id="attachment_746830" align="aligncenter" width="473"]
Matthew Hulsizer of PEAK6 Capital[/caption]
We're going to take a gander at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 12% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards ZS over the last 15 quarters. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, D. E. Shaw'sD E Shawhas the most valuable position in Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS), worth close to $128.1 million, corresponding to 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On D E Shaw's heels is Matthew Hulsizer ofPEAK6 Capital Management, with a $51.6 million call position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers with similar optimism contain Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies, Panayotis Takis Sparaggis'sAlkeon Capital Managementand Richard Driehaus'sDriehaus Capital.
Consequently, key money managers have jumped into Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) headfirst.PDT Partners, managed by Peter Muller, assembled the biggest position in Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS). PDT Partners had $10 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steve Cohen'sPoint72 Asset Managementalso initiated a $6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Cliff Asness'sAQR Capital Management, Larry Chen and Terry Zhang'sTairen Capital, and Guy Shahar'sDSAM Partners.
Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) but similarly valued. These stocks are Brookfield Property Partners LP (NASDAQ:BPY), Everest Re Group Ltd (NYSE:RE), The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD), and RingCentral Inc (NYSE:RNG). This group of stocks' market valuations match ZS's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BPY,8,76215,0 RE,19,538369,-8 TTD,25,492679,9 RNG,43,1207897,-5 Average,23.75,578790,-1 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 23.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $579 million. That figure was $301 million in ZS's case. RingCentral Inc (NYSE:RNG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Brookfield Property Partners LP (NASDAQ:BPY) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on ZS as the stock returned 2.9% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (BAH)
We at Insider Monkey have gone over 738 13F filings that hedge funds and famous value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds' and investors' portfolio positions as of March 31st. In this article we look at what those investors think of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH).
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH)was in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. BAH has seen a decrease in activity from the world's largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 26 hedge funds in our database with BAH holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that bah isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio.
Let's take a peek at the new hedge fund action encompassing Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -27% from the fourth quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 16 hedge funds with a bullish position in BAH a year ago. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey,Polar Capital, managed by Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley, holds the biggest position in Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH). Polar Capital has a $81.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Cliff Asness ofAQR Capital Management, with a $54.5 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money that are bullish comprise Dmitry Balyasny'sBalyasny Asset Management, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capitaland Noam Gottesman'sGLG Partners.
Seeing as Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) has faced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there is a sect of hedgies that decided to sell off their entire stakes in the third quarter. It's worth mentioning that Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupsold off the biggest stake of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, comprising about $9 million in stock, and Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow's Blue Mountain Capital was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $3.6 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 7 funds in the third quarter.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH). We will take a look at West Pharmaceutical Services, I (NYSE:WST), Vereit Inc (NYSE:VER), Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), and SAGE Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SAGE). All of these stocks' market caps are similar to BAH's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position WST,21,290123,1 VER,21,403492,3 HLF,32,3529120,3 SAGE,28,552183,-1 Average,25.5,1193730,1.5 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1194 million. That figure was $231 million in BAH's case. Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand West Pharmaceutical Services, I (NYSE:WST) is the least popular one with only 21 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) is even less popular than WST. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on BAH as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on BAH as the stock returned 7.9% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Is SL Green Realty Corp (SLG) A Good Stock To Buy?
World-class money managers like Ken Griffin and Barry Rosenstein only invest their wealthy clients' money after undertaking a rigorous examination of any potential stock. They are particularly successful in this regard when it comes to small-cap stocks, which their peerless research gives them a big information advantage on when it comes to judging their worth. It's not surprising then that they generate their biggest returns from these stocks and invest more of their money in these stocks on average than other investors. It's also not surprising then that we pay close attention to these picks ourselves and have built a market-beating investment strategy around them.
IsSL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG)a healthy stock for your portfolio? Hedge funds are getting less optimistic. The number of bullish hedge fund bets were cut by 3 lately. Our calculations also showed that slg isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.SLGwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 22 hedge funds in our database with SLG holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Today there are dozens of signals stock traders use to grade their stock investments. Two of the most underrated signals are hedge fund and insider trading activity. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can beat the broader indices by a significant margin (see the details here).
We're going to go over the new hedge fund action encompassing SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards SLG over the last 15 quarters. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologieshas the most valuable position in SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG), worth close to $67.5 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies's heels is John Khoury ofLong Pond Capital, with a $49.1 million position; the fund has 1.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism contain Israel Englander'sMillennium Management, David Harding'sWinton Capital Managementand Paul Tudor Jones'sTudor Investment Corp.
Due to the fact that SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG) has faced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedge funds that elected to cut their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Jeffrey Pierce'sSnow Park Capital Partnerssold off the biggest position of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $7.9 million in stock. John Overdeck and David Siegel's fund,Two Sigma Advisors, also dumped its stock, about $3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds last quarter.
Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG) but similarly valued. These stocks are Amdocs Limited (NASDAQ:DOX), Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH), Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG), and Apartment Investment and Management Co. (NYSE:AIV). This group of stocks' market caps match SLG's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position DOX,26,619930,2 TECH,18,380876,1 BG,35,687417,-3 AIV,21,628055,0 Average,25,579070,0 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $579 million. That figure was $215 million in SLG's case. Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately SLG wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); SLG investors were disappointed as the stock returned -4.1% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Hedge Funds Have Never Been More Bullish On NIC Inc. (EGOV)
Concerns over rising interest rates and expected further rate increases have hit several stocks hard during the fourth quarter. Trends reversed 180 degrees during the first quarter amid Powell's pivot and optimistic expectations towards a trade deal with China. Hedge funds and institutional investors tracked by Insider Monkey usually invest a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks. We have been receiving indications that hedge funds were increasing their overall exposure in the first quarter and this is one of the factors behind the recent movements in major indices. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards NIC Inc. (NASDAQ:EGOV).
NIC Inc. (NASDAQ:EGOV)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 18 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO), Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS), and Xperi Corporation (NASDAQ:XPER) to gather more data points.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We're going to take a look at the new hedge fund action surrounding NIC Inc. (NASDAQ:EGOV).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards EGOV over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in NIC Inc. (NASDAQ:EGOV) was held byD E Shaw, which reported holding $23.4 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Arrowstreet Capital with a $18.5 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Renaissance Technologies, GLG Partners, and Two Sigma Advisors.
Seeing as NIC Inc. (NASDAQ:EGOV) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there is a sect of money managers who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q3. It's worth mentioning that Alexander Medina Seaver'sStadium Capital Managementsaid goodbye to the largest position of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling about $7.2 million in stock. Paul Tudor Jones's fund,Tudor Investment Corp, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to NIC Inc. (NASDAQ:EGOV). We will take a look at Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO), Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS), Xperi Corporation (NASDAQ:XPER), and Brookline Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKL). All of these stocks' market caps match EGOV's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CECO,22,180484,0 RMBS,17,137582,4 XPER,23,119653,8 BRKL,9,52358,-1 Average,17.75,122519,2.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 17.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $123 million. That figure was $95 million in EGOV's case. Xperi Corporation (NASDAQ:XPER) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Brookline Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKL) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. NIC Inc. (NASDAQ:EGOV) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately EGOV wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on EGOV were disappointed as the stock returned -6.4% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About American Homes 4 Rent (AMH)
There are several ways to beat the market, and investing in small cap stocks has historically been one of them. We like to improve the odds of beating the market further by examining what famous hedge fund operators such as Jeff Ubben, George Soros and Carl Icahn think. Those hedge fund operators make billions of dollars each year by hiring the best and the brightest to do research on stocks, including small cap stocks that big brokerage houses simply don't cover. Because of Carl Icahn and other elite funds' exemplary historical records, we pay attention to their small cap picks. In this article, we use hedge fund filing data to analyze American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH).
American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH)investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds of late. Our calculations also showed that amh isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
Let's review the new hedge fund action surrounding American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 6% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in AMH over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds,Echo Street Capital Managementheld the most valuable stake in American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH), which was worth $97.9 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Long Pond Capital which amassed $74.6 million worth of shares. Moreover, AEW Capital Management, Citadel Investment Group, and Zimmer Partners were also bullish on American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
As aggregate interest increased, some big names have been driving this bullishness.Zimmer Partners, managed by Stuart J. Zimmer, initiated the most outsized position in American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH). Zimmer Partners had $45.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jonathan Litt'sLand & Buildings Investment Managementalso made a $17.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AMH positions are Richard Driehaus'sDriehaus Capital, Paul Tudor Jones'sTudor Investment Corp, and David Harding'sWinton Capital Management.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH). We will take a look at Proofpoint Inc (NASDAQ:PFPT), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited (NYSE:RDY), Israel Chemicals Ltd. (NYSE:ICL), and Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE:FBHS). All of these stocks' market caps are similar to AMH's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position PFPT,33,659720,6 RDY,11,91252,1 ICL,4,54026,-1 FBHS,29,568628,-2 Average,19.25,343407,1 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 19.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $343 million. That figure was $462 million in AMH's case. Proofpoint Inc (NASDAQ:PFPT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Israel Chemicals Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on AMH as the stock returned 6.2% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Fate Therapeutics Inc (FATE)
Reputable billionaire investors such as Jim Simons, Cliff Asness and David Tepper generate exorbitant profits for their wealthy accredited investors (a minimum of $1 million in investable assets would be required to invest in a hedge fund and most successful hedge funds won't accept your savings unless you commit at least $5 million) by pinpointing winning small-cap stocks. There is little or no publicly-available information at all on some of these small companies, which makes it hard for an individual investor to pin down a winner within the small-cap space. However, hedge funds and other big asset managers can do the due diligence and analysis for you instead, thanks to their highly-skilled research teams and vast resources to conduct an appropriate evaluation process. Looking for potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks? We believe following the smart money is a good starting point.
Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FATE)has seen an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. Our calculations also showed that FATE isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio.
We're going to check out the latest hedge fund action regarding Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FATE).
At Q1's end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 20% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in FATE over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FATE) was held byRedmile Group, which reported holding $182 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Casdin Capital with a $44.8 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Farallon Capital, Deerfield Management, and Millennium Management.
As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FATE) headfirst.Point72 Asset Management, managed by Steve Cohen, assembled the largest position in Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FATE). Point72 Asset Management had $8.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologiesalso made a $1.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley'sPolar Capital.
Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FATE). We will take a look at Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRZO), AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR), Keane Group, Inc. (NYSE:FRAC), and Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to FATE's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CRZO,15,114113,2 AIR,23,113938,9 FRAC,28,554730,2 VVI,13,145979,-2 Average,19.75,232190,2.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 19.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $232 million. That figure was $414 million in FATE's case. Keane Group, Inc. (NYSE:FRAC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Viad Corp (NYSE:VVI) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FATE) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on FATE as the stock returned 13.5% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Better Buy: Enbridge vs. Kinder Morgan
Enbridge(NYSE: ENB)andKinder Morgan(NYSE: KMI)are two of North America's largest pipeline companies. Canada's Enbridge is the continent's dominant oil transporter as it ships 25% of all the oil produced in North America via the world's longest crude pipeline system. Kinder Morgan, meanwhile, leads the way in natural gas, shipping 40% of the gas consumed in the U.S.
Those large-scale operations provide these companies with boatloads of cash flow that they use to pay well-above-average dividends, as well as invest in expansion projects. While that combination of income and growth both make appealing options for investors, most probably want to own only one of these stocks in their portfolios. Here's a look at how these pipeline companies compare, which leads one to stand out as the better buy right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
Kinder Morgan and Enbridge have worked hard over the past few years to shore up their balance sheets to put themselves in better positions to navigate through the energy market's challenges. As a result, both now boast strong financial profiles:
[{"Company": "Enbridge", "Dividend Yield": "6.3%", "Credit Rating": "BBB+/Baa2", "Percentage of cash flow fee-based or regulated": "98%", "Debt-to-Adjusted EBITDA": "4.7 times", "Dividend Payout Ratio": "66% of cash flow"}, {"Company": "Kinder Morgan", "Dividend Yield": "4.8%", "Credit Rating": "BBB/BBB-/Baa2", "Percentage of cash flow fee-based or regulated": "91%", "Debt-to-Adjusted EBITDA": "4.6 times", "Dividend Payout Ratio": "46% of cash flow"}]
Data source: Kinder Morgan and Enbridge.
As that table shows, both companies have similar credit profiles, though Enbridge has a slightly better credit rating. Meanwhile, the Canadian oil pipeline giant gets a slightly greater percentage of its cash flow from stable sources like long-term, fee-based contracts. However, Kinder Morgan scores points for having a much lower dividend-payout ratio, which is the main reason its yield is less than Enbridge's.
Enbridge currently has 16 billion Canadian dollars ($12 billion) of growth projects under construction. These expansions include new oil and gas pipelines on both sides of the border, a large wind farm offshore Germany, and investments to expand its natural gas distribution utilities.
The bulk of these projects should start service over the next 18 months, which leads Enbridge to believe it will generate $4.45 Canadian dollars per share ($3.33 per share) in cash flow this year and CA$5 per share ($3.74 per share) in 2020. This outlook implies that its earnings will increase by about 13% over the next two years. That's enough fuel to support Enbridge's plan toboost its dividend by another 10% in 2020. The Canadian pipeline giant anticipates that it can grow its cash flow per share at a 5% to 7% annual rate after next year by investing an average of CA$5 billion to CA$6 billion ($3.7 billion-$4.5 billion) per year on growth projects.
Kinder Morgan, meanwhile,expectsits cash flow per share to increase by about 7% this year, to $2.20 per share, fueled in part by the $6.1 billion of growth projects it has under construction. The company should be able to grow cash flow by a similar rate in 2020 since most of its expansions won't enter service until the second half of this year and into late 2020. That earnings growth helps support Kinder Morgan's plan to boost its dividend by 25% next year. In addition, the company anticipates that it can secure between $2 billion and $3 billion of new expansion projects per year, which at the low end would fuel 4% annual earnings growth.
Shares of Kinder Morgan currently sell for less than $21 apiece. With the company on track to generate $2.20 per share of cash flow this year, it implies that Kinder Morgan trades at roughly 9.5 times cash flow. For comparison's sake, Enbridge's stock sells for less than $35 per share while it's on track to generate $3.33 per share in cash flow this year.
Those numbers imply that Enbridge sells for around 10.5 times cash flow. That suggests Kinder Morgan trades at a discount to its Canadian rival.
Kinder Morgan and Enbridge both have strong financial profiles and solid growth prospects. However, despite those similarities, Kinder Morgan trades at a meaningfully cheaper valuation compared to Enbridge.
Because of that, the company could produce higher total returns for investors over the next few years. That factor makes its stock stand out as the better one to buy between these two right now.
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Matthew DiLalloowns shares of Enbridge and Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Enbridge and Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Winnebago Stalls in the Third Quarter
Investors weren't expecting much from recreational vehicle giantWinnebago(NYSE: WGO)in its fiscal third-quarter report. The industry is in a funk right now, with shipments declining in 2019 after rising at a double-digit pace for the last nine years. That slump had Wall Street predicting just a minor sales uptick to reverse the prior quarter's 8% decline.
In recent months, the RV specialist has shown that it can protect sales and profits better than peers, and those encouraging trends continued in the third quarter. However, Winnebago's revenue still took a surprising turn lower due to challenges in its motorhome segment.
Image source: Getty Images.
Winnebago's towable segment continued to shine thanks to the dual-brand portfolio that management created by acquiring the Grand Design franchise in 2017. Towable sales jumped 11% in the third quarter, which stacked up well against rivalThor Industries(NYSE: THO)and itsbrutal 23% decline. Winnebago found plenty of room to boost profitability on towables, too, with adjusted profit margin improving to 16.5% of sales from 14.5% a year ago. Higher prices more than offset increased input costs.
The motorhome segment fared much worse, with sales down 35% compared to Thor's 23% slump. Winnebago had signaled that RV shipments would be weak this quarter, mainly because dealers are reducing their inventory levels to better match up with slower sales. Yet the revenue stall was amplified by production missteps. Winnebago couldn't source enough of a key input, leading to insufficient availability of a few of its most popular products. That challenge ensured that sales fell 6% overall, while most analysts who follow the stock werepredicting a 2% increase.
The backlog metric, which describes orders likely to ship to dealers over the next six months, was mixed. It fell by just 6% in the motorhome division, in part thanks to those supply-disrupted shipments being pushed into the next quarter. Towable RV backlog fell 24%, which indicates that dealerships are still working to reduce their inventories. Thor's comparable figure fell 30%.
Executives expressed confidence that stability was slowly returning to the business. "The imbalance between industry wholesale shipments and retail sales continues to improve," CEO Michael Happe said in a press release, "and will continue to do so in the back half of calendar 2019."
In addition to the ongoing inventory adjustments, Winnebago noted two significant challenges to the business over the next few quarters. The input supply disruption issue isn't fixed yet, and executives say they "remain focused on seeing that situation improve." Until it does, the motorized RV business might see more sales declines. Winnebago is also bracing for tariff-based price increases to hurt its manufacturing costs over the next six months.
The good news for investors is that these issues aren't expected to change the broader operating picture. That includes modest market-share growth and healthy profitability, just as Winnebago achieved in this most recent quarter. Demand for its newest products is strong, management says, even though dealers are adjusting inventory levels following nine years of double-digit sales growth.
Still, Winnebago is likely to see difficult operating conditions through the rest of 2019 that might send sales and operating income lower. Investors won't have a good reading on whether the business can return to growth in 2020, meanwhile, until conditions stabilize over the next few months.
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Demitrios Kalogeropouloshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Can We See Significant Insider Ownership On The Hai Leck Holdings Limited (SGX:BLH) Share Register?
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The big shareholder groups in Hai Leck Holdings Limited (SGX:BLH) have power over the company. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. 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.
Hai Leck Holdings is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of S$109m, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions don't own many shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about BLH.
See our latest analysis for Hai Leck Holdings
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
Institutions own less than 5% of Hai Leck Holdings. 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. We sometimes see a rising share price when a few big institutions want to buy a certain stock at the same time. The history of earnings and revenue, which you can see below, could be helpful in considering if more institutional investors will want the stock. Of course, there are plenty of other factors to consider, too.
Hai Leck Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.
It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Hai Leck Holdings Limited. It has a market capitalization of just S$109m, and insiders have S$53m worth of shares in their own names. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checkingif those insiders have been buying recently.
The general public holds a 10% stake in BLH. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
It seems that Private Companies own 40%, of the BLH stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Hai Leck Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors.
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 coursethis may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see ourfreecollection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.
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. |
Explainer: What changed for the Fed in seven weeks? Trade risks top the list
(Reuters) - On May 1, the Federal Reserve viewed the American economy as having a solid footing and risks to the outlook were muted.
That assessment has weakened demonstrably since, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell and many of his colleagues inside the U.S. central bank on Wednesday signalled readiness to cut interest rates as required to shore up a U.S. economic expansion that appears to be losing steam.
What exactly changed in seven weeks to alter the outlook so much?
TRUMP'S TRADE DISPUTES ARE WEIGHING
America's trade relationship has grown more strained in recent weeks with China and Mexico, two of the United States' top trading partners. When the Fed held its April 30-May 1 meeting, Washington and Beijing appeared to be closing in on a trade deal that would avoid an escalation in the trade war between the two countries.
That changed on May 5, when President Donald Trump unleashed an angry barrage of tweets, complaining that China had reneged on promises it had made in the talks and threatening to ratchet up tariffs on Chinese goods.
The negotiations unravelled and Washington hit China with higher tariffs on some $200 billion worth of goods on May 10, prompting China to retaliate. Washington is also threatening tariffs on another roughly $300 billion in Chinese imports if the two sides don't reach a deal soon, with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to meet at a Group of 20 summit in Japan next week.
Trump then turned his sights on Mexico, and on May 30 he threatened new tariffs on all Mexican imports if America's southern neighbour did not do more to stop the flow of migrants across the U.S border. While the two sides reached a deal June 7 to avoid the tariff hikes, Washington says it could still impose tariffs if Mexico does not follow through on commitments on immigration matters.
In a survey the Fed conducts with its business contacts across the country before each meeting, companies reported they were increasingly concerned about the trade environment, and that was before events with Mexico escalated.
During his press conference after the meeting, Powell also cited trade as a primary culprit for increased uncertainty.
"News about trade has been an important driver of sentiment in the interim," Powell said.
BUSINESS INVESTMENT IS SOFTENING
Business spending, which braked sharply in the first quarter to the slowest pace during Trump’s tenure, is showing signs of further weakness in the second quarter, with new orders for U.S.-made capital goods falling more than expected in April, data that was not published until late May.
Though only 12% of the economy, spending by business on equipment and factories is a key signal for the staying power of economic growth.
"While the baseline outlook remains favourable, many FOMC participants cited the investment picture and weaker business sentiment ... in supporting their judgment that the risk of less favourable outcomes has risen," Powell said, referring to the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee.
A range of surveys of U.S. manufacturing activity show growth has declined to levels not seen in years.
INFLATION REMAINS WELL BELOW TARGET
Inflation has shown no signs of rising towards the Fed's targeted level of 2%, and Powell noted that measures of inflation expectations - important factors guiding the behaviour of consumers and businesses - have softened.
Expectations for future inflation embedded in U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, have tumbled since May 1 and this week hit their lowest in nearly three years.
Survey-based measures of the inflation outlook have been more stable but some, such as the New York Federal Reserve's monthly reading of consumers' inflation expectations, are the lowest since late 2017.
NOT EVERYTHING HAS GONE SOUTH
While trade friction and a manufacturing slowdown are big risks, it is consumer spending that accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity.
And the Fed is still getting some good news about the U.S. consumer.
Since the central bank's last rate-setting meeting, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales increased in May and the agency also revised sales for the prior month higher, suggesting a pick-up in consumer spending.
That makes sense in an economy giving more people work.
Despite a slowdown in hiring in May, 151,000 people per month have taken new jobs over the most recent three months. That is more than the roughly 100,000 needed per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population, recent Labor Department data show.
People are also taking home more pay. Average hourly earnings grew 3.1% year-over-year in the latest month. That figure, also reported by the Labor Department, is slower than in recent months but still supportive of more spending at restaurants and malls.
Strong spending helps the services sector of the economy, with industries ranging from education to healthcare, and activity in that area expanded at a brisk pace in May, a survey from the Institute for Supply Management showed earlier this month.
(Compiled by Ann Saphir in San Francisco, Trevor Hunnicutt in New York, and Jason Lange and Dan Burns in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish) |
Snap is not dead: Greenfield
Shares of Snap (SNAP) soared as much as 10% on Tuesday after BTIG media and tech analyst Richard Greenfield raised his price target to a street-high of $20 from $15 on the belief that the company's recovery has meaningfully increased since March.
“Here’s a company investors generally left for dead. They didn’t think this company was going to turn around. They thought Facebook had effectively put a fork in them and killed them. And the reality is, this thing is not dead,” Greenfield toldThe Final Roundin an interview.
Greenfield cites several reasons why the stock still has room to grow, including the launch of new ad products to accelerate monetization, continued clean up of the Discover section, and increased use of gaming on Snapchat. Also of importance is Snapchat's more open approach to third-parties, which he says is boosting engagement.
BTIG maintained its buy rating on the stock, which is premised on accelerating user growth and monetization.
“We think monetization is accelerating. We think they're doing very well in bringing in performance advertising. They're out this week in Cannes selling brand advertising. They're trying to copy what Google Preferred has done by creating Snap Select,” he noted.
According to the company,Snap Select featurespremium video content in the form of top shows, commercials and reservations. Media partners include NBCUniversal, ESPN and the NFL.
Snap, Inc. is expected to reportquarterly resultson August 6. Shares are up nearly 170% for the year as of Tuesday’s close.
Pamela Granda is a producer on Yahoo Finance’s closing bell show, The Final Round. Follow her onTwitter.
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The Latest: EPA chief eases rules on coal-fired power plants
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on an environmental rule covering coal-fired power plants (all times local): 6:10 p.m. The Trump administration has ordered a sweeping about-face on Obama-era efforts to fight climate change, easing restrictions on coal-fired power plants. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler signed a measure Wednesday that scraps one of President Barack Obama's key initiatives to rein in fossil fuel emissions. The replacement rule gives states more leeway in deciding whether to require plants to make limited efficiency upgrades. Wheeler says he expects more coal plants to open as a result. But one state, New York, says it will go to court to challenge the action, and more lawsuits are likely. The EPA move comes despite the agency's own analysis that it would result in the deaths of an extra 300 to 1,500 people each year by 2030, owing to additional air pollution. __ 11:50 a.m. The Trump administration expects new coal-fired power plants to open as a result of a major new regulatory change. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler says he expects that increase in coal plants as a result of the repeal of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. Wheeler spoke to reporters after signing the final version of the repeal. The Obama-era plan sought to fight climate change by prodding coal-fired power plants out of the nation's electrical grid. Wheeler says the administration's repeal will lead investors to put money into more coal plants. U.S. coal-plant closings have reached near record numbers in recent years owing to competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. ___ 11:30 a.m. New York's attorney general says the state will sue to block the Trump administration's rollback of an Obama-era rule designed to wean the nation's electrical grid off coal-fired power plants and their climate-damaging pollution. Attorney General Letitia James announced the state's intentions on Twitter shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency replaced the rule with a less ambitious one. She makes reference to the administration's "#DirtyPower rule." Story continues She tweets that it's "another prime example of this administration's attempt to rollback critical regulations that will have devastating impacts on both the safety & health of our nation." The Trump administration says the Obama administration overstepped its legal authority in approving the Clean Power Plan. EPA chief Andrew Wheeler says coal is essential to the nation's power grid. ___ 11:05 a.m. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the Trump administration's rollback of a rule targeting coal-fired power plants is "a stunning giveaway to big polluters." Pelosi says in a statement that climate change is "the existential threat of our time" and that the administration is ignoring scientific studies about climate change and yielding to special interests. Pelosi is reacting to Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler's scrapping of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which sought to reduce the country's reliance on coal and move to renewable energy sources. Wheeler replaced it with a less ambitious rule. The administration argues that Obama's EPA overstepped its legal authority in approving the Clean Power Plant rule. ___ 10:35 a.m. The Trump administration has rolled back a landmark Obama-era effort targeting coal-fired power plants and their climate-damaging pollution. It's replacing the Obama rule with a less ambitious one that gives states more discretion in regulating those power plants. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler says it's a sign that "fossil fuels will continue to be an important part of the mix" in the U.S. energy supply. President Donald Trump campaigned partly on a pledge to bring back the U.S. coal industry, which has been hit hard by competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. The rule will go into effect shortly after publication in the Federal Register. Environmental groups pledge court challenges. ___ 12:25 a.m. The Trump administration is close to completing one of its biggest rollbacks of environmental rules. Lawmakers, environmentalists and others are readying for an announcement about a replacement for an Obama-era regulation that sought to limit coal-fired plants in the nation's electrical grid. The Clean Power Plan was one of President Barack Obama's signature efforts to curb climate-changing emissions. Critics of the Obama administration say it overstepped its legal authority in issuing the power plant rule. Those opposing the rollback say it will worsen climate change and increase deaths from coal-plant pollution. |
Newsflare Partners with Pond5 to Create One-Stop User-Generated Video Resource for Content Creators Including US Advertising Agencies
Newsflare and Pond5 to Make Available Videos Shot by the Public Via Smartphones to US Advertising Agencies for Commercial Campaigns
LOS ANGELES, CA andNEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 19, 2019 /Newsflare, a leading global provider of User-Generated Video (UGV) for broadcast and digital media licensees worldwide and Pond5, the world's largest royalty-free video marketplace, have joined to make videos captured by the public via their smartphones available to US advertising agencies for their commercial campaigns.
User-Generated Video are video clips filmed and uploaded by non-professional members of the public, and the impact they are having on news-gathering, entertainment programming and the production of documentaries is completely disruptive. The Newsflare-Pond5 partnership will enable advertising agencies to select from thousands of rights-cleared quality User-Generated Video content to match their campaigns.
Based in London and Los Angeles, Newsflare has played a key role in helping pioneer the development of the user-generated video industry. Launched in 2011, the company has perfected a highly automated marketplace platform which makes it easy for videographers to upload their videos, while providing content buyers around the world the opportunity to select from a growing catalogue of over 150,000 videos.
"Royalty-free user-generated videos have tremendous appeal to advertising agencies and clients. Newsflare has built an unparalleled force of more than 60,000 uploaders, whose news-breaking and lighthearted videos instantly engage viewers, making them ideal as creative elements for advertising campaigns. We look forward to working with agencies and creators of all kinds to help them tell their stories with Newsflare footage," said Jason Teichman, Chief Executive Officer of Pond5.
"Since the outset we have seen the potential for User-Generated Video to provide a diversity of opportunities for creative agencies as they look to develop successful campaigns for their clients. By teaming with Pond5, we reach a much bigger market with the very best in fully rights cleared User-Generated Video across lifestyle, nature, wildlife, wellness, sports, travel and more," said Jon Cornwell, President and CEO of Newsflare.
About Newsflare
Headquartered in London with offices in the US and Spain, Newsflare is the media's pioneering leader in sourcing trusted and compelling eyewitness video. Newsflare's 60,000-plus members upload viral video and breaking news, bought by broadcast and digital media clients that span more than 50 countries. Under the banner Where the World's Media Come to Buy Your Video, Newsflare delivers stories from all walks of life that are often too breaking or too remote for traditional media organizations to capture. Visitwww.Newsflare.com.
About Pond5
Pond5 is the world's largest video marketplace, providing the footage, inspiration, and resources today's content creators need to tell their stories in film, television, advertising, social media, online video, and beyond. With more than 14 million video clips, award-winning tools including patented Visual Search for video, and integrations for all major video-editing software, Pond5 is the go-to video marketplace for filmmakers, media organizations, and marketers worldwide. Driven by its commitment to the creative community, Pond5 proudly provides a platform where creativity can flourish and contributors can make a sustainable living licensing their work to buyers around the world. All contributors licensing their content on Pond5 receive an industry-leading revenue share. Pond5 is a venture-backed company funded by Accel Partners and Stripes Group with offices in New York, Dublin, Prague, London, and LA. Visithttps://www.pond5.com.
CONTACT:
For Pond5:
Megan LinebargerZazil Media Groupmegan@zazilmediagroup.com(617) 480-3674
For Newsflare:
Steve SyattSSA Public Relationssteve@ssapr.com(818) 222-4000
SOURCE:SSA Public Relations
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549299/Newsflare-Partners-with-Pond5-to-Create-One-Stop-User-Generated-Video-Resource-for-Content-Creators-Including-US-Advertising-Agencies |
Elrond Secures $1.9 Million in Private Funding Round
MALTA / ACCESSWIRE / June 19, 2019 /Elrond, a leading sharding-based public blockchain network, has announced the closure of its private round investment, raising $1.9 million from Binance Labs, Electric Capital, NGC Partners, Maven 11, and Authorito Capital. The round also included contributions from angel investors in the UK, India, Israel, China, and across the European Union.
"We are setting new standards for performance in the blockchain space," says Beniamin Mincu, CEO of Elrond. "Everything changes for decentralized applications when you have a 3 orders of magnitude improvement in throughput and execution speed."
Focusing on an innovative network scaling technology called sharding, Elrond is a leader in the next-generation of high-throughput smart contracts platforms blossoming in the blockchain ecosystem. Sharding is a well-known concept for horizontal partitioning of databases, and several firms, including Elrond, are pushing the boundaries of applying sharding to public blockchains as a means to increase their throughput capacity. Elrond has developed a bleeding-edge form of state sharding, known as "Adaptive State Sharding," which enables the network to rival centralized cloud networks without sacrificing the security and decentralization advantages of blockchains.
Founded in late 2017, Elrond produced a prototype of their concept in July 2018, including their sharding format and new consensus design which achieved more than 1,000 transactions per second (TPS) in simulations of real-world conditions. Subsequently, Elrond released their inauguraltestnetin May 2019, exceeding 12k TPS, and including implementations of several new technologies like Schnorr signatures, BLS signatures, secure proof-of-stake, and state sharding.
"Elrond's outstanding contributions rest on two foundational building blocks: Adaptive State Sharding and Secure Proof of Stake consensus, enabling fast and secure decentralized networks." said Ella Zhang, the Head of Binance Labs, "The team has a clear go-to-market strategy to achieve mass-adoption by shipping the infrastructure for fast, intuitive and engaging dApps. We're excited to be working together to push blockchain technology towards mass-adoption."
Moving forward, Elrond will focus on building tools which enable developers to easily build on top of its highly scalable blockchain, and enable users to easily discover and use these next generation dApps.
"We're very excited for the positive results achieved with our testnet, and can't wait to see them put to good use in real world applications around the world. We have seen particularly strong interest from developers in emerging markets, who are eager to build applications and offer financial services to their local markets." says Mincu.
About Elrond
Elrond is a leading public blockchain development company that deploys a series of innovative technologies to enable public blockchains to scale to levels that rival their centralized counterparts. The platform abstracts away the underlying complexity of public blockchains, making building and using applications on the network a familiar experience to users, developers, enterprises, financial firms, and more.
Elrond is built by a team of experienced entrepreneurs along with 13 engineers and researchers with significant technical experience at Microsoft, Google, Intel, NTT DATA, 2 PhDs in CS & AI, multiple math, CS and AI olympiad champions, and blockchain backgrounds, including being previously part of the NEM core team.
CONTACT:
Daniel Serbdaniel.serb@elrond.comwww.elrond.com
SOURCE:Elrond
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549297/Elrond-Secures-19-Million-in-Private-Funding-Round |
Can You Imagine How Renaissance United's (SGX:I11) Shareholders Feel About The 100% Share Price Increase?
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These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. To wit, theRenaissance United Limited(SGX:I11) share price is 100% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market return of around -2.7% (not including dividends) in the same period. That's a solid performance by our standards! Unfortunately the longer term returns are not so good, with the stock falling 33% in the last three years.
Check out our latest analysis for Renaissance United
Renaissance United isn't a profitable company, so it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.
Over the last twelve months, Renaissance United's revenue grew by 20%. We respect that sort of growth, no doubt. Buyers pushed the share price 100% in response, which isn't unreasonable. If the company can maintain the revenue growth, the share price could go higher still. But it's crucial to check profitability and cash flow before forming a view on the future.
You can see how revenue and earnings have changed over time in the image below, (click on the chart to see cashflow).
You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in thisfreeinteractive graphic.
It's nice to see that Renaissance United shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 100% over the last year. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 29% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. Before spending more time on Renaissance Unitedit might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss thisfreelist of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on SG 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. |
Dell, HP, Microsoft, Intel oppose proposed tariffs on laptops, tablets
(Reuters) - Dell Technologies Inc, HP Inc, Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp on Wednesday opposed U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to include laptop computers and tablets among the Chinese goods targeted for tariffs. Dell, HP and Microsoft, which together account for 52% of the notebooks and detachable tablets sold in the United States, said the proposed tariffs would increase the cost of laptops in the country. The move would hurt consumers and the industry, and would not address the Chinese trade practices that the Trump administration's office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) seeks to remedy, the four companies said in a joint statement posted online. Implementing the proposed tariffs would increase U.S. prices for laptops and tablets by at least 19%, or around $120 for the average retail price of a laptop, the companies said, citing a recent study by the Consumer Technology Association. "A price increase of that magnitude may even put laptop devices entirely out of reach for our most cost-conscious consumers," the companies said, noting that the price hikes would occur during peak holiday and back-to-school seasons. In a separate statement, Microsoft, along with video game makers Nintendo of America Inc and Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC said the tariffs on video game consoles could stifle innovation, hurt consumers and put thousands of jobs at risk. The USTR kicked off seven days of testimony from U.S. retailers, manufacturers and other businesses about Trump's plan to hit another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods with tariffs. The hearings will end on June 25 and the tariffs will not come into effect until after July 2, when a seven-day final rebuttal comment period ends. (Reporting by Saumya Sibi Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta) |
Reparations for Slavery Get a Fiery Hearing in Congress
The House held on Wednesday the first hearing in more than a decade on reparations – the idea that the descendants of slaves in the U.S. should receive some kind of compensation for the suffering experienced by their ancestors. Among those testifying were presidential candidate Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ), writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover.
The purpose of the hearing:The Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is debating H.R. 40, a bill sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), that would establish a commission “to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery, its subsequent de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies ...”
The timing of the hearing:Wednesday is June 19, which is celebrated as “Juneteenth” in commemoration of the day the abolition of slavery was announced in Texas in 1865 and, more generally, the liberation of African-Americans in the former Confederate States of America.
The argument for:Sen. Corey Booker spoke in favor of the bill, citing a national failure to address “the root causes of a lot of the inequities” that exist in the U.S. The senator said the country has not yet confronted its long history of racism and white supremacy, and that establishing a commission to study the issue would provide an “historic opportunity to break the silence, to speak to the ugly past and talking constructively about how we will move this nation forward." With respect to reparations, the senator has proposed providing all American children with $1,000 “baby bonds,” supplemented every year, with the poorest children receiving larger amounts. Booker’s plan would address racial wealth disparities indirectly, with black children benefiting in greater percentages due to persistently high poverty levels in the black community.
The argument against:Ahead of the hearings, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized the idea, saying that he didn’t think “reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.” McConnell noted that the U.S. has passed civil rights legislation and “elected an African-American president,” and argued that it would be “pretty hard to figure out who to compensate” if a reparation system were put in place.
Coates, who sparked a renewed interest on the topic in 2014 with a piece titled “The Case for Reparations” published in The Atlantic, responded directly to McConnell in his testimony. “We grant that Mr. McConnell was not alive for Appomattox,” Coates said, but he “was alive to witness kleptocracy in his native Alabama and a regime premised on electoral theft. … He was alive for the redlining of Chicago and the looting of black homeowners of some $4 billion. Victims of that plunder are very much alive today."
The difficult details:While the hearing was about setting up a commission to analyze the issue, supporters of reparations have been discussing different options for how to pay them for years. The bill itself is named after the post-Civil War promise of “40 acres and a mule” for the former slaves – a promise that was quickly broken in the post-war South. Contemporary proposals for reparations range from sending out checks to the descendants of slaves to massive investments in African-American communities, including, for example, the historically black colleges.
Given the wide range of proposals, it’s hard to put a price tag on reparations, and estimates range from $17 billion to $5 trillion, CNNreports. But supporters of the idea argue that the price tag is secondary to the larger issues of historical responsibility and national identity.
What’s next:House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Democrats plan to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, though it has to pass the Judiciary Committee first. If the bill were to become law – which is unlikely, given Republican control of the Senate and White House – it would provide $12 million to study the issue.
For more on the debate:
• The Case for Reparations(Atlantic)
• The Impossibility of Reparations(Atlantic)
• People Are Again Talking about Slavery Reparations. But It's a Complex and Thorny Issue(CNN)
• The 2020 Democratic Primary Debate over Reparations, Explained(Vox)
• Where the 2020 Democratic Candidates Stand on Reparations(Axios)
• House Resolution 40 – Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act
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Top US trade official plans to meet Chinese counterpart
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. trade negotiator said he will meet with his Chinese counterpart to discuss a trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies before a summit next week in Japan between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping of China.
Appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he plans to speak with the top Chinese negotiator by phone in the next day and a half. Then the two are expected to meet, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in Osaka ahead of the Trump-Xi summit at the Group of 20 meeting June 28-29.
Lighthizer did not name his counterpart. But Vice Premier Liu He has led the Chinese delegation in past talks.
Eleven rounds of talks have failed to resolve the differences between the world's two biggest economies. The U.S. accuses China of using predatory tactics in an aggressive push to supplant American technological dominance. These, the U.S. says, include stealing trade secrets, forcing foreign firms to hand over technology and unfairly subsidizing Chinese tech firms.
China accuses the United States of trying to keep an emerging rival down. Beijing also is reluctant to scale back its aspirations to make Chinese companies world leaders in cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous cars.
Trump has pointed to the U.S. trade deficit with China — a record $381 billion last year — as a sign that China is pursuing abusive trade practices. "We have a very unbalanced relationship with China, and we have one that risks literally the jobs of the future for America," Lighthizer said Wednesday. "So, it's very important that we get this relationship right."
The United States has slapped 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports. The Chinese have counterpunched by targeting $110 billion in U.S. products.
"From the very beginning, China made it clear that we do not want a trade war," Wang Hejun, a senior official at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said on the Fox Business Network's "After the Bell" program on Wednesday. "But China will give no ground on matters of principle."
Until last month, it appeared that the two countries were edging slowly but steadily toward a deal. But then the U.S. accused China of reneging on commitments it had made in earlier rounds of talks. Negotiations stopped, and the Trump administration rolled out plans to tax another $300 billion in Chinese imports, extending the tariffs to everything China ships to the United States.
The threat of an escalation in the dispute has rocked financial markets and clouded prospects for the global economy. In seven days of hearings that began Monday, hundreds of businesses are urging Lighthizer's office to rethink the plan to expand the China tariffs.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that he'd spoken on the phone with Xi and that the two leaders would meet in Osaka. But it's still unclear when the two countries' negotiating teams will resume detailed talks.
"When actual negotiations begin again, I can't say at this point," Lighthizer said. "We're talking. We're going to meet."
___
Darlene Superville contributed to this story. |
House Passes $1 Trillion Spending Package, but Larger Spending Fight Still Looms
The House on Wednesday passed a nearly $1 trillion spending package by a 226-203 vote largely along party lines. “But it’s far too soon to declare victory in averting the fiscal cliff that looms just three-and-a-half months away,” Politico’s Caitlin Emma and Jennifer Scholtesreport.
The 667-page spending package funds most of the federal government for fiscal 2020, including the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. It also provides for foreign operations and energy and water. “The measure takes aim at a slew of Trump's funding goals, starting with a rejection of his budget request, which proposed deep cuts to the State Department, cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the elimination of advanced energy research and a massive increase in defense spending,” The Hill’s Niv Elliswrites.
The House was set to take up a second package covering $383 billion in spending on Wednesday afternoon. Democrats reportedly expect to pass all 12 required annual spending bills by the end of June.
Why it matters:The spending package isn’t likely to become law as is, Ellis says, but it will give House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) more leverage in her budget negotiations with Senate Republicans, who have yet to take up their own fiscal 2020 funding bills. The two sides, along with the Trump White House, must agree to a deal to raise spending caps for the fiscal year that starts October 1.
Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) met Wednesday afternoon with other top lawmakers and Trump administration officials to again discuss how to raise spending caps that threaten to force $126 billion in automatic spending cuts or another government shutdown. The main point of contention in those talks has been how much to raise non-defense spending, with Democrats pushing for higher increases.
“Congressional leaders in both parties are confident they can reach a deal to stave off a funding fiasco this fall — if only President Donald Trump would stay out of the way,” Politico’s Heather Caygle and Burgess EverettreportedTuesday evening.
But the meeting reportedlydid not go well. After the meeting, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that, rather than pursue the two-year budget deal lawmakers prefer, the administration is prepared to extend funding and suspend the debt ceiling for one year, CNNreported.
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Exclusive: T-Mobile prepares for Boost auction if Dish Network talks stall - sources
By Angela Moon and Sheila Dang
(Reuters) - T-Mobile US Inc is preparing an alternative plan if a deal to sell wireless assets to Dish Network Corp falls through, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc , which is advising T-Mobile, the third largest U.S. wireless carrier, on selling prepaid brand Boost Mobile as part of the company’s concession to gain regulatory approval to buy Sprint Corp, is expected to send out books to prospective buyers in two weeks, one source familiar with the matter said.
While satellite television provider Dish Network remains the front-runner to acquire the Boost assets, Goldman has told prospective buyers as late as Tuesday that it is preparing for an upcoming auction of Boost.
Another source characterized the process being run by Goldman as moving slowly. Among the details holding up an auction is that Goldman is not yet clear what exactly is up for sale from the merger, one source said.
T-Mobile and Sprint did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
T-Mobile and Sprint have agreed to a series of deal concessions, including to sell Boost, to gain regulatory approval for the $26.5 billion merger with Sprint, but still needs the green light from the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust chief, though his staff have recommended the agency block the deal.
A source close to the discussions said T-Mobile was hopeful it would reach an agreement with the Justice Department by early next week.
The Boost assets have stirred up interest from a variety of parties, including Amazon.com Inc and cable companies Comcast Corp , Charter Communications Inc and Altice USA Inc, according to sources.
T-Mobile and Sprint are still negotiating possible additional concessions with the Department of Justice, and Goldman Sachs is waiting for the details of the agreement before working on the terms that will be sent out to bidders, one source said.
Two potential bidders told Reuters on the condition of anonymity that they are still in the dark about critical information related to the Boost sale, such as how the Boost wireless deal with T-Mobile will be structured, or financial details about the Boost customers, which the bidders will use to determine the prepaid brand’s valuation.
Dish is also speaking with other parties on potential partnerships with Boost, sources said.
T-Mobile has agreed to negotiate a contract with Boost’s buyer that will allow the spun-off company to run on the combined T-Mobile and Sprint network, according to a regulatory filing that outlined the merger concessions. But the carriers are currently debating whether to provide the buyer an infrastructure-based mobile virtual network operator deal, which would allow the buyer more control over the wireless plans, including control of the user’s SIM card, one source said.
That could help convince the Department of Justice to approve the merger, which has held discussions on how to preserve competition in the wireless industry.
Cable provider Altice is one of the few so-called MVNO partners to have this type of wireless agreement, which it currently has with Sprint. An infrastructure-based MVNO is generally seen as more favorable than a standard deal that allows wireless providers that do not own and operate their own network to piggyback off of one of the four major wireless carriers for wholesale prices.
Other concessions being discussed include whether T-Mobile and Sprint will divest wireless spectrum, or the airwaves that carry data, and the possibility of giving up more retail customers or retail shops from either T-Mobile or Sprint’s prepaid brands, according to one source familiar with the matter.
(Reporting by Sheila Dang and Angela Moon in New York and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Kenneth Li and Lisa Shumaker) |
Trump Administration Ramps Up Its Fight to Wipe Out a Federal Agency
The Trump administration is escalating its fight to kill the federal agency responsible for managing the government’s 2.1 million civilian employees, The Washington Post’s Lisa Reinreports.
The Office of Personnel Management is preparing to furlough, and possibly lay off, 150 employees if Congress blocks its plan to eliminate the agency, according to internal documents obtained by the Post. The furloughs would begin on October 1, the first day of the new fiscal year.
What this fight is about:The Trump administration has proposed to eliminate the agency. It would mark the first time in modern history that a large federal department would be disbanded, Rein says. “Trump officials say that OPM is a broken agency that should be wiped clean and restarted,” she explains. “They cite security weaknesses that led to a massive data breach, inefficient hiring policies and a backlogged system of processing paperwork for retiring employees.”
OPM’s functions and its 5,565 employees would be redistributed across three other departments, with most moving to the General Services Administration, which serves as the real estate and procurement hub for the government.
But that plan has met resistance in Congress, where lawmakers say the administration has failed to present a clear and compelling case for the reorganization. Critics charge that the effort is intended to weaken and politicize the federal workforce. “I want to see how this plan is cheaper for the taxpayer and better for the federal workforce,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who leads a panel overseeing government operations on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told the Post. “It’s hard to get to a determination of how this makes things better.”
What’s next:The Trump administration wants a commitment from lawmakers by the end of the month to kill off the agency. Without such an agreement, they say they’ll be forced to cut staff on their own. Margaret Weichert, the acting director of OPM who has led the charge to dismantle the agency, reportedly told her staff that she is “planning to play chicken with Congress.”
House Democrats are moving to block Weichert’s plans, though legislation advanced by the House Appropriations Committee last week to forbid the administration from spending money to “reorganize or transfer any function” from OPM must still get through Congress. The fight over OPM’s fate is set to keep going.
Read Rein’s full piece at The Washington Post.
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Asian Markets Rise After Fed Indicates Readiness to Cut Rate
Investing.com - Asian markets rose in morning trade on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate unchanged but struck a more dovish tone in its latest policy statement.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component rose 1.4% and 1.0% respectively by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index traded 0.8% higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.4%. South Korea’s KOSPI inched up 0.1%.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.2%.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said on Thursday that “the possibility of lower interest rates remains on the table" to speed up economic growth. The central bank cut rates to a record low of 1.25% earlier this month.
"It is not unrealistic to expect a further reduction in the cash rate as the Board seeks to wind back spare capacity in the economy and deliver inflation outcomes in line with the medium-term target,” Lowe said in an economics conference in Adelaide.
"The most recent data - including the GDP and labor market data – do not suggest we are making any inroads into the economy's spare capacity," he said.
The gain in Asian stocks today came after the U.S. Fed indicated a readiness for a possible rate cut later this year, citing “uncertainties” in the global economic outlook amid ongoing Sino-U.S. trade war.
The central bank kept rates unchanged in a 2.25% to 2.5% range as expected.
“While the baseline outlook remains favorable, the question is whether these uncertainties will continue to weigh on the outlook and thus call for additional monetary policy accommodation,’’ Fed chairman Jerome Powell told reporters.
His comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized the central bank for keeping credit too tight.
On the Sino-U.S. trade front, both Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping has confirmed this week that they will be discussing trade issues at next week’s G-20 meeting.
They had a “very good telephone conversation” and are expected to have an “extended meeting” during the gathering, according to Trump, who threatened tariffs on an additional $300 billion Chinese goods if Xi did not attend the G-20 meeting.
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What Investors Should Focus on When McCormick Reports Earnings
Spice and flavorings giantMcCormick & Company(NYSE: MKC)is set to release fiscal second-quarter 2019 earnings results on June 27 before the open of trading. Despite volatility earlier in the year, McCormick shares have gained 12% so far in 2019 as investors have gained comfort with the company's recent steady state of slim but dependable revenue and earnings growth. Below, let's look at three focus areas that will yield fruit upon inspection for investors when the report is filed next week.
McCormick reported 1% year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, to $1.23 billion. In constant currency terms, the company's top line advanced by 4%. Adjusted earnings per share improved by 12% to $1.12.
This top- and bottom-line performance fell in line with management's fiscal 2019 expectations. The consumer packaged goods (CPG) conglomerate anticipates that current-year revenue will improve by 1% to 3% over fiscal 2018, which equates to 3%-5% growth in constant currency terms.
Adjusted operating income for the year is slated to advance by 9% to 11% in constant currency terms against the $930 million in adjusted operating income the company booked in fiscal 2018.
Management expects adjusted earnings per share to land between $5.17 and $5.27, which will mark a growth rate of 4% to 6%, or 6% to 8% when adjusted for foreign currency translation. As you can see, net earnings are set to expand at a lower rate relative to operating income; this is mostly due to a higher expected effective tax rate in fiscal 2019.
Since McCormick's business isn't subject to outsized seasonal swings, shareholders can expect that both its second-quarter top and bottom lines will fall within the full-year percentage ranges when compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2018.
Image source: Getty Images.
To build organic growth in a band of 3% to 5% in the second quarter, McCormick will most likely reveal a segment performance pattern similar to Q1. That is, low single-digit sales growth in the consumer segment will be supported by mid-single-digit flavorings segment expansion.
In the first quarter, consumer sales advanced by 3%, while flavorings sales popped by 6% -- both in constant currency terms. The flavorings business is benefiting from higher quick-service restaurant sales, growing snack flavoring sales to fellow CPG multinationals, food service expansion, and a widening footprint in emerging markets.
During the company'sfirst-quarter earnings conference call, CEO Lawrence Kurzius also cited the additions of the acquired Frank's RedHot hot sauce, French's Mustard, and Cattlemen's barbecue brands to institutional sales in the flavorings category as a recent growth catalyst.
McCormick is hoping to kick-start sales momentum in the consumer segment through a number of avenues in the first half of fiscal 2019, including the addition of premium salts and peppers to its McCormick Gourmet spices in the U.S. and a new line of Zatarain's packaged meal products dubbed "Zatarain's Garden District Kitchen." McCormick shares will potentially respond positively if the company is able to push its consumer sales advance beyond the low single-digit range this quarter.
In addition to breaking down top-line progress, shareholders should check on the status of two distinct profitability initiatives -- one a long-standing effort, the other a relatively new project. The first is the company's muti-year "CCI" (Comprehensive Continuous Improvement) productivity program. In fiscal 2018, McCormick realized cost savings of $118 million through CCI efforts -- an amount equal to 3% of its total expenses for the year. In fiscal 2019, the organization is seeking to save another $110 million via various logistics, supply chain, and general and administrative productivity measures, which in sum should boost gross margin by 25 to 75basis points.
The second initiative is the company's plan to hold its brand marketing spends equal to 2018 levels. Management is aiming to promote higher marketing efficiency by tightening up on growth in brand marketing investments. As CEO Kurzius observed last quarter, this will rely in part on a savvier use of social media to wring more impact out of a static level of marketing dollars. Again, evidence of ongoing success in this endeavor will improve the attractiveness of McCormick shares. Look for company executives to discuss marketing spend efficacy on the second-quarter earnings call.
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Shareholders Are Raving About How The Anglo Australian Resources (ASX:AAR) Share Price Increased 570%
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For many, the main point of investing in the stock market is to achieve spectacular returns. While not every stock performs well, when investors win, they can win big. For example, theAnglo Australian Resources NL(ASX:AAR) share price is up a whopping 570% in the last half decade, a handsome return for long term holders. And this is just one example of the epic gains achieved by some long term investors. Better yet, the share price has risen 9.8% in the last week.
Anyone who held for that rewarding ride would probably be keen to talk about it.
See our latest analysis for Anglo Australian Resources
With zero revenue generated over twelve months, we don't think that Anglo Australian Resources has proved its business plan yet. So it seems shareholders are too busy dreaming about the progress to come than dwelling on the current (lack of) revenue. It seems likely some shareholders believe that Anglo Australian Resources will find or develop a valuable new mine before too long.
Companies that lack both meaningful revenue and profits are usually considered high risk. There is almost always a chance they will need to raise more capital, and their progress - and share price - will dictate how dilutive that is to current holders. While some companies like this go on to deliver on their plan, making good money for shareholders, many end in painful losses and eventual de-listing. Of course, if you time it right, high risk investments like this can really pay off, as Anglo Australian Resources investors might know.
Our data indicates that Anglo Australian Resources had AU$145,848 more in total liabilities than it had cash, when it last reported in December 2018. That makes it extremely high risk, in our view. So we're surprised to see the stock up 46% per year, over 5 years, but we're happy for holders. Investors must really like its potential. You can click on the image below to see (in greater detail) how Anglo Australian Resources's cash levels have changed over time.
In reality it's hard to have much certainty when valuing a business that has neither revenue or profit. One thing you can do is check if company insiders are buying shares. If they are buying a significant amount of shares, that's certainly a good thing. Luckily we are in a position to provide you with thisfreechart of insider buying (and selling).
Investors in Anglo Australian Resources had a tough year, with a total loss of 26%, against a market gain of about 11%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 46% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. You could get a better understanding of Anglo Australian Resources's growth by checking outthis more detailed historical graphof earnings, revenue and cash flow.
For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU 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. |
6 Places to Put Your Cash Now
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. With the Federal Reserve signaling lower interest rates ahead, consumers may want to rethink where they deposit their money. Dont make radical changes based on Wednesdays Fed statement. But if youre keeping significant sums in a walk-in bankwhere savings accounts can pay as little as 0.01 percentyou can certainly find higher rates with online banks and credit unions . Focus on what you can control, says Benjamin Sullivan, a certified financial planner and portfolio manager at Palisades Hudson Financial Group in Austin, Texas. You dont have control over interest rates, but you do over what instrument or investment to choose. Large national online players, such as Barclays , First Internet Bank , Marcus by Goldman Sachs , and Sallie Mae Bank , are currently paying interest rates of 2 percent or more on new online savings accounts and 2.6 percent or more on one-year certificates of deposit, says DepositAccounts . Some smaller players are competitive, as well. VioBank, the internet banking division of MidFirst Bank, is offering a 2.52-percent annual percentage rate on savings accounts, with a $100 minimum balance and no monthly service charge. (Six withdrawals per statement cycle are free; after that, the bank charges a $10-per-withdrawal fee.) As for CDs, First Internet Bank is paying 2.75 annual percentage yield (which is the rate plus the effect of compounding interest) on a 12-month CD, with a minimum deposit of $1,000. (Theres a penalty for early withdrawal.) Savings and one-year CD rates are likely to stay the same for now, Sullivan says. Savings accounts typically move in tandem with the Feds changes to its short-term federal funds ratethe rate banks charge other banks for overnight loans. One-year CDs already reflect the markets expectations about future rates. Story continues And when you turn to taking a longer view, consider these four strategies for your savings. Bear in mind that theres nothing to stop you from using more than one of them, depending on your goals. Strategy: I Want Safety and Maximum Interest on Funds I Access Regularly Online savings accounts currently offer yields of 2 percent or more annually. Theyre among the safest savings vehicles, and up to $250,000 in deposits per holder, whether through a bank or a credit union, is covered by federal insurance. (A joint account with two holders is insured up to $500,000.) You can find the rates offered for these high-paying accounts through websites such as DepositAccounts and Bankrate . (At DepositAccounts, scroll below the top listings, which paid for placement there; at BankRate, click on APY to get annual percentage yields in descending order.) Check the minimum deposit, fees, and features (such as ATM access and check writing). Note the limitations. Many of the higher-interest savings accounts, for instance, limit monthly withdrawals to six before a fee is charged. Also check out the accounts rate history on DepositAccounts, says Allan Roth, chief executive of Wealth Logic, a financial planning firm based in Colorado Springs, Colo. If the account has been around several years, theres less likelihood the current APY is a teaser rate that will drop later. Youre not locked in, but most people have better things to do than looking at rates and moving around their money, Roth says. Money market deposit accounts offer up to 2.50 percent these days. These accounts are similar to savings accounts, but with some additional benefits and restrictions. Offered by banks and credit unions, theyre insured like savings accounts, up to $250,000 per individual holder. Institutions are able to provide higher rates on these accounts by investing your money in secure, short-term Treasury debt. If you can stash a significant amount in a money market account, you may benefit from more rate stability than in an online savings account, says DepositAccounts founder, Ken Tumin. Thats because some money market accounts offer higher rate tiers for balances above a certain amountsay, $10,000and are less likely to change rates at those higher tiers later. Make sure the money market account has the features you need. Capital One, for instance, offers no debit cards or check writing with its 360 Money Market account . At DepositAccounts, check customer reviews for consumer experiences opening, maintaining, and closing accounts. Also note the financial health of the bank, which DepositAccounts judges using a variety of well-accepted financial yardsticks. While your savings are insured and the percentage of banks with low ratings is tiny, avoiding D- or F-rated institutions could save you from hassles if you have to get your money in the event of default. Strategy: I Want High Returns and Convenience in Exchange for Some Risk Money market funds are good options as a secondary savings account or to hold a portion of your emergency money. They are offered by mutual fund and investment companies . Money market funds invest in debt: super-safe, short-term Treasury bills, plus short-term municipal and corporate debt (also known as commercial paper). While convenient to use if you also have a brokerage account, unlike savings and money market accounts theyre not insured. Theyre low-risk, but theres an incremental amount of risk over investing in high-yield savings accounts, says Eric Bronnenkant, head of tax at Betterment, an online investment company based in New York City. Roth says the best option now in money market funds is the Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund , with a compound yield of 2.36 percent. Unlike corporate money market funds, the fund is fully backed by the U.S. Treasury. Its also exempt from state income tax. But you must invest a minimum of $50,000. For as little as $3,000, you could invest in the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund , yielding 2.32 percent. However, you wont get an exemption on your state income tax on all of that yield, Roth says. While money market funds typically require a minimum deposit of $500 or more, theres no limit on how much can be deposited or withdrawn after that initial deposit or how often you can make transactions. You can write checks, arrange for direct deposit, and, in some cases, use ATMs. Check the net expense ratio, which should be well below 1 percent of assets. Investor shares of the Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund, for instance, charge 0.16 percent, or $1.60 per $1,000 invested. (The minimum initial investment is $3,000.) Compare expenses among money funds using the free Fund Analyzer sponsored by FINRA, the self-governing body of the investment industry. Strategy: I'll Do Anything for the Highest Insured Yield High-yield reward checking accounts offer relatively high interestcurrently as much as 5.09 percent APYand are federally insured up to $250,000. But the community banks and credit unions that offer them make account holders jump through hoops. While initial deposits and minimum balances are either nonexistent or very low, you typically must make six to 12 debit-card transactions per month, arrange for at least one direct deposit monthly, and sign up for electronic statements. There may be other rules, too. With these accounts youll get the top rate on high-yield checking up to a certain balance; above that limit, the interest drops sharply. Many such accounts, also called rewards checking, limit their high rates to balances of $10,000 or less. Consumers Credit Union of Illinois Free Rewards Checking , for instance, has a current APY of 5.09 percent on the first $10,000 in savings and 0.20 percent to 0.1 percent after that. You also have to join the credit union (for a one-time $5 fee) and agree to receiving all-electronic documents. And each month you must make at least 12 debit-card transactions totaling $100; have $500 in direct deposits; and spend $1,000 or more with a CCU Visa card. Tumin says some of his website readers report having a dozen or so such accounts at a time, each account holding just under the maximum to get the top rate. Strategy: I Dont Need to Touch My Savings for Several Months or a Year Treasury bills of a years duration are being auctioned at about 2 percent this week . They carry an implicit insurance: Theyre debt-backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The minimum purchase is $100. You buy the bill at a discount and get the full price when it matures. For example, $200 worth of 52-week bills would cost around $196. You can buy these bills through a broker, but to avoid a fee, buy directly from the federal government at TreasuryDirect.gov . Check the latest rates here ; to determine the interest youll get, take the Price per $100 in the last column and subtract it from $100. Bronnenkant mentions a benefit of this type of investment: The interest is exempt from state and local tax. If you live in a state with both, Treasuries are an attractive option for your cash. The downside? Because you buy Treasuries at a discount, selling a bill before its due means you wont get all the yield you expected. Theres more liquidity than with CDs but some potential loss, Bronnenkant says. Certificates of deposit with terms of six months or more are easy to find with yields at 2.5 percent or higher. For one-year CDs, you can find APYs at nearly 3 percent. These time-based accounts, available through banks and credit unions, are federally insured up to $250,000. Using a fixed-interest vehicle, such as a CD, could be worthwhile if you expect interest rates to drop. You may get a little more return for locking up your money for one to two years, Bronnenkant says. The downside is, lets say this is a short-term aberration and that interest rates go higher, you may have locked yourself into a lower rate. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2019, Consumer Reports, Inc. |
Trump honors economist who advised him on lowering taxes
WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday to economist Arthur Laffer, whose disputed theories on tax cuts have guided Republican policy since the 1980s. Laffer, 78, advised Trump during his presidential campaign and co-wrote a flattering book, "Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy." Laffer says lower tax rates change people's behavior and stimulate economic growth, creating more tax revenue for the government, not less. Allies credit Laffer with helping to spur income tax reductions around the world and boosting national economies as a result. Critics say the tax cuts he has espoused over the years have not produced the promised results and have instead contributed to growing income inequality and soaring budget deficits. Trump said that Laffer proved the best way to grow the economy and raise government revenue was not to increase tax rates but to adopt strong incentives "that unleash the power of human freedom." "Few people in history have revolutionized economic thought and policy like Dr. Art Laffer," Trump said during a ceremony in the Oval Office. Trump used the ceremony to highlight the state of the economy under his watch. The president credits his $1.5 trillion tax cut package for boosting the economy, which sported a 3.6 percent unemployment rate in May and has U.S. stock markets standing near record highs. But the federal deficit also soared. It's up nearly 40 percent through the first eight months of the budget year. He did not address that aspect of the tax cuts. Many Republicans justified their vote for the tax cuts by saying they would grow the economy to the extent that they would not increase the national debt. Jared Bernstein, who served as an economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said Laffer is probably the most influential economist living today. He said his biggest accomplishment is convincing politicians that tax cuts will pay for themselves. Story continues "He had consistently espoused that tax cuts for the wealthy will generate significant growth, thereby helping pay for themselves and boosting the incomes of low and middle-income people. None of that has occurred," said Bernstein, now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. Laffer was also an adviser to President Ronald Reagan. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of supply-side economics" and his philosophy on taxes became known as "The Laffer Curve." He said he did not invent the Laffer Curve and quoted economist John Maynard Keynes in summarizing it. "Given sufficient time to gather the fruit, a reduction of taxation will run a better chance than an increase of balancing the budget." Trump recounted how The Laffer Curve came into being during a 1974 dinner with Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Wall Street Journal reporter Jude Wanniski. "Art drew on his napkin a series of lines and a curve that changed history," Trump said. "Art showed that if tax rates are too high, people stop spending and they stop investing. The result is less growth and lower tax revenue. On the other hand, at a certain point in the curve, lower tax rates spur investment, economic growth and raise government revenue." Laffer also advised then-Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas on income tax cuts that state's conservative legislature approved in 2012 and 2013. But the economic boom envisioned did not pan out. Rather, persistent shortfalls prompted lawmakers to raise the state's sales tax, divert funds from highway projects, reduce contributions to public pensions and tighten spending on social services. Voters came to view the Republican governor's experiment as a failure, and bipartisan supermajorities repealed most of the tax cuts in 2017 over Brownback's veto. "Trumponomcs," whose co-author is Stephen Moore, describes Trump as a "gifted orator," ''shrewd," and "open-minded." Writing in Foreign Affairs, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush described "Trumponomics" as the voice of "rah-rah partisans." "The book's over-the-top enthusiasm for U.S. President Donald Trump's sketchy economic agenda is not likely to convince anyone not already sporting a 'Make America Great Again' hat," wrote N. Gregory Mankiw, now a professor of economics at Harvard University. Trump considered nominating Moore to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, but Moore withdrew from consideration last month after losing Republican support in the Senate, largely over his past inflammatory writings about women. Moore described Laffer as the most persuasive voice among Trump's advisers for cutting the corporate tax rate to 21 percent. "Though the final verdict of how well this works remains unknown, the bump in growth and wages in our country, along with the record 7 million unfilled jobs, has provided vindication of the power of the Laffer model," Moore wrote in The Hill. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor, awarded for especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the U.S., or for significant cultural endeavors. |
Trump could pull out of 2020 presidential race: ‘Bond King’ Jeffrey Gundlach
The so-called "Bond King”Jeffrey Gundlachgave FOX Business a very bold prediction for the 2020 presidential race, suggesting there’s a possibilityPresident Trumpmay not even run forre-election.
“I am not even sure he’s going to really run,” Gundlach, the DoubleLine Capital co-founder andCEO, said during an exclusive interview withNeil Cavutoon Wednesday.
Gundlach added the president’s second term will be determined by the success of theU.S. economy.
“If the economy goes into recession and he can’t pullout by removing the tariffs, there’s very little for him to run on,” he said.
Trump launched his2020 re-election campaignTuesday night before a packed crowd in Orlando's Amway Center arena. The president touted the economy under his administration as “envy of the world.”
“Our country is soaring to incredible new heights," he said. "Our economy is the envy of the world, perhaps the greatest economy we've had in the history of our country, and as long as you keep this team in place -- we have a tremendous way to go -- our future has never, ever looked brighter or sharper.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
Gundlach said, as long as the economy doesn’t falter, Trump will win re-election. But he warns, there’s a chance Trump might pull out of the presidential race.
“Lyndon Johnson ran for a while too and then pulled out because of the war problems,” Gundlach said.
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Were Hedge Funds Right About Flocking Into KT Corporation (KT) ?
How do we determine whether KT Corporation (NYSE:KT) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors.
IsKT Corporation (NYSE:KT)the right pick for your portfolio? Prominent investors are becoming more confident. The number of long hedge fund positions rose by 3 recently. Our calculations also showed that kt isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
[caption id="attachment_745225" align="aligncenter" width="473"]
Noam Gottesman, GLG Partners[/caption]
We're going to take a look at the latest hedge fund action surrounding KT Corporation (NYSE:KT).
At Q1's end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 19% from the fourth quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 7 hedge funds with a bullish position in KT a year ago. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically,Kopernik Global Investorswas the largest shareholder of KT Corporation (NYSE:KT), with a stake worth $82.9 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Kopernik Global Investors was Arrowstreet Capital, which amassed a stake valued at $57.4 million. AQR Capital Management, GLG Partners, and Sensato Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness.LMR Partners, managed by Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold, established the most outsized position in KT Corporation (NYSE:KT). LMR Partners had $10.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Simon Sadler'sSegantii Capitalalso initiated a $8.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new KT positions are Dmitry Balyasny'sBalyasny Asset Management, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies, and Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capital.
Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to KT Corporation (NYSE:KT). We will take a look at Ultrapar Participacoes SA (NYSE:UGP), Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL), Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI), and Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB). This group of stocks' market caps are closest to KT's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position UGP,12,60086,9 NWL,30,1295242,0 HBI,30,523605,2 DLB,29,535572,6 Average,25.25,603626,4.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $604 million. That figure was $267 million in KT's case. Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Ultrapar Participacoes SA (NYSE:UGP) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. KT Corporation (NYSE:KT) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately KT wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); KT investors were disappointed as the stock returned -2.8% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Old Republic International Corporation (ORI)
Hedge funds run by legendary names like George Soros and David Tepper make billions of dollars a year for themselves and their super-rich accredited investors (you’ve got to have a minimum of $1 million liquid to invest in a hedge fund) by spending enormous resources on analyzing and uncovering data about small-cap stocks that the big brokerage houses don’t follow. Small caps are where they can generate significant outperformance. That's why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks.
IsOld Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI)a buy, sell, or hold? Money managers are in a bearish mood. The number of long hedge fund positions were trimmed by 4 recently. Our calculations also showed that ori isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio.
We're going to take a gander at the new hedge fund action surrounding Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -17% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in ORI over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds,Renaissance Technologiesheld the most valuable stake in Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), which was worth $191.4 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Citadel Investment Group which amassed $102.2 million worth of shares. Moreover, AQR Capital Management, Two Sigma Advisors, and GLG Partners were also bullish on Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Due to the fact that Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, it's safe to say that there exists a select few money managers that elected to cut their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow'sBlue Mountain Capitaldropped the largest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $5.3 million in stock. Matthew Tewksbury's fund,Stevens Capital Management, also sold off its stock, about $1.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI). These stocks are Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDTI), Aluminum Corp. of China Limited (NYSE:ACH), GrubHub Inc (NYSE:GRUB), and Ingredion Inc (NYSE:INGR). This group of stocks' market valuations are similar to ORI's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position IDTI,29,1393513,-6 ACH,4,5548,0 GRUB,32,742868,9 INGR,18,295138,-3 Average,20.75,609267,0 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $609 million. That figure was $432 million in ORI's case. GrubHub Inc (NYSE:GRUB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Aluminum Corp. of China Limited (NYSE:ACH) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on ORI as the stock returned 6.2% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (HTA)
We know that hedge funds generate strong, risk-adjusted returns over the long run, therefore imitating the picks that they are collectively bullish on can be a profitable strategy for retail investors. With billions of dollars in assets, smart money investors have to conduct complex analyses, spend many resources and use tools that are not always available for the general crowd. This doesn't mean that they don't have occasional colossal losses; they do (like Peltz's recent General Electric losses). However, it is still a good idea to keep an eye on hedge fund activity. With this in mind, as the current round of 13F filings has just ended, let’s examine the smart money sentiment towards Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA).
Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA)shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late.HTAwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with HTA positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that hta isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Let's take a look at the key hedge fund action surrounding Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA).
At Q1's end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 12% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 12 hedge funds with a bullish position in HTA a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA) was held byAEW Capital Management, which reported holding $87.1 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $72.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Echo Street Capital Management, Carlson Capital, and Millennium Management.
Now, key money managers have jumped into Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA) headfirst.Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, established the most outsized position in Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA). Arrowstreet Capital had $12.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Anand Parekh'sAlyeska Investment Groupalso made a $6.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new HTA investors: Mike Vranos'sEllington, Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group.
Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ), Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR), BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF), and Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble HTA's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position AIZ,39,617750,8 NKTR,17,252184,-3 BOKF,16,215649,-3 CZR,57,3150352,-1 Average,32.25,1058984,0.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 32.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1059 million. That figure was $459 million in HTA's case. Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand BOK Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BOKF) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (NYSE:HTA) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on HTA, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 0.9% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Antero Midstream Corp (AM)
At Insider Monkey we follow nearly 750 of the best-performing investors and even though many of them lost money in the last couple of months of 2018 (some actually delivered very strong returns), the history teaches us that over the long-run they still manage to beat the market, which is why it can be profitable for us to imitate their activity. Of course, even the best money managers can sometimes get it wrong, but following some of their picks gives us a better chance to outperform the crowd than picking a random stock and this is where our research comes in.
Antero Midstream Corp (NYSE:AM)has seen an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately.AMwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with AM positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that am isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools stock market investors employ to appraise publicly traded companies. A duo of the best tools are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a solid amount (see the details here).
[caption id="attachment_750220" align="aligncenter" width="473"]
Andrew Raab of FPR Partners[/caption]
We're going to take a peek at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Antero Midstream Corp (NYSE:AM).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 27% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 12 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in AM a year ago. With hedgies' positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically,FPR Partnerswas the largest shareholder of Antero Midstream Corp (NYSE:AM), with a stake worth $105.3 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing FPR Partners was Zimmer Partners, which amassed a stake valued at $65.3 million. Millennium Management, Arrowstreet Capital, and Osterweis Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Now, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves.FPR Partners, managed by Bob Peck and Andy Raab, assembled the biggest position in Antero Midstream Corp (NYSE:AM). FPR Partners had $105.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander'sMillennium Managementalso made a $30.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AM positions are Alan Fournier'sPennant Capital Management, Mitch Cantor'sMountain Lake Investment Management, and Glenn Greenberg'sBrave Warrior Capital.
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Antero Midstream Corp (NYSE:AM). These stocks are GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS), Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN), Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST), and Genesee & Wyoming Inc (NYSE:GWR). This group of stocks' market values are similar to AM's market value.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position GDS,33,846857,8 MAN,19,490554,-6 NXST,31,1070646,-3 GWR,22,409479,4 Average,26.25,704384,0.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 26.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $704 million. That figure was $321 million in AM's case. GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Antero Midstream Corp (NYSE:AM) is even less popular than MAN. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards AM. Our calculations showed that the top 15 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately AM wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); AM investors were disappointed as the stock returned -8.8% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Manpowergroup Inc (MAN)
Hedge funds run by legendary names like George Soros and David Tepper make billions of dollars a year for themselves and their super-rich accredited investors (you’ve got to have a minimum of $1 million liquid to invest in a hedge fund) by spending enormous resources on analyzing and uncovering data about small-cap stocks that the big brokerage houses don’t follow. Small caps are where they can generate significant outperformance. That's why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks.
Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN)investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately.MANwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 25 hedge funds in our database with MAN holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that man isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio.
We're going to go over the recent hedge fund action surrounding Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -24% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in MAN over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically,AQR Capital Managementwas the largest shareholder of Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN), with a stake worth $202.1 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing AQR Capital Management was D E Shaw, which amassed a stake valued at $60.3 million. Balyasny Asset Management, Two Sigma Advisors, and Royce & Associates were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Judging by the fact that Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) has faced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there is a sect of hedgies that slashed their full holdings heading into Q3. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander'sMillennium Managementsold off the largest stake of the "upper crust" of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, worth close to $34.1 million in stock. Jeffrey Talpins's fund,Element Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $2.4 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds heading into Q3.
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) but similarly valued. These stocks are Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST), Genesee & Wyoming Inc (NYSE:GWR), Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR), and Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble MAN's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position NXST,31,1070646,-3 GWR,22,409479,4 KMPR,8,83442,-7 SRCL,22,560523,3 Average,20.75,531023,-0.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $531 million. That figure was $491 million in MAN's case. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Manpowergroup Inc (NYSE:MAN) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on MAN as the stock returned 7.5% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Is Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (IART) A Good Stock To Buy?
Before we spend countless hours researching a company, we'd like to analyze what insiders, hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. This is a necessary first step in our investment process because our research has shown that the elite investors' consensus returns have been exceptional. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART).
IsIntegra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART)a great investment now? Investors who are in the know are buying. The number of long hedge fund positions moved up by 1 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that iart isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.IARTwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 18 hedge funds in our database with IART holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
If you'd ask most market participants, hedge funds are viewed as slow, outdated investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open today, We hone in on the aristocrats of this group, approximately 750 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors preside over the majority of the hedge fund industry's total capital, and by monitoring their first-class equity investments, Insider Monkey has identified numerous investment strategies that have historically outperformed the market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points annually since its inception in May 2014 through the end of May. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 30.9% since February 2017 (through May 30th) even though the market was up nearly 24% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 11.9% in less than a couple of weeks whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2 percentage points in this volatile 2 week period.
[caption id="attachment_746893" align="aligncenter" width="473"]
Paul Marshall of Marshall Wace[/caption]
Let's take a peek at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 6% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in IART over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) was held byFisher Asset Management, which reported holding $42.6 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by D E Shaw with a $26.9 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Adage Capital Management, Millennium Management, and Marshall Wace LLP.
Consequently, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness.Blue Mountain Capital, managed by Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow, initiated the largest position in Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART). Blue Mountain Capital had $2.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorsalso initiated a $2.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new IART positions are Israel Englander'sMillennium Management, Steve Cohen'sPoint72 Asset Management, and Matthew Tewksbury'sStevens Capital Management.
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) but similarly valued. We will take a look at The Howard Hughes Corporation (NYSE:HHC), Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND), DCP Midstream LP (NYSE:DCP), and BRF SA (NYSE:BRFS). This group of stocks' market valuations match IART's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position HHC,22,471962,-4 ASND,35,2904435,9 DCP,2,8323,-3 BRFS,10,53894,1 Average,17.25,859654,0.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 17.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $860 million. That figure was $160 million in IART's case. Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand DCP Midstream LP (NYSE:DCP) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately IART wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on IART were disappointed as the stock returned -15.5% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Lantheus Holdings Inc (LNTH)
We at Insider Monkey have gone over 738 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the SEC The 13F filings show the funds' and investors' portfolio positions as of March 31st. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LNTH) based on that data.
Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LNTH)investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds recently.LNTHwas in 18 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with LNTH positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that LNTH isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
Let's view the latest hedge fund action encompassing Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LNTH).
At Q1's end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 6% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 16 hedge funds with a bullish position in LNTH a year ago. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LNTH) was held byRenaissance Technologies, which reported holding $35.1 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Tamarack Capital Management with a $23.3 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included AQR Capital Management, Raging Capital Management, and Royce & Associates.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names have been driving this bullishness.HBK Investments, managed by David Costen Haley, established the biggest position in Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LNTH). HBK Investments had $0.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Bruce Kovner'sCaxton Associates LPalso initiated a $0.3 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new LNTH position is Jeffrey Talpins'sElement Capital Management.
Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LNTH) but similarly valued. These stocks are Ra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RARX), Coherus Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CHRS), CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CEIX), and Denbury Resources Inc. (NYSE:DNR). This group of stocks' market caps resemble LNTH's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position RARX,20,267787,3 CHRS,27,199168,7 CEIX,19,130215,-6 DNR,17,43885,-4 Average,20.75,160264,0 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $160 million. That figure was $100 million in LNTH's case. Coherus Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CHRS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Denbury Resources Inc. (NYSE:DNR) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LNTH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on LNTH, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 1.6% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Carter’s, Inc. (CRI)
How do we determine whether Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors.
Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI)has seen a decrease in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. Our calculations also showed that cri isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio.
Let's analyze the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI).
At Q1's end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from the fourth quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 31 hedge funds with a bullish position in CRI a year ago. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically,Valinor Managementwas the largest shareholder of Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI), with a stake worth $63.7 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Valinor Management was Diamond Hill Capital, which amassed a stake valued at $55.9 million. Polaris Capital Management, Millennium Management, and Citadel Investment Group were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Seeing as Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there lies a certain "tier" of funds that decided to sell off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Lee Ainslie'sMaverick Capitalsaid goodbye to the biggest stake of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, worth close to $22.2 million in stock, and Sara Nainzadeh's Centenus Global Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $2.8 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds by the end of the third quarter.
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI). We will take a look at Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO), Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO), Science Applications International Corp (NYSE:SAIC), and Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD). This group of stocks' market values are similar to CRI's market value.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position AGO,34,559263,1 MDSO,16,214798,5 SAIC,28,356290,4 COLD,27,907693,11 Average,26.25,509511,5.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 26.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $510 million. That figure was $279 million in CRI's case. Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Carter's, Inc. (NYSE:CRI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately CRI wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); CRI investors were disappointed as the stock returned -14.9% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Community Health Systems (CYH)
Although the masses and most of the financial media blame hedge funds for their exorbitant fee structure and disappointing performance, these investors have proved to have great stock picking abilities over the years (that's why their assets under management continue to swell). We believe hedge fund sentiment should serve as a crucial tool of an individual investor’s stock selection process, as it may offer great insights of how the brightest minds of the finance industry feel about specific stocks. After all, these people have access to smartest analysts and expensive data/information sources that individual investors can't match. So should one consider investing in Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH)? The smart money sentiment can provide an answer to this question.
Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH)has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately. Our calculations also showed that CYH isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio.
We're going to check out the new hedge fund action surrounding Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -31% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CYH over the last 15 quarters. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Paul Singer'sElliott Managementhas the most valuable position in Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH), worth close to $16.8 million, corresponding to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Boaz Weinstein ofSaba Capital, with a $16.7 million position; 0.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers with similar optimism comprise Chuck Royce'sRoyce & Associates, and Jeffrey Altman'sOwl Creek Asset Management.
Because Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain "tier" of money managers that slashed their positions entirely in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Steve Cohen'sPoint72 Asset Managementsaid goodbye to the biggest investment of the "upper crust" of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $5.7 million in stock, and Israel Englander's Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $2.8 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 8 funds in the third quarter.
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH). We will take a look at CAI International Inc (NYSE:CAI), Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SENS), Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM), and U.S. Lime & Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:USLM). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to CYH's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CAI,16,112720,-1 SENS,10,5479,-4 SVM,9,17911,-3 USLM,4,31382,2 Average,9.75,41873,-1.5 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $42 million. That figure was $52 million in CYH's case. CAI International Inc (NYSE:CAI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand U.S. Lime & Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:USLM) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately CYH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on CYH were disappointed as the stock returned -24.7% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Kirby Corporation (KEX)
There are several ways to beat the market, and investing in small cap stocks has historically been one of them. We like to improve the odds of beating the market further by examining what famous hedge fund operators such as Jeff Ubben, George Soros and Carl Icahn think. Those hedge fund operators make billions of dollars each year by hiring the best and the brightest to do research on stocks, including small cap stocks that big brokerage houses simply don't cover. Because of Carl Icahn and other elite funds' exemplary historical records, we pay attention to their small cap picks. In this article, we use hedge fund filing data to analyze Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX).
IsKirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)a buy here? Hedge funds are getting more optimistic. The number of long hedge fund positions improved by 3 lately. Our calculations also showed that kex isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.KEXwas in 19 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with KEX positions at the end of the previous quarter.
Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
We're going to take a look at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 19% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards KEX over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Ric Dillon'sDiamond Hill Capitalhas the biggest position in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX), worth close to $189.4 million, comprising 1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Chuck Royce ofRoyce & Associates, with a $101.9 million position; 0.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining professional money managers with similar optimism contain David Greenspan'sSlate Path Capital, Alexander Mitchell'sScopus Asset Managementand Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley'sPolar Capital.
As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were leading the bulls' herd.Slate Path Capital, managed by David Greenspan, initiated the most outsized position in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX). Slate Path Capital had $62 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Alexander Mitchell'sScopus Asset Managementalso made a $48.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Zachary Miller'sParian Global Management, Clint Murray'sLodge Hill Capital, and Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider'sSG Capital Management.
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) but similarly valued. These stocks are Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO), Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT), Viper Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:VNOM), and United Microelectronics Corp (NYSE:UMC). All of these stocks' market caps are closest to KEX's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position FLO,18,190309,-2 MAT,21,703901,6 VNOM,17,190764,7 UMC,15,86705,-2 Average,17.75,292920,2.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 17.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $293 million. That figure was $514 million in KEX's case. Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand United Microelectronics Corp (NYSE:UMC) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on KEX as the stock returned 4.9% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Canopy Growth Earnings After Bell 6/20: Key Word Growth
The largest publicly traded cannabis company is releasing its earnings tomorrow after the bell. Canopy Growth CGC has missed both top and bottom line estimates over the past 3 quarters, but somehow the stock has reacted positively on 2 of the 3 releases. CGC analysts are estimating an EPS of -0.17 and revenues of $71 million.
Shareholders are voting today on whether to acquire Acreage Holdings, which could propel CGC one way or the other.
Constellation’s Stake
Constellation Brands STZ increased its stake in Canopy Growth to roughly 40% (from the original 9.9% in 2017) for $4 billion back in August of 2018. Constellation targeted Canopy because of its diverse portfolio of cannabis-based products and scalability that would allow STZ to get its foot in the door in an industry that is expected to take off.
Constellation Brands is the second largest U.S. alcohol company with long-standing distribution and supply chain operations. This partnership is one of the best things that could have happened to Canopy Growth, giving them access to Constellation’s well-established supply chain to quickly scale operations in Canada and in the ability to do so in the U.S. when legislation legalizes marijuana federally.
Constellation and Canopy are working closely to come up with a fast-acting marijuana-infused beverage that provides the consumer with a mild buzz without the calories of beer.
CGC has been on an acquisition frenzy, buying up as many diverse cannabis players as they can to put their stake deep in the cannabis soil. This surge in cash from Constellations increased their acquisition ability with management putting C$1 billion (roughly $750 million US) aside for further purchases in this ripe industry.
Acreage Holdings
Canopy Growth acquired the rights to buy Acreage Holdings ACRGF, back in April, on the contingency that marijuana is federally legalized in the United States. Canopy is now attempting to make this acquisition sooner with shareholders voting on this deal today.
Acreage Holdings is a U.S. cannabis dispensary business operating in 17 states with 2 states pending on acquisitions. Its combination of medical and adult-use products covers 176 million people with its pending acquisitions pushing this number to 185 million, more than half the U.S. population.
Acreage holdings would give Canopy Growth the U.S. marijuana exposure it needs to make a name for its products. This would also considerably increase its ability to scale once weed is federally legalized in the United States.
U.S. Cannabis Industry
A significant portion of the future growth priced into these cannabis stocks is contingent on the U.S. federally legalizing weed. The market for marijuana in Canada is expected to grow at over 77% annually, according to Cannabis Business Plan. The market in the U.S., if legalized, is anticipated to grow even faster. Some Analysts are predicting that it could even surpass the $100 billion U.S. beer industry.
The modern consumer has changed as a generational consumption shift materializes. Millennials are now the largest consuming generation and purchases are becoming increasingly health motivated. A low-calorie marijuana-based beverage or snack could be just what this next generation consumers are looking for as an alternative to alcohol.
The Pot Stocks
Top Canadian cannabis stocks include Canopy Growth, Cronos Group CRON, Aurora Cannabis ACB, and Tilray TLRY. All but TLRY have seen returns north of 50% in 2019, with Canopy Leading the pack at 58% gains.
These Canadian marijuana stocks are trading at exceptionally high multiples and beta’s north of 4. Since these firms are yet to turn a consistent profit a useful metric for valuation is forward price-to-sales (P/S). As a group, these stocks are trading around 20x P/S, multitudes higher than the S&P 500’s 3x. This multiple is being propelled by the triple-digit top-line growth figures that are expected from all of these firms in the next 2 years. These upcoming earnings reports will be crucial in deciding whether the extreme valuations are warranted.
Take Away
Canopy Growth and its publicly traded peers are all very high-risk stocks with an exceptionally large payout expected sometime in the future. Canopy is the clear leader in this space with a vastly diversified portfolio of cannabis products along with its STZ partnership and impending Acreage Holdings acquisition. CGC is making all the right moves to continue gaining market share as the market itself proliferates.
Before the U.S. legalization push, another phase of Canadian regulation is expected to open up more streams of revenue for Canopy’s diverse portfolio of cannabis products. Look for this regulation release in October of this year.
Tomorrow’s earnings release is likely to be another crapshoot for CGC but look for management’s guidance on expansion expectations. I would think that the Acreage Holdings deal outcome would have a more significant effect on CGC.
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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 reportConstellation Brands Inc (STZ) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCronos Group Inc. (CRON) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCanopy Growth Corporation (CGC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTilray, Inc. (TLRY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC)
Hedge funds are known to underperform the bull markets but that's not because they are bad at investing. Truth be told, most hedge fund managers and other smaller players within this industry are very smart and skilled investors. Of course, they may also make wrong bets in some instances, but no one knows what the future holds and how market participants will react to the bountiful news that floods in each day. Hedge funds underperform because they are hedged. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index returned approximately 12.1% in the first 5 months of this year through May 30th (including dividend payments). Conversely, hedge funds’ top 20 large-cap stock picks generated a return of 18.7% during the same 5-month period. An average long/short hedge fund returned only a fraction of this due to the hedges they implement and the large fees they charge. Our research covering the last 18 years indicates that investors can outperform the market by imitating hedge funds' stock picks rather than directly investing in hedge funds. That's why we believe it isn't a waste of time to check out hedge fund sentiment before you invest in a stock like Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC).
IsKinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC)undervalued? Prominent investors are getting more optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets inched up by 2 lately. Our calculations also showed that kgc isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit there are a lot of indicators stock traders have at their disposal to size up their stock investments. A duo of the most under-the-radar indicators are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a superb amount (see the details here).
We're going to analyze the new hedge fund action surrounding Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC).
At Q1's end, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 12% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 18 hedge funds with a bullish position in KGC a year ago. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologieshas the number one position in Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), worth close to $202 million, corresponding to 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager isAQR Capital Management, led by Cliff Asness, holding a $58.9 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other professional money managers that are bullish comprise Crispin Odey'sOdey Asset Management Group, John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorsand Israel Englander'sMillennium Management.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers were leading the bulls' herd.Sprott Asset Management, managed by Eric Sprott, assembled the most valuable position in Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC). Sprott Asset Management had $2.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Kenneth Tropin'sGraham Capital Managementalso initiated a $0.5 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new KGC position is Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt..
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC). We will take a look at Lumentum Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LITE), PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB), Smartsheet Inc. (NYSE:SMAR), and Deckers Outdoor Corp (NYSE:DECK). All of these stocks' market caps resemble KGC's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position LITE,31,534593,0 PSB,12,53680,0 SMAR,30,568636,13 DECK,29,593943,8 Average,25.5,437713,5.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $438 million. That figure was $319 million in KGC's case. Lumentum Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LITE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately KGC wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); KGC investors were disappointed as the stock returned -7.3% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Man stabbed on set of Anne Hathaway film 'The Witches'
A crew member has been stabbed on the U.K. set of Anne Hathaway ’s upcoming film The Witches , according to multiple local reports . “Police were called at around 12:35 p.m. today to reports of an incident at Warner Bros. studio production facility in Leavesden,” local police said in a statement. The studio has been home to numerous Hollywood blockbusters, including The Dark Knight , Inception , Wonder Woman , and more, and it’s next door to the popular studio tour The Making of Harry Potter . Police said one man sustained a neck injury and was taken to the hospital, while a second man was arrested on suspicion of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and is now in police custody. “It is believed the men are known to each other. Enquiries are continuing at this time to establish the circumstances around what happened,” the statement concluded. Warner Bros. declined to comment. Hathaway is set to play the Grand High Witch in Robert Zemeckis ’ adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches , which was previously seen on the big screen in 1990. The new iteration, which will also star Octavia Spencer , is scheduled for release in October 2020. Related content: Octavia Spencer to star with Anne Hathaway in Robert Zemeckis’ The Witches Robert Zemeckis to write and direct adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches Anjelica Huston says she doesn’t ‘really know why’ Hollywood would remake The Witches View comments |
Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS)
"Since 2006, value stocks (IVE vs IVW) have underperformed 11 of the 13 calendar years and when they beat growth, it wasn't by much. Cumulatively, through this week, it has been a 122% differential (up 52% for value vs up 174% for growth). This appears to be the longest and most severe drought for value investors since data collection began. It will go our way eventually as there are too many people paying far too much for today's darlings, both public and private. Further, the ten-year yield of 2.5% (pre-tax) isn't attractive nor is real estate. We believe the value part of the global equity market is the only place to earn solid risk adjusted returns and we believe those returns will be higher than normal," said Vilas Fund in itsQ1 investor letter. We aren't sure whether value stocks outperform growth, but we follow hedge fund investor letters to understand where the markets and stocks might be going. That's why we believe it would be worthwhile to take a look at the hedge fund sentiment on Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) in order to identify whether reputable and successful top money managers continue to believe in its potential.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS)investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. Our calculations also showed that BKS isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Let's view the latest hedge fund action surrounding Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 6% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 12 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in BKS a year ago. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists an "upper tier" of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Lee Ainslie'sMaverick Capitalhas the number one position in Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), worth close to $9.6 million, corresponding to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Himanshu Gulati ofAntara Capital, with a $7.8 million position; 2.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions include Himanshu Gulati'sAntara Capital, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupand James Dondero'sHighland Capital Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness.Blue Mountain Capital, managed by Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow, established the biggest position in Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS). Blue Mountain Capital had $0.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Tudor Jones'sTudor Investment Corpalso initiated a $0.4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BKS investors: David Costen Haley'sHBK Investments, Matthew Tewksbury'sStevens Capital Management, and Andrew Weiss'sWeiss Asset Management.
Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS). We will take a look at Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLRE), Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE), New Age Beverages Corporation (NASDAQ:NBEV), and Teekay Corporation (NYSE:TK). This group of stocks' market values are closest to BKS's market value.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position GLRE,3,1831,-2 KE,10,23063,3 NBEV,8,9004,4 TK,10,16401,3 Average,7.75,12575,2 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 7.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $13 million. That figure was $31 million in BKS's case. Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLRE) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately BKS wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on BKS were disappointed as the stock returned -18.5% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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46 and You: Genetic Testing = Giant Growth Market
I recently wrote a special report for Zacks Ultimate members where I picked my favorite stock to double in the next year. Here's an excerpt...
InvitaeNVTA is the $1.7 billion game-changing genetic diagnostics company that is like a “LittleIllumina” ILMN in terms of its proprietary genotyping technology and “network effects” in patient and care-provider medical information.
Both companies are leaders at their respective levels/markets in what is called Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). From the FDA guidance document on NGS in April 2018...
In the past decade, the cost of sequencing a whole genome has dropped 1000-fold, and the number of genetic tests has risen to more than 55,000 for over 11,000 conditions. Rapid adoption of NGS technology in medicine has led to the identification and curation of novel genetic variants that promise to improve diagnostic accuracy and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
Without question, we have witnessed the greatest impact of genomics in oncology and cancer therapy. The diagnosis and management of several types of cancer – Hodgkin’s lymphoma, breast cancer, and chronic myeloid leukemia - have made remarkable advances thanks to DNA sequencing technology. NGS has also benefited other fields like cardiovascular medicine.
Based on Invitae’s quality growth trajectory into a very large TAM (total addressable market), I believe that NVTA shares will double in the next 12-18 months to the $35-40 area. Investors should continue accumulating shares in the upper teens. If you already have a partial position, consider waiting to see if shares will fill the Feb 20 gap down to $16.50.
But I’m not even as optimistic as CEO Sean George who said in an interview in November that his goal is “to build a five to ten billion company over the next 3-5 years. I’d say that’s exactly where we are going. The faster we can do that the better. It’s very clear to us. That’s the head set.”
(end of excerpt from my "Invitae to Double" report)
In the video that accompanies this article, I introduce both companies and several of their peers in genomic diagnostics includingPacific BiosciencesPACB andGuardant HealthGH. More on these companies in a moment.
What I didn't emphasize enough in the video, though, was how big the potential market is for genetic testing.
Not only does Illumina design a nearly $1 million machine that is used for most genome sequencing and sold to biopharma companies, universities, and other genetic research labs, they also provide the science behind most of the consumer testing kits.
Their technology is largely responsible for the massive drop in the cost of sequencing and Invitae is one of their big customers for testing. Together, the two companies are staring into a massive market opportunity.
Consider that if only 500 million people across North America, Europe, and Asia seek some form of medical-grade testing in the next 5 years at an average cost of $250 -- not merely the genealogy versions that cost only $99 -- that could equal $125 billion in revenue for these companies.
Currently, Illumina is on track to cross $4 billion in revenues in the next year, while Invitae is just on pace to break $300 million in trailing 12-month sales for the first time by next June.
Even if you cut my estimate of the TAM in half to ~$60 billion, that's still a huge market opportunity for both companies. And when you listen to these companies, especially Invitae CEO Sean George, you hear them describe a birth-to-death lifecycle of potential genomic testing for health-conscious consumers.
And Invitae is developing many types and levels of medical inquiry for genomic insights, some that cost north of $500 for precision testing of specific genetic conditions.
In short, the average person could be a customer for several tests in his or her lifetime, whether self-initiated or ordered by their doctor.
I became more interested in Invitae this April after the company just got some great news from giant health insurer United Healthcare who chose Invitae as just one of seven labs covered in a new group of diagnostics providers called the Preferred Laboratory Network (PLN).
This means insurance providers are becoming medical advocates of genetic testing because it helps doctors with screening, diagnosis and early detection of health issues for their patients, which saves money for everyone in the healthcare value chain.
I expect there also to be a rise in government-sponsored campaigns to raise awareness of the value of genetic testing, encouraging citizens to be more proactive with increasingly available and affordable screening options.
Illumina's Planned Buyout of Pacific Biosciences Runs Into Opposition
On June 18, Reuters reported "Britain’s competition watchdog said on Tuesday the planned $1.2 billion merger between gene sequencing company Illumina Inc and smaller rival Pacific Biosciences of California Inc may be a threat to competition in the country."
Pacific Biosciences PACB specializes in a type of sequencing called "long-read" which offers a comprehensive view of genomes, transcriptomes, and epigenomes. Its single molecule, real-time -- or SMRT technology -- is an integrated platform for genetic analysis that uses the natural processing power of enzymes, combined with specially designed reagents and detection systems, to record individual biochemical events as they occur.
On November 2, ILMN announced it would acquire PACB for $1.2 billion to fill a gap in its technology offerings. The sequencing market centers around the short-read technology from ILMN, which is both fast and economical. But the long-read technology caters to more applications and more accuracy, albeit at a slower speed and higher price tag.
Some analysts like the team at Leerink believe that the PACB technology costs 12-15 times more vs ILMN, citing $1,000 for a full genome on ILMN vs $12,000 on PACB. In explaining its rationale for the buyout, ILMN management said it sees the long-read market opportunity to expand from $600 million in 2017 to $2.5 billion by 2022.
While the UK snag raised uncertainty for both companies, it certainly creates opportunity for others. In the video, I discuss the other potential M&A that could heat up in this space, including potential suitors for NVTA.
Health Information for the Journey of Life
Two more companies I discuss are Guardant Health GH and Natera NTRA. GH is an $8 billion provider of proprietary blood tests for cancer, including multiple liquid biopsy-based tests.
Natera also harnesses the power of patient DNA info from a single drop of blood. They are pioneers in non-invasive prenatal screen (NIPS) which uses a blood sample from the mother’s arm to analyze DNA from the placenta for certain chromosome conditions, like 22q, as early as 9 weeks.
Panorama, their testing platform, is the leader in non-invasive prenatal screening for 22q, with the highest commercially available accuracy for the most common 22q11.2 deletion.
22q11.2 deletion syndrome, or DiGeorge, is caused by missing genetic information on chromosome 22. 22q occurs in an estimated 1 in 2000 births, which makes it almost as common as Down syndrome.
NIPS is also a big growth area for Invitae who announced this week their acquisition of privately-held Singular Bio for $55 million to help increase access to genetic screening in early pregnancy.
The deal gives Invitae access to Singular's developing single molecule detection technology that enables lower costs and expanded use of high-quality, cell-free, nucleic acid analysis, initially for application in NIPS. From the Invitae press release...
Supporting Wider Availability of Screening in Early Pregnancy
As the utility of genetic information expands, particularly in pregnancy and reproductive health, demand for high-quality and highly affordable testing grows with it. NIPS is conducted in early pregnancy to detect chromosomal abnormalities and assess the health of the fetus via a simple blood test.
Invitae introduced its NIPS services earlier this year and recently announced reduced patient-pay pricing of $99 to improve access to testing for the six million pregnancies in the United States each year. Historically, these tests have been expensive, and therefore offered only to women in certain elevated risk groups. By investing in technologies, including those developed by Singular Bio, Invitae is driving down the cost of testing to increase the number of women who can benefit from the use of NIPS testing in early pregnancy.
(end of press release excerpt)
Be sure to watch the video that accompanies this article for more details on this exciting new industry and why I own two of the companies in particular right now.
Disclosure: I own shares of NVTA and ILMN.
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 reportInvitae Corporation (NVTA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportPacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportIllumina, Inc. (ILMN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportNatera, Inc. (NTRA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGuardant Health, Inc. (GH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
NOFX Guitarist Aaron 'El Jefe' Abeyta Files for Divorce
Aaron Abeyta better known to NOFX fans as El Jefe is about to take on a new moniker: bachelor. According to court records, Abeyeta filed for divorce on Wednesday from his wife Jennifer. The couple has two children together. El Jefe joined the band NOFX in 1991 and the group last released an album in 2016. NOFX took a lot of heat last year when a video circulated showing band members making a series of insensitive jokes onstage about 2017's mass shooting at the Las Vegas country music festival, which left 58 people dead and 489 injured. NOFX frontman Fat Mike joked onstage, "We played a song about Muslims and we didn't get shot." Another band member then chimed in, "I guess you only get shot in Vegas if you are in a county band." A third added, That [shooting] sucked, but at least they were country fans and not punk rock fans." Fat Mike later apologized for the remarks, saying, "I cant sleep, no one in my band can. What we said in Vegas was shitty and insensitive and we are all embarrassed by our remarks." |
Before You Buy Accent Resources NL (ASX:ACS), Consider Its Volatility
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If you own shares in Accent Resources NL (ASX:ACS) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. The second sort is caused by the natural volatility of markets, overall. For example, certain macroeconomic events will impact (virtually) all stocks on the market.
Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Beta is a widely used metric to measure a stock's exposure to market risk (volatility). Before we go on, it's worth noting that Warren Buffett pointed out in his 2014 letter to shareholders that 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' Having said that, beta can still be rather useful. The first thing to understand about beta is that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta greater than one is more sensitive to broader market movements than a stock with a beta of less than one.
See our latest analysis for Accent Resources
Given that it has a beta of 0.89, we can surmise that the Accent Resources share price has not been strongly impacted by broader market volatility (over the last 5 years). This means that -- if history is a guide -- buying the stock would reduce the impact of overall market volatility in many portfolios (depending on the beta of the portfolio, of course). Many would argue that beta is useful in position sizing, but fundamental metrics such as revenue and earnings are more important overall. You can see Accent Resources's revenue and earnings in the image below.
With a market capitalisation of AU$1.1m, Accent Resources is a very small company by global standards. It is quite likely to be unknown to most investors. Companies with market capitalisations around this size often show poor correlation with the broader market because market volatility is overshadowed by company specific events, or other factors. It's worth checking to see how often shares are traded, because very small companies with very low beta values are often only thinly traded.
The Accent Resources doesn't usually show much sensitivity to the broader market. This could be for a variety of reasons. Typically, smaller companies have a low beta if their share price tends to move a lot due to company specific developments. Alternatively, an strong dividend payer might move less than the market because investors are valuing it for its income stream. In order to fully understand whether ACS is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Accent Resources’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:
1. Financial Health: Are ACS’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out ourfinancial health checks here.
2. Past Track Record: Has ACS been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of ACS's historicalsfor more clarity.
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. |
Authorities: David Ortiz was not the target in D.R. shooting
Dominican Republic authorities are now saying that David Ortiz was not the intended target of a gunman in his hometown of Santo Domingo on June 9. Another man, identified as Sixto David Fernandez, who was sitting at the same table as Ortiz and wearing similar clothing, is believed to be the actual target of alleged mastermind Victor Hugo Gomez. In a press conference in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic authorities said that David Ortiz was *not* in fact the target of last Sunday’s shooting and it was someone else at the same table. — James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) June 19, 2019 This is the alleged mastermind of the shooting. D.R. authorities said Victor Hugo Gomez is a wanted criminal in the U.S. The alleged intended target was Sixto David Fernandez, who was sitting at the same table as David Ortiz and wearing similar clothing. https://t.co/X8V4jUbp9A — James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) June 19, 2019 The shocking new information was revealed during a press conference held Wednesday. All previous information pointed to Ortiz being the target. The new information sheds a whole new light on the incident. It also raises new questions. Like how could someone possibly misidentify Ortiz, who’s a well known and highly recognizable figure in home country and especially his hometown. Authorities attempted to explain what the confusion stemmed from. Authorities said photo sent from bar to sicarios that night was taken under poor lighting & caused confusion. (Ortiz was shot in the back.) Authorities received many questions about how someone as known & big as Ortiz could be confused w/ another, regardless of similar shirts. — James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) June 19, 2019 For the first time, authorities also revealed a motive for the shooting. Story continues Authorities said the alleged target was wanted by Victor Hugo Gomez because he thought he'd talked and gotten him imprisoned. https://t.co/EM2ISECE0P — James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) June 19, 2019 On Tuesday, Dominican prosecutors identified Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota as the man who allegedly paid a group of hitman to shoot Ortiz in the Dominican Republic. Mota remained a fugitive from justice. The Associated Press also reported that Gabriel Alexánder Pérez Vizcaíno is accused of being the liaison between Mota, the alleged hit men and another suspect who had reportedly sent a photo from prison identifying the target. In total, 10 suspects have been arrested in connection to the shooting. That includes alleged gunman Rolfi Ferreira Cruz. New information from Dominican Republic authorities indicate David Ortiz was not the intended target of a gunman in his hometown. (AP) Ortiz continues his recovery in a Boston hospital. On Tuesday, his wife, Tiffany, revealed that although Ortiz remains in intensive care, his condition has been upgraded to “good.” “We remain grateful to everyone who has helped David through this ordeal, both in the Dominican Republic and here in Boston,” Tiffany said. “David’s journey to good health has been bolstered by the many expressions of love that have come to us from across the globe. Your support has lifted his spirits tremendously during this challenging time.” Ortiz underwent emergency surgery in the Dominican Republic before being airlifted to Boston for further medical care . While all signs look positive, there’s still a long road to recovery ahead for one of MLB’s most beloved figures. More from Yahoo Sports: CP3, Harden relationship deemed ‘unsalvageable’ From mid-major to NBA draft: Morant's historic rise Coach K on Zion’s NBA potential: 'He’s a gift from God' Why D-Wade supported son at Miami Pride |
HUD hires former official at center of racial scandal
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has hired Eric Blankenstein, the former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official whose racially charged blog posts sparked an uproar last year. Blankenstein has been hired by HUD’s Office of General Counsel as a senior counsel working on Ginnie Mae matters, making $166,500 a year, according to people familiar with the matter. Democrats and civil rights activists demanded that the CFPB fire Blankenstein after the Washington Post reported in September that he had questioned the veracity of hate crimes and whether the N-word is racist, in blog posts he wrote 14 years earlier. The then-acting CFPB director, Mick Mulvaney, referred the matter to the agency’s inspector general. Mulvaney had appointed Blankenstein to be the policy associate director for the Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending, a post he left last month. Blankenstein will report to HUD’s principal deputy general counsel starting Monday, the people said. HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. View comments |
Family kicked out of Smashburger because of boy's service dog
A diabetic boy and his family were thrown out of Smashburger for bringing in their service dog and told to “eat outside” by the manager. Megan Moon and her family recently stopped by a Smashburger in Las Vegas with their service dog, Medic, who helps Moon’s 9-year-old diabetic son. According to KTNV , the dog is trained to react when the boy’s blood sugar is off balance. But when the manager saw Medic snoozing in the restaurant, she allegedly told Moon, “I see you have a dog, he’s not allowed to be in our store. We don’t allow pets. You’re going to have to eat outside.” A 9-year-old boy and his service dog Medic weren't welcome at a Las Vegas Smashburger. (Screenshot: KTNV) Moon says the manager trivialized the matter, saying, “I’m not allowing it to happen. Let’s just not make a big deal out of it.” However, Moon replied, “I am going to make a big deal about it.” The manager allegedly canceled the family’s food order and cast them out. “We were embarrassed,” Moon told KTNV . “There were other people in the restaurant looking at us like we were causing a scene...like we had done something wrong.” According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) , service dogs have been specifically trained to “work” for people with medical conditions. They can travel mostly anywhere in public, even in hospital rooms. The animals must be held on leashes, unless the restraints interfere with their functions. And the purpose of the dog is generally nobody’s business, with employees limited to asking two questions: Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? What work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Megan Moon alleges that a Smashburger employee kicked out her family for bringing in a service dog for her diabetic son. (Screenshot: KTNV) Smashburger sent a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle: “First and foremost, Smashburger respects and welcomes guests of all abilities. Smashburger supports and adheres to the applicable ADA guidelines involving service and support animals, as they pertain to quick service restaurants. We have launched an internal investigation into the matter, and will use this opportunity to reinforce our policies around service animals.” Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Mother threatens to call her lawyer after she is told she can't pet service dogs in training My Dog Is Amazing, but That Doesn't Make Her a Service Dog Restaurant owner refuses to serve military veterans and child with Down syndrome because they have service dogs Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. |
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Glu Mobile Inc. (GLUU)
Before we spend days researching a stock idea we'd like to take a look at how hedge funds and billionaire investors recently traded that stock. S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY) lost 2.6% in the first two months of the second quarter. Ten out of 11 industry groups in the S&P 500 Index lost value in May. The average return of a randomly picked stock in the index was even worse (-3.6%). This means you (or a monkey throwing a dart) have less than an even chance of beating the market by randomly picking a stock. On the other hand, the top 20 most popular S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds not only generated positive returns but also outperformed the index by about 3 percentage points through May 30th. In this article, we will take a look at what hedge funds think about Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU).
Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU)has seen an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds lately.GLUUwas in 25 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 20 hedge funds in our database with GLUU holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that GLUU isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In today’s marketplace there are several methods shareholders employ to analyze their holdings. Two of the less known methods are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see the details here).
[caption id="attachment_745225" align="aligncenter" width="473"]
Noam Gottesman, GLG Partners[/caption]
Let's check out the fresh hedge fund action regarding Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in GLUU over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically,Citadel Investment Groupwas the largest shareholder of Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU), with a stake worth $31 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Citadel Investment Group was Columbus Circle Investors, which amassed a stake valued at $18 million. Renaissance Technologies, AQR Capital Management, and D E Shaw were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves.Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, assembled the largest position in Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU). Arrowstreet Capital had $7.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter S. Park'sPark West Asset Managementalso initiated a $7.2 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new GLUU investors: Sander Gerber'sHudson Bay Capital Management, Noam Gottesman'sGLG Partners, and Minhua Zhang'sWeld Capital Management.
Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU). We will take a look at Magellan Health Inc (NASDAQ:MGLN), Pretium Resources Inc (NYSE:PVG), NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB), and Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC). This group of stocks' market valuations match GLUU's market valuation.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position MGLN,21,383642,6 PVG,21,84984,-1 NBTB,6,7940,-3 LSCC,25,244673,3 Average,18.25,180310,1.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 18.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $180 million. That figure was $131 million in GLUU's case. Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately GLUU wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on GLUU were disappointed as the stock returned -25.5% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Nokia Corporation (NOK)
We at Insider Monkey have gone over 738 13F filings that hedge funds and famous value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds' and investors' portfolio positions as of March 31st. In this article we look at what those investors think of Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK).
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK)has experienced a decrease in support from the world's most elite money managers recently. Our calculations also showed that NOK isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
We're going to take a look at the key hedge fund action encompassing Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 26 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -4% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 17 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in NOK a year ago. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds,Arrowstreet Capitalheld the most valuable stake in Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK), which was worth $151.2 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Ariel Investments which amassed $123.6 million worth of shares. Moreover, Point72 Asset Management, Citadel Investment Group, and Sandler Capital Management were also bullish on Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Judging by the fact that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's safe to say that there exists a select few fund managers who were dropping their full holdings in the third quarter. Interestingly, Dmitry Balyasny'sBalyasny Asset Managementcut the biggest position of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, comprising about $16 million in stock. Anand Parekh's fund,Alyeska Investment Group, also dropped its stock, about $8.6 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds in the third quarter.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) but similarly valued. These stocks are Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR), NetEase, Inc (NASDAQ:NTES), Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ), and Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ). All of these stocks' market caps resemble NOK's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position NTR,25,389776,-7 NTES,30,3366336,3 SQ,50,1399349,15 CAJ,7,93211,1 Average,28,1312168,3 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1312 million. That figure was $387 million in NOK's case. Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately NOK wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); NOK investors were disappointed as the stock returned -10% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (LSCC)
We at Insider Monkey have gone over 738 13F filings that hedge funds and famous value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds' and investors' portfolio positions as of March 31st. In this article we look at what those investors think of Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC).
IsLattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC)an exceptional stock to buy now? The best stock pickers are buying. The number of long hedge fund bets advanced by 3 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that LSCC isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
At the moment there are a large number of methods shareholders have at their disposal to evaluate their holdings. Two of the most useful methods are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see the details here).
[caption id="attachment_736153" align="aligncenter" width="473"]
Didric Cederholm of Lion Point Capital[/caption]
Let's take a peek at the latest hedge fund action surrounding Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 14% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in LSCC over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds,Lion Pointheld the most valuable stake in Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC), which was worth $93.7 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Renaissance Technologies which amassed $20.1 million worth of shares. Moreover, Greenhouse Funds, Cardinal Capital, and Millennium Management were also bullish on Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC) headfirst.Masters Capital Management, managed by Mike Masters, created the largest position in Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC). Masters Capital Management had $11.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Richard Driehaus'sDriehaus Capitalalso initiated a $8.9 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new LSCC investors: Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital, Dipak Patel'sAlight Capital, and Dmitry Balyasny'sBalyasny Asset Management.
Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC). These stocks are Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCRX), Warrior Met Coal, Inc. (NYSE:HCC), Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS), and Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT). All of these stocks' market caps resemble LSCC's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position PCRX,27,487640,2 HCC,35,479779,2 FSS,20,71386,-2 RWT,15,111479,3 Average,24.25,287571,1.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 24.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $288 million. That figure was $245 million in LSCC's case. Warrior Met Coal, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on LSCC as the stock returned 3.5% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Malaysia Launches Work Visa Program for Blockchain Tech Professionals
Malaysiahas launched a work visa program targeting tech freelancers that addresses a demand forblockchaincapable talens, local news outlet the Starreportedon June 18.
The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) — agovernment-owned organization that oversees the tech sector — blockchain organization Nem Foundation and job marketplace Jobbatical have jointly launched the program.
The program aims to attract foreign professionals who will have the right to stay in the country for up to 12 months to provide blockchain-related services or undergo training at a Malaysian company.
MDEC growth ecosystem development vice-president Norhizam Abdul Kadir said, "We will be kicking it [the program] off starting with blockchain jobs. The number of visas to be issued depends on the projects that will be run by blockchain companies in Malaysia."
As previously reported, the Nem FoundationestablishedNEM's Blockchain Center in a 10,000-square foot facility in the capital of Kuala Lumpur to serve as an accelerator, incubator and coworking space. The center also houses the NEM Blockchain Innovation Lab, a headquarters for the research and development of the NEM platform.
Last June, a Malaysiangovernmentadvisory committee, Majlis Perundingan Melayusigneda memorandum of understanding withSouth Koreanblockchain lab IncuBlock for blockchain tech development permissible under Sharia law. The parties aim to develop a blockchain platform and a decentralized application that would meet the social requirements to be considered halal (permissible) by the Sharia Commission.
In September of last year, the government ofHong Kongannouncedan initiative that seeks to attract professionals in distributed ledger technology by simplifying the immigration policy. The move designated the government’s intention to “support Hong Kong's development as a high value-added and diversified economy.”
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Fortive Corporation (FTV)
While the market driven by short-term sentiment influenced by the accomodative interest rate environment in the US, increasing oil prices and optimism towards the resolution of the trade war with China, many smart money investors kept their cautious approach regarding the current bull run in the first quarter and hedging or reducing many of their long positions. However, as we know, big investors usually buy stocks with strong fundamentals, which is why we believe we can profit from imitating them. In this article, we are going to take a look at the smart money sentiment surrounding Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV).
Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV)investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world's largest hedge funds in recent months.FTVwas in 26 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 30 hedge funds in our database with FTV holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that FTV isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
To most market participants, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, old investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, Our researchers look at the masters of this club, approximately 750 funds. These investment experts oversee most of all hedge funds' total capital, and by tracking their inimitable stock picks, Insider Monkey has formulated numerous investment strategies that have historically exceeded the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy surpassed the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points annually since its inception in May 2014 through the end of May. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 30.9% since February 2017 (through May 30th) even though the market was up nearly 24% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 11.9% in less than a couple of weeks whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2 percentage points in this volatile 2 week period.
We're going to take a look at the key hedge fund action surrounding Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 26 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -13% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards FTV over the last 15 quarters. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) was held byAdage Capital Management, which reported holding $145.9 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Gates Capital Management with a $65.1 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Select Equity Group, Luminus Management, and OZ Management.
Because Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there lies a certain "tier" of fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into Q3. It's worth mentioning that Shashin Shah'sThink Investmentssaid goodbye to the largest investment of the "upper crust" of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $22.7 million in stock. Mark Kingdon's fund,Kingdon Capital, also cut its stock, about $10.7 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds heading into Q3.
Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV). We will take a look at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:AMTD), Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR), AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB), and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD). All of these stocks' market caps are similar to FTV's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position AMTD,30,434471,13 EQR,22,250768,-1 AVB,26,851272,-1 AMD,37,980467,9 Average,28.75,629245,5 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 28.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $629 million. That figure was $472 million in FTV's case. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately FTV wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); FTV investors were disappointed as the stock returned -8.3% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Freshpet Inc (FRPT)
"Since 2006, value stocks (IVE vs IVW) have underperformed 11 of the 13 calendar years and when they beat growth, it wasn't by much. Cumulatively, through this week, it has been a 122% differential (up 52% for value vs up 174% for growth). This appears to be the longest and most severe drought for value investors since data collection began. It will go our way eventually as there are too many people paying far too much for today's darlings, both public and private. Further, the ten-year yield of 2.5% (pre-tax) isn't attractive nor is real estate. We believe the value part of the global equity market is the only place to earn solid risk adjusted returns and we believe those returns will be higher than normal," said Vilas Fund in itsQ1 investor letter. We aren't sure whether value stocks outperform growth, but we follow hedge fund investor letters to understand where the markets and stocks might be going. This article will lay out and discuss the hedge fund and institutional investor sentiment towards Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT).
Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT)investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds lately.FRPTwas in 25 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with FRPT positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that FRPT isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
According to most traders, hedge funds are seen as slow, old financial tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, Our researchers look at the aristocrats of this club, approximately 750 funds. These hedge fund managers handle most of the smart money's total asset base, and by monitoring their unrivaled investments, Insider Monkey has deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically surpassed the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per annum since its inception in May 2014 through the end of May. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 30.9% since February 2017 (through May 30th) even though the market was up nearly 24% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 11.9% in less than a couple of weeks whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2 percentage points in this volatile 2 week period.
We're going to take a look at the key hedge fund action surrounding Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT).
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 19% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 15 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in FRPT a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds,Driehaus Capitalheld the most valuable stake in Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT), which was worth $19.5 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Element Capital Management which amassed $18.1 million worth of shares. Moreover, Renaissance Technologies, Rock Springs Capital Management, and Two Sigma Advisors were also bullish on Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Consequently, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness.Element Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Talpins, created the biggest position in Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT). Element Capital Management had $18.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Principal Global Investors'sColumbus Circle Investorsalso initiated a $7.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new FRPT positions are Benjamin A. Smith'sLaurion Capital Management, Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron'sAlgert Coldiron Investors, and Dmitry Balyasny'sBalyasny Asset Management.
Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT). These stocks are Eventbrite, Inc. (NYSE:EB), Wageworks Inc (NYSE:WAGE), Usa Compression Partners LP (NYSE:USAC), and SecureWorks Corp. (NASDAQ:SCWX). This group of stocks' market values resemble FRPT's market value.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position EB,16,356225,8 WAGE,21,160164,8 USAC,5,9108,0 SCWX,12,34560,3 Average,13.5,140014,4.75 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $140 million. That figure was $118 million in FRPT's case. Wageworks Inc (NYSE:WAGE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Usa Compression Partners LP (NYSE:USAC) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ:FRPT) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on FRPT as the stock returned 9.9% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were clearly right about piling into this stock relative to other stocks with similar market capitalizations.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About TE Connectivity Ltd. (TEL)
It was a rough fourth quarter for many hedge funds, which were naturally unable to overcome the big dip in the broad market, as the S&P 500 fell by about 4.8% during 2018 and average hedge fund losing about 1%. The Russell 2000, composed of smaller companies, performed even worse, trailing the S&P by more than 6 percentage points, as investors fled less-known quantities for safe havens. Luckily hedge funds were shifting their holdings into large-cap stocks. The 20 most popular hedge fund stocks actually generated an average return of 18.7% so far in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF by 6.6 percentage points. We are done processing the latest 13f filings and in this article we will study how hedge fund sentiment towards TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) changed during the first quarter.
TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL)investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world's most elite money managers of late.TELwas in 26 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 25 hedge funds in our database with TEL positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that TEL isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
According to most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, outdated financial vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, We look at the bigwigs of this group, approximately 750 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people shepherd bulk of the smart money's total asset base, and by keeping track of their finest stock picks, Insider Monkey has determined a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points a year since its inception in May 2014 through the end of May. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 30.9% since February 2017 (through May 30th) even though the market was up nearly 24% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 11.9% in less than a couple of weeks whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2 percentage points in this volatile 2 week period.
Let's view the key hedge fund action regarding TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL).
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 26 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 4% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 33 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in TEL a year ago. With the smart money's capital changing hands, there exists an "upper tier" of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds,Generation Investment Managementheld the most valuable stake in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL), which was worth $370 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was First Pacific Advisors LLC which amassed $356.7 million worth of shares. Moreover, Impax Asset Management, AQR Capital Management, and Citadel Investment Group were also bullish on TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds have jumped into TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) headfirst.Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, created the most outsized position in TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL). Citadel Investment Group had $87 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Barry Lebovits and Joshua Kuntz'sRivulet Capitalalso initiated a $69.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Bernard Lambilliotte'sEcofin Ltd, Minhua Zhang'sWeld Capital Management, and Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capital.
Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL). These stocks are Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED), Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (NYSE:TLK), Atlassian Corporation Plc (NASDAQ:TEAM), and Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI). This group of stocks' market values are closest to TEL's market value.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ED,23,1182957,0 TLK,9,134035,3 TEAM,36,1618697,2 SIRI,32,1585774,11 Average,25,1130366,4 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1130 million. That figure was $1247 million in TEL's case. Atlassian Corporation Plc (NASDAQ:TEAM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (NYSE:TLK) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on TEL as the stock returned 8.1% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Aspen Technology, Inc. (AZPN)
At Insider Monkey, we pore over the filings of nearly 750 top investment firms every quarter, a process we have now completed for the latest reporting period. The data we've gathered as a result gives us access to a wealth of collective knowledge based on these firms' portfolio holdings as of March 31. In this article, we will use that wealth of knowledge to determine whether or not Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) makes for a good investment right now.
Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 25 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Unum Group (NYSE:UNM), The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD), and Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (NYSE:SBS) to gather more data points.
If you'd ask most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, outdated investment vehicles of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open today, We look at the elite of this club, about 750 funds. These hedge fund managers command the majority of the hedge fund industry's total asset base, and by keeping track of their inimitable picks, Insider Monkey has unsheathed several investment strategies that have historically surpassed Mr. Market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points annually since its inception in May 2014 through the end of May. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 30.9% since February 2017 (through May 30th) even though the market was up nearly 24% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 11.9% in less than a couple of weeks whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2 percentage points in this volatile 2 week period.
Let's take a gander at the latest hedge fund action regarding Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN).
At Q1's end, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards AZPN over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey,Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the largest position in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN). Renaissance Technologies has a $357.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held byFisher Asset Management, led by Ken Fisher, holding a $153.3 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions consist of Panayotis Takis Sparaggis'sAlkeon Capital Management, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupand Ryan Pedlow'sTwo Creeks Capital Management.
Judging by the fact that Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's safe to say that there were a few money managers who were dropping their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Greg Poole'sEcho Street Capital Managementsaid goodbye to the biggest stake of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $7.6 million in call options. D. E. Shaw's fund,D E Shaw, also said goodbye to its call options, about $0.7 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Unum Group (NYSE:UNM), The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD), Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (NYSE:SBS), and PRA Health Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:PRAH). This group of stocks' market caps are closest to AZPN's market cap.
[table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position UNM,25,373181,0 MIDD,20,656010,3 SBS,16,330259,-1 PRAH,28,411788,3 Average,22.25,442810,1.25 [/table]
View table hereif you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $443 million. That figure was $1109 million in AZPN's case. PRA Health Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:PRAH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (NYSE:SBS) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on AZPN as the stock returned 11.3% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
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