Brokers Issue Forecasts for Exxon Mobil Co.’s Q3 2018 Earnings (XOM)

Exxon Mobil Co. (NYSE:XOM) – Investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group issued their Q3 2018 EPS estimates for Exxon Mobil in a report issued on Monday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group analyst J. Gammel anticipates that the oil and gas company will earn $1.53 per share for the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Exxon Mobil’s Q4 2018 earnings at $1.64 EPS.

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Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 27th. The oil and gas company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.34). Exxon Mobil had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 7.64%. The business had revenue of $73.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on XOM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Tuesday, July 10th. Macquarie reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Tuesday, July 10th. Barclays reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $84.00 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Tuesday, July 10th. Morningstar set a $85.00 price target on Exxon Mobil and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 11th. Finally, HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $93.50 price target on shares of Exxon Mobil in a report on Monday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.98.

Shares of Exxon Mobil opened at $80.39 on Thursday, according to MarketBeat. Exxon Mobil has a one year low of $72.15 and a one year high of $89.30. The stock has a market cap of $346.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 281.4% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 105,845 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,377,000 after buying an additional 78,092 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,276,587 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $105,612,000 after buying an additional 15,548 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,066 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,156,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 18.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,895 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 2,309 shares during the period. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC increased its position in Exxon Mobil by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 44,434 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,676,000 after buying an additional 1,838 shares during the period. 51.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 13th will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 10th. Exxon Mobil’s payout ratio is 91.36%.

Exxon Mobil Company Profile

Exxon Mobil Corporation explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas in the United States, Canada/Other Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia/Oceania. It operates through Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical segments. The company also manufactures petroleum products; manufactures and markets commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene, and polypropylene plastics, as well as various specialty products; and transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products.

See Also: Price to Earnings Ratio (PE) Basics

Mindbody's Second-Quarter Revenue Gets a Boost From Acquisition

Mindbody�(NASDAQ:MB)�reported second-quarter 2018 financial results after the market close on Tuesday. The online platform provider for the fitness, wellness, and beauty services industries posted strong revenue growth of 40% year over year. Net loss per share on both a GAAP and adjusted basis widened, driven by acquisitions and increased spending intended to fuel long-term growth.�

Shares of Mindbody closed down 6.3% on Wednesday. The market's reaction was probably largely due to the company's lowering of the upper end of its revenue outlook range for full-year 2018.�Despite Wednesday's drop, Mindbody stock has gained nearly 35% over the one-year period through Wednesday, versus the S&P 500's 16.1% return.�

Image source: Getty Images.

Mindbody's results: The raw numbers

Metric

Q2 2018

Q2 2017

Year-Over-Year Change

Revenue	$61.6 million	$44.1 million	40%
GAAP operating income	($16.2 million)	(4.1 million)	N/A
GAAP net income	($16.9 million)	($4.4 million)	N/A
Adjusted net income	($2.9 million)	($0.5 million)	N/A
GAAP EPS	($0.36)	($0.10)	N/A
Adjusted EPS	($0.06)	($0.01)	N/A

Data source: Mindbody.�GAAP = generally accepted accounting principles. EPS = earnings per share.

Revenue from Booker products was approximately $6.9 million, CFO Brett White said on the earnings call.�Investors should be cautioned against assuming that this revenue can be backed out of the quarter's total to calculate Mindbody's organic revenue growth rate. The company has been "directing the salon and spa leads and opportunities to Booker," which is "causing salon and spa sales from Mindbody, of course, to decline rapidly," co-founder and CEO Rick Stollmeyer said on the earnings call. He continued saying "that was our intention because Booker is a better product fit for most salons and spas, and that's why we bought them."

Mindbody had guided for revenue in the range of $59.5 million to $61.5 million�and a loss per share, on an adjusted basis, of $0.09 to $0.06. So both the top and bottom lines came in at the upper end of their respective outlook range. For additional context -- though long-term investors shouldn't place too much weight on Wall Street's near-term estimates -- analysts were looking for an adjusted loss per share of $0.08 on revenue of $60.5 million. So Mindbody beat both expectations.�

What happened with Mindbody in the quarter? Subscription and services revenue soared 48% year over year to $38.5 million. Payments revenue rose 26% to $22.3 million.� Payments volume jumped 39% to $2.72 billion. The number of business subscribers (at the end of the period) increased 15% year over year to 68,142. Monthly average revenue per subscriber (ARPS) surged 20% to approximately $293, up from $244. The company "experienced strong early adoption of FitMetrix and Frederick," according to its press release. FitMetrix -- which Mindbody acquired in February -- makes performance tracking tools targeted at fitness businesses. Frederick is the automated marketing software for the wellness industry that Mindbody acquired when it bought Booker Software in a deal that closed in early April. What management had to say

Here's what Stollmeyer had to say in the press release:

Q2 marks our first quarter post-Booker acquisition, and we are pleased to report strong operating results and progress on integration of the two companies.

White added:�

We delivered strong revenue growth in the second quarter, driven by the continued shift of our subscriber base into higher priced software tiers.�

Looking ahead

Mindbody continues to post strong revenue growth. While its loss on both a GAAP and adjusted basis widened, this was expected. Last quarter, management pared back its bottom-line guidance for the year, citing its plans to�invest "significantly" in its Booker and FitMetrix acquisitions "to set the stage for much greater growth" in the future.�

Management issued third-quarter guidance, as follows. It also tweaked its previously issued full-year guidance: It lowered the upper end of its revenue range, which had the effect of lowering the midpoint by $1 million, though, on the positive side, it lowered the entire range for its adjusted loss per share expectation.�Regarding the paring back of 2018 revenue guidance, Stollmeyer said on the call that this was related to the integration of the Booker acquisition and that the company just wants "to be cautious for the balance of the year," but he noted that "[w]e're still very bullish on where this is going to take us in 2019."��

Period

Revenue Guidance

Projected Year-Over-Year Revenue Change

Adjusted EPS Guidance

Projected Year-Over-Year Adjusted EPS Change

Q3 2018	$63.0 million to $65.0 million	35% to 39%	� ($0.08) to ($0.05)�	N/A: A projected change from $0.01 in Q2 2017.
Full-year 2018	$246 million to $250 million [Previous: $246 million to $252 million]�	35% to 37% [Previous:�35% to 38%]	($0.16) to $0.09) [Previous: ($0.21 to $0.13)]	N/A: A projected change from $0.02 in 2017.�

Data source: Mindbody.�

Hot Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019

tags:CM,AP,HSBA,FCF,

Federated Investors Inc. PA lessened its holdings in Valley National Bank (NYSE:VLY) by 12.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 352,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 49,476 shares during the period. Federated Investors Inc. PA owned about 0.11% of Valley National Bank worth $4,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bank in the 1st quarter worth about $164,000. SNS Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bank in the 1st quarter worth about $171,000. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bank by 58.3% in the 4th quarter. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 14,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 5,429 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bank in the 4th quarter worth about $169,000. Finally, Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bank in the 4th quarter worth about $184,000. Institutional investors own 54.84% of the company’s stock.

Hot Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce(CM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  We're about to reveal a little wealth secret that could unlock the trade of a lifetime.�Money Morning�Special Situation Strategist Tim Melvin takes you inside what could easily be a 10-bagger for investors in the weeks ahead.�Read more right here.

  The Top Stock Market Stories for Tuesday The Euro has plunged to its lowest point against the U.S. dollar in 2018 thanks to political problems in Europe. The breakdown of power in Italy has raised new concerns about the nation��s ability to repay its debts, as the spread between German and Italian bonds has widened. Market instability has also spread to Spain where the nation��s parliament is preparing to vote on whether to oust Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his party. Oil prices slid one news that OPEC and Russia will consider hikes in production during a meeting in Vienna, Austria on June 22nd. The news accompanied reports that U.S. production is expected to rise throughout the summer. The price of WTI oil sat at $67.20 per barrel. The Brent crude oil price recovered this morning, adding 1% to hit $76.12. Canadian banks are under pressure this morning over a major breach by cyber criminals. The Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) �� the two largest banking institutions in the country �� announced that roughly 90,000 customers�� data may have been stolen. This would be the first major cybersecurity event to happen in Canada involving financial firms. Three Stocks to Watch Today: CRM, SBUX, MOMO com (NYSE: CRM) will lead a busy day of earnings reports on Wall Street. The cloud computing giant is set to report fiscal first quarter 2019 numbers after the bell on Tuesday. The average analyst projection calls for a 46% jump in EPS of $0.46 on top of a 23% gain in revenue to $2.94 billion. Starbucks�� Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX) will temporarily close about 8,000 locations on Tuesday to train roughly 175,000 employees on racial bias. The training sessions were
• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM) (NYSE:CM) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$130.33.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) (TSE:CM) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of 1.036 per share by the bank on Friday, July 27th. This represents a $4.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 27th.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM)Q2 2018 Earnings Conference CallMay 23, 2018, 8:00 a.m. ET

  Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

  Operator

• [By Logan Wallace]

  A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE: CM) recently:

  6/6/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup Inc from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a C$130.00 price target on the stock, up previously from C$125.00. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was downgraded by analysts at National Bank Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating. They now have a C$124.00 price target on the stock, down previously from C$136.00. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target lowered by analysts at Scotiabank from C$131.00 to C$127.00. They now have a “sector perform” rating on the stock. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$141.00 to C$135.00. They now have a “sector perform” rating on the stock. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was given a new C$140.00 price target on by analysts at Eight Capital. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from C$133.00 to C$138.00.

  CM traded up C$0.59 on Wednesday, reaching C$115.86. 987,570 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,290,708. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has a fifty-two week low of C$103.84 and a fifty-two week high of C$124.37.

• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.38 per share on revenue of $16.50 billion. Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.83 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion. Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.25 per share on revenue of $17.63 billion. Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.83 per share on revenue of $957.49 million. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $2.23 per share on revenue of $3.40 billion. Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.9 per share on revenue of $210.70 million. Qiwi plc (NASDAQ: QIWI) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.25 per share on revenue of $60.19 million. iClick Interactive Asia Group Limited (NASDAQ: ICLK) is projected to report quarterly loss at $0.06 per share on revenue of $34.87 million.

   

Hot Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation(AP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  The all-new Hyundai 2018 Kona, a subcompact crossover. (Photo: AP)

  When it comes to standard features, the Kona generally outpaces the EcoSport. Most items typically found on rivals are available on both SUVs, but the EcoSport requires that you add them as options or step up to the next trim level. The Kona widens its features lead by offering more advanced safety features (forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist and a driver attention monitor), a head-up display and a wireless charging pad. These are not available for any EcoSport.

• [By ]

  This undated photo provided by BMW shows the 2018 BMW X3, a luxury compact SUV with more traditional design and a starting price of $41,995, including the destination fee. The Audi Q5 and the BMW X3 are two of the most popular compact luxury SUVs out today. Shoppers are typically drawn to the Q5 and the X3 because of their appealing mix of refinement, utility, safety and performance. (Photo: AP)

• [By ]

  New York (AP) -- Four more deaths have been linked to a national food poisoning outbreak blamed on tainted lettuce, bringing the total to five.

  Health officials have tied the E. coli outbreak to romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona. The growing season there ended six weeks ago, and it's unlikely any tainted lettuce is still in stores or people's homes, given its short shelf life. But there can be a lag in reporting, and reports of illnesses have continued to come in.

• [By ]

  Las Vegas (AP) -- "Pawn Stars" patriarch, Richard Benjamin Harrison, who was known as "The Old Man," has died at age 77.

  Gold & Silver Pawn's Facebook page posted Monday that Harrison was surrounded by "loving family" this past weekend and died peacefully.

• [By ]

  Vatican City (AP) -- Pope Francis has recognized as martyrs 19 people who were slain in Algeria in the 1990s, including a bishop killed by a car bomb and beheaded monks.

Hot Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  HSBC (LON:HSBA) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Citigroup from GBX 810 ($10.78) to GBX 800 ($10.65) in a report released on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 9.59% from the stock’s previous close.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  HSBC (LON:HSBA) had its target price lowered by equities research analysts at Shore Capital from GBX 721 ($9.60) to GBX 625 ($8.32) in a report issued on Tuesday. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Shore Capital’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 14.71% from the company’s previous close.

Hot Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation(FCF)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Barclays PLC increased its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) by 24.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,717 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 6,593 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in First Commonwealth Financial were worth $476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

Top China Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:SINA,SOL,NTES,FMCN,TISA,BIDU,

Wake up calls are never pleasant, but this one was particularly harsh: Over the course of just nine trading days in late January and early February, U.S. stocks dropped 10% as investors fretted over a government report showing higher than expected wage inflation. The plunge wiped out stock market gains for the year and chalked up one of the swiftest corrections in recent decades.

Investors tried to settle back into the dream world that dominated recent years, where stocks kept hitting new highs, volatility was at record lows and there was barely a hint of inflation. But the alarm bells kept ringing. In late March, fears of a trade war between the U.S. and China sent stocks skidding again. And while stocks plunged, the bonds that form the core of many retirees�� portfolios didn��t live up to their safe-haven reputation. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond index fell sharply during the stock market downturn and ended the first quarter down 1.5%.

Top China Stocks To Invest In 2019: Sina Corporation(SINA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jack Delaney]

  SINA Corp. (Nasdaq: SINA) operates Weibo Corp. (Nasdaq: WB), a social media platform with 411 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of Q1 2018.

  It's considered the Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) of China.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Eagle Global Advisors LLC decreased its position in Sina Corp (NASDAQ:SINA) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,875 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,595 shares during the period. Eagle Global Advisors LLC owned about 0.12% of Sina worth $8,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  SINA Corp (NASDAQ:SINA) shares hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $83.39 and last traded at $82.78, with a volume of 41597 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $85.15.

• [By Leo Sun]

  JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) recently partnered with SINA (NASDAQ:SINA), one of China's top portal sites, to pool the two companies' user data and resources together. JD.com will help SINA optimize its algorithms to match its readers with�more relevant content -- which could help its portal sites lock in more users.

• [By Leo Sun]

  Shares of SINA (NASDAQ:SINA) and Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) have both tumbled this year, mainly due to escalating trade tensions between the United States and China. Yet their sell-offs seem overdone, since both tech companies are well insulated from a potential trade war.

Top China Stocks To Invest In 2019: Renesola Ltd.(SOL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  These are some of the media headlines that may have impacted Accern’s scoring:

  Get ReneSola alerts: ReneSola Sells North Carolina Solar Project To Greenbacker (solarindustrymag.com) ReneSola (SOL) Rating Increased to Neutral at Roth Capital (americanbankingnews.com) ReneSola (SOL) Q1 Earnings in Line, Revenues Top Estimates (zacks.com) ReneSola’s (SOL) CEO Xianshou Li on Q1 2018 Results – Earnings Call Transcript (seekingalpha.com) ReneSola (SOL) Releases Earnings Results (americanbankingnews.com)

  Shares of ReneSola traded up $0.08, hitting $2.76, during trading on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The stock had a trading volume of 124,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,565. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.11 million, a PE ratio of 21.23 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ReneSola has a 12 month low of $2.12 and a 12 month high of $3.79.

Top China Stocks To Invest In 2019: Netease.com Inc.(NTES)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  KAMES CAPITAL plc decreased its holdings in shares of NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) by 68.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,800 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 39,277 shares during the period. KAMES CAPITAL plc’s holdings in NetEase were worth $4,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  These are some of the news headlines that may have effected Accern’s rankings:

  Get NetEase alerts: Study Stock Price Behavior with Financial Report for NetEase, Inc. (NTES) (finherald.com) Analysis of Analyst Stock Recommendation: NetEase, Inc. (NTES) (nasdaqplace.com) Notable Moving Tech Stock: NetEase, Inc. (NTES) (nasdaqplace.com) Investors must not feel shy to buy these Stocks: NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES), YUM! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), Erie … (journalfinance.net) Destiny maker Bungie raises $100M from China��s NetEase to build new games (geekwire.com)

  NetEase traded up $3.95, hitting $243.58, during midday trading on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The stock had a trading volume of 1,182,914 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,423,698. The firm has a market cap of $31.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.82. NetEase has a 1-year low of $222.32 and a 1-year high of $377.64.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Here are some of the news stories that may have effected Accern Sentiment’s rankings:

  Get NetEase alerts: NetEase Inc (NTES) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts (americanbankingnews.com) NetEase Inc (NTES) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest (americanbankingnews.com) Hot Stock’s Trend Recap �� NetEase Inc (NASDAQ: NTES) (stockspen.com) Switching Three Stocks: The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES), CBRE Group … (thestreetpoint.com) US benchmarks shake off G7 jitters, ending the day on a positive note (proactiveinvestors.co.uk)

  A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BidaskClub lowered shares of NetEase from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of NetEase from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of NetEase in a report on Thursday, April 12th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of NetEase from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 8th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of NetEase from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $327.21.

• [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

  For the details of Overlook Holdings Ltd's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Overlook+Holdings+Ltd

  These are the top 5 holdings of Overlook Holdings LtdNetEase Inc (NTES) - 756,622 shares, 58.02% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 15.29%Baidu Inc (BIDU) - 569,283 shares, 41.98% of the total portfolio.
• [By ]

  NetEase Inc (NYSE: NTES) is the largest online services provider in China with revenue from its e-commerce platform and online gaming. Sales on its e-commerce platform surged 157% last year to support slower growth in gaming which accounts for about 75% of total revenue. The company is also starting to monetize its gaming segment with movies and mini-series based on the characters in the games.

Top China Stocks To Invest In 2019: Focus Media Holding Limited(FMCN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  An issue of Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ:FMCN) bonds fell 0.9% against their face value during trading on Monday. The high-yield debt issue has a 7.25% coupon and will mature on April 1, 2023. The bonds in the issue are now trading at $99.13 and were trading at $98.13 last week. Price moves in a company’s bonds in credit markets sometimes anticipate parallel moves in its share price.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  An issue of Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ:FMCN) debt fell 1.1% against its face value during trading on Tuesday. The debt issue has a 7.5% coupon and is set to mature on April 1, 2025. The debt is now trading at $97.63 and was trading at $98.50 last week. Price changes in a company’s debt in credit markets sometimes anticipate parallel changes in its stock price.

Top China Stocks To Invest In 2019: Top Image Systems Ltd.(TISA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Top Image Systems (TISA)

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

Top China Stocks To Invest In 2019: Baidu Inc.(BIDU)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Leo Sun]

  Baidu's (NASDAQ:BIDU) video streaming unit�iQiyi (NASDAQ:IQ) recently unveiled a VR headset called the Qiyu VR II. The device, which was built via a collaboration with Qualcomm, plays 4K videos as well as 8K panoramic videos.

• [By Leo Sun]

  Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) and China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) recently signed a sweeping strategic partnership that pools their resources in "frontier areas" including AI, big data, 5G networks, and driverless cars. China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in China, will also offer exclusive discounted data plans for 13 Baidu products, including Baidu's core app, its iQiyi�video streaming platform, and its Reddit-like PostBar social media network.

• [By Leo Sun]

  Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), and Tencent (NASDAQOTH:TCEHY) are considered fierce rivals in China's tech market. Baidu owns the country's top search engine, Alibaba's owns its biggest e-commerce marketplace, while Tencent dominates the social media and video gaming markets.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lowered its position in Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) by 23.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 286,718 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 85,750 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.08% of Baidu worth $63,993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

SHU Portfolio; And Another Buying Opportunity In Skechers

We argued in October last year that the shares of Skechers (SKX), then lingering in the low $20s, were ridiculously cheap, given the growth of revenues, terrific same-store comps, the expansion opportunities, and the solid cash flow, balance sheet and valuation metrics compared to peers.

And indeed, the shares took off, all the way to $40. But two disappointing quarters and the shares are almost back to where they were. This is frustrating, to put it mildly because the company, by and large, keeps expanding sales internationally where there are still plentiful opportunities:

SKX Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

But one also gets an idea of the problems, as net income especially has topped out early in 2016 and is yet to recover as the company has preferred to aggressively invest in growth.

What went right in Q2 Revenue up 10.6% y/y to $1.13B. International wholesale sales up 24.9% y/y (this is the single biggest distribution channel with 41% of sales. Total international sales are 51.6% of sales). Wholly-owned international subsidiary business up by 23.1% and (international) jointventure sales up 42.6% y/y. Company-owned global retail sales up 12.8% (25.5% international, 7.2% domestic). Store comps up 4.5% worldwide, up 11.3% international and 2.2% domestic (y/y). Revenue from China up 44.1% y/y with approximately 5.6M pairs shipped. What went wrong in Q2

There is a whole host of stuff that went against management, in no particular order:

Operating expenses keep on rising; China growth comes at a substantial investment cost; Domestic wholesale business down; Non-core US business; Inventories are rising; One-time legal cost; Adverse forex; Middle East affecting international distribution; and Taxes came in substantially above expectations.

We'll discuss most of these below.

Operating cost

Of these headwinds, the rising operating cost is the most significant

SKX Gross Profit Margin (Quarterly) data by YCharts

While there is good news from the gross margin front (largely reflecting the ongoing shift to sales overseas), the company keeps on spending to foster that growth overseas, resulting in operational margins once again taking a dive.

G&A increased by $65.6M to $370.9M (32.7% of sales compared to 29.8% of sales in Q2 2017). G&A in China alone increased by $29.4M. S&M increased by $14.1M to $114M or 10% of sales (up from 9.7% in Q2 2017). $11.7M of the G&A increase is related to the opening of 54 new company-owned stores.

Here are some details on other factors that had a negative impact on the disappointing Q2 results.

Domestic wholesale. Domestic wholesale sales declined 7% y/y. The problems are in what it calls its non-core business (Q2CC):

The only issue we have in the States is our non-core business, the lower price alternatives that we��ve made some products in the past that takes big hits from �� so much from time to time. So that that��s changed and that environment has changed, and there has been a lot of closeout product in the marketplace that they take.

But management already sees a recovery in the present quarter.

International distributor. While international wholesale was up 34%, international distributor sales were down 6.1% due to problems in the Middle East.

Management believes both domestic wholesale as well as international distributor sales will turn positive in the second half of the year.

FX. There was quite a negative forex swing impact from Q2 2017 which management doesn't expect to repeat in Q3 and Q4, at least not to the same extent. However, they did warn that next year this could resume with a similar intensity.

Tax. The company is paying considerably more tax (18.8% of sales, up from 16.1% in Q2 2017) than it anticipated when giving guidance for Q2, and worse, this is continuing into Q3 and the year. The Q2 tax guidance was 12%-17%, but the actual rate came in slightly above the top end of that range.

Legal cost. The company settled a case at $6.2M, it didn't want to go into specifics, but argued this was cheaper than prolonging the juridical path.

Inventories. Inventories increased by 22.8% to $822.4M, an increase of $152.7M of which China alone took $90M. This was the main driver for the increase in working capital to $1.6B (up from $1.4B at the end of Q2 2017).

Cash

While margin expansion is nice, what matters more is whether the company produces results with its investment in growth, and whether the business generates the cash to do so. It clearly does:

SKX Cash from Operations (TTM) data by YCharts

You clearly see that the investments last year took a bite out of cash generation, but that recovered considerably in Q1.

Stock-based compensation isn't large and dilution hasn't been significant.

SKX Stock Based Compensation (TTM) data by YCharts

The balance sheet of the company is very healthy, though; the company has $70.2M in long-term debt but it had $887.7M in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investment, a substantial sequential increase of $151.3M (+20.5%).

The company bought back roughly 510K shares at a cost of $15M in Q2

Guidance

Another reason for the share price fall was weak Q3 guidance, from the earnings PR:

For the third quarter of 2018, the Company believes it will achieve sales in the range of $1.200 billion to $1.225 billion, and diluted earnings per share of $0.50 to $0.55. The guidance is based on continued strong performance within the Company��s international subsidiaries and joint venture businesses, and the Company-owned Skechers retail stores, as well as growth in the Company��s international distributor and domestic wholesale businesses in the back half of the year. The Company expects that its effective tax rate for the year will be at the top of or slightly higher than the previously announced guidance of 12 to 17 percent.

The Wall Street consensus was Q3 revenue of $1.26B and an EPS of $0.68.

Risk

We don't think the company should curtail its investment for the sake of margin improvement, which is what the market is reacting so negatively against. However, we do see some risks ahead:

Currency risk, the euro and yuan are rather volatile against the dollar. Trade tension can quite easily escalate, and China is the company's main growth market. A global slowdown.

An analyst asked what proportion of production takes place in China, here is management's answer (Q2CC, our emphasis):

Right now we make about 60% or 65% of our product still in China between the South and Northern China certainly. The United States I believe it��s about 40% of the production to the United States is outside of China.

We're not entirely sure about the exact meaning of the second sentence, we assume they are saying that 60% of US sales are manufactured in China.

If that's true than a yuan depreciation (which is ongoing the last couple of months) isn't all bad (it does reduce the dollar value of Chinese sales, Skecher's biggest growth market).

It could still be a net benefit if Chinese sales are less than 60% of US sales. The recent fall of the euro is worse news, as there is a currency translation loss.

Valuation

SKX PE Ratio (TTM) data by YCharts

The EV/S seems wrong in the graph, EV is $3.34B, whilst sales the past 12 months were $4.47B, yielding a really low sales multiple of 0.74 for a company that generates substantial amounts of cash flow.

Conclusion

The company prioritizes growth over margins, and in our view, they are right to do so. This involves investment in distribution centers, stores, automation, and especially selling expenses to build the brand.

Despite some operational margin pressure, there are no problems with these investments as cash flow indicates that the company has, and more importantly, generates plenty of funds to spend on investments.

However, last year they clearly argued that this year we would see operational margins return to double-digit territory, so it is also understandable that investors are disappointed.

But we think the market has overreacted twice in a row, from a height of over $40, the stock is back to the mid $20s. Given the growth opportunities and the financial health of the company, the stock is hardly expensive.

We expect a recovery in the shares, although it is probably a slow one until we get a clearer picture about the recovery in international distribution, domestic wholesale and the cost picture in Q3.

Disclosure: I am/we are long SKX.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:MJNA,BMRC,NDSN,ALLT,LPNT,HIIQ,SBUX,ORA,USCR,MTSI,

For every investor hoping to find the next Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) success story, there remains a real question if one would even be able to identify the company in its infancy if they saw it being formed. Biglari Holdings, Inc. (BH) remains a controversial investment opportunity that has taken on many familiar attributes of the greater "BH." Yet, there remains a cloudy haze over the investment that has suppressed the company's stock for the past half decade. At the core of the issue is the amount of trust investors must inherently place in a young 39-year old named Sardar Biglari.

Biglari Holdings Inc. is a holding company that is led by Founder, Chairman, and CEO Sardar Biglari. His approach and style have led him to be known as a perceived imitator of Warren Buffett. Indeed, apart from the shared initials with Berkshire Hathaway, Biglari Holdings operates as a holding company, invests in diversified array of industries, buys undervalued companies, limits correspondence to letters and SEC filings, maintains a relatively high share price, believes in a tight share structure, and supports a noticeably similar website to the legendary company.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: Medical Marijuana, Inc. (MJNA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Javier Hasse]

  Medical Marijuana Inc (OTC: MJNA) announced Q1 2018 as its largest sales revenue quarter in company history with a year-over-year gross revenue increase of 191 percent. Revenue exceeded $10.5 million. The company also announced its subsidiary Kannaway has partnered with Christian Okoye, former all-time rushing leader for the Kansas City Chiefs, to speak out on why the NFL should consider allowing its players to take cannabidiol (CBD). He’s stopped taking all pain medications and is now only taking CBD.

• [By ]

  Cronos was the first cannabis company to trade on NASDAQ, but the first American cannabis company to do it was Medical Marijuana Inc. (MJNA) . Developing legal cannabidiol (CBD) products made from hemp, Medical Marijuana Inc. had a major increase in sales from 2016 to 2017 and has begun looking into an expansion into international markets. Like with Aurora, these expenses have meant that it's not making much of a profit. With encouraging signs and warning signs each abounding, it comes down to whether you think this could be worth the risk.

• [By Sean Williams]

  If I were to choose two marijuana stocks right off the bat that I'd rather watch from the sidelines and never buy, it'd be medical cannabis company Medical Marijuana Inc. (NASDAQOTH:MJNA) and cannabinoid-based drug developer AXIM Biotechnologies (NASDAQOTH:AXIM). The reason they're listed together is because Medical Marijuana Inc. owns 22.67 million shares of AXIM, which is about 40% of its outstanding share count. Their futures really are tied together.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: Bank of Marin Bancorp(BMRC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Shares of Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ:BMRC) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $75.67.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Media headlines about Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ:BMRC) have trended somewhat positive this week, Accern Sentiment reports. The research firm ranks the sentiment of press 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. Bank of Marin Bancorp earned a news sentiment score of 0.14 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news coverage about the bank an impact score of 46.5239093639876 out of 100, meaning that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near future.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: Nordson Corporation(NDSN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steve Symington]

  Nordson Corporation�(NASDAQ:NDSN)�announced solid fiscal second-quarter 2018 results on Monday after the market closed, including an expected decline in organic volume that was more than offset by acquisitive growth.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nordson Co. (NASDAQ:NDSN) by 10.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,868 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Nordson were worth $2,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) Q2 2018 Earnings Conference CallMay. 22, 2018 8:30 a.m. ET

  Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

  Operator

• [By Stephan Byrd]

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

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

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  Markets have been under pressure once again by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Inflation levels are going through the roof… but the people in charge of managing it have been lying to Americans for years. Now, it's time to get even.�Money Morning�Liquidity Specialist Lee Adler has the perfect way to make a lot of money when no one is looking.�Read it here.

  The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday Markets are cheering news that the supposed trade war between the United States and China is "on hold," according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Mnuchin and U.S. President Donald Trump's top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, announced that both nations have reached an agreement, one that established a framework to help address ongoing trade imbalances between the two countries. The prices of crude oil is in focus after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won reelection over the weekend. The election featured a very low turnout and a very large outcry that the vote was rigged. Maduro has a 75% disapproval rating and has been the face of the OPEC member's widespread mismanagement and economic collapse. Prior to the election, a member of the Trump administration said that the United States would not recognize the authenticity of the election. The United States is considering additional sanctions on Venezuela. Today is a major day for mergers and acquisition activity. Today, Blackstone Group LP�(NYSE: BX) announced plans to purchase U.S. hotel operator LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE: LHO) for a whopping $3.7 billion. The deal comes at a time that the travel industry is experiencing one of the best periods in a decade. If you're looking for a way to make money ahead of Memorial Day weekend, we show you how here. Four Stocks to Watch Today: GOOGL, GE, MBFI, FITB Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL) is under pressure this morning after a harsh piece aired last night on "60 Minutes." The segment discussed the organization's power and influence. It also featured inter

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: Allot Communications Ltd.(ALLT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Allot Communications (NASDAQ:ALLT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Allot Communications (NASDAQ:ALLT) will be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, May 8th. Analysts expect Allot Communications to post earnings of ($0.10) per share for the quarter.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Allot Communications (NASDAQ: ALLT) and Extreme Networks (NASDAQ:EXTR) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: LifePoint Health, Inc.(LPNT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.96 per share on revenue of $3.46 billion. Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $2.8 per share on revenue of $2.93 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AXL) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.81 per share on revenue of $1.75 billion. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.88 per share on revenue of $9.27 billion. LifePoint Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPNT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.13 per share on revenue of $1.62 billion. V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.65 per share on revenue of $2.90 billion. Newell Brands Inc. (NYSE: NWL) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.26 per share on revenue of $3.05 billion. Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.04 per share on revenue of $407.27 million. Boise Cascade Company (NYSE: BCC) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.45 per share on revenue of $1.09 billion. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE: LNG) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.39 per share on revenue of $1.59 billion. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.24 per share on revenue of $308.05 million. ITT Inc. (NYSE: ITT) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.73 per share on revenue of $683.96 million. Fred's, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED) is expected to report quarterly loss at $0.19 per share on revenue of $551.00 million. Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.52 per share on revenue of $288.31 million. Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: CQP) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $1.38 billion. Genesis Energy, L.P
• [By Max Byerly]

  Headlines about LifePoint Health (NASDAQ:LPNT) have trended positive this week, Accern reports. The research firm scores the sentiment of press coverage by monitoring more than 20 million news and blog sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. LifePoint Health earned a news impact score of 0.44 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news coverage about the company an impact score of 46.0016583450414 out of 100, meaning that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the immediate future.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: Health Insurance Innovations, Inc.(HIIQ)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Health Insurance Innovations (NASDAQ:HIIQ) insider Michael W. Kosloske sold 1,300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $40,300,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,100. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Health Insurance Innovations (NASDAQ:HIIQ) was upgraded by investment analysts at ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ)

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

• [By Max Byerly]

  These are some of the headlines that may have effected Accern Sentiment’s scoring:

  Get Health Insurance Innovations alerts: Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ) and Brown & Brown (BRO) Critical Survey (americanbankingnews.com) Founder of Tampa health insurance company is out (finance.yahoo.com) Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ) (americanbankingnews.com) Health Insurance Innovations founder out (seekingalpha.com) Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ) Insider Michael W. Kosloske Sells 1,300,000 Shares (americanbankingnews.com)

  Shares of Health Insurance Innovations opened at $34.35 on Tuesday, according to Marketbeat.com. Health Insurance Innovations has a 1 year low of $12.65 and a 1 year high of $37.38. The stock has a market cap of $559.65 million, a PE ratio of 24.20 and a beta of 0.55.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: Starbucks Corporation(SBUX)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  Whatever the reason, cards have become the universally preferred payment method. Morning coffee at Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX). Swipe. Groceries on the way home from work. Swipe again. Heck, even taxi drivers and stadium hot dog vendors now carry portable card readers.�

• [By Michael A. Robinson]

  He also accuses Amazon of running Main Street retailers out of business. Yet, Trump leaves alone Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX) and Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), two retail outfits that have been putting mom-and-pop shops under duress for decades.

• [By Daniel B. Kline]

  Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) is accelerating its growth plans in China, with a goal of opening nearly two stores there every day. The coffee chain intends to add 600 locations a year in the world's most populous country. And, with 100 new metro areas on its expansion list, customers will be able to grab a caffe Americano in 230 Chinese cities by the end of 2022.�

• [By ]

  Other crypto projects like Ripple serve to transfer fiat currencies around the world. Crushing legacy systems like SWIFT regarding time and cost, Ripple is the leading player in the conversion of money transfer systems into the digital age. Rumors abound that even Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) has plans to accept Ripple and Litecoin as payment within the next five years. Should Starbucks come on board, expect a massive move by retailers in this direction.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

  Before the markets open, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.85 per share on revenue of $5.24 billion. Bristol-Myers shares rose 0.95 percent to $52.25 in after-hours trading. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) reported weaker-than-expected earnings

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: Ormat Technologies, Inc.(ORA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

  Losers Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSTM) fell 9.7 percent to $4.73 in pre-market trading after announcing a $35 million common stock offering. Evolus, Inc. (NASDAQ: EOLS) shares fell 8 percent to $13.48 in pre-market trading ahead of regulatory update at 8:30 a.m. ET. XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: XTLB) fell 6.5 percent to $2.01 in pre-market trading after climbing 10.50 percent on Tuesday. Purple Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRPL) shares fell 5.8 percent to $9.36 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Blink Charging Co. (NASDAQ: BLNK) fell 5.7 percent to $5.15 in pre-market trading after declining 5.04 percent on Tuesday. RYB Education, Inc. (NYSE: RYB) shares fell 5 percent to $16.39 in pre-market trading following Q1 results. Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ: CLWT) shares fell 4.4 percent to $4.30 in pre-market trading after rising 40.62 percent on Tuesday. Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ABR) fell 4.4 percent to $8.92 in pre-market trading after announcing a 5.5 million share common stock offering. Daxor Corporation (NYSE: DXR) fell 4.1 percent to $7.32 in pre-market trading. Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA) shares fell 3.8 percent to $51.03 in pre-market trading after the company announced plans to restate its Q2, Q3, Q4 and FY 2017 financial statements. Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) fell 3.5 percent to $16.20 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. CELYAD SA/ADR (NASDAQ: CYAD) shares fell 3.3 percent to $29.70 in pre-market trading after the company reported launch of 1.8 million share offering
• [By Shane Hupp]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Ormat Technologies (ORA)

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

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Roth Capital set a $67.00 price target on Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) in a report issued on Sunday. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the energy company’s stock.

• [By Max Byerly]

  JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) by 9.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 225,381 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 23,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Ormat Technologies were worth $12,708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: U S Concrete, Inc.(USCR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey, Nicholas Rossolillo, and Maxx Chatsko]

  We posed that question to a team of Motley Fool investors to identify three stocks our kids will brag about having owned for years, and they picked U.S. Concrete (NASDAQ:USCR), Teladoc (NYSE:TDOC), and Rollins (NYSE:ROL). Read on to find out why these companies deserve that distinction.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of U.S. Concrete, Inc (NASDAQ:USCR) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,530 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 1,237 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.22% of U.S. Concrete worth $2,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By ]

  Sterling Construction Co. Inc (STRL) : "I'm going to stick with U.S. Concrete (USCR) ."

  B&G Foods (BGS) : "No, we're going to stay away. This group is a snake pit."

• [By ]

  In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Goldman Sachs (GS) , Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) , Ecolab (ECL) , PTC (PTC) , Arista Networks (ANET) , U.S. Concrete (USCR) and Masco (MAS) .

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Own Right Now: M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc.(MTSI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MTSI) by 116.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,658 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 7,339 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in MACOM Technology Solutions were worth $227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MTSI) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 42,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd owned approximately 0.07% of MACOM Technology Solutions at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Shares of MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MTSI) were down 5.6% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $23.84 and last traded at $24.15. Approximately 1,031,600 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 1,262,816 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.58.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in MACOM Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:MTSI) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 235,430 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,600 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned about 0.37% of MACOM Technology Solutions worth $3,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Capital City Bank Group (CCBG) Upgraded by BidaskClub to Buy

BidaskClub upgraded shares of Capital City Bank Group (NASDAQ:CCBG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on CCBG. Sandler O’Neill set a $26.00 price target on shares of Capital City Bank Group and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 28th. FIG Partners reaffirmed a market-perform rating on shares of Capital City Bank Group in a research note on Monday, April 23rd. ValuEngine downgraded shares of Capital City Bank Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 26th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Capital City Bank Group from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $26.63.

Get Capital City Bank Group alerts:

Capital City Bank Group opened at $24.54 on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm has a market cap of $416.39 million, a P/E ratio of 25.19 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Capital City Bank Group has a 52-week low of $19.76 and a 52-week high of $26.50.

Capital City Bank Group (NASDAQ:CCBG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $34.24 million for the quarter. Capital City Bank Group had a net margin of 9.84% and a return on equity of 5.77%. equities research analysts predict that Capital City Bank Group will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 8th. Capital City Bank Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.82%.

In other Capital City Bank Group news, Treasurer Thomas A. Barron sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.27, for a total transaction of $116,350.00. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 131,507 shares in the company, valued at $3,060,167.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 24.31% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Capital City Bank Group by 2.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 134,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Capital City Bank Group by 3.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 816,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,206,000 after acquiring an additional 26,860 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in Capital City Bank Group by 8.1% during the first quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 39,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after acquiring an additional 2,915 shares during the last quarter. Teton Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Capital City Bank Group during the first quarter valued at $2,044,000. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Capital City Bank Group by 1.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 161,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,997,000 after acquiring an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 37.20% of the company’s stock.

Capital City Bank Group Company Profile

Capital City Bank Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Capital City Bank that provides a range of banking and banking-related services to individual and corporate clients in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. It offers financing for commercial business properties, equipment, inventories, and accounts receivable, as well as commercial leasing and letters of credit; treasury management services; and merchant credit card transaction processing services.

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:VA,TOP,WRI,PRA,

Trump Signs ACA Tax Blocker Bill

So, Why Else Do the Pundits Hate Annuity Commissions?

HHS Nominee Open to Nixing Maternity Benefits Mandate: Democrat

The trouble at General Electric Co. began decades ago when a hole started to form inside its sprawling financial unit.

The hole became a $15 billion shortfall in insurance reserves, disclosed last week. It’s prompted a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, called into question the oversight of GE leadership, pushed down the share price, and shocked investors who were asking Wednesday how this icon of American capitalism could allow the situation to deteriorate to this point.

“It sure seems that previous management had a rosy view,” said Scott Davis, an analyst with Melius Research in New York. “There seemed to be no effort on their part to get ahead of the liability. I find it very hard to believe that mysteriously overnight GE found problems they didn’t know existed.”

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: First Capital Bancorp Inc.(VA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  A long term performance chart shows JetBlue Airways Corporation giving a good performance that��s still not as good as that of large cap Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE: LUV) while the performance of�Alaska Air Group, Inc (NYSE: ALK), which has acquired Virgin America Inc (NASDAQ: VA), seems to have slipped recently:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  News headlines about Virgin America (NASDAQ:VA) have trended somewhat positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research group identifies negative and positive news coverage by analyzing more than 20 million news and blog sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Virgin America earned a news impact score of 0.22 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media coverage about the transportation company an impact score of 45.3779505917989 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the immediate future.

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Topdanmark A/S (TOP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  TopCoin (CURRENCY:TOP) traded down 15.4% against the dollar during the 1-day period ending at 7:00 AM E.T. on June 21st. During the last seven days, TopCoin has traded up 4% against the dollar. TopCoin has a market cap of $0.00 and approximately $123.00 worth of TopCoin was traded on exchanges in the last day. One TopCoin coin can currently be bought for about $0.0010 or 0.00000015 BTC on popular exchanges.

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Weingarten Realty Investors(WRI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at ValuEngine from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Weingarten Realty (WRI)

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

Hot Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: ProAssurance Corporation(PRA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

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

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

Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) Expected to Announce Quarterly Sales of $541.79 Million

Analysts predict that Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) will post $541.79 million in sales for the current quarter, Zacks reports. Five analysts have issued estimates for Tetra Tech’s earnings. The lowest sales estimate is $538.54 million and the highest is $545.00 million. Tetra Tech reported sales of $498.48 million during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year-over-year growth rate of 8.7%. The business is scheduled to issue its next earnings report on Wednesday, August 1st.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Tetra Tech will report full-year sales of $2.20 billion for the current fiscal year, with estimates ranging from $2.17 billion to $2.21 billion. For the next fiscal year, analysts expect that the company will report sales of $2.30 billion per share, with estimates ranging from $2.28 billion to $2.31 billion. Zacks’ sales calculations are an average based on a survey of analysts that follow Tetra Tech.

Get Tetra Tech alerts:

Tetra Tech (NASDAQ:TTEK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $532.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $509.14 million. Tetra Tech had a net margin of 4.83% and a return on equity of 14.38%. Tetra Tech’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS.

Several research firms recently issued reports on TTEK. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Tetra Tech from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. BidaskClub raised shares of Tetra Tech from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 8th. ValuEngine raised shares of Tetra Tech from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 8th. Finally, Boenning Scattergood reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Tetra Tech in a report on Thursday, March 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.83.

Shares of Tetra Tech traded down $0.15, hitting $57.90, during trading hours on Tuesday, according to MarketBeat. 326,914 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 252,490. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.02. Tetra Tech has a one year low of $39.95 and a one year high of $58.70.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from Tetra Tech’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Tetra Tech’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.54%.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TTEK. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Tetra Tech by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 417,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,100,000 after purchasing an additional 19,615 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Tetra Tech by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Aperio Group LLC increased its position in Tetra Tech by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Aperio Group LLC now owns 28,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Tetra Tech by 314.5% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 19,507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 14,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Tetra Tech by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 252,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,163,000 after acquiring an additional 56,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.01% of the company’s stock.

Tetra Tech Company Profile

Tetra Tech, Inc provides consulting and engineering services worldwide. It operates through two segments, Water, Environment and Infrastructure (WEI); and Resource Management and Energy (RME). The WEI segment offers early data collection and monitoring, data analysis and information technology, science and engineering applied research, engineering design, construction management, and operations and maintenance services; and climate change and energy management consulting, as well as greenhouse gas inventory assessment, certification, reduction, and management services.

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Tetra Tech (TTEK)

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

High-Flying Tech Stocks Are Being Dragged Down With Market

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Some of the most volatile tech stocks are seeing their first major pullback this month.

Snap Inc., Twitter Inc. and other social-media and internet names are getting hit the hardest. The group appears to be getting dragged down by the broader markets thanks to escalating trade tensions.

Snap fell as much as 9.9 percent today while Twitter dropped more than 5 percent. DropBox Inc. and Box Inc. both broke lower by more than 6 percent at one point.

DropBox is part of the mania over recent technology IPOs, where some of the companies that priced offerings in the past couple of months have seen their shares double or triple. Among these are Bilibili Inc. and HUYA Inc., which are declining along with DropBox Tuesday.

#lazy-img-328688517:before{padding-top:56.25%;}

While the retreats in tech stocks seem worrisome, they are rather modest when you consider how much these shares rallied this month before today: DropBox up 40%, Twitter up 33%, and Snap up 23%.

Cowen analyst John Blackledge reiterated his underperform rating on Snap, trimming estimates after a proprietary survey showed the company’s U.S. users spent about 33 minutes a day on the app, down 7 percent year-over-year.

Russian Oil Boss Warns Donald Trump's Iran Move May Result In 'Unpredictable' Crude Prices

&l;p&g;U.S. President Donald Trump&s;s unilateral decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord could knock 5% of global oil production offline and drive the oil price to unpredictable highs, according to Igor Sechin, Chief Executive Officer of Russian oil giant Rosneft.

Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, May 25, Sechin, who&a;nbsp;is reportedly&a;nbsp;close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the U.S.&s;s decision would cause an inevitable reduction of Iranian barrels in the global supply pool.

On a day when oil futures are sliding on expectation of higher Russian and Saudi production - amid signals that the ongoing OPEC and non-OPEC production cut agreement to the tune of 1.8 million barrels per day might be canned - Sechin opined that actually new price records might be on the horizon&a;nbsp;due&a;nbsp;to American unilateral action.

&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-962291782&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/962291782/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;619&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g;&l;em&g;Rosneft&a;nbsp;CEO Igor Sechin&a;nbsp;speaks at the 2018 St Petersburg International Economic Forum on May 25, 2018 (Photo: Sergei Bobylev/TASS via Getty Images)&l;/em&g;

&q;Such&a;nbsp;sanctions and ultimatums applied to the hydrocarbons market will inevitably lead to a permanent &s;sanctions premium&s; in the price. I do not rule out that we will be able to speak about a sanctions-related commodity &s;super cycle&s; after a while, and see new price records in the near future,&q; the Rosenft boss said.

Drivers and industries across Europe and the U.S. will feel the effects of &l;a href=&q;http://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2018/05/08/trumps-withdrawal-from-iran-deal-will-create-fresh-oil-supply-kerfuffles/&q;&g;action taken by the White House&l;/a&g;, as the revoking of the Iran Nuclear deal &a;ndash; &q;a non-market factor&q; makes the global oil sector unpredictable,&a;nbsp;he added.

&q;I have to say that the U.S. has consistently pursued the policy of non-acceptance of international agreements, which would allow challenging their actions on global platforms. In fact, judicial protection and fair market arbitration are off the table.&q;

Sechin did not mention Trump directly in his address but said the U.S. move had much to do with boosting its domestic oil market confidence.

Moving away from the politics of the Iran deal withdrawal by Trump, the Rosneft boss also dismissed suggestions of oil consumption peaking in 2030, adding that he expects oil and gas to remain core of the global economy in the foreseeable future.

&q;Projections by leading analysts and companies, including an outlook on global energy development recently released by BP show that the demand for hydrocarbons will be higher by 2040 than it is today, even in most challenging scenarios.&q;&l;!--nextpage--&g;

According to Sechin, oil market participants will have to replenish up to 40 million barrels of falling volumes of resources per day by 2040, which will &q;require a stable and massive inflow of investment in the sector&q; that Russia was actively playing its part in.

The Rosneft CEO&s;s comments come on a day of heavy declines in oil futures prices with the slide starting in Asia, extending well past European trading hours and into U.S. intraday calls. Further downside pressure came, after the weekly Baker Hughes rig count indicated the U.S.&a;nbsp;tally was up 13 rigs from last week to 1,059, with oil rigs up 15 to 859, indicative of&a;nbsp;rising U.S.&a;nbsp;crude production.

At the time of writing (18:08 BST / 13:01 EST), the Brent front-month futures contract was down 3.05% or $2.40 to $76.39 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate was down 4.07% or $2.84 to $67.87; with both contracts well below their recently recorded three-year highs.&l;/p&g;

Buy IOC; target of Rs 263: Motilal Oswal

Motilal Oswal's research report on IOC

IOCL��s adjusted EBITDA declined 10% YoY (grew 9% QoQ) to INR76b, in line with our estimate of INR75b. At INR110b, reported EBITDA beat our estimate of INR89b, led by higher inventory gain of INR34b. Reported PAT grew 40% YoY (declined 34% QoQ) to INR52b (our estimate: INR48b), led by (a) 13% YoY (99% QoQ) growth in interest outgo to INR13b (our estimate.

Outlook

IOCL is trading at 7.1x FY20E EPS of INR21.7 and 4.8x FY20E EV/EBTIDA. We value refining at 6x EV/EBITDA, marketing at 7.5x EV/EBITDA and pipeline at 7.5x EV/EBITDA; we reiterate Buy with a target price of INR263.

For all recommendations report,�click here

Disclaimer:�The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Microsoft Acquires Semantic Machines for Conversational Artificial Intelligence

Earlier this month at its I/O developer conference, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary Google wowed everyone by demonstrating a new conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology called�Google Duplex, a system that will become part of Google Assistant and will allow the virtual assistant to make phone calls on a user's behalf. The demonstration was striking because it sounded uncannily human, which has raised all sorts of ethical questions.

Microsoft's�(NASDAQ:MSFT) virtual assistant Cortana has some catching up to do (in more ways than one), and the software giant has just announced a new acquisition to that end.

Cortana in Windows 10. Image source: Microsoft.

Scooping up Semantic Machines

Microsoft is acquiring�Semantic Machines, a small start-up based in Berkeley that specializes in conversational AI. The goal is to help virtual assistants evolve beyond just simple commands and allow them to better understand broader context and have ongoing conversations with users. This is currently one of Google Assistant's greatest strengths over competing virtual assistants like Apple's�Siri.

The company is getting significant talent with the acquisition, including Larry Gillick, who served as Apple's chief speech scientist for Siri until late 2014, according�to his LinkedIn profile. Gillick is Semantic's chief technology officer. Semantic's team also includes engineers that helped work on Google's early virtual assistant efforts back when it was branded Google Now.

Conversational AI doesn't just refer to spoken conversations, but also includes the text-based conversations that users may have with virtual assistants. For example, Windows 10 features a text-based interface for Cortana right in the Start Menu. Conversational AI does involves aspects of the technology like speech recognition and natural language understanding, which Microsoft includes in cognitive services�on its Azure cloud computing platform. The company says over 300,000 developers use these services currently.

Cortana is Microsoft's consumer-facing virtual assistant, but cognitive services is arguably more important as Microsoft continues to shift its focus toward emphasizing the enterprise and growing its Azure platform. Azure revenue soared�93% last quarter.

There's also the new generation of chatbots�that tech companies are trying to develop that can potentially handle tasks like customer service, although Microsoft had a particularly offensive misstep�with one of its first such chatbots in 2016. Semantic Machines will undoubtedly help on this front as well.

No financial terms were disclosed, as the deal looks to be a pretty small acquisition of a small team of researchers. But considering the depth of expertise that Microsoft is getting, the acquisition is a no-brainer.

Snap Is Doubling Down on Its App Redesign But Investors Should Stay Away

Shares of Snap (NYSE:SNAP) lost over 20% of their value following a disastrous first-quarter earnings report, as investors punished the Snapchat maker for worsening operating trends. The company has now lost more than half its value since its initial public offering one year ago.

Meanwhile, CEO Evan Spiegel remains determined to maintain most of the company's controversial app redesign, despite admitting that it has hurt results and is driving users away. During the conference call with analysts to discuss Snap's performance, Spiegel said: "The redesign lays the foundation for the future of both our communication products and our media platform, and we look forward to doubling down on both."

Manament's stubbornness could be a sign that the company's struggling user growth might not pick up any time soon. And investors would be smart to stay away from the social media company.

Growth has plateaued

Snap's early user growth rates made the company a�highly anticipated IPO last year, but Snapchat's daily average user growth is down significantly, particularly sequentially.�

Data source: Snap quarterly SEC filings. Chart by author.

While no company can expect to grow at exponential rates for an extended period of time, reaching this growth deceleration this early in Snap's life cycle could signal long-term trouble.

First-quarter daily active users hit 191 million, a 15% gain from the year-ago period, but that was only 4 million more users than the number reached in the fourth quarter -- a 2% gain.

Spiegel admits this dramatic slowdown is due to the app redesign, but he says it shouldn't be unexpected: "As we have mentioned on our past two earnings calls, a change this big to existing behavior comes with some disruption."

Although the redesign was supposed to help Snapchat fight back against Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and its Instagram and WhatsApp offspring by bringing in a broader audience, it instead sparked criticism from users with significant followings, including Kylie Jenner and Chrissy Teigen. By highlighting friends and family while segregating influencer accounts, it created a dysfunctional feel that launched an online backlash.

The sales channel has been disrupted

Spiegel also allows that the change is creating "some apprehension" among advertisers, who cut back on spending on Snap's Lens and Filter products.�AdAge notes that advertisers were already unhappy because average view time with ads was less than two seconds, which may be why Snap just added six second unskippable ads that are interspersed throughout videos in its Shows section.�

Because Snap derives virtually all of its revenues from ads, this unease among advertisers is a big problem.

On top of those issues, publishers are reportedly frustrated with the app. The magazine New York reported that some outlets are seeing their traffic drop by half following the redesign. Publisher content can increase the amount of time users engage with the app and can give Snap more opportunities to serve up ads.�

Revenues in the first quarter rose 54% to $231 million, but that was 6% below the $245 million analysts had been anticipating; it was 19% less than in the fourth quarter, which Snap said was partially due to seasonality, but also because of the app's redesign. And CFO�Drew Vollero�didn't ease any concerns when he said investors could expect the second quarter's growth rate "to decelerate substantially from Q1 levels."

The company has added new Snapchat features that it hopes will drive more ad growth, but some may cause more problems than resolve them. Snapchat's new "Shoppable AR" (augmented reality), for example, is a pair of sponsored lenses that also function as ads that let users take an action, like purchase a product or download an app. It's essentially placing ads front and center in the camera, the most used part of the app, which may turn off users who feel they're already being bombarded with ads.

Snap also opened a storefront that's being used to sell plush toys and T-shirts. Eventually it's expected it will sell more than tchotchkes -- including items like its Spectacles glasses, which the company insists on reviving.�

Snap's Spectacles reboot won't help sales. Image source: Snap.

A lot going against it

Not everything was a critical failure for Snap this quarter -- the company narrowed its net losses to $342 million from $2.2 billion last year.�But with the expected revenue growth slowdown and a chaotic app redesign in the works, the company's future is hard to forecast.

The fact that Snap also let go 7% of its workforce in March, mostly in the sales department, doesn't bode well for the company's future, either.

But what may hinder the company's recovery most is management's refusal to admit it made a mistake. Yes, it has tinkered with the app's redesign by allowing some users to see friends' content alongside that of celebrities and commercial interests again, but by saying Snap is going to "double down" on the redesign, Spiegel indicates he has no intention of going back to the way things were.

Snapchat is still a popular social-media platform for young adults, and in some surveys the vanishing-message app continues to grow as Facebook fades. Yet investors need to buy into management's vision if they want to own the stock, and right now it doesn't seem like Spiegel and company understand what its users want.