Destination Wealth Management Purchases New Stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (FMS)

Destination Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (NYSE:FMS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $158,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. during the second quarter worth about $106,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. by 111.1% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 2,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC acquired a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. during the first quarter worth about $121,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. during the first quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Intercontinental Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. during the second quarter worth about $203,000. 2.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. opened at $49.49 on Thursday, according to Marketbeat Ratings. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $29.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.74. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. has a 1-year low of $44.88 and a 1-year high of $57.94.

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (NYSE:FMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $4.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. had a net margin of 11.65% and a return on equity of 11.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. sell-side analysts predict that Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FMS. Bank of America began coverage on Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. in a research report on Monday, July 9th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. in a report on Tuesday. Credit Suisse Group downgraded Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 5th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. in a report on Thursday, April 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.67.

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. Company Profile

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA, a kidney dialysis company, provides dialysis care and related services, and other health care services. It offers dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through a network of outpatient dialysis clinics; materials, training, and patient support services comprising clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance, and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient's residence; and dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the U.S.

Further Reading: Book Value Per Share �� BVPS

Icon (ICLR) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Hold”

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

According to Zacks, “ICON plc is a global full service clinical research organisation. The company provides contract clinical research services to the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. “

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A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. BidaskClub raised shares of Icon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Icon to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 1st. SunTrust Banks increased their price objective on shares of Icon to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $154.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a report on Thursday, July 26th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Icon from $130.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.80.

Shares of ICLR opened at $139.00 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Icon has a 1 year low of $101.00 and a 1 year high of $146.31. The company has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.45.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 25th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by ($0.17). Icon had a net margin of 13.69% and a return on equity of 26.71%. The company had revenue of $641.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $618.64 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. analysts forecast that Icon will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Icon by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 39,201 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Icon by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,612 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,769,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Icon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Dean Capital Investments Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Icon by 51.0% during the 1st quarter. Dean Capital Investments Management LLC now owns 2,736 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank of Omaha bought a new position in shares of Icon during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $279,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.15% of the company’s stock.

Icon Company Profile

ICON Public Limited Company, a clinical research organization, provides outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. It specializes in the strategic development, management, and analysis of programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies.

Featured Article: Price to Earnings Ratio (PE)

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

Will Wayfair Ever Turn a Profit?

There's no question that�Wayfair�(NYSE:W) has been a success on the stock market. Since its 2014 IPO, the stock has more than tripled, and those gains have come almost entirely since the start of 2017. Revenue growth has accelerated after declining for several previous quarters, and investors now seem convinced the company is here to stay as it approaches $6 billion in revenue this year.

However, one big question has loomed over the stock for its entire history: Will Wayfair ever be profitable? Founded in 2002, the company has never turned a profit, and in most years this decade, its bottom-line loss has widened.��

Image source: Getty Images.

A tough category for e-commerce

Wayfair has been a rare success story as an e-commerce direct seller that has been able to put up steady growth and build a sizable business. Many such companies folded when the dot-com bubble burst, and more recently, pure-play online retailers like�Overstock.com�have struggled to both grow and turn a profit. By contrast, marketplace models like eBay,�Etsy, and�Grubhub, where e-commerce companies simply connect buyers and sellers and take a commission, have been more successful generating profits.

The retail industry overall is known for slim profit margins, and that's highlighted by high-ticket, low-volume items like furniture. The online channel has been notoriously difficult to turn a profit in due to the high cost of shipping and processing returns, and especially because of cutthroat competition from�Amazon. Amazon has been content to operate its retail business at essentially breakeven, pressuring margins at competitors in both online and offline channels, and making life difficult for direct sellers like Wayfair. That could get even worse as Amazon has shown increasing interest in furniture and home goods.

In management's own words

In Wayfair's own IPO prospectus, management admitted that the company may never generate a profit, saying:

We have a history of losses and expect to have increasing operating losses and negative cash flow as we continue to expand our business. Because the market for purchasing home goods online is rapidly evolving and has not yet reached widespread adoption, it is difficult for us to predict our future operating results. As a result, our losses may be larger than anticipated, and we may never achieve profitability.

More recently, the company has outlined long-term goals, including bringing gross margin up to 25% to 27% and other operating expenses down to 15% to 19%. That means its operating margin would be somewhere between 6% and 12%, a respectable figure and one that would translate into a net margin of 4% to 9% after taxes, which is as good or better than most retailers.

A deeper look at the numbers

So how do the latest results stack up against those goals?

Last year, the company had a gross margin of 23.7% and other operating expenses of 28.7%. Given those figures, the company is still far away from reaching its long-term targets, but there are ways it could move closer to them.

Advertising, for example, is one of the company's biggest line items, taking up 11.7% of revenue last year. That percentage should naturally come down as the company gets bigger, and management hopes to bring it down to 6% to 8%. However, the fact that the company is spending so aggressively on marketing is a sign that it sees a significant growth opportunity and understands that it needs to capture those customers while the market for them is ripe. Considering that revenue grew 46% in the most recent quarter, it seems like management is doing the right thing.

Assuming the other current figures hold, however, if advertising spend declines to within Wayfair's desired range, the company would essentially be operating breakeven.

With that in mind, Wayfair could be profitable if that were its only goal. But as evidenced by the stock price tripling over the last year and a half, investors are far less concerned about profits so long as Wayfair continues to deliver outstanding growth. U.S. e-commerce in general is growing 15% annually, and the broad retail sector is expanding by just a few points, so Wayfair's 40% growth in 2017 is evidence of the huge opportunity management is seizing in home goods.

And the more market share it takes, the better its chances are for long-term sustainable profits. For now, the key question for Wayfair isn't whether it will ever be profitable, but how big it can get -- some analysts expect the company to double its 2017 revenue in just three years.

That's the kind of expectation that explains why the stock has enjoyed such an impressive rally since early last year. So long as the top line continues to rise, the stock is likely to follow suit, profits or not.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) Adds 0.9% Ahead of Earnings: What To Watch

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM ) added 0.9% during regular hours Wednesday, the last day of trading before it releases its latest quarterly earnings report. Investors displayed excitement ahead of the report, and this is certainly a stock to watch once the full results are in.

The semiconductor industry has been one of the most active this year, initially surging on a massive spike in cryptocurrency mining demand that saw chip prices rise exponentially. However, demand has cooled in recent months, and TSM, the world’s largest chip contract maker, has felt the burn. The firm had to lower its guidance for the year on softer smartphone demand and uncertainty in the crypto industry. Therefore Wednesday’s earnings report will be a key indicator as to whether headwinds will remain or if greener pastures are ahead.  

According to our latest Zacks Consensus Estimates, analysts expect Taiwan Semiconductor to report earnings of $0.45 per share on $7.85 billion in revenue. These results would mark year-over-year growth rates of 7.1% and 11.1%, respectively.

Investors should also note that TSM’s consensus earnings projection has remained flat over the course of the quarter, with no revisions being made in the last two months for any of the firms’ upcoming reporting periods. This lack of activity has led to the stock’s neutral Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at share price performance, TSM has added about 5.2% over the past year. However, the stock has performed poorly as of late, losing nearly 3.4% on a year-to-date basis. More recently, shares have dropped about 3% over the trailing 12 weeks.

Given that TSM missed expectations in its most recent earnings report, a strong performance might be what it needs to break out of its current lull. To gauge how likely the company is to outperform estimates tomorrow morning, we can turn to our exclusive Earnings ESP figure.

Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter. The Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change.

This is done because, generally speaking, when an analyst posts an estimate right before an earnings release, it means that they have fresh information which could potentially be more accurate than what analysts thought about a company two or three months ago.

A positive Earnings ESP paired with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better ranking helps us feel confident about the potential for an earnings beat. In fact, our 10-year backtest has revealed that this methodology has accurately produced a positive surprise 70% of the time.

MS currently has a flat Earnings ESP of 0%. This, combined with its Zacks Rank, leave us inconclusive about its chances at beating earnings estimates on Wednesday. The company has beat expectations in 8 out of its last 10 earnings releases, but given recent market trends this one could go either way.

Make sure to check back here for our full analysis once Taiwan Semiconductor reports!

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Apple Wants China to Be Green, for Very Small Investment

China is home to some of the most polluted cities in the world, as they choke on dirty air. Its rivers are renowned as the home for deadly chemicals. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) wants to end some of that and plans to pay to do so.

Apple plans to get some of its suppliers to foot much of the bill for its China Green Energy Fund, which will eventually grow close to $300 million. Among the suppliers are Catcher Technology, Compal Electronics, Corning, Golden Arrow, Jabil, Luxshare-ICT, Pegatron, Solvay, Sunway Communication and Wistron. It is not clear what each will put into the fund, or if Apple supplies most of the money.

The scale of the plan seems large at $300 million, but on the kind of scale China represents, the investment is minimal. Apple management wrote:

The fund will invest in and develop clean energy projects totaling more than 1 gigawatt of renewable energy in China, the equivalent of powering nearly 1 million homes.

China has over 1.3 billion residents and hundreds of millions of households. A study by 24/7 Wall St. showed that many of the 25 most polluted cities in the world are in China. Part of the research came from the World Health Organization. Research shows that air pollution kills as many as a million people in China each year.

Lisa Jackson, Apple��s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, said as the company announced the initiative:

At Apple, we are proud to join with companies that are stepping up to address the climate challenge. We��re thrilled so many of our suppliers are participating in the fund and hope this model can be replicated globally to help businesses of all sizes make a significant positive impact on our planet.

The plan can’t be labeled anything more than a drop in the bucket.

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12 American Companies That Control Tech

If You're Thinking About Buying Gilead Sciences Stock, Now's the Time to Do It

Good things come to those who wait. But those who wait too long can miss out.

I suspect that there are plenty of investors wondering when the best time is to buy Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD). The biotech stock isn't the growth story that it was a few years ago. However, a steep decline has caused Gilead to become one of the cheapest healthcare stocks on the market based on one key valuation metric -- enterprise value to EBITDA.

Stocks with low valuations can stay that way for painfully long times. But if you're thinking about buying Gilead Sciences stock, now's the time to do it. Here are three reasons why.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Stabilizing influence

Slumping hepatitis C virus (HCV) franchise sales have become a standard story for Gilead Sciences every time the biotech reports its quarterly results. There hasn't been good news in quite a while on the HCV front, though that could be about to change.�

In Gilead's Q1 conference call, CFO Robin Washington said that HCV drug prices have settled down after a period of price cuts. She also stated that the biotech expects its HCV market share to stabilize in mid-2018. AbbVie's�Mavyret, which gained Food and Drug Administration approval in August 2017, has been taking market share away from some of Gilead's products in recent months.�

Gilead is scheduled to announce its Q2 earnings results on July 25. It's possible that there will be some signs of HCV sales�stabilization. I suspect that Q3 will be more of a turning point, though. Either way, when the downward trajectory for Gilead's HCV franchise sales levels off, it should provide a psychological boost to investor sentiment about the stock. If Robin Washington's mid-year projection is right, that boost is just around the corner.

2. Ascending Mount Everest

Gilead Sciences executives took to referring to its bictegravir/F/TAF combination targeting treatment of HIV as its "Mount Everest" in reference to the drug's anticipated superiority over other therapies. This "Mount Everest" drug, now known as Biktarvy, won FDA approval in February 2018.

The financial contribution of Biktarvy so far has been more of a molehill than a mountain. In Q1, the drug generated sales of only $35 million. Don't let that amount fool you, though. Market research firm EvaluatePharma ranked Biktarvy as the top new drug launch of 2018. Peak annual sales for Gilead's HIV drug could top $6 billion.

This potential is important to keep in mind. Biktarvy should begin making a greater impact on Gilead's top and bottom lines beginning in Q2. Rapidly growing sales for the drug, combined with a stabilization in HCV, could be a double whammy that Gilead investors have been waiting on.

3. JAK in the box

As icing on the cake, Gilead Sciences and partner Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) will soon report results from a phase 3 clinical study of JAK1 inhibitor filgotinib in treating rheumatoid arthritis. If those results are positive, the biotech could be looking at peak annual sales of between $2 billion and $3 billion in the indication.

But the good news doesn't stop there. Gilead and Galapagos are also evaluating filgotinib�in a phase 3 study targeting treatment of ulcerative colitis. Results from that study could be available by the end of 2019. If approved for the ulcerative colitis indication, it's possible that�filgotinib could bring in another $2 billion annually at peak sales.

As they say on the TV infomercials, "Wait, there's more!" Filgotinib is in yet another late-stage clinical study for treating Crohn's disease. This study is also scheduled to wrap up in late 2019. The bottom line is that positive results from the rheumatoid arthritis study could bode well for Gilead having a megablockbuster on its hands outside of its core HCV and HIV areas of focus.�

No time like the present

Investors could wait to buy Gilead Sciences stock. After all, it's possible that HCV sales won't stabilize. Perhaps Biktarvy won't deliver on its potential. The phase 3 results for filgotinib could be disappointing.

However, if the opposite scenarios unfold, Gilead had three significant catalysts on the way in the second half of 2018. I wouldn't bet against the big biotech on any of these three fronts. I think Gilead is headed for a nice rebound. And I think there's no time like the present to buy this beaten-down biotech stock.

Bytecoin (BCN) Market Capitalization Hits $550.44 Million

Bytecoin (CURRENCY:BCN) traded down 6.2% against the US dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 13:00 PM Eastern on July 9th. Bytecoin has a total market capitalization of $550.44 million and $7.57 million worth of Bytecoin was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Bytecoin coin can currently be bought for approximately $0.0030 or 0.00000045 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Stocks.Exchange, Binance, Poloniex and cfinex. In the last seven days, Bytecoin has traded 14.3% lower against the US dollar.

Here’s how related cryptocurrencies have performed in the last day:

Get Bytecoin alerts: Monero (XMR) traded 1.4% lower against the dollar and now trades at $137.18 or 0.02047640 BTC. DigitalNote (XDN) traded up 0.9% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0061 or 0.00000091 BTC. Aeon (AEON) traded 3.4% lower against the dollar and now trades at $1.27 or 0.00019009 BTC. Boolberry (BBR) traded 1.9% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.91 or 0.00013560 BTC. Interplanetary Broadcast Coin (IPBC) traded up 2.6% against the dollar and now trades at $0.18 or 0.00002206 BTC. Sumokoin (SUMO) traded up 32.8% against the dollar and now trades at $0.77 or 0.00011472 BTC. Karbo (KRB) traded down 4.2% against the dollar and now trades at $0.35 or 0.00005147 BTC. IntenseCoin (ITNS) traded 3.7% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0024 or 0.00000036 BTC. Stellite (XTL) traded 14.9% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0003 or 0.00000005 BTC. LeviarCoin (XLC) traded 13.5% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0776 or 0.00000823 BTC.

Bytecoin Profile

Bytecoin is a proof-of-work (PoW) coin that uses the Cryptonight hashing algorithm. Its genesis date was July 4th, 2012. Bytecoin’s total supply is 183,890,481,254 coins. The Reddit community for Bytecoin is /r/BytecoinBCN and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here. The official message board for Bytecoin is bytecointalk.org. The official website for Bytecoin is bytecoin.org. Bytecoin’s official Twitter account is @Bytecoin_BCN and its Facebook page is accessible here.

Buying and Selling Bytecoin

Bytecoin can be purchased on the following cryptocurrency exchanges: cfinex, TradeOgre, Vebitcoin, HitBTC, Crex24, Poloniex, Binance and Stocks.Exchange. It is usually not currently possible to buy alternative cryptocurrencies such as Bytecoin directly using U.S. dollars. Investors seeking to trade Bytecoin should first buy Ethereum or Bitcoin using an exchange that deals in U.S. dollars such as Coinbase, Changelly or Gemini. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Ethereum or Bitcoin to buy Bytecoin using one of the exchanges listed above.

new TradingView.widget({ “height”: 400, “width”: 650, “symbol”: “BCNUSD”, “interval”: “D”, “timezone”: “Etc/UTC”, “theme”: “White”, “style”: “1”, “locale”: “en”, “toolbar_bg”: “#f1f3f6”, “enable_publishing”: false, “hideideas”: true, “referral_id”: “2588”});

This Game Show Will Pay Off Your Student Loans

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;size-large wp-image-2470&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/zackfriedman/files/2018/07/PAID-OFF-1200x750.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;750&q; data-width=&q;1200&q;&g; Michael Torpey - &q;Paid Off&q;

Watch out &l;em&g;Wheel of Fortune&l;/em&g; and &l;em&g;Jeopardy!&l;/em&g; - there&s;s a new game show on the television circuit.

Its bold promise: to pay off your student loans.

Yes, you read that right.

Here&s;s what you need to know.

&l;strong&g;&q;Paid Off&q;: The New Game Show&l;/strong&g;

&l;em&g;Paid Off&l;/em&g; is the new comedy game show that is doing its part to help reduce &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2018/06/13/student-loan-debt-statistics-2018/#6bb653267310&q;&g;$1.5 trillion of student loan debt that affects more than 44 million borrowers&l;/a&g;.

Hosted by Michael Torpey - who plays Thomas Humphrey on &l;em&g;Orange Is The New Black&l;/em&g; on Netflix - the new &l;a href=&q;https://www.trutv.com/shows/paid-off-with-michael-torpey/index.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;game show&l;/a&g;&a;nbsp;premieres July 10 on TruTV.

&l;strong&g;How The Game Show Works&l;/strong&g;

Each episode features three contestants, each of whom has student loans.

The premise of the game show is simple: Torpey gives these lucky contestants the chance to answer trivia questions during three rounds of play in a fun, fast-paced trivia game show.

The three rounds of play include:

&l;/p&g;&l;ol&g;&l;li&g;academic questions&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;poll questions&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;general knowledge / college major questions&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

One contestant will be eliminated each round.

The grand prize? One lucky winner can win a cash prize or the chance to wipe out their student loan debt.

During the final round, the final contestant has an opportunity to answer as many questions as possible. The more questions that the contestant answers correctly, the larger their winnings.

The lucky contestants who answer enough questions potentially can wipe out their student loan debt.

Viewers will also learn the stories behind each contestant: whether they were the first in their family to attend college or never finished their college degree.

&l;strong&g;Can Your Student Loans Really Be Wiped Out?&l;/strong&g;

Yes.

Of course, like any game show, the winning contestant must pay taxes on any prizes, including if the cash prize is used to repay student loan debt.

In addition to the final winner, the first contestant eliminated will receive $1,000. The second contestant eliminated will receive $2,000.

Overall, during the show&s;s 16 episode run, the show plans to give away abut $500,000 to over 60 people.

&l;!--donotpaginate--&g;

Top Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:AWR,KRO,P,RH,LTRPA,

The best way to value Ensco (ESV), and the offshore oil drillers more generally, is to value them on the basis of their assets. These companies are obviously not earning any money right now, and when they do earn money, their earnings are very cyclical in nature, thus making earnings based analyses (like DCF's) that make projections of regular earnings into the future inapplicable. So, in this article, I will look at Ensco's value on the basis of the hard assets that it owns.

As Warren Buffett admonishes, in investing there should really only be two rules: (1) Don't lose money; (2) don't forget rule number one. In this spirit, my main focus will be on what I imagine to be the most plausible worst-case scenario. (Thus, for those of you who wish to comment, the most obvious way to attack my argument is to show how what I imagine to be the worst case is actually not the worst-case, and that, in fact, there is something else which is plausibly worse. I greatly look forward to reading your ideas.) My thesis will be that Ensco's shares are undervalued even relative to this worst-case scenario. As a result, an investment in Ensco at current levels should cohere to Buffett's investing rules laid out above, meaning a loss (over a longer-term holding period, of course) should be highly unlikely and the upside should take of itself. What I say here for Ensco should, in large part, be applicable (with the appropriate tweaks) to the others of the big-five offshore oil drillers as well - i.e., Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG), Rowan Companies plc (NYSE:RDC), Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE:DO), and Noble Corporation plc (NYSE:NE). Furthermore, what I say here takes more of the feel of a back-of-the-envelope calculation, as opposed to hyper-precise spreadsheet modeling. Again, following Buffett, the idea is to be approximately right, rather than precisely wrong.

Top Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now: American States Water Company(AWR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]

  American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) has increased its dividend each and every year for 63 consecutive years. That's a feat unmatched by its water utility rivals, and most other companies for that matter. But that incredible run of dividend hikes doesn't mean that American States is a good investment. Here's the background you need in order to make a better call here.� �

• [By Neha Chamaria]

  Contrary to what many believe, it's easier to find stocks to invest in when you're in your 60s. That's because your choices narrow down significantly as you filter out young, aggressive companies that typically carry higher risk. As you near retirement, you need a portfolio choc-a-block with mature, established businesses that have a visible growth path and preferably offer solid dividends to supplement your income. Three interesting stocks that fit the bill are American States Water (NYSE:AWR), A.O. Smith (NYSE:AOS), and Realty Income (NYSE:O).

• [By Neha Chamaria]

  In terms of dividend growth, only four of the above stocks -- 3M, Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble -- feature among the 10 fastest dividend-growth kings. In other words, there are six other stocks from the dividend kings list that have grown their dividends at a faster pace than most stocks in the above table in the past decade, some even at double-digits.��

  Six top dividend kings by dividend growth Dividend King 10-Year Dividend CAGR Current Dividend Yield Payout Ratio (TTM) Lowe's Companies� 18.5% 2% 34.5% Hormel Foods� 16.3% 2.1% 39.2% Parker-Hannifin Corp�(NYSE:PH) 14% 1.7% 35.2% Nordson Corporation� 12.2% 0.9% 13.3% Dover Corp (NYSE:DOV) 9% 2% 37.4% American States Water�(NYSE:AWR) 7.6% 1.9% 54.8%

  TTM: Trailing 12 months. Data sources: YCharts and Yahoo! Finance. Table by author.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  AWARE (CURRENCY:AWR) traded 3.3% lower against the U.S. dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 9:00 AM E.T. on June 5th. During the last week, AWARE has traded down 0.7% against the U.S. dollar. One AWARE token can now be bought for about $0.0294 or 0.00000396 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including BigONE, Bibox and Allcoin. AWARE has a total market cap of $0.00 and $1.37 million worth of AWARE was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

Top Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Kronos Worldwide Inc(KRO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Shares of�Kronos Worldwide (NYSE:KRO) plunged on Wednesday after the company announced first-quarter 2018 results. The titanium dioxide manufacturer reported strong growth compared to the year-ago period thanks to the continued surge in selling prices. Revenue was up 16% and net income nearly doubled relative to the first quarter of 2017. How can Wall Street be displeased with that?�

Top Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Euro FX(P)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 61,707,852 shares, a decline of 13.7% from the April 30th total of 71,509,016 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 13,506,224 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days. Approximately 25.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) is set to release its most recent quarterly results Wednesday. The consensus forecast is for a net loss of $0.08 per share and $375.82 million in revenue. Shares ended the week at $5.16 apiece. The consensus price target is $7.85, and the 52-week range is $4.09 to $13.72.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) dropped nearly 1% Tuesday to match a 52-week low of $4.09 after closing at $4.13 on Monday. The stock’s 52-week high is $13.72. Volume was about 6.5 million, about 40% below the daily average of around 11.3 million. The music streaming company had no specific news.

Top Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc.(RH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Crumly]

  As for individual stocks, RH (NYSE:RH)�jumped on strong profit growth and Dave & Buster's Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY) rose after reporting first-quarter results and announcing plans for expanding its offering of exclusive virtual reality titles.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Aperio Group LLC boosted its holdings in Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc common stock (NYSE:RH) by 10.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,532 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the quarter. Aperio Group LLC’s holdings in Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc common stock were worth $813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• [By Isaac Pino, CPA]

  On the surface, upscale furniture retailer RH�(NYSE:RH) seems to be doing a lot of things right. The company -- formerly known as Restoration Hardware -- has leaned into the upscale market, thereby differentiating its products from the competition. Its inspired storefronts are a far cry from cookie-cutter shopping malls, and a membership-based business model makes it less reliant on blowout sales.

• [By Steve Symington]

  Shares of RH (NYSE:RH) were up 35.1% as of 11:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday after the home furnishings and design retailer announced stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter 2018 earnings and raised its full-year guidance.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Traditional retailers have struggled in recent years from the e-commerce revolution, and few niches of the retail industry have been able to escape the effects. For RH (NYSE:RH), formerly known as Restoration Hardware, 2016 was almost the kiss of death. High-end luxury customers proved vulnerable to plunging crude oil prices that devastated economic expansion in energy-rich regions of the country.

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, Jeremy Bowman, and Steve Symington]

  Steve Symington�(RH): RH may have popped more than 30% earlier this week after it posted strong quarterly results -- including slightly lower revenue but exceptional earnings relative to expectations -- but I think the home-furnishings retailer could have more room to run.�

Top Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc.(LTRPA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRPA) shares jumped 31.6 percent to $12.18 following TripAdvisor Q1 earnings beat. ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ: ZAGG) rose 26.5 percent to $14.55 after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings. OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK) shares gained 25 percent to $4.0234 following Q1 beat. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAXN) jumped 23.5 percent to $55.12 following a big Q1 beat. The company raised its fiscal 2018 sales growth guidance from 16-18 percent to 18-20 percent. Penn Virginia Corporation (NASDAQ: PVAC) gained 23.3 percent to $59.00 after reporting Q1 results. TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) rose 22.5 percent to $47.51 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Tuesday. Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) shares surged 21.7 percent to $3.36. Amazon.com's partnership with Sears started in 2017 with an agreement to sell Kenmore-branded appliances online. On Wednesday, the companies announced an extension of their relationship to now include tire delivery and installations. EP Energy Corporation (NYSE: EPE) jumped 21.3 percent to $2.68 following Q1 results. LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC) surged 20.4 percent to $3.395 following better-than-expected Q1 earnings. Superior Industries International, Inc. (NYSE: SUP) gained 19 percent to $15.82 after reporting Q1 results. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLCM) shares rose 18.5 percent to $8.13 following Q1 results. Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) rose 18.3 percent to $52.47 after the company posted strong quarterly results. Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) shares jumped 18.3 percent to $6.47 following quarterly results. IEC Electronics Corp. (NYSE: IEC) shares climbed 17 percent to $4.68 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings. New Relic, Inc. (NYSE: NEWR) rose 16.8 percent to $90.10 following Q4 results. Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: GPOR)
• [By Lisa Levin]

  Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRPA) shares shot up 30 percent to $12.05 following TripAdvisor Q1 earnings beat.

  Shares of ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ: ZAGG) got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $14.48 after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc Series A (NASDAQ:LTRPA) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,070,644 shares, an increase of 47.7% from the May 15th total of 1,402,097 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 839,315 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRPA) shares shot up 31 percent to $12.10 following TripAdvisor Q1 earnings beat.

  Shares of ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ: ZAGG) got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $15.3628 after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRPA) shares shot up 32 percent to $12.175 following TripAdvisor Q1 earnings beat.

  Shares of ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ: ZAGG) got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $14.60 after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

Chipotle: Would This Time Be Different?

A year ago, I wrote my first article on Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG). In it, I remarked that Chipotle Mexican Grill had been hitting fresh 52-week highs in the few trading days prior to the publication of the article. Among other bullish factors, I noted a Barron's article showing a Chipotle price chart with a nice technical setup (see below). I also noticed that the wide analysts' estimates for the then-upcoming first-quarter results which implied that some analysts might be overly bearish. As such, there was the potential for an earnings surprise. I concluded that "the upside potential continues to outweigh the downside risk due to improved circumstances".

Source: FBN's JC O'Hara

Chipotle eventually did report Q1 2017 results that beat consensus estimates on both revenue and EPS. This obviously delighted the market and the share price moved above $500 in after-hours trading. Unfortunately, Chipotle subsequently disclosed the detection of "unauthorized activity on a network that supports payment processing for purchases" that occurred at its restaurants, essentially a data breach which precipitated a reversal in the share price.

In what might seem like d茅j� vu, the share price of Chipotle has again developed the technically bullish rounding formation flagged by FBN a year ago as mentioned in the prior paragraph. Interestingly, it has also been making fresh 52-week highs in the past few days.

CMG data by YCharts

There is a saying that "those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Hence, let's revisit how the market came to be so bearish on Chipotle as recent as February this year. Looking back in history is easy with Seeking Alpha's dedicated page for each ticker. I spotted the below "Breaking News" on February 1, 2018, which linked a fall in Chipotle on that day to a downgrade from UBS. SA News Editor Clark Schultz was very sharp and suggested that "some industry insiders" would disagree with UBS analyst Dennis Geiger in believing in "some brand deterioration" of Chipotle based on online reviews due to the fact that those could be gamed.

Source: Seeking Alpha News

Given that Dennis is an analyst with UBS, a Swiss multinational investment bank and a prominent name in the financial circle, his downgrade certainly has significant clout. In fact, after that downgrade on February 1, Dennis went on to reiterate his Sell call on Chipotle five more times, the most recent being April 26, after a huge spike up following the announcement of its first-quarter results. To the detriment of whoever was following him on his Chipotle calls, the share price continues to head higher. Nevertheless, those who had listened to him when he recommended shareholders to "hold" in six reports throughout 2017 would now be rewarded with their patience as the share price has now indeed recovered.

Source: TipRanks

Should the market now ignore whatever Dennis says? To be fair, the price targets are usually for a full year from the date of issue. It has only been a few months since that February 1 call by Dennis. Dennis has also made the right call for about half the time (see the screenshot from TipRanks below).

Source: TipRanks

Now, before I get criticized for picking on Dennis, I would like to clarify that this is not my intention. I have stated from the beginning of this article that my initiation call on Chipotle was very off the mark as well. For transparency, I also provide the screenshot of my TipRanks profile below which shows that many of my ratings were unsuccessful as well.

Source: TipRanks

The point of going through the circumstances leading to the share price weakness is to remind me of how not to take analysts' reports at face value. Earlier, we have Dennis basing his Chipotle evaluation on some "online review trends". Below, we see another analyst relying on "Facebook check-ins" as a basis for his warning coming a week after his peer at UBS issued a downgrade. Since both the business and the share price of Chipotle have performed better than analysts' expectations, it seems to suggest that the use of such unconventional tools to determine sales trends is not effective. We should perhaps not be spooked in the future when analysts quote such data to warn on the sales trends.

Source: Seeking Alpha News

The narrative surrounding Chipotle undertook a quick reversal to the positive following the official announcement of the appointment of then-CEO of Taco Bell as the incoming CEO of Chipotle. The share price jumped double-digit percentage as the market cheered the end of the uncertainty surrounding the CEO office. Chipotle never looked back thereafter. The prevailing share price is now well above its consensus price target, creating the largest premium in the past five years.

CMG data by YCharts

Chipotle has also seen its P/S ratio return to 2016 levels at around 3x. This is happening even as its sales (revenue) is back to its previous peak in 2015 on a trailing twelve-months basis.

CMG data by YCharts

Its earnings and its free cash flow, however, would take some more time to see a recovery to the previous peak levels. Nonetheless, the positive momentum remains as Chipotle continues to build on the recovery after bottoming in early 2017. All the while, for much of 2017 and YTD, Chipotle has managed to maintain a net cash position of around $530 million.

CMG Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

Investor Takeaway

Some analysts have taken notice of Chipotle's turnaround and begun to raise their price targets. For instance, BTIG's Peter Saleh has upgraded this month his $460 price target to $500. A near-term catalyst would be Chipotle's strategy call set for June 27. Investors are eager to hear from the newly appointed CEO, Brian Niccol, on his initiatives to rejuvenate sales and profitability.

Already, the new CEO has made certain bold moves. Chipotle announced it would shift its headquarters to Southern California, where its new CEO lives, from Denver, Colorado, where Chipotle founder Steve Ells opened the first restaurant in 1993. The Orange County Register observed that Newport Beach, where Chipotle is heading to, is already "a quick service hub for the whole world". While the shift might be wise from a strategic point of view, such as the greater availability of talent pool, there are costs involved from the shift, as well as higher expenses due to the higher cost of living in California versus Colorado. According to Sperling's Best Places, an equivalent salary of $50,000 in Denver, Colorado, would be fetching a near triple at $139,059 in Newport Beach, California.

Nevertheless, market players have apparently gotten past the stage where they would be spooked by another health scare or dubious operating metrics such as the earlier mentioned "Facebook check-ins" and "online reviews" trends tracked by certain analysts. Investors are now willing to stomach the volatility to ride the recovery in Chipotle under CEO Brian Niccol's lead.

Deliveries have helped alleviate the long queues issues at the outlets. Chipotle announced in early May that it has experienced a 667% increase in weekly delivery orders since initiating the partnership with DoorDash, an on-demand restaurant delivery service. Restaurant industry insights and analytics firm TDn2K said recently that 'on-the-go' has "become an extremely important component of restaurant demand".

Chipotle is now in a similar situation as a year ago when it was also hitting fresh 52-week highs. Would this time be different? I cannot be sure, but its outlook is certainly more promising now than a year ago.

What's your take? Do you think there is more upside to Chipotle? Please freely share your thoughts, let me know if you found this article useful or provide your feedback in the comments section.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading. If you would like a refreshing take on stocks that you own or are interested in, try looking here. Besides US companies, I cover a number of Asian stocks as well. If you wish to be informed of my new ideas on Seeking Alpha via email so that you have time to read them before the articles get locked behind a paywall 10 days from publication, please select "Receive email alerts" when accessing on a desktop computer.

Disclosure: I am/we are long CMG.

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.

Corporate Bond Spreads Jump to 16-Month High

LISTEN TO ARTICLE 1:55 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

Corporate bond spreads jumped to the widest level in 16 months Friday as large deals flooded the U.S. market and rising trade tensions scared off some investors.

Investment-grade bond spreads saw the biggest weekly increase since February as companies sold $43 billion of debt, including $31 billion from Bayer AG and Walmart Inc. alone. The market was also shaken by escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and its major partners.

“I can’t really see a path for much tightening,” said Gordon Shannon, a portfolio manager at TwentyFour Asset Management in London, which manages $17 billion of assets. While company fundamentals are pretty good, the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes and trade war tensions are likely to hinder credit spreads, he said.

#lazy-img-328791048:before{padding-top:56.25%;}

Corporate bond spreads have been widening since February, when they reached the tightest since before the financial crisis. Fewer foreign buyers, rate volatility and trade tensions are chipping away at investor confidence in the U.S. market, according to Thomas Murphy, a portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments in Minneapolis.

“A lot of people pushed into our market because of QE overseas. They can now go back to their home markets. Hedging costs have gone up dramatically,” said Murphy, whose firm has about $172 billion of fixed-income assets under management. There are also “concerns about rate volatility and concerns on the curve shape changing,” he added.

But Murphy said the good news for the market over the longer term is that the fundamentals don’t seem to have changed.

And there may be a silver lining in the short term. High-grade bond supply should begin to slow down with the upcoming Independence Day holiday and the start of the second-quarter corporate earnings season, which may keep companies on the sidelines and help spreads tighten, Bank of America wrote in a recent note.

“Of course there is always the possibility that other issuers front-load, but we would not count on it,” Bank of America strategist Hans Mikkelsen wrote.

— With assistance by Brian W Smith

Venezuela's Constituent Assembly Names Cabello as President

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Venezuela’s all-powerful Constituent Assembly named Diosdado Cabello as its new head, following President Nicolas Maduro’s cabinet shuffle last week.

Cabello, second-in-command of Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist party, will take over for Delcy Rodriguez, who Maduro recently tapped as vice president. The Maduro-created Constituent Assembly rules over all other government bodies, and is deemed by the U.S. and its regional allies as an illegitimate institution packed with Maduro loyalists.

“We must begin anew, I’m asking for ideas,” Cabello, 55, said following his swearing in ceremony. “I will do everything I can so that our people feel proud of this Constituent Assembly.”

A former army lieutenant and a close confidant of the late Hugo Chavez, Cabello has held a number of top-cabinet posts including vice president, minister of public works, and head of the National Assembly.

The Constituent Assembly came into power in 2017 after months of violent protests that left at least 125 dead. It most recently approved snap elections for May in which Maduro was re-elected with 68 percent of the vote. It was also the stage where he held a symbolic swearing in ceremony before the official Jan. 10 date set in the constitution.

Cabello, his brother, wife and an alleged front man were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury just days before May’s election, accusing them of being involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and embezzlement.

— With assistance by Andrew Rosati

(Updates with comments from Cabello in the third paragraph.)

Why Roku, Shoe Carnival, and Quality Systems Jumped Today

The stock market finished the week on a quiet note, with most major benchmarks closing slightly lower on the day. Investors went into the weekend trying to navigate a series of geopolitical and macroeconomic issues, but many market participants focused on the big plunge in the oil market, where crude prices dropped $3 per barrel to fall below the $68-per-barrel mark. Even with trading activity slow preceding the holiday weekend, good news sent shares of some companies higher. Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU), Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL), and Quality Systems (NASDAQ:QSII) were among the best performers on the day. Here's why they did so well.

Roku gets a reversal of fortune

Shares of Roku climbed 7% after positive comments from a former skeptic of the company prompted speculation that it could become a takeover target. Short-selling specialist Citron Research did an about-face on Roku, stating that it had reversed the short position it had taken on the over-the-top streaming specialist and now believes that the company trades at an attractive discount to peers in the industry. The move comes after Roku has made an important strategic shift, de-emphasizing its hardware business in favor of promoting its platform of content. With an attractive valuation, Citron now believes that Roku could gain attention from streaming giant Netflix, and that has shareholders excited about Roku's prospects going forward.

Image source: Roku.

The shoe fits at Shoe Carnival

Shoe Carnival stock soared nearly 21% in the wake of the release of the company's first-quarter financial report. The footwear retailer built on past positive momentum, saying revenue rose almost 2% on a 1.3% rise in comparable-store sales, and earnings jumped more than 70% compared to the previous year's first quarter. CEO Cliff Sifford attributed the gains to "the continuation of a strong athletic and ath-leisure trend as well as solid sales results from our spring footwear categories," which overcame poor weather early in the period to pick up as warmer temperatures prevailed. Shoe Carnival increased its earnings guidance for the full fiscal year, and it believes that it can take full advantage of favorable industry trends well into the future.

Quality Systems finishes fiscal 2018 strong

Finally, shares of Quality Systems closed 13% higher. The provider of healthcare-related software and information technology services had mixed results in its fiscal fourth-quarter financial report, with revenue inching higher by about 3%, but adjusted net income falling by roughly 20% from year-ago levels. Yet CEO Rusty Frantz was optimistic about the company, as the prospects for its NextGen Healthcare product suites appear to be extremely strong. Initial fiscal 2019 guidance on sales and earnings was also encouraging, and investors have high hopes that the company's exposure to the booming healthcare IT sector will pay off with long-term profits.

A Closer Look At Our $60 Price Estimate For Micron Technology

&l;a href=&q;http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=mu&a;amp;tab=searchtabquotesdark&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Micron&l;/a&g; (NYSE: MU) has seen impressive growth in recent years. The company&a;rsquo;s revenue grew 64% and its stock price doubled in 2017. The company expects the favorable demand-supply environment to persist in the year ahead, supported by continued strong growth in both DRAM and NAND demand, reflecting broader trends in the data center and mobile markets as well as increased adoption of SSDs across enterprise, cloud, and client PCs.

Currently, we have a price estimate for &l;a href=&q;http://www.trefis.com/company?hm=MU.trefis&a;amp;from=search#&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Micron Technology of $60&l;/a&g;, which is ahead of the market price. We have also created an &l;a href=&q;http://dashboards.trefis.com/no-login-required/8LJsz38S?fromforbesandarticle=a-closer-look-at-our-60-price-estimate-for-micron-technology&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;strong&g;interactive dashboard &l;/strong&g;&l;/a&g;which shows our forecasts and estimates for the company; you can modify the key value drivers to see how they impact the company&a;rsquo;s revenues, bottom line, and valuation.

We have arrived at our price estimate for Micron Technology based on EPS projections of $10.91 for 2018, and a P/E multiple of 5.5.

&l;strong&g;Steps To Arrive At Our Price Estimate&l;/strong&g;

&a;nbsp;

&l;a href=&q;http://dashboards.trefis.com/no-login-required/8LJsz38S?fromforbesandarticle=a-closer-look-at-our-60-price-estimate-for-micron-technology&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;img class=&q; wp-image-184293 size-full&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/greatspeculations/files/2018/05/mu23.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;199&q; data-width=&q;955&q;&g;&l;/a&g;

Micron generates revenue from three primary sources &a;ndash; DRAM, Trade NAND, and Other Products. Emerging technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence are driving strong growth in the industry, while innovation and solid execution has enabled Micron to grow faster than the market. Micron&a;rsquo;s DRAM revenue represents 67% of the total revenue, with 80% year-on-year growth. This was due to an increase in bit shipments, slightly offset by a decline in ASPs (Average Selling Price). For fiscal 2018, we expect another 53% growth in DRAM revenue due to the timing of the DRAM technology transition.

&a;nbsp;

Micron&a;rsquo;s Trade NAND revenue increased 51% y-o-y, driven by an increase in bit shipments, slightly offset by a decline in ASPs. Based on the timing of the technology transition, Micron expects its bit growth in NAND to be relatively muted in the first half of fiscal 2018, but expects stronger growth in the second half of the year

Additionally, we expect a 15% growth in revenue from other products.

&l;!--nextpage--&g; A revenue estimate of about $29.5 billion results in net income of $13.6 billion, assuming a net margin of 46%. Given the average share count of 1.25 billion, this gives us Earnings per share of $10.91. We estimate a P/E multiple of around 5.5 for the company which, when multiplied by the expected EPS, gives us $60 as a fair price estimate.

&a;nbsp;

What&a;rsquo;s behind Trefis? See How It&a;rsquo;s Powering New Collaboration and What-Ifs

For &l;strong&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.trefis.com/info/trefis-technology&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;CFOs and Finance Teams&l;/a&g;&l;/strong&g; | &l;strong&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.trefis.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Product, R&a;amp;D, and Marketing Teams&l;/a&g;&l;/strong&g;

&l;strong&g;&l;a href=&q;http://www.trefis.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;More Trefis Research&l;/a&g;&l;/strong&g;

Like our charts? Explore &l;a href=&q;https://dashboards.trefis.com/signupDashboard&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;example interactive dashboards&l;/a&g; and create your own.

&l;strong&g;

&l;/strong&g;

Hot Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:AXTI,UTMD,HIO,FOXF,FRME,

When disaster strikes and the grid crashes, candles will get you only so far.

So we came up with a list of seven gadgets that will help you get by when the power is out.

Stock up now so you��ll be prepared for an emergency. Take a look.

By Jeff Bertolucci, Contributing Writer | October 2016

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Slide Show 2 of 8 7 Must-Have Items for Your Emergency Kit Portable Power Pack    

Hot Stocks To Invest In Right Now: AXT Inc(AXTI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Comstock Holding Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHCI) shares surged 115.8 percent to $4.3591. Comstock reported conversion of the majority of its unsecured, short-term debt into non-convertible preferred equity. Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBOT) jumped 38.2 percent to $3.0251 after the company disclosed that it achieved robust viral clearance for its manufacturing process. Universal Corporation (NYSE: UVV) surged 26.7 percent to $61.40 after reporting fiscal Q4 results. Hudson Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: HDSN) rose 18.9 percent to $2.58. Evolus, Inc. (NASDAQ: EOLS) shares gained 17.8 percent to $22.8009. The Cato Corporation (NYSE: CATO) shares gained 17.5 percent to $21.07 after the company posted better-than-expected first-quarter results. Tyme Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: TYME) rose 15.9 percent to $3.3613. Destination Maternity Corporation (NASDAQ: DEST) shares gained 15.5 percent to $3.35 after the board announced late Wednesday the election of four activist-backed director nominees. Three women and one man comprise the selected group championed by NGM Capital’s Nathan Miller and Kenosis Capital’s Peter O’Malley. Destination Maternity had advocated for another slate of three men and interim CEO Melissa Payner-Gregor. The new directors are Holly Alden, Marla Ryan, Anne-Charlotte Windal and Christopher Morgan. AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXTI) rose 15 percent to $7.65. nLIGHT, Inc. (NASDAQ: LASR) gained 14.5 percent to $34.27 following Q1 results. Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHV) rose 14.3 percent to $11.4303. Bilibili Inc.. (NASDAQ: BILI) shares climbed 13.9 percent to $14.16 after announcing Q1 results. Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: BW) gained 13.2 percent to $2.91 after an amended 13D filing from Steel Partners Holdings shows a raised stake in the company from 6.99 million shares to 29.98 million shares, or a 17.8 percent stake. HUYA Inc. (NYSE: HUYA) gained 13.1
• [By Max Byerly]

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

  Get AXT alerts: Gallium Arsenide Global Market Players by 2023- Sumitomo Electric, AXT and China Crystal Technologies (newspharmaceuticals.com) TheStreet Downgrades AXT (AXTI) to C+ (americanbankingnews.com) Is this stock is Overbought? AXT, Inc. (AXTI) (stockquote.review) What Investors Should Know? AXT, Inc. (AXTI) (mostvolatilestocks.com) Community rallies around valley high school, putting on its first musical in 20 years (yourcentralvalley.com)

  Several analysts have recently issued reports on AXTI shares. BidaskClub upgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Dougherty & Co reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AXT in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. B. Riley decreased their price target on AXT from $8.75 to $8.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Zacks Investment Research downgraded AXT from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 1st. Finally, BWS Financial restated a “buy” rating on shares of AXT in a research note on Tuesday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $10.44.

Hot Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Utah Medical Products, Inc.(UTMD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Utah Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTMD) Director Ernst G. Hoyer sold 1,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.41, for a total value of $168,517.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Hot Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Western Asset High Income Opportunity Fund, Inc.(HIO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Headlines about Western Asset High Income (NYSE:HIO) have been trending positive this week, according to Accern Sentiment. The research group scores the sentiment of press coverage by analyzing more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Western Asset High Income earned a coverage optimism score of 0.49 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned press coverage about the closed-end fund an impact score of 47.4682522681889 out of 100, meaning that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the next few days.

Hot Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Fox Factory Holding Corp.(FOXF)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  ValuEngine upgraded shares of Fox Factory (NASDAQ:FOXF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

  Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on FOXF. BidaskClub downgraded Fox Factory from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating on shares of Fox Factory in a research report on Monday, May 7th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research upgraded Fox Factory from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Fox Factory presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $39.50.

Hot Stocks To Invest In Right Now: First Merchants Corporation(FRME)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Meeder Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of First Merchants Co. (NASDAQ:FRME) by 26.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,664 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,677 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in First Merchants were worth $195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Motherson Sumi Systems falls 6% after Q4 earnings miss analyst estimates

Auto ancillary company Motherson Sumi Systems share price fell 6 percent intraday on Wednesday after March quarter earnings missed analyst expectations.

Consolidated profit during the quarter grew by 9.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 518.4 crore, backed by revenue growth. Weak operating margin performance and lower other income hit bottomline growth.

Revenue from operations in March quarter shot up 36.9 percent to Rs 15,408 crore YoY, driven by Samvardhana Motherson Peguform (SMP) and Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR) that reported 21 percent and 6 percent growth, respectively.

"We are very grateful for the continued trust of our customers, which reflects in our order book being the highest ever at Rs 1.3 lakh crore (Euro 17.2 billion) at SMRP BV," Vivek Chaand Sehgal, Chairman, MSSL said.

related news Bajaj Electricals gains 6% despite 81% fall in Q4 net profit Rs 7.3 cr Market Update: PSU banks rally led by SBI, Andhra Bank; HPCL, BPCL fall 4% Motherson Sumi Q4 misses estimates; profit up 9% at Rs 518 cr, revenue jumps 37%

Motherson bagged new orders worth Rs 18,109 crore (euro 2.4 billion) during second half of FY18 and for the full year the new orders won were worth over Rs 35,464 crore (euro 4.7 billion), the company said, adding execution of orders worth over Rs 3,320 crore started during second half of FY18.

Revenue growth remained strong but operational performance was not that great.

SMR, the rear vision systems maker, posted EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) growth of 12 percent with margin expansion of 50 basis points while SMP, the maker of interior and exterior products for automotive industry, showed EBIT growth of 8.77 percent with margin contraction of 50 basis points.

Consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in Q4 grew by 17.8 percent to Rs 1,419 crore but margin fell 150 basis points to 9.2 percent compared to same quarter last year.

Other income halved to Rs 61.5 crore in quarter ended March 2018 compared to Rs 124.6 crore in corresponding period of last fiscal.

According to Reuters poll estimates, profit was expected at Rs 539 crore on revenue of Rs 15,407.8 crore with EBITDA at Rs 1,500.1 crore.

For the financial year 2017-18, profit grew by 25 percent to Rs 1,939 crore and revenue increased 33 percent to Rs 55,857 crore compared to previous year.

At 14:09 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 322.40, down Rs 12.55, or 3.75 percent on the BSE.

Michaels Companies (MIK) Shares Bought by Tredje AP fonden

Tredje AP fonden lifted its stake in Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:MIK) by 68.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,680 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,050 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Michaels Companies were worth $2,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alambic Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Michaels Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $511,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Michaels Companies by 61.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 8,161 shares in the last quarter. Riverhead Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Michaels Companies by 143.5% in the 1st quarter. Riverhead Capital Management LLC now owns 227,395 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 134,000 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Michaels Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,675,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Michaels Companies by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 727,457 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $14,338,000 after purchasing an additional 61,142 shares in the last quarter.

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MIK stock opened at $18.96 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of -1.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.25. Michaels Companies has a 12 month low of $17.25 and a 12 month high of $27.87.

Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:MIK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Michaels Companies had a negative return on equity of 24.07% and a net margin of 7.28%. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. equities research analysts predict that Michaels Companies will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Michaels Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. BidaskClub lowered shares of Michaels Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank cut their price target on shares of Michaels Companies from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 23rd. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Michaels Companies from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Michaels Companies in a report on Thursday, March 1st. They set a “hold” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.27.

Michaels Companies Profile

The Michaels Companies, Inc owns and operates arts and crafts specialty retail stores for Makers and do-it-yourself home decorators in North America. It operates Michaels stores that offer approximately 45,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in crafts, home decor and seasonal, framing, and paper crafting; and Aaron Brothers stores, which offer approximately 5,600 SKUs, including photo frames, a line of ready-made frames, art prints, framed art, art supplies, and custom framing services.

American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 15,568 Shares of AAR Corp (AIR)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AAR Corp (NYSE:AIR) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 252,492 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,568 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.73% of AAR worth $11,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the 4th quarter worth $30,164,000. Beach Point Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of AAR by 102.5% in the 4th quarter. Beach Point Capital Management LP now owns 459,046 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $18,036,000 after acquiring an additional 232,382 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of AAR by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,329,972 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $209,416,000 after acquiring an additional 217,049 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the 4th quarter worth $7,235,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of AAR in the 4th quarter worth $4,863,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of AAR from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 20th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of AAR from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 8th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of AAR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Noble Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AAR in a research note on Thursday, March 22nd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on shares of AAR to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

In other AAR news, CEO David P. Storch sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.02, for a total transaction of $2,201,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 667,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,372,741.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Anderson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $220,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,411 shares in the company, valued at $899,512.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 108,500 shares of company stock worth $4,755,155 over the last three months. 9.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Shares of AAR opened at $46.91 on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.35 and a beta of 1.23. AAR Corp has a fifty-two week low of $33.48 and a fifty-two week high of $47.56.

AAR (NYSE:AIR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 20th. The aerospace company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $456.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $475.89 million. AAR had a net margin of 1.34% and a return on equity of 6.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. analysts expect that AAR Corp will post 1.81 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 1st were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 30th. AAR’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.69%.

About AAR

AAR CORP. provides products and services to commercial aviation, government, and defense markets worldwide. The company's Aviation Services segment offers aftermarket support and services; inventory management and distribution services; and maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as engineering services.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 12,000 Shares of SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Tru

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. trimmed its stake in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:DIA) by 60.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,000 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock after selling 12,000 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DIA. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its position in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Delek Group Ltd. bought a new stake in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $162,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Carlton Hofferkamp & Jenks Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, Meridian Management Co. bought a new stake in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $220,000.

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Shares of DIA opened at $247.00 on Friday. SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust has a 12 month low of $206.58 and a 12 month high of $265.93.

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.6973 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 18th. This represents a $8.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. This is a boost from SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust’s previous monthly dividend of $0.13.

About SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (the Trust) is a unit investment, which issues securities called trust units or units. The Trust seeks to provide investment results that, before expenses, generally correspond to the price and yields performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an Index of 30 blue chip United States stocks.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DIA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:DIA).

SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 60,581 Shares of First American Co. (FAF)

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its position in First American Co. (NYSE:FAF) by 68.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,415 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 60,581 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in First American were worth $1,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerebellum GP LLC purchased a new position in shares of First American in the fourth quarter valued at about $129,000. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of First American in the first quarter valued at about $140,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of First American in the first quarter valued at about $208,000. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of First American in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Round Table Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of First American in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.99% of the company’s stock.

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In related news, COO Christopher Michael Leavell sold 27,714 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.35, for a total transaction of $1,423,113.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 168,919 shares in the company, valued at $8,673,990.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

First American opened at $53.93 on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. First American Co. has a 12-month low of $42.33 and a 12-month high of $62.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.77.

First American (NYSE:FAF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 26th. The insurance provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.03. First American had a net margin of 7.67% and a return on equity of 14.28%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. First American’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts expect that First American Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 7th. First American’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.27%.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. ValuEngine upgraded shares of First American from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of First American from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of First American from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

First American Profile

First American Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides financial services. It operates through Title Insurance and Services, and Specialty Insurance segments. The Title Insurance and Services segment issues title insurance policies on residential and commercial property, as well as offers related products and services.

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