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Innospec (IOSP) Up 40% in 6 Months: What's Driving the Rally?
Shares ofInnospec Inc.IOSP have jumped roughly 40% over the past six months. The company has also significantly outperformed its industry’s decline of roughly 18% over the same time frame.Innospec, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, has a market cap of roughly $2.1 billion and average volume of shares traded in the last three months was around 92.5K.
Let’s take a look into the factors that are driving this chemical maker.Driving FactorsForecast-topping earnings performance and upbeat prospects have contributed to the rally in the company’s shares. Innospec’s adjusted earnings of $1.25 per share for the first quarter rose from $1.02 per share a year ago and also outstripped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.15.Notably, Innospec has outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters. In this timeframe, the company has delivered a positive average earnings surprise of roughly 9.1%.Buoyed by the strong first-quarter performance, Innospec also declared its semi-annual dividend of 50 cents per share for the first half of 2019, representing an increase of 14%.Innospec, in its first-quarter call, said that it will remain focused on organic growth to develop innovative technologies along with potential acquisition opportunities. The company continues to invest in organic growth projects. Innospec also sees attractive business prospects for the balance of 2019 and beyond.Innospec is gaining from its balanced portfolio and strategic focus on major end markets. The company remains focused on growing sales and improving margins and is also looking to improve the effectiveness of its operations. It also has significant organic growth projects in its pipeline.Innospec is also engaged in acquisition opportunities leveraging its strong balance sheet and cash flows, which the company believes will strengthen its business.Earnings estimates for Innospec for 2019 have also moved up over the past three months. Over this period, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the year has increased by around 3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for 2019 is currently pegged at $5.15 per share, reflecting an expected year-over-year growth of 6.6%.
Innospec Inc. Price and Consensus
Innospec Inc. price-consensus-chart | Innospec Inc. Quote
Stocks to ConsiderOther top-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space include Materion Corporation MTRN, Flexible Solutions International Inc FSI and AngloGold Ashanti Limited AU.Materion has an expected earnings growth rate of 27.3% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company’s shares have gained around 22% over the past year. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Flexible Solutions has an expected earnings growth rate of 342.9% for the current fiscal year and carries a Zacks Rank #1. Its shares have surged around 144% in the past year.AngloGold has an expected earnings growth rate of 90.6% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #1. Its shares have soared roughly 117% in the past year.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.Click here for the 6 trades >>
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 reportInnospec Inc. (IOSP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportFlexible Solutions International Inc. (FSI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAngloGold Ashanti Limited (AU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMaterion Corporation (MTRN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Gas Station Systems Company to Collaborate With Israeli Auto Cybersecurity Startup to Protect Fuel Management Systems
Cyber expert Enigmatos to work with Orpak, an innovator in automatic fueling systems
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL / ACCESSWIRE / June 26, 2019 /Enigmatos, a cybersecurity startup specializing in connected cars, today announced that it will be providing technology consulting services to Orpak to strengthen the protection of its fuel management systems.
The automotive industry is in the midst of a revolution. With the rapid growth in the number of connected vehicles on the roads today and increasingly automated services for cars, the potential for cyberattacks is growing.
"We are delighted to share our expertise with Orpak, a global company with innovative products and breakthrough technology capabilities," said Eyal Kamir, CEO of Enigmatos. "This agreement demonstrates our capabilities to address cybersecurity challenges for the automotive ecosystem, including connected vehicles, fleets and automated fueling."
Orpak (www.orpak.com), a Gilbarco Veeder-Root Group company, delivers comprehensive solutions to oil companies and commercial vehicle fleets across the globe. Its products are sold in 60 countries, installed in 7.5 million vehicles and over 40,000 gas stations. Its ForeFuel automatic vehicle identification (AVI) RFID fueling solution was a significant change in how fueling is managed for fleet vehicles, such as mining trucks, cranes, buses, cars and others. It also defined a unique interface between vehicles and gas stations, both retail stations and in-house or "home-base" stations.
"We place a great deal of importance on cybersecurity. Our responsibility is first and foremost to our customers, and our automated fueling devices are installed in millions of vehicles," said Saar Livneh, VP R&D for Orpak. "The collaboration with Enigmatos is part of our continuous effort to boost the security and safety of our products while continuing to innovate."
Orpak joins the list of Enigmatos partners who are working to improve the security of their products against hacking attempts. Pelephone, a leading Israeli mobile operator, signed a cooperation agreement with Enigmatos to provide cybersecurity services for its connected car products just a few months ago.
Enigmatos (www.enigmatos.com), an Israeli startup company, is active in the field of vehicle protection against cyberattacks. The company's technology blocks cyberattacks on vehicles already on the roads, both at the software and hardware levels. The company is the first to create a unique profile for each vehicle by uploading all the data to the cloud, enabling it not only to locate the source of the attack but also to intercept it immediately and accurately.
The company's president, Maj. Gen. (res.) Ami Shafran, served as the head of the Israeli Defense Forces' information technology department, as well as head of the research and development unit at Israel research and development agency (MAFAT). The company's founders include Eyal Kamir, CEO and founder, a serial entrepreneur in the automotive industry for more than 20 years, and Alexander Fok, co-founder and CTO, who held senior positions in leading cyber companies such as Verint and CheckPoint.
What distinguishes Enigmatos is its team of experts from the automotive and cyber domains, as well as its unique technology approach that enables it to provide a peripheral solution at the vehicle and fleet-wide level.
About Enigmatos
Enigmatos (www.enigmatos.com) focuses on protecting fleets and vehicles from any malicious cyber activity, as well as offering valuable insights on a vehicle's safety and misuse. Its unique technology - DCIP (Deep Car Identity Profiling) - allows it to extract a vehicle's unique digital profile without the need for any prior information about the vehicle. Enigmatos protects the vehicle from any illegal attempt to change the profile. Its solutions accurately detect the origin of each cyber attack and can be smoothly integrated with existing and future vehicle architectures.
Media Contact:
Orit Fredkof, VP Business DevelopmentPhone: +972-544-233902Email:orit@enigmatos.com
Enigmatos protects fuel management systems
Related Images
enigmatos-team.jpgEnigmatos team
enigmatos-logo.pngEnigmatos logo
Related LinksWebsite
Related Videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28DQaMl4FKc
SOURCE:Enigmatos
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549951/Gas-Station-Systems-Company-to-Collaborate-With-Israeli-Auto-Cybersecurity-Startup-to-Protect-Fuel-Management-Systems |
NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP): What Does The Future Look Like?
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The latest earnings update NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) released in June 2019 suggested that the business benefited from a significant tailwind, more than doubling its earnings from the prior year. Investors may find it useful to understand how market analysts perceive NetApp's earnings growth outlook over the next few years and whether the future looks even brighter than the past. Note that I will be looking at net income excluding extraordinary items to get a better understanding of the underlying drivers of earnings.
View our latest analysis for NetApp
Market analysts' prospects for the upcoming year seems pessimistic, with earnings reducing by -7.8%. But in the following year, there's contrast in performance, with earnings growth rates generating double digit 2.2% compared to today’s level before declining. to US$1.1b in 2022.
Although it’s useful to be aware of the growth rate year by year relative to today’s value, it may be more valuable to evaluate the rate at which the business is growing on average every year. The advantage of this method is that we can get a better picture of the direction of NetApp's earnings trajectory over the long run, irrespective of near term fluctuations, be more volatile. To calculate this rate, I've appended a line of best fit through the forecasted earnings by market analysts. The slope of this line is the rate of earnings growth, which in this case is 0.4%. This means, we can expect NetApp will grow its earnings by 0.4% every year for the next couple of years.
For NetApp, I've compiled three fundamental factors you should look at:
1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is NTAP 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 NTAP is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of NTAP? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Casey's Up 22% in 3 Months, Value Creation Plan on Track
Casey's General Stores, Inc.CASY appears to be a solid bet, given its efforts to remain on growth trajectory. We note that the company is on track with its Value Creation Plan. This includes new fleet card program, price and product optimization, cost containment efforts, capital reallocation plan as well as digital engagements comprising mobile app and online ordering capabilities.All these factors helped the company to deliver robust fourth-quarter fiscal 2019 results, wherein both the top line and the bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved year over year. Markedly, the stock has gained approximately 16% since the announcement of its quarterly results on Jul 10. (Read: Casey's Stock Surges on Q4 Earnings & Revenue Beat)In the past three months, shares of this Ankeny, IA-based company have rallied approximately 22%, outperforming the industry’s growth of around 20%.
Further, analysts are steadily growing bullish on the stock. This is apparent from the rise in earnings estimates. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2020 and 2021 has moved north by 38 cents and 42 cents to $5.82 and $6.19, respectively, in the past 30 days.All said, let’s take a closer look at the aspects driving this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock, which flaunts a VGM score of A and has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 9.4%. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.A brief glance at valuation metrics seems to indicate that Casey's has enough room to run in bourses. Further, a Value Score of B also indicates the same. The stock looks attractive with respect to a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 26.3x versus industry’s 27.37x. A more-or-less similar picture emerges when comparing EV/EBITDA ratios. Casey's holds the edge here with an EV/EBITDA ratio of 12.33, lower than 15.39 for the industry.Factors Narrating Casey's Growth StoryCasey's remains on track with its value creation plan to improve sales and profitability. Also, management is focusing on improving distribution efficiency. Casey’s cost-reduction initiatives are likely to result in savings of approximately $200 million in store-level operating expenditures by fiscal 2021.The company launched the new Caseys.com e-commerce website, initiated fuel price optimization platform across all outlets and will soon launch enhanced mobile app. At the end of fiscal 2019, the new fleet card program has more than 2,000 active cards and 500 new accounts.Additionally, Casey’s fleet card program, which involves managing and monitoring of initial sales, back-end system processing, billing and other consumer-oriented services, is likely to lift fuel sales. The company’s digitalization efforts will help create a seamless shopping experience online as well as in-store and facilitate same-store sales growth.We expect all aforementioned factors to continue bolstering the company’s performance, and help it remain in investors’ good books.Other Key PicksTarget Corporation TGT has a long-term earnings growth rate of 7.1% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao CBD has a long-term earnings growth rate of 14.8% and a Zacks Rank #2.Walmart Inc. WMT delivered average positive earnings surprise of 7.3% in the trailing four quarters. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 4.7% and a Zacks Rank #2.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.Click here for the 6 trades >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportCaseys General Stores, Inc. (CASY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportWalmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTarget Corporation (TGT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCompanhia Brasileira de Distribuicao (CBD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in 3 Charts
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners(NYSE: BIP)is one of the largest private owners of infrastructure in the world. That alone makes it an intriguing option for those who want toinvest in infrastructure stocks.
If you aren't yet familiar with the global infrastructure giant, the following three charts should quickly get you up to speed on the company.
Image source: Getty Images.
Many infrastructure companies focus on operating one type of infrastructure in a specific geography. For example, several companies focus on owningenergy midstream assetsin North America, while others only operate airports in South America or cell towers in the U.S.
Brookfield Infrastructure, on the other hand, takes a much broader approach:
Data source: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. Chart by author.
As the above chart shows, the company operates several types of infrastructure assets; these include those focused on transportation (ports, rail, and toll roads), utilities (regulated distribution and transmission), energy (natural gas midstream and distributed energy), and data (telecom towers and data storage). So it provides investors with broad exposure to the entire sector.
Furthermore, Brookfield owns infrastructure in several geographies around the world. That not only increases its diversification and its growth prospects, but also enhances its returns, since the company can take advantage of unique opportunities. For example, in 2016, Brookfield acquired a large-scale natural gas transmission business in Brazil, and won the right to build new electricity transmission lines in the country; it was able to get great deals on both transactions, due to Brazil's economic and political turmoil at the time.
Brookfield's ability to take advantage of market conditions has been one of many factors helping the company grow its cash flow at a healthy pace over the last decade:
Data sources: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners; author's calculations. Chart by author.
Overall, the company's cash flow per share has grown at a 16% compound annual rate since its formation a decade ago. One of the big drivers of that growth has been acquisitions. The company has made dozens of deals over the years, which it has funded through a combination of new debt and equity as well as asset sales.
Brookfield has an excellent track record of selling mature infrastructure assets and using the proceeds to buy higher-returning businesses. Last year, for example, the company sold an electricity transmission business in Chile. It's currently in the process of reinvesting that cash into six new opportunities, mainly focused on building out its data infrastructure and energy midstream platforms. Those new additions will help drive a 20% near-term increase in cash flow, while also positioning Brookfield to grow at a higher organic rate over the next few years.
Brookfield Infrastructure's steadily growing cash flow has given it the funds to increase its dividend each year since its formation:
Data source: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. Chart by author.
Overall, the company has grown its payout by a 10% compound annual rate over the last decade, so that it now yields 4.7%. Because the payout has increased at a slower pace than cash flow, Brookfield's payout ratio has become more conservative over the years, falling from more than 100% in 2009 to less than 60% this year.
That lower payout ratio is allowing the company to retain more cash flow, which it's using to invest in growth projects. Brookfield currently has $2.1 billion of organic expansions on track to start up over the next three years. Those investments alone should help it grow cash flow by 5% to 9% per year, which should support similar annual increases in the distribution. Meanwhile, Brookfield's ability to continue making acquisitions could enable it to grow both cash flow and its dividend at an even higher rate in the future.
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners operates one of the largest and most diversified portfolios of infrastructure assets in the world. Those businesses generate lots of cash flow that the company uses to pay an above-average dividend, as well as invest in expanding its portfolio, which gives it the funds to continue increasing the payout.
This formula has worked exceptionally well over the years, giving Brookfield the power to generate a 17% total annualized return over the last decade, which crushed the 9% total return of theS&P 500. With plenty of fuel to continue growing, Brookfield Infrastructure appears well-positioned to maintain its market-beating ways.
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Matthew DiLalloowns shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Volatility 101: Should HyreCar (NASDAQ:HYRE) Shares Have Dropped 21%?
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Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. Active investors aim to buy stocks that vastly outperform the market - but in the process, they risk under-performance. Unfortunately theHyreCar Inc.(NASDAQ:HYRE) share price slid 21% over twelve months. That contrasts poorly with the market return of 6.6%. HyreCar hasn't been listed for long, so although we're wary of recent listings that perform poorly, it may still prove itself with time. It's down 34% in about a quarter.
See our latest analysis for HyreCar
Because HyreCar is loss-making, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.
In the last twelve months, HyreCar increased its revenue by 161%. That's a strong result which is better than most other loss making companies. Given the revenue growth, the share price drop of 21% seems quite harsh. Our sympathies to shareholders who are now underwater.Prima facie, revenue growth like that should be a good thing, so it's worth checking whether losses have stabilized. Our monkey brains haven't evolved to think exponentially, so humans do tend to underestimate companies that have exponential growth.
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 we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. If you are thinking of buying or selling HyreCar stock, you should check out thisfreereport showing analyst profit forecasts.
Given that the market gained 6.6% in the last year, HyreCar shareholders might be miffed that they lost 21%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. It's worth noting that the last three months did the real damage, with a 34% decline. This probably signals that the business has recently disappointed shareholders - it will take time to win them back. 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.
HyreCar 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 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. |
Qualcomm's security-boosted smartphone chip wins German certification
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm has won certification from Germany's cyber watchdog for a next generation chip that boosts the security of smartphones, as applications such as mobile payments become increasingly prevalent.
The company said its Snapdragon 855 mobile system on a chip (SoC) had gained a seal of approval from Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), whose certification was "known to be very rigorous and globally recognized".
The first approval of its kind means smartphones packing the Qualcomm SoC are deemed to be as secure as smart cards. Almost half of the world's smartphones run on the company's chipsets.
The certification means applications that previously required separate security chips will now be possible using just Qualcomm's SoC system, potentially bolstering the U.S. company's market position.
"Smartphones and tablets are today used for many applications that have high security demands, for example for payments, saving passwords, keys, sensitive information such as health data or two-factor authentication," said BSI president Arne Schoenbohm.
"In securing these devices, the trend is to an ever-increasing integration of elements."
Such applications are expected to become even more prevalent with the launch of 5G services.
Winning the so-called EAL-4+ certification will also help manufacturers save on materials costs and reduce power use in devices, Qualcomm said in a release timed to coincide with the Mobile World Congress, a telecoms industry gathering, in Shanghai.
The BSI certification, based on so-called Common Criteria (ISO/IEC 15408), reflects the watchdog's view that the Qualcomm SoC - which is already in production - is strongly resilient against hacker attacks, the BSI said in a statement.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Mark Potter) |
Democratic Debate Watch Parties—And Drinking Games—Are a Thing
Watching the2019 Democratic debates on TVfrom your living room is not for everyone. There’s nothing like shouting at a giant screen with a wine glass in one hand, a chili chicken wing in the other, and 200 new friends nearby at a bar or party.
While the top fundraising andtop-polling candidatesof the largest ever field of Democratic presidential hopefuls prepares for this week’s debates, restaurants, residents, and even railway staffers, are getting ready to host political parties of a social kind.
Debate watch parties have become a thing.
On Eventbrite alone, more than 1,000 people from the Bay Area to the BigAppleare registered to attend Democratic debate watch parties, according to the ticketing and event technology platform.
“There’s increasingly a blurring of lines between political and social gatherings, where civic duties like voting and following the presidential race are becoming shared activities rather than private ones,” Tamara Mendelsohn, vice president and general manager of consumer at Eventbrite, toldFortunein an email.
“Last November, around the midterm elections, the search term ‘election party’ on Eventbrite became a top trending search in cities including NYC, LA, and DC,” Mendelsohn said.
She didn’t lie.
Some of the trending searches on social media on Tuesday included: debate watch party near me and democratic debate drinking game.
And while it might be fun to watch the unofficial launch into the 2020 White House race at a soiree, there also are social and societal benefits to debate watch parties, according to Eventbrite.
Debate watch parties are about more than gaining validation from others for your impressions of the candidates. More than 75% of attendees at previous political events told Eventbrite researchers that their respective gatherings made them want to participate more in politics, the company said. Also, political eventgoers are more than twice as likely than the average American to give money or volunteer for a candidate, party or group, Eventbrite said.
The themes of this year’s Democratic debate watch parties reflect the diversity of Americans.
In San Francisco, political junkies will be able to watch Democrats go toe to toe while downing “political cocktails” alongside drag queens at the “First Democratic Debate Watch Party” at Manny’s. At MIST Harlem, a restaurant and nightclub that has become a community meeting place for New Yorkers, debate night ticket holders will be able to watch the verbal sparring on “three huge screens” with “$5 happy hour bar,” and “$10 Menu Specials.” Groups like “Pumps and Politics” and “Silicon Harlem” are part of the host committee.
At the vintage-styled 1306 Miami lounge, debate watchers will be able to sample Cuban sandwiches, pastelitos, empanadas, and alcohol on night one of the debates. The debate watch party organized by She the People, an organization advancing female candidates of color, and The New Florida Majority, an organization that advocates for legislative and social inclusivity, will include a happy hour, a panel on timely issues hosted by She the People founder Aimee Allison and, of course, the 2019 Democratic debate on a big screen.
“It’s really to visualize the leadership of women of color in politics,” Andrea Mercado, executive director of the New Florida Majority, toldFortune.
All the Democratic candidates taking part in the debates were invited to the 1306 Miami event and a handful promised to stop by, but the organizers are not saying which ones. They are hoping they’ll elevate issues affecting women in the country.
“Women of color vote at some of the highest rates in the country but oftentimes, our leadership is not recognized. This is a moment to really celebrate that,” Mercado said. “We want to let the candidates know that we’re expecting to hear bold solutions.”
And of course not everyone watching the debates is rooting for Democrats. If you’re supporting the Republican party and the country’s sitting president, and the debate excitement is giving you stress and anxiety, then maybe something like a ride on the Trump Train is for you. Unfortunately, the actual ride organized by Team Trump Broward, an entity of the Florida Atlantic Conservative Team, is sold out, but perhaps you can support them in spirit.
The train will travel from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to the Miami debate site, at which point train participants will team up with other Trump supporters to protest outside of the debate.
“Our passengers are all dedicated supports of President Trump and in opposition to the radical socialist agenda that will be advocated in (Wednesday’s) Democratic presidential debate,” Robert Sutton, president of the Florida Atlantic Conservative Team and chair of Trump 2020 Broward toldFortune.
—Democratic debate watch parties—and drinking games—are a thing
—Meet the2020 Democratic presidential candidatesyou’ve (probably) never heard of
—Issues that divide 2020 candidates going into thefirst Democratic debate
—These are thetop-polling Democratic candidates
—The2019 Democratic debate clashesyou won’t get to see
—What to know About the2019 Democratic debate: start time, schedule, format |
Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – EIA Report Should Set Tone
U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil futures are trading higher on Wednesday, helped by a private report that showed a bigger-than-expected draw down in U.S. stockpiles, an easing of tensions in the Middle East and worries over a potential gasoline supply disruption on the East Coast. Optimistic comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are also helping to underpin prices.
At 11:55 GMT,August WTI crude oilis at $58.88, up $1.04 or +1.78% andSeptember Brent crude oilis at $65.00, up $0.72 or +1.12%.
Oil prices received a boost late Tuesday when the API reported a large crude oil inventory draw of 7.55 million barrels for the week-ending June 20. This was much larger than the estimated 2.891-million drawdown.
According to the API data, the net build is still 26.69 million barrels for the 26-week reporting period so far this year.
The API also reported a 3.17 million-barrel draw in gasoline inventories for the week-ending June 20. Analysts were looking for a build of 217,000 barrels for the week. Distillate inventories rose by 160,000 barrels for the week.
There were no new developments in the on-going clash between the United States and Iran. Both sides exchanged words with President Trump threatening to obliterate parts of Iran if it attacked “anything American”. Tehran condemned a fresh round of U.S. sanctions as “mentally retarded”.
Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) is expected to seek to permanently shut its oil refinery in the city after a massive fire caused substantial damage to the complex. PES has already declared force majeure on gasoline supplies following the fire. U.S. gasoline futures hit their highest level since the end of May on supply concerns.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday the U.S. and China were close to a trade deal, and he’s optimistic that progress can be made during weekend talks between Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping at the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan.
“We were about 90% of the way there [with a deal] and I think there’s a path to complete this,” he told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble in Manama, Bahrain.
Most traders don’t expect a deal to be reached this week-end, but the two economic powerhouses could announce the resumption of trade talks. Furthermore, Trump could back-off from his threat of additional tariffs. Both events would be good for crude oil because they would ease concerns over demand.
The EIA report on crude oil inventories is due to be released on Wednesday at 14:30 GMT. Traders are looking for a 2.7 million barrel draw down. A bigger than expected draw should drive prices sharply higher.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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3 Popular Marijuana Stocks With Surprisingly Poor Margins
According to a newly released report from the duo of Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics titled "State of the Legal Cannabis Markets," global cannabis sales could grow in excess of 24% per year through 2024. After registering $10.9 billion in legal sales in 2018, Arcview and BDS have forecast more than $40 billion in worldwide weed sales in licensed stores by 2024. That makes cannabis one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet.
But as investors, we also know that not every company in a fast-growing industry is necessarily going to live up to expectations. With supply chain issues abounding throughout North America, quite a few popular pot stocks have been major disappointments on the earnings front. The following three marijuana stocks have echoed that disappointment by delivering some of the worst gross margins in the entire industry.
Image source: Getty Images.
Pardon the pun, but expectations were high heading intoCanopy Growth's(NYSE: CGC)fourth-quarter earnings report that it would, likeAurora Cannabis, buck the recent weakness in Canadian weed sales and deliver modestly higher sequential quarterly revenue. Although this proved to be the case, the only reason Canopy's sales rose was the result of much higher ancillary revenue via acquisitions. Both the company's recreational and medical marijuana revenuedeclined on a sequential quarterly basis. That led Canopy Growth to report a ghastly gross margin, before fair-value adjustments on biological assets, of 15.9%.
On one hand, a large loss and diminished gross margin was sort of the expectation from Canopy's fourth-quarter report. Management has made no secret that it's investing heavily in infrastructure domestically and abroad (especially in the United States) to reap the long-term rewards of cannabis, hemp, and derivative-product expansion. It's not cheap to lay the groundwork for this infrastructure throughout North America, which is liable tokeep Canopy Growth in the red through fiscal 2020.
But on the other hand, this was an even worse quarter than expected. I don't think anyone quite envisioned Canopy's recreational and medical cannabis revenue sliding on a sequential quarterly basis. Then again, this is a pot grower thatleans very heavilyto the generally lower-margin recreational side of the market, with 84% of cannabis sales coming from the adult-use market in the fiscal fourth quarter.
If we've learned anything, it's that while Canopy Growth may have an impressive pile of cash, solid branding, and plenty of peak production potential, it really has a lot to prove on the income side of the equation before it earns its $14 billion market cap.
Image source: Getty Images.
Comparatively, expectations on Wall Street weren't nearly as high whenTilray(NASDAQ: TLRY)reported its first-quarter operating results in mid-May. Of course, that didn't stop the company from undercutting even the most reduced expectations. All told, Tilray managed an unsightly gross margin of 23.4%, which, believe it or not, was actuallyup about 3 percentage pointsfrom the sequential fourth quarter.
Why has the going been so tough for Tilray, you ask? Part of the blame in the most recent quarter can be placed on the company's incorporation of Manitoba Harvest, which it acquired for approximately $310 million in March. Manitoba Harvest is the largest hemp-food products company throughout North America. While its addition will lead to a rapid rise in sales and access to a well-established distribution network in the U.S. and Canada, hemp-food products typically have lower margins than cannabis product sales.
Tilray has also struggled as a result of insufficient cannabis supply. CEO Brendan Kennedy has beencritical of cannabis companiesbeing unable to meet their projected output, which in Tilray's case has led it to purchase marijuana at the wholesale level in order to meet supply agreements of its own. With Tilrayfocused on U.S. hemp market expansionand pushing into Europe's medical cannabis market, higher infrastructure expenses are liable to keep this company in the red (and gross margins anemic) for the foreseeable future.
Image source: Getty Images.
A third and final marijuana stock that's been delivering rather poor gross margin figures is Ontario-basedAphria(NYSE: APHA). In mid-April, Aphria's fiscal third-quarter operating results featured a huge leap in year-over-year and sequential quarterly sales but a minuscule gross margin before fair-value adjustments on biological assets of just 18.2%.
Why the abysmal gross margin when most of its cannabis-growing peers are in the 40% to 55% gross margin range? The answer in the fiscal third quarter looks to be the addition of 57.6 million Canadian dollars in distribution revenue from CC Pharma and ABP. As was the case with Tilray above, this distribution revenue provides a quick boost to the top line, but it comes with the side effect of lower gross margin, since it also increases the cost of goods sold.
Also not helping was the fact that, like Canopy Growth, the amount of marijuana Aphria sold in the recreational and medical markets declined on a sequential quarterly basis. Aphria blamed the sales slowdown onsupply shortages, distribution challenges, and temporary packaging shortages.
But even more worrisome than its anemic gross margin might beinvestors' lack of confidence in Aphria's management team. It's a lot easier to expand margins from an already low base of 18.2% than it is to build trust on Wall Street.
It'll be interesting to see if any of these three popular cannabis stocks can turn their dismal margin fortunes around anytime soon.
More From The Motley Fool
• Beginner's Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks
• Marijuana Stocks Are Overhyped: 10 Better Buys for You Now
• Your 2019 Guide to Investing in Marijuana Stocks
Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Is There Now An Opportunity In NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)?
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NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) saw significant share price movement during recent months on the NASDAQGS, rising to highs of $285.44 and falling to the lows of $232.35. 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 NetEase's current trading price of $254.6 reflective of the actual value of the large-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at NetEase’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.
View our latest analysis for NetEase
According to my relative valuation model, the stock seems to be currently fairly priced. I’ve used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 28.96x is currently trading in-line with its industry peers’ ratio, which means if you buy NetEase today, you’d be paying a relatively fair price for it. Furthermore, NetEase’s share price also seems relatively stable compared to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. This may mean it is less likely for the stock to fall lower from natural market volatility, which suggests less opportunities to buy moving forward.
Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. With profit expected to grow by 55% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for NetEase. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.
Are you a shareholder?NTES’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at NTES? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below its fair value?
Are you a potential investor?If you’ve been keeping an eye on NTES, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for NTES, which means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.
Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on NetEase. You can find everything you need to know about NetEase inthe latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in NetEase, 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. |
6 Market-Beating Dividend Growth Stocks to Buy Now
Honing in on dividend is a tried-and-true practice during market turbulence. These cash payouts are major sources of consistent income for investors when returns from the equity market are at risk. Investors can enjoy rising current income, while anticipating capital appreciation irrespective of market conditions.In particular, stocks that have a strong history of dividend growth as opposed to those that pay high yields form a healthy portfolio with more scope for capital appreciation.Why is Dividend Growth Better?Stocks that have a strong history of dividend growth generally act as a hedge against economic or political uncertainty as these belong to mature companies, which are less susceptible to large swings in the market while simultaneously offer downside protection with their consistent increase in payouts.These stocks pose a sustainable business model, a long track of profitability, rising cash flows, good liquidity, a strong balance sheet and some value characteristics. All these superior fundamentals make dividend growth a promising investment as opposed to their traditional dividend counterparts. Further, a history of strong dividend growth indicates that a future hike is likely. This makes the portfolio healthy and safe.Furthermore, these have a long history of outperformance over the long term. However, it does not necessarily mean that they have the highest yields.Here are the screening parameters that could result in a winning dividend growth portfolio:5-Year Historical Dividend Growth greater than zero:This selects stocks with a solid dividend growth history.5-Year Historical Sales Growth greater than zero:This represents stocks with a strong record of growing revenue.5-Year Historical EPS Growth greater than zero:This represents stocks with a solid earnings growth history.Next 3–5 Year EPS Growth Rate greater than zero:This represents the rate at which a company’s earnings are expected to grow. Improving earnings should help companies sustain dividend payments.Price/Cash Flow less than M-Industry:A ratio less than M-industry indicates that the stock is undervalued in that industry and that an investor needs to pay less for better cash flow generated by the company.24-Week Price Change greater than S&P 500 (Market Weight):This ensures that the stock appreciated more than the S&P 500 over the past six months.Top Zacks Rank:Stocks having a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and 2 (Buy) generally outperform their peers in all types of market environment.Growth Scoreof B or better:Our research shows that stocks with a Growth Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 offer the best upside potential.Here are six of the 18 stocks that fit the bill:Lowa-basedCaseys General Stores Inc. CASYoperates convenience stores under the Casey's and Casey's General Store names. The company has seen positive earnings estimate revision of 38 cents over the past 30 days for the fiscal year (ending April 2020) and an expected earnings growth rate of 5.63%. It has a Zacks Rank #1 and Growth Score of A. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.New Jersey-basedCampbell Soup Company CPBis a global manufacturer and marketer of high quality, branded convenience food products. The company saw positive earnings estimate revision of 6 cents over the past 30 days for fiscal year (ending July 2020) and has an expected growth rate of 2%. It has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Growth Score of B.Oregon-basedLithia Motors Inc. LADis one of largest automotive retailers featuring most domestic and import franchises. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 3.49% in the past four quarters and has an expected earnings growth rate of 11.72%. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of B.Maryland-basedLockheed Martin Corporation LMTis a global security and aerospace company principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. It has seen solid earnings estimate revision of 22 cents over the past 30 days for this year and has an expected earnings growth rate of 16.54%. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of B.Colorado-basedTeleTech Holdings Inc. TTECis a customer experience, technology and services company that focuses on the design, implementation and delivery of customer experiences. The company has an estimated earnings growth rate of 12.75% for this year and delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 7.85% for the past four quarters. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of A.California-basedIntuit Inc. INTUprovides financial management and compliance products and services for small businesses, consumers, self-employed and accounting professionals. The company has an estimated earnings growth rate of 19.43% for fiscal year (ended August 2019) and delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 55.51% for the past four quarters. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 and Growth Score of A.You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at:https://www.zacks.com/performance.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportLithia Motors, Inc. (LAD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportLockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportIntuit Inc. (INTU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCampbell Soup Company (CPB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCaseys General Stores, Inc. (CASY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTeleTech Holdings, Inc. (TTEC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
When Should You Buy NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)?
Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! NetEase, Inc. ( NASDAQ:NTES ) received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the NASDAQGS over the last few months, increasing to $285.44 at one point, and dropping to the lows of $232.35. 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 NetEase's current trading price of $254.6 reflective of the actual value of the large-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at NetEase’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 NetEase Is NetEase still cheap? 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 NetEase’s ratio of 28.96x is trading in-line with its industry peers’ ratio, which means if you buy NetEase today, you’d be paying a relatively fair price for it. Furthermore, NetEase’s share price also seems relatively stable compared to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. This may mean it is less likely for the stock to fall lower from natural market volatility, which suggests less opportunities to buy moving forward. Can we expect growth from NetEase? NasdaqGS:NTES Past and Future Earnings, June 26th 2019 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. With profit expected to grow by 55% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for NetEase. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation. Story continues What this means for you: Are you a shareholder? NTES’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at NTES? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the true value? Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping an eye on NTES, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for NTES, which means it’s worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on NetEase. You can find everything you need to know about NetEase in the latest infographic research report . If you are no longer interested in NetEase, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 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 at editorial-team@simplywallst.com . This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
BCA goes private after top backers accept £1.9bn offer for car dealer
A flurry of top shareholders in Webuyanycar owner BCA Marketplace including under-fire Neil Woodford have accepted the £1.9 billion bid for the second-hand car dealer.
Buyout firm TDR Capital, which manages €8 billion (£7 billion) and owns gym chain David Lloyd, on Wednesday confirmed a 243p per share cash offer that emerged last week.
US private equity firms Neuberger Berman and AlbaCore will invest in BCA alongside TDR.
The fund managers accepting the all-cash offer include Invesco, Hargreave Hale, AXA and Aviva and account for 44% of shares. TDR needs 75% to seal the deal.
The board, led by executive chairman Avril Palmer-Baunack, has recommended the offer, making it likely passive funds will follow suit.
“The offer from TDR gives shareholders the opportunity to receive cash at a significant premium to the prevailing share price and will allow BCA to develop its business as a private, unlisted company,” said BCA.
Some of the money TDR is paying will be in the form of debt provided by HSBC, Bank of America and Royal Bank of Canada.
HSBC and Bank of America are also advising TDR.
Goldman Sachs and boutique adviser Kinmont are advising BCA alongside Jefferies.
The offer is second time lucky for BCA after it rejected a takeover by Apax a year ago.
BCA said revenues broke past £3 billion last year, up from £2.4 billion.
More than one million second-hand cars were sold by the company for the second consecutive year.
A dividend of 9.65p was paid up from 8.55p after operating profits rose to £100.2 million from £87.6 million .
Palmer-Baunack, who stands to earn £16 million, said: “BCA has delivered a good resilient performance in the year against the backdrop of a challenging new car market, subdued conditions in the more stable used car market and economic uncertainty.” |
Fast-Aging Global Population a Boon for These 5 Stocks
The global population is aging fast. The number of persons aged 60 years or above is expected to increase from 962 million in 2017 to about 2.1 billion by 2050, according to UN. The aged population comprises 13% of the global populace and is rising at a rate of about 3% per year.
The UN report says that the number of persons aged 80 or over is projected to triple by 2050, from 137 million in 2017. BlackRock noted that “by 2050 a third of the population of 55 countries will be over 60 years old.” The average life expectancy will rise to 73 in 2025 from 65 years in 1995.
While emerging markets are younger relative to developed economies, the former are aging faster now than previous years, per Global X. “In recent decades, China saw its life expectancy rise from 67 to 75 and its fertility rate drop from 2.8 to 1.7, now below replacement levels.”
Why Is the Global Population Aging Fast?
Lower fertility rates will result in slower population growth and aging population, per un.org. Advanced medical treatment and societal changes like urbanization and rollout of social security systems to supplement old-age income also increased life expectancy.
The UN report suggests that international migration has also led to changing age structures in some countries and regions. This is because the countries that are witnessing large inflows in immigrants tend to see less overall aging population as immigrants are normally younger.
Investment Opportunities From Aging Population
Aging global population means that a considerable amount of global disposable income is governed by the senior population. The trend results in a huge long-term care market. Janus Henderson — an ETF issuer — noted that Americans with the need of severe long-term service and support will jump to 140%. So, one can expect solid investment in the broader healthcare sectors.
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few stocks that should benefit from a fast-aging global population.
Capital Senior Living CorporationCSU
The Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) is one of the largest providers of senior living services in the United States. The company currently owns interests in and operates 33 communities in 17 states with a capacity of approximately 5,000 residents. The stock comes from a top-ranked Zacks industry (top 1%) and top-ranked Zacks sector (top 19%).
Genesis Healthcare Inc. GEN
Zacks Rank #1 company provides long-term care, assisted/senior living and rehabilitation therapy. The stock hails from a top-ranked Zacks industry (top 1%) and top-ranked Zacks sector (top 19%).
Brookdale Senior Living Inc.BKD
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. is a leading owner and operator of senior living facilities throughout the United States. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and comes from a top-ranked Zacks industry (top 1%) and top-ranked Zacks sector (top 19%).
The Ensign Group Inc. ENSG
The Zacks Rank #2 Ensign Group’s independent operating subsidiaries provide a broad spectrum of skilled nursing and assisted living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies, home health and hospice services, and other rehabilitative and healthcare services. It belongs to a top-ranked Zacks industry (top 1%) and top-ranked Zacks sector (top 19%).
CareTrust REIT Inc.CTRE
The Zacks Rank #2 company is a real estate investment trust. It is primarily engaged in the ownership, acquisition and leasing of healthcare-related properties. The stock comes from a top-ranked Zacks industry (top 35%).
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.Click here for the 6 trades >>
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 reportBrookdale Senior Living Inc. (BKD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportThe Ensign Group, Inc. (ENSG) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCapital Senior Living Corporation (CSU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGenesis Healthcare, Inc. (GEN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCareTrust REIT, Inc. (CTRE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Jamie Dimon: JPMorgan Chase to give $50 million to Detroit residents who 'are being left behind'
Once a symbol of urban blight, Detroit is on the road to recovery — but a persistent racial wealth gap has left many of the city’s black residents behind. JPMorgan Chase, which has invested hundreds of millions in the recovery, pledged on Wednesday an additional $50 million in investment to address racial disparities, upping its total commitment in Detroit to $200 million by 2022.
“Business has to be involved in trying to fix some of our serious problems,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer in a conversation that airs on Yahoo Finance in an episode of “Influencers with Andy Serwer,” a weekly interview series with leaders in business, politics, and entertainment.
“This new effort is because there's still a class of citizens being left behind. And it's often minority. And they're, in this case, black Americans,” Dimon said. “So this $50 million is a special effort to help black entrepreneurs, do education, small business, and housing.”
The pledge calls for $20 million made in sustainable loans to community development organizations that help low-income Detroit residents find and keep affordable housing. As part of the effort, JPMorgan Chase will implement a lease-purchase pilot program to help 54 Detroit families take title of their homes within the next three years.
Another $12 million will aim to support black small-business owners in the city, many of whom struggle to gain access to the same level of capital as their white counterparts. The fund will help black entrepreneurs get that capital as well as technical assistance and commercial real estate, the company said.
The remaining funds will go to job training and financial health initiatives, including a lift of the wage floor for entry-level Chase employees in Detroit to $16.50 per hour.
Since 2014, JPMorgan Chase has invested $155 million in Detroit's economic recovery. Due to support from JPMorgan Chase and other benefactors, as well as the efforts of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the unemployment rate is down from 20% in 2013 to less than 9% in 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
“Detroit was an example of the plight of one city,” Dimon said. “Its population went from 2 million to 700,000. Civic society, business — people jumped in to try to help.”
“JPMorgan Chase stepped up to support Detroit at a critical time in our history,” Duggan said. “There’s more work to do, and I’m glad JPMorgan Chase is expanding their investment in the Motor City. Their investment has proven to others that Detroit is a good bet.”
Dimon contrasted the success of the recovery in Detroit with the gridlock in Washington D.C.
“Unions working with banks, working with civic society, working with mayors, working with governors — that actually works,” he said. “What we see today happening, like, in Washington, that does not work.”
Max Zahn is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
Read more:
• How black women could give Kamala Harris a financial boost in 2020
• Amazon's HQ2 was a showdown between a union city and a tech giant
• How Donald Trump strengthened The New York Times and grew a Mexican billionaire's fortune
Follow Yahoo Finance onTwitter,Facebook,Instagram,Flipboard,SmartNews,LinkedIn,YouTube, andreddit. |
Do You Know What Honeywell International Inc.'s (NYSE:HON) P/E Ratio Means?
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This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll look at Honeywell International Inc.'s (NYSE:HON) P/E ratio and reflect on what it tells us about the company's share price.Honeywell International has a price to earnings ratio of 19.03, based on the last twelve months. That is equivalent to an earnings yield of about 5.3%.
See our latest analysis for Honeywell International
Theformula for P/Eis:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Honeywell International:
P/E of 19.03 = $173.94 ÷ $9.14 (Based on the year to March 2019.)
The higher the P/E ratio, the higher the price tag of a business, relative to its trailing earnings. That isn't necessarily good or bad, but a high P/E implies relatively high expectations of what a company can achieve in the future.
P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. If earnings are growing quickly, then the 'E' in the equation will increase faster than it would otherwise. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others -- and that may attract buyers.
In the last year, Honeywell International grew EPS like Taylor Swift grew her fan base back in 2010; the 318% gain was both fast and well deserved. Having said that, the average EPS growth over the last three years wasn't so good, coming in at 13%.
We can get an indication of market expectations by looking at the P/E ratio. The image below shows that Honeywell International has a lower P/E than the average (21.7) P/E for companies in the industrials industry.
Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Honeywell International shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitordirector buying and selling.
The 'Price' in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth.
While growth expenditure doesn't always pay off, the point is that it is a good option to have; but one that the P/E ratio ignores.
Net debt totals just 4.3% of Honeywell International's market cap. It would probably trade on a higher P/E ratio if it had a lot of cash, but I doubt it is having a big impact.
Honeywell International has a P/E of 19. That's around the same as the average in the US market, which is 17.8. With only modest debt levels, and strong earnings growth, the market seems to doubt that the growth can be maintained.
Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. People often underestimate remarkable growth -- so investors can make money when fast growth is not fully appreciated. So thisfreevisual report on analyst forecastscould hold the key to an excellent investment decision.
Of courseyou might be able to find a better stock than Honeywell International. 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. |
These Fundamentals Make NEXT plc (LON:NXT) Truly Worth Looking At
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Building up an investment case requires looking at a stock holistically. Today I've chosen to put the spotlight on NEXT plc (LON:NXT) due to its excellent fundamentals in more than one area. NXT is a well-regarded dividend-paying company that has been able to sustain great financial health over the past. Below, I've touched on some key aspects you should know on a high level. For those interested in digger a bit deeper into my commentary, read the fullreport on NEXT here.
NXT's strong financial health means that all of its upcoming liability payments are able to be met by its current cash and short-term investment holdings. This indicates that NXT has sufficient cash flows and proper cash management in place, which is a key determinant of the company’s health. NXT appears to have made good use of debt, producing operating cash levels of 0.51x total debt in the prior year. This is a strong indication that debt is reasonably met with cash generated.
For those seeking income streams from their portfolio, NXT is a robust dividend payer as well. Over the past decade, the company has consistently increased its dividend payout, reaching a yield of 3.0%.
For NEXT, I've compiled three essential factors you should further research:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for NXT’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor NXT’s outlook.
2. Historical Performance: What has NXT's returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of our analysisfor more clarity.
3. Other Attractive Alternatives: Are there other well-rounded stocks you could be holding instead of NXT? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Should You Be Adding Halmont Properties (CVE:HMT) To Your Watchlist 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 the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses.
In the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, my choice may seem old fashioned; I still prefer profitable companies likeHalmont Properties(CVE:HMT). While profit is not necessarily a social good, it's easy to admire a business than can consistently produce it. Conversely, a loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the sweet milk of external capital may run sour.
See our latest analysis for Halmont Properties
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. Halmont Properties managed to grow EPS by 11% per year, over three years. That's a good rate of growth, if it can be sustained.
I like to take a look at earnings before interest and (EBIT) tax margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. Not all of Halmont Properties's revenue this year is revenuefrom operations, so keep in mind the revenue and margin numbers I've used might not be the best representation of the underlying business. While we note Halmont Properties's EBIT margins were flat over the last year, revenue grew by a solid 31% to CA$7.7m. That's a real positive.
You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.
Halmont Properties isn't a huge company, given its market capitalization of CA$111m. That makes it extra important to check on itsbalance sheet strength.
I like company leaders to have some skin in the game, so to speak, because it increases alignment of incentives between the people running the business, and its true owners. So it is good to see that Halmont Properties insiders have a significant amount of capital invested in the stock. To be specific, they have CA$16m worth of shares. That's a lot of money, and no small incentive to work hard. That amounts to 14% of the company, demonstrating a degree of high-level alignment with shareholders.
As I already mentioned, Halmont Properties is a growing business, which is what I like to see. If that's not enough on its own, there is also the rather notable levels of insider ownership. That combination appeals to me, for one. So yes, I do think the stock is worth keeping an eye on. Of course, just because Halmont Properties 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.
Of course, you can do well (sometimes) buying stocks thatare notgrowing earnings anddo nothave insiders buying shares. But as a growth investor I always like to check out companies thatdohave those features. You can accessa free list of them here.
Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
How Trump's China tariffs could ruin your Fourth of July
When the Trump administration announced plans to slap 25% tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports, a sense of panic settled over the firework industry. Companies, who rely on China’s pyrotechnic products, worried possible tariffs would darken skies around the country.
“The only global supplier for consumer fireworks is China,” Atlas PyroVision Entertainment CEO Steve Pelkey told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move. “There is no other country that can manufacture those quantities. “
The U.S. now imports 86% of display fireworks used in shows from China, according to trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Pelkey’s estimates that the rest of the professional grade fireworks (about 10%) are produced from Spain, Italy and Mexico.
“They’re putting an immense amount of pressure on what is basically small businesses that have less than 25 employees,” said Pelkey, who joined hundreds of other business owners and executivesat hearings last week urging the Trump administration to stop plans for additional tariffs. “These are three-, four-, five-generation family businesses that are struggling just to meet their financial needs throughout the course of the year.”
Each major firework display utilizes about 10 firework containers, which would cost about $25,000 each container if increased tariffs are imposed. Companies would have to make as much as $250,000 in revenue to make up the additional cost, added Pelkey.
“Those that can't pay for it are just going to have to hold off and cut back their business and maybe lay off employees,” he said.
Pelkey said one of the biggest nights for fireworks — the Fourth of July — could be in jeopardy if Trump increases tariffs. “You have fireworks that can come from other countries but nowhere near the quantities that are required to perform the Fourth of July in the United States,” Pelkey said.
The good news is the new tariff shouldn’t affect this year’s Fourth of July celebrations since products for next week’s festivities have already shipped and arrived. But many companies are holding off on future orders.
And the bigger issue is orders have already been placed for 2020 and those shipments are expected to arrive starting in August. If a deal isn’t reached by time those shipments arrive, companies will get hit hard by the tariffs. And at some point the greater expense will be passed on to the municipalities and customers, according to Pelkey.
“I don't think that the fireworks companies can absorb much more than we've already had to absorb over the last year,” he said.
Valentina Caval is a producer for Yahoo Finance’s On the Move.
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StageZero Life Sciences Ltd Announces Initiation Of Trading Under The Stock Trading Symbol SZLS
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 26, 2019 /StageZero Life Sciences Ltd (Formerly GeneNews or the "Company") (GEN.TO) is pleased to announce that beginning today, June 26, 2019, the Company will be trading under the ticker symbol (TSX:SZLS). Trading will continue in the Company's common shares under the new name, symbol and CUSIP number. The Company officially changed its name from GeneNews Ltd. to StageZero Life Sciences Ltd on June 20th.
"We are very pleased to execute this final step in our name change to StageZero Life Sciences Ltd.," said James R Howard-Tripp, Chairman and CEO. "We can now focus all of our energies on the multitude of opportunities that are ahead of us including bringing our multi-cancer panel, Aristotle™, into final validation, as well as ensuring our current and future tests are readily available to patients via telehealth, large healthcare systems and large employers."
The logistics of the name change with respect to current share certificates will be taken care of in the normal course of business. Please refer to our FAQ for details.https://www.stagezerolifesciences.com/faq.html
About StageZero Life Sciences, Ltd.
StageZero Life Sciences is dedicated to the early detection of cancer and multiple disease states through whole blood. Our next generation test, Aristotle®, is a multi-cancer panel for simultaneously screening for 10 cancers from a single sample of blood with high sensitivity and specificity for each cancer. Aristotle is built on our proven and proprietary Sentinel Principle Technology Platform which was validated on 10,000 patients and used to develop the first liquid biopsy for Colorectal Cancer. Further validation of Aristotle is currently underway. In addition to building a pipeline of products for early cancer detection, the Company operates a CAP accredited and CLIA certified reference laboratory based in Richmond, Virginia that offers the ColonSentry® test as well as licensed biomarker tests for lung, breast and prostate cancers. To learn more visitwww.stagezerolifesciences.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements identified by words such as "expects," "will," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "considers," "intends" and other similar expressions, which reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual events to differ materially from those projected herein. Investors should consult the Company's ongoing quarterly filings and annual reports for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Company Contact:
James R. Howard-TrippChairman & CEOjhoward-tripp@stagezerols.comTel: 1-855-420-7140 Ext. 1
Jerome ClicheFinancial Communication Advisorjcliche@stagezerols.comTel. (514) 815-8799
SOURCE:StageZero Life Sciences, Ltd.
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549952/StageZero-Life-Sciences-Ltd-Announces-Initiation-Of-Trading-Under-The-Stock-Trading-Symbol-SZLS |
Should You Be Adding OC Oerlikon (VTX:OERL) To Your Watchlist Today?
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Some have more dollars than sense, they say, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can easily find investors. Unfortunately, high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson.
So if you're like me, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, likeOC Oerlikon(VTX:OERL). Now, I'm not saying that the stock is necessarily undervalued today; but I can't shake an appreciation for the profitability of the business itself. In comparison, loss making companies act like a sponge for capital - but unlike such a sponge they do not always produce something when squeezed.
Check out our latest analysis for OC Oerlikon
Over the last three years, OC Oerlikon has grown earnings per share (EPS) like young bamboo after rain; fast, and from a low base. So I don't think the percent growth rate is particularly meaningful. As a result, I'll zoom in on growth over the last year, instead. Like the last firework on New Year's Eve accelerating into the sky, OC Oerlikon's EPS shot from CHF0.27 to CHF0.49, over the last year. You don't see 82% year-on-year growth like that, very often.
One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. OC Oerlikon maintained stable EBIT margins over the last year, all while growing revenue 26% to CHF2.6b. That's a real positive.
You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.
You don't drive with your eyes on the rear-view mirror, so you might be more interested in thisfreereport showing analyst forecasts for OC Oerlikon'sfutureprofits.
I like company leaders to have some skin in the game, so to speak, because it increases alignment of incentives between the people running the business, and its true owners. As a result, I'm encouraged by the fact that insiders own OC Oerlikon shares worth a considerable sum. Indeed, they hold CHF12m worth of its stock. That shows significant buy-in, and may indicate conviction in the business strategy. Despite being just 0.3% of the company, the value of that investment is enough to show insiders have plenty riding on the venture.
OC Oerlikon's earnings per share have taken off like a rocket aimed right at the moon. That EPS growth certainly has my attention, and the large insider ownership only serves to further stoke my interest. The hope is, of course, that the strong growth marks a fundamental improvement in the business economics. So yes, on this short analysis I do think it's worth considering OC Oerlikon for a spot on your watchlist. If you think OC Oerlikon might suit your style as an investor, you could go straight to its annual report, or you could first checkour discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation for the company.
You can invest in any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here isa list of companies with insider buying in the last three months.
Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Bitcoin Price Could See $20K in Two Weeks - $100K This Year, Predicts Market Analyst
Bitcoin (BTC) prices could match their all-time high of $20,000 within the next two weeks — and could hit $50,000 or $100,000 by the end of the year, eToro analyst Simon Peters claimed on June 26.
According to Peters, it took 7 to 14 days for BTC to reach the record figure of $20,000 when it was last at $11,800.
He cautioned that his short-term prediction is based on the assumption that bitcoin maintains its current parabolic trajectory.
Peters believes this rally is different from past surges because it hasn’t been accompanied by a spike inGooglesearches for “buy bitcoin” — indicating that the capital entering the market is coming from institutions and investors who had previously parked their funds instablecoins.
On whether the surge is sustainable, Peters added:
“With the number of sell positions building in the market it's possible we could see a correction very soon. Even if that was the case though, bitcoin continues to remain on track to close out the first half of the year on a highly positive note. We could see bitcoin reaching $50,000 or even $100,000 this year.”
The analyst went on to note that BTC’s gains are at the expense ofaltcoins, some of which are being “pummeled” as they languish at significant lows.
Bitcoin’s parabolic advancecontinuedpast $12,000 on June 26 — the first time thecryptocurrencyhas hit this figure in over a year.
Data fromCoinMarketCapalsosuggestsBTC has surpassed 60% market dominance for the first time since April 2017, with a capitalization of $226 billion.
• Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Expounds on Planned Crypto Team
• Square Rolls Out Bitcoin Deposits for Cash App to General Public
• Deutsche Bank: ‘Aggressive’ Central Banks Making Bitcoin More Attractive
• Grand Theft Crypto: The State of Cryptocurrency-Stealing Malware and Other Nasty Techniques |
Product Offerings Aid Genuine Parts (GPC) Amid Expense Woes
On Jun 25, we issued an updated research report onGenuine Parts CompanyGPC.The company resorts to acquisition in order to improve its product offerings and solidify its global platform. This, in turn, helps it attain robust and sustainable sales growth. In May 2019, the company announced to acquire the outstanding 65% stake in Sydney, Australia-based Inenco Group (‘Inenco’). After completing the acquisition, Genuine Parts will have 100% ownership in Inenco. In first-quarter 2019, Genuine Parts acquired Axis New England and Axis New York, and these were added to the Industrial Parts Group.In first-quarter 2019, the company reported net sales of $4.74 billion, up 3.3% year over year. Net sales included 3.3% comparable growth, roughly 2% from acquisitions, partly offset by 2% adverse impact of foreign currency translation.However, Genuine Parts has been witnessing continuous rise in selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses that might hamper the gross margin. Further, unfavorable foreign currency translation also added to the company’s woes that reduced quarterly earnings.Over the past year, shares of Genuine Parts have outperformed the industry it belongs to. During this time frame, shares of the company have rallied 12.4% while the industry rose 0.6%.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderGenuine Parts currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).A few better-ranked stocks in the auto space are Ford Motor Company F, Fox Factory Holding Corp. FOXF and Cummins Inc. CMI, each currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Ford has an expected long-term growth rate of 7.3%. Over the past six months, shares of the company have gained 25.3%.Fox Factory has an expected long-term growth rate of 16.4%. Over the past six months, shares of the company have gained 35.1%.Cummins has an expected long-term growth rate of 8%. Over the past six months, shares of the company have gained 27.3%.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.Click here for the 6 trades >>
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 reportFord Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis ReportFox Factory Holding Corp. (FOXF) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGenuine Parts Company (GPC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCummins Inc. (CMI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Is H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ)'s (STO:HM B) Liquidity Good Enough?
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Investors looking for stocks with high market liquidity and little debt on the balance sheet should consider H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) (STO:HM B). With a market valuation of kr240b, HM B is a safe haven in times of market uncertainty due to its strong balance sheet. These firms won’t be left high and dry if liquidity dries up, and they will be relatively unaffected by rises in interest rates. Using the most recent data for HM B, I will determine its financial status based on its solvency and liquidity, and assess whether the stock is a safe investment.
View our latest analysis for H & M Hennes & Mauritz
Over the past year, HM B has ramped up its debt from kr12b to kr21b , which accounts for long term debt. With this rise in debt, HM B's cash and short-term investments stands at kr12b , ready to be used for running the business. Additionally, HM B has produced kr22b in operating cash flow over the same time period, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 106%, indicating that HM B’s current level of operating cash is high enough to cover debt.
Looking at HM B’s kr45b in current liabilities, it seems that the business has maintained a safe level of current assets to meet its obligations, with the current ratio last standing at 1.42x. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. For Specialty Retail companies, this ratio is within a sensible range since there's a sufficient cash cushion without leaving too much capital idle or in low-earning investments.
With debt at 34% of equity, HM B may be thought of as appropriately levered. This range is considered safe as HM B is not taking on too much debt obligation, which can be restrictive and risky for equity-holders.
HM B’s high cash coverage and appropriate debt levels indicate its ability to utilise its borrowings efficiently in order to generate ample cash flow. In addition to this, the company exhibits proper management of current assets and upcoming liabilities. Keep in mind I haven't considered other factors such as how HM B has been performing in the past. I recommend you continue to research H & M Hennes & Mauritz to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for HM B’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor HM B’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is HM B 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 HM B 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. |
Acer Shares Down on FDA's CRL for Genetic Disorder Treatment
Shares ofAcer Therapeutics Inc.ACER slumped more than 75% after it received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the FDA regarding its new drug application (NDA) for Edsivo (celiprolol) for the treatment of vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (vEDS). Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (“EDS”) is an inherited disorder caused by mutations in the genes responsible for the structure, production, or processing of collagen.
In the CRL, the FDA has asked the company to conduct an adequate and well-controlled study to determine whether Edsivo reduces the risk of clinical events in patients with vEDS. Acer plans to request a meeting with the FDA to discuss its response. The company expects to respond to the FDA in the third quarter of 2019. The CRL implies a delay in the approval of Edsivo.
Edsivois a selective adrenergic modulator and is currently approved in the European Union for the treatment of hypertension and angina.
Edsivo has an Orphan Drug exclusivity designation in the United States for the vEDS indication.
The company also has other candidates in its pipeline. Its ACER-001 is a fully taste-masked, immediate release formulation of sodium phenylbutyrate for the treatment of various inborn errors of metabolism, including urea cycle disorders (“UCD”) and Maple Syrup Urine Disease (“MSUD”). The company expects to submit an NDA for ACER-001 in UCD in the fourth quarter of 2019. The company also has osanetant in its pipeline, which is being evaluated for the treatment of various neuroendocrine disorders. An investigational new drug (“IND”) application for the drug is anticipated in the second half of 2019.
Acer Therapeutics, Inc. price | Acer Therapeutics, Inc. Quote
Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
Acer currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks are Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. CPIX, Evotec AG EVTCY and Neos Therapeutics Inc. NEOS, each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Cumberland’s earnings per share estimates have moved up from 7 cents to 46 cents for 2020 in the past 60 days. The company beat estimates in the trailing four quarters, the average being 137.17%.
Evotec’s earnings per share estimates have moved up from 90 cents to $1.03 for 2019 and from 97 cents to $1.37 for 2020 in the past 60 days.
Neos’ loss per share estimates have narrowed from 66 cents to 61 cents for 2019 in the past 60 days. The company outpaced estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, the average being 2.85%.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market. Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
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 reportNeos Therapeutics, Inc. (NEOS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportEvotec AG (EVTCY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CPIX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportOpexa Therapeutics, Inc. (ACER) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Exclusive: Mindy Kaling Reveals What It’s Really Like Working with Priyanka Chopra
In case you missed it, two of our favorites— Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra —are teaming up to make a brand-new movie. So, when we sat down with Kaling to chat all about her partnership with joy (the super cute and affordable millennial-friendly razor collection), we just had to inquire about their upcoming project. “I’m writing a movie for Priyanka Chopra and me to start in that she’s producing and I’m also producing,” Kaling explained. “I’m still very early in the stages of but that’s a comedy that takes place in India. It’ll be fun.” We have to agree: The movie is said to be a comedy based on an Indian wedding (a thing Chopra knows a thing or two about). When it came down to spilling the tea about what it’s like working with the 36-year-old Isn’t It Romantic star, Kaling had plenty of things to say about her new work wife. “Our relationship has kind of just begun professionally, but she’s incredibly smart and fun and glamorous— very glamorous,” Kaling shared. “We just love a lot of the same things. I really admire her.” The 40-year-old Late Night star went on to detail exactly how Chopra’s work ethic continues to amaze her: “I think I work hard, and she is just killing it. I feel like she’s in a different city every day, flying for work and for her husband’s family and now her family. It’s just really inspiring to be around her,” she said. We honestly can’t wait to see this movie. But for now, we’ll just watch Late Night again. RELATED : OK, Mindy Kaling’s Brand-New Swing Set Is Giving Us Major Backyard Envy View comments |
FedEx sues U.S. Commerce Department over Huawei phone
FedEx has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government arguing that it should not be made to enforce export bans. The legal action occurred after a Huawei phone PCMag attempted to send from its UK office to its U.S. office wassent back to the UKdue to President Trump'sblacklisting of the Chinese company, sparking a firestorm of controversy for FedEx.
The device was delivered from London to Indianapolis, but was returned to our office in London. When we received it back, the package had a message stating that there was a "U.S. government issue" with Huawei and the Chinese government and that the device could not be delivered to its destination in New York. The delivery apparentlycaused a panic attackfor a FedEx Europe package handler, FedEx told PCMag.Read more...
More aboutHuawei,Fedex,Tech, andSmartphones |
Why H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) (STO:HM B) Is A Financially Healthy Company
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With a market capitalization of kr240b, H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) (STO:HM B) is a large-cap stock, which is considered by most investors as a safe bet. Common characteristics for these big stocks are their strong balance sheet and high liquidity, which means there's plenty of stocks available to the public for trading. These companies are resilient in times of low liquidity and are not as strongly impacted by interest rate hikes as companies with lots of debt. Using the most recent data for HM B, I will determine its financial status based on its solvency and liquidity, and assess whether the stock is a safe investment.
See our latest analysis for H & M Hennes & Mauritz
Over the past year, HM B has ramped up its debt from kr12b to kr21b , which accounts for long term debt. With this increase in debt, the current cash and short-term investment levels stands at kr12b , ready to be used for running the business. Additionally, HM B has generated cash from operations of kr22b during the same period of time, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 106%, indicating that HM B’s current level of operating cash is high enough to cover debt.
At the current liabilities level of kr45b, it appears that the company has maintained a safe level of current assets to meet its obligations, with the current ratio last standing at 1.42x. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Usually, for Specialty Retail companies, this is a suitable ratio as there's enough of a cash buffer without holding too much capital in low return investments.
HM B’s level of debt is appropriate relative to its total equity, at 34%. This range is considered safe as HM B is not taking on too much debt obligation, which can be restrictive and risky for equity-holders.
HM B’s high cash coverage and appropriate debt levels indicate its ability to utilise its borrowings efficiently in order to generate ample cash flow. In addition to this, the company exhibits proper management of current assets and upcoming liabilities. Keep in mind I haven't considered other factors such as how HM B has been performing in the past. I suggest you continue to research H & M Hennes & Mauritz to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for HM B’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor HM B’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is HM B 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 HM B 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. |
Are Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLLI) Investors Paying Above The Intrinsic Value?
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Does the June share price for Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLLI) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. This is done 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.
See our latest analysis for Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings
We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.
Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:
[{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2019": "$29.15", "2020": "$109.20", "2021": "$143.00", "2022": "$170.95", "2023": "$195.73", "2024": "$217.20", "2025": "$235.66", "2026": "$251.60", "2027": "$265.58", "2028": "$278.08"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x2", "2020": "Analyst x2", "2021": "Analyst x1", "2022": "Est @ 19.54%", "2023": "Est @ 14.5%", "2024": "Est @ 10.97%", "2025": "Est @ 8.5%", "2026": "Est @ 6.77%", "2027": "Est @ 5.56%", "2028": "Est @ 4.71%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 7.5%", "2019": "$27.12", "2020": "$94.50", "2021": "$115.12", "2022": "$128.01", "2023": "$136.35", "2024": "$140.75", "2025": "$142.06", "2026": "$141.10", "2027": "$138.55", "2028": "$134.95"}]
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $1.20b
"Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St
The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after 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 7.5%.
Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$278m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (7.5% – 2.7%) = US$6.0b
Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$6.0b ÷ ( 1 + 7.5%)10= $2.91b
The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is $4.11b. 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 $64.68. Compared to the current share price of $86.56, the company appears reasonably expensive at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.
We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings 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 7.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.
Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, There are three fundamental factors you should further examine:
1. Financial Health: Does OLLI 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 OLLI'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 OLLI? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NASDAQ every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks justsearch here.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Investors Who Bought Golden Queen Mining (TSE:GQM) Shares Three Years Ago Are Now Down 98%
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Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd.(TSE:GQM) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 25% in the last month. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been stomach churning. The share price has sunk like a leaky ship, down 98% in that time. So it's about time shareholders saw some gains. The thing to think about is whether the business has really turned around.
While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.
See our latest analysis for Golden Queen Mining
Golden Queen Mining isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.
In the last three years, Golden Queen Mining saw its revenue grow by 40% per year, compound. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. So why has the share priced crashed 75% per year, in the same time? You'd want to take a close look at the balance sheet, as well as the losses. Ultimately, revenue growth doesn't amount to much if the business can't scale well. Unless the balance sheet is strong, the company might have to raise capital.
You can see how revenue and earnings have changed over time in the image below, (click on the chart to see cashflow).
Take a more thorough look at Golden Queen Mining's financial health with thisfreereport on its balance sheet.
While the broader market gained around 1.2% in the last year, Golden Queen Mining shareholders lost 88%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 56% per year over five years. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. Shareholders might want to examinethis detailed historical graphof past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
For those who like to findwinning investmentsthisfreelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on 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. |
U.S. Carriers Fly High on Upbeat Passenger Revenues: 3 Picks
Concerns related to a trade squabble with China and tensions with Iran have not deterred the U.S. economy from maintaining its good health. As an evidence, the three major stock indexes — the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite — remain in positive territory on a year-to-date basis.
The bullish May readings on unemployment and consumer confidence further highlight the strength of the economy.
Given this rosy picture, it is no surprise that the U.S. airline industry is in good shape with stocks in the space benefiting from strong demand for air travel. Affordable air fares, along with a much-improved job market and rising disposable income, have provided consumers an added incentive to opt for air travel. Demand for air travel has further picked up as the summer season is ongoing. Additional traffic during the busy period has boosted passenger revenues thereby bolstering the top lines of carriers. This is because passenger revenues account for the bulk of top line of most airline companies.
Bullish Unit Revenue Projections for Q2 Earnings Season
We expect airline stocks to perform well in the upcoming second-quarter earnings season driven by strong passenger revenues. Highlighting the upbeat top-line scenario, key airline players like Southwest Airlines LUV, Alaska Air Group ALK and JetBlue Airways JBLU recently provided rosy second-quarter projections on revenue per available seat miles (RASM: a key measure of unit revenue).
For the soon-to-be- reported quarter, Southwest Airlines anticipates RASM to increase 6.5-7.5% year over year compared with 5.5-7.5% expected earlier. Strong demand for air travel and anticipation of impressive passenger yields led to the improved view.
Alaska Air Group now anticipates second-quarter RASM in the range of 13.26-13.45 cents, representing an approximate rise of 3.5-5% year over year. Previously, RASM was anticipated to increase in the 2-5% band. JetBlue anticipates the metric to increase between 2% and 4% year over year in the second quarter. Previously, the metric was projected to rise 1-4%. Placement of Easter/Passover holiday in April is expected to boost the metric.
The fact that demand for air travel is strong as can be envisioned from stellar performances of most carriers in the Memorial Day weekend in May. For example, Delta Air Lines DAL was responsible for flying more than 2.1 million passengers without a single mainline cancellation in the May 24- 27 period. In fact, a record 666,769 passengers took to Delta flights on May 24. Second-quarter results are likely to be boosted by the surge in traffic during the above period as well.
In fact, the picture for carriers in the region is bullish not only for the second quarter but entire 2019. This is highlighted by the International Air Transport Association’s (“IATA”) upbeat projection on current-year profitability for North American carriers. The metric for these carriers is anticipated to be $15 billion for 2019 (up from $14.5 billion in 2018).
Zacks Industry Rank Portrays Sunny Outlook
With passenger revenues expected to remain strong due to upbeat demand, it is no wonder that the near-term prospects of the Zacks Airline industry appear bright as indicated by the Industry Rank. The industry currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #90, which places it in the top 35% of more than 250 Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
In view of the enthusiasm surrounding airline stocks, as pin-pointed in the write up, it makes sense to invest in stocks from the space. However, picking winning stocks can be a difficult task.
This is where our VGM Score comes in handy. Here V stands for Value, G for Growth and M for Momentum and the score is a weighted combination of these three scores. Such a score allows you to eliminate the negative aspects of stocks and select the winners. However, it is important to keep in mind that each Style Score will carry a different weight while arriving at a VGM Score.
We have narrowed down our search to the following stocks, each of which has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a VGM Score of A. You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
SkyWestSKYW, through its subsidiaries, operates a regional airline in the United States. SkyWest is based in St. George, UT. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised 2.5% upward in the last 60 days.
United Continental HoldingsUAL, based in Chicago, operates an average of nearly 5,000 flights a day to multiple destinations. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised 0.3% upward in the last 60 days.
Hawaiian HoldingsHA, the parent of Hawaiian Airlines, is headquartered in Honolulu County, HI. The company offers non-stop service to Hawaii from 11 gateway cities of the United States. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised 0.8% upward in the last 60 days.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
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 reportJetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportUnited Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAlaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) : Free Stock Analysis ReportDelta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportHawaiian Holdings, Inc. (HA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSkyWest, Inc. (SKYW) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSouthwest Airlines Co. (LUV) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
What Do Investors Need To Know About 1pm plc's (LON:OPM) Growth?
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Looking at 1pm plc's (LON:OPM) earnings update in November 2018, analyst consensus outlook appear bearish, with profits predicted to drop by 0.5% next year relative to the past 5-year average growth rate of 40%. Presently, with latest-twelve-month earnings at UK£6.4m, we should see this fall to UK£6.4m by 2020. In this article, I've outline a few earnings growth rates to give you a sense of the market sentiment for 1pm in the longer term. Investors wanting to learn more about other aspects of the company shouldresearch its fundamentals here.
View our latest analysis for 1pm
The 2 analysts covering OPM view its longer term outlook with a positive sentiment. Generally, broker analysts tend to make predictions for up to three years given the lack of visibility beyond this point. To reduce the year-on-year volatility of analyst earnings forecast, I've inserted a line of best fit through the expected earnings figures to determine the annual growth rate from the slope of the line.
From the current net income level of UK£6.4m and the final forecast of UK£7.4m by 2022, the annual rate of growth for OPM’s earnings is 5.9%. This leads to an EPS of £0.089 in the final year of projections relative to the current EPS of £0.076. As revenues is expected to outpace earnings, analysts expect margins to contract from the current 21% to 21% by the end of 2022.
Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For 1pm, I've compiled three relevant aspects you should look at:
1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is 1pm 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 1pm is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of 1pm? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Trump says trade deal 'possible' with China's Xi, tariffs could be lower
By Susan Heavey and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping was possible this weekend but he is prepared to impose U.S. tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese imports if the two countries continue to disagree.
Trump, who departed for the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, on Wednesday, also raised the possibility that he may impose a lower, 10% duty on a $300 billion list of Chinese imports, instead of the proposed 25% rate.
Trump is expected to meet with Xi on Saturday in Osaka, a conversation that could revive stalled negotiations between the world's two biggest economies or launch a much deeper, costlier trade war that would drag down global growth and roil financial markets.
"It's absolutely possible. ... We have to get a good deal," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network. "It's possible that we'll make a deal, but I'm also very happy where we are now."
Relations between Washington and Beijing have spiraled downward since talks collapsed in May, when the United States accused China of reneging on pledges to reform its economy.
Trump said Chinese leaders "want to make a deal. They want to make a deal more than I do."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are due to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also was added to the U.S. delegation at the last minute at Trump's request, a senior U.S. official said at a Washington event where Ross had been scheduled to speak.
Some Chinese officials who were not previously part of China's delegation were also applying for Japanese visas, an industry source briefed on the matter said, adding that this was a possible sign of momentum for the Trump-Xi meeting.
Shortly after Trump returns from the Osaka summit, he will be in a position to impose a 25% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese consumer goods from cellphones, laptop and tablet computers to tube socks and baby carriers.
A public comment period on the tariffs ends on July 2 following seven days of public hearings in which U.S. companies large and small begged to be spared from the tariffs and warned of hardships in shifting production out of China..
"I would do additional tariffs, very substantial additional tariffs, if that doesn't work, if we don't make a deal," Trump said on Wednesday. But he added that he could consider lowering the duty to 10% from the proposed 25%.
Administration officials have said that a 10 percent tariff is more easily offset by Chinese companies absorbing the added costs and by declines in the value of China's yuan currency.
China and the United States have already imposed tariffs of up to 25% on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods in a trade war that has lasted nearly a year.
More than half of Chinese consumers have recently avoided U.S.-made products in support of their country, according to a new poll conducted by London-based advisory firm Brunswick. The poll of 1,000 Chinese and 1,000 American consumers showed that 68 percent of Chinese respondents said their opinions of American firms had become more negative, while 59 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of China-based companies.
Global trade tensions contributed to a 2.1% drop in the April U.S. trade deficit to $50.8 billion as both imports and exports fell, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday. But the April U.S. trade deficit with China jumped nearly 30% to $26.9 billion, while the trade gap with Mexico fell sharply.
Fitch Ratings on Wednesday forecast that imposing a 25% tariff on the $300 billion in Chinese goods would chop 0.4 percent from world economic output. The International Monetary Fund has forecast a 0.5 percent reduction, equivalent to erasing South Africa's economy.
Trump said China knows what the United States needs for a trade deal, and pushed for China to return to the negotiating table with the same concessions they had made before talks abruptly ended in May.
The two sides could agree not to impose new tariffs as a goodwill gesture to get negotiations going, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
'DRIVE-BY TARIFFS'
Trump has bipartisan support on taking a tough stance on China, although not for his use of tariffs as a tool to exert pressure on Beijing.
A senior Democrat said on Wednesday he hoped the standoff with China would result in lasting changes.
"We’ve gone this far - we ought to be working to try and have some of the structural changes, some of the advantages, some of the (intellectual property) protections, and China living up to its obligations under the (World Trade Organization)," said U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer.
Blumenauer, who chairs the House of Representatives' Ways and Means trade subcommittee, said he disagreed with what he called Trump's "drive-by tariffs" and hoped the president would not accept a deal that simply involved selling more goods to China rather than changing bilateral terms of trade.
Trump said if Washington was unable to reach a deal, his plan was to reduce business with China. Asked about companies relocating production from China to Vietnam, he said Vietnam treated the United States even worse than China.
The United States is cracking down on companies that have used countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia as staging posts to ship goods from China to the United States without paying tariffs.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Tim Ahmann and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Writing by David Lawder and Makini Brice; Editing by Bill Trott, Simon Webb, James Dalgleish and Jonathan Oatis) |
Are Investors Undervaluing GasLog Ltd. (NYSE:GLOG) By 36%?
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Does the June share price for GasLog Ltd. (NYSE:GLOG) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. I will be using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!
We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in theSimply Wall St analysis model.
See our latest analysis for GasLog
We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.
Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:
[{"": "Levered FCF ($, Millions)", "2019": "$3.22", "2020": "$-457.02", "2021": "$191.39", "2022": "$254.90", "2023": "$316.20", "2024": "$372.01", "2025": "$421.02", "2026": "$463.30", "2027": "$499.66", "2028": "$531.20"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x1", "2020": "Analyst x3", "2021": "Analyst x2", "2022": "Est @ 33.18%", "2023": "Est @ 24.05%", "2024": "Est @ 17.65%", "2025": "Est @ 13.18%", "2026": "Est @ 10.04%", "2027": "Est @ 7.85%", "2028": "Est @ 6.31%"}, {"": "Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 14.12%", "2019": "$2.83", "2020": "$-350.94", "2021": "$128.79", "2022": "$150.31", "2023": "$163.39", "2024": "$168.45", "2025": "$167.06", "2026": "$161.09", "2027": "$152.24", "2028": "$141.83"}]
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $885.05m
"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 14.1%.
Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$531m × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (14.1% – 2.7%) = US$4.8b
Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= $US$4.8b ÷ ( 1 + 14.1%)10= $1.28b
The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is $2.16b. 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 $21.16. Relative to the current share price of $13.57, the company appears quite good value at a 36% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.
The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at GasLog 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 14.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.91. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.
Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For GasLog, There are three further aspects you should further examine:
1. Financial Health: Does GLOG 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 GLOG'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 GLOG? 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. |
Dead dog found on Kent beach
Investigators think the dog could have been put in the bag it was found attached to. (SWNS) A dead puppy with its muzzle and legs tied together has washed up on a beach in Kent. The RSPCA fears that the female six-month-old German Shepherd was still alive when it was thrown out to sea and is appealing for more information. The injured animal was tied up into a small ball and had a cut on top of her head that is believed to a be a stab wound. A dog walker found the animal on Tuesday at East Cliff Chine in Ramsgate, Kent; she was taken to a vet in nearby Margate. The dog was found attached to a bag full of seaweed on the Kent beach. (SWNS) RSPCA Chief Inspector Steve Dockery called the case one of the most shocking he had ever come across. He said: “This must have been an incredibly distressing discovery for the member of the public who found this poor dog. "I’ve been an inspector for many years but this really is shocking. We believe the injured dog had been tied up and dumped in the sea. Read More on Yahoo News PHOTOS: Black cats and dogs adoption gallery Two members of 'callous' puppy farming gang jailed “The vets also believe that the dog was in season before she died and that due to bruising and swelling on her muzzle as well as blood in her mouth, it would appear as though she was alive before she was bound. “A black Nike holdall was found with her and contained the same material she was tied up with. "Although she wasn’t inside it, it appears like whoever did this had tried and failed to place her in the bag as the bag was also full of seaweed and sand.” The RSPCA is urging anyone with any information to contact them on 0300 123 8018. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- |
Revance Therapeutics (RVNC) Jumps: Stock Rises 5.2%
Revance Therapeutics, Inc.RVNC was a big mover last session, as the company saw its shares rise more than 5% on the day. The move came on solid volume too with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This breaks the recent trend of the company, as the stock is now trading above the volatile price range of $10.67 to $11.75 in the past one-month time frame.
The company has seen no changes when it comes to estimate revision over the past few weeks, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter has also remained unchanged. The recent price action is encouraging though, so make sure to keep a close watch on this firm in the near future.
Revance Therapeutics currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) while its Earnings ESP is 0.00%.
Revance Therapeutics, Inc. Price
Revance Therapeutics, Inc. price | Revance Therapeutics, Inc. Quote
Investors interested in the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry may consider Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. ACOR, which has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Is RVNC going up? Or down? Predict to see what others think:Up or Down
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
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 reportRevance Therapeutics, Inc. (RVNC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAcorda Therapeutics, Inc. (ACOR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Should You Worry About PS Business Parks, Inc.'s (NYSE:PSB) CEO Salary Level?
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Maria Hawthorne became the CEO of PS Business Parks, Inc. (NYSE:PSB) in 2016. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.
See our latest analysis for PS Business Parks
At the time of writing our data says that PS Business Parks, Inc. has a market cap of US$6.1b, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of US$3.8m. (This figure is for the year to December 2018). We note that's an increase of 335% above last year. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at US$451k. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of US$4.0b to US$12b. The median total CEO compensation was US$6.9m.
A first glance this seems like a real positive for shareholders, since Maria Hawthorne 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 PS Business Parks has changed from year to year.
PS Business Parks, Inc. has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 38% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 3.1% over the last year.
This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. It's also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy. Shareholders might be interested inthisfreevisualization of analyst forecasts.
I think that the total shareholder return of 82%, over three years, would leave most PS Business Parks, Inc. shareholders smiling. As a result, some may believe the CEO should be paid more than is normal for companies of similar size.
PS Business Parks, Inc. is currently paying its CEO below what is normal for companies of its size. Many would consider this to indicate that the pay is modest since the business is growing. And given most shareholders are probably very happy with recent returns, you might even think that Maria Hawthorne deserves a raise!
Most shareholders like to see a modestly paid CEO combined with strong performance by the company. But it is even better if company insiders arealsobuying shares with their own money. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really likethis free visualization of insider trading at PS Business Parks.
Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out thisfreelist of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
What You Must Know About PTC Inc.'s (NASDAQ:PTC) Financial Strength
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Mid-caps stocks, like PTC Inc. (NASDAQ:PTC) with a market capitalization of US$9.9b, aren’t the focus of most investors who prefer to direct their investments towards either large-cap or small-cap stocks. While they are less talked about as an investment category, mid-cap risk-adjusted returns have generally been better than more commonly focused stocks that fall into the small- or large-cap categories. This article will examine PTC’s financial liquidity and debt levels to get an idea of whether the company can deal with cyclical downturns and maintain funds to accommodate strategic spending for future growth. Remember this is a very top-level look that focuses exclusively on financial health, so I recommend a deeper analysisinto PTC here.
See our latest analysis for PTC
PTC has built up its total debt levels in the last twelve months, from US$643m to US$739m , which includes long-term debt. With this rise in debt, the current cash and short-term investment levels stands at US$320m , ready to be used for running the business. Additionally, PTC has produced cash from operations of US$274m in the last twelve months, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 37%, indicating that PTC’s debt is appropriately covered by operating cash.
With current liabilities at US$598m, it seems that the business has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of US$791m, leading to a 1.32x current account ratio. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. Usually, for Software 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.
PTC is a relatively highly levered company with a debt-to-equity of 59%. This is not unusual for mid-caps as debt tends to be a cheaper and faster source of funding for some businesses. We can test if PTC’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 PTC, the ratio of 2.36x suggests that interest is not strongly covered, which means that lenders may be more reluctant to lend out more funding as PTC’s low interest coverage already puts the company at higher risk of default.
Although PTC’s debt level is towards the higher end of the spectrum, its cash flow coverage seems adequate to meet obligations which means its debt is being efficiently utilised. Since there is also no concerns around PTC's liquidity needs, this may be its optimal capital structure for the time being. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure PTC has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. You should continue to research PTC to get a better picture of the mid-cap by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PTC’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor PTC’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is PTC 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 PTC 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. |
What does PTC Inc.'s (NASDAQ:PTC) Balance Sheet Tell Us About Its Future?
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Small-cap and large-cap companies receive a lot of attention from investors, but mid-cap stocks like PTC Inc. (NASDAQ:PTC), with a market cap of US$9.9b, are often out of the spotlight. Despite this, commonly overlooked mid-caps have historically produced better risk-adjusted returns than their small and large-cap counterparts. This article will examine PTC’s financial liquidity and debt levels to get an idea of whether the company can deal with cyclical downturns and maintain funds to accommodate strategic spending for future growth. Note that this commentary is very high-level and solely focused on financial health, so I suggest you dig deeper yourselfinto PTC here.
View our latest analysis for PTC
Over the past year, PTC has ramped up its debt from US$643m to US$739m , which includes long-term debt. With this rise in debt, PTC currently has US$320m remaining in cash and short-term investments to keep the business going. Moreover, PTC has generated US$274m in operating cash flow during the same period of time, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 37%, signalling that PTC’s debt is appropriately covered by operating cash.
At the current liabilities level of US$598m, it seems that the business has maintained a safe level of current assets to meet its obligations, with the current ratio last standing at 1.32x. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. Generally, for Software companies, this is a reasonable ratio as there's enough of a cash buffer without holding too much capital in low return investments.
PTC is a relatively highly levered company with a debt-to-equity of 59%. This is not unusual for mid-caps as debt tends to be a cheaper and faster source of funding for some businesses. No matter how high the company’s debt, if it can easily cover the interest payments, it’s considered to be efficient with its use of excess leverage. A company generating earnings after interest and tax at least three times its net interest payments is considered financially sound. In PTC's case, the ratio of 2.36x suggests that interest is not strongly covered, which means that debtors may be less inclined to loan the company more money, reducing its headroom for growth through debt.
PTC’s high cash coverage means that, although its debt levels are high, the company is able to utilise its borrowings efficiently in order to generate cash flow. Since there is also no concerns around PTC's liquidity needs, this may be its optimal capital structure for the time being. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure PTC has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. I recommend you continue to research PTC to get a more holistic view of the mid-cap by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PTC’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor PTC’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is PTC 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 PTC 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. |
European airports plan for net zero carbon emissions
LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) — An organization representing airports in 45 European countries said Wednesday that it plans to get airports to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Airport Council International Europe President Michael Kerkloh told a meeting of 300 aviation officials that the strategy's launch aligns European airports with the Paris climate accords by putting climate change at the heart of business decisions. That's "an absolute must" for all industries, said Kerkloh who is stepping down. The net zero carbon emissions target applies to all member airports. Kerkloh said 140 airports operated by 40 members have affirmed their commitment to the goal, while three Swedish airports have already achieved it. The goal does not include aircraft emissions but those of the airport's buildings, infrastructure and vehicles. Kerkloh urged aircraft makers to work toward zero emissions amid growing public demand for action to curb climate change. But he said that taxing aviation "would do nothing" to eliminate aircraft carbon emissions. Kerkloh also welcomed action by regulators to avert drone flights that pose risks to aircraft landing and taking off. He called for "clear rules" on the creation of 'no drone zones' around airports and on who would be in charge of monitoring and preventing such flights. ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec said profitability concerns hang over the industry despite a 36% increase in passenger traffic in the last five years. Issues such as multibillion euro (dollar) investments in security screening technologies are putting cost pressures on airports. Airlines are becoming more risk averse in the face of oil price volatility, trade wars and geopolitical stability, Jankovec said. |
Roche Bobois S.A. (EPA:RBO): Will The Growth Last?
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In April 2019, Roche Bobois S.A. (EPA:RBO) released its most recent earnings announcement, which signalled that the business endured a slight headwind with earnings declining from €6.3m to €6.3m, a change of -0.8%. Below is my commentary, albeit very simple and high-level, on how market analysts view Roche Bobois's earnings growth trajectory over the next few years and whether the future looks brighter. I will be looking at earnings excluding extraordinary items to exclude one-off activities to get a better understanding of the underlying drivers of earnings.
See our latest analysis for Roche Bobois
Market analysts' prospects for the coming year seems buoyant, with earnings climbing by a significant 94%. This strong growth in earnings is expected to continue, bringing the bottom line up to €16m by 2022.
Even though it is useful to understand the growth each year relative to today’s figure, it may be more beneficial to analyze the rate at which the earnings are growing on average every year. The benefit of this approach is that it removes the impact of near term flucuations and accounts for the overarching direction of Roche Bobois's earnings trajectory over time, which may be more relevant for long term investors. To compute this rate, I put a line of best fit through analyst consensus of forecasted earnings. The slope of this line is the rate of earnings growth, which in this case is 29%. This means that, we can expect Roche Bobois will grow its earnings by 29% every year for the next few years.
For Roche Bobois, I've compiled three pertinent factors you should further research:
1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is RBO 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 RBO is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of RBO? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Prince William: 'Absolutely fine' with having an LGBTQ kid
Prince William showed his support for Pride on Wednesday by visiting a U.K. charity, the Albert Kennedy Trust, which works with LGBTQ youths who are homeless or live in hostile environments. During his visit, the royal was asked about the possibility of any of his three children with Kate Middleton — 5-year-old Prince George, 4-year-old Princess Charlotte and year-old Prince Louis —one day coming out as gay. “If your child one day in the future said, ‘Oh I'm gay, oh I'm lesbian,’ whatever, how would you react?"asked a young man who did not want to be identified, according to the Daily Mail . As the publication’s royal correspondent Rebecca English reported, William — whose late mother, Princess Diana, was hugely supportive of the LGBTQ community — told reporters that he would be “absolutely fine” about such a reality. But he added that the child might face “backlash” from the public. The prince said: ‘It worries me, not because of them being gay, it worries me as to how everyone else will react and perceive it and then the pressure is on them’ — Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) June 26, 2019 “The one thing I’d be worried about is how they — particularly the roles my children fill — is how that is going to be interpreted and seen,” he added, the Telegraph reports. “So Catherine and I have been doing a lot of talking about it to make sure they were prepared. I think communication is so important with everything, in order to help understand it you’ve got to talk a lot about stuff and make sure how to support each other and how to go through the process. “It worries me, not because of them being gay, it worries me as to how everyone else will react and perceive it and then the pressure is then on them.” The prince’s remarks come one year after Queen Elizabeth II ’s third cousin once removed, Lord Ivor Mountbatten, announced plans to marry his partner, James Coyle. The couple were wed last September , marking the first same-sex wedding by a member of the extended royal family. Story continues View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ivar (@ivar_mountbatten) on Sep 24, 2018 at 4:01am PDT Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry split from joint charity with Kate Middleton and Prince William Meghan Markle and Prince Harry want Archie to have a ‘normal life’ Lesbian couple say they were called 'disgusting,' kicked out of county fair during Aly & AJ concert Follow us on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. |
What You Must Know About Games Workshop Group PLC's (LON:GAW) Financial Health
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Small-caps and large-caps are wildly popular among investors; however, mid-cap stocks, such as Games Workshop Group PLC (LON:GAW) with a market-capitalization of UK£1.6b, rarely draw their attention. Despite this, the two other categories have lagged behind the risk-adjusted returns of commonly ignored mid-cap stocks. Let’s take a look at GAW’s debt concentration and assess their financial liquidity to get an idea of their ability to fund strategic acquisitions and grow through cyclical pressures. Remember this is a very top-level look that focuses exclusively on financial health, so I recommend a deeper analysisinto GAW here.
See our latest analysis for Games Workshop Group
A debt-to-equity ratio threshold varies depending on what industry the company operates, since some requires more debt financing than others. A ratio below 40% for mid-cap stocks is considered as financially healthy, as a rule of thumb. For GAW, the debt-to-equity ratio is zero, meaning that the company has no debt. This means it has been running its business utilising funding from only its equity capital, which is rather impressive. Investors' risk associated with debt is virtually non-existent with GAW, 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, Games Workshop Group has no solvency issues, which is used to describe the company’s ability to meet its long-term obligations. However, another measure of financial health is its short-term obligations, which is known as liquidity. These include payments to suppliers, employees and other stakeholders. At the current liabilities level of UK£25m, it seems that the business has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of UK£70m, leading to a 2.8x current account ratio. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. For Leisure companies, this ratio is within a sensible range since there is a bit of a cash buffer without leaving too much capital in a low-return environment.
GAW has zero-debt in addition to ample cash to cover its short-term commitments. Its safe operations reduces risk for the company and its investors, however, some degree of debt could also boost earnings growth and operational efficiency. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure GAW has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. You should continue to research Games Workshop Group to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:
1. Valuation: What is GAW 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 GAW is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Historical Performance: What has GAW's returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of our analysisfor more clarity.
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. |
Glyphosate use will eventually end, Merkel says
BERLIN (Reuters) - Use of Bayer's contested weedkiller glyphosate, the subject of more than 10,000 lawsuits in the U.S. over claims it causes cancer, will eventually die out, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the country's lower house on Wednesday.
Merkel's view is seemingly at odds with that of Bayer, which acquired the pesticide along with its takeover of U.S. seed maker Monsanto, which earlier this month said it saw a future for the product.
Bayer's shares hit seven-year lows after a California couple was last month awarded more than $2 billion in the largest-ever U.S. jury award over claims that glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup, caused their cancer.
"Things are developing, and we will eventually come to a point where glyphosate isn't deployed any more," she told lawmakers, adding that this should be achieved without overburdening farmers.
Bayer, which has been struggling to outrun the glyphosate crisis, two weeks ago announced it would spend 5 billion euros in researching alternative pesticides, but said it believed the weedkiller had a future.
"While glyphosate will continue to play an important role in agriculture and in Bayer's portfolio, the company is committed to offering more choices for growers," Bayer said at the time.
Glyphosate-based herbicides, in use for more than 40 years, are the most commonly applied weed control products in the world.
Direct glyphosate sales play only a minor role for Bayer's earnings because various other crop chemical companies supply the off-patent herbicide, but seeds to grow glyphosate-resistant crops are a key profit driver in North and South America.
Bayer has maintained that glyphosate is safe and has pointed to global regulators' findings that its use is safe.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Ludwig Burger) |
Is Colas SA (EPA:RE) A Financially Strong Company?
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Stocks with market capitalization between $2B and $10B, such as Colas SA (EPA:RE) with a size of €4.5b, do not attract as much attention from the investing community as do the small-caps and large-caps. However, generally ignored mid-caps have historically delivered better risk-adjusted returns than the two other categories of stocks. This article will examine RE’s financial liquidity and debt levels to get an idea of whether the company can deal with cyclical downturns and maintain funds to accommodate strategic spending for future growth. Remember this is a very top-level look that focuses exclusively on financial health, so I recommend a deeper analysisinto RE here.
Check out our latest analysis for Colas
Over the past year, RE has ramped up its debt from €247m to €1.1b , which accounts for long term debt. With this rise in debt, RE currently has €574m remaining in cash and short-term investments to keep the business going. Moreover, RE has generated €365m in operating cash flow in the last twelve months, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 34%, meaning that RE’s debt is appropriately covered by operating cash.
Looking at RE’s €5.5b in current liabilities, it seems that the business has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of €5.5b, leading to a 1.01x current account ratio. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. Generally, for Construction companies, this is a reasonable ratio since there's a sufficient cash cushion without leaving too much capital idle or in low-earning investments.
RE’s level of debt is appropriate relative to its total equity, at 38%. RE is not taking on too much debt commitment, which may be constraining for future growth. We can test if RE’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 RE, the ratio of 9.67x suggests that interest is appropriately covered, which means that debtors may be willing to loan the company more money, giving RE ample headroom to grow its debt facilities.
RE has demonstrated its ability to generate sufficient levels of cash flow, while its debt hovers at an appropriate level. Furthermore, the company will be able to pay all of its upcoming liabilities from its current short-term assets. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure RE has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. I recommend you continue to research Colas to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for RE’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor RE’s outlook.
2. Historical Performance: What has RE's returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of our analysisfor more clarity.
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. |
Jon Stewart turns from fighting for 9/11 victims to Wounded Warrior Games
Earlier this month Jon Stewart delivered powerful testimony on Capitol Hill , urging lawmakers to approve health care funding for 9/11 first responders and other victims of the attacks. Now the former host of The Daily Show is putting a spotlight on another deserving category: wounded service members. This week Stewart is serving as the host and emcee of the 2019 Department of Defense Warrior Games in Tampa, where about 300 wounded, ill or injured active-duty and veteran athletes from the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom are competing in 14 adaptive sports. The annual event, now in its 10th year, was established to help promote the recovery and rehabilitation of wounded military men and women and inspire others to do the same. What you see here, all these folks that dont allow their worst day to define them, Stewart told Yahoo News, its just incredible. Stewart, who has hosted the games since 2016, said the camaraderie transcends the competition. When youre in the military, look, its a very small percentage of our society, so its already somewhat isolated, he said. Then you get hurt. Now youre isolated from your unit, your platoon, your family. And now, all of a sudden, you find a community thats experiencing the exact same thing. Jon Stewart at the opening ceremony of the Department of Defense Warrior Games in Tampa on Saturday. (DoD photo: Lisa Ferdinando) Travis Dunn, a former Army Ranger, was shot in the upper torso during a six-hour firefight in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, on Dec. 2, 2014. The bullet traveled through his armpit, severed his spinal cord and left him paralyzed from the waist down. I didnt come to the realization of it, uh, until a couple months later, cause I was just on the pain medication, Dunn said. After I was done with all my rehab, that first probably couple months, I started to kinda realize that, you know, this was gonna be a forever thing. This was, this was how it was, this is how it was gonna be, you know, for the rest of my life. The 29-year-old discovered the Warrior Games after moving to Tampa with his wife, Kelley. The couple have a 15-month-old daughter, Sadie. Story continues I didnt know what exactly I was gonna be capable of after my injury, Dunn said. It kinda opened my eyes that I can do a lot of things still. Dunn, who competes in archery, track and wheelchair basketball, said the games bring out the competitive nature in each athlete. Were going out there, and dudes are just crushing each other, he said. Competition brings out the best in everybody. Cause nobody wants to lose. Everybody goes to win. Stewart agreed. Its intense competition, he said. But the real value of it is the brother- and sisterhood that evolves from it. The connections that they make with other people. For Stewart, his participation in the games is a no-brainer. You have to demonstrate that if theyre there for us, were there for them, he said. No matter what. Video produced by Sam Matthews and Brad Williams ___ Read more from Yahoo News: A furious Jon Stewart tells Congress to support 9/11 first responders McConnell on Stewart: I dont know why hes all bent out of shape 9/11 responder who appeared Jon Stewart now in hospice care 'Imagine your own children there': Grim reports from border detention camps U.S. probably had excellent presidents who were gay, Buttigieg says |
Those Who Purchased Erin Ventures (CVE:EV) Shares Five Years Ago Have A 89% Loss To Show For It
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Long term investing works well, but it doesn't always work for each individual stock. We don't wish catastrophic capital loss on anyone. For example, we sympathize with anyone who was caught holdingErin Ventures Inc.(CVE:EV) during the five years that saw its share price drop a whopping 89%. And it's not just long term holders hurting, because the stock is down 74% in the last year. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 63% in the last three months.
While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.
View our latest analysis for Erin Ventures
Erin Ventures hasn't yet reported any revenue yet, so it's as much a business idea as an actual business. You have to wonder why venture capitalists aren't funding it. So it seems shareholders are too busy dreaming about the progress to come than dwelling on the current (lack of) revenue. For example, investors may be hoping that Erin Ventures finds some valuable resources, before it runs out of money.
Companies that lack both meaningful revenue and profits are usually considered high risk. There is usually a significant chance that they will need more money for business development, putting them at the mercy of capital markets. So the share price itself impacts the value of the shares (as it determines the cost of capital). While some such companies do very well over the long term, others become hyped up by promoters before eventually falling back down to earth, and going bankrupt (or being recapitalized). It certainly is a dangerous place to invest, as Erin Ventures investors might realise.
Erin Ventures had liabilities exceeding cash by CA$506,158 when it last reported in March 2019, according to our data. That puts it in the highest risk category, according to our analysis. But since the share price has dived -36% per year, over 5 years, it looks like some investors think it's time to abandon ship, so to speak. The image below shows how Erin Ventures's balance sheet has changed over time; if you want to see the precise values, simply click on the image.
Of course, the truth is that it is hard to value companies without much revenue or profit. Would it bother you if insiders were selling the stock? I'd like that just about as much as I like to drink milk and fruit juice mixed together. It only takes a moment for you tocheck whether we have identified any insider sales recently.
Investors in Erin Ventures had a tough year, with a total loss of 74%, against a market gain of about 1.2%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 36% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You canclick here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.
But note:Erin Ventures may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on 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. |
UAE's NPCC forecasts foreign contracts to drive 34% revenue rise
By Stanley Carvalho
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) expects revenue to grow by 34% this year on the back of projects it has won overseas, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Revenue at the majority state-owned oil and gas services contractor will hit 7.1 billion dirhams ($1.9 billion) compared to 5.3 billion dirhams last year, Ahmed al-Dhaheri said.
"The higher revenues are from projects won outside the UAE with 84% of the value of projects from non-UAE companies," al Dhaheri said at an event to mark the completion of NPCC's largest offshore gas treatment platform for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
NPCC has many projects from Saudi Aramco, Kuwait and India, its main markets, al Dhaheri added. It also entered Egypt this year, winning a contract for a sub-sea project in the Red Sea.
The firm has submitted bids for projects worth more than 6 billion dirhams in the region and is awaiting results, he said.
While NPCC is exploring opportunities in new markets in north Africa and south-east Asia, it also expects to boost its order book in the UAE as more oil and gas projects come on stream, he said.
NPCC is also working towards strengthening its position in India through partnerships on offshore projects, al Dhaheri said. NPCC has two engineering companies in India, one in Hyderabad and the other in Mumbai.
(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Alexander Smith) |
3 Stocks to Buy as Oil Service Firms Regain Pricing Power
After enduring years of pricing concessions, oilfield service companies are beginning to see a recovery in their product and service rates, a new report from the independent energy research and business intelligence company Rystad Energy shows. In particular, continued consolidation in the space has raised hope for the providers of technical products and services to drillers of oil and gas wells.
Oil Slump Pressured Activity and Pricing, Drove Consolidation
Oil’s horror show saw black gold’s price come down from some $110 per barrel in mid-2014 to a 12-year low of $26.21 in early 2016. The commodity’s collapse threatened the industry's creditworthiness by hurting cash flows, drying up liquidity and narrowing profit margins.
Oilfield services companies were some of the hardest hit by diving commodity prices as top energy companies resorted to spending cuts (particularly on the costly upstream projects) owing to lower profit margins. This, in turn, meant cancellation or contract renegotiation for equipment suppliers. Unprecedented declines in activity levels and a sharp fall in E&P capital expenditure led to lower revenues and pricing headwinds. In these trying circumstances, merger and acquisition deals helped service providers to cut their average costs and benefit from mutual technical expertise exchange.
Slew of Oilfield Service M&As
Schlumberger SLB – the largest company in the industry – acquired Cameron in 2015 to fortify its deepwater presence. A year later, Houston-based FMC Technologies, a major underwater energy equipment maker, merged with Paris-based Technip, an offshore oil and gas field developer, to form TechnipFMC plc FTI. Then, Baker Hughes combined with the oilfield unit of General Electric GE and finally, Schlumberger bought Weatherford’s fracking assets in 2018.
Signs of Rebound on Steadiness of Oil
Apart from a spate of M&As, increased efficiencies and cost-reducing technological advances have renewed interest in the oilfield service space, finally raising hopes for the industry’s recovery. As the industry becomes less fragmented, commodity prices steadily improve and drilling activities pick up, the market for services companies is on the mend. The lower competitive intensity also gives the sector components freedom to implement price increases. A combination of higher volume and pricing is expected to improve energy service companies’ margins.
The oilfield service companies are also well positioned to benefit from other favorable industry trends including rebound in the highly lucrative international markets, pick up in offshore activities and increasing complexity of the projects that require more technology.
3 Stocks to Invest In
Although consolidation on the seller side has resulted in operational synergies and scale benefits to the players, one should keep in mind that there are still certain segments in the industry that would continue to witness pricing pressures on oversupply concerns. Hence, a cautious strategy needs to be followed in order to select the best oilfield service stocks with potential for steady returns. To guide investors to the right picks, we highlight three stocks that carry a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy).
You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.HLX: Helix Energy Solutions Group carries a Zacks Rank #1 and is a specialty services provider to offshore energy companies. The 2019 Zacks Consensus Estimate for this Houston, TX-based company is 28 cents, representing some 47.4% earnings per share growth over 2018. Next year’s average forecast is 38 cents pointing to another 36.9% growth.
Oceaneering International, Inc.OII: One of the leading suppliers of offshore equipment and technology solutions to the energy industry, Oceaneering International has a Zacks Rank #2. Over 60 days, the Houston, TX-based company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 increase 30.5%.
Subsea 7 S.A.SUBCY: A seabed-to-surface service contractor in the offshore energy industry, Subsea 7 also carries a Zacks Rank #2. Over 60 days, the Norwegian company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 increase 28.6%.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
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 reportGeneral Electric Company (GE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTechnipFMC plc (FTI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportOceaneering International, Inc. (OII) : Free Stock Analysis ReportHelix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (HLX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSchlumberger Limited (SLB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSubsea 7 SA (SUBCY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Can FedNat Holding Company (NASDAQ:FNHC) Improve Its Returns?
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One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. We'll use ROE to examine FedNat Holding Company (NASDAQ:FNHC), by way of a worked example.
Over the last twelve monthsFedNat Holding has recorded a ROE of 1.7%. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each $1 of shareholders' equity it has, the company made $0.017 in profit.
Check out our latest analysis for FedNat Holding
Theformula for ROEis:
Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity
Or for FedNat Holding:
1.7% = US$3.6m ÷ US$218m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.)
It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is the capital paid in by shareholders, plus any retained earnings. You can calculate shareholders' equity by subtracting the company's total liabilities from its total assets.
ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The 'return' is the yearly profit. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, as a general rule,a high ROE is a good thing. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies.
Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. As shown in the graphic below, FedNat Holding has a lower ROE than the average (8.6%) in the Insurance industry classification.
That certainly isn't ideal. It is better when the ROE is above industry average, but a low one doesn't necessarily mean the business is overpriced. Still,shareholders might want to check if insiders have been selling.
Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.
FedNat Holding has a debt to equity ratio of 0.45, which is far from excessive. Its ROE is quite low, and the company already has some debt, so surely shareholders are hoping for an improvement. 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 useful for comparing the quality of different businesses. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE.
Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. So I think it may be worth checking thisfreereport on analyst forecasts for the company.
Of courseFedNat Holding 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. |
Saudi probe dodges who ordered Khashoggi murder: U.N. expert
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. executions investigator said on Wednesday that leaders attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, this weekend should press Saudi Arabia to take "full responsibility" for what she called the state murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. An official Saudi Arabian investigation into his killing by Saudi agents has failed to examine who may have ordered the killing and ignored key suspects, said Agnes Callamard, U.N. investigator on extrajudicial executions. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a key adviser, and other senior officials should be investigated over the premeditated murder at its consulate in Istanbul given the evidence against them, Callamard. Saudi officials have long denied suspicions in the CIA and some Western countries that the crown prince, the kingdom's de facto ruler, ordered the killing in October. Callamard was asked by reporters what delegations attending the G20 should raise in bilateral meetings with the Saudi delegation - headed by the crown prince. "I have insisted that the killing of Mr. Khashoggi is a state killing. It is not a killing by rogue officials as the government continued to pretend," she said. "It is therefore important that the countries that will be present in the G20 insist that the state of Saudi Arabia do take its full responsibility for the killing"," she said. In her report this month she urged states to widen sanctions to include the crown prince and his assets abroad, unless he can prove he is not responsible. Callamard undertook her own inquiry due to what she called "paralysis" of the United Nations. She voiced disappointment at a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying that he had no power or authority to launch an international criminal investigation unless initiated by states. "I certainly call on member states to proceed with that official demarche so the Secretary-General will not be able to just create more firewalls between him and his responsibilities to take action against impunity," she said on Wednesday. Her investigation had found "credible evidence warranting further investigation of "high-level Saudi officials' individual liability, including that of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and his key adviser (Saud) Qahtani," she told the U.N. Human Rights Council. "The investigation carried out by the Saudi authorities has failed to address the chain of command," she said. Abdulaziz Alwasil, Saudi ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said Callamard's report was "based on prejudice and prefabricated ideas". Story continues "This is why we reject any attempt to remove this from our national justice system in Saudi Arabia, irrespective of the form that may take," Alwasil told the council. Qahtani, seen as the right-hand man to Prince Mohammed, was removed as a royal court adviser and is the highest-profile figure implicated in the incident. However, he is not among 11 on trial. "The prosecutor in a public statement has recognized that one particular person, Saud al-Qahtani, incited the mission before it departed, calling Mr Khashoggi 'a national threat', and yet this particular individual has not been indicted," Callamard said, noting that a total of 15 Saudis were involved. Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish writer and Khashoggi's fiancée, told the Council: "I want to know who gave the order to kill Jamal and who else knew. I want to know where is his body." "Those who are behind the murder and cover-up should face punishment," she said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Jon Boyle) View comments |
How lifeless body of toddler came to be slumped by dead father in river on US-Mexico border
View of the bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Martinez Ramirez and his daughter, who drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande - AFP The city of Matamoros sits tantalisingly close to the US border, with Brownville, Texas in clear view over the Gateway International Bridge. It was here that the Salvadoran refugee Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, 25, and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, arrived to claim asylum in the United States two months ago. But on Monday, their drowned bodies were found locked in a final embrace, Valeria tangled up in her father’s black t-shirt, on the banks of the Rio Grande river, which runs under the bridge. The shocking photograph of their corpses, now broadcast around the world , illustrates the plight of migrants and refugees who are making increasingly perilous attempts to reach the United States. But the story of what drove them to attempt the fatal river crossing also raises questions about the Trump administration’s border regime, which is turning refugees away from the border or cramming them into purgatorial reception centres. From the scorching Sonoran Desert to the fast-moving Rio Grande, the 2,000-mile border has long been a deadly crossing between ports of entry. A total of 283 migrant deaths were recorded last year; the toll so far this year has already reached 170. According to local media reports, Mr Ramirez had grown frustrated with the processing system at the Puerta México migrant camp, and felt there was little hope of his request for asylum ever being processed. The US government claims the applications are delayed as it does not have the capacity to process them, with families of asylum seekers sleeping in makeshift camps where they risk being split up by border guards. Tania Vanessa Avalos, Mr Ramirez’s wife, says the family had been kept for two months in the Puerta México camp, waiting for an appointment to discuss their asylum claim. They came from El Salvador, where decades of civil war and gang violence has transformed the Central American country into one of the most dangerous in the world. Thousands of Salvadorans have joined migrant caravans headed towards the US border in search of refuge, but the images of them walking en masse towards America have been portrayed by President Donald Trump as an “invasion.” Story continues Mr Martinez reportedly worked at Papa Johns in El Salvador, according to relatives, where he earned $350 (£275) per month, while his wife had given up her job at a Chinese restaurant to look after their daughter. “They went for the American dream,” Mr Ramierz's sister, Wendy Joanna Martínez de Romero, told the New York Times. Mexican authorities walk along the Rio Grande bank where the bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria Credit: Julie Le Duc Other Mexican media reports say she begged the family not to leave, but they had been completely seduced by the hope of a prosperous life in America. The family lived with Mr Ramirez’s mother, Rosa, in Altavista, sprawling complex of small, concrete houses east of San Salvador. The area is under the control of gangs, but in an interview with the New York Times, Ms Ramirez said it was economic hardship of living on just $10 (£7) per day, rather than violence, which pushed her son and his family to flee El Salvador. Nevertheless, Mr Ramirez managed to obtain a political asylum visa from the Mexican government during the long journey to the Mexican border, which would have strengthened his family’s case when they presented themselves to the US authorities. Instead, the family was left in limbo for weeks, sweltering in temperatures of up to 45 degrees with little food, which according to local newspaper La Jornada left them in a state of “despair.” On Sunday, Mr Ramirez and his wife decided they had had enough; they would abandon the asylum process and attempt an illegal crossing into the United States by swimming the Rio Grande river. At 1.38pm, Mr Ramirez logged into Facebook and informed his sister of the plan. Oscar Martinez Ramirez and his daughter reportedly left their home in El Salvador for economic reasons but then received a political asylum visa from the Mexican government Credit: AFP Three hours later, his mother would receive a phone call from his wife, Tania, screaming incoherently and saying “Oscar died, Oscar and the girl drowned.” Mr Ramirez took Valeria in his arms and swam across the river, setting her safely on the other side before returning to his wife. But as he started swimming back, his daughter fell into the water. He turned back and grabbed his daughter, but the pair was then swallowed by a strong current as Valeria’s mother looked on in horror. She called the authorities, who launched a twelve hour search to retrieve Mr Ramirez and his daughter. As darkness fell they suspended the search due to poor visibility. Then, the following morning, the search ended in the discovery of the bodies, 500 metres from the spot where the current took hold. Later, Ms Avalos gave a full account of the ordeal to police punctuated with “tears and screams.” “When the girl jumped in is when he tried to reach her, but when he tried to grab the girl, he went in further ... and he couldn’t get out,” Ms Avalos told the Associated Press. Handout photograph of the Ramirez family “He put her in his shirt, and I imagine he told himself, ‘I’ve come this far’ and decided to go with her.” Valeria’s right arm was still curled around her father’s neck, as if she had clung to him for safety in her last moments. Mr Ramirez’s family initially faced immense financial costs of up to $7,500 to repatriate their relatives’ bodies, but the Mexican government has said it will pay for the funeral arrangements. The case has already drawn comparisons with that of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee whose body was photographed off the coast of the Greek island of Kos. Even so, it remains unclear whether the photograph of Mr Ramirez and his daughter will spur the Trump administration to address criticism of its border policies. |
Is FedNat Holding Company's (NASDAQ:FNHC) 1.7% ROE Worse Than Average?
Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!
One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. We'll use ROE to examine FedNat Holding Company (NASDAQ:FNHC), by way of a worked example.
FedNat Holding has a ROE of 1.7%, based on the last twelve months. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated $0.017 in profit.
See our latest analysis for FedNat Holding
Theformula for ROEis:
Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders' Equity
Or for FedNat Holding:
1.7% = US$3.6m ÷ US$218m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.)
Most know that net profit is the total earnings after all expenses, but the concept of shareholders' equity is a little more complicated. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets.
ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else equal,investors should like a high ROE. That means it can be interesting to compare the ROE of different companies.
Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, FedNat Holding has a lower ROE than the average (8.6%) in the Insurance industry.
That certainly isn't ideal. It is better when the ROE is above industry average, but a low one doesn't necessarily mean the business is overpriced. Nonetheless, it might be wise tocheck if insiders have been selling.
Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first 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.
FedNat Holding has a debt to equity ratio of 0.45, which is far from excessive. Its ROE is certainly on the low side, and since it already uses debt, we're not too excited about the company. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the company's ability to take advantage of future opportunities.
Return on equity is a useful indicator of the ability of a business to generate profits and return them to shareholders. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE.
Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So you might want to take a peek at thisdata-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company.
Of course,you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere.So take a peek at thisfreelist of interesting companies.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
Tackle Market Volatility With These 5 Low-Beta Stocks
Most investors believe that only risky stocks generate high returns. However, the strategy works only when the market is bullish.
Many strategies assure handsome returns for risk-averse investors. We have created one with low-beta stocks after considering several other parameters.
Beta Understanding
Beta measures the volatility or risks to a security relative to the market (we are considering the S&P 500 here). That is, beta measures the extent to which the price of a stock moves with respect to the market.
If the beta is equal to 1 it means that the stock is as volatile as the market. So, a stock is relatively more volatile if it has beta greater than 1 and less volatile if beta is less than 1.
For example, if the beta is 1.8 then the stock will witness 80% more movement than the market. Hence, we can say that if the market goes up, the stock will outperform by 80%. Conversely, if the market plunges, the stock will lose much more value than the market.
Building a Low-Risk Portfolio
In order to find stocks with lower-than-market volatility, we addedbeta between 0 and 0.6as our main criterion for screening. However, we need to keep in mind that low beta is not the only metric to be considered for choosing stocks in a volatile market. Hence to reach the winning strategy, we have considered a few additional criteria.
Percentage Change in Price in the last 4 Weeks:We considered those stocks that saw positive price movement over the last month.
Average 20 Day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000:A substantial trading volume ensures that the stocks are easily tradable.
Price greater than or equal to $5:They must all be trading at a minimum of $5 or higher.
Zacks Rank equal to 1:Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks indicate that they will significantly outperform the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.
Here are five of the 12 stocks that fit the bill:
Headquartered in Plano, TX,Rent-A-Center, Inc.RCII is primarily engaged in leasing household products to clients. The company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average positive earnings surprise being 74%. Through 2019 and 2020, the stock is likely to see earnings growth of 100% and 15%, respectively.
Aaron's Inc.AAN, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, is mainly involved in offering solutions associated to lease-purchase with an omnichannel approach. The company posted an average positive earnings surprise of 4.4%. Through 2019, the stock is likely to see earnings growth of 14%.
Headquartered in Ankeny, IA,Casey's General Stores IncCASY is primarily involved in operating convenience stores. The company beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the prior four quarters. For fiscal 2020 and 2021, the stock is expected to see earnings growth of 5.6% and 6.3%, respectively.
Magellan Health, Inc.MGLN, headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, is mainly engaged in offering services related to healthcare management. Through 2019 and 2020, the stock is likely to witness earnings growth of 59.4% and 27%, respectively.
Based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,NorthWestern CorporationNWE is primarily involved in providing natural gas and electricity to clients. The stock beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the past four quarters.
You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at:https://www.zacks.com/performance.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportNorthWestern Corporation (NWE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAaron's, Inc. (AAN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportRent-A-Center, Inc. (RCII) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMagellan Health, Inc. (MGLN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportCaseys General Stores, Inc. (CASY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Trump: US should sue Google for 'trying to rig' the 2020 elections
President Trumpon Wednesday said the U.S. should sue tech giants likeGoogleandFacebookand lambasted the platforms, including Twitter, for allegedly trying to rig the 2020 elections in favor of Democrats.
“They make it much harder for me to get out the message," he told FOX Business. "These people are all Democrats, it’s totally biased toward Democrats. If I announced tomorrow that I’m going to become a nice liberal Democrat, I would pick up five times more followers."
Top Republicans have long rallied against the tech industry for alleged bias against conservatives, claims the companies have denied.
A Google spokesperson did not respond to request for comment. A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment.
WATCH TRUMP'S FULL INTERVIEW WITH FOX BUSINESS HERE
Trump also directly criticized Twitter for allegedly curbing his ability to get new followers.
"I have had so many people come to me, 'Sir, I can't join you on Twitter.' I see what is happening, 100 percent," he said.
A Twitter spokesperson said the company's focus is on "the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts to prevent malicious behavior."
"Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people," they said in an emailed statement.
On the antitrust front, Trump also expressed outrage that the European Union has taken a tougher stance against the tech firms. "We should be suing Google and Facebook and all that, which perhaps we will," he said.
Among other settlements, Google paid roughly $1.7 billion in March to settle allegations that the company restricted competition in Europe with its AdSense business.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have reportedly divided antitrust oversight of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon between the two agencies.
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What Are the Advantages of Having a Credit Card?
Paying for purchases with a credit card can offer many advantages if you can commit to spending only what you can successfully pay off in full each month. In fact, many of the advantages credit cards provide can save you money in the long run. Some common advantages of having a credit card include: -- Paying for purchases over time -- Convenience -- Credit card rewards -- Fraud protection -- Free credit scores -- Price protection -- Purchase protection -- Return protection -- Extended warranty coverage -- Travel benefits Paying for purchases over time. Credit cards give you the ability to pay for a purchase using your card today and pay off your credit card balance on a future date. Most issuers offer a grace period where you don't have to pay any interest charges. Typically, this grace period lasts from the date you make your purchase through the end of the billing cycle during which the purchase was made and ends when your payment is due. However, if you're carrying a balance on your credit card, you usually have to pay interest on the balance owed unless you're taking advantage of promotional 0% annual percentage rate offer. [ Read: Best Cash Back Credit Cards. ] Convenience. Using a credit card can make managing your finances more convenient than using another payment method. Your credit card sends you a statement each month detailing exactly when, where and how much you spent on each purchase charged to your card. You can use the information from these statements to keep track of your spending. Additionally, some credit cards offer year-end statements that summarize your spending throughout the year, which is helpful for taxes and other tracking purposes. Credit cards also provide a convenient payment method when making purchases online, since you can't pay for online purchases with cash. Using a credit card doesn't put your debit card or bank account information at risk. Credit card rewards. The ability to earn rewards for the purchases you make is one of the most obvious advantages of having a credit card. Each rewards program has its own system for earning, managing and redeeming rewards. "For frequent travelers, a rewards card that offers miles or points that can be used toward flights or hotel rooms can be very beneficial," says James Lambridis, founder and CEO of Debt MD, a service that connects consumers with lenders, credit counselors, debt settlement companies and bankruptcy attorneys. For those who prefer cash, a credit card that offers cash back as a statement credit, direct deposit or even a check may work better. Story continues Depending on your spending habits, your rewards might even be able to pay for an entire vacation, says Lambridis. Many credit cards offer sign-up bonuses to entice you to apply for and start using them. The value of these bonuses can exceed $500. When you add up your everyday rewards with a couple of sign-up bonuses, it's easy to see how you could cover a vacation. Fraud protection. Federal law limits your liability for credit card fraud to $50. If you notify your issuer you lost your card before any fraudulent charges are made, or when your card information (but not the actual card) is stolen, you aren't responsible for any fraud. Many credit card issuers take this a step further and don't hold you responsible for fraud at all as long as you report unauthorized charges in a timely manner. To help make your credit card even more secure, your issuer may offer virtual account numbers you can use when making over-the-phone or online purchases. This way, your primary credit card number isn't put at risk if a data breach exposes the card information. [ Read: Best Rewards Credit Cards. ] Free credit scores. Many credit cards now offer free credit scores as a benefit. Some credit card companies print your credit score on your monthly statements. Others offer a free credit score program or allow you to view your credit score through the bank's website. Checking your credit score through a credit card benefit does not count as a hard inquiry or damage your score, says Lambridis. When viewing your free credit score, make sure you understand what type of score you get. "Not all cards allow you to view your FICO score , which is the most widely accepted credit scoring model used by lenders. Some cards offer the ability to view your VantageScore as opposed to FICO," says Lambridis. Still, free credit scores can help you view the overall trend of whether your score is improving or declining. Price protection. Have you ever bought something, then saw the price drop a few days later? Price protection might be able to help you as long as you made your purchase on a card that offers the benefit. Price protection usually refunds you the difference between the price you paid and the lower price, within certain guidelines. While price protection has been disappearing from many credit cards lately, it is still offered on some cards. There are limits to the programs. The period for price drops is usually a couple of months, and you may have to provide an advertisement that shows the lower price to claim your refund. The amount you can save per purchase is typically limited to about $250, and there is a yearly cap on how much you can save with the benefit. Certain purchases are excluded, too. Purchase protection. "Purchase protection covers against damage or theft of the items purchased with an eligible credit card," says Inga Cenatiempo, founder and luxury travel advisor at WanderWild Travel. These benefits normally protect your new purchases for roughly three months after you buy the item, but it may vary by the card issuer. "There are also exclusions to be aware of, for instance animals, tickets of any kind, boats, cars and aircraft, refurbished items, etc. Refer to your card's benefit guide for specifics," says Cenatiempo. If your item gets damaged or stolen, your credit card benefit may repair the item or reimburse you for the purchase amount up to a limit, such as $1,000. In addition to per-item caps, the total amount of your claims over a year may be limited. "While I usually like to use a card that gives me the highest points return per dollar for each specific purchase, when buying a high-end item, it is prudent to go with the card that offers the best purchase protection," says Cenatiempo. Return protection. Retailer return policies can vary. Return protection offered by your credit card may enable you to return your purchase for a refund even when the retailer doesn't allow it. The benefit usually lasts for about three months after you make a purchase, and you must use your credit card that offers the benefit to make the purchase. The amount of money you can get from this benefit may be limited to a certain amount per item, such as $300, or per year, such as $1,000. Certain purchases, such as furniture, appliances and jewelry, normally don't qualify for this benefit. [ Read: Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards ] Extended warranty coverage. If you're purchasing an expensive item that can break and has a manufacturer's warranty, it often makes sense to use a credit card that offers extended warranty coverage to protect your purchase. An extended warranty can reimburse you or get your item repaired or replaced if it breaks outside of the manufacturer's warranty but before the extended warranty expires. Extended warranty benefits vary by the card issuer, but they typically extend a manufacturer's warranty by one or two years. The maximum combined warranty, including the manufacturer's warranty and extended warranty, is usually limited to a certain number of years, such as seven, and likely has a dollar amount cap. Like most credit card benefits, extended warranty coverage has other limitations, too. It doesn't apply to purchases that don't offer a manufacturer's warranty. Certain items don't qualify, such as cars, boats, aircraft and other motorized vehicles. To qualify for the benefit, you have to provide documentation that may include your purchase receipt and the original manufacturer's warranty. Make sure to keep this paperwork if you think you may need to use the benefit. Travel benefits. Your credit card may offer a handful of features that can help you save money the next time you're traveling. These benefits might include an auto rental collision damage waiver, trip cancellation or interruption insurance, baggage delay insurance, trip delay reimbursement, free airport lounge access, a free checked bag, travel statement credits or other travel benefits. Auto rental collision damage waiver coverage is one of the benefits that may end up getting used often if you rent cars frequently. This waiver typically kicks in when you decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the car rental to your card that offers the coverage. Depending on your card's benefits, it may provide primary coverage, where it pays out first, or secondary coverage, where it pays out after you file a claim with your insurance carrier. Either way, it can save you from paying for the rental car company's insurance. Certain credit cards offer perks that can reduce the costs you might incur when flying. For example, airline credit cards may offer a free checked bag on a particular airline or free access to that airline's lounges. Some cards even offer a travel statement credit to offset travel costs like airline incidental fees. Other travel benefits can be useful in negative circumstances such as lost luggage and delayed or canceled trips. These benefits can sometimes offset part or all of your extra costs. Make Sure You Have a Handle on Your Card and Its Benefits Credit card benefits programs can vary by issuer and may even vary from credit card to credit card. All the details about how these programs work are usually detailed in your credit card's guide to benefits. You often receive this around the same time you get your card. Alternatively, you can usually download it from your credit card's website. Card issuers can change these benefits at any time, and the benefits typically have many rules and exclusions, so it's important to research your card's specific benefits before you use them, says Cenatiempo. While secondary credit card benefits can be helpful, it's important to stay focused on the big picture. The benefits of having a credit card can be greatly diminished if you carry a balance and pay interest each month, says Lambridis. Make sure using a credit card to earn these secondary benefits doesn't cost you more in interest and fees than the value of the benefits you receive. More From US News & World Report What Are Credit Card Convenience Checks? How Credit Card Interest Is Calculated How Do Refunds Work on a Credit Card? View comments |
'Super Mario Maker 2' is another love letter to Nintendo’s 2D platformers
It's impossible to playSuper Mario Maker 2without having a huge smile on your face. It's a total deconstruction of what makes Nintendo's 2D platforming franchise so special. You're just a plumber, standing on a stage, hoping to make it to the goal intact. The real hook, of course, is that you can take everything you've learned from Mario games over the years and craft your own levels, with the freedom to make them as simple or thumb-numbingly complex as you'd like. And if you're just in the mood to play, you've got a practically endless supply of levels from Nintendo and the online community to feed on. There's no doubtSuper Mario Maker 2banks heavily on nostalgia, but it's also a way for both old and new players to truly grasp the power of 2D platformers.
The originalSuper Mario Makerdebuted on the ill-fated Wii U in 2015, and it also made an appearance on the 3DS (with the sad omission of online support). As I noted inmy preview ofMario Maker 2, the Switch is a far better console home for the series. You can play the game anywhere -- which is particularly helpful while building stages -- and then easily throw it on your TV for some big screen action. I would have been satisfied if Nintendo just brought the last entry over to the Switch when the system launched and called it a day. But given it's been so long, a full-fledged sequel made more sense.
The biggest change? There's finally a story mode, in addition to the core level creation and online community. Nintendo doesn't really break any new narrative ground -- the story just has you rebuilding Peach's Castle by playing through levels and earning coins -- but it's still a fun diversion when you don't feel like building stages. Even though the game is leaning on a pretty basic adventure game mechanic, it was enough to keep me consistently playing late into the night (just 150 more coins and I'll finally complete the West Tower!). It helps that most of the stages in story mode are well designed, and they often serve as inspirations for your own levels.
Still, I wish Nintendo pushed a bit harder with the story mode. There's no world map to speak of, you're mainly just running around Peach's Castle. There aren't really many surprises either -- you'll find a few warp pipes and extra coins, but that's about it. I figure Nintendo wanted to focus more energy on the level building aspects ofMario Maker 2, but I would have liked to see something bolder, like the single player World of Light mode inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Then again, you might not even notice how threadbare the story mode is as you're diving into all the levels being created by theMario Makercommunity. The game does a solid job of surfacing new and popular entries, which you can play almost instantly or download to your system to edit (think of it like the Mario equivalent of a web browser's View Source option). There's also a new endless mode, which throws stage after stage at you until you run out of lives. It sounds simple, but in practice it's genuinely exciting because you never know what sort of level you'll get. One might force you stay in the air after your first jump, while another has you driving cars through piles of enemies on your way to the goal.
Super Mario Maker 2'slongevity will depend on its online community. And even though I was testing the game out on a private media server, I still stumbled into some ingenious creations (as well as a few truly infuriating ones). I'd wager we'll see some truly wild stuff once everyone can jump aboardMario Maker 2. The original game managed to attract a dedicated following of creators on the Wii U -- now that Nintendo has a wildly popular console again and a full-fledged online network, that community can only get stronger.
Naturally, you'll need to subscribe to the Switch's online service to take full advantage of the game, but Nintendo is at least offering a year-long subscription with the $70Mario Maker 2bundle. (Typically, Switch Online costs $20 a year, or $4 a month.) Nintendo hasn't done a great job of selling the benefits of Switch Online so far, but I'd bet this game will encourage hesitant players to sign up. Otherwise, you're locked out of some of its most compelling features.
I'll admit, I'm far more interested in exploring the insane creations of theMario Makercommunity than putting together my own levels. (It didn't help knowing that anything I made would be wiped ahead of the game's release.) But after spending a few hours crafting aSuper Mario WorldandMario 3entries, I've come to appreciate the building process as a form of zen meditation.
You start with a fairly blank slate: Just choose the style of Mario game (sadly, there's noMario 2),pick a level theme and you're free to proceed however you'd like. Do you want to make something welcoming for new players, or do you want to challenge seasoned fans? Maybe you just want to troll players with insane platforming requirements. It's entirely up to you. If you're plum out of ideas, there are also some helpful tutorials to guide you through early stage development.
Thankfully, the Switch is a far better device for actually buildingMariolevels than the Wii U or 3DS. Mostly, that's because it has a capacitive touchscreen display, so choosing options and moving items around the stage is more like swiping your fingers on your phone. Both the previous consoles required styli for their sluggish resistive touchscreens. Nintendo also optimized the level editor: The top bar now dynamically includes your most recent item selections (you can also pin them there for safe keeping). Once you've placed an item on your stage, you can also hold down for additional options (for example, adding wings to keep a mushroom afloat).
Nintendo also did a surprisingly good job of adapting the level editor to the Switch's controllers, something you'll need to use whenever the console is docked to your TV. I was able to put together most of aMario Worldstage with the Pro Controller, and while it wasn't as seamless as using the touchscreen, it was still easier than I expected.
As I put that level together, I was instantly thrown back to all the hours I spent playingSuper Mario Worldon the SNES. I threw a Magikoopa up front to keep players on their toes, added a cape feather above a mini-tornado (which itself was right next to a ravenous chain chomp) and set up a runway and coin path to fly to the rest of the stage. For a challenge, I dropped in Bowser Jr. and added a clear condition to defeat him to complete the stage. That's a new feature inMario Maker 2, and it's bound to be contentious. Clear conditions have a way of turning seemingly simple stages into brain melters (I'm still haunted by a level with a single hidden coin that I couldn't find).
This time around, Nintendo also addedSuper Mario 3D Worldto the level types, which introduces a slew of new enemies (a Banzai Bill that shoots towards the camera!) and power-ups (the cat suit!). Unlike the other stage types, you can't easily switch your custom level into3D Worldmode, it's just too different from the rest of Nintendo's library. And to be honest, I've got a lot less affection for this game type. I've got nothing against the3D Worldgames, it's just that my love for sprite-based Mario platformers runs too deep.
The game also adds a few multiplayer options: You can create stages with a friend and have up to four players run through levels. I didn't get a chance to test those out for this review, unfortunately. But I did have a blast joining up with three other journalists during my preview of the game -- none of us knew each other, but running and jumping together through aMariolevel was an instant ice breaker.
Super Mario Maker 2hits all of my nostalgia points, so I'm probably too biased to judge it fairly. Like many children of the '80s, I grew up with Mario. I vividly remember the day I learned you could warp through pipes (and just how confused my parents were when five-year-old me tried to explain it). When compared with the endless possibilities of a modern 3D game likeMinecraft, how can something focused on creating 2D platforming levels seem anything but quaint? And yet,Mario Maker 2still feels like another Nintendo classic.
Images: Engadget |
CSE New Listing - Mojave Jane Brands Commences Trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange - Video News Alert on Investmentpitch.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2019) - Mojave Jane Brands (CSE: JANE) (OTC Pink: HHPHF) (FSE: 0HCN) is one of the latest new listings on the Canadian Securities Exchange, having previously traded as High Hampton Holdings. Mojave Jane Brands Inc. is a Canadian-based cannabis sector brand and distribution company emerging as a vertical integrator in California's legal cannabis space serving recreational and wellness markets.
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The company's U.S. holdings are comprised of assets including cultivation to scale, branding, packaging, manufacturing & processing, as well as, a distribution arm and the edibles brand CALIGOLD. Operating out of licensed strategic locations within the state of California, Mojave Jane is leveraging its consumer and brand-focused business model to generate sustainable profits by delivering quality products by recognized brands.
Gary Latham, CEO, stated: "As we begin to deliver on our consumer and brand first strategy, it's appropriate that we re-launch and re-name this business to reflect that strategy. More than a name change; this is a well-orchestrated plan that began and continues with the acquisition of leading California companies in the manufacturing, distribution, and delivery businesses. Our management team is bringing those separate entities together to operate as one integrated business rather than an array of independent holdings. This means that our teams can work together to innovate and deliver the products and brands that a diverse market really wants. Unifying all capabilities under one name allows us to create a corporate identity and brand that will be immediately recognizable across the industry."
Robert Allen, Chairman, added: "The change in name is emblematic of the substantive transformation that has taken place within the Company. In the past six months we have changed management and Board, added assets, and reset the direction of the Company with a brands first strategy. With the preparatory work done we are now ready to begin taking products and brands to market and have Mojave Jane become an acknowledged leader in the cannabis industry."
For more information, please visit the company's websitewww.MojaveJane.comor contact Gary Latham, CEO, at 703-629-5338 or emailinfo@MojaveJane.com.
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NervGen Pharma Launches Multiple Sclerosis Program Targeting Nerve Remyelination
LeadIndication for Spinal Cord Injury Continues to Advance to Phase One Clinical Trial
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2019) -NervGen Pharma Corp. (TSXV: NGEN) (OTCQX: NGENF)("NervGen" or the "Company"), a regenerative medicine company dedicated to creating innovative solutions for the treatment of nerve damage and neurodegenerative diseases, today announced its goal to apply its proprietary platform drug technology beyond spinal cord injury to multiple sclerosis ("MS"), another debilitating nerve damage related condition impacting millions of patients worldwide.
Multiple sclerosis is a disease where the immune system attacks the protective myelin sheath that covers nerve fibers, resulting in communication issues between the brain and the rest of the body. The disease causes the deterioration of the nerves and can cause permanent damage including the inability to walk. The MS research community has shifted its focus from addressing autoimmune issues to finding remyelination solutions. Two separate studies have demonstrated that NervGen's technology has facilitated nerve remyelination in both spinal cord injury and MS animal models, making NervGen's NVG-291 compound an attractive opportunity to become a therapeutic for multiple sclerosis.
"As we advance our lead drug candidate, NVG-291, towards a Phase 1 clinical trial in Q1 2020 for spinal cord injury, we are leveraging the potential for our drug to also promote nerve remyelination as a therapy for MS," said Bill Radvak, NervGen's Executive Chairman. "Recent positive reaction from the pharma community to the compelling data we have for a number of indications, including MS, has presented a clear opportunity for the Company to become an important participant in this large and dynamic segment of neurodegenerative diseases management. Importantly, the clinical data from our planned Phase 1 trial will provide us with key foundational knowledge that is transferrable to multiple indications for developing NVG-291."
About Multiple Sclerosis
Currently, there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, which is the most widespread disabling neurological condition of young adults around the world. Recent findings from a National MS Society study estimates nearly 1 million people in the United States are living with MS and 2.3 million people are living with the disease globally. A 2016 economic analysis of MS found the total lifetime costs per person with MS to be $4.1 million.[1]The average yearly healthcare costs range from $30,000 to $100,000 based on the mildness or severity of the disease.1
Information on MS can be found atmssociety.caorwww.nationalmssociety.org.
About NervGen
NervGen is restoring life's potential by creating innovative solutions for the treatment of nerve damage and neurodegenerative diseases. The Company is developing drugs for both spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis.
NervGen plans to initiate a Phase 1 human clinical trial for its lead compound, NVG-291, in early 2020 under an Investigational New Drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. NervGen is advancing NVG-291 for the treatment of spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis as the Company believes these indications are significant opportunities in the market, and have a dramatic impact on quality of life and a high cost burden to the healthcare system. The Company believes NVG-291 as a therapy could alleviate or improve upon the symptoms and conditions associated with spinal cord injury and MS, and empower these patients to live more active and productive lives.
For further information, please contact:Bill Radvak, Executive Chairmanbradvak@nervgen.com
Follow NervGen on Twitter (@NervgenC) and LinkedIn (NervGen Pharma Inc.) for the latest news on the Company.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policiesof the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements and information herein include, but are not limited to, the Company's current and future plans, expectations and intentions, results, levels of activity, performance, goals or achievements, or any other future events or developments constitute forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding advancement of NVG-291 toward clinical development and commercialization, the timing of human trials and regulatory approval, the potential efficacy of the Company's products and technology, and the potential to identify, evaluate and develop other drug candidates. The words "may", "will", "would", "should", "could", "expect", "plan", "intend", "trend", "indication", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "likely" or "potential", or the negative or other variations of these words or other comparable words or phrases, are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the Company in light of management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the Company believes are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including without limitation, a lack of revenue, insufficient funding, reliance upon key personnel, the uncertainty of the clinical development process, competition, and other factors set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Prospectus, financial statements and Management Discussion and Analysis which can be found on SEDAR.com.
Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements made in this document. Furthermore, unless otherwise stated, the forward-looking statements contained in this document are made as of the date of this document, and the Company has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
[1]https://www.ajmc.com/journals/supplement/2016/cost-effectiveness-multiple-sclerosis/cost-effectiveness-multiple-sclerosis-economic-burden
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Forum Energy Metals Stakes Additional Ground; Plans Summer Program at Love Lake Platinum-Palladium-Gold Project, Saskatchewan
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2019) -Forum Energy Metals Corp.(TSXV:FMC) is pleased to announce that after further geological and geophysical compilation, it has expanded (by staking) its Love Lake copper-nickel-PGM project. The property now comprises 10 claims totaling 27,896 ha and covers mafic-intrusive rocks of the Peter Lake Domain with historic occurrences of copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and gold. The project is located along Highway 905 to the Rabbit Lake/McClean Lake mine sites, approximately 60 km northeast of Forum's Janice Lake/Rio Tinto copper joint venture in north-eastern Saskatchewan.
Rick Mazur, Forum's President & CEO commented, "Sentiment towards palladium remains positive amid tight supplies and growing demand. A recent Bloomberg article noted that Morgan Stanley strategists see prices averaging US$1,575 an ounce in the second half of 2019, so we're excited to add this PGM prospect to our exploration portfolio."
Summer exploration plans will focus on re-locating historic trenches and four drill holes, mapping and sampling the extent of a 1.5km long sulphide-bearing mineralized horizon discovered by the Saskatchewan Geological Survey, and prospecting for similar mineralized horizons.
LOVE LAKE NICKEL-COPPER-PLATINUM-PALLADIUM-GOLD PROJECT
Studies by the Saskatchewan Geological Survey (SGS) suggest that the Ni-Cu-PGM occurrences on the Love Lake project share many compositional and textural similarities to the Lac des Iles pluton in Ontario and with layered stratiform deposits such as the Bushveld Complex in South Africa and the Stillwater Complex in Montana.
The Ni-Cu-PGM occurrences are associated with the 2.5 billion year old Swan River mafic complex and the Love Lake felsic pluton in the Peter Lake Domain. Forum has now staked a 30 km by 15 km area of historic copper- nickel- platinum group metal showings which returned up to 0.31% Cu over 5.2m in a trench, with visible sulphides occurring in outcrop along a 1.5km east-west trend of "reef type" layered intrusive that was not properly tested by historical drilling.Grab samples in Trench #4 in the Korvin Lake area returned 0.33% Cu, 1.33% Ni, 2735 ppb platinum, 2685 ppb palladium, 70 ppb gold and 0.43%Cu, 0.23% Ni, 3580 ppb platinum, 4275 ppb palladium, 200 ppb gold.Historic diamond drilling targeted structurally controlled mineralization, but did not test for a stratiform 'reef type' layer; the holes are interpreted to have been drilled too far to the south of the mineralized trenches(Saskatchewan Geological Survey - Maxeiner and Rayner, 2005).
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4908/45897_7d9163a0d428b812_003full.jpg
Figure 1: Simplified Geology Map.The PGM showings on the Love Lake project have the easiest access to the Swan Lake Complex, host to four separate PGM showings over a 150km trend. Forum added three more claims for a total of 6,024 hectares to cover further prospective ground.
Ken Wheatley, P.Geo. and Forum's VP, Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.
Stock Options
In accordance with the Company's Stock Option Plan, it has granted to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants incentive stock options to purchase up to an aggregate of 205,000 common shares exercisable on or before June 26, 2024 at a price of $0.10 per share.
About Forum Energy Metals
Forum Energy Metals Corp (TSX.V: FMC) explores for energy metals, including copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and uranium in Saskatchewan, Canada's Number One mining province. In addition, Forum has established a strategic land position in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. For further information:www.forumenergymetals.com
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Richard J. Mazur, P.Geo.President & CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For further information contact:
NORTH AMERICA
Rick Mazur, P.Geo., President & CEOmazur@forumenergymetals.comTel: 778-772-3100
Ken Wheatley, P.Geo., VP Explorationwheats@forumenergymetals.comTel: 250-507-1818
Craig Christy, VP Corporate Developmentcchristy@forumenergymetals.comTel: 250-863-0561
UNITED KINGDOM
Burns Singh Tennent-Bhohi, Directorburnsstb@forumenergymetals.comTel: 074-0316-3185
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‘Jurassic World Alive’ update lets users feed their AR dinosaurs
You might not realize it, but you're living in a world full of dinosaurs. Since the augmented reality gameJurassic World Alivecame out last year, it's been downloaded 17 million times. Players have unleashed 115 million dinosaurs and taken them to battle nearly one billion times. Now, the game is getting a few new features, including "sanctuaries," where users can feed, interact and play with their dinosaurs.
WhenJurassic World Alivefirst came out, many people compared it toPokémon Gowith dinosaurs, and the comparison isn't far off. Players walk around the real world looking for geo-located dinosaur DNA. They collect that to build their own hybrid thunder-lizard creations and then battle those against other players' beasts.
With the new sanctuaries feature, players will be able to interact with the dinosaurs in new ways, like giving their raptors toys to play with. A slightly disturbing but movie-accurate addition will let users purchase goats to feed their dinos. Players will also be able to share sanctuaries and take care of each other's dinosaurs. So, whileJurassic World Aliveis still pretty similar toPokémon Go, it now has someTamagotchi elements, too. |
AJN Resources Inc. Appoints Sheena Eckhof as Director
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2019) - AJN Resources Inc. (CSE: AJN) (FSE: 5AT) ("AJN") is pleased to announce that it has appointed Miss Sheena Eckhof as member of the Board of Directors of AJN.
Miss Eckhof is currently a director and Investor Relations Manager at ASX-listed Taruga Minerals Limited. She previously worked as Investor Relations Officer and Business Development Analyst for Independence Group NL, a mid-cap West Australian nickel mining company. She has also gained extensive experience with globally renowned Lazard Financial Advisory and UBS Investment Bank, where she predominately provided advice to the resources sector concerning strategic and financial matters.
About AJN Resources Inc.
The Company holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Salt Wells Lithium Project (the "Property") in Churchill County, Nevada, USA, subject to a 4.5% net smelter returns royalty. The Company's business objective is to explore for lithium mineralization on the Property. AJN's management and directors possess over 75 years of collective industry experience and have been very successful from exploration, to financing, to developing major mines throughout the world.
www.ajnresources.com
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Klaus EckhofCEO and Presidentklauseckhof@monaco.mc
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5 Things Adobe Systems Management Wants You to Know
WhenAdobe Systems(NASDAQ: ADBE)released its latest better-than-expected quarterly report last week, shares of the creative software specialist understandably surged to fresh all-time highs in response. After all, revenue soared 25% year over year, to $2.744 billion, above guidance for an even $2.7 billion, while adjusted earnings per share climbed 10% to $1.83, $0.06 per share above its target.
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen credited an "explosion of creativity across the globe," adding that the company remains well positioned for the second half given its "innovative technology platform, exciting product roadmap, and strong ecosystem of partners."
Now that the digital ink has dried, it's a great time to dig deeper to better understand what's driving Adobe today, as well as what we should be watching in the coming quarters.
To that end, here are five important points management raised during theirsubsequent conference callwith analysts.
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. Image source: Adobe Systems.
Notable growth drivers in Q2 across conversion, upsell and retention included new user growth driven by numerous global initiatives to generate demand, including targeted campaigns and promotions, leveraging the funnel of users coming to Creative Cloud through mobile apps and online engagement; and continued focus on new categories including immersive media and new segments such as social media creators; Creative Cloud Photography plan subscriptions; Adobe Premiere Pro single app subscriptions in the video category; Creative Cloud enterprise, including customer acquisition, seat expansion and services adoption; and adoption of Adobe Stock, where revenue and subscription growth rates remain strong.
Here, Murphy was specifically describing growth drivers from within Adobe's burgeoning digital media segment, where revenue soared 22% year over year, to $1.89 billion, representing nearly 69% of Adobe's total sales. Given Adobe's unrivaled digital-media product portfolio and deliberate, multifaceted strategy for driving sales, it's hardly surprising Digital Media segment revenue growth outpaced guidance for a 20% gain.
The acquisitions of Magento and Marketo have significantly increased our value to existing customers, helped us attract new logos, and expanded Adobe's addressable opportunity. Magento adds to our Experience Cloud vision by allowing us to make every moment personal, and every experience shoppable in addition to attracting a large and vibrant developer community to Adobe. [...] With the addition of Marketo, Adobe provides the leading marketing engagement platform for both B2B and B2C customers. We've deepened the integration between Adobe Marketing Cloud and Marketo Engage.
For perspective, Adobe announced its agreement to acquire digital commerce leader Magento for $1.68 billionalmost exactly a year ago, a move Narayen explained at the time would make Adobe the "only company with leadership in content creation, marketing, advertising, analytics, and now commerce." Then it followed last October byspending $4.75 billionto acquire business-to-business (B2B) company Marketo, results from which are now included under its Digital Experience segment.
In any case, it's clear at this stage that Adobe has wasted no time deeply integrating both Magento's and Marketo's platforms into its own workflows, extending its reach as a one-stop creative shop in the process.
We've expanded our vision of platforms to include social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Premiere Rush is rapidly becoming the solution of choice for YouTubers and social video creators. Premiere Rush is now available on Android in addition to iOS, Mac and Windows. Experience design is one of the most explosive creative categories, and we continue to innovate in this space with Adobe XD, our design system for UX and UI. We released a major update to Adobe XD in May, enabling teams to create and share designs to enhance both productivity and collaboration.
Perhaps no digital channels have enjoyed such meteoric growth -- or fueled the "explosion in creativity" Narayen described above -- as much as social media or web and mobile apps in recent years. And while Adobe is best known for its flagship Photoshop imaging and photo editing software, it has astutely positioned itself with Premier Rush and Adobe XD as the central enabler of video content and web/app user interface creators.
Deferred revenue exiting Q2 was $3.13 billion. The sequential decline in deferred revenue was a result of timing rather than business performance due to fewer billing cycles in our second quarter. The impact was more than offset by an increase in unbilled backlog.
Adobe's deferred revenue -- a key metric to help calculate its future revenue growth -- declined around $90 million sequentially from $3.22 billion last quarter. Though this might normally be cause for concern as a sign of stalling momentum from Adobe's subscriber base, Murphy was quick to point out it was simply a matter of billing-cycle timing this quarter, which will likely mean a future quarter of slightly more exaggerated deferred revenue growth.
In Q3 FY19, we are targeting revenue of approximately $2,800 million [...] and non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately $1.95. As usual, we are not updating annual targets at this time of the year. We are pleased with our first half performance and we expect our first half momentum to continue in the second half, with typical seasonality in Q3 and strength in Q4. We continue to expect sequential operating margin growth as we move through the second half of the year.
We don't normally pay close attention to Wall Street's targets, but heading into last week's report, most analysts were anticipating slightly higher fiscal third-quarter 2019 revenue of $2.83 billion with adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings of $2.05 per share.
But here again, Adobe didn't update its full fiscal year 2019 outlook (it's worth noting it usually doesn't at this time of the year). Coupled with Murphy's indication that they're "pleased" with their first-half results and expect to end the year strong with continued momentum, it seems the company is betting on a big second half to close that gap.
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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Steve Symingtonhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. The Motley Fool recommends Adobe Systems. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. |
Role Recall: Richard Dreyfuss on doubting 'Jaws,' coping with an abusive Bill Murray on 'What About Bob?' and more
Richard Dreyfuss has had a rollercoaster of a career, highs and lows alternating not just through the course of years but oftentimes throughout the same film shoot. He's never lost his swagger, though: "I am a wonderful actor, and I know it," Dreyfuss told us during our latest episode of Role Recall (watch above), in which the 71-year-old New York native recounted stories from his long and prosperous career. About those highs and lows: One of his very first movie roles came in the seminal 1967 drama The Graduate , where he had one line as an uncredited "Boarding House Resident." But it was merely a disappointing consolation. Dreyfuss wanted the Dustin Hoffman part. There was American Graffiti (1973), the movie that helped launch not just his career, but those of writer-director-future Star Wars creator George Lucas and others like Harrison Ford and Ron Howard. But Dreyfuss didn't understand the appeal of the movie, and one night he was pushed into a pool by a drunk Ford. He also had a contentious relationship with Robert Shaw on the set of Jaws (1975), and found himself on an apology tour after he doubted the prospects of Steven Spielberg's industry-transforming thriller. Films like Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) turned him into a bonafide star, and he won an Academy Award after replacing Robert De Niro in the rom-com The Goodbye Girl (1977). But he fell into a pattern of drug abuse in the early '80s before making a comeback in comedies like Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) and Stakeout (1987). One of his most popular comedies, 1991's What About Bob?, was marred by abuse Dreyfuss says he suffered at the hands of his co-star, "Irish drunken bully" Bill Murray. He earned another Oscar nomination for 1995's Mr. Holland's Opus , briefly retired from film acting in the early 2000s, and has since alternated stage work with the occasional new film release, like his new kidnapping actioner Daughter of the Wolf , in which he plays The Big Bad opposite ex-MMA star Gina Carano. Story continues Some highlights from the interview: On his impression of a young Lucas, and the director's generosity: "George is the only film director I've ever met who doesn't like directing. … You just knew he couldn't wait to not direct. … And then George did something. He took one of his [profit] points, and he divided it up among the 10 leading actors. And I have made more money off that one-tenth of that one gross point than I have on anything else. That's a pure gesture." On the debauchery behind the scenes of American Graffiti : "Harrison [Ford] and the leader of the gang [Bo Hopkins], one night the two of them got drunk and I was walking by and they threw me into the pool. And that was OK, except they threw me into the shallow end, and I got an egg on my forehead. And then there was the usual, 'Who's gonna f**k that girl?'" On his doubts about the future classic Jaws : "Everyone had thought they had struck gold, and I said, 'What are you talking about? It's just a little movie.' So when the film was released, I found myself going back to the talk shows and saying 'I'm the guy who didn't believe in it.'" On coping with an abusive Murray on What About Bob? : "I didn't talk about it for years. … Bill just got drunk at dinner. He was an Irish drunken bully, is what he was. … He came back from dinner [one night] and I said, 'Read this [script tweak], I think it's really funny.' And he put his face next to me, nose-to-nose. And he screamed at the top of his lungs, 'Everyone hates you! You are tolerated!' There was no time to react, because he leaned back and he took a modern glass-blown ashtray. He threw it at my face from [only a couple feet away]. And it weighed about three quarters of a pound. And he missed me. He tried to hit me. I got up and left." On clashing with Oliver Stone on W. , in which he played Dick Cheney : "I heard [Oliver] say, 'Well, you're so old. You look so old.' And I said, 'I do?'… I needed that money, so I put up with it." Daughter of the Wolf is now in select theaters and on-demand. Watch the trailer: See more on Yahoo Entertainment: Role Recall: Kiefer Sutherland Talks 'Stand by Me' and 'Lost Boys,' Does Killer Colin Farrell Impression Director's Reel: Ron Howard Talks 'Splash,' 'Cocoon,' 'Apollo 13,' and More Christian Bale, 'Vice' co-stars on humanizing Dick Cheney and company: 'Personal politics doesn't play into it' Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle's newsletter. |
Is Games Workshop Group PLC's (LON:GAW) Liquidity Good Enough?
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Small and large cap stocks are widely popular for a variety of reasons, however, mid-cap companies such as Games Workshop Group PLC (LON:GAW), with a market cap of UK£1.6b, often get neglected by retail investors. However, generally ignored mid-caps have historically delivered better risk-adjusted returns than the two other categories of stocks. GAW’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. Remember this is a very top-level look that focuses exclusively on financial health, so I recommend a deeper analysisinto GAW here.
View our latest analysis for Games Workshop Group
Debt-to-equity ratio standards differ between industries, as some are more capital-intensive than others, meaning they need more capital to carry out core operations. As a rule of thumb, a financially healthy mid-cap should have a ratio less than 40%. The good news for investors is that Games Workshop Group has no debt. This means it has been running its business utilising funding from only its equity capital, which is rather impressive. Investors' risk associated with debt is virtually non-existent with GAW, and the company has plenty of headroom and ability to raise debt should it need to in the future.
Since Games Workshop Group doesn’t have any debt on its balance sheet, it doesn’t have any solvency issues, which is a term 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. Looking at GAW’s UK£25m in current liabilities, it seems that the business has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of UK£70m, leading to a 2.8x current account ratio. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Usually, for Leisure 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.
GAW has no debt in addition to ample cash to cover its short-term commitments. Its safe operations reduces risk for the company and shareholders, however, some degree of debt may also boost earnings growth and operational efficiency. I admit this is a fairly basic analysis for GAW's financial health. Other important fundamentals need to be considered alongside. I suggest you continue to research Games Workshop Group to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at:
1. Valuation: What is GAW 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 GAW is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Historical Performance: What has GAW's returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of our analysisfor more clarity.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore ourfree list of these great stocks here.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
The 2019 Democratic Debate Clashes You Won’t Get to See
Potential Democratic voters will get to see currenttop-polling Democratic candidatesJoe Biden and Bernie Sanders go against each other Thursday night during the second debate. But what about Elizabeth Warren, who’s solidified her hold among the top three candidates and is pushing Sanders? Because of the large number of candidates and the two-night format, some of the best potential face-offs aren’t happening.
Here are a few of the candidates who would likely benefit from debating on the same night and what Americans will be missing:
Elizabeth Warren has been cutting into and even surpassing Bernie Sanders’ second place position in the polls. According todata aggregated by Real Clear Politics, Warren is about three points behind Sanders, but she leads him inthe most recent Monmouth poll. With their progressive messages, it’s likely one of them will eventually need to pull voters away from the other to challenge frontrunner Biden.
Both Sanders and Warren support policies like free college tuition, the elimination or downsizing of student debt, the breakup of Big Tech, an increase of taxes on the megarich and a Green New Deal. On stage they would be able to discuss the different nuances of each of their plans (Sanders, for instance, wants to eliminate all student debt; Warren would cancel up to $50,000 of debt for households making less than $100,000 and cancel no debt of households making $250,000 or more) and better showcase the major difference that underscores their similar views: Sanders is an avowed socialist who speaks openly of a political revolution. Warren is a capitalist who wants to increase regulation.
If Warren and Sanders were together, they might also be able to pull the other candidates further left in live time. Instead, progressives will have to settle for hearing their messages on separate nights.
Until last week, a debate between Booker and Biden had little appeal. Then Biden remarked that he had worked across the aisle with well-known segregationists James Eastland and Herman Talmadge. “I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,”he said. “He never called me ‘boy.’ He always called me ‘son.’” Bookerrespondedby saying it was wrong to use those relationships as an example for unity. Biden said Booker should apologize for questioning his commitment to civil rights. Biden has since said his original commentswere taken out of context.
Booker continued todisparage Biden Sunday on “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” “I listened to the full totality of what he was talking about and frankly I heard from many, many African Americans who found the comments hurtful,” Booker said on the show. “Look, we make mistakes, we sometimes tread on issues that maybe we aren’t knowledgeable of.”
Unfortunately for Booker, who has barely registered as a candidate despite years in the public eye, he won’t be able to emphasize his message to Biden’s face. Sen. Kamala Harris, who also criticized Biden’s remarks, will be debating Biden on the second night.
Last November, Beto O’Rourke was the shiny young future of the Democratic party. He had gone from unknown Congressman to a hyped, but ultimately unsuccessful, challenger to Sen. Ted Cruz. While raising some$80 million, O’Rourke garnered attention from the likes of Beyonce and LeBron James, setting the path for his presidential run.
Then Pete Buttigieg arrived on the scene. The South Bend Mayor is younger and speaks more Norwegian. They both have charisma and can rhapsodize on numerous subjects, albeit without staking many clear positions so far.
And Buttigieg has outdone O’Rourke. His background as a veteran, the potential history-making accomplishment of being the first gay man elected president and his message to the Christian Left have let him stand out from O’Rourke. O’Rourke’s first major policy paperwas on climate change, a topic owned by candidate Jay Inslee, and he has not gained significant momentum with any policy rollouts since. In the aggregated Real Clear Politics data, Buttigieg is at 7.1%, in fourth place among the candidates, and O’Rourke is at 3.6%, in sixth place.
On the same debate stage, O’Rourke might have an opportunity to take back from Buttigieg his place as the charismatic candidate adept at wowing crowds. But he’ll have to wait longer.
With New York-centric leadership roles, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand should potentially have connections to many of the same donors and a massive, blue voting base. One of them will need to stand out as a better choice and receive the funding necessary to survive further into primary season (neither is polling above 1%), and this debate will not offer Gillibrand or de Blasio the opportunity to directly gain momentum against the other.
There’s another unfriendly reality for both candidates: In many cases, the wealthiest New Yorkersare favoring Biden, Buttigieg and Kamala Harris.
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Dating App Partners With Political Nonprofit to Raise Voter Turnout in 2020
Dating appHingeis getting political.
Ever since it became known 2020 Democratic candidatePete Buttigiegmet his husband on the platform, Hinge hasgotten a boostin activity. The app is now taking that political attention to launch a partnership withRock the Vote, a political nonprofit organization aimed at “building the political power of young people” through voter registration and issue-based awareness campaigns.
From Wednesday—the first day of the Democratic presidential primary debates—to Friday, Hinge will donate $1 to Rock the Vote for each “like” on its Rock the VoteInstagram post, up to a total of $50,000.
Hinge has 160,000 Instagram followers, but the app’s posts currently receive anywhere from a couple thousand to 20,000 “likes” (although some videos have upwards of 55,000 views). This means achieving the maximum donation will require quite a few more double-taps than usual.
As a dating app “designed to be deleted,” Hinge said it hopes promoting political awareness will encourage users to participate in the 2020 election and maybe even meet a politically-compatible match in real life.
“Everything we do at Hinge is to help our members get out on a great first date. After finding that the majority of our members would like to date someone who is politically active, we couldn’t think of a better partner to inspire political activism than Rock The Vote,” said a Hinge spokesperson. “Hopefully, this partnership will increase both voter turnout and Hinge dates in the future.”
According to the app, 83% of Hinge members want to date someone who is politically active, yet nearly half have skipped voting in a general election—an occurrence Rock the Vote aims to minimize.
The organization was founded in 1990 in response to the censorship of hip-hop and rap artists. Over the following 29 years, Rock the Vote has used pop culture and technology to motivate the youth into political action. Aside from registering voters, Rock the Vote addresses a massive range of issues, including gun control, climate change, the student debt crisis, immigration reform, and mass incarceration. |
ConsenSys Spin-Out 3Box Raises $2.5 Million to Build ID Tools for Dapp Devs
3Box, the latest startup to leave the Brooklyn-based incubator ConsenSys, just raised money to fuel a new identity tool for app developers.
3Box is developing a decentralized solution that people can use across both traditional and blockchain-based apps. The startup recently closed a $2.5 million seed round led by Placeholder Ventures, with investments from Venrock, CoinFund, Northzone and ConsenSys itself.
The “3” in 3Box is a subtle nod to the notion of Web3, a term used to describe the distributed evolution of digital platforms from social media sites to ticket sellers. Ethereum-centric startups such as MetaMask, Aragon andFoam– the latter of which garnered more than 500 contributors so far to its open source map – are already using 3Box. This pace of growth is what attracted the attention of CoinFund cofounder Jake Brukhman.
Related:Token, an Open Banking Platform, Raises $16.5M in Funding
“This is a project with genuine traction,” Brukhman told CoinDesk. “There’s a huge hole in Web3 where identity should be. And I think 3Box is exactly where it should be to fill that hole.”
3Box aims to make portable logins and profiles more simple by utilizing the peer-to-peer InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to give users keys to their own data, which is distributed across nodes instead of storing the profile on a centralized server like Facebook or Twitter.
While 3Box currently runs all the nodes, the startup plans to make that open-source software easy for any developer to spin up in order to diversify the network.
“We’re building a decentralized storage network on top of IPFS that allows all these services to tap into it, but it’s governed by the users’ consent,” 3Box co-founder Michael Sena told CoinDesk. “You can use 3Box anywhere that you have an ethereum wallet, because you basically need to be able to sign a message with your key.”
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3Box makes it easier for blockchain developers to include features like private chats, uploading photos, liking posts and other common activities related to user-generated content and social interaction that are currently absent from most decentralized applications (dapps).
Indeed, Foam CEO Ryan John King told CoinDesk that some of his users leverage 3Box to have their external Twitter handle, GitHub profile and Foam-related activity all built-in to their Foam profile for a “social and reputational layer.” In the future, King said Foam plans to integrate 3Box’s thread and chat features.
“It’s enhancing user experiences in a whole new way,” King said. “With 3Box there’s an open API, it allows people to opt-in and choose whatever information they want to include while interacting with the [FOAM] protocol.”
Sena added:
“We expect to see a whole new wave of more usable, more enjoyable, more engaging, distributed applications.”
According to Sena, 3Box plans to eventually enable a username and password option so that people could also use it for profiles on traditional apps.
Unlike a regular profile, where you can deactivate it but the company keeps your data, an app that supports 3Box could give users control over their profiles.
“The idea was to create a Google Drive or Dropbox-like interface that lets people manage their 3Box data,” Sena said. “Users can go on 3Box.io Hub, their drive, and just delete all of their data. And they can be sure that it’s gone.”
In terms of the startup’s business model, 3Box will focus on offering services, such as node management and unique features, to developers and web businesses.
“The benefits of minimizing risk and reducing liability, building lighter weight apps faster, those extend far beyond Web3 developers,” Sena said.
Speaking to 3Box’s broader business model, Brukhman concluded:
“There is inherent value in decentralizing identity and user data.”
3Box team in November 2018. Danny Zuckerman, COO (bottom left); Michael Sena, CEO (bottom middle); Joel Thorstensson, CTO (top right); Zach Ferland, Senior Engineer (top left)
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Chainalysis Hires FinCEN Vet to Tackle Crypto’s New ‘Travel Rule’ Challenge
The blockchain investigations firm Chainalysis has hired a top official from the main U.S. anti-money-laundering agency to help its cryptocurrency clients comply with tough new international data-sharing requirements.
Announced Wednesday, Mike Mosier, the former chief of strategic advancement and tactical development at the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), has joined Chainalysis as chief technical counsel.
Mosier has spent a decade in various financial regulatory bodies: before FinCEN, he worked at the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the National Security Council and the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.
Related:All Global Crypto Exchanges Must Now Share Customer Data, FATF Rules
Leveraging his experience in financial crime prevention, Mosier will first and foremost tackle legal and technical solutions for the “travel rule” that is now being imposed on the crypto industry by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Under that standard,finalized last week, FATF’s member countries will require crypto exchanges and wallet providers to identify both the sender and recipient of funds and pass this information to each other along with each transfer.
While this is a longstanding requirement for banks when they transmit money on customers’ behalf, it presents a daunting challenge for the crypto industry given the pseudonymous nature of wallet addresses.
Chainalysis itself had warned during the public consultation period that this requirement would force “onerous investment and friction” onto regulated firms, potentially putting some out of business and driving activity into the shadows.
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Speaking to the need to balance the benefits and risks of crypto, Mosier told CoinDesk:
“There is a really important moment: there is this censorship resistant and financially inclusive industry that also was involved in the Dark Web and election intervention.”
Chainalysis will keep engaging with the blockchain community, as it has been for a while now, to work out technical solutions for implementing the travel rule, Mosier said. No particular technology has been agreed upon so far, he said.
“There have been a few ideas, but I think it’s a bit too early to see something that will work,” he said, adding that looking at how banks struggled to implement the original travel rule and how they solved that issue might be helpful.
While stressing that it is “technology-neutral,” the FATFguidancereleased Friday did offer several examples of existing technologies that the industry might consider to help identify recipients of crypto transfers and transmit this data.
These include public and private keys, Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer (TLS/SSL) connections, X.509 certificates and APIs, the FATF said.
The other issues on Mosier’s plate will be data privacy and product development, he said.
He will be also making sure that Chainalysis’ solutions for blockchain transaction monitoring (its namesake offering) will be compatible with regulations in jurisdictions other than the U.S. where the company also has clients, Mosier said.
Talking about his motivation to join the blockchain industry, Mosier said that working in financial crime prevention he has been looking at new areas of financial monitoring.
“As I was moving more and more towards innovation at FinCEN, Chainalysis had a really sweet spot for me,” he said. “They focus on maintaining financial integrity but also privacy, to understand what the risks are but not getting into the personal data, making sure that the industry is growing, but not on the risk side.”
Mosier is joining Chainalysis’ Washington D.C., office soon after Jesse Spiro, who recently came from Refinitiv, a provider of finance risk management solutions owned by Blackstone Group and Thomson Reuters, and Kristofer Doucette, Chainalysis’ vice president of government affairs, who worked 14 years at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The company is also looking to fill a new position of a federal account executive, who will “engage with defense, intelligence, law enforcement, and state/local entities” to help them investigate illicit cryptocurrency activity, the recentjob postingby Chainalys says.
Getting experienced government alumni on board is especially helpful when regulators are paying such close attention to the crypto space, Chainalysis CEO and co-founder Michael Gronager said in the company’s announcement.
“As we anticipate major global regulatory developments over the coming months, the strength of our team will ensure all our customers are fully equipped with the technology and the information they need to comply with regulation and combat money laundering in cryptocurrencies,” said Gronager, whose companyraised $30 millionin a Series B round in February.
This new chapter for crypto, after the FATF ruling, will require a difficult balancing act between the speed and convenience of the technology on one side and adhering to regulations on the other, Moiser said, concluding:
“It doesn’t have to be exactly like with SWIFT or traditional banking, but not that anything goes. I believe there is a middle ground for that.”
Image via Shutterstock.
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How Verizon-Owned Wireless Service Visible Is Getting More Appealing
Visible, the low-cost wireless carrier owned byVerizon, is eliminating a cap on data download speeds for customers on its unlimited plan starting on Wednesday.
The Denver-based startup founded last year has been offering unlimited mobile plans that run on Verizon’s network for just $40 monthly. Sold only online and not through stores,Visibleis able to charge about half the rate of Verizon’s cheapest unlimited plan for one line.
But Visible customers had been restricted to a top download speed of 5 Megabits per second, or roughly one-tenththe average speedon Verizon’s regular service in big cities. Downloading a popular mobile game like Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Rebellion would take 17 minutes under the old Visible data speed cap versus less than 2 minutes at Verizon’s full, average speed.
Visible says the limit will be removed for all new and existing customers and that downloads will be as fast as Verizon’s regular network. That averaged 53 Mbps in big cities, though rates are typically slower at busy times and in less populated areas. But Visible left the door open to reimposing the cap on new customers in the future.
CEO Miguel Quiroga, an almost 20-year Verizon veteran before joining Visible, tellsFortunethat the speed cap was a problem for some potential customers. They feared that downloading a big file would be slow or difficult, a concern that the company need no longer worry about. “It revolves around perception,” Quiroga says.
One remaining difference between Visible and its parent is the terms of billing. Visible customers must pay in advance each month for what the industry calls a prepaid plan. Verizon bills customers at the end of each month for what’s known as postpaid service.
It’s been a common strategy in the wireless business to form a separate brand for lower-cost prepaid service, which often appeals to people with low credit ratings or limited means. Sprint sells prepaid under the Boost and Virgin brands,AT&Thas Cricket, and T-Mobile owned the MetroPCS brand for several yearsbefore changing its nameto Metro by T-Mobile last year.
The usual big players trail in the prepaid market. Verizon had only 6% of the market last year, ranking fifth. The leader was TracPhone, a subsidiary of Mexican carrier América Móvil, with a 29% share, followed by T-Mobile, at 27%. AT&T captured 21% of the market and Sprint had a 16% share, according toa report by Anna-Maria Kovacs, a visiting scholar at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy and a former industry analyst. One concern for regulators weighing the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger is whether the resulting consolidation in the prepaid market would reduce competition and lead to higher prices.
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Tyson on alt-meat: We're going in big
It’s one of the hottest topics in the food space right now: alternative meat.
Whatever people call it — plant-based meat, alternative meat or even fake meat —the trend is here to stay, according to Tyson Foods (TSN).
“We’re going to go big [on alternative meat], using our size and market access. We’re going to be able to bring the best of health and taste together just by virtue of our scale,” Justin Whitmore, Tyson executive vice president of alternative proteins and chief sustainability officer, told Yahoo Finance in an interview.
Tyson Foods released itsTyson Foods 2019 Summer Trends Reporton Wednesday, and in it, the company outlined 8 new food trends expected to shake up the industry. On the top of the list: alternative meat. “The numbers reflect the interest: the alternative protein segment is growing double digits. This is clearly a trend that is not going away,” the report stated.
Ever since Beyond Meat (BYND) hit the scene, Wall Street and mainstream investors alike can’t keep up with the way in which its shares have skyrocketed since its IPO in early May. After pricing at $25 per share, the stock has rallied 502% as of Tuesday’s closing price.
Tyson was an early investor in Beyond Meat before selling its 6.5% stake in the company shortly before Beyond’s public debut. Tyson strategically shed its stake in order to launch its own line of alternative meat products. Earlier this month, the largest meat processor in the U.S.announced its two new Raised & Rooted brand products: a blended burger and plant-based nuggets. They are slated to hit store shelves in the fall.
Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Nestle are only a few of the companies that are also looking to capitalize on the alternative protein hype. “Well there are over 100 different brands out there, and all of them with unique characteristics. We had to think about how we’re different - the supply chain. The full supply chain from farm to fork, we’ll have products that are available,” Whitmore said.
While smaller alt-meat companies have been struggling to meet demand, Tyson is a legacy food company. “Tyson is the largest food company in the U.S. and with that comes unrivaled network,” Whitmore explained.
Whitmore pointed out that Tyson also has a cost advantage due to its supply chain. “Relative to other players, we have a significant proportion of operational cost already built. We don’t need to create new plants, new distribution networks, new refrigeration capabilities. We will be able to come into the market with prices that will look and feel different than what other people have.”
However, much like Beyond Meat, Tyson is also looking to target not just vegetarians and vegans, but meat eaters as well. “We’re going to be targeting people who like eating meat and people who plan to continue eating meat,” Whitmore said. “The people that are driving the growth in alternative proteins are meat eaters. Roughly three fourths of the population are either adding or open to adding protein based items to diets.”
Beyond Meat reported in its first ever earnings reportearlier this month, and in the report the company said that more than half of its total revenue came from sales to restaurants and food services. The partnerships with Carl’s Jr, Del Taco (TACO) and other restaurants is critical for future growth. Recently, ever big restaurant and grocery company is being asked about whether or not they will be carrying alternative meats on their shelves and in their stores. Tyson is no exception. According to Whitmore, Tyson is also in active conversations within the restaurant and food services industry.
“I think that the fact that Tyson Foods is jumping in with investment like this and with excitement to plant-based protein is a signal about how Tyson foods is thinking about food overall,” Whitmore said.
Alternative meat isn’t the only hot trend of the summer, though. According to Tyson’s report, robots, side dishes taking center stage, and environmentally sustainable foods are also up and coming.
“Trends are so important to us, given that our focus is on growth and our starting place is our consumer,” Jen Bentz, Tyson’s senior vice president of R&D, said to Yahoo Finance. “We take a step back constantly, and we focus on the consumer. Food, it’s not just what we do, it’s our passion. Understanding these trends is step one for us.”
—
Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter:@heidi_chung.
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ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE): Financial Strength Analysis
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Small-cap and large-cap companies receive a lot of attention from investors, but mid-cap stocks like ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE), with a market cap of US$2.0b, are often out of the spotlight. However, generally ignored mid-caps have historically delivered better risk-adjusted returns than the two other categories of stocks. This article will examine ESE’s financial liquidity and debt levels to get an idea of whether the company can deal with cyclical downturns and maintain funds to accommodate strategic spending for future growth. Note that this commentary is very high-level and solely focused on financial health, so I suggest you dig deeper yourselfinto ESE here.
See our latest analysis for ESCO Technologies
ESE has shrunk its total debt levels in the last twelve months, from US$290m to US$217m , which also accounts for long term debt. With this debt payback, the current cash and short-term investment levels stands at US$35m , ready to be used for running the business. Moreover, ESE has generated cash from operations of US$77m in the last twelve months, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 35%, meaning that ESE’s current level of operating cash is high enough to cover debt.
At the current liabilities level of US$202m, the company has been able to meet these commitments with a current assets level of US$436m, leading to a 2.16x current account ratio. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. For Machinery companies, this ratio is within a sensible range as there's enough of a cash buffer without holding too much capital in low return investments.
ESE’s level of debt is appropriate relative to its total equity, at 27%. This range is considered safe as ESE is not taking on too much debt obligation, which can be restrictive and risky for equity-holders. We can check to see whether ESE is able to meet its debt obligations by looking at the net interest coverage ratio. A company generating earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at least three times its net interest payments is considered financially sound. In ESE's, case, the ratio of 13.42x suggests that interest is comfortably covered, which means that lenders may be less hesitant to lend out more funding as ESE’s high interest coverage is seen as responsible and safe practice.
ESE’s high cash coverage and appropriate debt levels indicate its ability to utilise its borrowings efficiently in order to generate ample cash flow. Furthermore, the company will be able to pay all of its upcoming liabilities from its current short-term assets. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure ESE has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. I recommend you continue to research ESCO Technologies to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ESE’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor ESE’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is ESE 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 ESE 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. |
Eric Trump Says He Was Spit on at Chicago Cocktail Lounge
President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump said the U.S. Secret Service took an employee of a Chicago cocktail lounge into custody after she spit on him.
Eric Trump toldBreitbart Newsin a telephone interview that it was “purely a disgusting act by somebody who clearly has emotional problems.” He implied that the incident was an example of Democrats’ showing frustration for the successes of his father’s Republican administration.
“For a party that preaches tolerance, this once again demonstrates they have very little civility,” he said. “When somebody is sick enough to resort to spitting on someone, it just emphasizes a sickness and desperation and the fact that we’re winning.”
His comments came after reports of the alleged spitting incident Tuesday night at The Aviary in Chicago’s West Loop area. The Associated Press sent an email Wednesday seeking comment on behalf of the lounge.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmisaid on Twitterthat officers assisted the Secret Service with a “law enforcement matter” and deferred inquiries to the agency.
The Secret Service, White House and Trump Organization, which Eric Trump helps run, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from the AP.
There have been other public confrontations involving those associated with Trump and his administration.
In June 2018, The Red Hen restaurant in Virginia refused to serve President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the request of gay employees who objected to how Sanders defended Trump’s desire to bar transgender people from the military. That triggered debate about whether politics should play a role in how administration officials are treated in public.
Several other Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, were confronted in public around that time amid fury over an administration policy that led to an increase in the number of migrant children being separated from their parents after crossing the border illegally.
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Is ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE) As Strong As Its Balance Sheet Indicates?
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Small-caps and large-caps are wildly popular among investors, however, mid-cap stocks, such as ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ESE), with a market capitalization of US$2.0b, rarely draw their attention from the investing community. However, generally ignored mid-caps have historically delivered better risk-adjusted returns than the two other categories of stocks. Today we will look at ESE’s financial liquidity and debt levels, which are strong indicators for whether the company can weather economic downturns or fund strategic acquisitions for future growth. Don’t forget that this is a general and concentrated examination of ESCO Technologies's financial health, so you should conduct further analysisinto ESE here.
Check out our latest analysis for ESCO Technologies
ESE has shrunk its total debt levels in the last twelve months, from US$290m to US$217m , which also accounts for long term debt. With this debt payback, the current cash and short-term investment levels stands at US$35m , ready to be used for running the business. Additionally, ESE has generated US$77m in operating cash flow during the same period of time, leading to an operating cash to total debt ratio of 35%, meaning that ESE’s current level of operating cash is high enough to cover debt.
At the current liabilities level of US$202m, the company has been able to meet these obligations given the level of current assets of US$436m, with a current ratio of 2.16x. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Generally, for Machinery companies, this is a reasonable ratio as there's enough of a cash buffer without holding too much capital in low return investments.
ESE’s level of debt is appropriate relative to its total equity, at 27%. This range is considered safe as ESE is not taking on too much debt obligation, which may be constraining for future growth. We can test if ESE’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 ESE, the ratio of 13.42x suggests that interest is comfortably covered, which means that lenders may be inclined to lend more money to the company, as it is seen as safe in terms of payback.
ESE’s debt level is appropriate for a company its size, and it is also able to generate sufficient cash flow coverage, meaning it has been able to put its debt in good use. Furthermore, the company will be able to pay all of its upcoming liabilities from its current short-term assets. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure ESE has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. You should continue to research ESCO Technologies to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ESE’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor ESE’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is ESE 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 ESE 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. |
Trump says he can fire Fed's Powell; it's not that simple
By Trevor Hunnicutt, Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump accused Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday of doing a "bad job" and "out to prove how tough he is," but any move to oust him would likely touch off a legal fight with big repercussions in financial markets as well.
Trump's renewed criticism of Powell for not lowering interest rates to help the United States compete against China, delivered in an interview on Fox Business Network, was the latest in a series of attacks that started only months after Trump made him Fed chief in early 2018.
"I have the right to demote him. I have the right to fire him," Trump said in the interview on Wednesday, adding that he had "never suggested" doing so.
The Federal Reserve Act says a president can only remove a Fed chair "for cause." Historically the courts have not interpreted that to include policy differences.
"I think the law is clear that I have a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it," Powell said after the Fed's June policy-setting meeting.
But the White House could try to make a case for demoting Powell but leaving him on the Fed's Board of Governors, legal experts said. If so, Powell would have the strongest case to challenge that in court.
"He would surely have standing," said Robert Hockett, a law professor at Cornell Law School, whose research includes monetary law and economics. The Fed may also have standing, though it is less clearcut, he added.
A demotion would mean a pay cut, from an annual salary of $203,500 to $183,100, base pay levels set by Congress for 2019.
It would also mean a diminution in authority, title and possibly staff.
But the principle of independence would be the overriding issue, scholars said. "There would be pressure on him to stand up for himself, not because he himself is that significant but because the independence of the Federal Reserve would be called into question," said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project in Washington.
A legal fight over who heads the Fed could leave the world's most powerful central bank navigating a potential global economic slowdown with divided leadership: one person leading the Fed's board and another heading its rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).
That scenario would be unprecedented. The Fed chair historically leads both groups, and if Powell were to be demoted, the FOMC could vote to keep him as their leader.
"The FOMC chooses its own chair," said Bill English, professor in the practice of finance at the Yale School of Management, and a former FOMC secretary.
The FOMC, with five board governors and a rotating panel of five of the Fed's 12 regional bank chiefs, sets the Fed's target for short-term interest rates. The Fed Board itself sets the interest the Fed pays banks and conducts bank oversight.
The Fed, under Powell's predecessor Janet Yellen, started slowly raising interest rates in 2015 as unemployment fell to its lowest levels in decades.
But the central bank paused its rate hike campaign this year as concerns grew that a global economic slowdown and trade conflicts were weighing on the U.S. economy. Last week the Fed said nearly half of its policymakers think rate cuts could be needed this year, and Powell said others believe the case for them has strengthened.
Trump said the Fed went too far in raising rates and trimming its bond holdings. The Fed has been slimming its $4 trillion balance sheet, built up through years of bond buying to boost the economy after the Great Recession, as part of an effort to return to a more normalized policy stance.
"It's insane," he said Wednesday.
INFLUENCE EVEN WITHOUT A DEMOTION
Central bank independence is typically seen as a key element of a stable economic system, and when it is threatened, financial markets respond.
Last year, the Turkish lira lost nearly 30% against the dollar, driven in part by concerns over the independence of the central bank, under pressure from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to cut rates.
Trump's policies, analysts said, are partly at war with themselves - with higher U.S. tariffs likely strengthening the dollar, and making U.S. exports less competitive globally.
Even if the Fed cuts interest rates, Trump may not get the weaker dollar that he wants. The greenback remains a choice asset to safeguard against global instability or economic weakness and can strengthen even if domestic interest rates fall.
"We are fighting on so many different fronts with competitors and those who are supposed to be friends," said Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Mellon.
Even if Trump never demotes Powell, his repeated flagging of his right to do so could change how investors and other officials around the world game out their own scenarios.
On a recent trip to China, Robin Brooks, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, said a conviction was already taking root in some quarters that Trump was setting U.S. monetary policy.
"The feeling was, 'Oh my god, this guy has taken over the Fed,'" he said, of the reactions he heard in China.
The expectation, he said, was for an even "more aggressive" U.S. stance as a result.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York, Ann Saphir in San Francisco and Howard Schneider in Washington; additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Jason Lange; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio and Richard Chang) |
Pride or protest? Disillusioned plan their own LGBTQ march
NEW YORK (AP) — One of the biggest celebrations of LGBT pride in New York City history will culminate Sunday with not one, but two processions through Manhattan, after dissidents who believe the annual parade has become too commercialized decided to split off with their own march. Both parades cap a month of events marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, when patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar fought back against a police raid and sparked a new era of gay activism and visibility. Some 150,000 people are expected to participate in the NYC Pride March, with hundreds of thousands more lining the streets to watch as New York hosts WorldPride for the first time. Organizers of the insurgent Queer Liberation March say they expect 10,000 or more at their event, which they say will have a protest vibe. The main Pride march, the dissidents say, has strayed too far from its roots as a ragtag liberation demonstration celebrating an act of resistance. They complain that today's march is dominated by corporate floats and is too heavily policed by the same department that raided the Stonewall in 1969. Police Commissioner James O'Neill apologized this month for the Stonewall raid, but organizers of the alternative march deemed the apology too little, too late. The upstart queer march is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. at the Stonewall Inn and end with a rally in Central Park. The larger NYC Pride March will step off at noon with corporate sponsors including T-Mobile, MasterCard and Delta Air Lines. It will also pass by the Stonewall Inn before concluding in the Chelsea neighborhood. A related closing ceremony in Times Square will feature a performance by Melissa Etheridge. There are 677 contingents marching in the larger parade, each of which had to register months in advance. Police barricades will keep marchers separate from the throngs of cheering spectators, as they do at other large New York City gatherings like the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Story continues Those barricades are one of the things that have upset participants in the Liberation March, who say anyone will be welcome to join their procession. "In the original marches, the whole point was that anybody could join in," said one of the organizers, Ann Northrop. "You could walk off the sidewalks and into the street and everybody was welcome, and that no longer applies." Reclaim Pride supporters also claim that the presence of so many corporate floats in premier spots forces grassroots contingents to the back of the line. Charles King, the CEO of Housing Works, an AIDS advocacy organization that's handling the finances for the Reclaim Pride Coalition, said marchers from his group were placed so far back last year it was completely dark by the time they finished parading. "The question is, what is this about?" King said. "Is this about our liberation? Or is this just one more commercial activity, like the Macy's (Thanksgiving) parade?" And, backers of the Liberation March say, the NYC Pride March can simply be too festive, letting celebration drown out anger over continued bigotry toward LGTBQ people. "I love Pride. I first marched in Pride in 1979. But I think that right now there is more than a celebration that needs to be had for the Pride parade," said Tom Viola, executive director of the theater world charity Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, which has donated $25,000 to the Queer Liberation March. "We need to acknowledge not only our victories; we need to mourn our losses, and we need to take a strong stand against those who would diminish or demean us." But the main march has grown much too large to be staged without security precautions or corporate support, said Cathy Renna, a spokeswoman for NYC Pride. NYC Pride's annual budget for the march and some two dozen other Pride month events is about $12 million, including mandatory payments to the police department. "The reality is that those sponsors and partners help the march happen and help make it free for tens of thousands of people," Renna said. "I'm not nostalgic for the bad old days, to be totally honest," she said. "The reason we're having these discussions is because so many people have come out. Because there's been so much progress. Are we begrudging that?" Supporters note that the main Pride parade still has a notable protest element. Past marches have seen colorfully costumed dancers sharing the route with groups protesting violence against transgender people or a lack of AIDS funding. "This is a debate that has existed for as long as Pride has existed," said James Fallarino, a member of the executive board of Heritage of Pride, which stages the main march. "Our community has had to deal with a lot in the last 50 years, and we have always found a way to unleash our anger while at the same time celebrating who we are and our diversity and our unapologetic pride." Activists also staged an alternative New York City march in 1994, accusing official parade organizers of downplaying the AIDS crisis, among other issues. The staggered start times should allow people to participate in both marches, which is what Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum plans to do. "I believe there are many different ways to express the feelings that we have at this particular moment in history 50 years after Stonewall," said Kleinbaum, the pastor of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, which serves the LGBT Jewish community, and a grand marshal of the Pride parade in 2007. Kleinbaum said her congregation will have a presence at each march Sunday. "I think there's room for both," she said, "and we need to not create circular firing squads." ___ Find complete AP Stonewall anniversary coverage here: https://apnews.com/Stonewallat50 |
Pressure BioSciences Announces Achievement of First Major Milestone in Development of Potential Breakthrough Processing Method for Higher Quality and Safer Food and Beverages
Proprietary, Custom Built UST-Based Instrument Delivered to Collaborators at The Ohio State University; OSU Scientists to Study Pressure and Shear Effects on Pathogen Inactivation, Stability, and Quality
SOUTH EASTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 26, 2019 /Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (PBIO) ("PBI" or the "Company"), a leader in the development and sale of broadly enabling, pressure-based technology and products to the worldwide life sciences industry, today announced the achievement of the first major milestone in its collaboration with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences ("CFAES") of The Ohio State University ("Ohio State"). The primary program goal is to develop and make available for commercialization a continuous-flow manufacturing process to prepare foods and beverages with superior sensory and nutritional qualities, while delivering long, room temperature shelf stability without requiring refrigeration or chemical additives. The Company believes it can achieve this highly sought-after consumer demand through scale-up of its innovative and patented Ultra Shear Technology ™("UST™") platform.
A four-year, $891,000 grant awarded to scientists at CFAES by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture ("NIFA") is supporting this collaborative program. PBI was granted a $318,000 sub-contract to build a working benchtop instrument and a pilot plant floor model, both based on the Company's patented UST platform. The delivery of the working benchtop instrument was the first major milestone identified by the collaborators.
Dr. Edmund Y. Ting, Sr. VP of Engineering at PBI, said: "We are very excited to have met this first major milestone. We believe our proprietary UST platform can be used to make the higher quality, more nutritious, longer-lasting foods that consumers now demand. The UST-based bench-top instrument - together with the larger scale, floor model, higher capacity instrument we are now developing - will be used to generate the fundamental food science quality and safety validation data that we believe will enable future process adoption by industry and acceptance by the regulators."
Dr. V.M. "Bala" Balasubramaniam, a CFAES professor of food engineering who is leading the collaborative project, commented: "Today's consumers demand food that is nutritious, minimally processed, and pathogen safe. They also want food that tastes and looks good, while being free of synthetic ingredients. We believe the UST platform has the potential to offer food manufacturers the ability to process safe wholesomebeverages, nutritional drinks, sauces, condiments and pumpable liquid foods."
The total "clean label" (no artificial ingredients or chemicals) food market is currently estimated at $62 billion in the U.S. and $165 billion worldwide (Nunes, 2016). This market is comprised of several unique food processing methods, including high pressure processing ("HPP"). The global HPP food market is estimated to reach $27.4 billion in 2023 and $51.1 billion by 2027 (https://foodsafetytech.com/feature_article/hpp-keeps-food-safe-while-extending-shelf-life/).
Richard T. Schumacher, President and CEO of PBI, stated: "Food processors have been seeking new minimal heat processing technologies that can provide extended shelf-life, while meeting "clean label" requirements that also satisfy consumer expectations. Many clean label foods are currently processed using costly, batch oriented HPP techniques, including juices, seafood, meats, baby food, guacamole, fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, these HPP food products all require refrigeration after processing. Commercializing a minimal heat processing technology that can produce shelf-stable (without refrigeration), high quality, ready-to-eat foods such as coffee, tea, broth, condiments, sauces, dairy products (e.g., milk, liquid cheese), and other such liquid foods would be a breakthrough. This is the primary goal of the project, which we believe can be attained through scale-up of our innovative, patented UST platform."
The OSU-PBI UST research team will be advised by an industry advisory board representing food processors and regulatory agencies. Food processors interested in joining this effort should contact Dr. Bala Balasubramaniam or Dr. Edmund Ting.
About Pressure BioSciences, Inc.
Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (PBIO) is a leader in the development and sale of innovative, broadly enabling, pressure-based solutions for the worldwide life sciences industry. Our products are based on the unique properties of both constant (i.e., static) and alternating (i.e., pressure cycling technology, or PCT) hydrostatic pressure. PCT is a patented enabling technology platform that uses alternating cycles of hydrostatic pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels to safely and reproducibly control bio-molecular interactions (e.g., cell lysis, biomolecule extraction). Our primary focus is in the development of PCT-based products for biomarker and target discovery, drug design and development, biotherapeutics characterization and quality control, soil & plant biology, forensics, and counter-bioterror applications. Additionally, major new market opportunities have emerged in the use of our pressure-based technologies in the following areas: (1) the use of our recently acquired, patented technology from BaroFold, Inc. (the "BaroFold" technology) to allow entry into the bio-pharma contract services sector, and (2) the use of our recently-patented, scalable, high-efficiency, pressure-based Ultra Shear Technology ("UST") platform to (i) create stable nanoemulsions of otherwise immiscible fluids (e.g., CBD Oil and water) and to (ii) prepare higher quality, homogenized, extended shelf-life or room temperature stable low-acid liquid foods that cannot be effectively preserved using existing technologies.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed, implied or inferred by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "would," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "projects," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider various factors. Actual events or results may differ materially. These and other factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and other reports filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the information included in this release, except as otherwise required by law.
For more information about PBI and this press release, please click on the following website link:
http://www.pressurebiosciences.com
Please visit us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Investor Contacts:
Richard T. Schumacher, President and CEO (508) 230-1828 (T)Dr. Edmund Y. Ting, Sr. VP of Engineering - PBI (508) 230-1829 (F)Professor V.M. "Bala" Balasubramaniam - OSU (614) 292-1732 (T)
SOURCE:Pressure BioSciences, Inc.
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/549936/Pressure-BioSciences-Announces-Achievement-of-First-Major-Milestone-in-Development-of-Potential-Breakthrough-Processing-Method-for-Higher-Quality-and-Safer-Food-and-Beverages |
ePower Metals Reaches Definitive Agreement to Acquire Los Reyes Gold Project in Mexico
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2019) -ePower Metals Inc.(TSXV: EPWR)(OTCQB: EPWMF) (the "Company") has entered into a definitive assignment and assumption agreement (the "Assignment Agreement"), dated June 25, 2019, with Minera Alamos Inc. ("MAI"), Vista Gold Corp. ("Vista Gold"), and the Mexican subsidiaries of each of MAI and the Company, pursuant to which MAI will assign the rights to an option (the "Transaction") to earn a 100% interest in the Los Reyes Gold Project (formerly known as Guadalupe de los Reyes) ("Los Reyes") in Sinaloa State, Mexico. MAI currently has the right to acquire a 100% interest in Los Reyes, pursuant to an option agreement entered into with Vista Gold. The Assignment Agreement replaces the binding letter of intent, dated April 22, 2019, and entered into between the Company and MAI. The Company is at arms'-length from each of MAI and Vista Gold.
In connection with the Transaction, the Company intends to change its name to "Prime Mining Corp.", and will focus its resources on the immediate development of Los Reyes.
Terms of the Transaction
To acquire MAI's interest in Los Reyes, the Company must:
• Complete a cash payment of US$1,500,000 to MAI, to reimburse MAI for the cost of an option payment made to Vista Gold on April 23, 2019 (the "April Payment").
• Assume MAI's remaining option payments of US$3,000,000 in favour of Vista Gold (collectively, the "October Payments"), as follows:
• US$1,500,000 due October 27th, 2019; and
• US$1,500,000 on the earlier of October 27th, 2021 or a production decision.
• Issue to MAI 9,450,000 post-Consolidation (as defined below) common shares and 3,350,000 common share purchase warrants entitling MAI to acquire further post-Consolidation common shares at a price $0.50 per share for a period of twenty-four months.
Concurrently with the entering into of the Assignment Agreement, the Company has entered into a governance and investor rights agreement (the "Governance Agreement") with MAI. Pursuant to the terms of the Governance Agreement, among other things, upon completion of the Transaction, MAI will receive the right to appoint one director to the board of the Company for so long as MAI holds at least 5% of the Company's outstanding common shares and to participate in future financings and transactions completed by the Company in order to maintain its pro rata equity interest in the Company. Upon completion of the Transaction, it is anticipated that Bruce Durham will join the board of directors as MAI's initial nominee under the Governance Agreement.
In connection with the entering into of the Assignment Agreement, the Company is required to advance US$1,500,000 (the "Deposit") as a deposit to secure the April Payment. The Company has funded the Deposit through a loan of Cdn$2,000,000 (the "Bridge Loan") which was previously arranged through a group of arm's-length lenders consisting of Andrew Bowering, George Dengin and Perfect Storm Holdings Ltd. (the "Lenders"). The Bridge Loan is unsecured, bears interest at a rate of 12% per annum, compounded monthly, and has a term of twelve months. In consideration for providing the Bridge Loan, the Company is required to pay a commitment fee of $40,000 (the "Commitment Fee") and intends to issue 1,333,334 post-Consolidation (as defined below) common shares to the Lenders (the "Bonus Shares"). Issuance of the Bonus Shares is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"), and completion of the Transaction.
In the event the Assignment Agreement is terminated for any reason, the obligation of the Company to repay the Bridge Loan, and issue the Bonus Shares, will be extinguished and thereafter the Company's only obligation to the Lenders will be with respect to payment of the Commitment Fee and any interest previously accrued. Following termination of the Assignment Agreement, MAI will have no obligation whatsoever to the Company in respect of the Deposit and the Deposit will form the basis of a private placement to be completed by MAI with the Lenders.
In consideration for introducing the Transaction to the Company, and for assisting in its facilitation, the Company has agreed to issue up to 1,216,250 post-Consolidation (as defined below) common shares (the "Finders' Shares") to two arms'-length parties (collectively, the "Finders"), Jeremy Ross and Sandwedge Consulting Ltd. A total of 556,250 Finders' Shares will be issued completion of the Transaction, with a further 330,000 Finders' Shares to be issued upon completion of each of the October Payments. Issuance of the Finders' Shares is subject to the approval of the Exchange and completion of the Transaction.
Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, which include:
• The Company consolidating its common share capital on a two-for-one basis (the "Consolidation");
• The Company completing a financing of at least Cdn$6,000,000; and
• Receipt of any required regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Exchange.
The Transaction cannot be completed until these conditions have been satisfied, and there can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed in a timely fashion, or at all. The Transaction constitutes a "fundamental acquisition" for the Company, under the policies of the Exchange, on the basis that the Company intends to devote the majority of its resources to the development of Los Reyes following completion of the Transaction. As a result, trading in the Company's common shares has been halted, at the request of the Company, pending completion of filings with the Exchange in connection with the Transaction. It is anticipated that trading will remain halted until the Transaction has been completed.
All securities of the Company to be issued to MAI, and the Finders, in connection with the Transaction, will be subject to a four month statutory hold period. In addition, all securities issued to MAI will be subject to further resale restrictions which will require MAI to notify the Company in advance of the disposition of any securities of the Company.
Private Placement Financing
In connection with the Transaction, the Company intends to conduct a non-brokered private placement (the "Financing") of a minimum of 20,000,000 subscription receipts (each, a "Receipt") at a price of Cdn$0.30 per Receipt. The proceeds of the Financing will be held in escrow pending the Company completing the Transaction. Upon completion of the Transaction, each Receipt will automatically convert into one post-Consolidation unit (each, a "Unit") of the Company. Each "Unit" will consist of one common share of the Company and one-half-of-one common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to acquire a further common share at a price of Cdn$0.50 per share for period of twenty-four months. All securities to be issued by the Company pursuant to the Financing will be subject to a four-month statutory hold period. The Company anticipates paying finders' fees to certain eligible parties who have introduced subscribers to the Financing.
The proceeds of the Financing are intended to be used to advance exploration and development at Los Reyes, and to satisfy working capital requirements of the Transaction.
The Los Reyes Project
Located 43 kilometres south east of the mining centre of Cosala, Sinaloa, Los Reyes has a mining history that stretches back into the 1700s and has seen mining activity as recently as the 1980s. Recent development work has focused on conventional milling and carbon in leach extraction of gold and silver. The Company envisions a simple heap leach operation that potentially has significantly lower capital costs and shortened time line to production. Los Reyes has significant resource upside with open extensions to known resources as well as eight additional discrete exploration targets.
Los Reyes has a historical estimate of:
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5688/45901_c24d6fdef4ef6921_002full.jpg
The resource model for Los Reyes was prepared by Tetra Tech, Inc. of Golden, Colorado for MAI. The mineral resource estimate has an effective date of February 8, 2013 and is presented in a geological report which was most recently amended and restated April 16, 2018, a copy of which is available under MAI's profile on SEDAR (filed July 31, 2018). Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
The Company is not treating these historical estimates as current and has not completed sufficient work to classify these historical estimates as current mineral resources. While the Company is not treating these historical estimates as current, it does believe the work conducted by MAI, Vista Gold, the underlying vendor, and Tetra Tech, Inc., is reliable and the information, which was made publicly available by MAI, may be of assistance to readers. As part of its due diligence process, and as required by the policies of the Exchange, the Company has commissioned Tetra Tech, Inc. to prepare a revised geological report in respect of Los Reyes which will contain a historical resource. Once completed, a copy of the report will be available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). On close of the Transaction, the Company intends to commence work on a new resource calculation for Los Reyes.
Michael Collins, P.Geo., is Vice President of Operations for the Company and is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Collins has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Andrew BoweringChief Executive Officer
For further information, please contact:
Tyler RossVP Investor RelationsePower Metals Inc.1507 - 1030 West Georgia StreetVancouver, BC, V6E 2Y3Telephone: (604) 428-6128Facsimile: (604) 428-6430Website:www.epowermetals.com
Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including Exchange acceptance. The Transaction cannot close until the required approvals are obtained, and the outstanding conditions are satisfied. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.
Investors are cautioned that any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.
The Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward Looking Information
Information set forth in this document may include forward-looking statements. While these statements reflect management's current plans, projections and intents, by their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond the control of the Company. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements. There is no assurance the transactions noted above will be completed on the terms as contemplated, or at all. The Company's actual results, programs, activities and financial position could differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements.
To view the source version of this press release, please visithttps://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/45901 |
Calculating The Fair Value Of Redde plc (LON:REDD)
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Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Redde plc (LON:REDD) as an investment opportunity by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This is done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.
We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. 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 Redde
We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last 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 (\u00a3, Millions)", "2019": "\u00a324.06", "2020": "\u00a321.77", "2021": "\u00a320.39", "2022": "\u00a319.56", "2023": "\u00a319.08", "2024": "\u00a318.82", "2025": "\u00a318.71", "2026": "\u00a318.70", "2027": "\u00a318.77", "2028": "\u00a318.88"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Est @ -14.17%", "2020": "Est @ -9.55%", "2021": "Est @ -6.32%", "2022": "Est @ -4.05%", "2023": "Est @ -2.47%", "2024": "Est @ -1.36%", "2025": "Est @ -0.58%", "2026": "Est @ -0.04%", "2027": "Est @ 0.34%", "2028": "Est @ 0.61%"}, {"": "Present Value (\u00a3, Millions) Discounted @ 8.44%", "2019": "\u00a322.19", "2020": "\u00a318.51", "2021": "\u00a315.99", "2022": "\u00a314.15", "2023": "\u00a312.72", "2024": "\u00a311.57", "2025": "\u00a310.61", "2026": "\u00a39.78", "2027": "\u00a39.05", "2028": "\u00a38.39"}]
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= £132.95m
"Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St
We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 10-year government bond rate of 1.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.4%.
Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = UK£19m × (1 + 1.2%) ÷ (8.4% – 1.2%) = UK£265m
Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= £UK£265m ÷ ( 1 + 8.4%)10= £117.72m
The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is £250.67m. 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 £0.82. Relative to the current share price of £0.98, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. 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.
We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Redde as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.085. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.
Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Redde, I've put together three additional factors you should further examine:
1. Financial Health: Does REDD 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 REDD'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 REDD? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the LON every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks justsearch here.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. |
5 Best GARP Stocks With Discounted PEG
With smart investment becoming the buzzword in today’s investment world, millennials are more inclined toward hybrid investment patterns rather than traditional pure play theories like value or growth.
The logic behind this is the effectiveness of a mixed investment strategy as value or growth investing approaches come with their own share of pitfalls. A pure play value investor misses the chance of betting on stocks that have bright long-term prospects. The same way, growth investors often end up investing in expensive stocks. In other words, to make a long-term investment more effective, the principles of both value and growth strategies need to be combined.
The quest for a mixed investment strategy led to the introduction of the GARP (growth at a reasonable price) approach. What GARPers look for is whether the stocks are somewhat undervalued and have solid sustainable growth potential (Investopedia).
One of the fundamental metrics for finding GARP is the price/earnings growth ratio (PEG). Although it is categorized under value investing, this strategy follows the principles of both growth and value investing.
The PEG ratio is defined as: (Price/ Earnings)/Earnings Growth Rate
It relates the stocks P/E ratio with future earnings growth rate.
While P/E alone only gives the idea of stocks, which are trading at a discount, PEG while adding the GROWTH element to it, helps to find those stocks that have solid future potential.
A lower PEG ratio, preferably less than 1, is always better for GARP investors.
Say for example, if a stock's P/E ratio is 10 and expected long-term growth rate is 15%, the company's PEG will come down to 0.66, a ratio which indicates both undervaluation and future growth potential.
Unfortunately, this ratio is often neglected due to investors' limitation to calculate the future earnings growth rate of a stock.
There are some drawbacks to using the PEG ratio though. It does not consider the very common situation of changing growth rates such as the forecast of the first three years at very high growth rate followed by a sustainable but lower growth rate in the long term.
Hence, PEG-based investing can turn out to be even more rewarding if some other relevant parameters are also taken into consideration.
Here are the screening criteria for a winning strategy:
PEG Ratio less than X Industry Median
P/E Ratio (using F1) less than X Industry Median(For more accurate valuation purpose)
Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy)(Whether good market conditions or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 have a proven history of success.)
Market Capitalization greater than $1 Billion(This helps us to focus on companies that have strong liquidity.)
Average 20 Day Volume greater than 50,000: A substantial trading volume ensures that the stock is easily tradable.
Percentage Change F1 Earnings Estimate Revisions (4 Weeks) greater than 5%:Upward estimate revisions add to the optimism, suggesting further bullishness.
Value Score of less than or equal to B:Our research shows that stocks with a Style Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 (Hold) offer the best upside potential.
Here are five of the 20 stocks that qualified the screening:
Hologic, Inc.HOLX: Hologic develops, manufactures, and supplies diagnostics, medical imaging systems and surgical products, which cater to the healthcare needs of women. The company is focused on mammography systems for breast examination and osteoporosis assessment. The stock can be an impressive value investment pick with its Zacks Rank #2 and Value Score of B. Apart from a discounted PEG and P/E, the stock also has an impressive long-term expected growth rate of 8.9%.
Molina Healthcare, Inc.MOH: This is a specialty biopharmaceutical company focusing on areas of sleep and hematology/oncology. The stock can also be an impressive value investment pick with its Zacks Rank #1 and Value Score of A. Apart from a discounted PEG and P/E, the stock also has an impressive long-term historical growth rate of 58.1%. You can seethe complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Terex CorporationTEX is a global manufacturer of aerial work platforms, materials processing machinery and cranes. It designs, build and support products used in construction, maintenance, manufacturing, energy, minerals and materials management applications. The company has an impressive long-term growth rate of 8.8%. The stock currently has a Value Score of B and a Zacks Rank #2.
AngloGold Ashanti LimitedAU: It operates as a gold mining company. It also produces silver, uranium and sulphuric acid and dóre bars. Apart from a discounted PEG and P/E, the stock has a Value Score of A and holds a Zacks Rank #1.
Oracle CorporationORCL: This is one of the largest enterprise-grade database, middleware and application software providers. Oracle has expanded its cloud computing operations over the last couple of years. The company offers cloud solutions and services that can be used to build and manage various cloud deployment models. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has a Value Score of B.
You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at:https://www.zacks.com/performance.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportOracle Corporation (ORCL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTerex Corporation (TEX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportHologic, Inc. (HOLX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportMolina Healthcare, Inc (MOH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAngloGold Ashanti Limited (AU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Calculating The Fair Value Of Redde plc (LON:REDD)
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Does the June share price for Redde plc (LON:REDD) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!
We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of theSimply Wall St analysis model.
View our latest analysis for Redde
We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last 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 (\u00a3, Millions)", "2019": "\u00a324.06", "2020": "\u00a321.77", "2021": "\u00a320.39", "2022": "\u00a319.56", "2023": "\u00a319.08", "2024": "\u00a318.82", "2025": "\u00a318.71", "2026": "\u00a318.70", "2027": "\u00a318.77", "2028": "\u00a318.88"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Est @ -14.17%", "2020": "Est @ -9.55%", "2021": "Est @ -6.32%", "2022": "Est @ -4.05%", "2023": "Est @ -2.47%", "2024": "Est @ -1.36%", "2025": "Est @ -0.58%", "2026": "Est @ -0.04%", "2027": "Est @ 0.34%", "2028": "Est @ 0.61%"}, {"": "Present Value (\u00a3, Millions) Discounted @ 8.44%", "2019": "\u00a322.19", "2020": "\u00a318.51", "2021": "\u00a315.99", "2022": "\u00a314.15", "2023": "\u00a312.72", "2024": "\u00a311.57", "2025": "\u00a310.61", "2026": "\u00a39.78", "2027": "\u00a39.05", "2028": "\u00a38.39"}]
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= £132.95m
"Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St
We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 10-year government bond rate (1.2%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.4%.
Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = UK£19m × (1 + 1.2%) ÷ (8.4% – 1.2%) = UK£265m
Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= £UK£265m ÷ ( 1 + 8.4%)10= £117.72m
The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is £250.67m. 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 £0.82. Relative to the current share price of £0.98, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.
The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. 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 Redde as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.085. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.
Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Redde, I've put together three pertinent factors you should further research:
1. Financial Health: Does REDD 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 REDD'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 REDD? 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 GB 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. |
Is EQT Corporation's (NYSE:EQT) Balance Sheet A Threat To Its Future?
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While small-cap stocks, such as EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) with its market cap of US$3.7b, are popular for their explosive growth, investors should also be aware of their balance sheet to judge whether the company can survive a downturn. Since EQT is loss-making right now, it’s essential to assess the current state of its operations and pathway to profitability. We'll look at some basic checks that can form a snapshot the company’s financial strength. Nevertheless, these checks don't give you a full picture, so I suggest youdig deeper yourself into EQT here.
Over the past year, EQT has reduced its debt from US$7.5b to US$5.1b – this includes long-term debt. With this debt repayment, EQT's cash and short-term investments stands at US$41m to keep the business going. Additionally, EQT has generated cash from operations of US$2.9b during the same period of time, leading to an operating cash to total debt ratio of 57%, signalling that EQT’s debt is appropriately covered by operating cash.
At the current liabilities level of US$2.2b, the company arguably has a rather low level of current assets relative its obligations, with the current ratio last standing at 0.63x. The current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities.
EQT is a relatively highly levered company with a debt-to-equity of 45%. This is somewhat unusual for small-caps companies, since lenders are often hesitant to provide attractive interest rates to less-established businesses. However, since EQT is presently unprofitable, there’s a question of sustainability of its current operations. Running high debt, while not yet making money, can be risky in unexpected downturns as liquidity may dry up, making it hard to operate.
Although EQT’s debt level is towards the higher end of the spectrum, its cash flow coverage seems adequate to meet debt obligations which means its debt is being efficiently utilised. But, its lack of liquidity raises questions over current asset management practices for the small-cap. This is only a rough assessment of financial health, and I'm sure EQT has company-specific issues impacting its capital structure decisions. I suggest you continue to research EQT to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for EQT’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor EQT’s outlook.
2. Valuation: What is EQT 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 EQT 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. |
Should Value Investors Buy First Business Financial Services (FBIZ) Stock?
The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks.
Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.
Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.
First Business Financial Services (FBIZ) is a stock many investors are watching right now. FBIZ is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 10.32, while its industry has an average P/E of 10.76. FBIZ's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.92 and as low as 9.32, with a median of 10.38, all within the past year.
Another notable valuation metric for FBIZ is its P/B ratio of 1.11. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. FBIZ's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.08. Over the past 12 months, FBIZ's P/B has been as high as 1.34 and as low as 0.94, with a median of 1.08.
Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. FBIZ has a P/S ratio of 1.79. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.97.
Finally, we should also recognize that FBIZ has a P/CF ratio of 9.93. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 11.74. Within the past 12 months, FBIZ's P/CF has been as high as 16.55 and as low as 8.76, with a median of 10.18.
These are just a handful of the figures considered in First Business Financial Services's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that FBIZ is an impressive value stock right now.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportFirst Business Financial Services, Inc. (FBIZ) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Is Acco Brands (ACCO) Stock Undervalued Right Now?
The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks.
Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.
Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.
One stock to keep an eye on is Acco Brands (ACCO). ACCO is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 6.01, while its industry has an average P/E of 13.89. ACCO's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.22 and as low as 4.83, with a median of 7.23, all within the past year.
Investors will also notice that ACCO has a PEG ratio of 0.60. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. ACCO's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.51. Over the past 52 weeks, ACCO's PEG has been as high as 1.02 and as low as 0.48, with a median of 0.72.
Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Acco Brands is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, ACCO sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.
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 reportAcco Brands Corporation (ACCO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Should Value Investors Buy American Equity Investment (AEL) Stock?
Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.
Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.
Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.
One company to watch right now is American Equity Investment (AEL). AEL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 6.73, which compares to its industry's average of 9.34. Over the past year, AEL's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.34 and as low as 6.07, with a median of 8.29.
We should also highlight that AEL has a P/B ratio of 0.82. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.77. Over the past 12 months, AEL's P/B has been as high as 1.39 and as low as 0.82, with a median of 1.17.
Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. AEL has a P/S ratio of 0.75. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.78.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that American Equity Investment is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, AEL feels like a great value stock at the moment.
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 reportAmerican Equity Investment Life Holding Company (AEL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AngloGold, Rio Tinto, SSR, Franco-Nevada and BHP
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL –June 26, 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: AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. AU, Rio Tinto Group RIO, SSR Mining Inc. SSRM, Franco-Nevada Corp. FNV and BHP Group plc BBL.
Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:
Gold Prices Highest in Nearly 6 Years: 5 Picks
Gold price skyrocketed after remaining range bound in the first five months of this year. The rally was primarily driven by three macro factors --- Fed’s signal of a rate cut possibly next month, geopolitical tension in Iran and an impending global economic slowdown.
Moreover, if the upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping turns out fruitless, gold price would soar further. Buying pressure on gold is likely to remain firm as investors will focus on precious metals as a store of wealth and hedge against market turmoil.
Gold Price Hits Record High
On Jun 24, the gold futures for August delivery gained more than 1% to close at 1,418.20 per ounce after touching an intraday high of 1,424.90 per ounce, its highest since Aug 28, 2013. Month to date, gold price is up more than 6.5% after gaining 1.6% in May. If this trend continues, it will be the best back-to-back monthly gain for the yellow metal since it gained more than 8% in the January-February 2017 period.
Year to date, gold price has advanced more than 9%, marking its best performance so far this year, after posting a record gain of 13.7% in 2017. Several industry researchers have estimated that gold price could hit 1,440 per ounce in 2019 if momentum remains strong.
Fed Signals Rate Cut
On Jun 19, in his speech following the FOMC meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the benchmark lending rate was kept intact at 2.25-2.5%. However, the central bank said that the adoption of a more accommodative policy is gaining ground as some economic data raised concerns about U.S. and global growth.
Notably, out of the 17 voting members of the Fed, a strong bunch of eight is expecting a rate cut this year. Fed’s statement boosted investor confidence. Per CME FedWatch, traders are assigning 100% probability to a rate cut of at least 25 basis points in July.
Since Jun 19, the U.S. dollar price index has declined 1.6% while gold futures have rallied 5.6%, helping the yellow metal to break a key resistance at $1,360 - $1,365 per ounce.
Escalation of Geopolitical Tension in Iran
Geopolitical conflict in Iran intensified on Jun 13 when two oil tankers were set on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, for which the United States blamed Tehran. On Jun 20, the Revolutionary Guard of Iran claimed that it shot down a U.S. drone near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran alleged that the drone had entered its sky, which the U.S. military claimed as international airspace.
On Jun 24, President Trump signed an executive order imposing tough new sanctions on Iran. The new sanctions will deny Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his office to access key financial resources. Notably, Iran is already facing U.S. sanctions regarding crude oil exports after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Agreement of 2015.
Tepid Global Economic Data
In the United States, non-farm job addition in May came in at just 75,000. Moreover, total job addition in April and March was reduced by 75,000. U.S. manufacturing is suffering due to lack of global demand. The ISM Manufacturing Index for May came in at 52.1, the lowest level since October 2016.
China’s official manufacturing PMI for May slipped to 49.4, from April’s reading of 50.1. PMI readings below 50 signal contraction in the Chinese manufacturing sector. The National Bureau of Statistics of China reported that value-added industrial output rose 5.0% in May compared with 5.4% in April. This was the lowest growth rate in 17 years.
The Ifo business-climate index for Germany fell to 97.4 points in June, the lowest level since November 2014. The reading for May was 97.9. Companies' expectations index fell to 94.2 points in June from 95.2 points in May.
Our Top Picks
At this stage, it will be prudent to invest in gold stocks with strong growth potential. We have narrowed down our search to five such stocks, each of which carries either a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.is the largest gold producer at 7 million ounces a year, with reserves of 126 m oz. It has operations in six countries on three continents, some of which are joint ventures, as well as exploration activities in 10 countries. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company has expected earnings growth of 90.6% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 2% over the last 60 days.
Rio Tinto Groupis an international mining company, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1. It has interests in mining for aluminum, borax, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, silver, tin, uranium, zinc, titanium, dioxide feedstock, diamonds, talc and zircon. The company has expected earnings growth of 36.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 3.1% over the last 60 days.
SSR Mining Inc.engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of precious metal resource properties in the Americas. The Zacks Rank #1 company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. The company has expected earnings growth of 73.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 14.3% over the last 60 days.
Franco-Nevada Corp.is a gold focused royalty and stream company with additional interests in platinum group metals and other resource assets. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has expected earnings growth of 12% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 5.6% over the last 60 days.
BHP Group plcengages in mining of copper, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, uranium, gold, iron ores, metallurgical and energy coal. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company has expected earnings growth of 13.1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 0.5% over the last 60 days.
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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.
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 reportFranco-Nevada Corporation (FNV) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAngloGold Ashanti Limited (AU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportRio Tinto PLC (RIO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBHP Billiton PLC (BBL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportSilver Standard Resources Inc. (SSRM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research |
Easy Come, Easy Go: How EQT (NYSE:EQT) Shareholders Got Unlucky And Saw 87% Of Their Cash Evaporate
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Some stocks are best avoided. We don't wish catastrophic capital loss on anyone. Anyone who heldEQT Corporation(NYSE:EQT) for five years would be nursing their metaphorical wounds since the share price dropped 87% in that time. And it's not just long term holders hurting, because the stock is down 74% in the last year. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 30% in the last 90 days.
While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.
View our latest analysis for EQT
Given that EQT didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.
In the last half decade, EQT saw its revenue increase by 17% per year. That's better than most loss-making companies. So it's not at all clear to us why the share price sunk 33% throughout that time. You'd have to assume the market is worried that profits won't come soon enough. While there might be an opportunity here, you'd want to take a close look at the balance sheet strength.
You can see how revenue and earnings have changed over time in the image below, (click on the chart to see cashflow).
It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. If you are thinking of buying or selling EQT 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 incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of EQT, it has a TSR of -75% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!
While the broader market gained around 6.6% in the last year, EQT shareholders lost 52% (even including dividends). Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 24% per year over five years. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. 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.
EQT 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 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. |
Trump suggests EU out of line in suing U.S. tech firms
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested the European Union was out of line in suing U.S. technology companies like Facebook and Alphabet Inc's Google, saying legal action against those firms should be the purview of the United States.
"She hates the United States perhaps worse than any person I've ever met," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network in an apparent reference to EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Her office declined to comment.
Europe's competition authority has taken a tough stance against Google, handing down three fines totaling more than $9 billion in recent years.
In a 2017 deal with the EU, Google agreed to pay $2.7 billion to resolve claims it unfairly steered business toward its shopping platform. In March, it was fined $1.7 billion in a case focused on illegal practices in search advertising brokering from 2006 to 2016.
"What she does to our country. She's suing all our companies. We should be suing Google and Facebook, and all that, which perhaps we will," he said. "They're suing Apple for billions of dollars. They're suing everybody."
"They make it almost impossible to do two-way business," Trump said, reprising his frequent complaint that Europe treats the United States worse than China when it comes to trade.
The EU's antitrust system is different from that of the United States, with authorities launching investigations and then issuing rulings. Targeted companies can then challenge those rulings legally.
Trump also reiterated his view that social media companies were discriminating against conservatives.
The U.S. government is gearing up to investigate whether Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook and Google misuse their massive market power, sources told Reuters earlier in June, setting up what could be an unprecedented, wide-ranging probe of some of the world's largest companies.
"They should be sued," Trump said.
The White House said on Wednesday it would host a social media summit on July 11. It was not immediately clear who would be in attendance.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann; Additional reporting by Makini Brice and David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Paul Simao) |
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Did Renta Corporación Real Estate, S.A. (BME:REN) Insiders Sell Shares?
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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 before you buy or sellRenta Corporación Real Estate, S.A.(BME:REN), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.
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.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. 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 Renta Corporación Real Estate
The Executive Chairman, Luis de Cabanyes, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for €1.3m worth of shares at a price of €3.50 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of €3.77, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. It is worth noting that this sale was only 4.9% of Luis de Cabanyes's holding.
In the last twelve months insiders netted €2.9m for 779k shares sold. In the last year Renta Corporación Real Estate insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love thisfreelist of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
The last three months saw significant insider selling at Renta Corporación Real Estate. Specifically, David Balta ditched €392k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Renta Corporación Real Estate insiders own about €39m worth of shares. That equates to 32% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.
An insider sold Renta Corporación Real Estate shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. But it is good to see that Renta Corporación Real Estate is growing earnings. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We're in no rush to buy! If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check thisfreereport showing analyst forecasts for its future.
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. |
Here's Why Nobody's Happy About This $63 Billion Buyout
AbbVie(NYSE: ABBV)investors leery about the company's acquisition decisions quickly sliced $18.8 billion from the pharmaceutical company's market cap after AbbVie announced it's getting into the business at their expense. You might expectAllergan(NYSE: AGN)shareholders to be pleased with a $60 billion buyout offer that pushed the stock 26% higher, but they're fuming, too.
To sort out which camp has the most to gripe about and which got lucky, let's weigh the reasons these companies want to get together against investors' concerns.
Image source: Getty Images.
AbbVie still relies on one product, Humira, for 57% of total revenue, and this anti-inflammatory injection will begin losing ground tobiosimilarcompetition in 2023. If we were to include Allergan's revenue results, the merged company's dependence on Humira would drop to just 39% of total sales.
AbbVie also tried appealing to shareholders with expectations of a 10% bump to adjusted earnings per share over the first year, and perhaps as high as 20% down the line.
Since these companies have a lot of overlapping departments, a lot of Allergan employees will probably receive a severance package and a box for their personal items before the end of the year. Altogether, AbbVie expects to trim more than $2 billion annually from Allergan's operations. That shouldn't be too difficult -- over the past year, operating expenses for the pair reached $18.7 billion and $13.0 billion, respectively.
Over the past four years, investors have watched the benchmarkS&P 500index deliver a 50% return while Allergan's stock price fell 58% lower. Allergan made the right call selling its generic drug business toTeva Pharmaceuticals, but the company soonregretted accepting stockinstead of all cash. Shares of Teva were decimated before Allergan was able to sell any.
Allergan investors aren't too happy about the price AbbVie's offering despite the 45% premium compared to the previous day's closing price. Assuming Botox sales don't succumb to competition from new versions of botulism toxin injections, Allergan is worth around $83 billion in today's dollars, or around $20 billion more than AbbVie's offering.
Image source: Getty Images.
AbbVie investors are probably getting the short end of the stick here. If the deal is completed as announced, AbbVie's shareholders will own just 83% of AbbVie, with Allergan shareholders in control of the rest. That's a lot to give up for a late-stage development pipeline that isn't terribly exciting and two leading revenue streams in deep trouble.
Restasis is a simple cyclosporine solution that people with dry eyes have been using to promote tear production since 1983. It's had a good run, but generic competition from Teva Pharmaceuticals and its peers should begin taking shots at Allergan's highly profitable brand any day now. In April, the Supreme Court refused to hear Allergan's appeal of a lower court ruling that decided against the company's bold attempt to transferRestasis patent rightsto the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.
Allergan's lead product, Botox, could face competition fromRevance Therapeutics(NASDAQ: RVNC)and its next-generation botulism injection. Revance's lead candidate, called DaxibotulinumtoxinA, or Daxi, uses a proprietary stabilizer meant to keep facial muscles from forming wrinkles a lot longer than the Botox brand.
Sadly for Allergan, and soon AbbVie, patients treated with one dose of Daxi were significantly more likely to still lack frown lines at 16 and 24 weeks than those injected with Botox. Restasis and Botox sport much wider profit margins than the rest of Allergan's product lineup, which means AbbVie could struggle just to break even with this deal.
Image source: Getty Images.
Revance plans on submitting an application to the FDA later this year, which means it could begin competing with Allergan for customers concerned with frown lines before the end of 2020. The company recently beganphase 2studies with Daxi as a treatment for upper limb spasticity, forehead lines, and crow's-feet. If the results come in positive, Allergan and AbbVie could fall further.
Buying Allergan when Restasis and Botox are entering the final chapters of their respective growth stories probably isn't the best way to offset Humira losses that will accelerate a few years from now. If the$4 billion writedownAbbVie recorded in 2018 following its ill-fated acquisition of Stemcentrx didn't convince you to dump your shares already, now is probably a good time to let go.
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Cory Renauerhas 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. |
MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt snaps losing streak while most of Gulf slips
* Saudi's Advanced Petrochemical gains on govt project win * Fitaihi Holding climbs on plans to acquire medical units * Egypt snaps six-day losing streak * Shuaa Capital rises on merger with ADFG By Shakeel Ahmad June 26 (Reuters) - Egypt's stock market ended six straight days of losses on Wednesday, while Gulf bourses mostly dropped as regional political concerns persisted. Egypt's blue-chip index traded 1.3% higher. El Sewedy Electric and real estate investment firm Talaat Mostafa Group Holding jumped 4.8% and 4.5%, respectively. The market has been on the back foot in recent sessions after Egypt's first democratically elected president Mohamed Mursi died while on trial in a Cairo court. His death has triggered calls for an inquiry by Amnesty International and the U.N. Human Rights office. Saudi's index was up 0.4% after snapping a four-day losing streak in the last session, with Saudi British Bank climbing 3.5%. Advanced Petrochemical rose 3.5% after its Advanced Global Investment unit won a government project to set up petrochemical plants for an estimated cost of $1.8 billion. Fitaihi Holding Group added 2% after its associate company International Medical Center signed a deal to acquire three medical entities in Saudi Arabia. But other Gulf markets fell on mounting political concerns after Iran downed an American unmanned drone and the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran. Kuwait's premier index opened higher after its stocks were upgraded by MSCI, but weak regional sentiment pushed it down 0.6%. MSCI Inc said on Tuesday it would upgrade Kuwaiti equities to its main emerging markets index in 2020. The MSCI move could attract inflows of around $5 billion into Kuwaiti stocks, said Othman al-Essa, vice chairman of Kuwait's Capital Market Authority's Board. The market has outperformed the Gulf peers in anticipation of the MSCI move, having already gained over 20% this year. The Abu Dhabi index fell 0.7% weighed down by its banking shares. First Abu Dhabi Bank slipped 0.4% and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank dropped 1.7%. Dubai's index traded flat as gains in real estate shares were offset by losses in financial stocks. Dubai Islamic Bank shed 0.4% and DAMAC Properties added 2.8%. Shuaa Capital also rose 3.3% after it agreed merger terms with Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG). The deal will create a combined entity with $12.8 billion in assets under management. Banks also weighed down Qatar's index, which closed 0.3% lower. Qatar Commercial Bank decreased 2.4% and Qatar Islamic Bank retreated 1.5%. SAUDI The index rose 0.4% to 8,687 points ARABIA ABU DHABI The index was down 0.7% to 4,956 points DUBAI The index was flat at 2,623 points QATAR The index lost 0.3% to 10,416 points EGYPT The index rose 1.3% to 14,007 points BAHRAIN The index was down 0.1% to 1,461 points OMAN The index lost 0.3% to 3,878 points KUWAIT The index was down 0.6% to 6,344 points (Reporting by Shakeel Ahmad in Bengaluru Editing by Alexandra Hudson) |
US warns Turkey of sanctions impact if it buys Russian defenses
BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday that Ankara's purchase of Russia's S-400 air defense system would not only end Turkey's role in the F-35 fighter jet program, it would also hurt the Turkish economy due to ensuing U.S. sanctions, a senior U.S. official said.
"The secretary was very firm, once again, that Turkey will not have both the S-400 and the F-35. And if they accept the S-400 they should accept ramifications not only to the F-35 program but also to their economic situation," said the senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, after the U.S.-Turkey meeting on the sidelines of NATO gathering in Brussels. (Reporting by Phil Stewart Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) |
How Many Renta Corporación Real Estate, S.A. (BME:REN) 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. 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 shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares inRenta Corporación Real Estate, S.A.(BME:REN).
It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. 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.'
Check out our latest analysis for Renta Corporación Real Estate
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Executive Chairman, Luis de Cabanyes, sold €1.3m worth of shares at a price of €3.50 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of €3.77, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. It is worth noting that this sale was only 4.9% of Luis de Cabanyes's holding.
In the last twelve months insiders netted €2.9m for 779k shares sold. In the last year Renta Corporación Real Estate insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
If you are like me, then you willnotwant to miss thisfreelist of growing companies that insiders are buying.
The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Renta Corporación Real Estate shares. In total, David Balta dumped €392k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 32% of Renta Corporación Real Estate shares, worth about €39m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
An insider sold Renta Corporación Real Estate shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. On the plus side, Renta Corporación Real Estate makes money, and is growing profits. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. Of course,the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Renta Corporación Real Estate, you should check out thisfreereport on analyst forecasts for the company.
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. |
Is Revolve Group a Better June IPO Than CrowdStrike Holdings?
Most of the dozen stocks that have gone public in June are beating the market, and a week ago, two of them --Revolve Group(NYSE: RVLV)andCrowdStirke Holdings(NASDAQ: CRWD)-- had more than doubled. Online fashion retailer Revolve and network cybersecurity specialist CrowdStrike are still this month's hottest debutantes, up 95% and 81%, respectively. Most IPO investors would be thrilled with those near-term returns. However, things used to be a lot better.
When Revolve Group and CrowdStrike Holdings peaked on Wednesday of last week, they were trading 169% and 135%, respectively, above their IPO starting lines. The hot rookies have cooled off over the past five trading days. Let's see what each one will have to start rallying again.
Image source: Revolve Group.
Revolve Group isn't growing as quickly as some of this month's other new listings, but there'smore to the trending internet retailerthan the modest 25% top-line growth it posted last year that decelerated to 21% in this year's first quarter. Revolve Group is very profitable, a byproduct of relying largely on the magnetism of online influencers to drum up leads for its online platform on the cheap.
Catering to next-gen fashionistas may seem like a pointless grab for young people with light pockets, but the average order size for Revolve is clocking in at $279, according to this month's prospectus. Folks want to emulate the influencers they follow on social media, and those fashion statements don't come cheap. Revolve doesn't have to settle for discounting to clear inventory like most online specialists, as nearly four-fifths of its net sales are generated from full-priced merchandise.
CrowdStrikehit the marketthis month oozing with momentum. It was the company that unearthed the alleged hacking of the Democratic National Committee servers ahead of the 2016 presidential election, and media attention from detecting that notorious cyber attack has helped build up its customer base. CrowdStrike's revenue has more than doubled in back-to-back fiscal years.
The bottom line is another story. CrowdStrike is growing a lot faster than Revolve, but unlike the e-tailer with expanding profitability, the losses in this case are widening. CrowdStrike hit the market with some pretty notable investors that include the world's leading search engine provider and one of the more successful Silicon Valley venture capital firms. Investors will overlook the red ink as long as the stellar growth continues.
Neither stock is cheap these days. CrowdStrike trades at nearly 50 times trailing revenue, and naturally there's not going to be an earnings multiple for a stock when the red ink is getting heavier. Revolve Group may seem like a relative bargain at less than five times net sales, but that's pretty high for a retailer. Revolve Group trades at 80 times trailing earnings, a hefty multiple in any industry.
Revolve Group still gets the nod here. As exciting as CrowdStrike's growth may be, it's vulnerable given its lofty valuation in its cutthroat niche. Online fashion retailing may be even more competitive, but at the end of the day, Revolve Group commands a $2.4 billion market cap -- compared to more than $12 billion for CrowdStrike -- despite generating more than twice the revenue and several years of profitability with expanding margins to boot.
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Rick Munarrizhas 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. |
Will Checking Your Credit Often Hurt Your Credit Score?
Keeping track of your credit is important, but no one wants to lower their score in the process.
Image source: Getty Images
So you've just found out that you can check your credit online any time you want. Maybe it's a service offered through your online banking or credit card account, or perhaps you searched for ways to check your credit on your own.
But you've also heard that credit checks can lower your credit score, and now you're wondering whether you'll be hurting your score every time that you check it.
This is a common question on personal finance forums, so let's put the matter to rest once and for all.
No, it doesn't. When you check your credit, it has no effect on your credit score. You can use any free credit score service as often as you want, and it will never negatively impact you. Those services usually update your score monthly, though, so you won't see any change if you check between updates.
It's different if another party, such as a lender, is checking your credit history. That can put what's known as a "hard inquiry" on your credit file, which does have a minor impact.
The reason why some credit checks affect your credit and others don't is because there are two types of credit inquiries:soft inquiries and hard inquiries.
A soft credit inquiry analyzes a summary of your credit without pulling your entire credit file. These inquiries don't go on your credit report, and therefore they don't affect your credit score. Credit score services use soft credit inquiries.
A hard credit inquiry is a more thorough look at your entire credit history, and credit card issuers and lenders will ask to do them before extending you credit or a loan. You must authorize a hard credit inquiry, and it will remain on your credit file for two years.
Hard credit inquiries do reduce your credit score, but only by a very small amount. The average consumer's FICO® Score drops by fewer than five points due to a hard inquiry, so the effect is negligible.
Even though some consumers worry about checking their credit frequently, it's actually a smart practice. There are two reasons for this:
• You'll always have an accurate idea of what your credit score is.
• You'll be aware of any changes to your credit right away.
It's important to know your credit score in case you ever need to apply for something that requires a credit check. Let's say you want to get one of thebest credit cards. Those almost always require good to excellent credit, and if you don't have that, you'd be wasting your time applying.
Because your credit score can change at any time, you should get into the habit of checking yours regularly. If your score shows a significant drop, you'll want to know about it as soon as possible so you can verify it's not due to false information and work onrepairing it.
There's no problem with checking your credit as often as you want. Since credit score services only use soft credit checks, you'll never see your credit score go down because you've been checking it.
Ideally, you should check your credit every month or use a service that will automatically notify you in the event of any big changes to your credit file. And if you haven't quite reached an excellent credit score yet, then it's a good idea to work onimproving your credit. Using a score service to monitor your progress can help with this goal.
The Motley Fool owns and recommends MasterCard and Visa, and recommends American Express. We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule. If we wouldn’t recommend an offer to a close family member, we wouldn’t recommend it on The Ascent either. Our number one goal is helping people find the best offers to improve their finances. That is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team. |
Upper Street Marketing Takes its Next Hemp Crop "Inside," Filling its Facility with $3 Million in Additional Grow Equipment, Projects $15 Million in Additional Revenues
San Diego, California--(Newsfile Corp. - June 26, 2019) - With this year's 1,200-acre hemp crop in the ground and moving toward harvest, Upper Street Marketing Inc. ( OTC PINK: UPPR ) and its partners are now expanding their revenue focus beyond the 2019 cannabidiol (CBD) extraction cycle in a $3 million stock for equipment transaction of indoor grow equipment. UPPR will issue $3 million worth of UPPR common shares to the seller, Fox Organic Farms. The purchase of 100,000 watts of state-of-the-art greenhouse lighting capacity enables UPPR to dedicate a section of its 100,000 square-foot hemp extraction facility to seed and transplant production during the fallow season once an anticipated 2 million of biomass from the outdoor crop has been processed. Cultivating hemp seed in full compliance with federal regulations is notoriously difficult outdoors, where one wrongly sexed plant can ruin a multi-million-dollar harvest. As a result, seed and transplant operations depend on the carefully controlled conditions that only an indoor facility can support. "Adding a winter cultivation to our calendar further expands our hemp business model and extends our 2020 revenue projections by at least $15 million," said UPPR CEO Joseph Earle. "If you were wondering what we would be doing after our projected first $200 million harvest at the end of the third quarter, this is it." CBD producers like UPPR are already facing extremely favorable supply dynamics for the 2019 crop year as soaring commercial demand forces the industry to find ways to expand output from a currently minimal 50,000 kg of CBD isolate to as much as 3.5 million kg before 2023. With enough light to start the 2020 crop early as well as provide seedlings for other growers, UPPR is now in position to translate what would have otherwise been seasonal slack into a profitable new business line, furthering its mission of becoming one of the world's only true vertically integrated seed-to-store CBD companies. Story continues Ryan Fox, a noted figure within the national recreational cannabis industry, is providing the equipment through his Fox Organic Farms of Saguache, Colorado in exchange for stock. Because UPPR has adopted the highest FDA Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to support both consumer CBD merchandising partners and pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing, CEO Earle is optimistic that the facility will provide potential partners with the highest-quality seedlings. "All potential hemp growers should demand valid documentation that the seed or clones they are purchasing meet THC standards and are suitable for industrial production," he explained. "We can do that." An estimated 7% of Americans are currently consuming CBD products, with that population conservatively expanding 30% (to 25 million adults) by 2025. Given fragmentation and inefficiency in the newly legalized industry, strategic leadership is essential. For Further Information Contact: Upper Street Marketing Inc.: . Phone: (844) 535-UPPR (8777) Email: investorrelations@upperstreetmarketing.com About Upper Street Marketing and CBD Now fully legal as a non-psychoactive product of industrial hemp, CBD has been promoted as an effective treatment for everything from arthritis to insomnia. To date, the only FDA-approved uses are for two rare forms of childhood epilepsy. With one of the only integrated "seed to consumer" platforms for participating in all phases of the industry from crop to value-added commercial and clinical product development, UPPR intends to be a leader in FDA cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) capabilities in the hemp and CBD marketplace. Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company or its management, identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections about the Company's business, based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and probably will, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such statements could be affected by risks and uncertainties related to: (i) our ability to execute the Company's business plans with the uncertainty of agricultural crops (ii) product demand, market, and customer acceptance of the Company's products, (iii) the Company's ability to obtain financing to expand our operations, (iv) the Company's ability to attract qualified sales representatives, (v) competition, pricing and development difficulties, (vi) the Company's ability to conduct the business if there are changes in laws, regulations, or government policies related to the Company's products, (vii) the Company's ability to conduct operations if it faces product recalls, and (viii) general industry and market conditions and growth rates and general economic conditions. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. Corporate Logo To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/45899 |
Stocks Slide as Fed Dampens Rate Cut Expectations
SPECIAL NOTE: Even though the legalization of marijuana around the U.S. has dominated the headlines, newly-legalized sports gambling quietly generated nearly the same amount of revenue in its first year – more than $9 billion. And it’s only fully legal in 8 states! In our new Special Report, Billion-Dollar Bets: Investing in the New World of Legal Sports Gambling, David Borun explores how sports betting works – and how it’s changing since last year’s Supreme Court ruling. With $150 billion gambled in America every year, this industry’s potential for growth is tremendous. This report reveals 5 stocks that could deliver potentially huge returns for early investors. Log on to Zacks.com to read it now. The market fully expects a rate cut next month, so it didn’t take kindly to Jerome Powell seeming to suggest that such an action is less than certain. The Fed Chair said that the Committee will take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach when it comes to future cuts, which isn’t the confirmation that we wanted to hear. To rain even more on the market’s parade, another FOMC member said that a 50-basis point cut in July seems too much at one time. The news led to one of the worst days of this otherwise strong month. The market was also pressured by a soft consumer confidence number and ongoing jitters over the upcoming G20 meeting. Tech was hit especially hard on Tuesday, sending the NASDAQ lower by 1.51% (or nearly 121 points) to 7884.72. Meanwhile, the S&P slipped 0.95% to 2917.38 and the Dow dropped 0.67% (or about 179 points) to 26,548.22. The major indices trended downward throughout the session and ended right around their lows. We knew this would be a challenging week for the market. The G20 summit -- where President Trump will meet with China President Xi -- doesn’t happen until the weekend. That leaves a lot of time for the indices to just loiter around aimlessly at a slow time of the year (summer). Unfortunately, stocks did pick a direction today. Just the possibility that we won’t get a rate cut next month was enough to throw the market off its game. The good news is stocks are still up strongly for June, as the indices have climbed for the past three straight weeks. Today's Portfolio Highlights: Large-Cap Trader: Shares of Lockheed Martin (LMT) are on a solid momentum run this year, but John thinks this global security and aerospace company has enough fuel to continue rising. The company has an excellent record of beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate with a surprise of 39% last time and a four-quarter average of 17.4%. It reports again on July 23. Rising earnings estimates have made LMT a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Despite all this impressive stuff, the editor doesn’t think the valuation is too rich. Make sure to read the complete commentary for a lot more on this new addition. Zacks Short List: The portfolio swapped out one position in this week's adjustment. It short-covered salesforce.com (CRM) for a 1.3% return in a week and replaced it by adding United Therapeutics Corp. (UTHR). Learn more about this emotion-free portfolio that takes advantage of falling and volatile markets by reading the Short List Trader Guide. Stocks Under $10: Sticking with the idea that ‘strong stocks remain strong’, Brian decided to add a little healthcare to the portfolio on Tuesday. He added Cross Country Healthcare (CCRN), which provides innovative healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services. The company has been moving higher for the past three months, and the editor expects that trend to continue. In its most recent quarterly report, CCRN announced a positive earnings surprise of more than 166%. The portfolio is almost at its goal of being fully invested! Read the complete commentary for more. Have a Good Evening, Jim Giaquinto Recommendations from Zacks' Private Portfolios: Believe it or not, this article is not available on the Zacks.com website. The commentary is a partial overview of the daily activity from Zacks' private recommendation services. If you would like to follow our Buy and Sell signals in real time, we've made a special arrangement for readers of this website. Starting today you can see all the recommendations from all of Zacks' portfolios absolutely free for 7 days. Our services cover everything from value stocks and momentum trades to insider buying and positive earnings surprises (which we've predicted with an astonishing 80%+ accuracy). Click here to "test drive" Zacks Ultimate for FREE >> Zacks Investment Research |
Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?
All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.
While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
Brandywine Realty Trust in Focus
Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN) is headquartered in Philadelphia, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 14.06% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.19 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 5.18%. In comparison, the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry's yield is 4.19%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.92%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.76 is up 5.6% from last year. In the past five-year period, Brandywine Realty Trust has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 5.01%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Brandywine Realty Trust's current payout ratio is 54%, meaning it paid out 54% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
BDN is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $1.42 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 3.65%.
Bottom Line
From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.
Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, BDN presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportBrandywine Realty Trust (BDN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here. |
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