Friday, February 22, 2019

There’s No Question That Snap Stock Will Give These Gains Back

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) stock is soaring. Snap stock gained 22% after its Q4 report earlier this month and it’s now bounced 89% from an all-time low reached in late December.

Snap StockSnap StockSource: Shutterstock

Admittedly, I got it wrong. I wrote ahead of earnings that  Snap stock would go from bad to worse. But I’m still as bearish on SNAP as I was two years ago, and I still believe the market eventually will sell this news, too.

After all, Snap earnings might have been better than expected, but they weren’t good. The company remains sharply unprofitable. And $12 billion market cap still looks unsustainable and unsupported by even the Q4 numbers.

Snap admittedly has made some progress – and perhaps enough to keep SNAP stock from being a short. But that’s a far cry from arguing that SNAP is headed back toward the double-digits – or that it even can hold the current price just above $9.

Were Snap Earnings Good?

Snap’s Q4 earnings report admittedly had some good news. Revenue grew 36% year-over-year, about 4.5 points better than Street estimates. An adjusted net loss of just $0.04 compares favorably to consensus expectations of -$0.19.

Daily active users, at 186 million, were better than expected as well. And with the figure flat quarter-over-quarter, and down just 1 million year-over-year, it does look like the user base stabilized.

The fact that Snap could grow the top line 36% on flat users shows that it is becoming more effective with advertisers – and becoming a more fearsome competitor to online advertising giants Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL,GOOG), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).

There’s a case that the quarter at least is a step in the right direction. After a redesign that didn’t work, management turnover, and trouble on the ad sales front, Snap definitely made progress in Q4.

At the same time, however, the quarter highlights a number of the concerns surrounding Snap. Is it good news that user growth was flat? This remains a stock valued at 7x next year’s revenue. Ad rates are growing but can’t do so forever. Ad rates for Google, for instance, have been falling for most of the decade.

Snap still lost over $50 million even in Adjusted EBITDA in Q4: it needs sustained, multi-year revenue growth simply to get that figure positive, let alone drive reasonable free cash flow.

Snap may have made some progress in Q4, and even for full-year 2018. But any reasonable investor has to believe that there’s still a long way to go.


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Snap Stock Has Been Here Before

For investors trying to catch the post-earnings wave, it’s worth remembering that SNAP has made these types of moves before. SNAP spiked 30% in a few weeks in June. After last year’s Q4, SNAP stock soared, too. It would clear $20 and then lose 75% of its value in the next ten months.

Short-covering no doubt has driven some of the post-earnings gains. That in turn suggests a potential “dead cat bounce” rather than a significant change in trajectory. So does Q1 guidance, which actually was modestly disappointing. Revenue is expected to grow 24-34% year-over-year – a notable slowdown from the 36% in Q4 and the 43% in Q3.

That guidance suggests the top line will increase $55 to $80 million year-over-year next quarter. As a point of reference, Adjusted EBITDA was negative $218 million in Q1 2018. In other words, Snap still is going to lose quite a bit of money and burn quite a bit of cash in Q1, and for full-year 2019.

SNAP Stock Isn’t Cheap

While SNAP is cheaper than it was, it still isn’t cheap – or close. As noted, the stock trades at 7x 2019 revenue. Adjusted EBITDA in 2018 was a loss of $575 million. Just to support the current $9 share price, that figure probably needs to reverse by about $1 billion.

Snap only generated $1.18 billion in revenue for the entire year in 2018. That figure needs to potentially triple (or close) for Snap Inc to be worth $12 billion. That will take years on the current trajectory – assuming Snap doesn’t stumble again.

That’s a big assumption. Between the erroneous app redesign and executive turnover, management here has been inconsistent. Snap is doing a better job monetizing users, but without user growth is there really room for a 150%+ increase in ad revenue per user? Twitter and Facebook already have copied key Snapchat features and could again target their smaller competitor if results improve.

There’s a long, long way to go for Snap. And even with the stock down 53% over the past year, quite a bit of progress is priced in. Snap showed some of the progress in Q4. But it’s only one quarter; Snap needs to put together a better year, at least, before investors can get too excited.

As of this writing, Vince Martin has no positions in any sec

Thursday, February 21, 2019

4 Things Antero Resources Wants You to Know About What's Ahead

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) recently closed the books on a solid 2018 from both operational and financial perspectives. The natural gas driller delivered record production, which thanks to some recent infrastructure expansions, enabled the company to generate even more cash flow.

However, despite that strong performance, the company's stock price has fallen about 50% over the past year. Its management team has been working hard to get its stock turned around. Executives outlined several of these efforts on the company's fourth-quarter conference call, suggesting that its best days lie ahead.

A natural gas wellhead in the middle of a field

Image source: Getty Images.

1. We have a strong competitive position

CEO Paul Rady stated on the call that "as we enter 2019, we like where we are positioned from both a scale and commodity diversification standpoint." He pointed out that his company is "the largest NGL (natural gas liquids) producer in the U.S. and the fifth-largest natural gas producer. This scale across both commodities provides us with the ability to manage through commodity price volatility and prosper with an increase in either commodity." He further noted: "Antero holds 40% of the core undrilled liquids-rich locations in Appalachia, over 2.5 times more than the closest competitor by our analysis. This extensive liquids inventory is a clear competitive advantage."

Antero believes its dual focus on natural gas and NGLs gives it multiple ways to win in the future. On the gas side, the company should benefit from the continued expansion of the country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, while its NGL business will benefit from both exports as well as increased demand from new petrochemical plants. Both factors should help boost the value of these commodities.

2. We're planning to remain disciplined and flexible

Despite the bright future of both commodities, Rady noted on the call that the company plans to "remain disciplined, spending within cash flow in a low case, but have the ability to prudently grow production to maximize free cash flow if commodity prices improve, ultimately delivering an appropriate mix of return of capital to shareholders and further deleverage." The company noted that in an environment of $50 oil and $2.85 natural gas -- below the current market price -- that it could grow production at a 10% compound annual growth rate over the next five years, while living within its projected cash flow.

Meanwhile, in a stronger market of $65 oil and $3.15 natural gas, the company could grow output at a 15% compound annual growth rate, while generating between $2.5 billion and $3 billion in free cash flow over those five years. That's significant cash flow potential for a $3 billion company by market cap, and could enable it to buy back a substantial portion of its beaten-down stock.

3. We have an improving financial profile

Rady concluded his prepared remarks on the call by saying that "entering 2019, we now have significant scale, product diversification, and a strong balance sheet to manage through commodity price volatility."

Chief financial officer Glen Warren then drilled down a bit more into the company's balance sheet, noting that the upcoming simplification transaction with its MLPs (master limited partnerships) will further clarify its financial profile. Warren pointed out that "as of year-end 2018, Antero's consolidated net debt to adjusted EBITDAX (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and exploration expenses) was 2.7 times." However, after adjusting for the debt associated with its midstream companies, leverage "was 2.2 times, or .5 times lower" than what most investors see when they look at its balance sheet. That level puts it more in line with its peer group, and should help lift some of the weight holding down Antero's stock price.

A natural gas well with pipelines at sunset

Image source: Getty Images.

4. We have access to the infrastructure we need to deliver on our expansion plan

Another issue that has weighed on Antero and many of its gas-focused peers is the lack of infrastructure to get production to higher-priced markets. However, Warren noted that the company has worked to line up the firm transportation on pipelines it needs to support its growth forecast. With these pipes now all in service, "this provides us with significant visibility into our expected pricing for the foreseeable future."

For example, pipeline giant Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) recently finished work on its Mariner East 2 pipeline, which moves liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to an export dock on the East Coast. That new pipeline by Energy Transfer enables Antero to earn $2 to $4 per barrel more than it realized by utilizing existing rail options to domestic markets. That will allow the company to generate $50 million to $60 million in incremental cash flow each year. Antero will also benefit from the recent completion of the Sherwood Lateral on Energy Transfer's Rover pipeline, which connects it to higher-priced Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.

Set up for success

Antero Resources believes that it has everything it needs to be successful in the coming years. Not only does the company have a strong resource base and balance sheet, but its flexibility and access to infrastructure give it the ability to adapt to market conditions and maximize the value of its production. The natural gas driller believes these factors position it to create significant value for its investors in the coming years, even if commodity prices don't improve.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Boston Financial Mangement LLC Has $3.86 Million Stake in Amgen, Inc. (AMGN)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,823 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,884 shares during the quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $3,859,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arlington Partners LLC increased its holdings in Amgen by 86.7% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 140 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Amgen by 710.5% in the fourth quarter. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC now owns 154 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Lavaca Capital LLC acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Amgen in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Shares of NASDAQ AMGN opened at $188.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The company has a market cap of $120.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.21. Amgen, Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.31 and a 12-month high of $210.19.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 29th. The medical research company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $3.26 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.88 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 66.74% and a net margin of 35.35%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Amgen, Inc. will post 13.93 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 15th will be given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Amgen’s payout ratio is currently 36.67%.

A number of brokerages have commented on AMGN. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $211.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Amgen in a research note on Friday, February 1st. Leerink Swann decreased their target price on Amgen from $200.00 to $192.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research note on Wednesday, January 30th. Finally, BidaskClub downgraded Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $205.77.

In other news, SVP Cynthia M. Patton sold 1,777 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.88, for a total transaction of $360,517.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,090 shares in the company, valued at $4,684,499.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Tyler Jacks sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.41, for a total value of $3,908,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,662,786.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,777 shares of company stock valued at $4,648,718. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: “Boston Financial Mangement LLC Has $3.86 Million Stake in Amgen, Inc. (AMGN)” was originally reported by Ticker Report and is owned by of Ticker Report. If you are accessing this article on another website, it was illegally stolen and republished in violation of U.S. and international copyright law. The legal version of this article can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4162787/boston-financial-mangement-llc-has-3-86-million-stake-in-amgen-inc-amgn.html.

Amgen Profile

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. It offers products for the treatment of oncology/hematology, cardiovascular, inflammation, bone health, nephrology, and neuroscience. The company's products include Evenity to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; Xgeva for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha to treat coronary diseases; Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Parsabiv to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism (sHPT); and Aimovig for the prevention of migraine.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMGN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Monday, February 18, 2019

Volume shockers: Alembic Pharma, KPIT Tech among 5 stocks that are moving the most


The Indian stock market has further slipped into the red in this afternoon session with the Nifty50 falling 63 points, trading at 10660 while the Sensex was down 233.94 points and was trading at 35,575 mark.

The breadth of the market favoured the declines with 832 stocks advancing and 1610 declining while 128 remained unchanged on the BSE.

From the BSE, the stocks which moved the most with respect to volume included names like Alembic Pharma which was trading with volumes of 210,312 shares, compared to its five day average of 2,429 shares, an increase of 8,559.09 percent. The stock witnessed spurt in volume by more than 121.29 times.

Alembic Pharma


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Goodyear India was trading with volumes of 100,916 shares, compared to its five day average of 2,814 shares, an increase of 3,485.70 percent. It saw spurt in volume by more than 45.95 times while KPIT Technologies was trading with volumes of 1,243,134 shares, compared to its five day average of 88,656 shares, an increase of 1,302.20 percent.

related news D-Street Buzz: Realty stocks gain led by Prestige Estates; Bharti Infratel jumps 3%, YES Bank most active Titagarh Wagons surges 7% as co wins order worth Rs 1740cr KPIT Tech traded on new 52-week low value of Rs 92.70 and witnessed spurt in volume by more than 13.60 times.

KPIT Tech


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La Opala RG was trading with volumes of 27,488 shares, compared to its five day average of 2,788 shares, an increase of 885.80 percent. The stock traded on new 52-week low value of Rs 188.05 and witnessed spurt in volume by more than 14.80 times.

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Thermax was trading with volumes of 57,484 shares, compared to its five day average of 7,674 shares, an increase of 649.06 percent. The stock sawspurt in volume by more than 12.81 times in this afternoon session. First Published on Feb 18, 2019 02:25 pm

Sunday, February 17, 2019

What the Unexpected "Fall" in December Retail Sales Really Means

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released disappointing statistics for the all-important 2018 holiday shopping season -- at least according to some media outlets. Retail sales unexpectedly fell 1.2% in December, in sharp contrast to economists' consensus expectation of a 0.2% rise. The Census Bureau also reduced its estimate of November retail sales growth to 0.1% from 0.2% previously.

Since consumer spending makes up roughly 70% of U.S. GDP (the total value of economic activity), retail sales are a closely-watched indicator for the overall health of the economy and for specific companies. Nevertheless, the headlines surrounding this metric are often misleading -- and that was the case for the December 2018 report.

Some very important context

Many news outlets reported the 1.2% decline without providing much additional color. The important detail here is that seasonally-adjusted retail sales fell 1.2% in December compared with the November figure. Month-to-month sales are highly volatile and aren't good indicators of trends. That's especially true around the holidays, as the ultra-busy Black Friday through Cyber Monday period falls within November.

The more important figure that was mostly overlooked was the year-over-year change in retail spending. Despite the month-to-month tumble, sales were actually up 2.3% compared to December 2017. Total sales for the whole 2018 holiday shopping season (October through December) increased 3.7% year over year.

A man inputting credit card info into a tablet to make a purchase.

Image source: Getty Images.

In other words, it was hardly a disastrous report. It is worth noting, though, that the 3.7% year-over-year gain for the fourth quarter represented a slowdown relative to the first nine months of 2018. For the full year, total retail sales increased 5% over 2017 and rose 4.6% excluding auto and gasoline sales. That's a huge annualized gain: one of the biggest in recent years. It remains to be seen if the Q4 slowdown will persist or not, although it would be a healthy move for consumers to take a breather after a year of spend-happy activity.

It's also important to note that the retail sales report is a lagging economic indicator. Basically, shoppers' behavior reflects a lot about things that have already happened, making the numbers far less important to investors than forward indicators like inventory levels or company-specific forecasts. Plus, even though the overall results were solid, a deeper dive into the U.S. Census Bureau's scorecard shows that the holiday season wasn't cheery for everyone.

The retail revolution continues

Online retail, led by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) -- as well as the tech-enhanced duo of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT) -- made the biggest gains once again in 2018.

Restaurants also notched a good year, although that industry is notoriously cutthroat, and is still dealing with the fallout from a period of over-expansion. Landing at the bottom of the list -- with revenue declines -- were department stores and sporting goods stores.

Business Type

Fourth-Quarter 2018 Year-Over-Year Revenue Change

Nonstore retailer (online)

8.4%

Food and drink services (restaurants, bars, taprooms)

5.3%

Clothing and accessories

4.7%

General merchandise stores (big-box and department stores)

3.1%

Home improvement stores

2.3%

Electronics and appliance stores

0.5%

Department stores only

(1.1%)

Sporting goods, hobby, and book stores

(11%)

Data source: U.S. Census Bureau.

In a world that is steadily going more digital, online retailers are the way to go. However, it's worth noting that Amazon's online sales grew only 13% in the fourth quarter, a drop from its 20% growth rate during the holiday quarter of 2017. The case for investing in the e-commerce titan has changed over the years, though -- at this point, cloud computing and advertising services are quickly taking over as Amazon's growth drivers.

That leaves big-box stores like Walmart and Target, both of which have been growing their online sales at rates well into the double-digits. Neither has reported its fourth quarter results yet, but the U.S. Census Bureau's numbers bode well for them, as general merchandise and online retail operations both notched healthy annual gains.

Also of note are the results in merchandise-specific brick-and-mortar store segments. Electronics and appliance stores have lagged behind overall retail spending for years, as have sporting goods and other hobby stores. That doesn't bode well for the likes of Best Buy or Dick's Sporting Goods, the largest electronics and sporting goods chains, respectively.

Long story short, though U.S. retail sales fell in December compared with November, conditions were anything but bad. Month-over-month figures are volatile and don't on their own indicate trends. Year-over-year figures are more accurate, and those still indicate that the U.S. consumer is healthy and spending money. So there's no need for investors to panic -- even if a few headlines say you should!

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Zacks Investment Research Upgrades Enterprise GP (EPE) to “Hold”

Enterprise GP (NYSE:EPE) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday.

According to Zacks, “EP Energy Corporation is involved in the acquisition and development of unconventional onshore oil and natural gas. The company’s assets consist of the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Wolfcamp Shale in Permian Basin in West Texas, the Altamont field in the Uinta Basin in Utah and the Haynesville Shale in North Louisiana. EP Energy Corporation is based in Houston, United States. “

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Separately, BMO Capital Markets restated a “hold” rating and issued a $2.00 price target on shares of Enterprise GP in a report on Tuesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. Enterprise GP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $2.32.

NYSE EPE traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $0.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 715,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 676,602. Enterprise GP has a 52-week low of $0.62 and a 52-week high of $3.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.55, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.88 and a beta of 3.15.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EPE. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Enterprise GP by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 62,447 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 16,730 shares during the period. Cpwm LLC acquired a new stake in Enterprise GP in the third quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Enterprise GP by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 430,867 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 16,821 shares in the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co grew its position in Enterprise GP by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 1,379,200 shares of the energy producer’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 754,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Enterprise GP in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,038,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.34% of the company’s stock.

About Enterprise GP

EP Energy Corporation, an independent exploration and production company, engages in the exploration for and the acquisition, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company has interests in three primary areas, such as the Permian basin in West Texas; the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas; and the Altamont Field in the Uinta basin in Northeastern Utah.

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Analyst Recommendations for Enterprise GP (NYSE:EPE)

Here's Why Vanda Pharmaceuticals Gained as Much as 11.1% Today

What happened

Shares of Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VNDA) rose over 11% today after the company reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 financial results. The jump higher is welcomed by shareholders, who have seen the stock plunge lower in recent weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed a partial clinical hold on a promising drug candidate looking to enter late-stage clinical trials.

Today's share movement isn't entirely unexpected. The recent slide had appeared a bit overdone, especially considering that Vanda Pharmaceuticals turned profitable through the first nine months of 2018. That significantly de-risked the development of its pipeline, even in light of the partial clinical hold from overly cautious regulators. Full-year 2018 results only strengthened that argument.

As of 2:57 p.m. EST, the stock had settled to an 8.7% gain.

An ascending stock chart on a display.

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

Vanda Pharmaceuticals reported fourth-quarter 2018 operating income of $9.1 million, which represented 42% of the full-year total of $21.7 million. The business achieved improving financial health on the heels of growing sales of the Hetlioz franchise, a medication approved for a rare sleep disorder, and falling operating expenses.

Here's how full-year 2018 results stack up against 2017:

Metric

2018

2017

Year-Over-Year Change

Hetlioz revenue

$115.8 million

$89.9 million

29%

Total revenue

$193.1 million

$165.1 million

17%

Operating expenses

$171.4 million

$181.9 million

(6%)

Operating income

$21.7 million

($16.9 million)

N/A

Net income

$25.1 million

($15.6 million)

N/A

Data source: Press release.

Management expects the momentum to continue in the year ahead. Vanda Pharmaceuticals has prepared investors to expect full-year 2019 revenue in the neighborhood of $220 million, which includes Hetlioz revenue of approximately $140 million.

The business didn't provide guidance for operating income, but it's likely to trend upward, as well. If the fourth-quarter 2018 operating margin of 17% is achieved throughout the current fiscal year and revenue guidance of $220 million is met, then the business would achieve operating income of $38 million in 2019. That would mark a year-over-year increase of 75% -- and it's likely to be an underestimate considering operating margin has steadily improved each quarter in recent years.

The $1 billion company expects to end 2019 with over $260 million in cash on the balance sheet.

Now what

Investors will now be watching developments regarding the ongoing dispute with the FDA and the partial clinical hold slapped onto the company's promising drug candidate. As of right now, Vanda Pharmaceuticals doesn't expect the regulatory hurdle to delay the timeline for ongoing or planned clinical trials or the potential filing of a new drug application down the road.

That's good news, although a comfortably profitable business makes the closely watched developments a little less important than Wall Street has made them out to be.

Friday, February 15, 2019

Tripadvisor (TRIP) Shares Gap Down to $56.94

Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $57.00, but opened at $56.94. Tripadvisor shares last traded at $58.49, with a volume of 88377 shares traded.

Several research firms have recently commented on TRIP. Zacks Investment Research raised Tripadvisor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 25th. Piper Jaffray Companies boosted their price target on Tripadvisor to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Co set a $65.00 target price on Tripadvisor and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 9th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Tripadvisor to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 9th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, BidaskClub raised Tripadvisor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.94.

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The stock has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 121.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.49.

Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 12th. The travel company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $346.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $342.90 million. Tripadvisor had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 1.38%. Tripadvisor’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Tripadvisor Inc will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Tripadvisor news, SVP Seth J. Kalvert sold 15,653 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.14, for a total transaction of $1,019,636.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,019,636.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Tripadvisor by 637.1% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 342,732 shares of the travel company’s stock valued at $18,487,000 after purchasing an additional 296,232 shares during the last quarter. Bronfman E.L. Rothschild L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Tripadvisor by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Bronfman E.L. Rothschild L.P. now owns 1,130 shares of the travel company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Legg Mason Asset Management Japan Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Tripadvisor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Mackay Shields LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tripadvisor by 1,052.5% in the fourth quarter. Mackay Shields LLC now owns 228,448 shares of the travel company’s stock valued at $12,323,000 after purchasing an additional 208,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QS Investors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tripadvisor by 16,015.1% in the fourth quarter. QS Investors LLC now owns 164,213 shares of the travel company’s stock valued at $8,858,000 after purchasing an additional 163,194 shares during the last quarter. 89.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: “Tripadvisor (TRIP) Shares Gap Down to $56.94” was first published by Ticker Report and is the property of of Ticker Report. If you are accessing this article on another site, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of U.S. and international trademark and copyright law. The correct version of this article can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4151978/tripadvisor-trip-shares-gap-down-to-56-94.html.

About Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP)

TripAdvisor, Inc operates as an online travel company. The company operates in two segments, Hotel and Non-Hotel. Its travel platform aggregates reviews and opinions of members about destinations, accommodations, activities and attractions, and restaurants, which enables users to research and plan their travel experiences, as well as book hotels, flights, cruises, vacation rentals, tours, activities and attractions, and restaurant reservations on its site or mobile app, or on the site or app of travel partner sites.

Featured Article: Inflation

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Why Barnes & Noble Education Stock Gained 42.6% in January

What happened

Shares of Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) gained 42.6% in January, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company's stock fell roughly 28% from October through December, as sell-offs for the broader market and second-quarter results that fell short of expectations put pressure on its valuation, but it came roaring back in January.

BNED Chart

BNED data by YCharts.

A rebound for the broader stock market, support from institutional investors, and some favorable ratings coverage appear to have been the driving factors between the small-cap education technology company's big gains last month.

An illustration of people, a laptop, books, and other supplies.

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

Barnes & Noble Education has a market capitalization of roughly $285 million as of this writing As a small-cap stock, shares are prone to posting big swings on relatively little news or in line with momentum for the broader market. Sidoti Research published a note on Jan. 21 raising its rating on the stock from neutral to buy, and filings showing that Jefferies and BlackRock both increased their holdings in the company could have been a positive catalyst for the stock.   

Now what

Barnes & Noble Education stock has continued to climb in February, with shares trading up roughly 3.9% in the month so far. 

BNED Chart

BNED data by YCharts.

Shares trade at roughly 10.5 times this year's expected earnings and roughly 0.14 times expected sales. The company is pushing ahead with its continued transition to a more digitally focused business to offset declines in other segments, aiming to improve sales efficiencies, and manage operating costs across the business. Its digital student solutions business currently accounts for roughly 1% of sales and 5% of adjusted EBITDA, but management expects that the segment's sales contribution will rise to 5% and its adjusted EBITDA contribution will be roughly 25% in 2021.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Bitcoin backs off three-week high, trades below $3,600

Bitcoin prices fell for the second straight day on Tuesday, easing off a three-week high put in on Friday.

In late-morning trading, one bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.38%  was fetching $3,576.10, down 0.5% since Monday's level at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken exchange. The cryptocurrency has slipped 4% from its Friday high above $3,700.

Read: U.S. stock futures climb as lawmakers reach tentative shutdown deal

What are analysts saying

"We expect the final wave of desperation to take us to the mid-to-high $2000's before the market starts the recovery," wrote Tim Kelly, founder and CEO of BitOoda, a digital asset advisory firm. "We could be wrong, of course, and until the 2018 low is taken out (it has not been revisited yet), there is a possibility that the selloff is done."

Kelly added that his downside target is $2,400 to $2,800 but a short covering rally could "easily take BTC to $4030-$4300 cluster of previous highs or even to $5600-$6000 support level that has become resistance"

In the news

Speaking at the Inside ETFs conference in Florida, Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines said a bitcoin-related exchange traded fund is only a matter of time. "It's virtually certain. The only question is when," he told CNBC late Monday.

Morgan Creek Digital said Tuesday it had raised more than $40 million for a venture capital fund, including investments from two pension funds in Fairfax County, Virginia. Anthony Pompliano, the founder of the North Carolina-based fund, told CoinDesk he believes its the first crypto-related fund to raise money from a public pension.

Morgan Creek Digital is a subsidiary of Morgan Creek Capital Management.

Read: We are too quick 'in running away from anything labeled crypto,' SEC commissioner

Altcoins and futures

Altcoins — the collective group of more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin — were mostly lower on Tuesday. Ether ETHUSD, -0.56% fell 0.7% to $118.62, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, -0.08% was down 1.2% to $119.50, XRP XRPUSD, +0.04% lost 0.6% to 30 cents and Litecoin, LTCUSD, +1.14% rose 1% to $42.57.

Bitcoin futures were moving lower on Tuesday. The Cboe Global Markets February contract XBTG9, -0.42% fell 0.8% to $3,565, while the CME Group February contract BTCG9, -0.55% was down 0.8% at $3,575.

Providing critical information for the U.S. trading day. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Need to Know newsletter. Sign up here.

Aaron Hankin

Aaron Hankin is a MarketWatch reporter in New York who covers cryptocurrency and financial markets.

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Comment Quote References BTCUSD -13.63 -0.38% ETHUSD -0.67 -0.56% BCHUSD -0.10 -0.08% XRPUSD +0.00 +0.04% LTCUSD +0.48 +1.14% XBTG9 -15.00 -0.42% BTCG9 -20.00 -0.55% Show all references MarketWatch Partner Center Most Popular

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Best China Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:BIDU,CDTI,ATAI,SINA,

U.S. equities are moving powerfully higher on Monday, with the major large-cap indices testing recent record highs, after the United States reached a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada. Effectively “NAFTA 2.0”, the deal, which carries the moniker USMCA, will solve deficiencies in the original NAFTA deal and open new markets for U.S. farmers and manufacturers … at least according to President Trump.

Stocks are cheering the news, as it’s one of the first indications Trump’s aggressive trade tactics are starting to produce results instead of just escalation, as in the case with the ongoing tensions with China.

Investors are cheering the removal of a major source of policy uncertainty and are raising their hopes that previously imposed steel and aluminum tariffs will be rolled back to the benefit of manufacturers. As a result, a number of large-cap names are pushing to new highs. With that in mind, here are seven stocks to buy now:


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Microsoft (MSFT)

Best China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Baidu Inc.(BIDU)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Leo Sun]

    Shares of Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) tumbled 8% on Aug. 1 following a report that Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google could reenter China with a censored search engine. Online news publication The Intercept, citing "confidential" documents from an anonymous source at Google, claims that the company will launch a new search engine to "blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest."

  • [By Motley Fool Staff]

    In this segment from the Motley Fool Money podcast, host Chris Hill and senior Motley Fool analysts Jason Moser, Matt Argersinger, and Ron Gross ponder a pair of troubled tech players. First, they look at Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), which reported a massive quarterly profit beat that gave its shares a brief bounce last week.

  • [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

    Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has struggled to get mainstream search engine status in China. Stymied by the government and local search engine company Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), it has never made real progress. Its latest move is to buy into China’s online market.

  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    Sogou is a distant silver medalist to Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) in the realm of Chinese search engines, but there's plenty of paid search revenue and user query requests to go around. Baidu has been one of the market's biggest winners since going public -- a juicy 85-bagger since hitting the market at a split-adjusted $2.70 per share 13 years ago.

  • [By Steve Symington, John Bromels, and Keith Noonan]

    So, we asked three top Motley Fool contributors to each discuss a stock that they believe is absurdly cheap right now. Read on to learn what they had to say about JD.com (NASDAQ:JD), Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU).

Best China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Clean Diesel Technologies Inc.(CDTI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Shares of CDTi Advanced Materials Inc (NASDAQ:CDTI) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $0.33 and last traded at $0.36, with a volume of 500 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $0.36.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Here are some of the media stories that may have impacted Accern Sentiment’s analysis:

    Get Molecular Templates alerts: Trading Center: Watching the Levels for Molecular Templates, Inc. (:MTEM): Move of 0.02 Since the Open (stocknewscaller.com) Molecular Templates (MTEM) Announces Clinical Data at 2018 ASCO Meeting (streetinsider.com) Gallbladder Cancer Treatment Sales Market Size by Players, Regions, Type, Application and Forecast to 2025 (exclusivereportage.com) ATR in spotlight EnSync, Inc. (NYSE:ESNC), CDTi Advanced Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTI), Molecular Templates, Inc … (stocksnewspoint.com)

    MTEM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. ValuEngine lowered shares of Molecular Templates from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 1st. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Molecular Templates from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.20.

Best China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: ATA Inc.(ATAI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Paul Ausick]

    ATA Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAI) traded down about 14% Monday to set a new 52-week low of $0.82, based on revalued shares that closed at $0.72 on Friday but traded up about 250% on Monday at $2.53. Volume was more than 200 times the daily average of around 42,000. You’re on your own here to figure this one out.

Best China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Sina Corporation(SINA)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Leo Sun, Jamal Carnette, CFA, and Nicholas Rossolillo]

    Leo Sun (SINA): Many Chinese tech stocks were crushed over the past year by decelerating growth forecasts and escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China. However, that sell-off also reduced the valuations of some solid growth stocks to value-stock levels.

  • [By Leo Sun]

    During the same period, Tencent's share fell from 54.3% to 47.7%. Most of Toutiao's gains were made at Tencent's expense, since other apps from Baidu, Alibaba, and SINA (NASDAQ: SINA) didn't experience major year-over-year shifts. 

  • [By Leo Sun, Chuck Saletta, and Jordan Wathen]

    Leo Sun (SINA): SINA is one of China's oldest internet companies, and it owns a network of portal sites and a controlling stake in Weibo, which it spun off back in 2014. SINA still generated nearly 80% of its sales from Weibo last quarter.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on SINA (SINA)

    For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

  • [By Steve Symington]

    You wouldn't know it by the market's knee-jerk reaction, but SINA Corp. (NASDAQ:SINA) just announced another stronger-than-expected quarter early Wednesday. Shares of the Chinese internet media company fell 10% when all was said and done today -- though it's not the first time we've seen the stock fall on positive news.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Will Mobile and IoT Help This Chip Stock Fly Higher?

Synaptics (NASDAQ:SYNA) has been betting big on the Internet of Things (IoT) to make up for weakness in its mobile business, and to good effect. The chipmaker failed to make much headway in smartphones despite its best efforts to come up with cutting-edge products, so management decided to pursue emerging tech trends such as smart audio solutions.

The gamble has begun to pay off. Synaptics' financial fortunes are turning around, and the stock price has gained some momentum in the past three months. But that momentum will be put to the test when the chipmaker releases its fiscal second-quarter results on Feb. 7.

Can Synaptics trump expectations once again, or will it fall prey to broader semiconductor industry weakness? Let's find out.

Various components of the Internet of Things.

Image Source: Getty Images.

The headline numbers

Synaptics surprised investors three months ago with better-than-anticipated guidance, calling for revenue between $410 million and $440 million and EPS in the range of $1.25 to $1.55. If this guidance holds true, the company should easily beat Wall Street estimates, which are calling for $1.37 in earnings on $425 million in revenue if on average.

Synaptics' top line will remain flat on a year-over-year basis if it can hit $430 million in revenue, while earnings are set to increase impressively over the prior-year period's number of $1.11 per share. That's because the company anticipates a major bump in the margins this time thanks to a favorable product mix.

Synaptics expects non-GAAP gross margin of 38% to 39% in the second quarter as compared to 35.9% in the year-ago period, driven by its focus on premium smartphone, automotive, and IoT products. In all, investors can expect a solid quarterly report from Synaptics once again, though all eyes will be on the forward-looking guidance.

The guidance must be solid

Synaptics has done well to turn its business around over the past few months despite the broader weakness in the smartphone and semiconductor space. However, investors shouldn't forget that the company expects 65% of its second-quarter revenue to come from the mobile business as compared to 20% from IoT.

That looks like bad news for Synaptics at first, as JPMorgan expects smartphone sales to drop somewhere between 4.8% and 5.5% this year, following a 2.9% to 3.3% decline in 2018. But Synaptics has been smart to tag along with the likes of Huawei, a shining star in the otherwise gloomy smartphone sky.

Huawei is using Synaptics' display driver in the high-end Mate 20 Pro smartphone, allowing the Chinese company to make its device bezel-less thanks to the chipmaker's chip-on-film (CoF) display driver packaging tech. CoF enables smartphone makers to reduce power consumption, lower manufacturing costs, and deliver a higher resolution while occupying less real estate thanks to its lightweight and small structure.

Synaptics believes that the advantages of CoF technology make it ideal for deployment in smartphones with end-to-end displays. Not surprisingly, the company has more than 20 smartphone projects in production based on this technology already, so there's a possibility that Synaptics' mobile business won't be affected by the ongoing smartphone industry weakness.

The consumer IoT business, meanwhile, should continue being a pillar of strength for Synaptics. The company has stepped on the gas as far as IoT product development is concerned by shifting "a large portion of our investment dollars from in-display fingerprint to consumer IoT to enable stronger growth of IoT over the mid-term, which we believe will become more evident toward the end of our fiscal year," said Wajid Ali, senior vice president and CFO, on the Q1 2019 earnings call last November.

Synaptics has started sampling new IoT-focused solutions based on the 22-nanometer manufacturing process, while its smart audio solutions have been selected for deployment in smart TVs from TCL. Additionally, Synaptics has launched voice solutions for both new and legacy set-top boxes to add voice-assistant capabilities to TVs.

These new product deployments should help Synaptics accelerate the growth of its IoT business in future quarters and also help the company issue solid forward-looking guidance given the positive developments in mobile. That should be enough to boost Synaptics' stock higher post-earnings and set the stage for more upside.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

How Big Is Vale's Dam Problem?

If your portfolio includes mining stocks in general, or Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) specifically, you may be rethinking it in the wake of the Jan. 25 Brumadinho dam disaster, which spilled 3 million gallons of contaminated mining waste, destroyed a town, and killed at least 65 people in Brazil. (The death toll is uncertain, but hundreds are still missing.) As the largest iron ore extractor in the world, Vale has many, many similar tailings dams at its mines across Brazil, and this one -- like the others -- had been inspected and certified as safe.

In this segment of the MarketFoolery podcast, host Chris Hill and Motley Fool director of small-cap research Bill Mann address a listener's question: Is this going to lead to serious long-term troubles for Vale?

A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on Jan. 29, 2019.

Chris Hill: Before I get to the email, this requires some setup. Some listeners may have seen the news out of Brazil from last weekend. A terrible story of a mining dam bursting, which triggered a deadly mudslide. Somewhere in the neighborhood of at least 60 people confirmed dead.

Bill Mann: Three hundred missing.

Hill: Hundreds more missing, probably presumed dead at this point. It's a tragic story.

One of our listeners, looking at it through the lens of investing -- and we've seen this play out before -- an email from David, who asked, "I was wondering how the dam burst in Brazil affects Vale in the long term." Vale, the company attached to this. "BP's stock still hasn't recovered from its pre-2010 disaster levels. Does this dam spell doom for the world's largest iron ore company?"

Vale, probably not well known to a lot of listeners just because we don't really focus on commodity stocks all that much.

Mann: No, but touch something metal to your left or your right, and most likely Vale produced some of the metal that's in it. It's a foundationally important company to the global economy. It's very, very important to the Brazilian economy. And therein lies a little bit of the rub.

Vale has been sued by the Brazilian government for a 2015 disaster that happened about 80 miles up the road from this dam, in which 10 people were killed. The government sued for $5.3 billion U.S. dollars. That was a much smaller accident. After that accident, Vale and all of the Brazilian miners went through a process of verifying the safety of all of their dams. According to the Brazilian National Water Agency, there are 600 -- this is called a tailings dam, it's part of the mining process. There are 600 of them in Brazil, and 144 of them are big enough to cause catastrophic environmental damage.

The fact is, they've gone through the process to verify these dams. In fact, this dam was 28 stories high. To me, that's an interesting balance between -- there's no such thing as a story as a precise amount of measurement, but there was 28 of them. It's a huge dam. The dam itself basically is made out of mud. What happened, they believe, is that the mud literally liquefied in place. So it looks like it's in good shape until suddenly, it fails. There are 144 dams just like this. Vale owns a large number of them.

I'm not saying that this is a no-touch company, but I am saying that they don't really have the ability to either replace the dams or to say for sure that these dams are safe. I'm relatively sure they had $5.3 billion worth of interest last time in making sure this didn't happen again, and it happened again.

Hill: It seems like, if you're an owner of this stock, you might want to start looking at what's on your watchlist.

Mann: Yeah. It's interesting, because in the same way that the state of New York is so careful with its Wall Street firms -- Wall Street is worth 25% of the tax base of New York State, there's only so much they're going to do to punish them. We look back at the financial crisis, the answer was basically nothing. Brazil is in the same boat. Brazil gets a huge amount of its tax base from its largest mining companies, in particular Vale. So, I don't think that Brazil will do anything that is existentially threatening to Vale. They just can't.

Hill: You think back to the recent scandal involving Volkswagen and getting around the emissions test, all that sort of thing. Somewhat analogous in that, at that moment in time, you can look at that and say, "Boy, they're really going to get punished." And then, you start to look at how crucial Volkswagen and the automotive industry is to the German economy, and then you go, "Oh, OK. They can't. That's a really bad idea, to punish Volkswagen to the point where it goes out of business."

Mann: Right. They can't leave a crater where Volkswagen was. The other thing for Vale that's interesting is, there's a brand-new government in Brazil, and he's a populist. I think you could see a scenario where he comes down really, really hard on them in ways that are visible, like, "I'm here to protect the people of Brazil," but in invisible ways, Vale will ultimately be allowed to continue to exist.

Now, the question that's being asked is, "What do I do with the equity?" And I think you've got to see what the lawsuits look like before you touch. Just because they lost 25% doesn't mean that it's not going to get much, much worse for them.

Monday, February 4, 2019

Top Gold Stocks To Buy For 2019

tags:GSS,NGD,NXG,ORE,CME, America is a nation of borrowers, and while racking up debt can be dangerous at any age, it's especially hazardous for those heading into retirement.

Because most seniors are behind on savings to begin with, carrying debt into retirement will only strain their already limited budget. Yet a growing number of households are kicking off their golden years with piles of debt -- in fact, 20% of borrowers actually expect to die in debt.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 30% of homeowners aged 65 and older still carry mortgage debt -- granted, housing debt is technically the "good" kind to have. However, credit card debt can be particularly detrimental for seniors, and ValuePenguin reports that Americans 65 and older have average credit card balances of $6,351.

While the picture of retiree debt isn't pretty, the good news is that you can take steps to rid yourself of your nagging obligations in time for retirement. Here's how.

1. Build up a chunk of emergency savings

Top Gold Stocks To Buy For 2019: Golden Star Resources Ltd(GSS)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Max Byerly]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Golden Star Resources (GSS)

    For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Golden Star Resources Ltd. (NYSEAMERICAN:GSS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 28th, there was short interest totalling 10,021,831 shares, an increase of 6.9% from the September 14th total of 9,371,344 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,038,207 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.7 days. Approximately 4.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Golden Star Resources Ltd. (TSE:GSC) (NYSE:GSS) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$1.48.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy For 2019: NEW GOLD INC.(NGD)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

    For the details of Exor Investments (UK) LLP's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Exor+Investments+%28UK%29+LLP

    These are the top 5 holdings of Exor Investments (UK) LLPSibanye-Stillwater (SBGL) - 45,970,311 shares, 32.51% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 8.09%VEON Ltd (VEON) - 37,657,792 shares, 31.02% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 3.83%Cameco Corp (CCJ) - 5,967,410 shares, 19.32% of the total portfolio. Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd (HMY) - 13,275,728 shares, 6.26% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 6.84%Novagold Resources Inc (NG) - 5,889,905 shares, 6.21% of the total portfolio. Shares
  • [By Shane Hupp]

    News articles about New Gold (NASDAQ:NGD) have trended somewhat positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research group ranks the sentiment of media coverage by monitoring more than 20 million blog and news sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. New Gold earned a news impact score of 0.01 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media coverage about the company an impact score of 46.1175522193993 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near future.

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    New Gold Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: NGD) dropped about 1.9% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $2.09. Shares closed at $2.13 on Monday and the stock’s 52-week high is $4.25. The junior gold miner had no specific news.

  • [By Lisa Levin]

    Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

    Losers Check-Cap Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHEK) fell 23.3 percent to $9.87 in pre-market trading after declining 13.45 percent on Wednesday. SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SXCP) fell 12.8 percent to $16.00 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE: BGG) fell 11 percent to $17.55 in pre-market trading after the company posted mixed Q3 results and lowered its FY18 guidance. New Gold Inc. (NYSE: NGD) fell 8.4 percent to $2.30 in pre-market trading following downbeat Q1 results. Quality Care Properties, Inc. (NYSE: QCP) fell 8.2 percent to $20.85 in pre-market trading. Welltower announced plans to acquire QCP for $20.75 per share in cash. China Customer Relations Centers Inc. (NASDAQ: CCRC) shares fell 7.5 percent to $17.25 in pre-market trading after climbing 18.73 percent on Wednesday. Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) shares fell 5.7 percent to $5.58 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) fell 5.6 percent to $38.66 in pre-market trading following Q1 results. Southw
  • [By Lisa Levin]

    Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

    Losers Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER) fell 10.8 percent to $37.02 in pre-market trading after the company issued downbeat Q2 guidance. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW) fell 9.2 percent to $122.29 in pre-market trading. Edwards Lifesciences reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter, but issued weak earnings guidance for the second quarter. New Gold Inc. (NYSE: NGD) fell 8.8 percent to $2.30 in pre-market trading after rising 4.13 percent on Tuesday. Gold Fields Limited (ADR) (NYSE: GFI) fell 8.6 percent to $3.61 in pre-market trading. Natus Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ: BABY) fell 8.2 percent to $32.95 in pre-market trading after the company issued weak forecast for the second quarter. Atossa Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: ATOS) shares fell 7.9 percent to $3.50 in pre-market trading after climbing 27.09 percent on Tuesday. Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited (NYSE: BEDU) shares fell 6.7 percent to $13.58 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Sangamo Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SGMO) fell 5.9 percent to $16.75 in pre-market trading following announcement of a $200 million common stock offering. Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: FRSX) shares fell 5.7 percent to $3.29 in pre-market trading after declining 3.32 percent on Tuesday. Euronav NV (NYSE: EURN) fell 4.8 percent to $8.40 in pre-market trading. Limelight Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: LLNW) shares fell 4.3 percent to $4.69 in pre-market trading. Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ: GLPI) shares fell 4.1 percent to $32.92 in pre-market trading after the company issued downbeat quarterly results and reported the retirement of CFO William Clifford

Top Gold Stocks To Buy For 2019: Northgate Minerals Corporation(NXG)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Shares of NEX Group PLC (LON:NXG) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is GBX 696 ($9.21).

Top Gold Stocks To Buy For 2019: Orezone Gold Corp (ORE)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Galactrum (ORE) is a PoW/PoS coin that uses the
    Lyra2RE hashing algorithm. It launched on November 11th, 2017. Galactrum’s total supply is 2,092,679 coins and its circulating supply is 1,372,679 coins. Galactrum’s official Twitter account is @galactrum. Galactrum’s official website is galactrum.org.

  • [By Jim Robertson]

    Finally, Richard Seville, the CEO of Brisbane-based Orocobre Ltd (ASX: ORE) which began lithium sales in 2015 from northern Argentina and also experienced difficulty boosting output, commented that an "inability to access traditional funds has delayed the development of the sector" and that "these projects aren't easy -- so the banks just don't want to go there."

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Galactrum (ORE) is a PoW/PoS coin that uses the
    Lyra2RE hashing algorithm. It was first traded on December 13th, 2017. Galactrum’s total supply is 2,781,952 coins and its circulating supply is 2,061,952 coins. Galactrum’s official website is galactrum.org. Galactrum’s official Twitter account is @galactrum.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy For 2019: CME Group Inc.(CME)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Chris Hill]

    Gross: I got CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), ticker CME. Operates the world's largest futures and options exchange. They're in a great position to either innovate or acquire assets to grow. They take a little toll for every transaction that goes across their platform. Institutions managing risk, derivatives are more important than ever, which is good for their business. They pay a 3.6% yield, including a special dividend that they typically pay on an annual basis. Trading volumes are skyrocketing. The business is strong.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Cashme (CURRENCY:CME) traded down 0.1% against the dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 14:00 PM Eastern on August 31st. Cashme has a total market capitalization of $0.00 and approximately $0.00 worth of Cashme was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One Cashme coin can currently be purchased for approximately $0.0003 or 0.00000003 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges. In the last week, Cashme has traded 55.3% higher against the dollar.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Cashme (CURRENCY:CME) traded 8.3% higher against the U.S. dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 10:00 AM ET on April 22nd. During the last seven days, Cashme has traded up 0.8% against the U.S. dollar. One Cashme coin can now be purchased for about $0.0003 or 0.00000003 BTC on popular exchanges. Cashme has a market capitalization of $0.00 and $505.00 worth of Cashme was traded on exchanges in the last day.

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Why Are Mastercard and Visa in a Bidding War for Earthport?

Last month, Visa (NYSE:V) revealed it was in the process of buying a smallish British payments company called Earthport for 198 million pounds -- about $250 million. Not so fast, said Mastercard (NYSE:MA), which just swooped in and bid 233 million pounds -- about $305 million. That's pocket change for either one -- the smaller Mastercard has a market cap north of $200 billion -- but that doesn't mean it's an insignificant purchase.

In this segment from the Motley Fool Money podcast, host Chris Hill and Fool senior analysts Aaron Bush, Ron Gross, and Jason Moser discuss the reasons why both giants think this acquisition makes sense and weigh whether or not one suitor or another has any advantages.

A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on Jan. 25, 2019.

Chris Hill: In late December, Visa announced the acquisition of Earthport, a British payments company, for roughly $250 million. On Friday of this week, MasterCard announced the acquisition of Earthport for $305 million. Jason, what happened to the deal with Visa? 

Jason Moser: It looks like we've got a good old-fashioned bid up, Chris! It's just a matter of who wants it more. Right now, it seems like it's MasterCard. That's a 10% premium to what Visa was offering. Like we said with Visa a month ago with this deal, it's a drop in the bucket for either company. They could acquire this company today, write the whole thing off next year, and nobody would bat an eye. It's ultimately about getting a better cross-border payments business for either Visa or MasterCard. If you look at MasterCard, the cross-border payments volume grew 17% last quarter. Cross-border payments are transactions that involve parties in two or more countries. As we know, those are becoming more prevalent as the world gets smaller and electronic payments continue to grow. 

We'll see if Visa wants to counter MasterCard's bid there. It seems like, at least, the board with Earthport was a bit more on board with being a part of the MasterCard family. But we will see. Either way, you can't be a loser if you're in either one of those two networks.

Hill: Can I just say, Earthport is a stand-alone public company, and a month ago, it was about $7 a share. Now, it's about $36.

Moser: That's a very good point to note.

Hill: It's good to be an Earthport shareholder.

Moser: Well, it is now. It wasn't about two months ago because the E.U. is tightening down on these regulations. It's going to make these cross-border transactions less profitable. Earthport was stuck between a rock and a hard place. For them to get in a nice little situation like this with two companies competing for them, that's just icing on the cake.