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The Gross Law Firm Announces Class Actions on Behalf of Shareholders of AOS, HRTX and RMED
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2019 /The securities litigation law firm of The Gross Law Firm issues the following notice on behalf of shareholders in the following publicly traded companies. Shareholders who purchased shares in the following companies during the dates listed are encouraged to contact the firm regarding possible Lead Plaintiff appointment. Appointment as Lead Plaintiff is not required to partake in any recovery.
A. O. Smith Corporation (AOS)
Investors Affected : July 26, 2016 - May 16, 2019
A class action has commenced on behalf of certain shareholders in A O Smith Corporation. The filed complaint alleges that defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (a) A.O. Smith had undisclosed business connections and entanglements with UTP through which it funneled up to 75% of its China product sales; (b) A.O. Smith had used UTP to engage in channel stuffing by artificially inflating inventories purportedly sold through distributors that were not based on consumer demand, thereby approximately doubling the normal level of inventory at such distributors; (c) A.O. Smith had used its UTP relationship to artificially inflate the sales figures it reported to investors by as much as 8% and to conceal worsening sales trends that the Company was experiencing in China; (d) A.O. Smith's sales growth had been primarily in lower margin products as its higher priced products were being undercut by competition in "second-tier" Chinese cities, causing the Company to experience significant margin pressures; (e) A.O. Smith had increased its cash reserves in China to over $530 million in furtherance of its channel stuffing and sales manipulation scheme, encumbering the Company's ability to repatriate the cash or use it for capital expenditures; and (f) as a result of (a)-(e) above, A.O. Smith's business, operations, and prospects were significantly worse than publicly represented and the Company was poised for sales and earnings declines in China, its most important international market.
Shareholders may find more information athttps://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/a-o-smith-corporation-loss-submission-form/?id=2020&from=1
Heron Therapeutics, Inc. (HRTX)
Investors Affected : October 31, 2018 - April 30, 2019
A class action has commenced on behalf of certain shareholders in Heron Therapeutics, Inc. The filed complaint alleges that defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Heron had failed to include adequate Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls ("CMC") and non-clinical information in its NDA for HTX-011; (ii) the foregoing increased the likelihood that the FDA would not approve Heron's NDA for HTX-011; and (iii) as a result, Heron's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Shareholders may find more information athttps://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/heron-therapeutics-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=2020&from=1
Ra Medical Systems, Inc. (RMED)
Investors Affected : stockholders that purchased Ra Medical securities pursuant and/or traceable to the Company's September 2018 initial public offering.
A class action has commenced on behalf of certain shareholders in Ra Medical Systems, Inc. The filed complaint alleges that defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the Company's evaluation of sales personnel candidates was inadequate; (2) the Company's training program for sales personnel was inadequate; (3) as a result, the Company could not reasonably assure that its newly hired sales personnel were adequately experienced; (4) as a result, the Company would suffer a shortage of qualified sales personnel; (5) the Company's manufacturing process could not reasonably support increased catheter production; (6) as a result, the Company would suffer production delays; and (7) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects, were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
Shareholders may find more information athttps://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/ra-medical-systems-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=2020&from=1
The Gross Law Firm is committed to ensuring that companies adhere to responsible business practices and engage in good corporate citizenship. The firm seeks recovery on behalf of investors who incurred losses when false and/or misleading statements or the omission of material information by a Company lead to artificial inflation of the Company's stock.
CONTACT:
The Gross Law Firm15 West 38th Street, 12th floorNew York, NY, 10018Email:dg@securitiesclasslaw.comPhone: (212) 537-9430Fax: (833) 862-7770
SOURCE:The Gross Law Firm
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549469/The-Gross-Law-Firm-Announces-Class-Actions-on-Behalf-of-Shareholders-of-AOS-HRTX-and-RMED |
4 Energy Funds to Buy as Oil Prices Could Go Higher
Oil’s recent spike is an end-product of a series of events that took place earlier this week. First, the mounting tension between the United States and Iran reached a new high after the latter shot down a drone of the former.
Also, OPEC and its allies’ decision to meet next month, Fed’s signal of a rate cut and optimism around U.S.-China trade talks in the upcoming G20 summit boosted oil prices significantly. In such a scenario, investing in energy mutual funds seems prudent.
Oil Prices Jump on Rising US-Iran Tension
Oil prices climbed on Jun 20 after an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone above the Strait of Hormuz. According to a CNBC report, while U.S. officials said the drone was in international airspace, Iran claimed it was over Iranian territory.
On Jun 20, the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose $2.89, or 5.4%, to settle at $56.65, marking the biggest daily gain since December. The global benchmark Brent crude surged 4.5% to settle at $64.61 a barrel, the highest since May 31 and biggest one-day jump since Jan 9.
This incident comes amid ongoing tensions between the United States and the middle-eastern country, which largely arises from U.S. sanctions aimed at reducing Iranian oil exports to zero level. Recent incidents such as the United States blaming Iran of attacking oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman have also put the two countries in a precarious situation.
This tense situation in the Middle East could drive oil prices higher in the coming weeks. This is because one-fifth of the world’s oil output comes from the region and the Strait of Hormuz, which is a crucial waterway for the free passage of oil.
Likely Fed Rate Cut, U.S.-China Trade Talks Could Push Oil
Federal Reserve’s signal of a rate cut and U.S.-China’s upcoming trade talks during the G20 summit also helped oil prices move north.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled earlier this week that the central bank may cut benchmark interest rates in the weeks ahead if the economic outlook resulting from U.S.-China trade tensions doesn’t improve. The rates are in a range of 2.25-2.50% at present. A rate cut would boost growth in the United States, which could lead to higher energy consumption.
Also, the fact that President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart are set to discuss trade issues extensively in Japan next month, raises optimism around the prospect of a favorable trade deal. This could boost oil prices as well.
OPEC+ Could Keep Output Cuts Intact
Finally, the OPEC and its allies, which produce more than 50% of crude worldwide, have finally concluded on a date for their next meeting. The oil-producing countries will meet in Vienna on July 1-2 to discuss if their output curbs will be extended till the end of 2019.
An extended production cut would reduce inventories at the rate of about 500,000 barrels a day in the latter half of the year, which could further push oil prices higher.
Our Choices
As oil prices are widely expected to move higher in the coming weeks, it makes sense to invest in mutual funds that greatly invest in energy companies. We have selected four such funds that you could consider adding to your portfolio.
All these funds carry a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). Moreover, these funds have encouraging year-to-date returns. Additionally, the minimum initial investment is less than $5000.
We expect these funds to outperform their peers in the future. Remember, the goal of the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is to guide investors to identify potential winners and losers. Unlike most of the fund-rating systems, the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is not just focused on past performance, but also on the likely future success of the fund.
Now we come to the second-most vital question: why should investors consider mutual funds? Reduced transaction costs and diversification of portfolio without several commission charges that are associated with stock purchases are primarily why one should be parking money in mutual funds (read more: Mutual Funds: Advantages, Disadvantages, and How They Make Investors Money).
Invesco Oppenheimer SteelPath MLP Select 40 Fund Class YMLPTX aims for total return. The fund invests at least 80% of its assets in master limited partnership investments of issuers in the transportation, storage, processing, refining, marketing, exploration, production and mining of natural resources and minerals. The fund also invests in derivatives and other instruments whose economic characteristics are similar to such securities.
This Zacks sector – Energy product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
MLPTX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1. The fundhas an annual expense ratio of 0.87%, which is below the category average of 1.76%. It has year-to-date returns of 10.5%.The fund has no minimum initial investment.
Advisory Research MLP & Energy Income AINFRX fund aims for current income. The fund invests the majority of its assets in equity and debt securities of master limited partnerships that mostly focus in the energy infrastructure sector. The non-diversified fund also invests in equity and debt securities of other organizations in the energy infrastructure sector.
This Zacks sector – Energy product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
INFRX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1. The fundhas an annual expense ratio of 1.41%, which is below the category average of 1.76%. It has year-to-date returns of 13%.The fund has minimum initial investment of $2500.
Putnam Global Natural Resources YPGRYX fund seeks growth of capital. The fund primarily invests in common stocks of large- and medium-capitalization companies that the manager believes have good investment potential. The non-diversified fund invests most of its assets in securities of companies in energy or other natural resources industries.
This Zacks sector – Energy product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
PGRYX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2. The fundhas an annual expense ratio of 1.05%, which is below the category average of 1.33%. It has year-to-date returns of 4.9%.The fund has no minimum initial investment.
Vanguard Energy Fund Investor SharesVGENX aims for long-term capital growth. The fund invests most of its assets in common stocks of companies that are engaged in activities in the energy sector. These activities range from exploration, production, and transmission of energy or energy fuels to the making and servicing of component products, energy research and energy conservation etc.
This Zacks sector – Energy product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
VGENX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2. The fundhas an annual expense ratio of 0.37%, which is below the category average of 1.40%. It has year-to-date returns of 5.7%.The fund has minimum initial investment of $3000.
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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 reportGet Your Free (PGRYX): Fund Analysis ReportGet Your Free (INFRX): Fund Analysis ReportGet Your Free (VGENX): Fund Analysis ReportGet Your Free (MLPTX): Fund Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Here's Why I Think Belvoir Lettings (LON:BLV) Might Deserve Your Attention Today
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It's only natural that many investors, especially those who are new to the game, prefer to buy shares in 'sexy' stocks with a good story, even if those businesses lose money. But as Warren Buffett has mused, 'If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy.' When they buy such story stocks, investors are all too often the patsy.
So if you're like me, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, likeBelvoir Lettings(LON:BLV). While that doesn't make the shares worth buying at any price, you can't deny that successful capitalism requires profit, eventually. While a well funded company may sustain losses for years, unless its owners have an endless appetite for subsidizing the customer, it will need to generate a profit eventually, or else breathe its last breath.
Check out our latest analysis for Belvoir Lettings
The market is a voting machine in the short term, but a weighing machine in the long term, so share price follows earnings per share (EPS) eventually. That means EPS growth is considered a real positive by most successful long-term investors. As a tree reaches steadily for the sky, Belvoir Lettings's EPS has grown 24% each year, compound, over three years. If the company can sustain that sort of growth, we'd expect shareholders to come away winners.
Careful consideration of revenue growth and earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margins can help inform a view on the sustainability of the recent profit growth. On the one hand, Belvoir Lettings's EBIT margins fell over the last year, but on the other hand, revenue grew. So if EBIT margins can stabilize, this top-line growth should pay off for shareholders.
In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings, and revenue, over time. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.
Belvoir Lettings isn't a huge company, given its market capitalization of UK£40m. That makes it extra important to check on itsbalance sheet strength.
Like standing at the lookout, surveying the horizon at sunrise, insider buying, for some investors, sparks joy. This view is based on the possibility that stock purchases signal bullishness on behalf of the buyer. However, insiders are sometimes wrong, and we don't know the exact thinking behind their acquisitions.
One positive for Belvoir Lettings, is that company insiders paid UK£18k for shares in the last year. This might not be a huge sum, but it's well worth noting anyway, given the complete lack of selling. We also note that it was the Non-Executive Chairman, Michael Stoop, who made the biggest single acquisition, paying UK£9.3k for shares at about UK£0.93 each.
For growth investors like me, Belvoir Lettings's raw rate of earnings growth is a beacon in the night. The growth rate whets my appetite for research, and the insider buying only increases my interest in the stock. To put it succinctly; Belvoir Lettings is a strong candidate for your watchlist. Of course, just because Belvoir Lettings is growing does not mean it is undervalued. If you're wondering about the valuation, check outthis gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. So if you like the sound of Belvoir Lettings, you'll probably love thisfreelist of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Working longer hours increases your risk of a stroke, study finds
Photo: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire/PA Images Working 10 or more hours just once a week can increase your risk of a stroke, new research shows. A French study of more than 143,000 adults, published this week in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke , found people who work for 10 hours or more just once a week, for at least 50 days a year, are almost a third (29%) more likely to suffer a stroke. And those who do so for 10 years or more are 45% more likely to have a stroke, the research suggests. READ MORE: What I learned from taking the wrong job Surprisingly, the study found the association between 10 years of long work hours and strokes seemed stronger for people under the age of 50. “This was unexpected,” said Dr Alexis Descatha, who led the research. “Further research is needed to explore this finding.” The study by Angers University and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research excluded part-time workers and those who had already suffered strokes before regularly working long hours.The results could be particularly concerning for Brits, who work the longest hours in Europe. READ MORE: Why we should be “coasting” at work Full-time UK workers put in an average of 42 hours a week – compared with just 39 hours in Holland, Italy, Belgium, France, Sweden and Ireland, according to Trades Union Congress figures first published in April. And while French workers benefit from specific protections that enforce their “right to disconnect” outside of work hours, Brits often feel pressured to respond to emails or other issues after hours. Frances O'Grady, TUC general secretary criticised this “long hours” culture, saying it “is nothing to be proud of”. READ MORE: Five benefits of remote working "It's robbing workers of a decent home life and time with their loved ones,” O’Grady explained. “Overwork, stress and exhaustion have become the new normal.” She added: “Other countries have shown that reducing working hours isn't only good for workers, it can boost productivity.” Despite working longer hours than any other EU nation, the UK ranked just 14th in productivity – reflecting a national crisis continues to deepen. |
Should Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) Be Part Of Your Dividend Portfolio?
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Is Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) a good dividend stock? How would you know? Dividend paying companies with growing earnings can be highly rewarding in the long term. If you are hoping to live on your dividends, it's important to be more stringent with your investments than the average punter. Regular readers know we like to apply the same approach to each dividend stock, and we hope you'll find our analysis useful.
While Norfolk Southern's 1.8% dividend yield is not the highest, we think its lengthy payment history is quite interesting. The company also bought back stock during the year, equivalent to approximately 5.6% of the company's market capitalisation at the time. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding Norfolk Southern for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below.
Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. Norfolk Southern paid out 31% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. This is a middling range that strikes a nice balance between paying dividends to shareholders, and retaining enough earnings to invest in future growth. One of the risks is that management reinvests the retained capital poorly instead of paying a higher dividend.
In addition to comparing dividends against profits, we should inspect whether the company generated enough cash to pay its dividend. Of the free cash flow it generated last year, Norfolk Southern paid out 49% as dividends, suggesting the dividend is affordable. It's positive to see that Norfolk Southern's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.
As Norfolk Southern has a meaningful amount of debt, we need to check its balance sheet to see if the company might have debt risks. A rough way to check this is with these two simple ratios: a) net debt divided by EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), and b) net interest cover. Net debt to EBITDA is a measure of a company's total debt. Net interest cover measures the ability to meet interest payments on debt. Essentially we check that a) a company does not have too much debt, and b) that it can afford to pay the interest. With net debt of more than twice its EBITDA, Norfolk Southern has a noticeable amount of debt, although if business stays steady, this may not be overly concerning.
Net interest cover can be calculated by dividing earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by the company's net interest expense. Norfolk Southern has EBIT of 7.28 times its interest expense, which we think is adequate.
Remember, you can always get a snapshot of Norfolk Southern's latest financial position,by checking our visualisation of its financial health.
Before buying a stock for its income, we want to see if the dividends have been stable in the past, and if the company has a track record of maintaining its dividend. Norfolk Southern has been paying dividends for a long time, but for the purpose of this analysis, we only examine the past 10 years of payments. During this period the dividend has been stable, which could imply the business could have relatively consistent earnings power. During the past ten-year period, the first annual payment was US$1.36 in 2009, compared to US$3.44 last year. Dividends per share have grown at approximately 9.7% per year over this time.
Dividends have grown at a reasonable rate over this period, and without any major cuts in the payment over time, we think this is an attractive combination.
Dividend payments have been consistent over the past few years, but we should always check if earnings per share (EPS) are growing, as this will help maintain the purchasing power of the dividend. Strong earnings per share (EPS) growth might encourage our interest in the company despite fluctuating dividends, which is why it's great to see Norfolk Southern has grown its earnings per share at 11% per annum over the past five years. Earnings per share have been growing at a good rate, and the company is paying less than half its earnings as dividends. We generally think this is an attractive combination, as it permits further reinvestment in the business.
To summarise, shareholders should always check that Norfolk Southern's dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. It's great to see that Norfolk Southern is paying out a low percentage of its earnings and cash flow. We like that it has been delivering solid improvement in its earnings per share, and relatively consistent dividend payments. All these things considered, we think this organisation has a lot going for it from a dividend perspective.
Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 20 Norfolk Southern analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with ourfreereport on analyst estimates for the company.
Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try ourcurated list of dividend stocks with a yield above 3%.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Fed officials face weak inflation, but split over what it means
By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve officials were divided Friday over how seriously to treat a slide in inflation, with one top policymaker saying the Fed was "close" to its inflation target and three others warning the weak price increases posed major risks the Fed may need to attack with lower interest rates.
Just how deep that division is and where in the debate the most influential policymakers have staked their ground is going to grip the financial world between now and the conclusion of the Fed’s next meeting on July 31. Interest rate futures markets currently see a 100% probability of a rate cut then, with the only debate in trading circles over whether the cut will 25 basis points or twice that.
Policymakers' rate projections issued on Wednesday showed a near clean break at the Fed. Roughly half of officials see no rate reduction as likely appropriate this year, and roughly half see a cut of up to half a percentage point as probably warranted -- a split that may turn on how quickly officials feel they should act.
The division took shape Friday, in the first hours after the lifting of the central bank's formal "blackout" for commenting on the results of the last two-day policy session, which concluded Wednesday with the Fed leaving rates on hold in a range between 2.25 and 2.5 percent.
"The economy's baseline outlook is good -- sustained growth, a strong labor market and inflation near our objective,” Fed vice chairman Richard Clarida said on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Clarida said there was "broad agreement" that the case for rate cuts had grown stronger in recent weeks. He also said the Fed was ready to act "as appropriate," a phrase emphasized by Chairman Jerome Powell earlier this month as markets slid over broad global growth and trade concerns.
But Clarida's description of the current 1.5 percent inflation rate expected this year as "close" to the Fed's 2 percent target suggested less compulsion to move soon.
Powell, asked after this week's policy meeting about the danger of delaying any policy move, said "I don't think the risk of waiting too long is prominent right now."
Others seemed to disagree.
"Recent indicators of inflation and inflation expectations have been disappointing," Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Friday in prepared remarks to a Fed conference in Ohio. With rates so low by historic standards, "basic principles of risk management...would argue for softening the expected path of policy when risks shift to the downside."
Other problems have cropped up for the Fed, most notably the unpredictable path of U.S. trade negotiations, and signs that global economic growth may be slowing. U.S. economic data has also been choppy, with a weak recent jobs report and signs the manufacturing sector is slowing.
But the shortfall of inflation from the Fed's 2 percent target has become a persistent problem for the Fed, putting its credibility and the performance of the economy at stake.
While the Fed's mandates from Congress refers to maintaining "stable prices," central bankers globally feel that a bit of inflation is healthy. It allows wages and prices to rise steadily, encouraging businesses and households to spend and invest. For the central bank it provides room for them to keep interest rates above zero and, therefore, be able to react to a downturn with interest rates cuts alone.
The threat of inflation drifting downward is twofold.
Waiting too long means more aggressive Fed action could be required. In an era when the benchmark policy rate is already so low, that could mean again hitting the zero lower bound and forcing the politically difficult decision to ramp up "unconventional" policy tools like bond-buying once again.
Brainard also sketched out the threat of a self-reinforcing spiral that could take hold if the Fed does not lift inflation higher, with weakened expectations dragging down actual inflation, and leaving the central bank perennially stuck near zero.
In a sharp broadside against the Fed's decision last week to hold interest rates steady, Minneapolis Federal Reserve bank president Neel Kashkari said the economy needed shock therapy to push inflation and inflation expectations higher, and convince the public the Fed is serious about its 2 percent inflation goal.
It is a target that has not been consistently met since it was formally adopted in 2012, and Kashkari said he is concerned the public and investors have absorbed the wrong message.
Though he is currently not a voter on the Fed's rate-setting panel, he called for the Fed to slash rates by half a percentage point now, and commit to not raising them until inflation durably moves to the central bank's 2 percent target.
The Fed "should take strong action to re-anchor inflation expectations at our 2 percent target and support strong job growth, higher wage growth, and sustained economic expansion," said Kashkari, who has consistently opposed recent rate hikes.
St. Louis Federal Reserve bank president James Bullard, meanwhile, a current voter on rate policy, explained his dissent at the recent meeting as largely a response to the weakening pace of price increases.
"Inflation measures have declined substantially since the end of last year and are presently running some 40 to 50 basis points below the FOMC’s 2% inflation target," Bullard said in a prepared statement. "The forces that are keeping inflation below target seem unlikely to be solely transitory...Lowering the target range for the federal funds rate at this time would provide insurance against further declines."
Graphic: The Fed's inflation problem, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2Rv6Aij (The story corrects to change reference in sixth paragraph to rate cuts instead of rate increases)
(Reporting by Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider, additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Cincinnati; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) |
Fed officials face weak inflation, but split over what it means
By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve officials were divided Friday over how seriously to treat a slide in inflation, with one top policymaker saying the Fed was "close" to its inflation target and three others warning the weak price increases posed major risks the Fed may need to attack with lower interest rates.
Just how deep that division is and where in the debate the most influential policymakers have staked their ground is going to grip the financial world between now and conclusion of the Fed’s next meeting on July 31. Interest rate futures markets currently see a 100% probability of a rate cut then, with the only debate in trading circles over whether the cut will 25 basis points or twice that.
Policymakers' rate projections issued on Wednesday showed a near clean break at the Fed. Roughly half of officials see no rate reduction as likely appropriate this year, and roughly half see a cut of up to half a percentage point as probably warranted.
That division took shape Friday, in the first hours after the central bank's formal "blackout" lifted for commenting on the results of the last two-day policy session, which concluded Wednesday with the Fed leaving rates on hold in a range between 2.25 and 2.5 percent.
"The economy's baseline outlook is good -- sustained growth, a strong labor market and inflation near our objective,” Fed vice chairman Richard Clarida said on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Clarida said there was "broad agreement" that the case for rate increases had grown stronger in recent weeks. He also said the Fed was ready to act "as appropriate," a phrase emphasized by Chairman Jerome Powell earlier this month as markets slid over broad global growth and trade concerns.
But Clarida's description of the current 1.5 percent inflation rate expected this year as "close" to the Fed's 2 percent target was in contrast to the views of other policymakers, including Lael Brainard, his colleague on the board of governors and the only other Fed board member with a doctorate in economics.
"Recent indicators of inflation and inflation expectations have been disappointing," Brainard said on Friday in prepared remarks to a Fed conference in Ohio. With rates so low by historic standards, "basic principles of risk management...would argue for softening the expected path of policy when risks shift to the downside."
While one of the Fed's mandates from Congress is for "stable prices," central bankers globally feel that a bit of inflation is healthy. Allowing wages and prices to rise steadily would give them room to keep interest rates above zero and, therefore, have room to counter a downturn with rates cuts alone.
The threat of inflation drifting downward is twofold.
Waiting too long to counter it means more aggressive Fed action could be required. In an era when the benchmark policy rate is already so low, that could mean again hitting the zero lower bound and forcing the politically difficult decision to ramp up "unconventional" policy tools like bond-buying once again.
Brainard also sketched out the threat of a sort of self-reinforcing spiral that could take hold if the Fed does not lift inflation higher, with weakened expectations dragging down actual inflation, and leaving the central bank perennially stuck near zero.
In a sharp broadside against the Fed's decision last week to hold interest rates steady, Minneapolis Federal Reserve bank president Neel Kashkari said the economy needed shock therapy to push inflation and inflation expectations higher, and convince the public the Fed is serious about its 2 percent inflation goal.
It is a target that has not been consistently met since it was formally adopted in 2012, and Kashkari said he is concerned the public and investors have absorbed the wrong message.
Though he is currently not a voter on the Fed's rate-setting panel, he called for the Fed to slash rates by half a percentage point now, and commit to not raising them until inflation durably moves to the central bank's 2 percent target.
The Fed "should take strong action to re-anchor inflation expectations at our 2 percent target and support strong job growth, higher wage growth, and sustained economic expansion," said Kashkari, who has consistently opposed recent rate hikes.
St. Louis Federal Reserve bank president James Bullard, meanwhile, a current voter on rate policy, explained his dissent at the recent meeting as largely a response to the weakening pace of price increases.
"Inflation measures have declined substantially since the end of last year and are presently running some 40 to 50 basis points below the FOMC’s 2% inflation target," Bullard said in a prepared statement. "The forces that are keeping inflation below target seem unlikely to be solely transitory...Lowering the target range for the federal funds rate at this time would provide insurance against further declines."
(Graphic: The Fed's inflation problem - https://tmsnrt.rs/2Rv6Aij)
(Reporting by Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider, additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Cincinnati; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) |
How Much is Investors Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ISBC) CEO Getting Paid?
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In 2008 Kevin Cummings was appointed CEO of Investors Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISBC). This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
Check out our latest analysis for Investors Bancorp
According to our data, Investors Bancorp, Inc. has a market capitalization of US$2.9b, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth US$3.4m. (This is based on the year to December 2018). That'slessthan last year. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$1.1m. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations from US$2.0b to US$6.4b, and the median CEO total compensation was US$5.2m.
A first glance this seems like a real positive for shareholders, since Kevin Cummings is paid less than the average total compensation paid by similar sized companies. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance.
The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at Investors Bancorp has changed from year to year.
Over the last three years Investors Bancorp, Inc. has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 1.5% per year (using a line of best fit). It saw its revenue drop -5.1% over the last year.
I would argue that the lack of revenue growth in the last year is less than ideal, but it is good to see EPS growth. These two metric are moving in different directions, so while it's hard to be confident judging performance, we think the stock is worth watching. You might want to checkthis free visual report onanalyst forecastsfor future earnings.
Given the total loss of 0.05% over three years, many shareholders in Investors Bancorp, Inc. are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn't be too generous with CEO compensation.
It looks like Investors Bancorp, Inc. pays its CEO less than similar sized companies.
Kevin Cummings is paid less than CEOs of similar size companies, but growth hasn't been particularly impressive and the total shareholder return over three years would leave many disappointed. Many shareholders would probably like to see improvements, but our analysis does not suggest that CEO compensation is too generous. CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting tocheck if the CEO is buying or selling Investors Bancorp (free visualization of insider trades).
Important note:Investors Bancorp may not be the best stock to buy. You might find somethingbetterinthis list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Amazon Boosts Delivery Drive with AmazonFresh in Las Vegas
In a bid to strengthen e-commerce presence and disrupt the retail sector further in the United States,AmazonAMZN has rolled out a robust delivery service, AmazonFresh, in Las Vegas.Notably, the service enables Prime members to enjoy delivery of daily essential goods and grocery items ranging from meats to fresh produce within an hour or two. This reduction of time holds immense significance in today’s fast-paced world.Further, AmazonFresh will allow shoppers to combine their grocery orders with Amazon bestsellers such as Amazon devices, home & kitchen, toys, health and personal care, and electronics and get them delivered at their doorsteps at an ultrafast speed.The e-commerce giant with its latest service aims at providing comfort and convenience to the Prime members residing in Las Vegas. AmazonFresh is available at $14.99 per month to Prime members.Moreover, AmazonFresh is likely to aid the company in attracting customers to its platform which in turn will boost the Prime adoption rate.Strengthening Delivery ServicesAmazon’s strong focus toward enhancement of its quick delivery services remains a key catalyst.Apart from the latest initiative, the company recently introduced its two-hour delivery service of natural and organic products such as meat and seafood, fresh produce and staples from Whole Foods Market to additional cities of the United States namely Lexington, Little Rock, Charlottesville, Asheville, Columbia, Manchester, Savannah, Naples and Mobile.The move will enable Prime grocery shoppers at Whole Foods stores in the above-mentioned cities to avail the company’s fast delivery and pickup service via Prime Now.At present, the service delivers groceries across 90 U.S. metros.Further, the company revealed that its free one-day shipping service, Prime Free One Day, service now covers over 10 million products under categories such as beauty products, baby products, books, daily necessities and devices across the United States.This is in sync with its plans to gradually substitute two-day delivery with one-day delivery service.All these above-mentioned endeavors are expected to bolster the company’s presence in the U.S. e-commerce and retail space further.
Prime: A Key Catalyst
Amazon’s strong focus toward advancement of Prime services is acting as a tailwind. The company’s Prime enabled grocery delivery and pick-up services are bolstering its footprint in the grocery retail space.Further, expanding movie and video content portfolio on Prime Video is another major positive which helps the company in attracting shoppers to join Prime program.Moreover, Prime benefits which include strong loyalty system, customer friendly offers, robust same-day and two-hour delivery services remains the key in attracting shoppers to its e-commerce platform and physical stores such as Whole Foods Market and Amazon 4-Star.We believe these Prime endeavors are likely to continue aiding Amazon’s dominance in the e-commerce space.Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderCurrently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Some better-ranked stock in the broader technology sector that can be considered is Rosetta Stone RST, PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL and Nuance Communications, Inc. NUAN. While Rosetta Stone sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), PayPal and Nuance Communications carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Long-term earnings growth rate for Rosetta Stone, PayPal and Nuance Communications is pegged at 12.5%, 17.91% and 5%, respectively.Today's Best Stocks from ZacksWould you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.See their latest picks free >>
Click to get this free reportAmazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportPayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportNuance Communications, Inc. (NUAN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportRosetta Stone (RST) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
RenaissanceRe Up 49.9% in a Year: Will the Rally Continue?
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd.RNR has been in investors’ good books on the back of growing premiums and inorganic growth strategies.In 2018, the company crossed a significant milestone of $3 billion of gross premiums written, up 18.3% year over year. It also reported strong net income and established various relationships with companies that helped it strengthen its position in the marketplace.The company has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and an impressive Growth Score of B and this style score analyzes its growth prospects.In a year’s time, the company has surged 49.9%, outperforming its industry’s growth of 9.5%. Moreover, it has witnessed an upward revision in 2019 and 2020 earnings estimates over the past seven days.
Its return on equity — a profitability measure — stands at 9.2%, higher than the industry's average of 7.1%.We expect this momentum to continue as it gains from the following factors:Inorganic Growth:RenaissanceRe has been undertaking solid measures to streamline its operations. It is putting in efforts to sell off its low-return high-risk businesses. As part of this initiative, the company divested its U.S-based weather and weather-related energy risk management unit to save itself from the uncertainties associated with that business.Meanwhile, the company is also acquiring and expanding businesses, providing scope for growth. In fact, its buyout of Tokio Millennium Re for $1.5 billion is noteworthy. The transaction is expected to increase boost the company’s business scale and portfolio to help it generate gross written premiums between $700 million and $1 billion, resulting in a $100-million run rate. We expect such strategic initiatives to enable the company to focus on its core operating business growth.Strong Capital Position:The company has been enjoying significant free cash flow over the past few years (CAGR of 42% from 2015 to 2018). RenaissanceRe has been deploying excess capital in business over the last several quarters. On the back of its solid capital position, it has been hiking its dividend over the past many years. In February 2019, the company again increased its payout by 3%. We believe, the company’s impressive financial strength will continue to buoy investor optimism.Improving Premiums:RenaissanceRe has been witnessing a positive trend in gross premiums written, which has doubled over five years (CAGR of 20.9% from 2014 to 2018). This can be attributable to rising contribution from its Casualty and Specialty plus Property segments. We believe that a solid uptick from these segments leading to increase in premiums, will likely drive the top line further for RenaissanceRe.Zacks Rank and Other Stocks to ConsiderInvestors interested in the same space might also look into some other top-ranked stocks like Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. KNSL, Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. ARGO and Hallmark Financial Services, Inc. HALL, each sporting a Zacks Rank of 1. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Kinsale Capital provides casualty and property insurance products in the United States. The company delivered a beat in two of the last four quarters, the average positive surprise being 7.55%.Argo Group underwrites specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty markets. It pulled off average trailing four-quarter positive surprise of 224.07%.Hallmark Financial underwrites, markets, distributes and services property/casualty insurance products in the United States. The company came up with average four-quarter beat of 98.45%.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.See their latest picks free >> |
Church posts anti-LGBTQ sign during Pride Month
A father took to Facebook to voice his disappointment in a local church in his community for posting an anti-LGBTQ message on their sign. (Photo: Facebook) An anti- LGBTQ sign outside of a church in Palermo, Maine has received negative attention on social media, but the church appears to stand by their message with a Facebook post of their own. Stan York, who has lived in Palermo with his husband for years, and chose to raise their family in the town, shared on Facebook that he was deeply saddened by a local church utilizing their sign to share the anti-LGBTQ message during Pride Month. The sign outside the Second Baptist Church read, "Jesus made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," a phrase that has been used since, at least, 1977 . York shared that he was disappointed because he had been a member of the community, and accepted, for so long. "This is the town where my husband Tom and I raised our sons, participating in local and school functions with other parents and their families. The same town where we have run a business for over 30 years and employed many Palermo residents. The town where we were both elected as town officials (myself as Treasurer and Tom as a Selectperson) in the late 90s and early 2000s," York wrote on his Facebook page on Monday. "And now, in 2019, I need to drive my grandchildren past this sign on our way to our family camp; and when they ask questions I have to explain to them about homophobia and hatred, and how their grandparents are not seen as productive and loving members of the community, but people to be feared, shunned and ostracized," he continued. Many on social media shared their support for York and his family. "Few have showed me more respect or deserved more of my respect," a community, Billy Howell Jr. wrote. "I'm sorry that kind ignorance still exist especially from a religious stand point. Thank you for sharing and not just letting it slide." Another neighbor, Tim Sanborn , wrote, "Sorry [you're] dealing with this in your own neighborhood know that you are welcome as you are in [our] life." On Wednesday, Second Baptist Church appeared to respond to the criticism they received with Psalm 97:10 . Story continues The church shared on their Facebook , "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil." "As Believers in Christ, we are commanded to love sinners as all of us are broken by sin. However, we are also commanded to hate sin. We should hate sin and be grieved by it whether it be our own, our state's or our nation's," the post read in part. "We are a Church that strives to make anyone feel welcome to attend the services, but at the same time realize repentance or turning from sin to Christ for salvation is our only hope of Reconciliation to God," the post continued. "Anyone and everyone is invited to join us for services whether they agree with our positions or not. They will be welcomed and treated warmly, and the Word of God will be proclaimed without compromise." "It is Pride Month for the LGBT community, and I am so very proud of myself and my husband," York wrote. "But I am sad that our children and grandchildren still have to see signs like this one in their back yard." Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: New York City subway riders belt out hit Backstreet Boys song in impromptu singalong Gay couple receives letter saying they gave young neighbor the 'courage' to come out: 'Visibility is so important' 10-year-old girl becomes youngest person ever to climb Yosemite's El Capitan Follow us on Instagram , Facebook , and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. |
What Type Of Shareholder Owns IVERIC bio, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ISEE)?
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A look at the shareholders of IVERIC bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISEE) can tell us which group is most powerful. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned.
With a market capitalization of US$53m, IVERIC bio is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about ISEE.
See our latest analysis for IVERIC bio
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.
IVERIC bio already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 24% of the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of IVERIC bio, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Our data indicates that hedge funds own 24% of IVERIC bio. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. As far I can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.
Our information suggests that IVERIC bio, Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. It seems the board members have no more than US$364k worth of shares in the US$53m company. Many investors in smaller companies prefer to see the board more heavily invested. You canclick here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
The general public holds a 39% stake in ISEE. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.
With an ownership of 12%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.
I always like to check for ahistory of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart ofhistoric revenue and earnings in thisdetailed graph.
If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss thisfreelist of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.
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. |
Why Shake Shack is testing a 4-day workweek for its employees
Hat tip to you, Shake Shack (SHAK), for trying to break the mold in the restaurant game.
The better burger joint began testing a four-day workweek for its restaurant employees at several of its Las Vegas locations earlier this year. Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti tells Yahoo Finance the test has since expanded to some of its restaurants on the West Coast.
While there is a cost component to a four-day workweek, Garutti says it’s the right thing to do for often overworked restaurant workers with families. And in this tight labor market, keeping employees healthy and happy is important to ensuring they don’t grab a gig elsewhere.
“I have been working in restaurants since I was 13, the restaurant business is super hard on families as our people work a lot of hours,” Garutti explains. “Why does it have to be that way is the question we have asked. We don’t know if it will work, it’s something we are testing at our West Coast shacks. We want to see if we can attract, retain and develop more people by changing how we think about how the restaurant business works.”
“I have had some new moms in the company come to me and say I have one less day of childcare. I have one less commute, this is amazing,” adds Garutti.
Garutti says employees will still get 40 hours of work under the plan, but that it depends on the individual.
“The important focus is on covering the Shack in the same great way we always have, and giving that leader the third day off,” Garutti explains.
Wall Street seems to be ignoring the cost component of Shake Shack’s latest worker effort and the fact it continues to pay at the top end of the hourly wage scale in the fast-food industry. The company’s stock has skyrocketed 48% this year as Garutti has cranked up new restaurant openings globally and ventured deeper into mobile ordering.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-host of ‘The First Trade’ at Yahoo Finance. Follow Brian Sozzi him on Twitter@BrianSozzi
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5 High Beta ETFs, Stocks to Ride on Surging Market
After a May swoon, the Wall Street rebounded strongly, buoyed by high hopes of easing money policies. The Fed left interest rates unchanged in its latest FOMC meeting and hinted at future rate cuts to protect the economy from trade conflicts and other threats. In fact, the S&P 500 hit new highs at the close.The central bank has dropped the word “patient”, promising to “closely monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook.” Fed also stated that it would "act as appropriate to sustain the expansion” because "uncertainties" have increased (read: Best June for Stocks in Decades: 5 Best ETFs).Additionally, optimism over the resumption of U.S.-China trade talks later this month, a surge in oil price as well as a slew of deal activities led to the rally.While every corner of the market is enjoying this ascent, high-beta ETFs and stocks seem a perfect bet at present.Why?Beta measures the price volatility of the stocks or funds relative to the overall market. It has a direct relationship to market movements. A beta of more than 1 indicates that the price tends to move higher than the broader market and is extremely volatile, while a beta of less than 1 indicates the stock price or fund to be less volatile than the market (read: Market Rallies: High-Beta & Momentum ETFs to Buy).That said, high-beta stocks seek to capitalize on consistent growth with market-beating returns. This is because when markets soar, high-beta stocks experience larger gains than the broader market counterparts and thus, outpace the rivals. However, these exhibit a higher level of volatility.Given this bullishness, investors could find the following ETFs and stocks to be intriguing options:ETF PicksWe have chosen ETFs that are not confined to a specific sector or industry but offer exposure to the broad stock market. Additionally, these have AUM of at least $50 million to ensure better tradability and liquidity.Invesco S&P 500 High Beta ETF SPHBThis fund offers exposure to the stocks with the highest sensitivity to market movements,or beta over the past 12 months. It follows the S&P 500 High Beta Index.Zacks Rank: N/ABeta: 1.44AUM: $130.4 millionExpense Ratio: 0.25%ERShares Entrepreneur 30 ETF ENTR
This fund offers exposure to U.S. large-cap entrepreneurial companies with the highest market capitalization and composite scores based on six criteria. This can be easily done by tracking the Entrepreneur 30 Index (read: Salesforce to Buy Tableau: ETFs in Focus).Zacks Rank: N/ABeta: 1.44AUM: $76.9 millionExpense Ratio: 0.49%Invesco S&P MidCap 400 Pure Value ETF RFVThis product offers exposure to the mid-cap value segment of the U.S. equity market by tracking the S&P Midcap 400 Pure Value Index.Zacks Rank: #3 (Hold)Beta: 1.39AUM: $133.5 millionExpense Ratio: 0.35%Invesco S&P SmallCap 600 Pure Value ETF RZVThis fund provides pure exposure to the small-cap value segment of the U.S. equity market by tracking the S&P SmallCap 600 Pure Value Index (read: Value Investing Set to Shine: 5 Top-Ranked ETFs & Stocks).Zacks Rank: #3Beta: 1.38AUM: $174.3 millionExpense Ratio: 0.35%Invesco S&P SmallCap 600 Revenue ETF RWJThis product offers exposure to securities of the S&P SmallCap 600 but is weighted by revenues instead of market capitalization.Zacks Rank: #3Beta: 1.36AUM: $403.5 millionExpense Ratio: 0.39%Stocks PicksWe have chosen stocks with a top Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and a VGM Score of B or better along with high beta.Yirendai Ltd. YRDBased in in Beijing, China, Yirendai is involved in the online consumer finance business. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Zacks Rank: #1VGM Score: BBeta: 3.14Market Cap: $838.5 millionStitch Fix Inc. SFIXBased in San Francisco, United States, Stitch Fix provides an online subscription and personal shopping platform.Zacks Rank: #2VGM Score: BBeta: 3.01Market Cap: $3.17 billionH&E Equipment Services Inc. HEESBased in Baton Rouge, LA, H&E Equipment Services is one of the largest integrated equipment services companies in the United States with full-service facilities throughout the Intermountain, Southwest, Gulf Coast & Southeast regions of the United States (read: Energy ETFs Jump on Tanker Attacks: What Lies in Store?).Zacks Rank: #1VGM Score: BBeta: 2.83Market Cap: $1 billionDXP Enterprises Inc. DXPEBased in Houston, TX, DXP Enterprises is a leading products and service distributor that adds value and total cost savings solutions to industrial customers throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Dubai.Zacks Rank: #2VGM Score: BBeta: 2.66Market Cap: $615.5 millionForum Energy Technologies Inc. FETHeadquartered in Houston, TX, Forum Energy Technologies is a global oilfield products company, serving the subsea, drilling, completion, production and infrastructure sectors of the oil and natural gas industry.Zacks Rank: #1VGM Score: ABeta: 2.55Market Cap: $395.7 millionBottom LineGiven this positivity, high-beta products will continue to generate outsized returns in the coming weeks and are suitable for risk-tolerant investors, given their volatile nature.Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox?Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week.Get it free >>
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 reportYirendai Ltd. (YRD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportERShares Entrepreneur 30 ETF (ENTR): ETF Research ReportsOppenheimer S&P SmallCap 600 Revenue ETF (RWJ): ETF Research ReportsInvesco S&P 500 High Beta ETF (SPHB): ETF Research ReportsInvesco S&P SmallCap 600 Pure Value ETF (RZV): ETF Research ReportsInvesco S&P MidCap 400 Pure Value ETF (RFV): ETF Research ReportsH&E Equipment Services, Inc. (HEES) : Free Stock Analysis ReportDXP Enterprises, Inc. (DXPE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportForum Energy Technologies, Inc. (FET) : Free Stock Analysis ReportStitch Fix, Inc. (SFIX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report |
Buy a Nintendo Switch, get a portable charger for free
TL;DR:Walmart has a sweetNintendo Switch bundle that includes a portable charger and dockon sale for $299, essentially getting you the $19.99 charger for free.
Friday advice: Stop asking people if you can play their Switch and just get your own, already.
Just imagine all the games you can playotherthanMario Kart:Animal Crossing: New HorizonsandThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildsequel are just a few of thenew games announced at E3, andSuper Mario Maker 2is already available for pre-order. Wouldn't it beniceto play those onyour own TVand not just whenever your friend lets you borrow theirs?Walmart is offering a bundle that comes with the Nintendo Switch console and a portable charger and docking station. The whole thing is $19.99 off, so you're essentially paying $299 in total for the console andgetting the portable charger for freeRead more...
More aboutGaming,E3,Portable Chargers,Nintendo Switch, andMashable Shopping |
Savers lose out on millions as 10pc of deposits earn no interest
Savers are missing out on millions of pounds in interest, with £1.10 in every £10 held in deals paying nothing at all.
The total amount of cash earning 0pc at the end of February was £170bn, the most recent figures show.
Deposits in accounts paying nothing have risen 70pc from £100bn in December 2010, according to research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a think tank.
Andrew Thatcher, from savings platform Flagstone, which commissioned the research, said savers were not switching due to poor savings rates and the perceived hassle of swapping.
“A decade of persistently low rates in the high street has resulted in widespread inertia among the nation’s savers,” he added.
Savers momentarily snapped out of their stupor in 2017, afteran increase in Bank Rate– the interest rate set by the Bank of England – rose and firms began paying more interest.
This effect was short-lived, however. Of all savings, 63pc are deposited with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander, banks that tend to pay low savings rates.
CEBR found that savers could earn a collective £3.4bn over the next year if they took out the best rates from the big banks’ instant access, one and two-year fixed term deposits.
But they could earn double that by swapping to better deals from smaller rivals seeking to attract new customers.
Tom Adams, of financial experts Savings Champion, said: “There is a lot of savings money still held with some of the high street banks, because it’s easy and they are well-known brands.”
Last month Hargreaves Lansdown, the fund shop, found that a quarter of savings dealspay less than Bank rate, currently 0.75pc.
For the week's most important personal finance news, analysis and expert advice, from pensions and property to investment ideas and savings tips, sign up to ourweekly newsletter. |
Cash Advance Apps Can Be a Short-Term Bridge for People Short on Money
Around 78 percent of Americans found themselves living paycheck to paycheck,according to a 2017 study by Career Builder. Perhaps it’s no coincidence then that cash advance apps, which give people access to their money before payday, have become a hot trend in recent years.
These apps allow users to temporarily borrow the money they need to bridge the gap until that invoice money comes in or payday hits, at a cheaper cost compared to overdraft fees and missed payment penalties from banks. In this respect, many entrepreneurs and early stage startup employees are finding these apps genuinely helpful.
For example, I recently learned of a startup team that is building a company that gets paid on the performance of their work, so their accounts payable is in the rears each month, and they depend on these apps to provide them cash until their customer invoices get reconciled. Learning about this team and how they use cash apps for creative financing gave me the inspiration to write the article and share more apps that can help more startups.
A drawback to using cash advance apps though is that they can potentially encourage bad money habits. For example, some users may rely on accessing their cash early too often and end up with very little in the bank when money comes around.
Here's a short list of a handful of apps that can be used to support your cash needs.
What setsPockBoxapart from many others is that users can borrow up to $2,500 -- up to 10 times higher than the amount typically offered by cash advance apps. PockBox works as a connection to multiple lenders, which may lead to increased chances of getting approved. Users can apply even if they have bad credit, and if approved, they’ll usually get their cash the next business day. Interest rates vary by lender.
Floatis a new app that offers 24/7 bank account monitoring and will push a variety of alerts to help users keep track of their balance more easily. Float also offers a high loan amount of up to $2,000 and is connected to multiple lenders which may increase the likelihood of getting approved.
TheDaveapp is the first app of its kind, created to help Americans avoid ridiculous overdraft penalties. Dave lets users borrow up to $75 at a time in return for a $1 per month subscription fee. No credit check is undertaken. There’s no interest charged, but users are “gently” encouraged to leave a tip. The loan is simply repaid on payday. The Dave app has some handy features such as alerting the user when their bank balance is running low, and it also helps them plan for future expenses.
WithEarnin, it’s possible to get paid early (up to $100 per day) for hours already worked -- and it’s entirely free to use. Workers are encouraged to leave a tip if they can afford to -- but this isn’t compulsory. The caveat? Users must receive wages on a regular basis via direct deposit into a checking account and also have an online timekeeping system at work or a fixed work location.
Users can download the MoneyLion app and sign up to thePlus serviceto get access to a $500 loan with a low APR of 5.99 percent whenever they need to. The Plus service costs $19.99 per month, but this fee is waived providing the user logs into the app every day.
To be eligible for MoneyLion Plus, users must verify their identity, have a consistent source of income, have a bank account that’s been open for more than 45 days and they must be able to show a positive bank balance. Credit scores are considered but a good score isn’t required.
TheBrigitapp costs $9.99 per month and allows users to access up to $250 instantly. Additional features include the ability to set up automated advances, free instant transfers and free extensions for those who need a little longer to pay back what they’ve borrowed. Brigit doesn’t look at credit scores as part of their qualifying criteria, but users must have a bank account and a recurring income from a single source.
In short, no. Low-cost personal loans are the route to explore for larger borrowing, as opposed to the short-term lending solution that cash advance apps offer.LendingCluborProsperare examples of lenders that provide longer loan lengths and better terms for this type of borrowing -- but they’re not suitable for giving access to money in a pinch.
Early paycheck apps and apps such as Dave can be a useful temporary solution to help entrepreneurs and startup employees avoid unpaid bills, operational expenses and even dirty little overdraft fees. However, they shouldn’t be relied on regularly, as transfer/subscription fees can add up over time and leave users even more out of pocket. Think of these tools as a rich uncle that can help you in a bind. You can get a loan from him once and a while, but you don't want to depend on him every month.
What’s more, frequently using these services can lead to a vicious cycle of dependency, especially for those on low incomes in impoverished areas, or anyone building a startup. Entrepreneurs who often resort to constantly borrowing money will no doubt find it hard to develop good money habits, such as building up savings, because they’ll be trapped into living invoice to invoice and paycheck to paycheck for the long term.
The bottom line: like all types of loan products, cash advance apps should only be considered if absolutely necessary. If you're in that pinch, I hope these tools come in handy.
On another note, do you know what's used for money in prison? Top Ramen or a book of stamps. If that's interesting to you, you may also want to learn how to make a tattoo gun out of a Walkman Motor or light a fire with a gum wrapper and battery. All those things are in my new comedy book about prison called Don't Drop the Soap. Presale starts July 15. Sign up for alerts and get more info here:Don't Drop the Soap. |
Harris wins EU approval for L3 Tech deal subject to sale of night vision business
BRUSSELS, June 21 (Reuters) - Military communication equipment provider Harris Corp has won European Union approval for the acquisition of L3 Technologies Inc, on the condition that Harris sells its night vision global business, the EU Commission said on Friday.
The all-stock merger will create the sixth-largest United States defense contractor, with a market value of $34 billion at the time it was announced in October 2018.
The EU antitrust regulator found that the merger would have reduced competition in the European markets for image intensification night vision devices and image intensification tubes.
Harris offered to sell its night vision business before completing the deal, and the Commission accepted the remedy, Brussels said in a statement.
The two U.S. companies supply intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications and electronic systems for military, security forces and commercial customers. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio) |
Raven-Symoné Recalls Industry Pushback in Her Teen Years: ‘She Looks Too Much Like a Lesbian’
One of the most recognizable child stars in Hollywood history, Raven-Symoné grew up in the public eye on “The Cosby Show” and “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.” Now 33-years-old and an executive producer and star of “Raven’s Home,” a spinoff of her 2000’s Disney Channel show “That’s So Raven,” in recent years, the actress and singer has chosen to speak out about her sexuality to help her younger fans, though she admits she didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin until she was in her late 20s. While she referred to herself as a lesbian on a 2016 episode of “The View,” the former co-host firmly states that she does not subscribe to labels. Related stories Pioneering Filmmaker Esther Eng Made Movies in the '30s and '40s on Her Own Terms GLAAD Chief: Hollywood Needs to Continue Playing a Role in LGBTQ Progress Matthew Shepard's Mother: Why Hate Crime Is Only Conquered When We Speak Up “While it was a selfish thing for me to keep my secret to myself for as long as I did, I am very happy that I’m out, if only to help someone else feel comfortable,” Raven-Symoné tells Variety as part of an interview for the inaugural Power of Pride issue. “It is about that one person who you’ll never see or meet who watches the show and feels that confidence to just say, ‘Hey, guess what? I’m gay. And if you can’t accept me, it’s okay, because I see Raven pushing through.’ That feels good. It’s a hard journey, though. It’s difficult.” Here, Raven-Symoné discusses her struggle to discuss her sexuality publicly, the pressure the industry places on women to look a certain way and the pushback she received from her personal management team when she was a teenager. What is the biggest change you’ve seen in regards to LGBTQ representation since you started out in the industry is a young girl? That it’s actually being represented in a positive light, that there are shows geared to and catered for the LGBTQ community without making an apology, that it’s okay and it’s acceptable to be your authentic self in public within the industry. But it does depend on your confidence level and it depends on your level of celebrity that was created before this turn. When you say it depends on your level of celebrity, how do you personally feel you’ve been treated? I feel that I’ve definitely been accepted regarding my placement in the LGBTQ community by those in the community and not in the community. I think that’s because I was so young when I started in the industry that my sexuality did not have a spotlight on it. I started at such a young age that my sexuality or my gender preference was not a big part of who I was, so I was able to express who I was with a clear slate. Also, the age bracket that I live in is a part of that journey of coming out — I am who I am am, accept who I am, no labels. I think that as this beautiful wave continues to engulf everybody and accept everybody in living as your best self, people of all age brackets and generations will feel more and more comfortable on coming out and being accepted. Story continues With this new wave of acceptance, do you feel hopeful for future generations? Yes, of course. I feel very hopeful for them that they can live within their true skin at an earlier age. I feel like the turmoil that I’ve been through as a young child with family around talking about a guy — I didn’t appreciate that — so the conversation in the family unit will be a lot broader, so that the shackles won’t go on so early to confine to someone else’s community. I think that my generation and generations to come will understand that we need to guide our children from right from wrong obviously, but it’s about what they want in their life in order to be their most healthy mental and physical self. At what point did you feel that you could live in your true skin? I was probably about 28 or 29, and I’m 33. And even now, I’m still morphing. Like, “Ugh okay, I’ll wear a dress today, but I don’t want to wear a dress tomorrow. I don’t feel like being super feminine. I don’t feel like being super masculine.” It’s always a journey of someone who has been caged to portray something for so long to find yourself. I’m going through my teenage years of different hair colors and black nails right now. When you’re in the industry, you still have to find that happy medium. I’m not going to go out the way that I look at home — I’ll put on some rouge. It’s definitely a journey to still find that authentic self on the [red] carpet versus at home where I don’t have people going, “Omg! What is she going through?” You don’t want that from the public. Do you feel that there still is pressure from the industry to look a certain way? I don’t know how to answer that because I’ve pretty much told the industry, in my head, that I don’t care what they say. There are two brains of me: there’s the brain that’s been in the industry forever that’s like, “I hate you and I’m never going to do anything you’re going to say again,” and then there’s the brain that’s like “I can’t hurt my career,” so I think the pressure is something I’ve created for myself. I think that now with social media and the authenticity of public figures that did not grow up in my generation, it has made it easier to just come out however you need to, but again, I grew up with certain constraints that still are building blocks in my foundation in how I live within society and within my career, so I definitely teeter-tottered and figured out what I like. I actually get less backlash now that I’ve said that I’m going to wear whatever I want to and do whatever I need on the carpet, rather than maybe seven or eight years ago where everything I wore was like, “What is she doing? Blah blah blah.” It was really back in the day when I wasn’t out, but now that people see that I’m more comfortable, I think I’m more accepted. You said you didn’t feel that you could live in your true skin until you were around 28. Were there times that you felt you couldn’t come out and couldn’t be your true self specifically because of constraints in the industry? Yes. I remember that I went on tour for the last season of “That’s So Raven” — by the way, this was not Disney; Disney has always been accepting of me, but this was someone in my own camp, like industry people, agents and managers — I remember that I wore Abercrombie and Fitch jeans, a stereotypical lesbian vest, a tie and one of the members of my team went up to my mom and was like, “She looks too much like a lesbian. Can you tell her to put on a skirt and makeup? Because then they’ll accept her and come to her concert.” I could not! It always happened when I was on tour because I’ve always been myself in hip-hop clothes and not necessarily super feminine — look at my first album from when I was younger [“Here’s to New Dreams,” 1993]. So seeing the reaction of people in my own camp who were trying to mold and publicize me in the way that they think girls should look like just blew my mind. The way I got back at them was the next year, I put on a corset and a tutu, and my mom was like, “You look crazy,” and I was like, “Well, this is so that they shut up. I’m wearing a tutu, so how about that!” I was so rude because I was just so over it, and I hadn’t come out to anybody. I knew in my heart and my friends knew, but I was just like, “You guys just need to stop. It’s ridiculous.” You said Disney has always been very supportive of you. Disney has gotten much more inclusive over the years with its programming, especially “Andi Mack,” the first Disney Channel series to feature a gay main character. How do you think children’s programming has progressed and how will it help future generations? The one thing about the entertainment industry that I do love is that it reflects the society that it caters to. It has to. I think that children’s programming is doing it very tastefully. It’s not promoting; it’s not under-promoting; it just is. I think that’s very important to just be, because then it’s not stigmatized or anything of that nature, and that’s very important because we are molding the minds of young people everywhere and entertaining them and making them smile, laugh and cry, and you want to make sure that you are catering to every type of person out there — yes, business-wise for ratings, but also just to say that this is what our society looks like right now. I’m very proud of those taking on that journey and not being afraid. Do you pay attention to any hatred on social media toward LGBTQ programming? One of the things that I hate about the close-minded human is people who say, “It’s an agenda! They’re trying to set an agenda!” I’m just like, “What are you talking about?” I just don’t understand what that is. Television is not just for one type of person. If there is any agenda, it’s to make sure that everybody is represented on television. They could have said that about any moment in history when a certain group of people were trying to combine themselves with the normal fabric of society. It happens with every smaller group. The LGBTQ community wants to be represented on a medium that they watch as much as everybody else, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It makes me happy because I never had television when I was younger that made me so happy to see. What is the most rewarding part about being on the Disney Channel as an adult in terms of what you hear back from your younger viewers? The best part about working for the Disney Channel is that I get to see kids’ faces light up from ear to ear. That is so enjoyable. But it’s also enjoyable to see teens, young adults and older adults say that they watch television together and that they enjoy the family content and that we are a place they can go together to feel safe. That brings me joy. Have you ever had fans tell you that you have helped them come out? When I was on Broadway, I was seeing someone, and I was in the closet hardcore to the world, except for all of my friends. One of the cast members came up to me and said, “If you don’t come out, little kids are going to wither away.” And I went, “What! How dare you put the pressure on me. This is my life.” Now, I am in deep debt to him, and tell him at least once per week, “Thank you for pushing me.” I know where I stand in the eyes of the community, just being on television for as long as I have and dealing with children’s comedy for as long as I have, and it’s important that there is some person or character in their life that has the confidence to be their authentic self and to not apologize for who they are, so that they have someone to look to when they are putting on their armor to venture out into this world. In 2014, you said you do not like labels. Do you still feel that way? Oh, I still feel that way. I do not like labels because labels have certain historic connotations that don’t describe who I am fully. If I use a certain label, our world view of that word or image will go right to the negative, every single time. I think as my generation and the generations after me continue to grow, we’re changing certain labels, but it’s still a part of the fabric of society. I’m labeling myself, but in the way that I want to. I know that I am a “human of the world.” Yes, I can jump within different categories that live in the world, and I know my history and I know my ancestry comes from Africa, I understand that, but where I am in my head and where I am in my generation and the things that I’ve seen — I’ve traveled and I’ve talked with many different types of people — I am a human of the world. If anybody is sad, I’m going to be sad with them. Whatever their plight is, I’m going to understand it. I don’t want to push myself in a corner from one label just because I’m supposed to be that. I need to have empathy for everybody and understand it as an entire unit, rather than many units across the earth. I don’t grasp that, so I’d rather be human of the world. When you were on “The View,” you said during a conversation about the dating world with men, “I’m a lesbian!” What do you remember about the reaction from viewers after that? What did I say? I don’t remember anything that I said on that show. During a conversation on the panel about dating men, you said off the cuff that you are a lesbian so you don’t deal with dating men. Joy Behar was laughing. Maybe it didn’t feel like a coming out moment to you, since it was so off the cuff, but I’m curious if you got a lot of feedback after that episode, or was it no big deal? I know what you’re talking about. Sometimes when I go on stage, I blackout and don’t know what came out of my mouth, and then I go home and watch and I’m like, “Oh. My. God. Did I just say that?” And then I kind of smirk, and then I’m like, “Yes, I totally said that. Yay me!” But yeah, it freaked me out. It freaked me out, dude. Sometimes I surprise myself with how much of a lesbian I am. It really freaks me out. I’m like, “Dang! I really need to calm it down!” But it freaked me out because I was never allowed to say that before and it wasn’t a word that existed in my vocabulary. After the freak out, did it feel good that you could say that after you weren’t able to say it for so long? I moved on. I didn’t relish in it for too long. I don’t deal with issues very well. I just see it, smirk and move on. Some things I said, other people would stress about it, which would make me continue to think about it, but most of the time, as long as it doesn’t make my insides feel icky, I move on. And I smirked. I was happy. It didn’t bother me. Do you still find it difficult to talk publicly about your sexuality? I still have my reservations about how much I want to divulge and how much I want my career to be defined by my membership within the LGBTQ community, how much I feel necessary to say because my journey is my own, and how much I’m obligated to say because of the position that I’m in and that I can help somebody get out of their shell. It’s a delicate balance of what I’m comfortable with, what I know I’m supposed to do and what I really want to do. I’m still very cautious about when I get a new partner, not releasing their identity off the bat. I’m very cautious about my topics that I talk about because these conversations can get deep and I like to keep it real surface — I’m not trying to get into any trouble in my life right now! It’s just finding that right balance of who I am in the eyes of others and then how much I can speak for myself because in this industry, it’s really important to have a little bit of yourself reserved for yourself. Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter . 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Have Insiders Been Selling Isodiol International Inc. (CNSX:ISOL) Shares This Year?
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It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares inIsodiol International Inc.(CNSX:ISOL).
Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard Universitystudyfound that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.'
Check out our latest analysis for Isodiol International
The , Amirghasem Samimi-Ardestani, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$4.2m worth of shares at a price of CA$15.67 each. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is CA$1.00. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 500k shares worth CA$675k. But they sold 557k for CA$4.8m. In total, Isodiol International insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Over the last quarter, Isodiol International insiders have spent a meaningful amount on shares. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought CA$675k worth of shares. That shows some optimism about the company's future.
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 25% of Isodiol International shares, worth about CA$12m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
The recent insider purchases are heartening. But we can't say the same for the transactions over the last 12 months. We don't take much heart from transactions by Isodiol International insiders over the last year. But they own a reasonable amount of the company, and there was some buying recently. In short they are likely aligned with shareholders. Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if Isodiol International is growing revenue. This free chart ofhistoric revenue and earnings should make that easy.
Of course,you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere.So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Why Shares of Korn Ferry Are Down Big on Friday
Shares ofKorn Ferry(NYSE: KFY)were down more than 17% on Friday morning following the executive search company reporting quarterly results. Numbers for the quarter met expectations, but the guidance was reason for concern.
After markets closed Thursday, Korn Ferry reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.88 per share on revenue of $502.5 million. The earnings number was in line with consensus, and the revenue actually beat expectations by about $3 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Unfortunately, Korn Ferry is not optimistic about the current quarter. The company predicted diluted fiscal first-quarter earnings of between $0.73 and $0.81 per share on revenue of between $466 million and $486 million. Analysts had been expecting $0.80 per share in earnings on revenue of $493 million.
Post-earnings, SunTrust analyst Tobey Sommer lowered his price target on Korn Ferry to $58 from $63, still well above the $40-per-share range at which it traded on Friday. The analyst said sluggish demand in China and among industrial customers was weighing on results but kept his buy rating on the shares.
This is thesecond time since Septemberthat shares of Korn Ferry have fallen sharply after earnings, and the stock is now down nearly 40% over the past year.
Korn Ferry has been trying to transform away from a simple fee-for-service executive search model and toward more recurring consulting revenue. CEO Gary D. Burnison,during a post-earnings call, expressed confidence the company is on the right track.
As I think about Korn Ferry today, I'm excited about what the future holds. I think, we're really just at the beginning. ... We help companies make sure they have the right people in the right places providing them the right rewards and we bring their strategies to life by redesigning their org structures, helping -- motivate, inspire people, helping them hire the best and hang on to the best. And, today, the right reality is, we're more than talent acquisition, we're more than leadership development, we're more than organizational strategy advisors.
In theory, the shift should make Korn Ferry less subject to the boom-and-bust cycles of executive hiring and M&A, but transformations take time. Investing in Korn Ferry right now requires a good deal of patience.
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Lou Whitemanhas 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. |
Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital rolls out crypto options business as institutional demand grows
Former hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz’s cryptocurrency merchant bank, Galaxy Digital, has expanded its trading business to offer cryptocurrency options contracts amid the crescendo in demand from institutional investors.
Galaxy Digital’s global head of business development, Yoshi Nakamura, told The Block in an interview at Galaxy's New York office that cryptocurrency companies like mining firms, lenders, and other projects, including those sitting on treasuries, want to hedge the “inherent volatility risk” of cryptocurrencies.
Hedging is a strategy used by investors to reduce portfolio risk, and thereby losses. Options contracts (both put and call) are one of the more popular tools to hedge against risks when investors are uncertain about a financial instrument’s price movement.
Nakamura said his firm’s options business is “relatively new” and that appetite for it “continues to increase,” without commenting on specific figures. He also declined to share numbers about the business' growth.
Ari Paul, chief investment officer and managing partner of cryptocurrency investment firm BlockTower Capital, told The Block that demand for options is indeed rising, which he said is being exclusively driven by non-crypto native firms.
"Traditional hedge funds love to use options,” he said, as it helps spread the risk.
"These counter-parties are going to be new traditional funds and family offices," Paul said. "I haven't heard of Polychain, Pantera, etc. being interested in options."
Galaxy isn't alone in offering options. Other over-the-counter trading operations such as Akuna Capital and Cumberland have also written options contracts for counter-parties. Overall, the market for cryptocurrency derivatives products - options, futures, swaps, contracts for differences - has beengrowingover the past year. Several firms have launched new businesses in the space or are looking to enter the market.
ErisX, Bakkt, SeedCX, LedgerX, B2C2, Deribit are some of the newer firms in the space, while BitMEX and CME have been offering such products for a few years now. Cboe was also offering bitcoin futures contracts until it stopped earlier this year. Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, was also reportedly looking to launch futures trading. |
Before You Buy IsoRay, Inc. (NYSEMKT:ISR), Consider Its Volatility
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Anyone researching IsoRay, Inc. (NYSEMKT:ISR) 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 other type, which cannot be diversified away, is the volatility of the entire market. Every stock in the market is exposed to this volatility, which is linked to the fact that stocks prices are correlated in an efficient market.
Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. 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.
Check out our latest analysis for IsoRay
Looking at the last five years, IsoRay has a beta of 1.88. The fact that this is well above 1 indicates that its share price movements have shown sensitivity to overall market volatility. If this beta value holds true in the future, IsoRay shares are likely to rise more than the market when the market is going up, but fall faster when the market is going down. 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 IsoRay's revenue and earnings in the image below.
IsoRay is a rather small company. It has a market capitalisation of US$28m, which means it is probably under the radar of most investors. It has a relatively high beta, suggesting it is fairly actively traded for a company of its size. Because it takes less capital to move the share price of a small company like this, when a stock this size is actively traded it is quite often more sensitive to market volatility than similar large companies.
Beta only tells us that the IsoRay share price is sensitive to broader market movements. This could indicate that it is a high growth company, or is heavily influenced by sentiment because it is speculative. Alternatively, it could have operating leverage in its business model. Ultimately, beta is an interesting metric, but there's plenty more to learn. In order to fully understand whether ISR is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as IsoRay’s financial health and performance track record. I urge you to continue your research by taking a look at the following:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ISR’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor ISR’s outlook.
2. Past Track Record: Has ISR 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 ISR's historicalsfor more clarity.
3. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how ISR measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with thisfree list of prospective options.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Has Uber Found a Solution to Its Biggest Problem?
Uber Technologies'(NYSE: UBER)underwhelming stock market debutwas no surprise, as the ridesharing specialist had shared a ton of red flags with investors before going public. Uber had warned Wall Street that its expenses will rise on account of the cutthroat competition in the ridesharing space and that it might not be able to achieve profitability.
The company's terrible first-quarter results prove that it wasn't joking around. Uber's operating loss went up from $478 million in the year-ago period to just over $1 billion in the first quarter of 2019. The company's massive operating loss was triggered by an alarming rise in its cost of revenue. Excluding depreciation and amortization, Uber's cost of revenue climbed 45% year over year to $1.68 billion.
Image source: Getty Images.
Its sales and marketing expenses went up more than 53% year over year to $1.04 billion. In all, the company spent nearly 88% of its revenue on these two line items, up from 71% in the prior-year period.
This makes it evident that Uber is spending a ton of money to defend its market share by way of driver and rider incentives, but even then, it's facing criticism for not paying its drivers enough for them to make a living. As a result, Uber has been forced to raise its fares in key markets such as New York City to increase driver pay.
But despite doing that, the company has had to face the wrath of drivers over work conditions and pay in the form of strikes across the globe. Assuming the company succumbs to driver pressure and further increases wages, it will have to pass the costs on to the consumer in the future, as it can't afford to burn through money forever.
In that scenario, there's a chance that demand for Uber's services will fall as it runs the risk of losing market share. The company is already seeing a slowdown in its top-line growth. Its revenue increasedan underwhelming 20%last quarter, which might be connected to the fare increases Uber had to enforce to meet rising pay.
Uber is caught in a vicious cycle wherein higher driver wages and benefits will force it to increase fares. If it doesn't do that, its losses will balloon, and if Uber does raise fares, its rivals could take advantage and lure customers away.
This is probably why the company is looking to take the human element out of its system, as evident from its latest reveal.
Uber recently revealed a new Volvo XC90 self-driving car in what could be a step toward reducing its reliance on human drivers. Reuters reports that these cars will come equipped with traditional steering wheels and pedals but will also carry factory-fitted autonomous driving systems.
According to Uber Advanced Technologies Group chief scientist Raquel Urtasun, the company's self-driving cars will be able to drive on their own without the help of maps and chart their course on the fly. Urtasun hit the nail on the head when she underlined the aim of Uber's self-driving program: "Our goal is [to] get each one of you to where you want to go much better, much safer, cheaper."
The word "cheaper" significant here, as one of the ways Uber can reduce fares or keep them consistent is if it doesn't have to pay wages. And that can happen only when the company doesn't need to pay drivers.
Moreover, Uber needs to keep a lid on its cost of revenue. In 2018, the company's cost of revenue had climbed 35%, by $1.5 billion, thanks to a spike in excess driver incentives. Moreover, the company doled out $1.4 billion worth of freebies to customers last year in the form of promotions, discounts, and credits.
For comparison, the company's spending on these items was $949 million in 2017. That kind of spending indicates that Uber is trying to defend its turf by subsidizing rides that are getting expensive with time on account of higher expenses such as driver wages and other benefits. Stopping such incentives will dent Uber's growth, as the company islosing market sharetoLyft, and boosting them means ballooning costs.
So it's understandable why Uber is getting started with its self-driving venture once again, after a shaky start that had caused a fatal accident last year. Replacing even a part of its fleet with self-driving cars could prove to be a boon for Uber, because if it doesn't do so, achieving profitability will be a far-fetched dream for the ridesharing specialist.
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Harsh Chauhanhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Alexion's sBLA for Ultomiris Gets Priority Review From FDA
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.ALXN announced that the FDA has accepted its supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for its long-acting C5 complement inhibitor, Ultomiris (ravulizumab-cwvz), under a priority review for the treatment of patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) to inhibit complement-mediated thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). The regulatory body has set an action date of Oct 19, 2019.
Shares of Alexion were up almost 4.1% following this news on Thursday. In fact, so far this year, the stock has surged 32.3%, outperforming the industry’s rise of 5.8%.
This sBLA was based on data from the phase III study on Ultomiris, conducted in complement inhibitor-naive patients with aHUS, which met its primary objective of complete TMA response. The results were announced this January. The primary endpoint of a complete TMA response was defined by hematologic normalization and improved kidney function. Further, a phase III program of Ultomiris on adolescents and children with aHUS is underway.
Notably, aHUS is a chronic, ultra-rare disease that affects both children and adults, inducing a potentially irreversible damage to kidneys and other vital organs, sudden or progressive kidney failure (requiring dialysis or transplant) and premature death.
Last December, Ultomiris received the FDA approval for treating adult patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), to be administered every eight weeks. This nod came well ahead of its action date set for Feb 18, 2019. Following the same, Ultomiris became the first and the only long-acting C5 complement inhibitor to get an approval for PNH. A phase III study on Ultomiris evaluating children and adolescents with PNH is currently underway.
Alexion has launched Ultomiris in the United States, ahead of schedule. Initial conversion rates of Soliris — Alexion’s key PNH drug — patients have been encouraging. Applications for approval in the EU are currently under review. Earlier this week, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) approved Ultomiris for the treatment of adult patients with PNH. The approval will strengthen Alexion’s PNH franchise.
Notably, companies like Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. ACHN and Akari Therapeutics, Plc AKTX are also developing drugs for addressing PNH.
Meanwhile, Alexion is working to expand Ultomiris’ label. It has initiated a single, PK-based phase III probe on Ultomiris, administered subcutaneously once a week to support registration in PNH and aHUS.
The company also initiated a phase III investigation on the drug for generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) in the first quarter of 2019 and plans to initiate another phase III study on the same for the neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) indication by the end of 2019. Additionally, the company plans to conduct a proof-of-concept analysis on Ultomiris for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and an exploratory clinical study for primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS).
Zacks Rank & Key Pick
Alexion currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the healthcare sector is Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. ACOR, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Acorda’s loss per share estimates have been narrowed 6.5% for 2019 and 6.9% for 2020 over the past 60 days.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
See their latest picks free >>
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 reportAlexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAchillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACHN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAcorda Therapeutics, Inc. (ACOR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAkari Therapeutics PLC (AKTX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Apple Is Recalling Some MacBook Pro Models. Here's How to Check If Yours Is Impacted
Apple is recalling an undetermined number of 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops after learning of an issue that could cause the battery to overheat and pose safety risks.
The company is asking owners of select MacBook Pros made between September 2015 and February 2017 to return them toAppleor take them to an Apple Store (or possibly Best Buy), so the batter can be swapped out.
“Because customer safety is a top priority, Apple is asking customers to stop using affected 15-inch MacBook Pro units,” the companysaid in a statement. “Customers should visitapple.com/support/15-inch-macbook-pro-battery-recallfor details on product eligibility and how to have a battery replaced, free of charge.”
The recall doesn’t affect other MacBook computers. Owners can go tothat websiteand enter their MacBook’s serial number to see if they’re included in the action. Only those that say “MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015),” when checking the “About this MacBook” option in the Apple menu in the top right corner of the screen.
Last year, Apple issued a separate MacBook recall tofix a keyboard issueafter strongconsumer complaints. The company alsoreplaced iPhone X devicesthat were suffering from FaceID problems.
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Four U.S. states join lawsuit to stop T-Mobile-Sprint deal
By Jonathan Stempel and Sheila Dang
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four more U.S. states joined an unusual effort by state attorneys general to stop T-Mobile US Inc's acquisition of Sprint Corp, a New York official said at a court hearing on Friday.
Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nevada will be included in an amended complaint being filed Friday, said Beau Buffier, chief of the antitrust bureau in the New York attorney general's office.
Lawyers for the states and the companies also proposed Oct. 7 for the start of a trial, which could last two to three weeks.
Sprint was down 5.9% percent around midday on Friday while T-Mobile had slipped 2.3%.
The four states join 10 state attorneys general, led by New York and California and including the District of Columbia.
They filed a lawsuit on June 11 aimed at stopping the purchase by No. 3 U.S. wireless operator T-Mobile of No. 4 Sprint, saying the deal would cost their subscribers more than $4.5 billion annually. The attorneys general from all of the states involved are Democrats.
If the acquisition is completed, the number of U.S. wireless carriers would drop to three from four, with Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc leading the pack.
The Federal Communications Commission has indicated it is prepared to approve the transaction, and the Justice Department is expected to weigh in soon.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero signaled the case could be affected if the U.S. Department of Justice, which is not involved in the lawsuit, decides to intervene.
"The elephant not in the room is the Justice Department," Marrero said, referring to his courtroom. "Either way, it is likely to affect what is on the table."
Marrero also noted a possible inconsistency in the states' complaint. He said they maintained that aggressive competition among the four national wireless carriers have resulted in "falling prices," only to then say the companies' ability to signal each other on rates "has led to higher prices for consumers."
George Cary, who represents T-Mobile, told the judge the transaction would benefit competition. "It is taking two smaller companies, putting together complementary resources," he said.
Discussing the prospect that the federal government might intervene, Cary said, "We don't think that what the Justice Department does here is going to affect the pro-competitive nature of this deal."
FCC chairman Ajit Pai on Friday criticized the states' lawsuit as "misguided," arguing it will harm efforts to boost next-generation 5G wireless access.
"Make no mistake about it, government officials trying to block this transaction are working to stop many upstate New Yorkers and other rural Americans from getting access to fast mobile broadband," Pai said in a speech in New York in which he argued that Sprint would not be able to build a 5G network alone.
"If the T-Mobile/Sprint transaction is approved, the combined company will have the capacity to do just that," he said.
T-Mobile, which is about 63% owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, has about 80 million customers. Sprint, which is about 84% owned by Softbank Group Corp, has some 55 million customers.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Sheila Dang; Additional reporting by David Shepardson; Writing by Diane Bartz; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) |
France's first lady Brigitte Macron is no fan of politics
PARIS (AP) — France's first lady says Emmanuel Macron's election as president "terrified" her and insists that she has no political ambitions of her own. Oh, and she hates the word "cougar." In an unusually intimate interview with France's RTL radio Thursday night, Brigitte Macron described the challenges of her relationship with a man 24 years her junior. Noting how it hurt her children when the two first came together, she said "we are not an ideal couple." Still, she says she and Emmanuel keep each other in line and never go to bed angry, and insist on sharing breakfast and dinner — even if he goes back to reading his files at midnight. She acknowledged that her 41-year-old husband has made mistakes as president, notably when he insulted unemployed people and failed to discipline a security aide who beat a protester, a misstep that mushroomed into a political scandal. She called the presidency — his first elected office — "a learning experience" and insisted that her husband is not arrogant, as critics attest, but sometimes suffers from "doubts." Brigitte Macron expressed sympathy with yellow vest protesters who are struggling to make ends meet and are angry at Macron's pro-business policies, but admitted to being "scared for France" when their protests led to intense violence. After recent high-profiles trips to Marseille and Lyon where she met prominent local politicians, Brigitte Macron insisted that she didn't go at her husband's bidding and she's not trying to play politics herself. "No, no, no, no. I have neither the taste nor the competence for politics," she said. Having her husband as president "doesn't suit me, but I make it work." When the two fell in love, she said, "It took me a while to realize what was happening, and then to make the leap and becomes his wife." The two met when Brigitte was a married teacher at Emmanuel's high school, and already had children of her own. Story continues "Of course I hurt (my children). Like all parents who separate hurt their children," she said. "But at one point, I understood that Emmanuel was my life, and they understood." "Being in a couple is complicated," she said, "and when there is a big age difference like ours, even more so." But she doesn't like being called a cougar — "I was always attracted to men my age. Emmanuel was an exception." |
UN labor agency passes accord to reduce workplace harassment
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s labor agency has adopted its first convention specifically aimed at reducing violence and harassment in the workplace, with its chief crediting a recent boost from the #MeToo movement. Delegates exchanged hugs, applauded and whooped in a U.N. conference hall after the International Labor Organization overwhelmingly passed the resolution, which has been some four years in the making. The ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment was adopted 439-7 with 30 abstentions, a landmark achievement of the ILO's centennial assembly that ended Friday. The agency unites businesses, labor groups and 187 member states. ILO director-General Guy Ryder hailed a "most important moment" and said #MeToo had accentuated the "momentum and significance" of the push to adopt the convention. "The new standards recognize the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment," he said. Ryder said the convention would "make a difference in working life," and noted that women are far more affected by harassment and violence in the workplace than men. Delegates turned back efforts to include language in defense of LGBT people in the accord, with Ryder calling it a "contentious" issue. The Convention will now go to states that will decide whether to ratify it. The agency counts 187 member states plus employer and labor groups in its "tripartite" structure. |
What Are The Typical Penalties For DUI/DWI?
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2019 /Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains the typical penalties applied to people caught with DUI/DWI. Besides immediate penalties, future car insurance premiums will also become more expensive.
For more info and free car insurance quotes, visithttps://compare-autoinsurance.org/penalties-for-dui-dwi/
Each state has its own laws regarding DUI/DWI and associated penalties. The most common penalties include:
• Jail and community service. First-time offenders with a low BAC will usually have to do community service. The situation changes, even for first offenders, when human victims are involved. In this case, the felony is likely to result in jail time for the DUI driver. The length of the jail time sentence depends on the condition of the victims. The guilty driver can expect to serve several months of jail time for minor injuries like bruises, or even many years behind the bars if the victim dies because of the accident.
• Fines. Depending on which state the incident happened, expect fines from as low as $500 for first-time offenders in North-Dakota, and as high as $10,000 for drivers that have children on board in Texas.
• Drug and alcohol education programs. Many states offer lesser penalties to those drivers that attend these programs. In some states, participating in a drug and alcohol education course is mandatory.
• AA meetings. Judges may sentence DUI drivers to participate in this type of meetings, depending on their cases.
• License suspension. The majority of states will suspend a driver's license if they fail a breathalyzer test. The suspension time vary from state to state, and it can be as low as one week to as much as one year in Georgia. Factors like, first-time offense, multiple DUI convictions, or the severity of the offense are considered when a license is suspended.
• Ignition interlock device. In some states, the judges can order for an ignition interlock device to be installed in the cars of multiple offenders. This device works like a breathalyzer that doesn't allow the car engine to start if the driver's BAC is above a certain level.
• Expensive premiums. Car insurance rates will double, or even triple. And that's in the best case. The insurance provider can drop coverage, or it will simply not renew your policy. DUI convicts are considered a high-risk driver for the insurance companies and at least three years.
For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visithttps://compare-autoinsurance.org/
Compare-autoinsurance.orgis an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
"DUI convicts can expect harsh penalties, including fines, community service or even jail time", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.
Contact:cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz
SOURCE:Internet Marketing Company
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549444/What-Are-The-Typical-Penalties-For-DUIDWI |
Herman Miller (MLHR) to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in Store?
Herman Miller, Inc.(MLHR) is slated to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2019 results on Jun 26, after the bell.
The company has an impressive earnings surprise history, having surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all of the trailing four quarters with an average positive surprise of 6.8%.
The stock has gained 26% year to date, significantly outperforming the 15% rally of the industry it belongs to.
How Things Are Shaping Up?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues in the to-be-reported quarter stands at $658 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 6.5%. The expected growth is likely to be driven by strength in ELA and consumer businesses.
Growth in the HAY brand, new studios, e-commerce, outlets and contract channels should continue driving the consumer business. ELA is likely to grow in China, India, Mexico and the Middle East.
In third-quarter fiscal 2019, revenues rose 7% year over year to $619 million.
Herman Miller, Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Herman Miller, Inc. revenue-ttm | Herman Miller, Inc. Quote
The consensus estimate for earnings is pegged at 78 cents, indicating year-over-year growth of 18.2%. This growth is expected to be driven by manufacturing production leverage, favorable channel and product mix, and profit optimization benefits.
In the fiscal third quarter, adjusted earnings rose 28% from the year-ago quarter to 64 cents.
What Our Model Says
According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell) stocks are best avoided, especially if they have a negative Earnings ESP. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Herman Miller has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3, a combination that makes surprise prediction difficult.
Stocks to Consider
Here are a few stocks from the broader Zacks Business Services sector that investors may consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat estimates.
FLEETCOR Technologies (FLT), with an Earnings ESP of +0.31% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Franklin Covey Co. (FC), with an Earnings ESP of +8.16% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), with an Earnings ESP of +0.66% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
See their latest picks free >>
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 reportFactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportFleetCor Technologies, Inc. (FLT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportFranklin Covey Company (FC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBooz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (BAH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Think Twice Before Cheating in Online Courses
There are a number of reasons why college students should think twice before cheating in online courses: Namely, they cheapen their degree and, in some cases, they can even get caught. "When students cheat, they aren't cheating us as much as they're cheating themselves out of the education that they're here to get. They're not accomplishing what they're really here to do," says Justin Harding, senior director of instructional design and new media at Arizona State University--Tempe . Educators say punishment can vary based on how egregious the academic dishonesty is, but such behavior can ultimately lead to a suspension or even expulsion from a college. Still, warnings about academic dishonesty sometimes falls on deaf ears. "A lot of people cheat a little," says David Pritchard, a physics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied academic dishonesty in online classes. "There's also a few people who cheat a lot." According to numbers from the International Center for Academic Integrity, 68% of undergraduate students admit to cheating on assignments. But research suggests that online students are no more likely to cheat than their on-campus peers. Research, however, is murky and inconclusive, with some studies suggesting that online students cheat more and others finding the opposite to be true. But thanks to tools that monitor academic dishonesty in online courses, some experts argue that cheating on the web is harder than in a traditional classroom. "The amount of technology that's readily available now can be superior to a faculty member recognizing a student cheating in a face-to-face classroom that has 300 students in it. The likelihood of someone recognizing that is not very strong," says Jason Ruckert, vice chancellor and chief digital learning officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. [ See: Discover the Top 20 Online Bachelor's Degree Programs. ] But online tools like plagiarism checkers, video proctoring, lockdown browsers and IP tracking alone can't stop academic dishonesty. Colleges also rely on curriculum design to keep students from cheating. Story continues "If a student is going to do it, they're going to do it, but we try to make it as difficult as possible," says Vicki Harmon, instructional design and manager of professional development at ASU--Tempe. College faculty members work with online education support staff to develop assignments that aim to be cheat-proof. Ideally, experts say, these assignments break away from multiple choice exams and require students to demonstrate knowledge gained in class. "One of the ideal ways to deter cheating is by utilizing institutionally developed content that focuses on authentic assessment and forces the student to think critically. This type of design is much harder to cheat on, versus a multiple choice exam question where you can attempt to Google the answer," Ruckert says. And it isn't students alone that are trying to game the system. Companies willing to complete student assignments are nearly ubiquitous. A quick web search turns up services for writing papers, completing online exams or even taking entire classes. Experts say the emergence of companies willing to blatantly engage in academic dishonesty for a profit was unexpected in the early years of online education. Now schools monitor the services these companies offer and have strategies to put a stop to the cheating. "I think for many of us in higher education that was somewhat of a surprise to us. But we worked diligently on the issue and started discovering new ways and technologies to utilize on the institution's behalf to ensure that academic dishonesty was kept to a minimum. And I believe that those institutions who are truly using a multitiered approach through course design and technology are doing a great job in preventing academic dishonesty," Ruckert says. But those companies are not immune to being caught, leading to consequences for students. Below are some of the current technologies instructors use to keep students in check. Online Test Proctoring When students take exams in their own home, it can be hard for school officials to verify their identity. As a result, many schools have hired companies that provide online proctoring during exams. Through the use of a webcam on the student's device, employees from the company can watch the test-taker's face and computer screen as he or she takes the exam. Before students start the exam, they have to show their driver's license or another proof of identity, such as a student ID. ProctorU, one such company, works with more than 1,000 institutions, according to its website. Other companies, such as Examity and Proctorio, offer similar services. Additionally, Ruckert notes that the school can monitor video footage to see if a student walks away from the exam, uses another device or has someone else take the test for them. Likewise, he says, some institutions use a custom browser that prevents students from conducting web searches during exams. [ Read: 7 Ways to Reduce the Cost of an Online Degree. ] Plagiarism Detection Software The learning management systems online students use to submit their work increasingly include plagiarism detection software. One of the most well-known tools, Turnitin, scans vast amounts of web content to determine whether a student's work matches existing material. The scan looks for materials available online as well as papers that have already been submitted by other students and scanned into the Turnitin system by faculty members at schools across the nation. Harding says that plagiarism is the most obvious form of academic dishonesty online -- and one of the easiest to catch thanks to technology. Students may also get caught for improperly citing sources, which often is merely a matter of not understanding how to do so properly. The rules around submitting collaborative work may also generate confusion, experts say, which is why faculty members need to clarify expectations. For instructors, that means communicating to students what is acceptable in terms of academic integrity. "What's allowable in one class may be considered cheating in another class, particularly if you're working on a group project or something like that. The frequency or the ability to communicate with other students while taking a test might differ from faculty to faculty. It's very important that the instructor identify and explain what they consider to be cheating in their class," Harmon says. Keystroke Recognition, IP Tracking, Biometric Scanning Sometimes cheating is more sophisticated than plagiarism or looking up answers during an online exam. One particular challenge for schools can be catching impostors -- companies willing to complete classes -- masquerading as students. Vendors have risen to the challenge by offering equally sophisticated tools. Colleges can track keystrokes to identify typing patterns for a particular student, track a computer's IP address and even require biometric identification through iris or fingerprint recognition. "Is one login coming from this part of the world and another login coming from another part of the world? There are aspects like that, that can culminate to raise flags about potential issues," Harding says, explaining how schools use IP tracking to catch academic dishonesty. [ See: 10 Low-Cost Online Colleges for Out-of-State Students. ] Ruckert believes the ability to catch cheating in online courses is only going to improve thanks to forward-thinking vendors and colleges. Due to evolving technology, he believes cheating online will only become more difficult in the future. "With higher education, we're lucky that we have a lot of amazing faculty as well as vendors that are forward-thinking and finding new ways to mitigate all different forms of academic dishonesty. I believe, in the future, we'll see even better academic honesty in online education, where it might stay status quo in face-to-face education," Ruckert says. Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges. More From US News & World Report U.S. News Ranks 2019 Best Online Programs Weigh Earning a Second Bachelor's Degree Online How to Map Out Courses in an Online Degree Program |
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Alphabet, Tesla, Uber Technologies, Intel and Nvidia
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – June 21, 2019 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, Tesla, Inc. TSLA,Uber Technologies, Inc. UBER, Intel Corporation INTC and Nvidia NVDA.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Make Way for Driverless Cars: Top 5 Gainers
Self-driving cars on American roads are almost a reality. By the end of this year, companies that manufactures these driverless cars are expected to launch a self-driving rideshare service.
Though some may not like the idea of a driverless car, many are keyed up about the concept. It’s worth pointing out that almost 40,000 people die each year in the United States, mostly due to automotive accidents. Self-driving cars are expected to bring down the numbers. As a plus, these cars will be able to reduce logistics expenses.
The biggest operating cost of maintaining a car right now is paying the driver. For instance, Uber collected $37 billion in fares last year, out of which $30 billion or 81% went to the drivers. Without a doubt, self-driving cars will slash this to zero. UBS, by the way, chipped in and said that driverless ride-sharing services will be 70% cheaper compared to Uber.
In America, it is estimated that nearly 63% people live in urban areas. And those who possess cars need to pay for loans, insurance, registration, inspection, repair, parking, oil and gas. These hassles can be avoided by simply availing a safer and less expensive self-driving car.
Here, we bring to you the best stocks to play the autonomous vehicle hype.
Alphabet
Google-parent Alphabet Inc. is predominantly known for Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Android and Chrome. The array of web services account for the vast majority of Alphabet’s revenues. In first-quarter 2019, its “other bets” segment that includes Waymo, Alphabet’s drivers’ vehicle subsidiary, played a significant role.
Waymo announced plans to build a 200,000-square-foot facility in Michigan, thereby setting up the world’s first factory for mass production of self-driving cars. Analysts at Morgan Stanley now value Waymo at around $175 billion. Notably, Waymo’s driverless fleet is now covering one million miles per month.
Alphabet has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 19.02%. The company has outperformed the broader Internet - Services industry over the past two-year period (+12.8% vs -14.6%).
Tesla
Tesla, Inc. has delivered more than 300,000 cars in 2017and has gone on to double that count over the last five quarters. The company’s current fleet now represents partial automation, which the company aims to fully convert into self-driving platforms in the near future.
Tesla has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 117.58%. The company has outdone the broader Automotive - Domestic industry over the past decade (+1079.3% vs +211.2%).
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. has gained a lot of popularity by providing taxi services through its app. And it has announced that it is testing driverless cars to add to its fleet. Brian Johnson, an analyst for Barclays, said that such a move will help Uber trim cost of a ride by an extra 34 cents per mile.
Uber has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 2.59%. The company has surpassed the broader Internet - Services industry over the past year (+7.9% vs -17.0%).
Intel
Intel Corporation doesn’t have its own autonomous driving platform. But, the company’s $15.3-billion acquisition of Mobileye helped it build chips for self-driving systems. Intel has agreed to supply EyeQ5 chip in 8 million driverless vehicles for a European automaker.
Intel has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 8.50%. The company has outpaced the broader Semiconductor - General industry over the past two-year period (+36.1% vs +25.7%).
Nvidia
From automakers to research teams to startups, all depend on Nvidia for hardware and software solutions for self-driving vehicles.
The company has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 3.94%. The company has outperformed the broader Semiconductor - General industry so far this year (+14.7% vs +7.8%).
By the way, all the aforesaid self-driving car stocks possess a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Click to get this free reportAlphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportNVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportIntel Corporation (INTC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportUber Technologies Inc. (UBER) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
US home sales climbed 2.5% in May amid lower mortgage rates
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home sales jumped 2.5% in May, as lower mortgage rates appeared to help buyers overcome affordability challenges.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday that existing homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million last month, up from 5.21 million in April.
The recent gains likely came from reduced borrowing costs that made it easier to finance a home. Rates for the 30-year mortgage are averaging 3.84% this week, down sharply from 4.57% a year ago, according to the mortgage buying company Freddie Mac.
"The market no longer faces the climbing mortgage rates or poor stock market performance that helped set the stage for last year's declines — and existing home sales are bouncing back slowly," said Matthew Speakman, an economist at the real estate company Zillow.
Still, the real estate market has yet to shake off last year's slump. Home sales fell 1.1% from a year ago.
The faster pace of sales also boosted prices. The median sales price in May was $277,700, a 4.8% increase from last year.
More homes have come onto the market in the past year, but it's been insufficient to inject a meaningful amount of inventory that would give would-be buyers more choices.
Sales listings have increased 2.7% from a year ago to 1.92 million homes. But the market contains a mere 4.3 months' supply of properties, well below the six months that were once deemed to be a sign of a healthy market.
Over the past year, homes prices between $250,000 and $750,000 experienced the strongest sales growth.
But sales of homes at cheaper price points have been flat or falling, a sign that the lack of entry-level homes has been an obstacle for would-be buyers. |
Does Market Volatility Impact IT Tech Packaging, Inc.'s (NYSEMKT:ITP) Share Price?
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If you're interested in IT Tech Packaging, Inc. (NYSEMKT:ITP), then you might want to consider its beta (a measure of share price volatility) in order to understand how the stock could impact your portfolio. Modern finance theory considers volatility to be a measure of risk, and there are two main types of price volatility. First, we have company specific volatility, which is the price gyrations of an individual stock. Holding at least 8 stocks can reduce this kind of risk across a portfolio. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market.
Some stocks mimic the volatility of the market quite closely, while others demonstrate muted, exagerrated or uncorrelated price movements. 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. Any stock with a beta of greater than one is considered more volatile than the market, while those with a beta below one are either less volatile or poorly correlated with the market.
See our latest analysis for IT Tech Packaging
Zooming in on IT Tech Packaging, we see it has a five year beta of 0.82. This is below 1, so historically its share price has been rather independent from the market. If history is a good guide, owning the stock should help ensure that your portfolio is not overly sensitive to market volatility. Share price volatility is well worth considering, but most long term investors consider the history of revenue and earnings growth to be more important. Take a look at how IT Tech Packaging fares in that regard, below.
IT Tech Packaging is a rather small company. It has a market capitalisation of US$18m, which means it is probably under the radar of most investors. It is not unusual for very small companies to have a low beta value, especially if only low volumes of shares are traded. Even when they are traded more actively, the share price is often more susceptible to company specific developments than overall market volatility.
Since IT Tech Packaging 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 ITP is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as IT Tech Packaging’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ITP’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor ITP’s outlook.
2. Past Track Record: Has ITP 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 ITP's historicalsfor more clarity.
3. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how ITP measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with thisfree list of prospective options.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Dog waits for dead owner to return in viral photo
While it may be one of the saddest images you've seen on social media, the results are a happy one. NorthStar Pet Rescue in Boonton, N.J, working with Eleventh Hour Rescue in Randolph, N.J, shared a heartbreaking photo of a dog , Moose, sitting beside his owner's empty hospital bed. His owner had recently passed away, and it appears the 3-year-old Lab mix was waiting for him to come home. The photo, posted initially on Monday, has since been shared over two thousand times. "Moose sat patiently next to his dad's hospital bed, waiting for him to return, not knowing that 'Dad' had passed away," NorthStar shared on Facebook. "Moose has now been returned to our friends at Eleventh Hour Rescue and he's taking the loss of his dad pretty hard. Please help Moose find a new home and a family for him to love." The post goes on to list Moose's wonderful qualities, such that he loves kids, gets along with dogs, and is housebroken. But most importantly, he absolutely loves people."Boy, does he love [people]! So much so that Moose would do best in a home where he wasn't left home alone all day long, he misses his people too much," the post continued. "Let's mend this broken heart, together." Just two days later, the post was updated. "Thanks to the power of social media, Moose has received several applications & we are hopeful he will find a forever home soon!" the update read. "Thank you for caring & sharing everyone!" Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: New York City subway riders belt out hit Backstreet Boys song in impromptu singalong Gay couple receives letter saying they gave young neighbor the 'courage' to come out: 'Visibility is so important' 10-year-old girl becomes youngest person ever to climb Yosemite's El Capitan Follow us on Instagram , Facebook , and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. View comments |
At US$46.88, Is It Time To Put Kohl's Corporation (NYSE:KSS) On Your Watch List?
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Kohl's Corporation (NYSE:KSS), which is in the multiline retail business, and is based in United States, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the NYSE over the last few months, increasing to $75.48 at one point, and dropping to the lows of $46.88. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Kohl's's current trading price of $46.88 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at Kohl's’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.
See our latest analysis for Kohl's
The stock seems fairly valued at the moment according to my relative valuation model. In this instance, I’ve used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stock’s cash flows. I find that Kohl's’s ratio of 9.7x is trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 10.15x, which means if you buy Kohl's today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe Kohl's should be trading in this range, then there isn’t much room for the share price grow beyond where it’s currently trading. Although, there may be an opportunity to buy in the future. This is because Kohl's’s beta (a measure of share price volatility) is high, meaning its price movements will be exaggerated relative to the rest of the market. If the market is bearish, the company’s shares will likely fall by more than the rest of the market, providing a prime buying opportunity.
Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. Though in the case of Kohl's, it is expected to deliver a relatively unexciting earnings growth of 3.2%, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. Growth doesn’t appear to be a main reason for a buy decision for Kohl's, at least in the near term.
Are you a shareholder?KSS’s future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at KSS? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the true value?
Are you a potential investor?If you’ve been keeping tabs on KSS, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive growth outlook may mean it’s worth diving deeper into other factors in order to take advantage of the next price drop.
Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on Kohl's. You can find everything you need to know about Kohl's inthe latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Kohl's, you can use our free platform to see my list of over50 other stocks with a high growth potential.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Samsung reportedly seeking compensation because Apple isn’t selling enough iPhones
While Samsung keeps comparing its flagship phones to the latest iPhones that Apple makes in the hopes of convincing customers that Galaxy phones are a better option, Samsung is also a huge fan of the iPhone. That’s because Samsung is a supplier of iPhone parts, and these Apple deals can be very lucrative. The best example concerns the iPhone’s OLED screen, which is very expensive. Samsung Display happens to be the supplier of most iPhone OLED panels, as Samsung makes the best OLED screens for smartphones. But it turns out that Samsung isn’t happy with iPhone sales, and wants Apple to pay a hefty penalty for all the iPhone screens that it failed to purchase as a result of the slower than expected iPhone sales. Related Stories: You can download the first iOS 13 public beta on iPhone and iPad right now Apple was right again: Here's why a Galaxy Note 10 without a microSD slot isn't a big deal 16-inch MacBook Pro tipped to launch in September alongside Retina MacBook Air refresh A report from ETNews says that Samsung Display seeks compensation amounting to hundreds of billions of won, which converts to hundreds of millions of dollars. Apple had reportedly agreed to acquire a certain quality of panels from Samsung Display but then failed to meet these numbers. Samsung Display and Apple have been negotiating the matter but have yet to agree on terms. Samsung invested in an A3 display facility that would cater only to Apple, a 6th-generation flexible OLED plant that can produce about 100 million OLED iPhone screens each year. But it’s unclear what the minimum supply Apple agreed to buy might’ve been. Production at the A3 plant fell to under 50% of capacity as demand for iPhone sales remained sluggish, the report notes. Sales for the iPhone XS generation that followed 2017’s iPhone X wasn’t spectacular either, and Apple was often rumored to have cut OLED panel orders as a result. Samsung Display’s operating profit dropped to 2.62 trillion won last year, about half of the 5.7 trillion the company reported in 2017, a figure that perfectly reflects the smartphone sales slump. Galaxy sales have been slower than expected as well, and these devices also pack OLED screens from Samsung Display. Story continues Meeting quotas isn’t the only problem between the two parties, ETNews says. Apparently, Samsung Display has experienced some manufacturing issues with some of the OLED panels it supplied to Apple, and it may have been charged a “small penalty.” ETNews also notes that failing to meet quotas might be a problem for Apple’s deals with other panel suppliers, although screen makers rarely seek reimbursements. Instead, Apple may ink additional display deals with those manufacturers that cover other products. Interestingly, the report notes that Apple has offered such options to Samsung Display for OLED panels that would fit tablets and notebooks. So far, but none of the existing iPads or MacBooks feature OLED screens. Earlier rumors have said that Apple is considering OLED panels for other devices , MacBooks included. BGR Top Deals: Meet the $80 smartwatch with 30-day battery life that’s converting Apple Watch owners left and right There’s a power outlet wall plate with a built-in LED nightlight, and it’s brilliant Trending Right Now: Forget the iPhone 11 and Pixel 4, the smartphone display we want is coming next week The Nintendo Switch Mini leak might actually be real We know exactly how much new footage we’ll see in Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’ rerelease See the original version of this article on BGR.com |
Did You Manage To Avoid Laurentian Bank of Canada's (TSE:LB) 12% Share Price Drop?
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While not a mind-blowing move, it is good to see that theLaurentian Bank of Canada(TSE:LB) share price has gained 11% in the last three months. But that cannot eclipse the less-than-impressive returns over the last three years. In fact, the share price is down 12% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return.
See our latest analysis for Laurentian Bank of Canada
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.
During the unfortunate three years of share price decline, Laurentian Bank of Canada actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 5.8% per year. This is quite a puzzle, and suggests there might be something temporarily buoying the share price. Alternatively, growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past. It's strange to see such muted share price performance despite sustained growth. Perhaps a clue lies in other metrics. Therefore, we should look at some other metrics to try to understand why the market is disappointed.
Given the healthiness of the dividend payments, we doubt that they've concerned the market. We like that Laurentian Bank of Canada has actually grown its revenue over the last three years. But it's not clear to us why the share price is down. It might be worth diving deeper into the fundamentals, lest an opportunity goes begging.
Depicted in the graphic below, you'll see revenue and earnings over time. If you want more detail, you can click on the chart itself.
We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. You can see what analysts are predicting for Laurentian Bank of Canada in thisinteractivegraph of future profit estimates.
When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference betweentotal shareholder return(TSR) andshare price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Laurentian Bank of Canada's TSR for the last 3 years was 2.8%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!
It's nice to see that Laurentian Bank of Canada shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 5.8% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 2.8% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. It is all well and good that insiders have been buying shares, but we suggest youcheck here to see what price insiders were buying at.
Laurentian Bank of Canada is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at thisfreelist of growing companies with insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on CA exchanges.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Trump Warns Iran for Drone Attack: Oil Stocks in Spotlight
After a US military drone was shot down by Iran, President Donald Trump tweeted “Iran made a very big mistake!” To retaliate, Washington even reportedly made an approval for military strikes on the Western Asian country. However, according to The New York Times, the United States later decided to refrain from launching any such attack.
Overall, the rising tension between the two countries has increased possibilities of disruption in crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, situated between Iran and Oman. Notably, the Strait is touted as the most important global passage for transporting crude.
Oil Price Moves North
The West Texas Intermediate oil price surged 5.1% or by $2.89 to $56.65 per barrel at yesterday’s close. Per the Dow Jones market data, the commodity’s gains in percentage and dollar-terms are the largest on any single day since Dec 26, 2018.
Stifling Crude Supply Line
The prime factor that is pushing oil price higher is the escalating tension between the United States and Iran. The Global Hawk surveillance drone, manufactured by the United States, was shot down by the Revolutionary Guard of Iran. Tehran, the capital city, alleged that close to the Strait of Hormuz, the drone had breached the airspace of Iran. However, Washington denied this accusation and added that the drone was intercepted over the international airspace. This latest drone attack follows the onslaught on two oil tankers that occurred on Jun 13 in the Gulf of Oman for which, the United States blamed Tehran.
The intensifying friction between the two countries could disrupt the shipment of crude through the Strait of Hormuz, responsible for the passage of 20% of the total crude oil being consumed in the world, per media report. Through the strait, majority of the crude volumes of countries like Kuwait, UAE, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are being exported. Iran has reportedly warned that if its economy is hit due to America’s sanction on its crude export, it will then attempt to thwart the passage of oil tankers through the strait. This could further constrain the global oil supply. The news in fact has already bumped up the oil price.
Hopes Harboured on Improving Crude Demand
The other key factor driving the crude is a prospective positive picture of surging oil demand. With news of a probable resumption of talks between the United States and China, there is strong optimism in the air that the ongoing trade war — responsible for denting global economic growth — could be resolved.
Moreover, with the recent signal from the U.S. Federal Reserve for a possible rate cut in its next meetings, could further strengthen global economic upturn, thereby boosting the commodity’s global demand.
Oil Stocks in View
Since the fate of crude exploration and production companies is positively correlated with oil price, the recent rally in the commodity’s price has therefore driven the stock prices of crude energy majors. The notable players are BP plc BP, Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A, Chevron Corporation CVX and Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM. The stocks inched up 1.8%, 1.8%, 1.1% and 1.7%, respectively, on a single trading day post the strained terms between Iran and America worsened following Trump’s stern tweet before the market opened on Jun 20. More momentum lies ahead for the stocks as global crude supply is tightening and crude demand might shore up. All the energy giants carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), except Chevron holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The oilfield service players have also witnessed a spike in their stock price since they help the explorers in effectively setting up crude wells. Schlumberger Limited SLB and Halliburton Company HAL, the top two oilfield service players in the world, saw their stock prices gain 4.8% and 4.9%, respectively.
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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 reportHalliburton Company (HAL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSchlumberger Limited (SLB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportExxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportRoyal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) : Free Stock Analysis ReportChevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBP p.l.c. (BP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
The economy is booming. But are Americans' finances healthier because of it?
This is the first story in a series about Americans' financial health based on a survey provided by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to financial education and empowerment.
If you had to grade the U.S.economy today, it would probably get straight As.
The country is a month short of the longest economic expansion ever. Unemployment is at 50-year lows. Stocks notched the longest bull market last year and are again nearing fresh highs. And U.S. home values hit a record high in the first quarter.
But a survey of Americans finds their individual financial security is less clear than those collective high points suggest.
In many areas, fortunes have greatly improved compared with years past. But Americans remain stressed about money, and only a minority are satisfied with their financial position, according tothe 2018 Financial Capability Study from FINRA Investor Education Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to financial education and empowerment.
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USA TODAY was given an exclusive look at the survey on financial capability, which considers people's ability to make ends meet, plan ahead, manage financial products and understand financial concepts. The results will be released later Thursday.
“I give our nation’s financial capability a solid C, leaning toward a C-minus,” says Gerri Walsh, president of the FINRA Foundation. “While some Americans feel better about their finances now compared with 10 years ago, too many face obstacles that will likely keep us as a nation from acing financial capability any time soon.”
Conducted every three years since its 2009 inception, the study surveyed more than 27,000 respondents nationwide online, measuring key indicators of financial capability.
The survey had some upbeat news. Only 1 in 5 Americans experienced an income drop in the last year, and half can comfortably meet their monthly obligations, according to the FINRA Foundation survey.
Family matters:How to make your home safe for baby
Catherine Wrona of Cheektowaga, New York, is one of them. She’s a long way from where she was 10 years ago when the Great Recession officially ended and she had just completed a debt management program after a divorce that left her swamped in credit card debt.
“I don’t make a lot of money,” says Wrona, a research study coordinator. “But I can pay my bills every month and on time.”
Wrona, 57, also has a little bit saved for unexpected expenses like a car problem or other small emergency. “I would have the money to deal with it,” says Wrona, reflecting a larger trend.
Asked if they could come up with $2,000 in emergency savings in a month, 43% of Americans were certain they could, while another 22% said they probably could – an improvement since 2012.
The survey, though, revealed a host of concerns about Americans’ finances.
Retirement savings:Only 58% of Americans have a retirement account, a figure that hasn’t hardly moved in 10 years, according to the survey's history. And half worry they may run out of money while retired.
"That's a big concern of mine. I come from a family of long-lived women," says Mary Joseph, 72, a retiree living in Pike County, Pennsylvania. "Prices are going up, but my pension and Social Security don't go up as much."
The share of Americans either taking a loan or hardship withdrawal from their retirement accounts remains small but has also grown since 2009 when the recession ended in June of that year.
Health care costs:While most Americans have health insurance – 87%, according to the survey – medical costs remain a strain. Nearly three out of 10 avoided a medical service because of cost last year, including a quarter of those with health insurance. Just under 1 in 4 have past-due medical bills.
Student debt:Nearly half with student loans wished they’d gone to a cheaper college. About half didn’t fully understand how much they would owe, and half worry they won’t be able to pay off their student loans ever, the survey found.
“People coming out of college had the expectation of making more money than they could and are now forced to make some difficult decisions,” says Dawn Hudson, a credit counselor with GreenPath Financial Wellness in Michigan, who has advised a recent influx of younger people struggling with education debt.
Savings and debt: Even though Americans can make ends meet, the percentage spending less than their income has stayed nearly unchanged over the decade. Almost half haven’t set aside money to cover expenses for three months. And 37% say they have too much debt, the FINRA Foundation found.
All this leaves Americans feeling stressed about money despite the booming economy. Half say their personal finances make them anxious, and only 31% are very satisfied with their money situation. Just under a third earned income outside their main job.
“People are still struggling even though wages have increased and unemployment is down,” Hudson says. “The cost of goods and services have gone up, but people’s spending power hasn’t kept up.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:The economy is booming. But are Americans' finances healthier because of it? |
Read This Before You Buy Methode Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:MEI) Because Of Its P/E Ratio
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The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). To keep it practical, we'll show how Methode Electronics, Inc.'s (NYSE:MEI) P/E ratio could help you assess the value on offer.Methode Electronics has a price to earnings ratio of 9.53, based on the last twelve months. That is equivalent to an earnings yield of about 10%.
See our latest analysis for Methode Electronics
Theformula for price to earningsis:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Methode Electronics:
P/E of 9.53 = $26.99 ÷ $2.83 (Based on the trailing twelve months to January 2019.)
The higher the P/E ratio, the higher the price tag of a business, relative to its trailing earnings. That isn't a good or a bad thing on its own, but a high P/E means that buyers have a higher opinion of the business's prospects, relative to stocks with a lower P/E.
P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. When earnings grow, the 'E' increases, over time. And in that case, the P/E ratio itself will drop rather quickly. So while a stock may look expensive based on past earnings, it could be cheap based on future earnings.
Methode Electronics's 139% EPS improvement over the last year was like bamboo growth after rain; rapid and impressive. Having said that, the average EPS growth over the last three years wasn't so good, coming in at 7.3%.
The P/E ratio essentially measures market expectations of a company. If you look at the image below, you can see Methode Electronics has a lower P/E than the average (18.3) in the electronic industry classification.
Methode Electronics's P/E tells us that market participants think it will not fare as well as its peers in the same industry. Since the market seems unimpressed with Methode Electronics, it's quite possible it could surprise on the upside. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitordirector buying and selling.
One drawback of using a P/E ratio is that it considers market capitalization, but not the balance sheet. That means it doesn't take debt or cash into account. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth.
Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof).
Methode Electronics has net debt worth 23% of its market capitalization. It would probably deserve a higher P/E ratio if it was net cash, since it would have more options for growth.
Methode Electronics has a P/E of 9.5. That's below the average in the US market, which is 18. The company hasn't stretched its balance sheet, and earnings growth was good last year. If it continues to grow, then the current low P/E may prove to be unjustified. Because analysts are predicting more growth in the future, one might have expected to see a higher P/E ratio.You can taker closer look at the fundamentals, here.
Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. So thisfreereport on the analyst consensus forecastscould help you make amaster moveon this stock.
Of courseyou might be able to find a better stock than Methode Electronics. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Top Ranked Income Stocks to Buy for June 21st
Here are four stocks with buy rank and strong income characteristics for investors to consider today, June 21st: AbbVie Inc. (ABBV): This manufacturer and developer of pharmaceutical productshas witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 1.5% over the last 60 days. AbbVie Inc. Price and Consensus AbbVie Inc. Price and Consensus AbbVie Inc. price-consensus-chart | AbbVie Inc. Quote This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has a dividend yield of 5.46%, compared with the industry average of 3.04%. Its five-year average dividend yield is 3.57%. AbbVie Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM) AbbVie Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM) AbbVie Inc. dividend-yield-ttm | AbbVie Inc. Quote Bridge Bancorp, Inc. (BDGE): This bank holding company for the BNB Bank has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 2.2% over the last 60 days. Bridge Bancorp, Inc. Price and Consensus Bridge Bancorp, Inc. Price and Consensus Bridge Bancorp, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Bridge Bancorp, Inc. Quote This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has a dividend yield of 3.22%, compared with the industry average of 1.89%. Its five-year average dividend yield is 3.11%. Bridge Bancorp, Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM) Bridge Bancorp, Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM) Bridge Bancorp, Inc. dividend-yield-ttm | Bridge Bancorp, Inc. Quote Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (ABR): This real estate investment trust (REIT) has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 5.1% over the last 60 days. Arbor Realty Trust Price and Consensus Arbor Realty Trust Price and Consensus Arbor Realty Trust price-consensus-chart | Arbor Realty Trust Quote This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company has a dividend yield of 9.01%, compared with the industry average of 4.29%. Its five-year average dividend yield is 8.54%. Arbor Realty Trust Dividend Yield (TTM) Arbor Realty Trust Dividend Yield (TTM) Arbor Realty Trust dividend-yield-ttm | Arbor Realty Trust Quote CNA Financial Corporation (CNA): This provider of commercial property and casualty insurance products has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 3% over the last 60 days. CNA Financial Corporation Price and Consensus CNA Financial Corporation Price and Consensus CNA Financial Corporation price-consensus-chart | CNA Financial Corporation Quote Story continues This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has a dividend yield of 2.94%, compared with the industry average of 1.33%. Its five-year average dividend yield is 2.65%. CNA Financial Corporation Dividend Yield (TTM) CNA Financial Corporation Dividend Yield (TTM) CNA Financial Corporation dividend-yield-ttm | CNA Financial Corporation Quote See the full list of top ranked stocks here . Find more top income stocks with some of our great premium screens . Today's Best Stocks from Zacks Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%. This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year. See their latest picks free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CNA Financial Corporation (CNA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bridge Bancorp, Inc. (BDGE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) : Free Stock Analysis Report AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research |
U.S. bars China supercomputer firms, institute from buying American parts
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it was adding several Chinese companies and a government-owned institute involved in supercomputing with military applications to its national security "entity list" that bars them from buying U.S. parts and components without government approval.
The export restriction announcement adding the firms to what is effectively a trade blacklist is the latest effort by the Trump administration to restrict the ability of Chinese firms to gain access to U.S. technology amid an ongoing trade war.
The department said it was adding Sugon, the Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology, Higon, Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit and Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology - along with numerous aliases of the five entities - to the list over concerns about military applications of the supercomputers they are developing.
Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology is owned by the 56th Research Institute of the General Staff of China's People's Liberation Army, the Commerce Department said, adding "its mission is to support China's military modernization."
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment.
China's state broadcaster, China Radio International, said in an editorial on Saturday that the move was one of a series of recent actions by the United States that violated the consensus reached by President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Argentina last December.
"No matter whether it is aimed at suppressing Chinese technology or its long-term economic development, or put pressure on China in the trade negotiations, the United States will not achieve its aims," it said.
In 2015, the Commerce Department added China's National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) to the list "because of its use of U.S.-origin multicores, boards, and (co)processors to power supercomputers believed to support nuclear explosive simulation and military simulation activities."
The Commerce Department said on Friday that since 2015 NUDT has procured items under the name Hunan Guofang Kei University using four separate, additional addresses not already on the entity list. The department said on Friday it is now adding Hunan Guofang and the four addresses to the list.
The companies "pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States," the Commerce Department said.
In May, the Trump administration added China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to the entity list and 68 affiliates in more than two dozen countries. U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the United States could resolve complaints about Huawei as part of a trade deal.
The world's two largest economies have ratcheted up tariffs in a battle over what U.S. officials call China's unfair trade practices.
The United States, China, the European Union and Japan have all announced plans to build exaflop-capable supercomputers.
In March, a U.S. government-led group said it was working with chipmaker Intel Corp and computermaker Cray Inc to develop and build the country's fastest computer by 2021 for conducting nuclear weapons and other research.
The Department of Energy and the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois are working on a supercomputer dubbed "Aurora with Intel," the world's biggest supplier of data center chips, and Cray, which specializes in the ultra-fast machines.
The $500 million contract for the project calls on the companies to deliver a computer with so-called exaflop performance - that is, being able to perform 1 quintillion - or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 - calculations per second.
Earlier this week, Nvidia Corp, a major chip supplier to supercomputer makers, said it was working with Softbank Holdings Group owned chip firm Arm Holdings to make its chips work with Arm's for supercomputers.
Ian Buck, vice president of Nvidia's accelerated computing unit, said that the effort was aimed at European and Japanese customers rather than Chinese groups, which are increasingly turning to domestic chips.
"In terms of China, I think they've clearly stated that they have a domestic accelerator and processor strategy that they will pursue, and that’s clearly what they are doing," Buck said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Winni Zhou in Shanghai; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Bill Rigby and G Crosse) |
The number of American taxi drivers has tripled in a decade
Image of an iconic New York yellow cab. Uber and Lyft radically changed the landscape for the taxi industry, and in cities like New York contributed to the collapse of a bubble that left many drivers in financial ruin. But as an American occupation, the taxi driver is enjoying a renaissance. Over the past 10 years, the share of US adults who say their primary job is a taxi driver or chauffeur—a category that includes driving for ride-hail services like Uber and Lyft—has nearly tripled. Almost 0.3% of all Americans over 18 said they were taxi drivers in 2019, according to data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey on employment conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Growth in the profession accelerated in 2014, the year Uber expanded from 66 to 266 cities around the world and transformed from a niche startup into a household name . As of last year, the trend showed no sign of slowing down. Meet all the Democratic candidates in the crowded 2020 race The CPS data likely underestimates the true number of Americans who work as part- or full-time taxi drivers and chauffeurs. That’s because the CPS counts US adults who give this occupation as their primary job, while many people who drive for a service like Uber do it as a secondary gig. For context, a 2016 study by Uber and labor economist Alan Krueger found that more than half of drivers worked full time at another job, and 14% worked part time at another job. Lots of those people aren’t being captured by the CPS estimate. The trends are still instructive, though. For instance, the CPS data shows that growth in taxi driving has been particularly robust in high- and medium-density cities (as defined by this list of weighted density for American metro areas). About 0.8% of Americans in high density cities were taxi drivers as of April 2019, more than double the national rate. Indians can worry less as the US denies capping H-1B visa quota These density patterns make sense. Much of the growth in the taxi driver profession is likely attributable to ride-hailing, which tends to work best in dense urban areas where there are lots of potential riders within relatively short distances of one another. Uber says it books 24% of its rides revenue in five cities , including Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in the US (the other two are London and São Paulo). One big question about ride-hail companies is whether they will ever find much success in less dense parts of the country, like suburbs and rural areas. Story continues We broke out three cities from the CPS data: New York City (high density), Miami, Florida (medium), and Dallas, Texas (low). The fastest growth among these three cities is in Miami, where the county capped the number of licensed taxicabs at 2,200 as recently as 2016 . Uber took advantage of that pent-up demand, signing up more than 10,000 drivers in Miami-Dade county in just two years. Miami-Dade legalized ride hailing in May 2016. Two years later, a US appeals court ruled against Miami-Dade taxi owners fighting to defend their market position, saying they had “ no right to block competition ” from ride-hailing firms. Similar to Miami, New York City caps the number of taxi licenses, currently at 13,587, and has experienced tremendous growth in professional drivers since Uber arrived and broke up the monopoly. More than 80,000 drivers now drive for the four largest non-taxi ride providers in the city—Uber, Lyft, Gett/Juno, and Via—nearly six times the number of licensed yellow cabs. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief , our free daily newsletter with the world’s most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: Tulsi Gabbard was a surprise breakout in first Democratic debate Young female doctors are at high risk for burnout and “self-care” is not the answer |
Naspers Delays Dutch Listing After Error Informing Investors
(Bloomberg) -- Naspers Ltd. delayed a planned listing of its international internet assets in Amsterdam until September after an error sending details to shareholders meant a vote on the deal can’t go ahead as planned next week.
The announcement just minutes before the South African technology company released full-year earnings weighed on the shares, which fell as much as 3.1% in Johannesburg, the biggest drop in a month. The new company, which Naspers has named Prosus NV, the Latin word for forwards, was supposed to list in mid-July.
The mistake was made by an external service provider and “was outside our control but still unfortunate,” Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk said on a conference call with reporters. “We continue to be very excited by the opportunities for the group for our proposed listing.”
The shares pared their decline and traded 0.8% lower at 3,450.23 rand as of 4:03 p.m. in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 1.5 trillion rand ($105 billion).
Naspers is planning to spin off assets including a $134 billion stake in Chinese games-maker Tencent Holdings Ltd. on the Euronext exchange in part to attract new investors and unlock value from the rest of the business, which has investments in internet ventures around the world. The classifieds unit edged into full-year profit in the 12 months though March, although the e-commerce division remains unprofitable. Naspers spun off its African pay-TV division, MultiChoice Group Ltd., in February.
Prosus may be valued at a narrower discount to Tencent than its parent company following the listing, Naspers Chief Financial Officer Basil Sgourdos said on the call. Naspers will retain a 75% stake in the new business.
The listing is also intended to reduce Naspers’s dominance of Johannesburg’s stock exchange, which has forced some investors to sell the stock. South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund, the company’s largest shareholder, is considering reducing its stake, Bloomberg News reported last week.
Read More: Biggest Naspers Investor Mulls Cutting $16.5 Billion Stake
The administrative error that caused the delay concerned the incorrect labeling of circulars sent to shareholders, Naspers said. In some cases the name on the envelope did not match the address, which “could in some cases lead to confusion,” the company said. A vote on the listing will now take place on Aug. 23, the same day as the annual general meeting.
Naspers said core headline earnings from continuing operations were $3 billion, up 26% on the previous year. That includes the performance of Tencent. The company also has interests in online food delivery in India and Brazil, and a stake in Russian social media giant Mail.ru Group Ltd.
(Updates with CEO comments in third paragraph.)
To contact the reporters on this story: Loni Prinsloo in Johannesburg at lprinsloo3@bloomberg.net;Natalia Drozdiak in Brussels at ndrozdiak1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, John Bowker, Thomas Pfeiffer
For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P. |
Study says cell phones are causing people to grow 'horns' — but is it true?
A 2018 study that was recently brought to light in articles bythe BBC,Washington Post,Fortuneand more claims that cell phones are causing young people to grow "horns."
The research, conducted by two chiropractors in Queensland, Australia and published in thejournal of Scientific Reports, says that external occipital protuberance (also called enlarged EOP and known as horn-like bone spurs) are growing in humans due to "sustained aberrant postures associated with the emergence and extensive use of hand-held contemporary technologies, such as smartphones and tablets."
To put it simply, the "horns" are said to be growing at the bottom of the skull, where the head bends to look down at a cell phone—human bodies are physically adapting to use modern technology.
But, are the claims linking cell phone use to changes in bone structure really true? If you're currently feeling around the back of your head for horns or examining your teenager, you might not have much cause for concern.
The New York Timesspoke to medical experts in physical therapy and neurosurgery and they had some major doubts in regards to the technology correlation.
Dr. David J. Langer, the chairman of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said that the most common conditions that arise in people who spend a lot of time looking down are definitely not horns, but disc problems.
“You’re more likely to get degenerative disc disease or misalignment in your neck than a bone spur growing out of your skull,” Dr. Langer said. “I haven’t seen any of these, and I do a lot of X-rays. I hate being a naysayer off the bat, but it seems a little bit far-fetched."
Forbesinterviewed bioarchaeologists who study human development, and although they've seen skeletal changes come from repetitive, unnatural movement, they had problems with the study's correlation of bone spurs to specifically cell phone use.
"I've seen plenty of enlarged EOPs in the early Medieval skulls I've studied — male ones, mostly," Nivien Speith of the University of Derby said. "It could be genetic, or even just a simple bony outgrowth that has unknown etiology. Often, they can occur through trauma to the area as well."
The biggest problems with the study many doctors and researchers have is that it lacks a control group and only uses subjects who are having neck trouble, uses X-rays taken in the past, uses subjects who are mostly adults and not adolescents, and that they don't prove the cause and effect.
Bone growth or degeneration can be caused by a number of things, but cell phones? We'll need more research to prove that. But either way, it's best to try to keep your head up. |
Georgia's first LGBT+ pride march called off amid political turmoil
By Umberto Bacchi TBILISI, June 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Organisers of Georgia's first LGBT+ pride march called off the event at the eleventh hour on Friday after a wave of political unrest in Tbilisi that left hundreds of people injured. LGBT+ Georgians had been planning to go ahead with a rally in the capital despite threats from extreme right-wing groups and fierce opposition from the influential Orthodox Church. They postponed the march after police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to stop crowds angered by the visit of a Russian lawmaker from storming the parliament building. "There won't be a march tomorrow," Giorgi Tabagari, one of the event promoters, announced on Friday, with tensions still running high in the capital of the former Soviet republic. Organisers said the rally would be held at a later date that was yet to be confirmed. "It was a hard decision for us all to make because we put so much energy, resources and passion to it," Tbilisi Pride member Tamaz Sozashvili told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "But on the other hand, we acknowledge the ongoing political situation in the country. We think this is not the right time to do it." More than 200 protesters and police were injured in Thursday's clashes, some of them seriously, as demonstrators pushed against lines of riot police, threw bottles and stones and grabbed riot shields, drawing a tough response. The Pride march was intended as the finale of a five-day programme of events to raise awareness about LGBT+ issues, including a play and a conference - both of which went ahead without incident. The Caucasian nation has witnessed a cultural clash between liberal forces and religious conservatives over the past decade as it has modernised and introduced radical reforms. The influential Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate had urged the government to ban the rally, describing it as an unacceptable provocation aimed at promoting "the sin of Sodom", while far-right groups threatened to form vigilante units to stop it. Story continues The government had earlier warned against the march going ahead, saying participants' safety could not be guaranteed. Organisers said they received death threats and were forced to evacuate their office on Wednesday, after it was surrounded by protesters. The controversy dominated local media coverage earlier in the week, but was overshadowed by political turmoil on Thursday, when the visit of a Russian delegation led by parliamentarian Sergei Gavrilov drew large protests. Sozashvili said Pride organisers had feared the LGBT+ rally could be manipulated for political reasons as some of its main opponents were anti-Western and pro-Russia advocates, but hoped the preparations had put a public spotlight on LGBT+ issues. "I hope that we changed the minds of quite a lot of people", he said. (Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) |
VeriSign Stock Keeps Looking to the Future
VeriSign(NASDAQ:VRSN) stock is up 43% year to date and almost 50% in the past 12 months while most tech firms are digging themselves out of a hole.
Source: Shutterstock
Aside from cybersecurity, which VRSN actually has a dedicated division in, most tech sectors have been hurt by the U.S.-China trade war and slowing economy.
You see, China is a big market for tech firms to sell into, and they have relied on China for production of their hardware. Given what a chip factory costs to build and the time it takes to build one, waiting and hoping becomes a viable option.
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But this affects demand for finished products as well. The U.S. economy is slowing, China’s is slowing, and Europe’s is already slow.
The enthusiasm for lower rates in the U.S. is an upside-down view of the global economy now. Of course, the Federal Reserve would lower rates if the economy is stalling. That has always been the case.
• The 7 Best Dow Jones Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2019
But now, it seems that this is a bullish sign. What people are celebrating is the fact that the U.S. economy is slowing. I’m not sure when this was a reason for a market rally, but we’re in one.
This is when it’s good to have perspective on where we are and how best to take advantage of these conditions.
And that’s why I’m talking about VeriSign stock now. You see, VRSN has a virtual monopoly in domain name registry services. Whether it’s a .com, .net, or .eu, almost half of the domain names registered are done so through VeriSign.
As a result, this company is directly tied to the growth of the world wide web. And that moat, at this point, is enormous.
What’s more, because internet advertising is on the rise, the growth of websites is at historic highs. There are nearly1.7 billion websites live today. But of these, fewer than 200 million are active.
And that disparity shows you the reason VRSN is doing so well.
Usually, when a company launches a website it not only registers the name but similar names, misspelled names, various suffixes and the like. It then renews those names.
In addition, many businesses register names for products or marketing campaigns. For example, drug companies usually set up websites for their new and existing drugs. And each of those likely have a number of similar names registered to send you to their site as well.
This process of registering names continues apace today, and it will only grow as more business finds its way to the web.
There’s also the fact that many people are registering their own names simply to keep them out of the hands other people who may then use them for purposes that are less than noble.
This trend continues to be reflected in VRSN stock’s growth as well as its consistently strong earnings and revenue figures. Its first quarter was the most recent example. VeriSign beat expectations across the board. The company did trim its revenue projections for the next quarter but it’s still near analysts’ expectations.
My Portfolio Grader gives VRSN stock an A rating.
Louis Navellieris a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of four investing newsletters:Growth Investor,Breakthrough Stocks,Accelerated ProfitsandPlatinum Growth. His most popular service, Growth Investor, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool,PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.
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Schlumberger (SLB) Declines 12% Quarter to Date: Here's Why
Shares ofSchlumberger LimitedSLB have dropped 12.2% quarter to date, underperforming the 3.4% decline of the industry.
Reasons Behind the Decline
Explorer’s Conservative Capital Spending
The average monthly price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined to $49.52 per barrel last December from the record high of $70.98, which was achieved in last July, per the U.S Energy Information Administration. The significant decrease in the price of the commodity convinced explorers and producers in North America to start 2019 with a conservative capital budget. Importantly, U.S. explorers are facing a constant pressure from investors for higher returns instead of production growth, thus forcing upstream energy firms to restrict capital spending through 2019.
Lower investments in oil exploration and production operations dented demand for oilfield services since the oilfield service companies help drillers efficiently drill oil wells.
Falling Rig Count
U.S. drillers have now become more efficient as they are deploying lesser rigs to expand oil and gas volumes. Since Schlumberger assists explorers and producers with drilling services and equipment, the reduction in the count of rigs being employed has hurt this oilfield service giant’s Drilling business unit.
Pipeline Bottleneck Problem
The prevailing pipeline bottleneck problem in the Permian Basin has slackened US oil production growth. Slow growth in output has hit oilfield services players hard and is likely to persist the trend. Schlumberger too is affected on this front.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Schlumberger carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the energy space are Enterprise Products Partners LP EPD, Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP CLMT and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation APC, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Enterprise Products delivered average positive surprise of 17 % in the last four quarters.
Calumet is likely to witness earnings growth of 14.7% through 2019.
Anadarko Petroleum has average beat of 6.6% in the trailing four quarters.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
See their latest picks free >>
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 reportEnterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCalumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. (CLMT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSchlumberger Limited (SLB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAnadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Real Estate Social Network LikeRE.com Announces Barb Perruccio as new Chief Sales and Marketing Officer
LikeRE Forges Stronger Connections Between Real Estate Industry Professionals, Home Shoppers and Online Sellers
DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2019 /LikeRE.com, a real estate social network that is powered by A.I. and Blockchain technology provided by Social Life Network, Inc. (OTCQB:WDLF), announced today the addition of Barb Perruccio as the new Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of LikeRE.
"With the recent launch of our LikeRE mobile application that provides greater access to real estate professionals by home shoppers and sellers, Barb is joining our company at a defining moment in our user growth and the need for her expertise," says LikeRE CEO, Britt Glassburn.
Barb Perruccio has worked in the residential real estate industry for 14 years and joins the executive management team at LikeRE after an amazing career as a Broker/Owner of Great Place Real Estate, Inc. in Colorado and VP of Sales in the advertising and marketing space in New York City, San Francisco and Denver for over 30 years.
"I am excited to bring my sales and marketing experience of the real estate industry to this amazing team of professionals at LikeRE," says Barb Perruccio. "Joining the company is the perfect evolution of my career, as I have spent the past 30 years connecting the right people together in business transactions and the LikeRE.com real estate social network is built to do the very same."
About LikeRE.com, Inc.®
LikeRE.com is a website and mobile app social network that connects real estate agents, home builders, title companies, loan officers, interior designers, home improvement professionals, buyers and sellers together in one real estate centric online community. The LikeRE platform and mobile apps feature photos, videos, podcasts, articles, product and service recommendations, business and professional reviews, new home and resale listings, and user forums for home buyers and sellers.
About Social Life Network, Inc.
Social Life Network, Inc. is an artificial intelligence and blockchain powered social network and e-commerce technology company based in Denver Colorado. The social network platform meets the growing demand for niche social networking in many global industries, including the residential real estate, cannabis, racket sports, soccer, hunting and fishing. These niche industries represent 100's of millions of online users worldwide.
For more information, visithttps://www.SocialNetwork.ai/
Disclaimer
This news release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, with respect to achieving corporate objectives, developing additional project interests, the Company's analysis of opportunities in the acquisition and development of various project interests and certain other matters. These statements are made under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements contained herein.
Contact:Investor RelationsIR@Social-Life-Network.com855-933-3277
SOURCE:Social Life Network, Inc.
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549478/Real-Estate-Social-Network-LikeREcom-Announces-Barb-Perruccio-as-new-Chief-Sales-and-Marketing-Officer |
Facebook’s Crypto Hiring Spree Continues With Search for Finance Lead
Fresh off releasing the white paper for its Libra cryptocurrency, Facebook is looking to hire a finance program manager in blockchain, according to a new job posting.
The jobdescriptiongives few specifics and no mention of its relation to the Libra project.
“This individual will be a key part of the Finance Project Management Organization and will be responsible for planning, leading and executing on global, cross-functional finance projects,” the description says. Facebook did not respond to questions by press time.
Related:G7 Forming Task Force in Response to Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency
Facebook’s career website now has26 blockchain-related job openings, who would join the former staffers of the blockchain startup Chainspace whom Facebookhiredearlier this year.
The finance program manager position requires more than eight years of project management experience and some experience with blockchain tech. Responsibilities include planning, leading and executing projects in collaboration with other teams globally, developing business cases, ensuring sponsorship and getting stakeholders on board with those initiatives’ goals.
The program manager would also develop effective communication with clients and shareholders, determine business roles and resources needed for projects, analyze potential risks and ensure the projects’ compliance with tax laws, the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations.
Facebook made waves this week publishing the details of its plan for a global currency with the support of such companies as Uber, Lyft, PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard. The impact for the crypto industry could be huge, someexperts are predicting, bringing massive public attention to the space.
Related:Examining Facebook’s Claim Its Crypto Is for the Unbanked
However, some crypto professionals are concerned that Libra would give Facebook and its partners enormous control over users’ financial data. Such concerns led Stellar, Tendermint and MobileCoin todeclineto work with Facebook, CoinDesk’s sources said.
Facebook blockchain exec David Marcus image via CoinDesk archives.
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• Rep. Waters: US Can’t Let Facebook’s Crypto ‘Compete With the Dollar’ |
The Yield Growth Corp. Rapidly Expands with CBD-Based Health Products
Houston, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - June 21, 2019) - MarijuanaStox announces publication of an article that discusses The Yield Growth Corporation (CSE: BOSS) (OTC: BOSQF). The company has been aggressively addressing demand for health, wellness, and beauty products infused with premium-cannabis and hemp-based products on an international scale with subsidiary, Urban Juve . Higher Demand for Cannabis and CBD Products There are several key catalysts driving cannabis and CBD growth. More states are approving its use. Corporate America has quickly woken up to the immense opportunity. The global community is racing to keep up with demand. CBD products are hitting the shelves at major retailers. Also, according to the Brightfield Group, worldwide CBD sales are expected to soar from $591 million in 2018 to as high as $22 billion by 2022 - a compound growth rate of 147%. In addition, according to Technavio Research Report, "CBD Oil Market is witnessed to grow USD 1.9 billion, at a CAGR of 31% from 2018 to 2022." All as consumers and retailers clamor for CBD products. Simon Property Group is partnering with Green Growth Brands. CVS will now carry CBD products across the U.S. The Vitamin Shoppe just announced it will sell CBD products. In addition, Abercrombie & Fitch just partnered with Green Growth Brands to sell CBD body care products. The Yield Growth Corporation is One of the Companies Benefiting The Yield Growth Corporation just announced that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) just gave final packaging approval for 3 additional Wright & Well cannabis products to be distributed in Oregon, in the United States. Manufacturing will now begin on all 9 Wright & Well cannabis products in Oregon. The latest 3 approved Wright & Well products include Be Nimble Marijuana Capsules with Blue City Diesel Cannabis Flower and a blend of Ayurvedic herbs; Be Able Marijuana Capsules with Purple Hindu Cush Cannabis Flower and Aloe Vera, Dill and other herbs; and Be Friendly Marijuana Capsules with Cherry Chem Cannabis flower and a blend of Ayurvedic herbs intended to treat symptoms of PMS. Story continues "Wright & Well's goal is to demystify the world of cannabis to allow people to make it part of a healthy lifestyle," says Penny Green, Yield Growth CEO. "We want to compel users to experience the same sense of freedom from feeling great as they do from making the decision to purchase Wright & Well." For more information, visit the company's website at https://yieldgrowth.com About MarijuanaStox MarijuanaStox.com is a leading web destination for all cannabis related companies. Investors can also find current marijuana-related quality financial, medical, legal and social news. MarijuanaStox.com is a media agency in North America dedicated to the cannabis industry, helping companies that operate in the space to attract quality investors, working capital and real publicity. Since 2005, we have had public companies in the US and Canada have rely on us to grow and succeed. Legal Disclaimer Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media, which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com, is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement between Winning Media (partners of MarijuanaStox.com) and The Yield Growth Corp, Winning Media has been paid four thousand dollars for advertising and marketing services for The Yield Growth Corp. We own ZERO shares of The Yield Growth Corp. Please click here for full disclaimer. Contact Information: 2818047972 ty@marijuanastox.com SOURCE: MarijuanaStox.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/45800 |
4 Real Estate Funds for a Stable Portfolio
Per the latest report, U.S. building permits for the month of May surpassed its previous month figures to point toward strength in the housing space. Lately, there has been widespread speculation regarding a slowdown in the space. However, taking a closer look at the current scenario, the housing industry is actually reeling under extreme paucity of skilled labor amid rising prices of materials.
But such factors are only momentary impediments. Furthermore, a hiring boom in construction is another positive sign for the sector. Under such circumstances, investing in real estate mutual funds seems prudent.
Building Permits Remain Robust
Per the latest joint report by U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Jun 18, building permits for the month of May rose to approximately 1.3 million units. This is slightly better than April’s 1,290,000 units.
Privately owned authorizations rose to 1,294,000 in the month. Meanwhile, single-family building authorizations rose to 815,000, higher than 786,000 in the previous month. Moreover, authorizations for buildings having five or more units came in at 442,000 units. Such healthy numbers, the analysts believe, point to robust growth for the housing sector in the days to come.
Investor Dry Powder to Boost U.S. Real Estate
A lot of proptech startups aiming to tap the real estate market have been established lately. Such startups assist real estate companies by improving the transaction process, easing the hassles involved with construction and providing newer methods of financing real estate projects. The crowdfunding legislations in 2012 and 2015 provided the required stimulus for the growth of these startups.
Talking about real estate funding, venture capitalist and private equity investors had poured in about $5.2 billion in real estate startups by the end of 2018. Moreover, angel investors are interested now, more than ever, to tap the space by investing liquid cash in real estate startups. As a matter of fact, approximately $226 billion is expected to be invested in real estate in 2019.
4 Best Fund Picks
Given such circumstances, we have highlighted four real estate mutual funds that are poised to gain from such factors. These funds also carry a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy). Moreover, these funds have encouraging three and five-year returns. Additionally, the minimum initial investment is within $5000.
We expect these funds to outperform their peers in the future. Remember, the goal of the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is to guide investors to identify potential winners and losers. Unlike most of the fund-rating systems, the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is not just focused on past performance, but also on the likely future success of the fund.
The question here is: why should investors consider mutual funds? Reduced transaction costs and diversification of portfolio without several commission charges that are associated with stock purchases are primarily why one should be parking money in mutual funds (read more: Mutual Funds: Advantages, Disadvantages, and How They Make Investors Money).
Prudential Global Real Estate APURAX fund seeks income and capital growth. The fund invests heavily in equity securities of real estate companies as well as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other real estate securities.
This Sector – Real Estate product has a history of positive total returns for over 10 years. Specifically, the fund's returns over the three and five-year benchmarks are 9% and 9.1%, respectively. To see how this fund performed compared to its category, and other #1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
PURAXhas a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 and an annual expense ratio of 0.18%, which is below the category average of 1.23%.
John Hancock II Real Estate Securities 1JIREX fund seeks appreciation of capital and income over the long term. JIREX invests primarily in equity securities of companies engaged in operations related to the real estate sector, which includes REITs. The fund invests in securities including common stocks, preferred stocks and convertible securities. It may invest a maximum of 10% of its assets in securities of companies domiciled outside the U.S. territory.
This Sector – Real Estate product has a history of positive total returns for over 10 years. Specifically, the fund's returns over the three and five-year benchmarks are 6.8% and 8.3%, respectively. To see how this fund performed compared to its category, and other #1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
JIREX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2 and an annual expense ratio of 0.80%, which is below the category average of 1.22%.
Fidelity Real Estate Investment PortfolioFRESX fund aims for long-term capital appreciation and above-average income that is consistent with reasonable investment risk. The non-diversified fund mostly invests in common stocks. FRESX invests the majority of its assets (up to 80%) in securities of companies that are engaged in the real estate industry and other investments related to real estate.
This Sector – Real Estate product has a history of positive total returns for over 10 years. Specifically, the fund's returns over the three and five-year benchmarks are 5.9% and 8.2%, respectively. To see how this fund performed compared to its category, and other #1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
FRESX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2 and an annual expense ratio of 0.76%, which is below the category average of 1.22%.
Davis Real Estate Fund Class ARPFRX aims for total return through a combination of income and growth. The fund’s adviser applies the Davis Investment Discipline to invest the majority of its assets in securities issued by companies operating in the real estate industry. RPFRXmostly invests in common stocks of U.S.-based companies and even in non-U.S. companies.
This Sector – Real Estate product has a history of positive total returns for over 10 years. Specifically, the fund's returns over the three and five-year benchmarks are 7.5% and 8.7%, respectively. To see how this fund performed compared to its category, and other #1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.
RPFRXhas a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 and an annual expense ratio of 0.97%, which is below the category average of 1.22%.
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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 reportGet Your Free (RPFRX): Fund Analysis ReportGet Your Free (FRESX): Fund Analysis ReportGet Your Free (JIREX): Fund Analysis ReportGet Your Free (PURAX): Fund Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
How Much Are Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (NYSE:MLP) Insiders Taking Off The Table?
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We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares inMaui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.(NYSE:MLP).
Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia Universitystudyfound that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'.
View our latest analysis for Maui Land & Pineapple Company
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Principal Accounting Officer & Controller, Paulus Subrata, for US$93k worth of shares, at about US$10.30 per share. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$10.07. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign. Paulus Subrata was the only individual insider to sell over the last year.
You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It's great to see that Maui Land & Pineapple Company insiders own 65% of the company, worth about US$127m. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.
An insider hasn't bought Maui Land & Pineapple Company stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales.I like to dive deeperinto how a company has performed in the past. You can accessthisinteractive graphof past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free.
Of courseMaui Land & Pineapple Company may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of high quality companies.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
UPDATE 2-Brazilian stocks hit new high, markets rally on rate cut hopes
By Jamie McGeever
BRASILIA, June 21 (Reuters) - Brazilian markets rallied on Friday as the increasing likelihood of interest rate cuts at home and abroad, together with rising oil prices and optimism over domestic economic reforms boosted investor sentiment and sent stocks to their highest on record.
Local markets reopened after a national holiday the previous day, giving investors their first opportunity to react to the Brazilian and U.S. central banks' rate decisions and statements on Wednesday.
While both kept official interest rates on hold, the overwhelming market consensus was that the signals pointed to policy being loosened in the coming months, perhaps dramatically.
Investors chose to focus on the path for borrowing costs rather than what is actually pressuring them lower, namely an alarming deterioration in the economic growth outlook, and bet on when the easing cycle will begin.
"It seems obvious to say, but a combination of a dovish Fed and a (Brazilian) central bank showing it is ready to cut rates ... is giving a boost to risk assets," said Cleber Alessie, a trader at brokerage H.Commcor in Sao Paulo.
This lifted the benchmark Bovespa stock market to a new high of 102,022.59 points, with energy and financials leading the charge, rising 3.0% and 2.7%, respectively. In afternoon trading, the Bovespa index was up 1.6% at 101,903 points, bringing the weekly gain up to 4%.
Oil futures rose 1% on Friday, bringing their gains on the week up to 10%, on fears the United States could attack Iran and disrupt flows from the Middle East. Preferred shares in Brazil's state-owned oil giant Petrobras were up 2.80%.
The Brazilian real rose to its strongest against the dollar in three months at 3.8137 per dollar, before giving back some of these gains, while interest rates futures tumbled across the curve.
Implied interest rates on all rate futures contracts from September out to the middle of 2022 are lower than where they are for the next few months. This reflects expectations that the central bank will cut rates later this year and not raise them back to the current 6.50% or higher for at least three years.
Trading in rate futures was busy too. In afternoon trade, 327,345 of the July 2020 contract had changed hands, a new daily record.
Markets are also betting that an adequately robust pension reform package in Brazil will be passed, and soon. This would help shore up the public finances, improve business and investor confidence, and give the central bank cover to lower interest rates.
(Reporting by Jamie McGeever Editing by Alistair Bell and Susan Thomas) |
How Many Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (NYSE:MLP) Shares Have Insiders Sold, In The Last Year?
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It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares inMaui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.(NYSE:MLP).
It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.
We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.'
See our latest analysis for Maui Land & Pineapple Company
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Principal Accounting Officer & Controller, Paulus Subrata, for US$93k worth of shares, at about US$10.30 per share. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$10.07. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take price at a lower price. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern. The only individual insider seller over the last year was Paulus Subrata.
The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
I will like Maui Land & Pineapple Company better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out thisfreelist of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Maui Land & Pineapple Company insiders own 65% of the company, currently worth about US$127m based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
An insider sold Maui Land & Pineapple Company shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And even if we look to the last year, we didn't see any purchases. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if Maui Land & Pineapple Company is growing revenue. This free chart ofhistoric revenue and earnings should make that easy.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss thisfreelist of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
How the Top Five 2020 Democratic Candidates' Tax Plans May Impact Entrepreneurs
With the first 2020 Democratic candidate debates to be broadcast June 26 and June 27, it’s important for entrepreneurs to pay attention to the tax proposals to be discussed -- and how these changes could potentially impact their bottom line.
As everyone knows, 23 Democratic candidates are currently running; but, here, let’s take a closer look at what the top five -- Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg -- are saying about this hot topic, which will be the subject of many debates throughout the 2020 election season.
Related:How Amazon and Entrepreneurs Can Pay Zero Federal Income Tax, and Do So Legally
First, the big picture: TheTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017provided the biggest tax code changes since the Tax Reform Act of 1986 under President Ronald Reagan. This 2017 Republican-led tax plan permanently lowered corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 21 percent and reduced some individual rates until 2025.
The results? A steady GDP of 3 percent, increased investment in research and development, increased investment in real estate, lower taxes for many (including the 20 percent pass-through deduction for many small businesses), increased standard deductions, lower corporate tax revenues, and an increase in the U.S. deficit.
The overall theme of the 2020 Democratic candidates might be summed up to what Biden said: “We've got to start to reward not just wealth. We’ve got to reward work." However, many GOPers will argue that the new tax plan has already created more jobs, increased research and development and helped fuel the economy with tax incentives.
So if you're confused, and many are, let’s take a closer look at what is being proposed by the five Democratic frontrunners:
In a recent interview, Biden shared, “First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts” in the name of “fairness.” The challenge Biden will face is that millions have benefited from the Trump tax plan. The former VP recently tweeted that it was unfair for Amazon and other big companies to pay lower taxes than “firefighters and teachers” do.Amazonthen tweeted back, “We’ve paid $2.6B in corporate taxes since 2016…We have. $200B in investments since 2011 & 300K US jobs” (Source:CNBC). As a way to generate new jobs and revenue, Biden’s central plan calls for a “Green Energy Revolution” with $400 billion invested over 10 years on green energy research and development.
Currently in second place in the polls, Sanders offers a tax proposal that would reduce the threshold that the estate tax applies, from $11 million to $3.5 million. Sanders estimates that reducing the estate tax threshold will raise “$2 trillion” from the country’s “588 billionaires.” Sanders also proposes increasing the capital gains tax. In addition, Sanders advocates for Medicare For All and Free Tuition, which raises more questions about how to cover these costs.
Warren has been the frontrunner in new tax proposals to tax the rich. Warren proposed in February a new “Wealth Tax,” which is a yearly 2 percent tax on households with a net worth of $50 million or more, and a 3 percent tax rate on net worth above $1 trillion (source:Barron’s). This plan is estimated to impact 75,000 households, and economists have projected that it would raise about $2.75 trillion between 2019 and 2028. In addition, Warren recently unveiled a new way to tax corporations with the “Real Corporate Profits Tax” that would apply to corporations reporting over $100 million, where “every dollar would be taxed at 7 percent” (Source:The Intercept).
Related:7 Tax Breaks for Startup Entrepreneurs to Take Advantage of in 2019
Harris has been actively presenting a new LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families Today) Middle Class Act. This act proposes a nearly $3 trillion plan to provide middle and working-class families with a tax credit of up to $6,000 per year for couples making a combined income of $100,000 or less, and a $3,000 tax credit for individuals earning $50,000 or less. This LIFT tax credit would be available in either an annual lump sum or monthly payments. Harris is also advocating for a pay increase for teachers, who are paid 11 percent less than other comparable education jobs (Source:Economic Policy Institute). Harris has proposed a $315 billion plan over 10 years. Her proposal would increase the estate tax and “crack down on loopholes” to pay for a $13,500 raise for teachers (Source:Time).
Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been more general with his tax plans and does not have a specific proposal. In a recentFox NewsTown Hall, Buttigieg said he would entertain a "fairer" tax, which he said “means a higher, marginal income tax rate on those earning the most."
The challenge with many of these Democratic proposals to “tax the rich” is that the wealthy can typically afford to pay attorneys andtax advisorsto find legal savings to offset these costs.
The bottom line is that taxes will go up if Democrats win the White House and Senate back in 2020. The question all small business owners need to ask is which approach is best:
1. tax cuts for the rich that many conservatives believe already are generating jobs and strengthening the economy; or
2. a “fairer tax” that is being proposed by many Democrats to reward wealth and work.
Related:The 3 New Tax Law Deductions You Probably Missed This Tax Season
Becausetaxesare anyone’s biggest expense, it’s important for us all to educate ourselves on these tax proposals during the debates, primaries and 2020 election. Which philosophy do you support? |
Turkey's lira weakens on election, policy concerns
ISTANBUL, June 21 (Reuters) - Turkey's lira declined some 1% on Friday as investors worried about the outcome of an Istanbul mayoral election on Sunday, as well as uncertainty over policymaking under President Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey's largest city will vote in the re-run after the initial poll in March was won by the main opposition. That result was annulled in May after weeks of appeals by Erdogan's ruling AK Party that, along with its Islamist predecessor, had governed Istanbul for 25 years.
The re-run between the opposition CHP's Ekrem Imamoglu and the AKP's Binali Yildirim worried investors who say it has diverted attention from the implementation of reforms that Turkey announced in April.
There are concerns no matter what the outcome of the election is, said Jason Tuvey, an emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.
"If Imamoglu wins, the AKP may try to nullify the results again. If Yildirim wins, it will spark worries over the state of democracy, particularly given that he is trailing in polls," he said, adding that other emerging markets currencies were also under pressure on Friday due to worries over rising tensions in the Middle East.
The lira stood at 5.8170 against the dollar at 1511 GMT, declining more than 1% from Thursday's close of 5.7550. Earlier, it weakened as far as 5.8250.
Tuvey said Erdogan's comments on monetary policy on Thursday and a central bank move to extend a liquidity facility to primary-dealer banks on Monday also hit sentiment towards the lira.
Erdogan said he remains opposed to the country's tight monetary policy and pledged a "definitive solution" to soon lower the central bank's key interest rate from 24%.
Turkey's central bank said on Monday it will extend a liquidity facility to primary-dealer banks with an interest rate set at 23%, below its 24% policy rate, a move expected to lower the average cost of funding.
"It was seen in the past week that even if the election is out of the way, it won't stop the deterioration in policymaking over the past decade," Tuvey said.
The damage to the Turkish central bank's inflation-fighting reputation that culminated in last year's lira crisis has been years in the making, with its credibility having been progressively eroded over a full decade, two academic studies have found. (Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer) |
'Wimbledon Prowler' jailed for 14 years for decade-long burglary spree
Asdrit Kapaj, dubbed the 'Wimbledon prowler', preyed on homes of the rich and famous (SWNS) A sophisticated burglar dubbed the ‘Wimbledon prowler’ has been jailed for 14 years for a string of attacks. Wimbledon Prowler Astrit Kapaj was called "prolific, persistent, and professional" for his "militaristic" burglary campaign on rich and famous which left whole community terrified. Asdrit Kapaj targeted the homes of the rich and famous in the affluent south-west London community for a decade. Victims reportedly included German tennis star Boris Becker and French footballer Nicolas Anelka, who is said to have chased him across a garden. Kapaj was described as a prolific thief (SWNS) Kapaj was handed a 14 year sentence at Kingston Crown Court after pleading guilty to 26 offences worth £497,300 when his crime spree was finally brought to a halt by detectives in February. But investigators believe Kapaj was behind 10 times that number of offences. Around £5 million in stolen jewellery and cash was lifted from homes in Wimbledon dating back to 2004. Detectives said 43-year-old Kapaj would travel down from Altrincham in Greater Manchester to raid homes under cover of darkness, getting into houses through an open window, often an en suite bathroom on the first floor, and then search quickly, quietly and carefully for valuables. Kapaj targeted homes across the affluent suburb (Picture: PA) His attention to detail included tampering with CCTV cameras, evading alarm sensors and even repainting a window frame he lightly damaged to avoid raising suspicion. Kapaj’s sophisticated scheme saw him stick to jewellery and cash, shunning iPads and TVs, and to avoid suspicion he would leave many items behind, like taking £600 from a wallet but leaving £200 behind. Similarly, back at home, he avoided flashy purchases or anything that showed the spoils of his crimes, though police think he may have frittered a chunk of the money away through gambling. His burglaries were so sophisticated some victims didn’t even realise they had been broken in to. Victims reportedly included German tennis star Boris Becker and French footballer Nicolas Anelka, who is said to have chased him across a garden (Pictures: PA) Suspicion in the area was so rife that home owners sacked childminders, drivers and cleaners they assumed were responsible for the thefts. Story continues Victims describes the "devastating" impact the burglaries had on their lives, with some moving house and others saying they felt like they were "living in a prison cell", installing locks, bolts and extra security. Clare Calnan, whose home was targeted in 2014, said peace of mind "was the most valuable thing" Kapaj took. She said: "For years after the burglar's last visit, every time I walked down my path to my door at night, I wondered if he was lying in wait, watching and waiting." READ MORE Minister faces calls for the sack after grabbing female protester by the throat Kasumi Deru, whose home in Drax Avenue was hit by Kapaj in 2015, said she slept with her handbag in her bed following the break-in and has since moved house, the court heard. Ms Deru said: "Nothing will make me feel safe again." Rona Cruishank, who had a £2,000 diamond ring and a £1,000 necklace stolen from her home in Somerset Road in December 2015, said she "feels like a prisoner" in her own home. Kapaj was meticulous in his approach (Picture: PA) She said: "Even more devastating than the emotional loss of these cherished items is the impact on my day-to-day life. "Now I'm constantly suspicious of sounds, lights coming on, movement of the garden tress.” At the height of their investigation, Scotland Yard had a team of 50 officers working full-time to find the suspect in the crimes, drawing up a suspects’ list of around 60 criminals with a record of burglaries in the south-west London area. But chip shop worker Kapaj – who arrived in the UK from Albania in the 1990s, and lived in Wimbledon for a few years in the early 2000s – was not among them. The breakthrough in the investigation came when when DNA technology showed two burglaries committed two years apart were carried out by the same suspect. Kapaj was arrested in February this year but has never revealed what happened to the money or jewellery he stole, which police have been unable to trace. Kapaj has never revealed the full extent of his spree (Picture: PA) Sentencing Kapaj, Judge Peter Lodder QC said: “You are a prolific, persistent and professional burglar. “Such was your stealth and expertise in many cases it remains a mystery how you gained entry to their homes. “Not surprisingly, you terrified the whole community.” Detective Chief Inspector Dan O’Sullivan said: “This offender was really meticulous in how he would commit offences, he was very patient, he would spend time observing people’s houses and wait for the opportune moment to break in, making him a very good villain. “One of the difficulties for the investigation team was determining how many offences he committed historically. “What we found was a number of victims weren’t aware they had been broken in to. He was very conscious not to break anything in the house, if he moved things he put them back in place. “Ultimately people would wake up in the morning, find small amounts of cash or jewellery stolen and then wouldn’t put two and two together and think they had been burgled.” Resident Laurie Porter, from the Wimbledon Village Safer Neighbourhood Watch panel, admitted she became an “amateur sleuth” in the hunt for the suspect. Residents ended up being suspicious of childminders, cleaners and other people as they searched for the perpetrator (Picture: PA) She said: “When people didn’t know why their things were going missing they were firing people who were working or helping them in their homes. “I know of one case where someone asked the cleaner if they knew where this money was going and the cleaner quit because she felt like she was being accused. “There were many theories about who this person might be, but none of them correct. He (Kapaj) was constantly discussed at dinner parties, out on the street, at the pub – I don’t know what we’re going to talk about any more. “He (Kapaj) was constantly in everyone’s minds, we didn’t feel safe in our homes. That leads to a state of unease. “Now, we all set our alarms, we lock our doors, we don’t leave a room with windows open.” |
The rise of the vegan hotel
Hilton London Bankside vegan suite [Photo: Hilton] Veganism is no longer simply about what you eat. The travel industry is also hopping on board the ethical train, and becoming more plant-based. Now vegan travellers can do everything from book speciality food tours to kip at vegan-friendly hotels with not a sausage in sight (well, only veggie ones). Even airlines are beginning to offer inflight meals that cater to passengers wishing to avoid animal products. Paul Eyers, co-founder of Vegan Food Quest , has noticed an immense difference in the offerings for vegan travellers in the past five years. He says: Huge international brands now offer vegan menu options, whereas before you would need to rely on communicating your dietary requirements directly and keep your fingers crossed that they were understood! There are a growing number of websites dedicated to vegan travel, such as Veggie Hotels , which lists vegan-friendly properties, and Happy Cow , which helps you track down plant-based restaurants in your destination. And new vegan travel companies, like Veg Jaunts and Journeys , are offering tours run for vegans, by vegans. READ MORE: 10 of the world's best cruise holidays Large travel companies are also responding to the demand for vegan tours. Intrepid Travel recently unveiled three new, eight-day Vegan Food Adventures trips in India, Thailand and Italy. The trips have been so successful that more are being rolled out for 2020. Food is one of the best ways to connect with local cultures, but dietary requirements can be tricky with language barriers, says Neil Coletta, Brand and Product Manager for Food at Intrepid Travel. Why should vegans miss out on authentic food experiences? And yet, vegan travel consists of more than simply finding plant-based food on holiday. Enter, vegan accommodation. Wendy Werneth, creator of The Nomadic Vegan , believes hotels have a role to play if they want to enhance the experience of their vegan guests. It's important to know whether the toiletries provided by the hotel are both vegan (devoid of all animal products) and cruelty free (not tested on animals), she says. In order for a hotel to be truly vegan, bed linens and furnishings should also be free of animal products such as wool, down feathers, silk and leather. Story continues Hilton London Bankside vegan suite [Photo: Hilton] Hilton London Bankside vegan suite [Photo: Hilton] One hotel that has sat up and taken note of the growing vegan movement is the 5* Hilton London Bankside . In February 2019 it launched the worlds first vegan suite, complete with a plant-based keycard, eco-cotton carpet and stationary devoid of animal traces. READ MORE: How to combat jet lag The suite given the nod of approval by The Vegan Society also features bamboo flooring, environmentally-sourced bedding, and headboards and armchairs made from a natural leather alternative. The in-room menu has been tweaked to include options ranging from avocado and scrambled Quorn and quinoa to cauliflower steak and five-bean dhal. We dont believe that veganism is a fad, says James B. Claire, general manager at Hilton London Bankside. People are becoming more aware of sustainability issues and conscious of the products they buy or consume. The positive effects of a plant-based diet have been growing year on year and we believe this is a lifestyle choice that brands should be taking on board to cater for their audience needs. The move by Hilton whose vegan suite costs £549 + VAT per night is a sure-fire sign that veganism is becoming more widespread, and that big businesses are taking notice. Hopefully, the next step will be for hotels in more moderate price brackets to follow suit, says Wendy Werneth. Veganism is still seen by some people as expensive and elitist, when it certainly doesn't need to be. Room 3 at Saorsa 1975 hotel. In Scotland, Saorsa 1875 has taken the concept even further than a single suite. The entire hotel has been specifically "designed for vegans, vegetarians and the plant-curious". When it opens in June 2019, it will be the UKs first completely vegan hotel. The 11 boutique bedrooms which start from £100 per night for a single room or £130 per night for a double showcase ethical luxury, according to its website. It will be completely free of animal products, with everything from the bedding to the cleaning products all vegan and cruelty-free. READ MORE: 10 of the best holidays you can fit into four days More people are cottoning on to both the brutality and the environmental impact of animal agriculture, says Jack McLaren-Stewart, head of lifestyle at Saorsa 1875. As passionate vegans we've been really frustrated by the options available in the hotel industry and felt that it was something people were screaming out for. Food preparation at Saorsa 1975. The hotels electricity will be provided by Vegan Society-certified Ecotricity, and toiletries have been chosen in partnership with local, ethical brands. There will also be a plant-based menu, designed by head chef Luca Sordi, featuring dishes made using local, organic ingredients. Guests can also expect cocktail masterclasses, wine tastings and yoga classes. The travel industry has been very slow to respond to the increased demand for vegan-friendly experiences, McLaren-Stewart says. Like it or not, it's here to stay and I think companies that don't adapt will soon start to struggle. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Style UK: |
Prospect of Future Rate Cuts Sends Gold Past 5-Year High
This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
The prospect of future rate cuts by the Federal Reserve saw gold surpass its 5-year high on Wednesday after the central bank said it “will act as appropriate to sustain” economic expansion. To an optimistic capital market, that meant the door was open for interest rates to fall in 2019 after staying static thus far through the middle of the year.
March 17, 2014 saw gold at $1,383.81, but following the interest rate announcement, gold went past the $1,380 mark. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the dollar index fell to a one-week low.
Leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF) traders rejoiced, which saw funds like theDirexion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (NUGT)rise.
"With the move higher in gold we noticed great performance from NUGT (Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X), as the fund closed 4% higher and is up nearly 20% since the 11th of June as investors have moved to safety," WallachBeth Capital wrote in an email.
A data-fueled Fed will not doubt took into account the latest economic data, such as the latest jobs report from the Commerce Department as an indicator on the health of the economy. Earlier this month, the Labor Department revealed that only 75,000 jobs were created in May, which fell below expectations and could be a sign that the U.S. economy could be on the verge of a slowdown.
Nonetheless, the unemployment rate remained at a generational low of 3.6 percent.
Other Gold ETFs to Consider
Now that a U.S.-China trade deal is left in limbo, it leaves investors looking for the next trigger event to save the markets. With the central bank keeping rates steady thus far in 2019, the next move investors are hoping for is a rate cut, especially if the Fed is sensing a slowdown given the latest economic data.
That should give gold ETFs a boost through the rest of the year until a cut actually happens.
“We’ve had 75 years of expanding globalization and trade… and now all of a sudden it’s stopped,” said hedge fund manager and philanthropist Paul Tudor Jones. “That would make one think that it’s possible we go into a recession; it would make one think that rates in the United States go back down to the zero bound level; gold in that situation is going to scream. [Gold] will be the antidote for people with equity portfolios.”
investors can look at exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like theSPDR Gold MiniShares (GLDM) andSPDR Gold Shares (GLD) . Adding precious metals to a portfolio certainly speaks to the diversification benefits of gold, among other things.
Additionally, short-term traders can also play the gold market through miners via theVanEck Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) and theDirexion Daily Jr Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (JNUG).
For more relative market trends, visit ourRelative Value Channel.
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MOVES-Citi hires slew of senior bankers away from rivals
By Imani Moise
June 21 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc has hired a slew of senior bankers from rivals as it looks to bolster its investment bank, the bank said on Friday.
The New York-based bank hired three executives away from Deutsche Bank including 13-year veteran Mark Keene, who will become global co-head of technology, and three executives from Goldman Sachs, including Elizabeth Milonopoulos who will co-head the bank's internet investment banking unit with Brian Yick who will join the bank from Barclays.
The hires come less than a year after the third-largest U.S. bank by assets combined its corporate and investment bank with its capital markets business to streamline its product offerings to clients.
Other hires from Deutsche Bank include senior rainmakers John Eydenberg and Mark Hantho, who will join the banking, capital markets and advisory division (BCMA) as vice chairmen. (Reporting by Imani Moise Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) |
ECB's Draghi repeats dovish monetary policy message to EU leaders
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi repeated a dovish monetary policy message to European Union leaders on Friday, saying that any deterioration in economic conditions that would threaten a return to the ECB's inflation would trigger additional stimulus from the bank.
Draghi told the leaders that the economy of the 19 countries sharing the euro was now robust, but with increasing signs of weakness and that the economic rebound was weaker than expected with pervasive uncertainty in global trade for more than a year.
"In the absence of improvement, such that a sustained return to the ECB's inflation target is threatened, additional stimulus will be required," Draghi was to tell EU leaders according to an EU source with insight into the meeting.
Draghi told the 27 heads of state and government that monetary policy took the most of the burden over the last 8 years and noted that fiscal policy this year and next year would be mildly expansionary.
"But in case of a deterioration it will have to be much more expansionary," Draghi told the leaders, underlining the importance of introducing an U deposit guarantee scheme and completing a capital markets union.
The EU official said Draghi received a standing ovation from EU leaders when he mentioned this was his last EU summit before he steps down from his post in October.
(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski) |
Rapper Cardi B faces felony charges over strip club fight
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Grammy Award-winning rapper Cardi B was indicted on Friday on felony assault charges in connection with a fight at a New York City strip club, court records showed. The 26-year-old performer, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, had previously faced misdemeanor charges over the Aug. 29 incident at the Angels NYC strip club in the borough of Queens. Her lawyer, Jeff Kern, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 25 in Queens Criminal Court, court records showed. According to police, the rapper got into an argument with two of the club's female bartenders. She had accused one of them of having an affair with her husband, Offset, a member of the rap trio Migos, according to local media. (Reporting by Daniel Wallis in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis) |
What Type Of Shareholder Owns Intouch Insight Ltd.'s (CVE:INX)?
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If you want to know who really controls Intouch Insight Ltd. (CVE:INX), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.'
Intouch Insight is a smaller company with a market capitalization of CA$8.1m, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions are not really that prevalent on the share registry. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about INX.
See our latest analysis for Intouch Insight
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
Since institutions own under 5% of Intouch Insight, many may not have spent much time considering the stock. But it's clear that some have; and they liked it enough to buy in. So if the company itself can improve over time, we may well see more institutional buyers in the future. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.
Hedge funds don't have many shares in Intouch Insight. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.
The definition of company insiders can be subjective, and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Intouch Insight Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just CA$8.1m, and insiders have CA$2.8m worth of shares in their own names. I would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You canclick here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.
The general public, mostly retail investors, hold a substantial 62% stake in INX, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives retail investors the power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Intouch Insight better, we need to consider many other factors.
I like to dive deeperinto how a company has performed in the past. You can accessthisinteractive graphof past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free.
If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss thisfreelist of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.
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. |
Investors Who Bought Invitation Homes (NYSE:INVH) Shares A Year Ago Are Now Up 22%
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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. For example, theInvitation Homes Inc.(NYSE:INVH) share price is up 22% in the last year, clearly besting than the market return of around 4.1% (not including dividends). That's a solid performance by our standards! We'll need to follow Invitation Homes for a while to get a better sense of its share price trend, since it hasn't been listed for particularly long.
View our latest analysis for Invitation Homes
We don't think that Invitation Homes's modest trailing twelve month profit has the market's full attention at the moment. We think revenue is probably a better guide. Generally speaking, we'd consider a stock like this alongside loss-making companies, simply because the quantum of the profit is so low. It would be hard to believe in a more profitable future without growing revenues.
Over the last twelve months, Invitation Homes's revenue grew by 40%. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. Buyers pushed the share price 22% 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.
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.
It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. If you are thinking of buying or selling Invitation Homes stock, you should check out thisfreereport showing analyst profit forecasts.
It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Invitation Homes the TSR over the last year was 25%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!
It's nice to see that Invitation Homes shareholders have gained 25% over the last year, including dividends. A substantial portion of that gain has come in the last three months, with the stock up 15% in that time. This suggests the company is continuing to win over new investors. If you would like to research Invitation Homes in more detail then you might want totake a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company.
Of courseInvitation Homes may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of growth stocks.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Why Did A Big Goldman Sachs Banker Say Big Banks Are Screwed?
Goldman Sachs has a three-year-old startup consumer bank called Marcus that’s already got more customers and deposits than most banks. So is it a scrappy startup, or a badass incumbent? The answer is yes. Let’s dive in. +++ At this week’s inaugural Fortune BrainstormFinance conference (because we need even more conferences!), the most notable quote was from a newer Goldman Sachs exec Adam Dell who’s squarely in the middle of the startup and incumbent banking worlds. Dell said banks are either screwed or don’t know they’re screwed. A notable quote indeed. But rich coming from a banking startup success poster child who launched his personal finance startup Clarity Money in October 2016 and sold it to Goldman Sachs in April 2018 after accumulating over a million customers. +++ But seriously, Goldman Sachs is really in consumer banking? Yep. One of the biggest business banks on the planet launched their consumer bank Marcus (named after co-founder Marcus Goldman) in 2016, then bought Dell’s startup two years later. Marcus added 500k customers by 2018 , then the Clarity deal added another million. Plus the deal got Marcus a shiny new digital-mobile storefront. Since then, they’ve grown extremely fast. As of now Marcus has 4 million customers, $4.7 billion on personal loan balances, an impressive $46 billion in deposits, and are the issuer of Apple’s sexy new credit card . +++ I believe Dell’s “banks are screwed” sentiment is rooted in 2 questions: 1. CAN INCUMBENT BANKS MASTER CUSTOMER ACQUISITION AT SCALE? In the case of Marcus, not only did Goldman Sachs do smart deals like Clarity Money but they also kicked off in 2016 by acquiring $16 billion in deposits from a consumer bank GE was offloading. And before they announced their Apple credit card a few months ago, they acquired a startup team that was building a credit card. Also the Marcus customer acquisition team hails from digital marketing leaders like Amazon, American Express, and Progressive. Story continues And it’s brand head Dustin Cohn previously ran brands at consumer staples like Pepsi and Jockey, which is why Marcus ads are nothing like you’d expect from Goldman Sachs. All this startup-y customer acquisition behavior powered by a big bank incumbent. 2. CAN INCUMBENT BANKS DELIVER THIS SLICK DIGITAL STOREFRONT & EXPERIENCE? In short, yes. Just acquire the technology and/or teams to power your startup entity just like Goldman Sachs did. +++ So there are three ways this will play out. 1. Scrappy startups will come for the banks like Dell implies. 2. Badass bank incumbents will power their own scrappy startups, a strategy that involves gobbling the good startups just like Goldman gobbled Dell’s startup. 3. Startups that just want to power banks with cool, easy, mobile customer experiences (examples are Blend and Plaid ) rather than provide consumer financial services. +++ Big banks like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan chase are mostly using scenario 3 so far to innovate. As for scenario 2, can all banks execute as well as Goldman? Not if they don’t adopt this DNA Marcus COO Omer Ismail shared last year: “We’re a startup inside a 149 year old firm. When I come to work everyday, I have 30,000 fans at Goldman Sachs cheering for my success.” For example, another giant bank — the #6 U.S. bank formed by the $66 billion merger of SunTrust and BB&T — is now trying to be startup-y by rebranding the bank Truist . But a rebranding isn’t necessarily recoding to startup DNA, and those execs should think carefully about Dell’s warning. We’ll keep watching that and Marcus and the rest of the ecosystem, and I’ll follow up shortly to discuss big bank vs. startup valuations. Hope you follow along . ___ Reference : – If $66 billion SunTrust/BB&T merged brand Truist was a startup, would you hate it less? – Credit card “created by Apple, not a bank” – powered by a giant bank – Did you know a $2.7 billion company called Plaid secretly powers your mortgage? DO YOU LIKE MONEY? GET MORE AT THE BASIS POINT ® Linkage: Check out this new app that lets you rent friends! Low unemployment alone doesn’t measure job challenges for millions: Barry Ritholtz Homebuyers got excited and gave the edge back to sellers |
Aurora Cannabis Confirms Plans For Consumer Products In Canada
Canada'sAurora Cannabis Inc(NYSE:ACB)confirmedFriday it will expand to the higher-margin edibles, vapes and concentrates market.
What Happened
Aurora said it will produce new, high-quality products for sale in the Canadian market. Ahead of the product launch, the cannabis company secured supply agreements with cannabis consumer technology brand PAX Labs. The company also established new production hubs across the country to provide centralized production, packaging, logistics and distribution capabilities.
Last October, Canada legalized adult-use cannabis sales — with a one-year pause on the sales of products such as extracts, topicals and edibles. Sales of those products is expected to begin this December.
Need more cannabis news?Check out all of our coveragehere.
Why It's Important
Aurora CEO Terry Booth said the company is the "world's leading producer" of high-quality cannabis and it's ready to expand to the "high-value product additions" segment.
"From the beginning, we've invested in industry-leading production and distribution technology, and in consumer research to drive products to market that consumers will desire," said Booth. "These things, together with the dynamic partnerships we've entered into on the accessory and technology fronts, position us well for this new market launch."
Legalization of edibles and other products by the end of 2019 will mark the "second wave" of cannabis legalization in Canada. Aurora plans on demonstrating leadership in education consumers through campaigns that will provide the necessary information to make "safe and sound decisions."
Aurora shares traded lower by 4.1% at $7.13 at time of publication.
Related Links:
Canada To Begin Sale Of Legal Cannabis Edibles In Mid-December
8 Things You Need To Know About Eating Marijuana Edibles
See more from Benzinga
• Aurora Cannabis Exec Says Positive EBITDA Would Be 'Game-Changer'
© 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. |
Did You Miss Invitation Homes's (NYSE:INVH) 22% Share Price Gain?
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The simplest way to invest in stocks is to buy exchange traded funds. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. For example, theInvitation Homes Inc.(NYSE:INVH) share price is up 22% in the last year, clearly besting than the market return of around 4.1% (not including dividends). If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! Note that businesses generally develop over the long term, so the returns over the last year might not reflect a long term trend.
Check out our latest analysis for Invitation Homes
While Invitation Homes made a small profit, in the last year, we think that the market is probably more focussed on the top line growth at the moment. As a general rule, we think this kind of company is more comparable to loss-making stocks, since the actual profit is so low. For shareholders to have confidence a company will grow profits significantly, it must grow revenue.
In the last year Invitation Homes saw its revenue grow by 40%. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. While the share price performed well, gaining 22% over twelve months, you could argue the revenue growth warranted it. If the company can maintain the revenue growth, the share price could go higher still. But before deciding this growth stock is underappreciated, you might want to check out profitability trends (and cash flow)
Depicted in the graphic below, you'll see revenue and earnings over time. If you want more detail, you can click on the chart itself.
It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think Invitation Homes willearn in the future (free profit forecasts).
When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference betweentotal shareholder return(TSR) andshare price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Invitation Homes, it has a TSR of 25% for the last year. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
Invitation Homes boasts a total shareholder return of 25% for the last year(that includes the dividends). A substantial portion of that gain has come in the last three months, with the stock up 15% in that time. Demand for the stock from multiple parties is pushing the price higher; it could be that word is getting out about its virtues as a business. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You canclick here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.
We will like Invitation Homes better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out thisfreelist of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Zion Williamson and Other Top NBA Draft Picks Are About to Cash In. Here's How Much They Could Make
Resplendent in a sparkling off-white tuxedo, Zion Williamson took his place onstage in New York as not only the top pick in the2019 NBA draftThursday night but also as the new face of the New Orleans Pelicans.
As the number one pick, Williamson is projected to make up to $44.2 million with a four-year contract, per the NBA’s rookie salary scale. The first two years of his contract are guaranteed at an estimated $20 million, with the team holding the options for the last two years of the deal, which are usually picked up.
Besides Williamson, two other top draft picks, Murray State’sJa Morant, drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies, andRJ Barrett, Williamson’s college teammate at Duke, selected by the New York Knicks, will cash in as well. Morant and Barrett are expected to as much as $40 million and $36 million over the four years, respectively.
The contract values are based on the rookie salary scale where teams can pay as little as 80% of the scale, but typically pay 120%, which is the maximum allowed, according toNate Duncan, NBA podcaster and noted salary cap expert. The potential salaries are based on teams offering deals worth the maximum 20% above the rookie scale, Duncan said.
How did we get here? Williamson, the consensus college basketball player of the year at Duke, became the top choice after the Pelicans won the vaunted NBA draft lottery in April. Williamson’s selection ushers a new era in New Orleans as the Pelicans last weektradedaway its best player, the disgruntled All-Star Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers where he will be paired with NBA great, LeBron James.
These moves all come as the Toronto Raptors tooka potential one-year riskby trading for Kawhi Leonard, who helped them win this year’s NBA championship by beating the defending champ Golden State Warriors. But now Leonard joins more than a dozen star NBA players who will be seeking millions when free agency begins next month.
“What happens this summer is one of the most seismic periods since 2010 (when James joined the Miami Heat) as there are so many free agents and teams who can take a step forward or back,” Duncan said. “One key player can change the dynamic of a franchise.”
Moments after his name was called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver during Thursday’s draft, Williamson, with his mother by his side, couldn’t hold back hisemotions.
“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was 4-(years-old) and for it to actually happen, I just thank God for it,” said Williamson, tears streaming down his face.
When asked what would like to say to his new fanbase in New Orleans, Williamson simply said, “let’s dance!”
He later told reporters that there was always aslightchance he wouldn’t be the number one pick.
“But I guess you don’t know until you actually go through it,” Willamson said. “Hearing my name called and I was able to make it on stage without a tear, shake the commissioner’s hand, but in the interview with my mom standing beside me, my emotions just took over.”
Meanwhile, Williamson also stands to make more “bags”—slang for money, off the court as well in terms of his endorsement deals. In April, longtime sneaker industry executiveSonny Vaccarothought Williamson could receive as much as a $100 million sneaker deal, an unprecedented amount that would exceed the $87 million shoe deal LeBron James got in his rookie deal withNikein 2003. It’s sure to bet that Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and Puma are courting Williamson.
“If Zion doesn’t change, I predict that he will be the first basketball athlete at 18 years old that the world is rooting for to become a billionaire. I say,billionaire, very easily,” Vaccaro told ESPN. “He is going to have an opportunity to be the face of every company and every major corporation. He is the most marketable person I’ve seen, for a lot of different reasons.”
Vaccaro’s words carry some weight; In 1984, while an executive at Nike, he was instrumental in signing Michael Jordan. Let’s just the rest is history as Air Jordans became (and still is) the most popular basketball shoe brand in the world.
One expert recently speculated that a Chinese sneaker brand like Anta, which counts Warriors All-Star sharpshooterKlay Thompsonas a major endorser, may be the lucky winner in the Williamson shoe sweepstakes. Last year, Anta broughtAmer Sports, a sporting goods company whose brands include Wilson, Atomic, and Salomon for areported$5.2 billion.
“Over the last decade, western brands have taken a share in China. Chinese brands are now committed to taking it back,” said Matt Powell, a senior industry advisor with the NPD Group, a market research group. “Zion could get the largest rookie shoe contract ever in the U.S.”
Other Chinese sneaker brands, including Li-Ning and Peak, are also “in play,” Powell added.
In February, Williamson’s footwear became a hashtag on social media,#zionshoe, after he injured his knee when he slipped andsplit one of his shoes, a pair of Nikes endorsed by NBA All-Star Paul George, during a Duke loss to North Carolina. Williamson ended up missing several games, and Nike modified his shoes in time for the NCAA tournament.
Pelicans fans hope next season Williamson can replicate the 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game on 68 percent shooting he averaged during his lone campaign at Duke.
However, Pelicans general managerDavid Griffin, who helped the previously mentioned James win an NBA championship as an executive with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, told reporters in New Orleans on Thursday that he’s in no rush for the 18-year-old Williamson to lead the Pelicans.
As Williamson is now the Pelicans most popular player, Griffin said the team’s leadership role will be assumed by veteran guard Jrue Holiday and others while Williamson will be in a learning mode like most rookies.
“At some point, if there is a time that the baton gets passed in terms of who is expected to carry us to win games, it will. That is not now,” Griffin said. “Let Zion be that kid. Don’t write this like he is here to save this franchise. He is not.”
Good luck with that.
—There are nowthree people worth over $100 billion
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Canadian oil industry dismayed as contentious energy bills become law
By Nia Williams
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Two pieces of legislation opposed by Canada's oil and gas industry that fulfill Liberal government promises to protect the environment will become law on Friday.
Bill C-69, which will overhaul environmental assessments for major resource and transportation projects like oil pipelines, and Bill C-48, which bans oil tankers from British Columbia's northern coast, were passed by the Senate on Thursday evening.
That vote followed approval by the House of Commons last week. The two bills are scheduled to formally receive Royal Assent to become law on Friday afternoon.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is facing a national election in October and overhauling environmental assessments and the oil tanker moratorium were key promises in his 2015 election campaign.
His government has been slammed by Canada's energy sector for pushing ahead with the legislation at a time when the oil industry is struggling with declining capital spending and pipeline constraints that are weighing on crude prices.
Critics including the opposition Conservatives and the government of Canada's main crude-producing province Alberta say Bill C-69 will deter investment in the industry.
"This is a sad day for Canada. With the passage of Bill C-69, Justin Trudeau finally has his law that will phase out Canada's oil and gas industry," said Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who pledged to repeal the bill if his party wins the October election.
The laws drew praise from environmental groups.
"The government should be commended for remaining committed to strengthening environmental oversight in the face of misinformation and fearmongering from the oil and gas industry and some provincial leaders," said Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence.
The Conservatives also condemned the oil tanker moratorium.
Senate approval for the legislation comes days after the Liberal government gave the green light to the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion, which will boost the flow of oil sands crude to British Columbia's southern coast.
Chris Bloomer, CEO of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, welcomed that approval but said the industry is facing broader problems.
"The potential for new major pipeline development in Canada is bleak with the Senate's passing of Bill C-69. Canada is sending mixed messages that will send critical investment capital elsewhere," Bloomer said.
(Additional reporting by Kelsey Johnson in Ottawa; editing by Bill Berkrot) |
Are Investors Undervaluing Identiv, Inc. (NASDAQ:INVE) By 22%?
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Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Identiv, Inc. (NASDAQ:INVE) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. I will be using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!
Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of theSimply Wall St analysis model.
View our latest analysis for Identiv
We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.
A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:
[{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2019": "$-2.60", "2020": "$2.40", "2021": "$3.77", "2022": "$5.30", "2023": "$6.86", "2024": "$8.32", "2025": "$9.64", "2026": "$10.78", "2027": "$11.76", "2028": "$12.61"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x1", "2020": "Analyst x2", "2021": "Est @ 57.03%", "2022": "Est @ 40.74%", "2023": "Est @ 29.34%", "2024": "Est @ 21.35%", "2025": "Est @ 15.77%", "2026": "Est @ 11.86%", "2027": "Est @ 9.12%", "2028": "Est @ 7.2%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 9.84%", "2019": "$-2.37", "2020": "$1.99", "2021": "$2.84", "2022": "$3.64", "2023": "$4.29", "2024": "$4.74", "2025": "$5.00", "2026": "$5.09", "2027": "$5.06", "2028": "$4.93"}]
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $35.22m
"Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St
After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the intial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 10-year government bond rate (2.7%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 9.8%.
Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$13m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (9.8% – 2.7%) = US$182m
Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$182m ÷ ( 1 + 9.8%)10= $71.31m
The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is $106.52m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of $6.45. Compared to the current share price of $5.03, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 22% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.
The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Identiv as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 9.8%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.193. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.
Whilst important, DCF calculation shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For Identiv, There are three fundamental aspects you should further examine:
1. Financial Health: Does INVE have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Future Earnings: How does INVE's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with ourfree analyst growth expectation chart.
3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of INVE? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every US stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock justsearch here.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Should You Get COBRA Health Insurance?
One of the best things about being apermanent employeeis gaining access to the workplace benefits your company provides. And generally, that means getting to participate in a health insurance plan.
But what happens when you leave that job, whether because you decide to quit or you getlaid off? The good news is that your health coverage doesn't necessarily need to end immediately. Thanks to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, orCOBRA, you have the option to stay on your former employer's plan for up to 18 months following your separation from that company.
While you can technically continue receiving health benefits for 1 1/2 years after your termination or separation, doing so probably isn't your most cost-effective option.
The main reason why it may not be feasible to stay on COBRA for too long is that it can be prohibitively expensive. As you're probably aware, health insurance plan participants are charged apremiumin exchange for their coverage. As a permanent employee, your employer was probably picking up some, or even all, of the tab for those premiums, thereby making them less expensive for you. Once you're no longer employed, your employer is highly unlikely to continue doing so unless it's part of yourseveranceagreement, in which case you'll suddenly be liable for your entire premium cost.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
For example, imagine you were charged $200 a month for your health insurance premiums while you were employed, only their actual cost was $600 and your employer covered the rest. Under COBRA, you're not going to get to pay the $200 -- you're going to have to pay the entire $600. And that's a lot of money. Therefore, while staying on COBRA might seem like a good idea, it's most likely something you'll only do temporarily.
In some cases, extending your stay on COBRA could make sense. For example, if you're getting married in five months and at that point will be eligible for coverage under your spouse's plan, you might save yourself the hassle of buying insurance privately and just deal with those hefty premiums until your new plan kicks in. This way, you won't risk a gap in coverage and you'll benefit from retaining the plan whose terms you're already used to. But in most cases, staying on COBRA on a long-term basis won't make sense financially.
Of course, one thing youdoneed to realize is that if you're going to buy insurance privately and at a lower cost than what you'll pay under COBRA, you may not get the same level of coverage that you're used to. As such, you'll need to weigh your savings on your premium costs against other out-of-pocket medical expenses you might incur.
Either way, know that COBRA has an expiration date and that the most you can stay on it is 18 months unless you happen to qualify for an exception, such as if you were to become disabled. If you left your job involuntarily and are planning to find a new one, chances are, you'll manage to get rehired by the time your option to stay on COBRA expires. Just be prepared for an expensive number of months if you're going to retain your old coverage.
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Lady Gaga extends Las Vegas residency into 2020
Lady Gaga may be “pregnant” with her new album , but it could be awhile till she gives birth. Her energy right now is being put towards her current two-part Las Vegas residency , which she’s just expanded into 2020 with newly announced dates. Launched last fall, Gaga’s residency consists of two shows: the hits-heavy “Lady Gaga Enigma” and a stripped-down set of her own music and Great American Songbook highlights called “Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano”. Taking place at Las Vegas’ Park MGM, two “Enigma” shows have been added for December, while a “Jazz & Piano” New Year’s Eve performance has also been announced. (Read: 20 Essential Acts to Catch on Tour This Spring and Summer ) The bigger news, however, is that both shows will now extend into a third year with new 2020 dates. Five “Enigma” performances have been added to April and May, with four more “Jazz & Piano” gigs happening in May. Tickets go on sale June 28th, and you can also purchase them here . Find the announcement video followed by Lady Gaga’s complete Las Vegas schedule below. LADY GAGA ENIGMA / JAZZ & PIANO THE LAS VEGAS RESIDENCY AT @PARKTHEATERLV DECEMBER 2019 + SPRING 2020 TICKETS LITTLE MONSTERS PRE-SALE TOMORROW SIGN UP FOR YOUR UNIQUE CODE ON SALE 6/28 https://t.co/PTTQYFy7pS #GAGAVEGAS pic.twitter.com/srQzeXj2Wm — Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) June 21, 2019 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js “Lady Gaga Enigma” 2019-2020 Tour Dates: Oct. 17th, 19th, 23rd, 25th, and 31st Story continues Nov. 2nd, 6th, and 8th Dec. 28th and 30th Apr. 30th May 2nd, 9th, 13th, and 15th “Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano” 2019-2020 Tour Dates: Oct. 20th and 26th Nov. 3rd and 9th Dec. 31st May 3rd, 7th, 10th, and 16th Lady Gaga extends Las Vegas residency into 2020 Ben Kaye |
Unilever CEO Calls Out The 'Woke-Washers': RaceAhead
Here’s your week in review, in haiku
1.
Hush little baby,
don’t say a word. No one will
hear you anyway.
2.
I’d planned to critique
Taylor Swift, then thought that I
needed to calm down
3.
Some rain has come to
Chennai: It is too little
andfar, far, too late.
4.
Revolution in
the streets:KhartoumtoHong Kong.
Watch the power shift
5.
This is how the world
Ends: Just not with a whimper,
butcocked and loaded
Have a powerful and peaceful weekend.
1. On PointUnilever CEO says ‘woke-washing’ is dangerous In a strongly worded presentation to his fellow marketers at Cannes Lions, Alan Jope, Unilever’s chief executive, says inauthentic branding is eroding consumer trust. “Woke-washing is beginning to infect our industry,” he said. “It’s putting in peril the very thing which offers us the opportunity to help tackle many of the world’s issues.” This story fromThe Guardiancites several examples, including British supermarket chain Marks and Spencer who came under fire for creatingan LGBTQ-themed sandwichfor Pride Month. Besides eroding trust, it’s a missed opportunity, said Jope. “Purpose-led brand communications is not just a matter of ‘make them cry, make them buy’. It’s about action in the world.”The GuardianPhiladelphia moves 72 cops to desk duty after racist comments on social media unearthed Philadelphia’s Police Department removed these officers from active duty afterPlan View Project, a study conducted by a team of lawyers of the social media accounts of police officers, indicated 300 of Philadelphia’s officers made inappropriate, violent, or racist remarks online. The department, according to Slate, also announced it appointed a law firm with examining 3,100 questionable posts by its officers. And they expect further action—including termination of employment—to be taken following the review.SlateAn otherwise qualified lesbian couple has been barred from fostering refugee children In fact, they were told by a tax-payer funded contractor of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that they were unsuitable because their relationship doesn’t “mirror the Holy Family.” The married Forth Worth, Texas-area couple began looking into fostering after attempts to expand their family via in vitro fertilization were unsuccessful. Bryn Esplin and Fatma Marouf contacted a local child-welfare organization contracted by the federal government. “We just felt like we could provide a good home, and there were hundreds of kids needing it in this area, so it just seemed like something we could do,” Marouf toldThe Daily Beast.The couple is now suing. “Would we really allow the government to contract with an organization, say, that refuses to place children with African-American couples or Hispanic couples? I think that most people would think that shouldn’t be allowed.”The Daily BeastAn otherwise ‘unqualified’ lesbian couple has launched a successful inclusive underwear company TomboyX founders Fran Dunaway and Naomi Gonzalez were long on frustration but short on any apparel-making, design, or marketing experience when the married couple launched TomBoyX, a company that takes the “gendered” out of underclothes. “It’s about finding clothing that represents how you feel and how you want to present,” Dunaway says. “That societal construct you see when you walk into a store, [where] its ‘boy and girl’ and ‘men and women’ … there are a lot of people who ride in that in-between.” They started six years ago with some shirts, though they “didn’t know a knit from a woven,” and now have a staff of 30 and $25 million in funding. “Clothing for me really is about freedom,” Gonzalez says. “It’s the freedom to be who I want to be and to dress and express myself — however I choose to do so.”Money
2. On BackgroundA new documentary explores the little-known history of the discrimination against LGBTQ federal employees “We already know you’re gay. You give us the names of others and we’ll go easier on you.” So begins this gut-wrenching tale of the underreported targeting, harassment, and firing of gay and lesbian federal employees, a campaign that destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of people in the 1950s and plunged the country into a panic that rivaled the Communist Red Scare. “The Lavender Scare” tells the true story of the often-violent campaign led by lawmakers and the federal government, a decades-long effort started by President Dwight D. Eisenhower who declared gay people to be “security risks.” The film uses previously classified documents and first hand interviews with both the targets and the perpetrators.Check your local PBS stationsfor air times, find clips and much more information below.PBSIn St. Cloud, Minn., an anti-Muslim, anti-immigration group opposes refugee resettlement program The so-called Concerned Community Citizens (C-Cubed) have organized protests and events with anti-Muslim speakers, and worked to have candidates who support their anti-immigrant agenda elected to local office. In a small city of about 70,000 people, such efforts have “changed the political landscape,” reports theNew York Times. “This is the Hatfields and McCoys,” said Republican St. Cloud City Council member Paul Brandmire. Ekram Elmoge, who resettled from Somalia nearly five years ago, has experienced harassment from some white residents, and despite the growing immigrant population, described St. Cloud as “diversity without inclusions.” The increase of St. Cloud’s nonwhite (mostly East African) population, which grew from 2% to 18%, has only emboldened the Minnesotan anti-immigrant crowd. Kim Crockett, the vice president and general counsel of a Minnesotan conservative think tank, said she plans to sue over the resettlement program. “These aren’t people coming from Norway, let’s put it that way.”New York TimesAlgorithm accurately reconstructs human faces from the brain waves of monkeys This is a fascinating piece with a lot of implications for a world that’s increasingly driven by algorithms and other magic tech. A group of researchers from the California Institute of Technology have successfully recreated human faces by studying groups of specialized neurons in the brains of macaque monkeys that appear to work together to recognize an individual face. The monkeys were shown photos, while their brains were being scanned. With each neuron encoding a different aspect of a face, researchers were able to recreate the faces the monkeys saw by using signals from just 205 neurons with astonishing accuracy.NPRTamara El-Waylly helps produce raceAhead and assisted in the preparation of today’s summaries.
3. QuoteThere was a major shift after I directed, from the network and the powers that be, who saw me as an artistic voice. I never saw myself as an artist, and when I was given the power to direct, I showed myself what I could do. That’s when everything changed.—Janet Mock |
All You Need To Know About Ulta Beauty, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ULTA) Financial Health
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Investors looking for stocks with high market liquidity and zero debt on the balance sheet should consider Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA). With a market valuation of US$21b, ULTA is a safe haven in times of market uncertainty due to its strong balance sheet. In times of low liquidity in the market, these firms won’t be left high and dry. They are also relatively unaffected by increases in interest rates. Assessing the most recent data for ULTA, I will take you through the key ratios to measure financial health, in particular, its solvency and liquidity.
See our latest analysis for Ulta Beauty
What is considered a high debt-to-equity ratio differs depending on the industry, because some industries tend to utilize more debt financing than others. A ratio below 40% for large-cap stocks is considered as financially healthy, as a rule of thumb. For Ulta Beauty, investors should not worry about its debt levels because the company has none! It has been operating its business with zero debt and utilising only its equity capital. Investors' risk associated with debt is virtually non-existent with ULTA, and the company has plenty of headroom and ability to raise debt should it need to in the future.
Given zero long-term debt on its balance sheet, Ulta Beauty has no solvency issues, which is used to describe the company’s ability to meet its long-term obligations. But another important aspect of financial health is liquidity: the company’s ability to meet short-term obligations, including payments to suppliers and employees. With current liabilities at US$1.0b, it appears that the company has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of US$2.0b, leading to a 1.93x current account ratio. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Usually, for Specialty Retail companies, this is a suitable ratio since there is a bit of a cash buffer without leaving too much capital in a low-return environment.
ULTA has zero debt in addition to ample cash to cover its short-term liabilities. Its strong balance sheet reduces risk for the company and its investors. Keep in mind I haven't considered other factors such as how ULTA has performed in the past. You should continue to research Ulta Beauty to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ULTA’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor ULTA’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is ULTA worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether ULTA is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore ourfree list of these great stocks here.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Artificial Intelligence Is About to Make Ransomware Hack Attacks Even Scarier
A year ago, network security specialists spotted a worrying new trend: hackers began unleashing ransomware attacks on really big targets—America’s cities. Atlanta, Baltimore, and Greenville, N.C. would later grind to a halt after devastating computer outages disrupted everything from the collection of parking tickets to the sale of new homes.
The next big thing that keeps computer scientist Adam Kujawa up at night? Ransomware powered by artificial intelligence, a development that could give exploits such as RobbinHood and WannaCry a potentnew makeoverto evade cyber defenses, burrow into computer networks and wreak mayhem.
In recent years, artificial intelligence and machine learning have been a godsend to IT security professionals, enabling them to detect malware sooner—even the moment it enters the wild—keeping networks more secure and corporate assets safer. But the same technologies that are supercharging network defenses could become a powerfully destructive counter-threat in the wrong hands, experts warn.
“The whole industry is moving towards A.I. for protection. At the same time, we see a lot of open-source and community-development of A.I. platforms that are more than likely going to be used by cyber criminals,” says Kujawa, who spent five years dissecting malware for the U.S. Navy, and is now director of Malwarebytes Labs in Santa Clara, Calif. The age of A.I.-powered malware is a matter of when, not if, he added.
“By the end of next year, we’re very likely to see something,” he said, when asked to predict the likeliness of A.I.-fueled exploits in the wild. Just in time for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in other words.
IT security chiefs are never reluctant to talk about new threats on the horizon. And that’s never been so true as the world transitions to computer systems automated by A.I., machine learning, and neural networks. Malwarebytes this week published a new report on A.I.-based security risks, hoping to strike a balance between likely threats and, as they call it, the science fiction, as A.I. goes mainstream.
One of the things the report warns about is Deepfakes,an emerging threatin which A.I. is used to put words in the mouths of people in videos. The danger is especially acute if bad guys start using deepfakes to target average workers. “Imagine getting a video call from your boss telling you she needs you to wire cash to an account for a business trip that the company will later reimburse,” the authors write. “DeepFakes could be used in incredibly convincing spear phishing attacks that users would be hard-pressed to identify as false.”
Another would be the use of A.I. and machine learning to concoct elaborate social engineering schemes to deceive an individual into divulging confidential or personal information. Here’s what that might look like: a savvy cyber criminal designs an A.I. system to comb through social media services looking for soft targets at a particular company or large public organization. By scraping data from, say, on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram a smart profile of a manager or his unwitting assistant begins to take shape. Once the profile is built, the victim can be targeted with super effective spear-phishing emails.
As Kujawa notes, “The biggest weakness is always the end user.” With A.I. tools, such attempts to find soft targets can be scaled up to identify thousands across the corporate world in one shot.
Bot armies also take on a new dimension in a fully A.I. world. Researchers have already demonstrated that machine learning can handily defeat the CAPTCHA security protocols that protect computer servers from certain kinds of malicious bot attacks. Hackers could use this vulnerability to build wide-reaching bot armies, Kujawa says, to push even more convincing spam and fake news to more people.
If there is a silver lining it’s that white-hat A.I. researchers so far have the jump on cyber criminals. They’ve been dissecting the A.I.-security-risk scenarios for several years to find remedies for a problem that has yet to be tried out on a city or company. But that time advantage is slipping, security pros admit. Governments seem to get the message. In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to promote A.I. research and development ensuring “that technical standards minimize vulnerability to attacks from malicious actors.”
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FollowFortuneon Flipboardto stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis. |
Better Buy: Mastercard vs. Store Capital
This is a clash of the old and the new.
On the been-in-business-for-decades side, we have payment card giantMastercard(NYSE: MA), which needs no introduction. The youthful company isStore Capital(NYSE: STOR), a quickly risingreal estate investment trust(REIT) specializing in retail properties. So which is the more advantageous stock to own at the moment -- the grizzled veteran or the upstart newcomer?
Image source: Getty Images
The retail sector has been contending withthe retail apocalypsefor some time now, but you'd never know it from Store Capital's results.
Take the company's first-quarter performance. Store Capital managed to grow its revenue by a very robust 24% year over year. Its all-important adjustedfunds from operations(AFFO) increased even more, by 26%. Over the last six reported fiscal years, the REIT managed to more than double its revenue and grow AFFO more than threefold.
Store Capital smartly zeroes in onretail-apocalypse-resistant tenantslike gyms and restaurants -- the kinds of places a customer needs to visit in person. Compounding this advantage, it's atriple net leaseoperator, which means its tenants are the ones paying property taxes, insurance, and maintenance expenses. Finally, Store Capital's standard is to rent on a long-term basis; often its leases last 15 years or more.
No wonder, then, that Store Capital's overall occupancy is 99.7%. Which is excellent for a retail REIT that holds 2,334 properties (as of the first quarter).
For the entirety of 2019, however, the company might not post the impressive growth numbers of previous periods. It's estimating that AFFO will come in at $1.90 to $1.96, which on a relative basis isn't far above the $1.84 it posted for fiscal 2018.
Mastercard has also been doing swimmingly of late. The world is, sensibly, moving away from cash toward alternate means of payment. And oftentimes that alternate means is payment cards. In fact, in 2016 -- according to research company Euromonitor -- the volume of plastic transactions exceeded that of cash transactions for the first time in history.
And guess who's one of the big beneficiaries of this trend? That's right, payment card master Mastercard -- also archrivalVisa(NYSE: V), but that's a stock for another time. Mastercard has been posting impressive growth for many quarters in a row, to the point that it's become commonplace.
Its first quarter was typical -- 9% improvement on the top line, with net profit advancing 25%. As anopen-loop payment processor-- again, like Visa -- Mastercard has a consistently high profitability. Its Q1 net margin was nearly 50%, not unusual for this company. That's not too far away from King of Cards Visa, with 55% in its most recent quarter.
The War on Cash is only going to get more lopsided. How often these days do you see someone paying for goods in bills and coins, as opposed to a card or smartphone? As the world's No. 2 payment card brand -- plus an active participant in other alt-payment methods such as digital wallets -- Mastercard is beautifully poised to take advantage of this.
Of the two, Mastercard is the more compelling growth story. Analysts are projecting 12% revenue improvement for the company this fiscal year, with per-share net profit rising 17%. Store Capital's internal AFFO projections for 2019, as previously stated, land only in the single digits.
Further into the future, the five-yearPEG ratiosfor the two stocks match up at 1.8 (Mastercard) and 6.5 (Store Capital, which has been a popular stock among REIT investors). Finally there's the dividend, and the clear advantage here goes to Store Capital -- its 3.7% yield is modest for a REIT but rich compared to the wider stock market. On the other foot, Mastercard's is as thin as one of its plastic rectangles, at 0.5%.
With the retail apocalypse, Store Capital has a good chance of picking up new properties on the cheap, then turning around and triple-net-leasing them to apocalypse-resistant tenants. Yet Mastercard is a powerful global player that will only get stronger on the back of the migration away from cash.
In short, I think Mastercard's growth prospects are better, and it's more attractively valued. The income investor in me is dismayed by that low yield, but a dividend isn't everything. Mastercard is my pick in this contest.
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Eric Volkmanhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Mastercard and Visa. The Motley Fool owns shares of STORE Capital. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
At US$83.17, Is It Time To Put Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) On Your Watch List?
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Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR), which is in the food business, and is based in United States, saw significant share price movement during recent months on the NYSE, rising to highs of $95.72 and falling to the lows of $76.16. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Ingredion's current trading price of $83.17 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at Ingredion’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.
Check out our latest analysis for Ingredion
Great news for investors – Ingredion is still trading at a fairly cheap price. I’ve used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 14.35x is currently well-below the industry average of 24.96x, meaning that it is trading at a cheaper price relative to its peers. What’s more interesting is that, Ingredion’s share price is quite stable, which could mean two things: firstly, it may take the share price a while to move to its intrinsic value, and secondly, there may be less chances to buy low in the future once it reaches that value. This is because the stock is less volatile than the wider market given its low beta.
Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. Ingredion’s earnings growth are expected to be in the teens in the upcoming year, indicating a solid future ahead. This should lead to robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value.
Are you a shareholder?Since INGR is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to increase your holdings in the stock. With a positive outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation.
Are you a potential investor?If you’ve been keeping an eye on INGR for a while, now might be the time to make a leap. Its buoyant future outlook isn’t fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means it’s not too late to buy INGR. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to make a well-informed buy.
Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on Ingredion. You can find everything you need to know about Ingredion inthe latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Ingredion, you can use our free platform to see my list of over50 other stocks with a high growth potential.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Akerna Stock Offers Investors a New Way to Play the Cannabis Craze
Investors, meetAkerna(NASDAQ:KERN), the newest marijuana stock to hit the market. Akerna is fundamentally different from many other marijuana stocks in two important ways. One, it’s a U.S. company, whereas most pot stocks are Canadian ventures. Secondly, Akerna isn’t a cannabis producer; it’s a cannabis-technology company.
Given those novelties, investors have rushed into KERN stock to gain a different type of exposure to the continuous-growth cannabis market. That’s why KERN stock has essentially tripled over the past two days.
With that in mind, let’s now rewind a bit. The legal cannabis industry is poised to grow more quickly than most other markets over the next decade. Investors want exposure to that market. Right now, because we are in the top of the first inning of the cannabis sector’s growth, investors’ potential exposure to the legal cannabis industry is largely limited to Canadian cannabis producers likeCanopy Growth(NYSE:CGC),Cronos(NASDAQ:CRON),Aurora(NYSE:ACB), andTilray(NASDAQ:TLRY). Simply put, the biggest players in the cannabis space are producers, and pot still isn’t legal in all of the U.S.
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Against that backdrop, Akerna’s plunge into the public market is very interesting. A U.S.-based, cannabis technology company, KERN is the first of its kind to go public. And, because investors desperately want diverse exposure to the cannabis market, KERN stock has been a home-run hit ever since making its Wall Street debut.
How did Akerna make it to the public market? Will the hype of KERN stock continue? Most importantly, is Akerna stock worth buying today? Let’s answer those questions and more by taking a deep look at KERN stock.
Akerna is a very interesting company that uses big data and technology to develop products for cannabis producers.
At present, Akerna is supported by two major businesses. One of those businesses is seed-to-sale technology, which allows regulators and government agencies to track cannabis products from their cultivation to their final sale. This is a very important technology. In fact, it’s necessary. Seed-to-sale tracking is required by states such as Washington and California and will likely be mandatory for the global cannabis industry.
KERN’s other meaningful business is broadly dubbed enterprise resource planning, which essentially involves selling big-data-focused software to cannabis producers and pot-store operators. The software is supposed to help players in the cannabis industry better understand their market and customers, as well as reduce expenses, maximize profit, improve customer relationships, and increase yield.
Overall, then, Akerna is a cannabis-tech company which sells important technology solutions to cannabis industry regulators, cannabis producers, and retail cannabis companies. KERN hopes to become the technology backbone of the entire cannabis industry.
It’s already well on its way to that goal. Akerna’s systems are used in 29 of the 33 U.S. states in which cannabis is legal.
As mentioned earlier, KERN stock is the first of its kind to go public. Not only is KERN a cannabis-tech company, but it’s a U.S.-based cannabis-tech company.
KERN stock plunged into the public market through a smart merger and some savvy legal maneuvers.
The core of Akerna is MJ Freeway, which is a U.S. technology company that provides the cannabis software solutions described earlier. Importantly, MJ Freeway isn’t a cannabis company. It’s a cannabis technology company. Because MJ Freeway doesn’t deal directly with marijuana, it was able to sidestep the legality question and go public with less complications than cannabis producers.
Further, MJ Freeway skipped the whole lengthy IPO process. Instead, MJ Freeway merged with a special purpose acquisition company (dubbed SPAC in Wall Street lingo) that was already public. That SPAC was MTech Acquisition. Thus, through MJ Freeway’s merger with MTech Acquisition, the IPO cleared all the legal hurdles, and the combined entity was dubbed Akerna.
That happened on June 17. Ever since, KERN stock has essentially tripled.
KERN stock has been a huge hit on Wall Street, mostly because the stock offers investors unique exposure to a non-cyclical growth market, and is supported by a speculative but enticing long-term growth narrative which, in a best case scenario, ends with Akerna being the technology behemoth underlying the $200 billion-plus global cannabis industry.
Does that mean it’s time to buy KERN stock?
No. KERN stock has a lot of potential. But all that potential isn’t very certain to materialize and it lacks tangibility. The company reported just $10 million of revenue last year. That’s next-to-nothing. To bridge the gap between that $10 million 2018 revenue base and a potential billion dollar revenue base in a decade, a lot needs to happen.
At this point in time, that growth isn’t visible. It’s simply too early to declare Akerna stock a long-term winner in the cannabis-tech space.
Over the next several months, KERN will be given the opportunity to more convincingly prove its leadership position and cement itself as a long-term cannabis-tech winner, much like Canopy Growth did in 2018 in cannabis production. If that happens, KERN stock will become worth buying. But, until then, the sidelines are the safest and smartest place to hang out when it comes to Akerna stock.
KERN is exciting because, as a U.S.-based cannabis-tech stock, it’s the first of its kind. This novelty is what has propelled KERN stock to a 200% gain in just a few trading days.
The long-term bull thesis on KERN stock is promising. But it also lacks visibility and tangibility, meaning that it’s still too early to tell whether or not Akerna will turn into a cannabis-tech giant or a bust. As a result, until KERN’s outlook becomes more visible and tangible, KERN stock should be avoided.
As of this writing, Luke Lango was long CGC and ACB.
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Justin Bieber Gets Challenged to Fight With Ivan Drago Wannabe
Justin Bieber may actually get a chance to get in the ring and fight ... it just won't be with Tom Cruise . JB was leaving trendy restaurant, Craig's, Friday night in West Hollywood when he was approached by a guy dressed as the famed Ivan Drago character from "Rocky IV." The shirtless challenger was looking for a fight -- and for attention -- by running up to the pop star and demanding he "fight a real guy ... a Russian guy! Justin clearly wanted nothing to do with the wannabe Ivan Drago, because on his way in to the restaurant he simply laughed off the attention seeker. Bieber has been in the news lately after challenging Tom Cruise to an MMA style fight. Now all of this tough guy stuff may be backfiring on the "What Do You Mean" singer cause he is getting un-wanted challenges from people outside of restaurants. On the way out of dinner Bieber traded his laughs for somewhat of more stern look. Bieber rushed to his car and can bee seen starring the guy down clearly saying that he was not having what the guy was doing. The Russian character was yelling in a very heavy accent "why you want to fight an old guy ... fight a Russian guy." You may recall the man is the same Drago character who showed up to Logan Paul's home and challenged him to a fight. Paul actually agreed to the fight and put it on his YouTube channel. He had no problems fighting the blonde haired Russian, knocking him out in a one sided fight. The fake Ivan Drago will is an aspiring social media star and will clearly do anything for clout. The storyline between Bieber and Cruise is interesting ... considering he backed down from the fight right after he issued the challenge. Cruise has not even acknowledged any of the drama, probably because he's too busy focusing on his next big flick , "Top Gun: Maverick." |
What Big Banks Say About Being 'Screwed' — Data Sheet
Adam Dell, the head of product for theGoldman Sachsconsumer bank Marcus, delivered a zinger to the Brainstorm Finance audience in Montauk, N.Y., Thursday afternoon. “There are only two kinds of banks,” he said. “There are banks that are screwed. And banks that don’t know they are screwed.”
Dell can be smug because his bank is an “internal startup” of a very old investment house. Marcus has no branches, charges its customers no fees, and is able to build its business on the one hand from the ground up and on the other with the balance sheet of Goldman Sachs. The head of Marcus, Harit Talwar,spoke earlier in the dayand revealed the grandness of Marcus’s ambitions: “Our purpose is to disrupt the distribution and consumption of financial services—pretty much whatAmazonhas done, and is doing, to retail, or whatAppledid to the music industry,” he said. “We believe we can do that.”
I put the-screwed/don’t-know-they’re-screwed question to Michael Corbat, CEO of consumer and institutional banking giant Citi, and he diverted, averring that Citi is not in denial about the changes in the industry. That said, cash, checking, and even branches are good businesses with older customers, the ones who have money. (Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger made a similar point the day before.)
Citi’s strategy is to keep being a full-service consumer banker in the six U.S. cities where it still has a presence, and a national, branchless banker everywhere else. Its target market is its large base of credit card customers.
Corbat declared himself a “true believer” in newfangled financial instruments like cryptocurrencies even if they don’t represent much of a near-term business opportunity. He answered a question that had been buzzing around the conference: HadFacebookapproached Citi—and presumably other banks—to join its new consortium? Corbat said they had not, quickly adding “to my knowledge.” He said Citi would “take a look at it” if the tech giant does reach out.
***
A talent shout-out: After having been involved with organizing Brainstorm conferences for more than a decade, it was a particular joy for me to watch the journalistic team that put together this conference. Jen Wieczner, Robert Hackett, and Jeff Roberts—the team behind The Ledger newsletter—conceived of, programmed, speaker-wrangled, and otherwise poured their hearts and souls into the event in the foggy Hamptons. Congrats, team!
Adam Lashinsky@adamlashinskyadam_lashinsky@fortune.com
1. NEWSWORTHYApple’s problem with China tariffs. Apple sent aletterto U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer explaining how the Trump Administration’s proposed China tariffs would hurt the company’s ability to compete against Chinese tech companies. The letter stated: “The Chinese producers we compete with in global markets do not have a significant presence in the U.S. market, and so would not be impacted by U.S. tariffs. Neither would our other major non-U.S. competitors. A U.S. tariff would, therefore, tilt the playing field in favor of our global competitors.”It doesn’t mean what you think it means.A survey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reveals that some people overestimate the capabilities of Tesla’s “autopilot” feature, simply because the word “autopilot” implies sophisticated self-driving capabilities, reportsCNET. Tesla responded by saying, “This survey is not representative of the perceptions of Tesla owners or people who have experience using Autopilot, and it would be inaccurate to suggest as much.”Stop calling me!Democratic and Republican lawmakers united on a ”bipartisan version” of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, intended “to stop abusive robocall practices,”accordingto the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The act “requires that phone carriers implement call authentication technology so consumers can trust their caller ID again.”Foxconn’s new chief. Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision, said it picked Young Liu to be the contract manufacture’s new chairman, Bloomberg Newsreported. Liu will replace Terry Gou, who is focusing on a presidential campaign in Taiwan.The carrier crown. AT&T is the fastest mobile network in the U.S., according to an annual analysis of wireless networks byPC Magazine. Verizon came in second place, followed by T-Mobile, and Sprint.
2. FOOD FOR THOUGHTIs this company even real?Be extra careful the next time you use Google Maps to find a plumber to fix your kitchen sink. Google Maps is “overrun with millions of false business addresses and fake names,” according to a report by theWall Street Journal.undefined
3. IN CASE YOU MISSED ITSlack Ends First Day of Trading Worth $21 Billion. Now the Hard Work Beginsby Kevin KelleherFacebook Watch Video Service Has Yet to Prove it Can Make Big Moneyby Danielle AbrilBlank Slate: Google to Stop Producing Its Own Tablet Computersby Alyssa Newcomb
4. BEFORE YOU GODeath of a robot. Four months after the company behind the lovable robot Jibo sold its intellectual property and laid off most of its workers, Jibo owners got a sad message from their robot friends: “While it’s not great news, the servers out there that let me do what I do will be turned off soon,” Jibo robots reportedly said. “Once that happens, our interactions with each other are going to be limited.”The Vergeexplores the emotional tollof Jibo’s impending death on people who bonded with the robot that looks like something out of a Pixar movie.undefinedThis edition of Data Sheet was curated byJonathan Vanian. Findpastissues, and sign up for other Fortunenewsletters. |
Stock Market News: Pot Losses Hit Constellation Brands; Medtronic Delivers Dividends
The stock market was resilient on Friday morning, bouncing back from early losses to build on recent gains. A big run-up during the past few days had stemmed from excitement about possible future interest rate cuts. As of 11:30 a.m. EDT, theDow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES: ^DJI) was up 89 points to 26,842. TheS&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) moved higher by 4 points to 2,958, and theNasdaq Composite(NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) inched forward 3 points to 8,055.
With the Fed likely on hold until July, market participants are once again turning their attention toward broader investing themes. The marijuana industry remains a focal point for many investors, butConstellation Brands(NYSE: STZ) faces further losses from its massive investment in cannabis specialistCanopy Growth(NYSE: CGC). Meanwhile, a falling interest rate environment puts more value on dividends, andMedtronic(NYSE: MDT) said it would send shareholders a little more cash going forward.
Constellation Brands saw its stock fall 1% Friday morning after the beer and spirits giant filed a disclosure statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing came as a result of the latest quarterly report from Canopy Growth, in which Constellation holds a roughly 36% stake, with warrants that could allow it to boost that position in the future.
Constellation said that under the equity method, it will recognize a pre-tax loss of $106 million from its investment in Canopy. The loss will show up in Constellation's results for the quarter that ended in May, reflecting the two-month lag from Canopy's March 31 quarter.
After accounting for taxes and other adjustments, the hit to Constellation's bottom line won't be quite as bad the $106 million number suggests. However, even after excluding items like fair-value adjustments, stock-based compensation, and acquisition costs, Canopy will end up costing Constellation $38.8 million in adjusted net loss.
Investors have speculatedwhether Constellation will buy outthe part of Canopy that it doesn't already own. Given that it's already seeing its proportional share of losses hit its financial statements, Constellation can't claim that it's waiting for Canopy to become consistently profitable before pulling the trigger on a full acquisition bid.
Meanwhile, Medtronic's shares eased lower slightly on Friday morning. The medical device specialist gave income investors good news with a dividend hike.
Medtronic's board of directors declared a $0.54-per-share dividend for its next quarterly payout. That's up 8% from its $0.50-per-share payment three months ago, and shareholders of record as of July 8 can expect to receive their dividends later in the month.
Dividend increases have been important for Medtronic. The member of theDividend Aristocratstouted its track record of higher payouts, with today's boost marking the 42nd straight year of higher annual dividends for the medical device maker. Recently, Medtronic has made dividends an even higher priority, having grown its payout by 77% in the past five years alone.
Investors should take some comfort in the way that Medtronic views its dividend policy. As CEO Omar Ishrak explained, "Our board and management team have great confidence in Medtronic's ability to generate significant cash flow," and with the payout being "an important component of the total return we expect to deliver to our shareholders," those who own Medtronic stock can expect the money to keep flowing into their pockets regularly every three months well into the future.
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Dan Caplingerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Constellation Brands. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Tim Burton's 'Batman' at 30: 5 bonkers behind-the-scenes things you didn't know
Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster Batman . (Photo: Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection) Moviegoers headed into the 1989 summer movie season primed for the return of such box-office champs as Indiana Jones , Riggs and Murtaugh , the original USS Enterprise crew and the Ghostbusters . But as the warm weather gave way to fall, one hero towered above the rest — a hero whose arsenal included a Batsuit, a Batmobile and lots and lots of wonderful Bat-toys. Technically speaking, the DC Comics icon wasn’t a newcomer, either. Prior to his major motion picture’s opening day on June 23, 1989, Batman had been fighting criminals in the comic book pages for 50 years, and had also enjoyed stints in animation, movie serials and a feature film spinoff of his popular, if short-lived 1960s TV show. Under the direction of Tim Burton, though, audiences met a Caped Crusader (played by Michael Keaton), to say nothing of a Gotham City (designed by Anton Furst), that looked unlike any previous onscreen incarnation. Even three decades later, Batman ’s heightened style, which fuses the imagery of illustrators like Neal Adams and Frank Miller with the sensibilities of such filmmakers as Fritz Lang and William Castle, is uniquely transporting. Seen again today, it’s an unapologetically fantastical version of a comic book-inspired cinematic universe at a time when many superhero franchises — including Christopher Nolan’s much-loved Dark Knight trilogy — opt for a more real-world approach. At the same time, it also treats the central character seriously, erasing any hint of ’60s-era camp. That Burton’s Batman exists at all is something of a miracle. In the wake of Richard Donner’s 1978 blockbuster, Superman: The Movie , a Batman-fronted feature worked its way through the Warner Bros. development pipeline, with early versions offering a more expansive account of who the character was and how he came to be. The project moved in fits and starts even after Burton stepped up to the director’s chair, finally finding new life with a new screenwriter, Sam Hamm, who decided to condense the character’s origin story into two words: “ I’m Batman .” Story continues “We wanted to basically jump in where Batman was already established, but not well-known,” the now 63-year-old writer tells Yahoo Entertainment about his classic opening sequence, which features the Dark Knight saving a family from an alleyway robbery that’s not unlike the one that left Bruce Wayne an orphan. “The audience thinks they’re seeing what they remember from the comics as the origin of Batman, but then all of a sudden, Batman shows up! The idea was just to be constantly fighting whatever the audience’s expectations might be. For me, that was the big fun of writing the screenplay — trying not to do it by the numbers.” But the numbers don’t lie: Batman grossed over $250 million in its original theatrical run, and set home entertainment records as well when it hit VHS just in time for the holiday gift-giving season. Burton and Hamm also set the tone for the wave of comic book movies that swept through theaters in the 1990s, until the dawn of the Marvel Age during the early 2000s. With the movie’s 30th anniversary this weekend, here’s a deep dive into the version of Batman you never saw as it unfolded in Hamm’s original script. Batman: Week 6 Michael Keaton takes aim as Batman. (Photo: Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett Collection) Hamm and Burton may have opted to skip over their hero’s origin story, but make no mistake: The writer’s original conception of the movie could still be described as Batman Begins . “When we meet Bruce Wayne, he’s only in his first six weeks or so of being Batman, and I don’t think he’s decided whether it’s really going to work out or not,” Hamm says about where his script picked up the Dark Knight’s journey. Part of that uncertainty stems from the fact that his childhood emotional trauma is still as fresh as his crimefighting career. “Tim and I decided that this guy is obviously very disturbed. He’s never adjusted, never figured out how to put his trauma behind him the way other people do. He’s got the assets, he’s got the resources and he’s got enough control over his destiny that nobody can really tell him no. So we said to each other, ‘What if you have this [crazy] character and he starts to go sane ?’” According to Hamm, that’s the character arc that sparked Keaton’s imagination as well. Unlike the actors who have since donned the mantle of Bruce Wayne — from Val Kilmer to Ben Affleck — the Beetlejuice star leaned into the idea of Gotham’s most eligible tycoon as a weird recluse. In one of Batman ’s best visual gags, and one that Hamm says he can’t take credit for, it’s revealed that Bruce sleeps more soundly when he’s hanging upside down like a bat rather than horizontal in a bed. “I don’t know who came up with that; I think it was an on-set improvisation,” the writer says, chuckling. “But it’s a really nice gag.” Bruce’s road back to sanity begins when he meets Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) at the month-and-a-half mark in his crimefighting career and discovers there might be more to life than putting on muscle armor and punching bad guys. “We thought, ’What if he met someone and wonders whether he could have a nice relationship and an ordinary family?’” Hamm says. “He’d never seen the appeal of that before, but suddenly it starts to makes sense to him. At the same time, he’s out in the middle of the streets at night riling up the criminal community, which makes him think, ‘Maybe what I’m doing out here isn’t good.’ From the start, we wanted to treat him as if he were a human being — one who looked at the consequences of what he was doing and asked himself, ‘Is it really worth it?’” The Joker wasn’t meant to be the Bat-maker Jack Nicholson as The Joker in Batman . (Photo: Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection) While Hamm opted to skip over Bruce’s transformation into Batman, he did intend to tell one significant origin story: how Gotham gangster Jack Napier (Jack Nicolson) becomes the wild and crazy Clown Prince of Crime. Confronted by the Dark Knight in the middle of a chemical plant burglary, Napier plunges into a vat of greenish sludge and emerges with the Joker’s signature chalk-white face and devilish grin. Bruce doesn’t realize it at the time, but it’s only appropriate that his alter ego is involved in the creation of his greatest nemesis. Many years ago, Napier created Batman by gunning down Thomas and Martha Wayne, leaving their son alone to contemplate an eerie question: “ You ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight? ” Chilling words… but not ones penned by Hamm, who says he fought — and ultimately lost — a battle with Burton about whether or not to ID the Joker as the killer of Batman’s parents. His drafts purposefully omitted that revelation, instead using the Joe Chill character from comic book continuity. But as production on the film began in 1988, a Writers Guild strike prevented Hamm from doing any further work on the script. Warren Skaaren — who previously worked with Burton and Keaton on Beetlejuice — jumped onboard at that point, with Jonathan Gems and Charles McKeown contributing on-set rewrites and at some point in that process, Burton got his preferred Wayne-killer. (Hamm and Skaaren are the only two writers credited in the finished film, with Hamm receiving an additional “Story by” credit.) “It’s always bugged me,” he admits now. “I think it’s too neat and symmetrical. Here’s a guy who is driven to put on a suit and fight crime; he’s been preparing for 20 years, and suddenly the first guy he runs into is the guy who popped his parents? I’m like, ‘OK, so is his trauma fixed now? Does he feel better?’ I understand it provides a nice closed narrative for this one movie, but I always thought about the characters as being part of a larger continuity.” At the same time, Hamm didn’t intend — or expect — for Nicholson to be anything more than a one-and-done villain. As in the finished film, his script ended with the Joker battling Batman in the belfry of a towering Gotham City cathedral before nearly escaping on his Joker-copter to fight another day. Just as he’s about to lift off into the heavens, Batman brings him down to Earth ( all the way down) by lassoing a gargoyle onto his leg. That cause of death was added during production; Hamm’s vision for Nicholson’s final moments was a bit more… well, batty. “I wanted the movie to end in a belfry — because, let’s face it, it’s Batman — and I had a huge flock of bats come flying out of the rafters,” Hamm says, laughing. “That caused the Joker’s helicopter to go out of control and that’s how he plunged to his death. But they didn’t have the dough for the bat invasion! Thanks to CGI, it would be much cheaper to do a flock of bats now than it was back then.” Murder in the first The Batmobile sprints away from blowing up a bunch of the Joker's henchmen. (Photo: Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection) To kill or not to kill? That’s been the question confronting every contemporary comic book movie since Superman snapped General Zod’s neck at the end of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel . The director knowingly doubled down on killer superheroes with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice , in which Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader dishes out fatal blows to his opponents without breaking a sweat… or showing any remorse. Snyder’s choice inspired an equally violent reaction within fandom, and subsequent DC movies like Aquaman and Shazam! have tellingly found ways for their heroes to defeat evil without flat-out murdering it. It’s worth noting that Batfleck isn’t the first big-screen Dark Knight to wittingly shed bad guy blood. (For that matter, Man of Steel defenders will be more than happy to tell you that Christopher Reeve’s Superman didn’t work all that hard to save Terence Stamp’s General Zod.) Hamm’s Batman also racks up the body count; in addition to ending the Joker’s life, Keaton’s Batman kills an entire group of his minions with a Batmobile bomb, and sends other enemy combatants over the edge of the miles-high staircase that leads up to the cathedral belfry. And let’s not forget that Bruce also outfits the Batplane with multiple guns — the same weapon that killed his parents — which has been a longstanding no-no in the pages of the comic book. ( On the other hand, he’s also a lousy shot .) Hamm says that he and Burton arrived at the decision that their Batman would kill — within reason — early on in the writing process, relying on established precedent from the character’s earliest comic appearances. “In early issues of Detective Comics , he used to pack a gun,” the writer notes. “Obviously, he’s not going to be a wholesale killer, but if you’re in a situation where you have to stop an entire city’s worth of people from being killed in the streets, then you respond with reasonable force.” Batman wasn't adverse to guns or killing in his earliest comic book appearances. (Photo: DC Comics) While Hamm never penned a version of the script where Batman doesn’t kill, he understands why large sections of moviegoers don’t like to see their superheroes going around snapping necks. “I had logical trouble with Man of Steel in that I’m not quite sure how he kills General Zod,” he admits. “Either they’re invulnerable or they’re not invulnerable. It’s not like because you’re Kryptonian you’re strong enough to break his neck. And if you have trouble with the morality of it, then the thing to do is to incorporate that into the story. If Superman has done this awful thing in order to save the people of Earth, maybe that becomes part of his ongoing saga. Maybe it’s the moment where he decides, ‘I will never again kill a person.’” Blundering into a Boy Wonder Tim Burton and Michael Keaton on the set of Batman . (Photo: Mary Evans/GUBER PETERS CO / POLYGRAM FILMED ENTERTAINMENT / WARNER BRO/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection) Besides deciding that Batman wasn’t averse to killing bad guys, there was one other conclusion that Burton and Hamm arrived at almost immediately: Batman would be Robin-free. Unfortunately for them, Warner Bros. didn’t agree. The Boy Wonder had been a big part of the screenplays that pre-dated Hamm, and the studio refused to budge from the idea that people were coming to see Batman and Robin… not Batman and nobody. “We kept saying that Robin could be in the sequel, but they told us, ‘No, you have to introduce Robin,’” Hamm remembers. “We knocked our heads together for a long, long time and couldn’t come up with anything.” The eureka moment finally arrived on a Sunday morning just before a scheduled conference call with Warner. “In the five minutes before we were supposed to have that call, we figured out the sequence.” Their big idea for the Boy Wonder’s introduction can be found among the bonus features included on Batman ’s new 4K/Blu-ray set , featuring the actual storyboards drawn at the time accompanied by the voices of Batman: The Animated Series stars Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker respectively. Robin was intended to be part of a larger action sequence that found Bruce Wayne pursuing his nemesis through Gotham after the Joker visits Vicki at her apartment. While Bruce does a quick change into Batman, the Joker’s van passes by a public park where the husband-and-wife trapeze team the Flying Graysons are performing for the crowd. A flare rockets out of the van, strikes a fireworks truck and the resulting explosion claims the Graysons lives, while their 15-year-old son, Dick, watches in horror. The teen joins Batman in pursuing the Joker, but only succeeds in becoming a boy hostage until his future partner-in-crimefighting saves him. Dick Grayson's Robin as he appeared in storyboards for a deleted scene in Batman . (Photo: YouTube) In comic book continuity, the rebellious Jason Todd had inherited Robin’s red-and-yellow outfit from Dick Grayson by the time Hamm started working on Batman , but he wasn’t particularly interested in penning a faithful characterization of either Boy Wonder. (By the time the movie arrived in theaters, Todd was six feet under, and Tim Drake was soon to emerge as the third Robin.) “Our whole idea was to just drop him in the movie, and shove him off to the side as quickly as possible. We figured we’d let the poor bastards stuck with the sequel figure out how to treat him! The main conversation we had was that we had to make him 15 or 16, because if you were taking an 11 or 12-year-old kid out on the streets at night to fight crime, that’s child abuse! Screenwriting is often a matter of incorporating your problems into the storyline and our problem was we didn’t want Robin in our storyline. So we figured out a version where he shows up, and Batman basically doesn’t want to meet him, but there he is.” Without realizing it, Hamm had also written the perfect way for Robin to be excised from the movie. During pre-production, the studio realized that the Batman/Joker chase would be cost-prohibitive and so the entire sequence — along with Batman’s sidekick — got tossed into the trash bin. “After all that misery, it turned out Robin was too expensive,” Hamm says, chuckling. “And the nice thing is that when the movie came out, hardly anybody said, ‘Where’s Robin?’” You had one job, Alfred Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth in Batman . (Photo: Warner Bros./ Courtesy: Everett Collection) It’s the choice that should have landed Alfred Pennyworth on a one-way trip back to England. The Wayne family’s loyal butler completely violated Bruce’s trust by personally escorting Vicki into the Batcave, blowing his boss’s secret identity. Alfred’s casual betrayal has baffled fans for 30 years, and Hamm is right there with them. “I’ll have you know that I did not write that scene,” he says. “That’s the scene where I would fire Alfred! Bruce would be like, ‘You’ve been like a father to me for 35 years, but your phony ass is fired.’” Vicki does learn Batman’s actual identity in the Hamm’s script, but it involved some detective work — and a dream sequence — instead of a rogue butler. “It didn’t happen this way for a variety of reasons, but in my script, Vicki was actually the point-of-view character; the one through whom the audience began to unravel the mystery of Batman,” he explains. As in the theatrical version, Vicki partners up with reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) and together they unravel pieces of the larger Bat-puzzle at the same time that she’s growing closer to Bruce, who has managed to remain a man of Willy Wonka-esque mystery. Her two worlds collide when Batman rescues her from the Joker’s attack at the Gotham Museum of Art, leading to a street chase during which the Dark Knight is temporarily knocked flat by his counterpart’s henchmen while Vicki watches from a rooftop. In the film version, the men move to remove Batman’s mask, but are interrupted by the flash of Vale’s camera bulb. In Hamm’s script, they actually see the face beneath the cowl. “That was another moment where I wanted to play with comic book conventions. I wanted to say, ‘OK, they take off the mask — now what?’ And, of course, when they see him, it’s like ‘Who’s he? I’ve never seen him before.’” Their confusion gives Bruce just enough time to go on the offensive, knocking them down and fixing his cowl firmly back over his head. Vicki missed seeing Bruce’s exposed face, but things snap into place for her during her ride back to the Batcave. “She’s listening to him, watching him and she’s going, ‘I know who this guy is — this is Bruce,’” Hamm says. Sensing another unmasking, Batman deploys a dose of knockout gas. While asleep, though, Vicki’s unconscious mind takes over and pieces together his origin story, starting with the murder of Bruce’s parents in Crime Alley. Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale in Batman . (Photo: Warner Bros./ Courtesy: Everett Collection) “Joe Chill shoots Pop Wayne and Mom Wayne and the little boy is standing there crying. Then Commissioner Gordon is hugging the boy and a flashbulb goes off, and we do a reverse angle that reveals the person holding the camera is Vicki. She wakes up, the phone is ringing and it’s Bruce. At that moment, she knows it’s him. That gradual reveal was part of her story: Her realization that the guy she’s falling for and the crazy vigilante she’s been tracking are actually the same guy.” Batman is available on 4K Ultra HD from Amazon and Walmart . It can also be rented or purchased from Amazon , iTunes and Vudu . Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: 'Field of Dreams' at 30: 5 things you never knew about the baseball classic from an 'Exorcist' connection to a lost James Earl Jones speech 'The Last Crusade' at 30: 5 things you didn't know about the third Indiana Jones adventure 'The Natural' at 35: Here's how Robert Redford hit that explosive home run |
Foxconn’s Billionaire Founder Urges Apple to Invest in Taiwan
(Bloomberg) -- The billionaire founder of Apple Inc.’s largest supplier asked the U.S. company to move from China to neighboring Taiwan.
"Speaking from the perspective of the Republic of China, I will plead to Apple to come to Taiwan," said Terry Gou, who remains the largest shareholder in Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., answering a question about whether Apple will shift production away from China. He was referring to Taiwan by its formal moniker. “I believe it is possible," he said without elaborating.
Louis Woo, a special assistant to Gou, later said that the executive and Taiwan presidential hopeful was urging Apple to "invest" in Taiwan, not to move plants from China.
The Trump administration’s threat to levy tariffs on some $300 billion of Chinese-made goods -- including phones and laptops -- has inflamed speculation that Apple will divert some capacity away from the world’s second largest economy. And Hon Hai is the largest of hundreds of Apple-suppliers with factories on the mainland, making most of the world’s iPhones from the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
A significant shift of manufacturing from China to Taiwan -- which Beijing views as part of its territory -- may also exacerbate tensions between the two governments. Hon Hai, the main listed arm of the Foxconn Technology Group, is today the largest private employer in China, paying as many as a million mostly migrant laborers to put together everything from iPhones to HP laptops.
Gou, who is stepping down as Hon Hai chairman Friday to focus on winning a party nomination to compete in the 2020 Taiwanese presidential elections, had run a company that depends on Apple for half its revenue. It’s unclear how much capacity Gou may have been referring to, nor how feasible a large-scale move -- for Hon Hai or any other Apple supplier -- may be.
The Taiwanese firms that assemble most of the world’s electronics are now expanding or exploring plants in Southeast Asia and elsewhere to escape punitive tariffs on U.S.-bound goods. But the vast majority of their capabilities remain rooted in China. The Nikkei reported this week that Apple asked its largest suppliers to consider the costs of shifting 15% to 30% of its output from China to Southeast Asia, but three major partners to the U.S. company later pushed back against that idea. Hon Hai itself has said Apple hasn’t requested such a move.
(Updates with comment from Gou special assistant in third paragraph.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Debby Wu in Taipei at dwu278@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan
For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P. |
All Global Crypto Exchanges Must Now Share Customer Data, FATF Rules
A powerful intergovernmental organization devoted to combating money laundering and terrorism financing has finalized its recommendations on regulating cryptocurrencies for its 37 member countries.
As expected, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards released Friday include acontroversialrequirement that “virtual asset service providers” (VASPs), including crypto exchanges, pass information about their customers to one another when transferring funds between firms.
Thefinal recommendationmakes official the contentious part of FATF’sFebruary proposal, saying countries should make sure that when crypto businesses send money, they:
Related:Regulators Debate Cryptocurrency Legislation Ahead of G20 Summit
Under the new guidance, the required information for each transfer includes:
Calling the “threat of criminal and terrorist misuse of virtual assets” a “serious and urgent” issue, FATF said ina public statementthat it will give countries 12 months to adopt the guidelines, with a review set for June 2020.
The so-called travel rule is a longstanding requirement for international banks when sending each other money on customers’ behalf. But blockchain industry advocates argued it would beonerous if not impossibleto put into practice with crypto, harmful to user privacy, andcounter-productive to law enforcement goals.
Related:It’s FATF’s Way or the Highway for Crypto Exchanges. That’s a Big Mistake
The guidelines also suggest that individuals using crypto wallets to transmit value could be designated VASPs, and thus subject to licensing requirements – at least if they do so as a business.
“In cases where the VASP is anatural person, it should be required to be licensed or registered in the jurisdiction where its place of business is located—the determination of which may include several factors for consideration by countries,” the document says.
Individuals are not VASPs if they use crypto to buy goods or services or if they make “a one-off exchange or transfer,” FATF said.
FATF is also giving countries the option of requiring foreign VASPs that provide products or services within their jurisdiction to register with the appropriate authorities.
“Competent authorities should take the necessary legal or regulatory measures to prevent criminals or their associates from holding, or being the beneficial owner of, a significant or controlling interest, or holding a management function in, a VASP,” the guidance states elsewhere.
“Such measures should include requiring VASPs to seek authorities’ prior approval for substantive changes in shareholders, business operations, and structures,” it adds.
For enforcement purposes, FATF recommends that countries consider using open-source information and web-scraping tools to identify unregistered or unlicensed operations advertising their services. Authorities should also consider public feedback, information from reporting institutions and “non-publically available information,” such as intelligence or law enforcement reports.
The guidance even addresses services designed to obfuscate the origin of crypto transfers, saying nations should make sure that providers can either manage or mitigate the risks of transfers that use mixers, tumblers or similar tools. “If the VASP cannot manage and mitigate the risks posed by engaging in such activities, then the VASP should not be permitted to engage in such activities,” the document reads.
VASPs should also be able to freeze or prohibit transactions with sanctioned individuals, FATF said.
Data analytics company Chainalysis, among others, haswarnedthat instead of more transparency, the now-official rule would spur services to shut down or drop off the radar.
But despite hearing such concerns at a private-sector consultation meeting in Vienna last month, which drew300 attendees, the FATF, led by the United States, pressed ahead.
“By adopting the standards and guidelines agreed to this week, the FATF will make sure that virtual asset service providers do not operate in the dark shadows,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said inremarksto the FATF plenary session held Friday in Orlando, Florida.
This will help the fintech sector “stay one step ahead of rogue regimes and sympathizers of illicit causes,” he said, adding:
“We will not allow cryptocurrency to become the equivalent of secret numbered accounts [and] we will allow for proper use, but we will not tolerate the continued use for illicit activities.”
To be clear: FATF’s recommendations for anti-money-laundering policies are not binding; member countries adopt them by passing legislation or writing regulations. However, countries that fall egregiously out of compliance with FATF standards get put on a blacklist, making themradioactive to foreign investment.
The crypto guidelines come a week ahead of the annual Group of 20 (G20) summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28-29. The G20, comprised of 19 countries and the European Union, has beenpushingforinternational harmonizationof crypto regulations.
The guidelines also come just before the United States’ one-year presidency of the FATF ends on June 30. Marshall Billingslea, the U.S. Treasury official who holds the rotating post, had listed applying FATF standards to virtual currency among histop priorities.
UPDATE (June 21, 20:30 UTC):Details were added to the passage about designating certain individuals as VASPs.
Steven Mnuchinimage via photocosmos1 / Shutterstock.
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Some People Think Stonewall Was Triggered by Judy Garland’s Funeral. Here’s Why Many Experts Disagree
It was June 22, 1969, that Oscar-nominated actor Judy Garland — star of The Wizard of Oz, (1939), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and A Star Is Born (1954) — was found dead at 47 of an accidental overdose. A week later, thousands of her admirers turned out to pay their respects at her June 27 funeral. “The countless legions of Judy Garland‘s fans, 21,000 of whom appeared in person and jammed the streets of Manhattan’s Upper East Side last week to file past the bier where her body, dressed in the ankle-length gown she had worn at her fifth wedding, lay in state,” TIME reported back then in a story headlined “End of the Rainbow.” By the time she died, Garland was a well-known icon to the LGBT community at the time. In a 1967 review of a performance she gave, TIME mockingly noted her popularity within the gay community and quoted Manhattan psychiatrists who surmised that she might be admired as a model of resilience. Her problems were no secret, including drug addiction and suicide attempts, and she channeled her sorrow into creative outlets. She was “the Elvis for homosexuals,” Barry Walters wrote in the LGBTQ news outlet The Advocate, “a symbol of emotional liberation, a woman who struggled to live and love without restraint. She couldn’t do it in her real life, of course, and neither could her fans. But she did it in her songs, and with them she brought along anyone who similarly dared to care too much.” On June 27, 1969, when the trans activist Sylvia Rivera heard about the funeral, she became “completely hysterical,” she recalled to the historian Martin Duberman in his 1994 account of the uprising, Stonewall. “It’s the end of an era,” she told him. “The greatest singer, the greatest actress of my childhood is no more. Never again ‘Over the Rainbow.'” Sobbing, she continued, saying there was “no one left to look up to.” Story continues She had been planning to stay home and light some candles as a vigil to her idol when her friend Tammy Novak called and — “sounding more stoned than usual,” as Rivera recalled — begged Rivera to join her at Stonewall. At first Rivera worried about whether that would be in good taste: “Was it all right to dance with the martyred Judy not cold in her grave?” But she relented, “popped a black beauty, ” and headed over. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, June 28, the NYPD raided the bar. Such police raids were typical but, rather than dispersing as usual, the targets that night fought back, and as patrons and passersby stood outside, the crowd grew into hundreds. Fifty years later, experts still don’t know exactly how things turned violent, but some think Novak was directly involved: One theory says when a policeman tried to put her in a police van, she fought back — one of the acts of resistance that set off a chain of similar acts of resistance. But did the timing of the funeral actually have anything to do with the fact that this was the night Stonewall patrons fought back? Charles Kaiser’s 1997 book The Gay Metropolis has been credited as one source that popularized the theory that heightened emotions over Judy Garland may have contributed in a significant way to the outcry at Stonewall Inn hours later, “No one will ever know for sure which was the most important reason for what happened next: the freshness in their minds of Judy Garland’s funeral, or the example of all the previous rebellions of the sixties — the civil rights revolution, the sexual revolution, and the psychedelic revolution, each of which had punctured gaping holes in crumbling traditions of passivity, puritanism and bigotry,” he wrote. One of the several controversial aspects of the 2015 movie Stonewall was the fact that it promoted the idea that Garland’s funeral led to the Stonewall uprising. Even the 2017 Magnetic Fields song “69: Judy Garland” starts off, “The first brick the drag king threw / To draw blood from the boys in blue / Said ‘Here lies Judy Garland’ on it / It flew through historic air.” But experts on LGBTQ history say there isn’t enough to prove that Judy Garland’s funeral specifically fueled the Stonewall uprising. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter “No eyewitness account of the riots written at the time by an identifiably gay person mentions Judy Garland,” argues David Carter in Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. “[The] only account written in 1969 that suggests that Garland’s death contributed to the riots is by a heterosexual who sarcastically proposes the idea to ridicule gay people and the riots.” He also points out that a reference to Judy Garland in an Esquire article published later in the year on the emergence of the “New Homosexual” clearly refers to her as emblematic of the “Old Homosexual” and “symbolically allied with the old order the riots ended.” Rachel Corbman, a fellow at the New York Historical Society who worked on the museum’s exhibitions for the 50th anniversary of the incidents and who has taught a class about the myths of the Stonewall uprising, agrees that there’s a “dearth of historical evidence” that Judy Garland’s funeral directly led to the Stonewall uprising. “In the immediate aftermath of the event, Garland’s death and the uprising were generally not linked in firsthand accounts or the press coverage. The one exception is a sardonic quip in the coverage of the uprising in the Village Voice, which was a pretty homophobic article.” Mark Segal, a witness to that night and founder of the Philadelphia Gay News , wrote an op-ed in 2015 denouncing the emphasis on the Garland theory in the Stonewall movie, which he described as “the most disturbing historical liberty” in the film and “downright insulting to us as a community.” Some experts on LGBTQ history like Corbman worry that focusing too much on Garland, an entertainer, trivializes “the main catalysts for the Stonewall uprising”: abuse, harassment, homophobia and the growing recognition of gay and lesbian activism in an era of consciousness-raising — problems that still remain today. Moreover, the theory that centers the start of Stonewall around her death perpetuates the negative stereotypes that they stood up against in the middle of the night on that fateful Saturday. As the 50th anniversary of Judy Garland’s death and of the uprising both approach, many hope those milestones will be a chance to make sure the equal rights movement continues, but not the Garland myth. |
3 of the Best ETFs for Investors Betting on a Value Rebound
Value stocks are supposed to be inexpensive to other factor-based strategies, including growth, but that chasm is becoming historically wide and there are good reasons for that scenario.
“Multiple expansion, i.e., paying more for a dollar of earnings, has played a part as well,”said BlackRock in a recent note. “Since the 2011 market bottom, the trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for the Russell 1000 Growth Index is up roughly 65%. In contrast, the value index’s P/E ratio has expanded by a more modest 40%.”
Making value investors’ tasks even more difficult is the massive performance gulf between the growth and value factors, one that has been long-running by historical standards.
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“Growth’s recent out-performance conforms to the post-crisis norm,”said BlackRock in a recent note. “Focusing on price returns, since 2010 growth has outperformed value by an average of approximately 350 bps a year. The outperformance has not only been meaningful, it has been consistent. During the past five years value has only outperformed meaningfully on one occasion, 2016.”
That trend is continuing this year. Through June 13, the S&P Growth Index is up 18.2% year-to-date compared to 14.3% for the S&P 500 Value Index. Other data points confirm value is getting really, really cheap.
“JPMorgan tracks value through a basket of 100 stocks picked for their low price-to-book value, price-to-earnings ratio, and price-to-sales ratio, among other indicators,”reports CNBC. “This collection of stocks is trading at their cheapest valuations ever and at their largest discount to the market in decades.”
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So yes, for patient investors, some of the best exchange-traded funds to consider may just be value funds. With that in mind, these are some of the best ETFs to consider when looking for exposure to the value factor.
Expense Ratio:0.12%, or $12 annually per $10,000 invested
TheJPMorgan U.S. Value Factor ETF(NYSEARCA:JVAL) turns two years old in November and targets the JP Morgan US Value Factor Index. The index “is comprised of US securities selected from the Russell 1000 Index and uses a rules-based risk allocation and factor selection process developed in conjunction with J.P. Morgan Asset Management,”according to FTSE Russell.
JVAL is one of the best ETFs for investors looking for a cost-effective, traditional approach to value stocks. The fund holds 278 stocks, which is in the middle of roster size among the best ETFs in the value space. When speaking of traditional value exposure, that often includes large weights to the financial services and energy sectors. JVAL does allocate 18.7% of its weight to the financial services sector, which could be of benefit to income investors as bank stocks continue to bolsteringdividends.
“Most of the largest U.S. banks subject to the annual Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review should notch double-digit dividend increases over the next 12 months, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods,” reportsBarron’s.
Another aspect that makes JVAL one of the best ETFs for investors looking for a value surprise is its 21.2% exposure to technology stocks.
Expense Ratio:0.59%
An oft-overlooked value fund, theDeep Value ETF(NYSEARCA:DPV) is not a small fund as it has nearly $254 million in assets under management and it is one of the best ETFs for investors seeking mid-cap value exposure. DVP is nearly five years old and is a highly concentrated fund that tracks the TWM Deep Value Index.
“The Index is comprised of 20 undervalued dividend paying stocks within the SP 500 Index with solid balance sheets, earnings and strong free cash flow,”according to the issuer. “The companies within the Index are weighted based on a rules-based assessment of their valuations so that stocks that are most attractively valued receive a higher weight.”
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DVP is also one of the best ETFs looking for a unique approach to value. The fund allocates nearly 60% of its combined weight to consumer cyclical and technology stocks, giving it the feel of a growth ETF, not a value fund. Over the past three years, DVP has outperformed the MSCI USA Large Cap Value Index though the value fund is scuffling this year.
Expense Ratio:0.94%
TheAcquirers Fund(NYSEARCA:ZIG) is one of the newest value funds and a pricey one at that because it is an actively managed long/short strategy. Still, ZIG could prove to be one of the best ETFs in the value arena because of the strict approach its managers take to value investing.
“ZIG is a 130/30 long/short deep-value strategy that is designed to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of The Acquirer’s Index,”according to Acquirers Funds. “For both long and short positions, a stock must be listed in the U.S. and have a market cap in the largest 25 percent of all companies by market cap. From that universe of equities, ZIG’s rules-based index will hold the 30 most deeply undervalued, fundamentally strong stocks in the ‘long’ portion of its portfolio, while its short portfolio will consist of the 30 stocks deemed to be most overvalued, and fundamentally weak.”
ZIG’s top 10 holdings includeHP Inc(NYSE:HPQ),Allstate(NYSE:ALL),Southwest Airlines(NYSE:LUV) andPrincipal Financial(NYSE:PFG).
For investors looking to go above and beyond the traditional value strategy while exploiting some financially dubious companies, ZIG could be one of the best ETFs to consider.
As of this writing, Todd Shriber did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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Boeing's Stunning Moment of Redemption
It takes a lot to shock the French. YetBoeingmanaged it—and more—atthe 2019 Paris Air Show.
On Tuesday, after months of being on the back foot over the worldwide grounding of its best-selling 737 MAX, the Chicago planemaker revealed a secret deal to supply 200 of the troubled aircraft to International Airlines Group (IAG), the sixth-largest airline group in the world. Boeing stock rose more than 5% on the news.
Traditionally, IAG has mainly flown Airbus on short-haul routes and favored Boeing for long-haul, but in this instanceCEO Willie Walsh decided to make a change. The deal—currently based on a signed letter of intent—involves supplying the 737 MAX to British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus, and Level, and is estimated to be worth over $24 billion at list prices.
In terms of publicity, however, it’s priceless.
“That order was like manna from heaven for Boeing,” says aviation expert John Strickland fromJLS Consulting. “The Air Show got off to a subdued start and people pretty much expected it to continue in a low-profile way for Boeing, as they’d said before it began that they would be engaging customers and discussing all the issues surrounding the grounding of the MAX.”
“I don’t think anyone expected a big order from IAG,” he said. “It’s a big confidence boost to Boeing at a time when they are under considerable scrutiny and pressure.”
Question is, does it also represent a change in fortunes for Boeing?
Since the 737 MAX was grounded in March following two disasters in four months, the planemaker has tried desperately to fix the problematic flight control software that is thought to have contributed to the deaths of 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia—crashes that retired airline captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenbergertold Congress on Wednesday“should never have happened.”
Speaking in Paris on Monday, Boeing’s head of commercial aircraft Kevin McAllister apologized for the accidents. “I’ve been in this industry for 30-plus years, and this is the most trying of times,” he said. “It’s a time to capture learning. It’s a time to be introspective, and it’s a time for us to make sure that accidents like this never happen again.”
To help achieve this Boeing has reduced 737 MAX production from 52 to 42 planes per month, to allow its engineers to prioritize software certification. As of April 11, Boeing had also made 96 flights to test its software update and, according to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, the aircraft functioned as designed in all of them.
Yet the planemaker hasn’t convinced the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to allow the 737 MAX to return to the skies. On June 2, the FAA also identified further problems with both the 737 MAX and the 737 NG that preceded it, citing improperly manufactured parts. This led to the postponement of a $1 billion order from Azerbaijan airline AZAL for 10 planes.
The simple truth is that despite Boeing’s round-the-clock efforts, nobody knows quite when the 737 MAX will be seen taxiing towards a commercial terminal. “If it is in the air by Christmas, I’ll be surprised,” Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, told reporters in Seoul on June 2.
Boeing’s problems don’t end there either. The shock IAG announcement followed Monday’s high-profile launch of the new Airbus A321XLR (literally, Extra Long Range)—a versatile, narrow-body jet that’s capable of flying 4,600 to 5,400 miles with a 30% less fuel-burn per seat, giving it the range to economically hop the Atlantic or fly non-stop from New York to Los Angeles.
Since Monday, the XLR has won over 200 orders, including 50 fromAmerican Airlinesand 13 from New York-based JetBlue. Other customers include International Leasing Corp, Middle East Airlines, and Qantas.
A computer rendering of the A321XLR that Airbus unveiled at the Paris Air Show on Monday. (Photo courtesy of Airbus)
On Thursday, Airbus commercial chief, Christian Scherer, said the European air giant would use the XLRin a counter bidto Boeing’s surprise IAG deal. “We are taking the position that we would like to bid for this business,” Scherer told a press conference in Paris.
Deepening the problem, Boeing currently has no feasible response to the XLR either. It’s much-vaunted New Mid-market Airplane (NMA), is yet to be revealed, while it hasn’t developed a successor to the capable and versatile 757, which is directly threatened by the XLR.
Add to this the fact that Boeing is also suffering teething problems with its long-haul 777X, which hasn’t flown because of difficulties with itsGEAviation engines, and it’s easy to see that Boeing has a lot on its plate. To say the least.
“There had been an expectation that the 777X might have flown at the Paris Air Show and maybe new orders would have been announced, but neither thing happened,” says Strickland.
Aviation analyst Chris Tarryadds, “You are going to hear loads of comment saying ‘Wait until we bring in the NMA. It will do everything you want.’ But if you’re an airline and you need the capacity now, or you want the capacity now, then the Airbus is already available.
“Put simply: Airbus has a plane to replace the Boeing 757. Boeing doesn’t,” he said.
Yet it’s not all doom and gloom for Boeing. While IAG is likely to have picked up their 200 airlines at a knockdown price, the simple fact is that Boeing remains one of the world’s two big aero-manufacturers and has a huge backlog of orders—the long-haul 787 Dreamliner alone recorded 1,440 orders through May 2019.
“The reality is that Boeing will get it fixed. There’s no doubt,” said Tarry. “The 737 MAX will come back into service, it will successfully operate across the globe and people will ultimately forget all about this.”
That still doesn’t minimize the importance of the Paris announcement, however.
“We’re partnering with the Boeing brand,” IAG’s Walsh said in support of the deal. “That’s the brand that I’m doing business with. That’s the brand that I’ve worked with for years. And it’s a brand that I trust.”
Sitting beside him, a beaming McAllister said, “We can’t thank you enough for the confidence you place in the 737 MAX family, and in all of us.”
—The Paris Air Showgives us a peek at the future of flight
—Why this CEOjust bought 200 Boeing 737 MAX planes(despite recent issues)
—Manufacturers are leaving China—for reasons beyond the trade war
—Listen to our new audio briefing,Fortune500 Daily
Catch up withData Sheet,Fortune‘s daily digest on the business of tech. |
All You Need To Know About World Fuel Services Corporation's (NYSE:INT) Financial Health
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Small-caps and large-caps are wildly popular among investors; however, mid-cap stocks, such as World Fuel Services Corporation (NYSE:INT) with a market-capitalization of US$2.3b, rarely draw their attention. Despite this, the two other categories have lagged behind the risk-adjusted returns of commonly ignored mid-cap stocks. INT’s financial liquidity and debt position will be analysed in this article, to get an idea of whether the company can fund opportunities for strategic growth and maintain strength through economic downturns. Note that this commentary is very high-level and solely focused on financial health, so I suggest you dig deeper yourselfinto INT here.
Check out our latest analysis for World Fuel Services
INT's debt level has been constant at around US$867m over the previous year which accounts for long term debt. At this stable level of debt, INT's cash and short-term investments stands at US$194m , ready to be used for running the business. On top of this, INT has produced US$57m in operating cash flow in the last twelve months, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 6.6%, meaning that INT’s operating cash is less than its debt.
Looking at INT’s US$2.9b in current liabilities, it appears that the company has been able to meet these obligations given the level of current assets of US$3.9b, with a current ratio of 1.36x. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Generally, for Oil and Gas companies, this is a reasonable ratio as there's enough of a cash buffer without holding too much capital in low return investments.
With debt at 37% of equity, INT may be thought of as appropriately levered. INT is not taking on too much debt commitment, which may be constraining for future growth. We can test if INT’s debt levels are sustainable by measuring interest payments against earnings of a company. Ideally, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) should cover net interest by at least three times. For INT, the ratio of 3.94x suggests that interest is appropriately covered, which means that debtors may be willing to loan the company more money, giving INT ample headroom to grow its debt facilities.
INT’s cash flow coverage indicates it could improve its operating efficiency in order to meet demand for debt repayments should unforeseen events arise. However, the company will be able to pay all of its upcoming liabilities from its current short-term assets. I admit this is a fairly basic analysis for INT's financial health. Other important fundamentals need to be considered alongside. I suggest you continue to research World Fuel Services to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for INT’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor INT’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is INT worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether INT is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore ourfree list of these great stocks here.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
2019 Women's World Cup: Rule change means no yellow card for goalie encroachment
After at least one key VAR-assisted goalkeeper penalty in the group stage, the International Football Association Board has worked with FIFA to make a change for the upcoming knockout rounds. The IFAB announced on Friday that it has granted FIFA temporary dispensation from enforcing punishment on goalkeepers for encroachment during kicks from the penalty mark. Currently, the rule requires that the goalkeeper be cautioned (given a yellow card) if a kick has to be redone due to encroachment. But the change outlined by the IFAB now states that while the goalkeeper can be punished for the infraction, they will not be given a yellow card. Here are the reasons the IFAB gave for the change, via its website: - the presence of VARs acts as a far greater deterrent than the caution - the presence of VARs greatly increases the likelihood of any offence being detected and, as goalkeepers are likely to face a number of kicks during KFPM, there is a higher risk that a goalkeeper will be sent off for receiving a second caution if already cautioned in normal time, or two cautions during the KFPM - unlike during normal time, when a sent-off goalkeeper can usually be 'replaced' by the team substituting an outfield player for a specialist reserve goalkeeper, substitutions are not allowed in KFPM so an outfield player would have to become the goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie of Nigeria was given a yellow card for encroachment during a penalty kick during the Nigeria-France group stage match. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) That last point is critical, because it seems like thats the entire justification behind this change. Because VAR is meant to detect even the smallest offense, there are fears that teams will be left with no goalie during a vital moment. During the Nigeria-France game in the group stage, Nigerias goalie was given a yellow card when VAR caught her setting up just a few inches off the line during a penalty kick. If shed been given one more yellow card during a penalty kick, a non-goalie would be defending the net during the re-do. This temporary change may be a better way to execute the rule, but doing it in the middle of the biggest womens soccer tournament in existence sets a terrible precedent. The rule was made, and living with the consequences whatever they might be was the point of making it in the first place. Story continues Well see if the change makes any difference in how things proceed in the knockout rounds, which begins on Saturday. Its possible goalies could be a little less cautious now that theres no risk of a yellow card, or maybe well see absolutely no material change at all. More from Yahoo Sports: Zion breaks down next to mom after being selected No. 1 Why the No. 4 pick won't be a Laker but still wore team's hat Minor league team loses on outfielder's mindless flub Shaq's son 'could've died' from heart defect |
HDV High Dividend ETF Can Keep Surging
This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
With the Federal Reserve having issued some dovish commentary following its two-day meeting Wednesday, some high-yield assets, including dividend stocks, could extend already impressive year-to-date gains.
That includes theiShares Core High Dividend ETF (HDV) , which entered Thursday with a year-to-date gain of almost 14%.
HDV seeks to track the investment results of the Morningstar Dividend Yield Focus IndexSM composed of relatively high dividend paying U.S. equities. The fund generally will invest at least 90% of its assets in the component securities of the underlying index and may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents. The underlying index is comprised of qualified income paying securities that are screened for superior company quality and financial health as determined by Morningstar, Inc.’s proprietary index methodology.
“Two particularly popular dividend strategies are high dividend yield and dividend growth. High dividend yield seeks to provide exposure to above average dividend-paying companies relative to price, while dividend growth aims to invest in companies that consistently grow their dividends,” saidBlackRock in a recent note. “For high yield strategies such as the iShares Core High Dividend ETF (HDV), which seeks to track the Morningstar Dividend Yield Focus Index, quality screens exclude companies with less defensible business models.”
Hone In On HDV ETF
The $7.25 billion HDV holds 75 stocks and has a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 3.48%. While it is a high dividend ETF, HDV is not excessively allocated to utilities and real estate stocks. Rather, HDV devotes over 35% of its weight to energy and healthcare names with the consumer staples and financial services sectors combining for over 27% of the fund's roster.
“Common wisdom has been that high-dividend-paying companies tend to be focused in more mature industries,” according to BlackRock. “Companies within sectors such as Consumer Staples and Utilities for example, can afford to pay more of their earnings out in the form of dividends; they are generally more established, have high barriers to entry, and are less focused on reinvesting for rapid growth.”
Another source of allure with HDV is its expense ratio of just 0.08%, or $8 per year on a $10,000 investment. That puts HDV among the least expensive domestic dividend funds.
For more information on dividend-paying stocks, visit ourdividend ETFs category.
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CME Bitcoin Futures Briefly Broke $10,000 Amidst a New Open Interest All-Time High
Bitcoin (BTC)futureson the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) briefly broke $10,000 on Friday, June 21, according to data fromtradinganalytics platformTradingView.
CME bitcoin futures 24-hour chart. Source:TradingView
BTC futures reached a new high for 2019 of around $10,050, breaking $10,000 for the first time since early March 2018, when bitcoin wastradingabove $11,000 per coin.
The new 2019 record has grown in line with the new highs of CME bitcoin futures total open interest (OI) that has reportedlyreachedaround $273 million after CMEreportednew all-time high of 5,311 contracts totalling $256 million earlier this week. At the time, CME stressed that the OI spike came amid increased popularity from institutional investors.
Open interest rate on CME bitcoin futures. Source:ZeroHedge
A Bitcoin futures contract is anagreementto purchase or sell bitcoin on a specific future date at a specific price. CME Group became thesecondglobal exchange to list bitcoin futures for trading back in December 2017, a week after the launch of BTC futures by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). In March 2019, CBOEannouncedthat they will not add a new BTC futures market, citing re-evaluation of its approach to trading digital assets.
Meanwhile, CME has seen notable growth in bitcoin futures trading on its platform recently, havingrecordeda new all-time high in the number of open contracts in early June. Earlier in May, CMEreportedthat it was about to record the biggest trading month for BTC futures trading.
While BTC futures trading on CME surpassed the $10,000 mark, bitcoin’s price has been firmlyapproachingthe same threshold recently. At press time, bitcoin istradingat $9,862, slightly down from the intraday high of $9,893.
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Commentary: Is The U.S.-China Trade War Behind Bitcoin's Latest Bull Run?
The Trump administration's protectionist trade policies, especially the tariffs placed on Chinese goods, may be driving the rapid recovery in the value of the most well-known crypto-asset, Bitcoin, over the past six weeks.
Bitcoin – and its underlying blockchain technology – was thrust into the media spotlight in the fall of 2017 when the price of the crypto-asset shot up from about $1,200 in April 2017 to $4,500 by September. Asking prices for bitcoin spiked to an all-time high of $20,078 on December 17 before collapsing.
After a series of "dead cat bounces," Bitcoin settled in the mid-$6,000 range over the summer of 2018, then fell precipitously to the mid-$3,000 range in late November. Bitcoin bulls in the press and social media fell quiet, interest waned in crypto-assets, and the pace of initial coin offerings by new projects abated.
Quite recently, though, bitcoin has regained its momentum. In the past three months, the crypto-asset's value has climbed 134 percent, and on the afternoon of Thursday, June 20, it broke through $9,500, setting a new 52-week high.
There is reason to believe that the Trump administration's trade war with China and China's policy responses have a lot to do with the sudden surge in bitcoin's price.
On May 10, President Trump hiked duties on almost $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent. In the month of April, bitcoin traded between $4,900 and $5,400, slowly rising as trade tensions simmered. Shortly before the new increased tariffs were announced, bitcoin started climbing faster. Over the course of May 10, bitcoin ramped from $6,272 to $6,559, a significant one-day move of 4.5 percent.
Why? Chinese retail investors knew what was coming – a further devaluation of China's currency, the yuan. The Chinese government's devaluation of its currency, of course, is an old talking point for President Trump, but it's worth recounting the reason behind it if we're to understand why Chinese investors could be ditching the yuan for bitcoin.
Imagine that you're a company that sells Chinese-made goods in the United States. You buy goods in China in the local currency, the yuan, and then sell them in the United States for dollars. If a 10 percent tariff is placed on Chinese exports to the United States, then you are penalized – you have to pay 10 percent of the goods' value in dollars to the U.S. government before you can bring it on-shore. Now you're in the position of figuring out where to recover those costs, either by squeezing your suppliers or passing the cost on to your customers.
The Chinese government has its own way of lessening the burden tariffs put on its exports – it devalues its currency against the dollar. Remember that importers buy with yuan and sell for dollars. If the yuan falls against the dollar, that means that the importer's costs go down relative to its revenues. So far this year, China has depreciated the yuan against the dollar by more than 9 percent.
This chart shows the U.S. dollar – Chinese yuan exchange rate (i.e., one dollar buys between 6.7 and 6.95 yuan. As the yuan loses value against the dollar, the number gets higher.
This chart shows the price of bitcoin denominated in U.S. dollars in green and the total market cap of bitcoin in blue. Note the sudden rise in the price of bitcoin in May, which correlates to the Trump administration's additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
Chinese retail investors – and by the way, ‘retail' doesn't mean middle-class, it refers to individuals moving their own money – have long used bitcoin as a vehicle to get their wealth out of the yuan and the country. It's difficult to pin down bitcoin trading volume by country, but it was widely reported that the late 2017 bitcoin bubble was fueled by Chinese retail investors.
In February 2018, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said that it "would block access to all domestic and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges and ICO websites," and over the course of last year, the PBOC shut down approximately 90 exchanges.
Today, there isn't a reliable, 24/7 way to trade bitcoin in China, butaccording to aForbesarticle from May, bitcoin buyers and sellers have migrated to WeChat groups, where the crypto-asset is traded over-the-counter. Dave Chapman, chairman of OSL, a Hong Kong OTC brokerage that trades more than $1 billion a month, toldForbesthat he believed that up to 20 percent of total global crypto trading volume originates in China, even more than a year after the ban.
The famous hedge fund investor Paul Tudor Jones said, in a 1987 PBS documentary simply titledTrader, that "the whole world is simply nothing more than a flow chart for capital." He meant that depending on a variety of factors – an almost innumerable set of variables – people put capital into different assets. These factors include things like macroeconomic conditions from country to country and across the globe, the investor's appetite for risk and desired returns, as well as adjustments that have to be made due to public policy changes and the behavior of other investors in capital markets.
In my view, Jones' dictum is an excellent insight into the bitcoin price movement. In the crypto media, too often volatile swings in the price of bitcoin are attributed to headlines about crypto-assets themselves – rumors that institutional investors likeJPMorgan CHase & Co(NYSE:JPM) orGoldman Sachs Group Inc(NYSE:GS) will begin trading them for clients, or the recent news thatFacebook.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:FB) and a consortium of other tech companies are launching a token called Libra.
One reason is because there's a dearth of fundamental data about bitcoin itself. Crypto-asset analysis is dominated by technical analysis and the close examination of supposed patterns in charts. When analysts speak of ‘fundamentals,' they tend to refer to metrics like trading volume, hash rate, number of miners, and other attributes of the bitcoin network.
But Jones reminds us that movements in the price of an asset might not be based simply on news about the particular asset class itself.The world is a flow chart for capital, he said. In other words, capital moving into bitcoin and bidding it up has to come from somewhere, and it has to come from a place that is less hospitable to capital than bitcoin. Instead of looking at hype around other crypto-assets like Libra, for why bitcoin is surging in value, it makes sense to look at where the money is comingfrom– at least that is the thesis of analysts who think that Chinese retail investors are getting their wealth out of the sliding yuan and putting it into bitcoin so that it can't be manipulated by the Chinese government.
President Trump has said that he is considering levying tariffs on the remaining portion of Chinese goods that have been so far unaffected; goods worth about $300 billion. If those tariffs go through, the Chinese economy will be under further pressure. Already, GDP growth is slowing, and Fitch Ratings forecasted a few weeks ago that 2019 would see a record number of Chinese corporate bond defaults. New tariffs would put pressure on the PBOC to do further stimulus and protect China's export economy.
If devaluing the yuan is part of that response, expect the price of bitcoin to rise even higher. If the yuan falls against the dollar and bitcoin rises, it would mean more evidence in support of the ‘capital flight from China' theory. If the yuan falls against the dollar and the price of bitcoin doesn't move upward significantly, then there could be another explanation for its bull run (although no one is claiming that Chinese investors are solely responsible for the current run-up – if 2017 taught us anything, it's that bitcoin behaves like a momentum stock and investors rush in as the price rises). If the People's Bank of China doesn't adjust the yuan – unlikely but possible – then the theory will be neither confirmed nor denied.
Stay tuned.
Image Sourced From Pixabay
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© 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. |
Does The Assure Holdings Corp. (CVE:IOM) Share Price Fall With The Market?
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If you own shares in Assure Holdings Corp. (CVE:IOM) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Modern finance theory considers volatility to be a measure of risk, and there are two main types of price volatility. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market.
Some stocks 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. Any stock with a beta of greater than one is considered more volatile than the market, while those with a beta below one are either less volatile or poorly correlated with the market.
Check out our latest analysis for Assure Holdings
Assure Holdings has a five-year beta of 1.05. This is reasonably close to the market beta of 1, so the stock has in the past displayed similar levels of volatility to the overall market. Using history as a guide, we might surmise that the share price is likely to be influenced by market voltility going forward but it probably won't be particularly sensitive to it. Share price volatility is well worth considering, but most long term investors consider the history of revenue and earnings growth to be more important. Take a look at how Assure Holdings fares in that regard, below.
With a market capitalisation of CA$54m, Assure Holdings is a very small company by global standards. It is quite likely to be unknown to most investors. It doesn't take much money to really move the share price of a company as small as this one. That makes it somewhat unusual that it has a beta value so close to the overall market.
Since Assure Holdings has a beta close to one, it will probably show a positive return when the market is moving up, based on history. If you're trying to generate better returns than the market, it would be worth thinking about other metrics such as cashflows, dividends and revenue growth might be a more useful guide to the future. In order to fully understand whether IOM is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Assure Holdings’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for IOM’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor IOM’s outlook.
2. Financial Health: Are IOM’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.
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. |
Bullish Bitcoin Supercharges Crypto Market Cap to Shatter 12-Month High $300 Billion
ByCCN Markets: The net valuation of the cryptocurrency market on Friday flew above $300 billion for the first time in the last 372 days.
Data assembled byCoinMarketCap.comshows that the cryptocurrency market capitalization touched approx $303.42 billion as of 1137 UTC today, its highest since June 13, 2018. That brought the market’s net bottom-rebound to as much as 196 percent, including a 143 percent gain on a year-to-date basis.
A massive chunk of the cryptocurrency market’s gains on Friday came from bitcoin. The dominant digital asset today camecloser to testing the $9,900 level, bringing its market capitalization to $175.27 billion as of 1310 UTC. The move helped to revive the bullish sentiment in the altcoin market, with some cryptocurrencies posting more 24-hour gains than bitcoin itself. They included Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, which rose by 7.69 percent in the last 24 hours, and Bitcoin Cash, which jumped about 7 percent at the same time.
Read the full story on CCN.com. |
Is Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) A High Quality Stock To Own?
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Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). We'll use ROE to examine Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS), by way of a worked example.
Over the last twelve monthsIonis Pharmaceuticals has recorded a ROE of 23%. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated $0.23 in profit.
Check out our latest analysis for Ionis Pharmaceuticals
Theformula for return on equityis:
Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity
Or for Ionis Pharmaceuticals:
23% = US$366m ÷ US$1.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.)
Most know that net profit is the total earnings after all expenses, but the concept of shareholders' equity is a little more complicated. It is all earnings retained by the company, plus any capital paid in by shareholders. Shareholders' equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company.
Return on Equity measures a company's profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else being equal,a high ROE is better than a low one. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses.
By comparing a company's ROE with its industry average, we can get a quick measure of how good it is. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. As you can see in the graphic below, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a higher ROE than the average (19%) in the Biotechs industry.
That is a good sign. We think a high ROE, alone, is usually enough to justify further research into a company. For example,I often check if insiders have been buying shares.
Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.
While Ionis Pharmaceuticals does have some debt, with debt to equity of just 0.47, we wouldn't say debt is excessive. When I see a high ROE, fuelled by only modest debt, I suspect the business is high quality. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the company's ability to take advantage of future opportunities.
Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt.
But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to take a peek at thisdata-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company.
Of courseIonis Pharmaceuticals may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see thisfreecollection of other companies that have high ROE and low debt.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Does Inter Parfums, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:IPAR) CEO Pay Reflect Performance?
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Jean Madar became the CEO of Inter Parfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) in 1997. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid.
Check out our latest analysis for Inter Parfums
Our data indicates that Inter Parfums, Inc. is worth US$2.1b, and total annual CEO compensation is US$995k. (This is based on the year to December 2018). That's a notable increase of 13% on last year. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$630k. When we examined a selection of companies with market caps ranging from US$1.0b to US$3.2b, we found the median CEO total compensation was US$4.1m.
Most shareholders would consider it a positive that Jean Madar takes less total compensation than the CEOs of most similar size companies, leaving more for shareholders. Though positive, it's important we delve into the performance of the actual business.
You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Inter Parfums has changed over time.
Inter Parfums, Inc. has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 22% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 10%.
Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. It's a real positive to see this sort of growth in a single year. That suggests a healthy and growing business. Shareholders might be interested inthisfreevisualization of analyst forecasts.
Most shareholders would probably be pleased with Inter Parfums, Inc. for providing a total return of 134% over three years. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.
Inter Parfums, Inc. is currently paying its CEO below what is normal for companies of its size. Since the business is growing, many would argue this suggests the pay is modest. The strong history of shareholder returns might even have some thinking that Jean Madar deserves a raise!
It is relatively rare to see a modestly paid CEO when performance is so impressive. It would be even more positive if company insiders are buying shares. So you may want tocheck if insiders are buying Inter Parfums shares with their own money (free access).
If you want to buy a stock that is better than Inter Parfums, thisfreelist of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
MSC Loses Preferred Customs Status Over Cocaine Bust On Ship
Following a second large drug bust aboard its box-ships this year, international ocean container shipping line Mediterranean Shipping Company has had its Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) certificate suspended by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency . The agency acted after two of MSC's ships this year were found to have large volumes of illegal drugs smuggled aboard them. In short, C-TPAT is a voluntary program in which supply chain participants receive a variety of benefits such as quicker border clearances in return for risk-assessing, auditing and tightening up their facilities and supply chain from terrorists and criminals. In a note to customers released last night, MSC highlighted that the C-TPAT certificate was "temporarily suspended – not revoked." The container shipping line added that it expects only minimal disruption. "MSC has not been restricted from doing business in, or suspended from operating in, the U.S. market and this action does not prevent customers doing business with MSC." MSC added, "Furthermore, customers should only expect minimal disruption as a result of the C-TPAT certification issue. For example, there could possibly be additional inspections on certain containers coming from South and Central America to the USA. There will be no impact on customs clearance for cargo, which is flowing regularly in and out of the USA. We are actively seeking to assure the authorities that our certification can be reinstated as soon as possible," the customer advisory note reads. Set up in November 2001, C-TPAT was codified into law by the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act 2006. That Act requires Customs and Border Protection to suspend membership if a member does not meet program requirements. "Reasons for suspending/removing a Partner's benefits include, but are not limited to, failure to: adhere to the C-TPAT Partner Agreement to Voluntarily Participate; meet the minimum security criteria; meet eligibility requirements; comply with other rules, laws and regulations," the Customs and Border Protection agency says in its document " Suspension, Removals, Appeals and Reinstatement Processes ." Story continues That document indicates that suspension is on a case-by-case basis. Following a "security incident," the agency will carry out an investigation. It may then decide to take no action, suspend membership or remove benefits, or, finally, remove the supply chain participant from the program for a period of time. A "corrective plan," detailing what the C-TPAT member must do to fix gaps and vulnerabilities may be issued. Members who have been removed or suspended have the right to make an appeal within 90 days. Suspension of MSC's C-TPAT certificate follows-on from the seizure of a large amount of cocaine aboard the MSC Gayane in Philadelphia by law enforcement authorities a few days ago. Crew members were arrested and have been charged. And earlier this year, law enforcement authorities seized over 1,185 pounds of cocaine from the MSC Desiree, again in Philadelphia, in March this year. One former ship master told FreightWaves of some of the difficulties for the crew, the company and the authorities, when drugs are smuggled on a ship. "You can stuff heap-loads on a ship and it is hard to find, let me tell you. I was on a ship as a mate from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, en route to, I think, Boston. Then all of a sudden there were all these U.S. Coast Guard guys. They'd had a tip-off that there were drugs aboard. We were questioned. It was intrusive. ‘Who were you with? When? Where did you go?' And you know where they found the drugs? Under the hull. It was a positive I.D. The ship did have the drugs." The ship master told FreightWaves,"But what if it is in a container? It could be anywhere. It could be stuffed inside frozen chickens. It could be anywhere. No one would know, not even the shipper. I could hide something on a ship and give you six months to find it and you would not find it. Not unless you cut up the ship." One customs-broking expert consulted by FreightWaves was initially shocked by the news of MSC's C-TPAT suspension, but was then sanguine about MSC's plight. "Wow, MSC carries an awful lot of cargo from Asia to the U.S.," he said, but then added that, as C-TPAT is a voluntary program and as MSC has not been prevented from doing business with the U.S. there is little impact on trade. "It looks like there will be little wider impact. It's [C-TPAT] is voluntary, so it's not an issue for trade. As it's voluntary, the impact will be low," he said. Still, it's not a good look for MSC as the C-TPAT revolves around the concept of a "trusted" trader, carrier, importer, broker or other supply chain participant. C-TPAT has its immediate origins in the aftermath of the appalling tragedy of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. There were concerns that global trade and the international supply chain could be used by terrorists both as a cover for their activities and also a vector of attack. A particular concern was the possibility that terrorists could use a standard international shipping container to smuggle in a "dirty" bomb (an otherwise standard explosive device packed with radioactive material). And so politicians and security officials tried to address this perceived weakness. One initial plan was to scan and x-ray every container entering the U.S. There were numerous technical problems, some of which were solved by having trucks drive through a passive radiation detector. But the so far insolvable problem is reconciling the desire to scan and image every single box against the sheer volume of international trade into the United States. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, just under 25 million international shipping containers cross the country's borders every year. That's 11 million by sea, 11 million by truck and 2.7 by rail. Trade volume of that size would make it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible with currently available technology, to check every single container. And the problem of finding the dangerous container in all that volume is only becoming more difficult because the volume of international imports into the U.S. is growing all the time (see graphic). It would also be prohibitively expensive. A Congressional Budget Office 2016 study found that scanning and imaging all U.S. destination boxes at ports overseas would cost US$12 billion to US$32 billion over 10 years. One partial solution is to have lower-risk participants in the supply chain, which is the purpose of the C-TPAT. It's a voluntary program under which supply chain participants make an application to join, agree to be inspected by and work with U.S. security officials to identify supply chain gaps and to block them. There are different requirements depending on the type of supply chain participant. For instance, "sea carriers" must be actively engaging in business with, and have a staffed office in, the United States. The sea carrier must also designate an officer aboard their vessels as a liaison with Customs and Border Protection and it must agree to maintain its supply chain security according to an agreement with the agency. There are other requirements. Highway carriers would have very similar obligations. In return, that supply chain partner is regarded as "trusted," which is why in other jurisdictions similar programs are called "trusted trader." There are a number of benefits, including fewer customs inspections and the possibility of "stratified exams." A container targeted for inspection may be just one of several boxes in a shipment. A stratified exam will allow the non-targeted containers to be moved on to a secure location operated by the C-TPAT member, which enables faster onward dispatch when the inspected container is released. Another major benefit is the so-called "front-of-line" benefit which means that C-TPAT member boxes targeted for inspection are sent to the front of the queue ahead of non-members. There's also a reduced number of inspections by officials and possible further benefits from mutual recognition by foreign customs administrations. C-TPAT today has more than 11,400 certified members including importers and exporters to/from the U.S.; highway carriers; rail and sea carriers; licensed customs brokers; marine terminal operators; manufacturers and more. Another part of the solution so far as been to adopt a risk-based approach. Under the Container Security Initiative, the aim is to identify all high-risk containers and screen them before they even arrive in the U.S., usually at the port of departure. Image Sourced by Pixabay See more from Benzinga Port Report: Maersk Tests Waters For Carbon-Neutral Shipping Slync's Logistics Orchestration: Where Data And Action Meet Commentary: Is The U.S.-China Trade War Behind Bitcoin's Latest Bull Run? © 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. |
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