Top Manager Says Don't Touch Tesla And Intuit

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-1130598362&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1130598362/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;583&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Tesla CEO Elon Musk&a;nbsp;

&l;p class=&q;tweet_line&q;&g;When Tony Mitchell, one of my managers, said he would never touch Tesla or Intuit, it caught my attention. Over the 18+ years I&s;ve watched Tony, his 17.15% return is nearly triple that of the S&a;amp;P 500&s;s 5.79%. When someone with a track record like that disagrees with me, I pay attention.

&l;strong&g;Ken Kam&l;/strong&g;: You don&s;t own any Tesla and never have, yet you seem to have a strong opinion?

&l;strong&g;Tony Mitchell&l;/strong&g;: I have never owned Tesla and I don&a;rsquo;t anticipate owning it at any time in the near future. Tesla is what I consider a &a;ldquo;don&a;rsquo;t touch&a;rdquo; stock.

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: Can you explain what is a &a;ldquo;don&a;rsquo;t touch&a;rdquo; stock?

&l;strong&g;Mitchell&l;/strong&g;: Sure. In the case of Tesla, here are the items that really stand out to me.

&l;em&g;Product&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; I have some friends that drive a Model S and they love it. I think they did a good job with the Model S and I&a;rsquo;ve heard mostly all positive feedback on the Model S. The only problem with the Model S is that it is not affordable for most with its starting price at $65,000.

If the Model 3 is the affordable model that is needed for the longevity of the company, I have serious concerns. I don&a;rsquo;t think the exterior is that exciting and the first thought I had when I saw the interior was that it was &a;ldquo;a well-upholstered Soap Box Derby Car with a tablet on the middle of the dashboard&a;rdquo;. I don&a;rsquo;t see the appeal of the Model 3. The Model T was more exciting when Henry Ford rolled it out!

&l;em&g;The Consumer Experience&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; Tesla has a cult of followers, and for that reason, I may not ever short the stock. It amazes me how many people defend Elon Musk, Tesla&s;s CEO, as the greatest thing since sliced bread. There is a fine line between genius and craziness.

Overall, the consumer experience has been mostly positive thus far, but I see many red flags. If Musk did not admit his mistake of wanting to close all the showrooms, it may have been lights out for the company.

&l;em&g;Sales Trends / Growth Rates&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; This has had its moments, concerns, and is still yet to be decided.

&l;em&g;Sustainability&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; The auto business is a tough business, is highly regulated, often sued, and has seen many great cars with modern innovation whose leaders failed to keep the company operating.

If you Google Defunct Auto companies, you&a;rsquo;ll find a list of over 1,200 companies &a;ndash; that is more than 10 a year that failed for the last 120 years! Some of these cars were just as futuristic as the Tesla &a;ndash; like the DeLorean or the Tucker.

If you think Tesla is different because it is electric, the list of names include many companies that were building electric cars years ago such as Detroit Electric (1907&a;ndash;1939), Century Electric (1911&a;ndash;1915), Baker Electric (1899&a;ndash;1916), Armstrong Electric (1885&a;ndash;1902) and many more!

&l;em&g;Management&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; A great leader realizes that his people are important assets of the company and in many cases, are the most important asset of the company. The turnover of top employees at Tesla is another red flag and combined with stories that I&a;rsquo;ve read about how employees are treated at Tesla, Musk isn&a;rsquo;t scoring any points in leadership. Add in Musk&s;s issues with the SEC, and I can&a;rsquo;t count on the Management in this company.

I&a;rsquo;m not saying that it isn&a;rsquo;t possible for Musk to get it right in the long run, as he certainly is very intelligent. But intelligence is not a guarantee of business success as there are many other factors that determine the success of a business.

&l;em&g;Price-To-Earnings Ratio&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; With the above issues, this would have to be the best value in the neighborhood to even consider an investment, and it is hardly close.

&l;em&g;Balance Sheet/Cash Flow&l;/em&g; - These are so closely related in this case and both such a big question mark. It is unclear whether or not the cash flow will be enough to sustain the company or if Tesla will need to raise cash. If it does need to raise cash, the current stockholders will certainly become diluted &a;ndash; just how much is the question.

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: It sounds like you don&a;rsquo;t see any upside in Tesla &a;ndash; do you?

&l;strong&g;Mitchell&l;/strong&g;: Not really &a;ndash; I would say there is definitely more risk to the downside and it could fall hard, but with a momentum stock like this that has the almost cult following that it does, it could see some upside and that is why I put a stock like this on my &a;ldquo;Don&a;rsquo;t Touch&a;rdquo; list.

&l;img class=&q;dam-image ap size-large wp-image-7f23e542e9fa48928c48ad90082c04f1&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/7f23e542e9fa48928c48ad90082c04f1/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; CEO of Intuit, Sasan Goodarzi

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: Why does Intuit belong on your &a;ldquo;Don&a;rsquo;t Touch&a;rdquo; list?

&l;strong&g;Mitchell&l;/strong&g;: I believe that the valuation of Intuit is extremely high, trading at 53 times trailing earnings and I don&a;rsquo;t believe that it is sustainable. Here are the big rocks that stick out for me with Intuit.

&l;em&g;Product or Service&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; Intuit has had some great products for business accounting and tax preparation, however, their online version of QuickBooks is not up to par and pales in comparison to its much older desktop versions of QuickBooks. They know it and admit it freely &a;ndash; if you upgrade to the online version, they tell you to use both versions for a period of time to make sure that the online version works for you.

&l;em&g;The Consumer Experience&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; If the above statement doesn&a;rsquo;t scare you enough, I have a friend who has used the desktop version, their Intuit Payroll services, and upgraded to QuickBooks online. He was happy with the first two services until he upgraded to the online version of QuickBooks and it was nothing but a headache for him since. He was being double billed, he couldn&a;rsquo;t get the payroll service to work with online QuickBooks, and worse of all, he called many times and he couldn&a;rsquo;t get the help that he needed to fix it for months.

&l;em&g;Management&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; My friend eventually had someone reach out to him and help him, but it took weeks after sending priority letters to the CEO and President of Intuit. Even then after everything was finally worked out, a month later he experienced another billing issue. Much of his problems started because of a salesperson that mislead him. But what made it worse for him was that nobody at Intuit would believe him until the office of the President assigned someone to fix his issues.

It isn&a;rsquo;t always easy to evaluate how good management is, as information on the actual behaviors of management is generally limited. But the failure to correct customers&s; issues is a behavior of management that should be accounted for and I believe that it will be reflected at some point in the price of their stock.

&l;em&g;Price-To-Earnings Ratio&l;/em&g; &a;ndash; With Earnings projected to grow 12.5% and Revenues 14%, a PE of 53 times trailing earnings is not justified.

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: If you owned Intuit would you be a seller?

&l;strong&g;Mitchell&l;/strong&g;: Yes, but I don&a;rsquo;t own it, so it is just a &a;ldquo;Don&a;rsquo;t Touch&a;rdquo; stock for me. If they improve the quality of their products and improve their customer service experience, they may be okay, but right now with the high PE, I see much more downside risk than upside potential.

&l;strong&g;My Take&l;/strong&g;: Tony told us &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkam/2017/03/27/top-internet-fund-manager-tony-mitchell-is-staying-away-from-snap/&q;&g;not to touch Snap&l;/a&g; in March 2017 when it was at $23. That was a great call as Snap traded as low as $5 in 2018 and closed&a;nbsp;today at $11.

My managers don&s;t always agree with each other. Hashing out investment ideas with other great investors helps all of my managers to improve. If you can&s;t have a discussion with someone with whom you disagree, you should not be an investor.

While I&s;ve heard from many who disagree with me on Tesla, I have a lot of respect for Tony&a;rsquo;s views because of his track record.

Tony Mitchell&s;s Internet Fund has an 18+ year track record that extends through 2 market crashes, numerous corrections, and sector rotations. Over that period, Tony averaged 17,15% a year which compares well to the S&a;amp;P 500&s;s 5.79% return for the same period. Over the last 15 &a;amp; 10 year periods, Tony&a;rsquo;s fund did better than the top U.S. equity mutual fund manager in Morningstar&s;s database. Tony&s;s portfolio is up 21% this year, almost double that of the S&a;amp;P&a;rsquo;s 11.7% through Friday.

To be notified when Tony updates his views, &l;a href=&q;https://paths.marketocracy.com/lists/?p=subscribe&a;amp;id=423&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;click here&l;/a&g;. To be notified when I write about specific stocks my managers cover, &l;a href=&q;https://paths.marketocracy.com/lists/?p=subscribe&a;amp;id=1&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;click here&l;/a&g;.&l;/p&g;

Altimmune Reports Positive NasoVax Data And Is Looking For Partners

Altimmune (ALT) recently announced additional positive data from their NasoVAX Phase II extension study that claimed that 100% of the reported subjects remained seroprotected over a year after vaccination. In addition, their seroconversion rate was unaffected beyond one year after vaccination. The new data came from subjects that were administered the highest NasoVAX dose. Out of fifteen subjects, eight returned to the study with an average of 13.5 months after vaccination. These subjects exhibited an impressive median hemagglutination inhibition "HAI" titer in excess of 3x higher than conventional seroprotective levels. What is more, they continued to present impressive mucosal antibody and T-cell measurements of immunoprotection revealed in earlier studies. The company believes that "NasoVAX is well positioned to compete with other influenza vaccines currently under development."

Company Overview

Altimmune is an immunotherapeutic biotech company employing two innovative therapeutic delivery platforms, RespirVec and Densigen. Altimmune has the capacity to design and cultivate products projected to target a broad range of disease indications comprising of acute respiratory infections, chronic viral infections, and cancer. In the end, Altimmune plans to generate products that have distinctive benefits over contemporary products.

Pipeline

NasoVAX is the flagship of the company's pipeline and the flagbearer of the RespirVec platform. NasoVAX is an intranasally administered influenza vaccine that contains an adenovector to enhance the influenza antigen inside a cell, as a result, boosting the systemic and rapid immune response matched against the current influenza vaccines.

HepTcell is an immunotherapy product candidate being developed for patients who are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus "HBV". HepTcell's aim is to offer a "functional cure" for HPV, which would require eradication of hepatitis B surface antigen "HBsAg" in a patient's blood.

SparVax-L is being developed as a two-dose anthrax vaccine that is being supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Although this anthrax candidate doesn't get the publicity as NasoShield, it is still in the clinic and has the potential for government contracts if approved.

Furthermore, the company has been developing a different Anthrax vaccine named NasoShield, intended to be a first-in-class product that can deliver rapid and stable protection after only one intranasal administration.

The company's pre-clinical program, Oncosyn, is an immunotherapeutic product candidate that is being designed to be used in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors for superior antitumor properties. This is the company's latest addition to the pipeline and first attempt to enter the oncology arena.

Figure 1: Altimmune Pipeline (Source ALT)

Altimmune's latest addition is ALT-702, a TLR7/8 agonist conjugate adjuvant that the company expects to safely produce or increase immune responses in an assortment of therapeutic settings. Adjuvants can be a useful tool to have for a company looking to modulate the immune system. Having ALT-702 allows the company to have multiple options in formulating a vaccine without needing to license another company's adjuvant.

Why Is This New Data Important?

The recent data is a noteworthy update for investors due to NasoVAX continuing to display superb results in clinical trials. Out of all of Altimmune's potential product candidates, I that believe that NasoVAX has the greatest potential to make it through the regulatory process and disrupt the flu vaccine market. In my previous Altimmune articles, I have stressed the importance of NasoVAX to remain unblemished through all clinical trials in order to find a seat at the table of elite flu vaccines. Historically, this is not an easy goal to accomplish for most therapeutics. In fact, it is common for therapeutics to demonstrate amazing results in their pre-clinical development and initial clinical trials; but they often lose that perfection as they progress through the regulatory process and are tested in larger trials. NasoVAX has yet to display any disintegration in their clinical trial numbers and this latest data is another tally in the win column.

Looking for a Partner

Another vital piece of information in the press releases was CEO Vipin Garg's declaration that the company intends to find a partner for NasoVAX's development and commercialization. This news should be welcomed by investors because of the potential for compensation, as well as the benefits of being partnered with an experienced commercial-staged company.

The next concern is the details of the potential partnership and how the market will react to the news. I will find the greatest value in who the partner is over any other detail. The flu vaccine market is dominated by a small group of juggernaut big pharmaceutical companies, which include Sanofi (SNY), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and CSL. Any mention of these companies being a potential partner would be a monumental catalyst for the stock. Having a big pharma would validate the legitimacy of Altimmune and NasoVAX, which bolster investor sentiment as long as NasoVAX progress through regulatory actions with a name brand company holding its hand. On the other hand, if the partner is not a highly recognized vaccine company, we can expect a weaker response from the market and the need for finer details.

Other major details to be analyzed would be the payment size and structure. Altimmune can benefit from a substantial upfront payment, as well as milestone payments to reinforce the bank account. Another detail to look for would be if the partnership is just a U.S. partnership or a possible global partnership. The flu is a global public health concern and is continually mutating as it spreads from one population to the next; so, I wouldn't be surprised if NasoVAX's partnership is for global rights. Not only would this entail a larger payment/s but could also require the partner to pay for the regulatory process in other regulatory jurisdictions.

How is NasoVAX Doing It?

NasoVAX is an intranasally administered rAd influenza vaccine that generates the expression of the influenza antigen in the body. This goal of this action is to stimulate a comprehensive and prompt immune response compared to traditional influenza vaccines.

Source

This combination of serum antibody, mucosal antibody, and T-cell responses improves the body's capability to thwart infection and advocates that NasoVAX could have a superior impact on flu symptoms and purging of the flu virus than currently approved influenza vaccines.

This recent data was acquired from subjects that returned for analysis exhibited adequate seroprotective levels for at least 13 months. It is not typical for an influenza vaccine to have durable responses over one year and advocates that immune response prompted by NasoVAX could be defensive beyond the present influenza vaccines.

However, this latest data is confirming NasoVAX is still demonstrating similar measurements from previous readouts. I have inserted company graphs that display these previous data points in comparison with Fluzone.

Figure 2: Antibodies Measured Over Time (Source ALT)

Looking at figure 2, we can see that NasoVAX (Dark Blue Line) outperforms Fluzone (Green Line) in terms of the number of antibodies beyond 91 days. This is important due to the flu season lasting over 5 months.

Figure 3: T-Cell Response (Source ALT)

Figure 3, shows how the higher dose NasoVAX stimulates a stronger T-Cell response compared to Fluzone by day 8. According to Altimmune, having a robust T-Cell response helps defend against genetic drift and shift that can occur in the influenza virus.

Figure 4: Seroprotection Rates (Source ALT)

Figure 4, shows how the NasoVAX outperforms Fluzone in seroprotection rates, which indicates a NasoVAX vaccinated subject's antibody response is greater than a Fluzone vaccinated subject's antibody response.

NasoVAX outperforms Fluzone in all these measurements, which points toward an improved influenza vaccine. As long as NasoVAX continues to outperform Fluzone through the regulatory process, investors should expect NasoVAX to accrue a market interest as a potential flu vaccine disruptor.

Changing Focus?

The new pipeline candidate Oncosyn and proposed acquisitions appear to be moving away from vaccines and more towards other therapeutics. Remember, Garg stated in the recent press release,

"We are currently engaged in a rigorous acquisition review process focused on novel immunotherapeutic approaches for cancer, including immunostimulants and oncolytic viruses, and innovative product candidates for liver diseases. The proceeds from our recent successful financing efforts have put us in a strong position to execute our acquisition plans."

Moving away from the prophylactic infectious disease vaccines does trigger some red flags for me. The company has been progressing their flu and anthrax vaccines through the regulatory processes…now the company wants to add oncology and hepatology to the mix?

I agree that immunoncology and NASH are hot topics in the biotech arena. But, why should a small-cap biotech decide to start down a road that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to get those products to the market? Although I do like to see the R&D department working at full-bore; I also like to see at least one product candidate cross the FDA finish line before the company starts dividing its attention to other Performing some pre-clinical work is acceptable but I always become apprehensive when a company decides roll-out a whole new arm of the pipeline before fully establishing their flagship products. The amount of time and expenses that will be needed to initiate clinical trials could be used to fund operations.

What would I like to see? I would like to see the company nail down a source of revenue and work with the platforms they have. In my first Altimmune article, I had a section that outlined my wish list for Altimmune's expanded use of the RespirVec platform.

"I do see ALT to be a long-term hold if management is able to close some deals and collaborations. I am very intrigued to see what other vaccines can be generated with the RespirVec platform. Studies have shown that other diseases can be vaccinated with a rAd nasal vaccine. Some of these include:

Tetanus Ebola Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Botulism HIV Malaria

I still believe the company should push forward with RespirVec and possible address these notorious illnesses listed above. Alternatively, the company could find other infectious viruses to address such as hand, foot, and mouth disease, or rotavirus; both of which carry a high degree of morbidity and mortality to young children worldwide.

If the company can prove that NasoVAX works and that the same platform technology works with other vaccines…don't you expect big pharma to start finding ways to collaborate/partner with Altimmune?

My general view of this is…prove to me that you can get your flagship product to the market before trying to tackle what other multi-billion companies are attempting to accomplish.

Financials

The company has been focusing a lot of its efforts on securing funding to feed the expanding pipeline and have enough ammo to complete its expected pipeline acquisitions.

Back On March 8th, the company revealed they had roughly $34.4M in cash, cash equivalents at the end of 2018. With the recent offering pulling in $12.7M, the company has a significant amount of cash, which Garg intends to utilize some of these funds to acquire new product candidates. This is where my concern about expanding the pipeline comes into play. How much is the company going to be allocated to acquiring candidates? How much is going to be used in the direction of current pipeline candidates? What are the operating expenses going to be after these acquisitions?

Without these details, it is hard to estimate where the company will be at the end of 2019. That hefty bank account could be cut down in a short period of time with a few purchases and an increased cash burn rate to progress the new pipeline.

What is Next?

The company has announced it will be releasing its Q4/2018 earnings report and hosting a conference call on April 2nd. Not only will investors get see the better-quality financial details of the company, but I also expect analysts to inquire about the proposed NasoVAX partnership and the expected acquisitions.

Another event to note is the upcoming International Liver Congress on April 12, where the company will present HepTcell Phase I clinical trial data. Hopefully, this presentation will contain updated data for HepTcell that should provide a clearer picture of HepTcell's efficacy. Previously, the company had trouble comprehending the data due to the results of the treated subjects were not prominently different than placebo controls. This required the company to evaluate the two-dose levels of HepTcell and need for the TLR-9 agonist adjuvant. Both of these doses displayed tolerability and was able to hit the primary endpoint of safety. In addition, Altimmune announced elevated baseline-adjusted immune response levels and responder rate in the two adjuvanted HepTcell dose groups in comparison to the placebo group.

Altimmune believes that the analysis of the data delivered enough evidence to move HepTcell into Phase II trials. Perhaps this upcoming presentation will provide investors with more encouraging data and we can see a resurgence in the share price due to Altimmune potentially having a functional cure for HBV.

Conclusion

NasoVAX continues to impress and the company is now looking for potential partners to get it through the rest of the FDA process and onto the market. If Garg can secure a brand name partner for NasoVAX, the company would be granted instant credibility and would be a transformative development for NasoVAX as it moves forward with proper support. In addition, investors should expect a metamorphic change in the stock as the biotech sector begins to discover ALT as a legitimate stock to invest in. At the moment, ALT's market cap is around $20M which I believe is drastically undervalued considering the company has roughly $47M in funds. In addition, the company's current cash per share is about 3.5, which we can expect Garg to deploy in order to acquire new pipeline candidates.

This is where Garg can make or break 2019…if Garg can secure a strong U.S or global partner for NasoVAX with a beneficial payment structure, we could see the company's current cash position sustain the company long enough to get NasoVAX through the regulatory process and to launch. This would provide the company with a sustained source of revenue and hopefully prevent heavy shareholder dilution in the coming years. On the other hand, Garg could start writing checks and acquiring pipeline candidates before having a NasoVAX partner deal signed. I would find this extremely disappointing because this would mean NasoVAX would most likely have to wait for a partnership deal to move forward into Phase III, or Altimmune would have to fully-fund the Phase III. If the company does have to move into phase III without a development partner, we can expect another offering at some point in the future. Of course, other possible scenarios can transpire but the two above are more definitive and should create some volatility in the stock.

Personally, I have gained some confidence in Garg and hope to see if he can get the NasoVAX partnership finalized before they begin Phase III and before the bank account requires another offering. If Garg can secure a brand name partner before the end of Q2, I will look to add to my evolving position. However, if Garg fails to secure a partner in that time, I will refrain from adding until there is a clear strategy for NasoVAX and the cash runway can be estimated with detailed information.

2019 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for my ALT investment as the company's lead product moves closer to FDA approval, yet, the company is starting looking to take their pipeline in another direction. I believe Altimmune already has an impressive pipeline that needs to be pushed to the limit before looking elsewhere. Unless the company has identified some great opportunities, I would rather see the current pipeline products have the support needed to get to the finishing line before the company takes a gamble unproven products or platforms. Despite the potential for a promising NasoVAX partnership, I have to be critical of Garg's choices for acquisitions and weigh my options. I invested in ALT because of NasoVAX and their current pipeline...if Garg decides to turn Altimmune into a money pit "cancer vaccine" company, I will liquidate my position upon the news release.

Disclosure: I am/we are long ALT. 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.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more microcap stocks. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

These stocks could benefit from Trump's Mueller win

Certain stocks and sectors could see a boost now that the special counsel investigation is over, allowing an unfettered President Donald Trump to turn his focus back to policymaking, both against and, in some cases, with the Democrats, analysts said.

Robert Mueller's 22-month-long probe found no evidence of Trump collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign, lifting the cloud that had been hanging over his presidency since his inauguration.

Infrastructure

One of Trump's long-held goals that has been pushed aside is his trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. Although the plan is somewhat supported on both sides of the political aisle, the parties diverge on how to fund the pricey investment.

However, infrastructure is still on Trump's mind. The president said just last week that he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are still talking about an elusive infrastructure deal.

Strategas has an infrastructure basket consisting of about 20 companies in traditional highway infrastructure that could benefit from any deal. The portfolio was created in 2008 to play President Barack Obama's stimulus in 2009, and the constituents have gained with the passage of highway bills over the years, according to Strategas.

The member stocks include pipeline services company Aegion Corp., general contractor Granite Construction, engineering company KBR and building material company Simpson Manufacturing.

However, a large bipartisan infrastructure bill is unlikely if Trump uses the Mueller outcome against the Democrats, and they in turn keep their intense investigations of the president.

"Is it time for infrastructure? Democrats and the administration are very far apart," James Pethokoukis, economic analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. "I highly doubt we are going to see anything like that. Maybe if this was like the beginning of last year, now that we are deep into the election season, I don't think so."

Health care

The new development is positive for health insurers as a Democratic sweep in the Senate is now less likely in 2020, alleviating the risks of having big changes to the health-care system, according to one industry analyst.

A divided government post 2020 "reduces market perception of single payer risks," Lance Wilkes, equity analyst at at Bernstein, said in a note. "We see continued pressure on drug prices and middlemen, ongoing Medicaid expansion at a state level, and the potential for stabilization of public exchange funding and policies."

Bernstein noted insurers and government Managed Care Organizations took a hit since the introduction of the "Medicare-for-all" bill in the House as Anthem, UnitedHealth, Centene and Humana were down as much as 11 percent.

"We would see this environment as positive for government Managed Care Organizations, Anthem and its company specific earnings drivers, and continued policy pressure on Pharmacy benefit managements," Wilkes said.

Defense

Stocks overall have had an epic run since Trump's election at the end of 2016, with the S&P 500 gaining more than 30 percent as Trump's overhaul of corporate taxes gave an unprecedented boost to corporations. One of the biggest winners has been defense stocks as the White House continuously upped its military budget over the past two years.

The SPDR S&P Aerospace and Defense ETF is up 55 percent since the Nov. 8 election and has returned more than 13 percent year to date.

Many of the large defense stocks including Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have posted double-digit gains on the improved outlook for U.S. defense spending under the Trump administration.

The administration has approved two defense-friendly budget bills that have elevated the Pentagon's spending power to $700 billion in 2018 and $717 billion in 2019.

During Trump's State of the Union address last month, he pledged to increase the Pentagon's budget and reassess military alliances and agreements with foreign nations.

The Investment Returns From Stamps - Part 2

&l;p&g;Last month began a series of three articles designed to prove that stamps were a good investment in collectibles.&a;nbsp; The analysis is based on a comparison of the stamp purchase recommendations made in my 1994 guide titled&a;nbsp; &a;ldquo;Best Buys In Postage Stamps.&a;rdquo;&a;nbsp; That book addressed over 16,000 stamps giving their appreciation histories and assigning an appreciation potential based on past results.&a;nbsp; My first article showed that mint stamps recommended in 1994 appreciated 195.5% or 7.8% per year over the 25 year from 1993 to 2018.&a;nbsp; The items not recommended appreciated 155% or 6.2% per year.&a;nbsp; These results validated two of my assumption. First it proved that stamp appreciation for stamps valued at $25 or more and issued prior to 1950 were more likely to appreciate than those issued subsequently.&a;nbsp; Secondly, it proved that analytic metrics could be applied to such stamps to find stamps that will do better than the average.&a;nbsp; What is particularly encouraging is that this took place during a time when, by all accounts, prices were assumed to have come down due to the Internet and collector demographics.&a;nbsp; We now see that this was not true for investment caliber stamps.

This article deals with the investment performance of used stamps during this same 1993 to 2018 time period. &a;nbsp;The analysis covered some 11,552 items ($29,026,877) with the following performance results:

&l;/p&g;&l;ol&g;&l;li&g;The recommended items, 4,164 now valued at $13,807,210, returned 255.5% or 10.2% per year.&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Of the 5242 (45.4%) items with an average return of 5% or higher each year for 25 years, the recommended totaled 1797 (43.2% of our recommendations). Contrast this with the 575 (5.0%) items with a negative rate of return of which I recommended only 179 (4.3% of our recommendations)&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;

&l;ol&g;&l;li&g;The recommended items, 4,164 now valued at $13,807,210, returned 255.5% or 10.2% per year.&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

Their lower average return versus that for the recommended stamps is clear testimony that using financial analysis metrics on stamps does produce more positive results.&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;The stamp universe we reviewed (11,552) broke down to annual average return percentages as follows:&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

0%&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; 3.3%

&a;gt;0% to 2%&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; 20.9%

2% to 5%&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; 25.4%

5% to 10%&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; 24.0%

10% to 20%&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; 13.6%

20%+&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; 7.8%

Negative % &a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; &a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;0.5%

&l;ol start=&q;5&q;&g;&l;li&g;The 5 highest appreciation stamps in the last 25 years were the following:&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Two Sicilies #3e went from $12 to $9,000 (74,900%)&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Wurttemberg #O146a went from $20 to $13,400 (66,900%)&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;New Britain #29F went from $90 to $30,000 (33,233%)&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Russia #31a went from $375 to $62,500 (16,566%)&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Two Sicilies #5d went from $100 to $15,000 (14,900%)&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;While used stamps outperformed mint by a significant amount, they also showed more sizable declines by certain countries. Below are the countries with the highest percentages of stamps showing declines, which may be an indication of the overall strength of that country (note the USA showed only 3.1% of issues declining):&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Greece &a;ndash; 13.2%&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Monaco &a;ndash; 27.2%&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Japan &a;ndash; 23.3%&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Belgium &a;ndash; 13.2%&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Germany including states &a;amp; colonies &a;ndash; 11.4%&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

The overall performance of used stamps exceeded that of mint stamps (10.2% versus 7.8% as did the aggregate value of stamps in the over $25 category ($29,026,877 for used versus $19,512,244 for mint).&a;nbsp; This reflect the fact that collecting used stamps has a much longer history than for mint ones.&a;nbsp; However, it stands to reason that mint stamps from these early years must generally be much rarer and have many more quality issues, making mint never hinged or mint with decent gum a much more difficult find.&a;nbsp; Hence, over time, it is likely that mint stamps will significantly outperform used ones.

One of the vulnerabilities for the catalog companies in the past has been their dependence on the integrity of the dealers providing them with price guidance for stamps that are not frequently traded.&a;nbsp; In addition, collectors are vulnerable to changes in the listing policies of the catalogues, which can lead to serious market mispricing.&a;nbsp; Two examples will illustrate this point.&a;nbsp; The #1 issue of St. Vincent in the 1993 Scott cataloged was priced at $8,000 mint and $500 used and continued at this level until 1998.&a;nbsp; Then in the 1999 catalog it suddenly showed no price, which continued to be the policy until 2005 when the prices suddenly appeared as $50 mint and $15 used, a whopping price decline of -93.7% and -97% respectively.&a;nbsp; The Stanley Gibbons catalogue or as they prefer, price list since they are also a dealer in such stamps, showed a similar change, however they reported the price drop as early as 1998.&a;nbsp; The reason for the change was that the stamp existed with 2 perforation varieties; an 1861 clean cut or intermediate perf 14 and 16 and an 1862 rough perf 14 and 16.&a;nbsp; I was advised by a specialist in these stamps that identification and certification of the perforations proved too difficult, so it was decided that this was a distinction without a difference and the cheaper version became the new #1.

A second example of catalogue confusion is Switzerland #195c which is assumed to be a redrawing print variety of #195 and is priced at $3,100 mint and $7,500 used.&a;nbsp; The printing variety they are pricing, however, is something entirely different and is clearly illustrated in the Zumstein Swiss catalog.&a;nbsp; At least two dealers have jumped on this discrepancy and offer this $.75 stamp on eBay; one for $500, and a second for a mere $2,925 with 24 month financing available, but with interest.&a;nbsp; To top it off, both dealers were too cheap to buy the current Scott catalogue since they show it at a previous $4,500 value versus the current $7,500.&a;nbsp; What is discouraging is that this discrepancy has existed for over two decade and no one alerted Scott.&a;nbsp; The lesson here is, when buying such high priced items, get them certified.

The Internet is a great pricing transparency guide, so I expect such occurrences will be fewer and far between.&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; Note, however, that dependence on auction results still leaves an opening for sham sales to drive up listed prices, a practice which is hard to detect.

Note that I use the excellent Scott Classic Specialized Catalogues for much of my research and am astounded by the fact that this catalogue, which reports on all stamps issued from 1840 to 1940, has grown from 878 pages in 1995 to 1,334 in the 2019 edition, a 52% growth for a universe of stamps that has had no new issues in 79 years!&a;nbsp; The growth has been in mint never hinged listings, more forerunner (&a;lsquo;A&a;rsquo; prefix) listings, more covers being assigned numbers and in a larger type size for our ageing eyes.&a;nbsp; Also, the SCADTA and China Treaty Port issues have finally been recognized.&a;nbsp; Now if they would only recognize the Mexico provincial overprints, the Spanish civil war local issues, and telegraph stamps, life would be complete.&a;nbsp; Who says there&a;rsquo;s no growth left in stamp collecting!

Next month I will wrap up this analysis of stamps as investments with a summary of findings and conclusions which will cement the case for even the most die-hard sceptic.

Oil-Dri Co. of America to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (ODC)

Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th.

Oil-Dri Co. of America has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years.

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Oil-Dri Co. of America stock opened at $28.91 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market cap of $211.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48 and a beta of 0.96. Oil-Dri Co. of America has a 52-week low of $24.25 and a 52-week high of $46.73.

Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $69.88 million during the quarter. Oil-Dri Co. of America had a net margin of 3.56% and a return on equity of 7.22%.

In related news, Director Allan H. Selig purchased 1,000 shares of Oil-Dri Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.90 per share, with a total value of $25,900.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 38,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $984,200. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Oil-Dri Co. of America stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Oil-Dri Co. of America (NYSE:ODC) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 0.57% of Oil-Dri Co. of America worth $1,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors own 52.49% of the company’s stock.

Separately, ValuEngine lowered shares of Oil-Dri Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 15th.

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About Oil-Dri Co. of America

Oil-Dri Corporation of America develops, manufactures, and markets sorbent products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Retail and Wholesale Products Group, and Business to Business Products Group. The company provides agricultural and horticultural products, including mineral-based absorbent products, which serve as chemical carriers, drying agents, and growing media under the Agsorb, Verge, Flo-Fre, and Terra-Green brand names.

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Another Price Hike Won't Solve AT&T's Pay-TV Problems

AT&T (NYSE:T) is the country's largest pay-TV provider, but it's also been one of the most susceptible to cord-cutting. The company lost nearly 1 million subscribers in the second half of 2018 after it raised prices on some of its video packages.

Now, it's raising prices again on its low-cost streaming service DIRECTV NOW. Most customers will see prices go up by $10 per month, as AT&T revamps its channel packages, according to a report by Cord Cutters News. AT&T is also reducing the number of channels in its DIRECTV NOW offerings. Management has previously mentioned plans to "thin out" the content on the service, focusing on the channels consumers want most. To that end, it's including HBO in both new bundles and Cinemax in the higher-priced bundle.

The move might make the service more profitable in the short term, but it's sure to send many customers fleeing to competitors.

The DIRECTV NOW menu. Image source: AT&T.

Forcing profits

It's no secret that AT&T's pay-TV business is seeing declining profits. Operating income for the entertainment group declined 33% year over year in the fourth quarter when adjusting for historical accounting standards. That wasn't entirely the result of subscriber losses, as operating and EBITDA margins are declining.

The clear culprit is DIRECTV NOW. AT&T doesn't give details on the average revenue per user for the streaming service or its profit margin, but as of last year, it appeared to be losing money. At the same time, it's been the main source of subscriber growth for AT&T.

It seemed that AT&T's plan to make DIRECTV NOW profitable was to offer customers add-on services like cloud DVR or additional streams. The company might also be able to leverage its small digital advertising business to improve ad sales on the streaming platform. But the service may have been stymied by competition from Hulu and Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) YouTube, which have eaten into AT&T's market share and both include cloud DVR with their services.

AT&T's new plan is to reduce the number of channels it offers while raising the price in order to pad the gross margin and make room for potential operating profits. It will serve the low end with Watch TV (a skinny bundle of channels with Turner networks at the core) and its forthcoming WarnerMedia three-tiered streaming service.

Ceding to the competition

It's very likely that AT&T's changes to DIRECTV NOW will only fuel a trend that started taking hold last year -- the rise of Hulu's Live TV service and YouTube TV. Hulu Live reportedly surpassed DIRECTV NOW's subscriber count by the end of last year, and it's closing in on 2 million subscribers. Meanwhile, YouTube TV has over 1 million subscribers. Both services start at $40 per month, $10 less than the planned low-price package in DIRECTV NOW.

Focusing on delivering a profitable product now will cost AT&T market share. And while it has plenty of market share to cede, it could build a bigger business by finding ways to improve profitability without charging the customer for it directly.

That could mean building scale and using it to further improve its digital advertising product. That's exactly what Google and Hulu have done. Hulu has over 25 million subscribers. YouTube has billions of people visiting its free service every month, each watching over an hour of video per day on average. That's a lot of eyeballs and a lot of data, both of which are extremely attractive to advertisers.

Scale also helps reduce the cost of delivering the product. With sufficient scale, AT&T could build out its own infrastructure for delivering DIRECTV NOW. YouTube TV is built on Google's technology. Hulu Live TV runs on Disney's (which is a majority owner of Hulu) BAMTech.

AT&T's decision to focus on profits in the short term will ultimately limit its potential in the TV market while giving strength to its biggest competition.

Zacks Investment Research Lowers Global Medical REIT (GMRE) to Hold

Global Medical REIT (NYSE:GMRE) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

According to Zacks, “Global Medical REIT Inc. is engaged primarily in the acquisition of licensed, state-of-the-art, purpose-built healthcare facilities and the leasing of these facilities to clinical operators. Global Medical REIT Inc. is based in Denver, United States. “

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Several other research analysts have also commented on GMRE. B. Riley set a $11.00 price target on Global Medical REIT and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Boenning Scattergood reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Medical REIT in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Global Medical REIT from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $9.03 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.17.

GMRE traded up $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.42. 771,191 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 157,750. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09. Global Medical REIT has a twelve month low of $6.34 and a twelve month high of $10.76. The company has a market cap of $234.97 million, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.58.

In other news, major shareholder Zh Usa, Llc acquired 1,111,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.00 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,999.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 13.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GMRE. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Global Medical REIT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Global Medical REIT by 113.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 10,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 5,470 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Medical REIT in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $116,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Global Medical REIT during the fourth quarter worth about $118,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in Global Medical REIT by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 15,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474 shares during the period. 42.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Medical REIT Company Profile

Global Medical REIT, Inc operates as a development stage company that intends to develop and manage a portfolio of healthcare real estate assets and properties. The company was founded on March 18, 2011 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

See Also: What are the advantages of the Stochastic Momentum Index?

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Global Medical REIT (GMRE)

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

Edwards Lifesciences Corp (EW) Chairman & CEO Michael A Mussallem Sold $5.5 million of Shares

Chairman & CEO of Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW) Michael A Mussallem sold 32,800 shares of EW on 03/08/2019 at an average price of $167.89 a share. The total sale was $5.5 million.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp is a part of the healthcare sector. The company specializes in the treatment of structural heart disease. It manufactures heart valves and repair products used to replace or repair a patient's diseased or defective heart valve. Edwards Lifesciences Corp has a market cap of $35.98 billion; its shares were traded at around $173.17 with a P/E ratio of 51.23 and P/S ratio of 9.93. Edwards Lifesciences Corp had annual average EBITDA growth of 17.70% over the past ten years. GuruFocus rated Edwards Lifesciences Corp the business predictability rank of 4-star.

CEO Recent Trades:

Chairman & CEO Michael A Mussallem sold 32,800 shares of EW stock on 03/08/2019 at the average price of $167.89. The price of the stock has increased by 3.14% since.Chairman & CEO Michael A Mussallem sold 32,800 shares of EW stock on 02/12/2019 at the average price of $176.9. The price of the stock has decreased by 2.11% since.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

CVP, TAVR Larry L Wood sold 6,716 shares of EW stock on 03/01/2019 at the average price of $170.82. The price of the stock has increased by 1.38% since.VP, Corporate Controller Robert W.a. Sellers sold 500 shares of EW stock on 02/22/2019 at the average price of $175.04. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.07% since.CVP, Critical Care Catherine M. Szyman sold 1,474 shares of EW stock on 02/21/2019 at the average price of $176.34. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.8% since.VP, Corporate Controller Robert W.a. Sellers sold 2,623 shares of EW stock on 02/21/2019 at the average price of $175.08. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.09% since.CVP,Strategy/Corp Development Donald E Jr Bobo sold 5,500 shares of EW stock on 02/13/2019 at the average price of $177.75. The price of the stock has decreased by 2.58% since.

For the complete insider trading history of EW, click here

.

Top Financial Stocks For 2019

tags:BCS,CABO,RMP,

15 Best States for Retirement: 2017

10 Most Generous U.S. Donors: 2017

Puzder Withdraws From Labor Secretary Nomination

Another financial-sector company is fighting to keep its name secret as it challenges the power of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to bring an enforcement action.

The company—identified only as “John Doe” in Washington federal trial court—offers pension advance products that allow consumers to receive a lump sum payment in exchange for a portion, or all, of their future pension.

Originally published on National Law Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

"The Hensarling proposal would transform the bureau from an effective watchdog into a toy poodle," Sen. Sherrod Brown said of...

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ThinkAdvisor's TechCenter is an educational resource designed to give you a competitive edge by keeping you abreast of new tech innovations and need-to-know information that can be applied to your business. Resources STRAIGHT-THROUGH PROCESSING FOR THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

STP can be described as electronically capturing and processing transactions in one pass, from the point of first 'deal' to final settlement.

Top Financial Stocks For 2019: Barclays PLC(BCS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Wayne Duggan]

  It seems the Fed has been pulling the strings at Deutsche Bank for about a year now — but the company’s shareholders don’t have much to show for it. Deutsche Bank stock is now down 40 percent from a year ago, a much worse performance that competing European bank stocks such as Lloyds Banking Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE: LYG), Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE: BCS) and Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR) (NYSE: CS), all of which have generated returns of between positive 7.5 percent and negative 10.1 percent in the past year.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  Well, Money Morning Special Situations Strategist Tim Melvin has broken these secrets out of the vault of the Smart Money managers. And he's sharing the Max Wealth secrets for free right here.

  Three Stocks to Watch Today: TSLA, GE, ARNC Shares of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) continue to face pressure thanks to the Twitter feed of CEO Elon Musk. Shares slumped 7% on Friday as traders reacted negatively to Musk's criticism of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and his $20 million settlement with the agency. Shareholders have even take directly to Twitter to beg Musk not to send out tweets and criticizing him for failing to look out for their financial interests. "If you put as much effort into improving operating efficiency as you do tweeting, you might have a fighting cash at profitability," typed one user. Shares of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) rose by 2.8% after the firm received a surprise endorsement from Barclays Plc. (NYSE: BCS). The British investment bank suggested that the stock could pop as high as $20 per share on higher expectations for new CEO Larry Culp. The company's analyst said that most of the bad news and expectations are already baked into the stock and that General Electric could experience a turnaround. The analyst's 12-month outlook pegs GE stock at $16 per share (from this morning's $13.56). Arconic Inc. (NYSE: ARNC) shares jumped 3.7% on takeover speculation this morning. Multiple media outlets are stating that various private equity giants and investment firms are engaging in a bidding war to purchase the producer of aluminum products. The list of suitors includes Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX), Carlyle Group LP (NYSE: CG), Onex Corp., and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Look for earnings reports today from USA Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: USAT). While today's report isn't that newsworthy, keep in mind that earnings season kicks off this week. On Friday, look for reports from some of America's top banks, including JPM
• [By Shane Hupp]

  Barclays (NYSE: BCS) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Grp (NYSE:SMFG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  While researching his best-selling book, "Contrarian Investing," this man uncovered a method that is surprisingly easy – and less risky than traditional methods of making money in the markets. You can grow incredibly wealthy using this secret method – even when markets are going down. In fact, he made his first huge gain using this method when the markets were completely crashing. See it for yourself…

  Stocks to Watch Today: AMZN, BBBY, BCS, CRM Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares pushed higher after the e-commerce giant received an upgrade from Evercore. The analysts hiked the price target from $1,800 to $1,965 on expectations of higher gross profits. "In this note, we make the case that given Amazon's shifting business mix," analysts wrote, "the pace of gross profit growth has become a more relevant indicator of the health of the business, and as such, should be the key metric used to value the company." Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) fell 3.5% after the firm received a stock downgrade from Barclays Plc. (NYSE: BCS). The investment bank said it is concerned about the retail firm's ongoing restructuring. Barclays dropped its price target for BBBY stock from $15 to $13, citing concerns about retail traffic trends and gross margin growth. Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) will report earnings after the bell on Monday. Look for other earnings reports from YY Inc. (NYSE: YY), Clarus Corp. (NASDAQ: CLAR), and The Children's Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE).

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• [By Max Byerly]

  Earnest Partners LLC decreased its stake in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) by 25.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,521 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Barclays were worth $195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Press coverage about Barclays (NYSE:BCS) has trended somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. The research firm scores the sentiment of press coverage by reviewing more than 20 million blog and news 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. Barclays earned a daily sentiment score of 0.17 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media coverage about the financial services provider an impact score of 45.4019094998773 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near term.

Top Financial Stocks For 2019: Cable One, Inc.(CABO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class A (NYSE: CABO) and Cable One (NYSE:CABO) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and risk.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Cable One Inc (NYSE:CABO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

• [By Jim Royal]

  While many investors are crying over "cord-cutters" leaving the industry and "cord-nevers" who have never signed on for video services, many are missing the stunning economics of high-speed data, the "other cable." For example, rival Cable One (NYSE: CABO) notes in its annual report that its data and business services units generate EBITDA margins that are four and five times greater, respectively, than its video unit. In other words, the much smaller Cable One can generate margins better than 50% of sales, and it has industry-leading margins.

Top Financial Stocks For 2019: Rice Midstream Partners LP(RMP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) and Rice Midstream Partners (NYSE:RMP) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

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

  Get Rice Midstream Partners alerts: Investor Expectations to Drive Momentum within Balchem, Beacon Roofing Supply, Rice Midstream Partners LP, LTC Properties, Ubiquiti Networks, and 1st Source — Discovering Underlying Factors of Influence (finance.yahoo.com) Rice Midstream Partners (RMP) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at ValuEngine (americanbankingnews.com) Zacks: Brokerages Expect Rice Midstream Partners (RMP) to Announce $0.40 EPS (americanbankingnews.com) Rice Midstream: 1Q Earnings Snapshot (finance.yahoo.com) Rice Midstream Partners (RMP) Announces $0.30 Dividend (americanbankingnews.com)

  RMP stock opened at $17.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1,871.10, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.17. Rice Midstream Partners has a 52 week low of $16.87 and a 52 week high of $26.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Archrock (NYSE: RMP) and Rice Midstream Partners (NYSE:RMP) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Media headlines about Rice Midstream Partners (NYSE:RMP) have trended somewhat positive on Thursday, according to Accern. Accern ranks the sentiment of news coverage by reviewing more than 20 million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Rice Midstream Partners earned a news impact score of 0.07 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media stories about the oil and gas producer an impact score of 45.5093510879888 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the next few days.

David Einhorn Exits Billionaire Club After Horrible Investment Run

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image bloomberg size-large wp-image-42351530&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/42351530/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Greenlight Capital founder David Einhorn &l;span&g;at the 2018 Ira Sohn Conference&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;wearing a dated tie that he wore nearly two decades ago when revealing a bet against Allied Capital. Photographer: Kholood Eid/Bloomberg

For famed hedge fund short-seller &l;a href=&s;http://www.forbes.com/profile/david-einhorn/&s;&g;David Einhorn&l;/a&g;, 2018 was a year that should have created a few big wins. After all, a decade after his legendary bet against investment bank Lehman Brothers, global stock markets erupted in chaos early in the&a;nbsp;year and closed near multiyear lows. Asset bubbles like a cryptocurrency mania Einhorn was tracking popped, and pressure mounted on his longtime foe, Tesla&s;s billionaire CEO &l;a href=&s;http://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/&s;&g;Elon Musk&l;/a&g;, who was sanctioned by the Securities &a;amp; Exchange Commission.

Instead, Einhorn flopped. His hedge fund Greenlight Capital posted a record loss, plunging more than 34% due to the continued rise of a so-called &a;ldquo;bubble basket&a;rdquo; of tech stocks he&a;rsquo;s betting against and individual shorts like&a;nbsp;Netflix. Most of all, his losses came from investments in&a;nbsp;value traps such as Metlife spinoff Brighthouse Financial, General Motors&a;nbsp;and rig manufacturer Ensco.&a;nbsp;Chalk some of the&a;nbsp;pain to bad luck: A&a;nbsp;large holding in German drugmaker Bayer plunged after a surprise legal ruling against its Roundup weed killer.&a;nbsp;In crypto, Einhorn was right to believe the popping of the bubble would harm graphical processing unit chipmakers selling mining equipment, but he bet big against perennial underperformer&a;nbsp;Advanced Micro Devices, which rose 60%-plus for the year and was among Greenlight&a;rsquo;s biggest losers, whereas market leader Nvidia&a;nbsp;(Einhorn owned some&a;nbsp;puts) saw its shares plunge 40%.

The losses didn&a;rsquo;t stop there. Two public companies that Einhorn helped build and chairs, reinsurer Greenlight Capital Re and home builder Green Brick Partners, plunged more than his own fund. Even quirkier trades backfired. For instance, Einhorn&a;nbsp;made a sizable short sale against Norwegian billionaire John Fredricksen&a;rsquo;s mammoth salmon farming company Marine Harvest but&a;nbsp;bet on Fredricksen&a;rsquo;s highly indebted rigmaker Seadrill after it exited restructuring. He&a;nbsp;had the trade backwards: Marine Harvest soared and Seadrill plunged.

By the time the carnage was over, assets at Greenlight&a;nbsp;dwindled by more than half, from $6.3 billion to start 2018 to $2.5 billion at close. &a;ldquo;We lost money continually&a;rdquo; throughout the year, Einhorn told limited partners at year-end. As one frustrated investor put it, &a;ldquo;You got killed when the market was going up and killed when the market was going down.&a;rdquo; Since the end of 2014, his&a;nbsp;fund has plunged 40%-plus, while the S&a;amp;P 500 has gained over 25%.

These struggles mean Einhorn has fallen off &l;em&g;Forbes&a;rsquo;&l;/em&g;&a;nbsp;billionaires list for the first time since making it in 2012, with a net worth of $700 million.

Coming out of the crisis, he was among Wall Street&a;rsquo;s hottest investors, carrying a net worth that peaked at $1.9 billion&a;nbsp;at the end of 2014. At that time, assets at Greenlight surpassed $11 billion, mostly on the back of market outperformance. Since inception in 1996, and even after a woeful run, Greenlight has returned an annual average of 12.6% net of fees. However, like many other hedge fund managers who thrived during the crisis years, he&a;nbsp;has found the roaring recovery in stocks to be perplexing.

&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/billionaires&q;&g;&l;img class=&q; size-full wp-image-14661&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/antoinegara/files/2019/03/Billionaires-list-button-forbes.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;200&q; data-width=&q;1122&q;&g;&l;/a&g;

Einhorn put it best in the fall of 2017, as Greenlight&a;rsquo;s losses mounted: &a;ldquo;Given the performance of certain stocks, we wonder if the market has adopted an alternative paradigm for calculating equity value. What if equity value has nothing to do with current or future profits and instead is derived from a company&a;rsquo;s ability to be disruptive, to provide social change, or to advance new beneficial technologies, even when doing so results in current and future economic loss? It&a;rsquo;s clear that a number of companies provide products and services to customers that come with a subsidy from equity holders. And yet, on a mark-to-market basis, the equity holders are doing just fine.&a;rdquo;

In recent years, Einhorn has anchored himself to low-priced value stocks, complex spinoff situations and corporate breakups but has been a prominent&a;nbsp;skeptic of today&a;rsquo;s soaring growth stocks such as Amazon and Netflix, which have prioritized market share gains over profits. It led Greenlight into investments like GM, Mylan, Consol Energy and Micron Technologies that turned into underperformers. At GM, for instance, per share profits have more than doubled over the past four years, but the stock&a;rsquo;s gone nowhere.

Some bets like activist plays on Oil States International and SunEdison proved to be wrongheaded. In other instances, Einhorn was prescient. He predicted Apple would become the first trillion-dollar company and prodded it to pay&a;nbsp;a dividend; on both counts he was right. But macro-oriented shorts like a bet against aggregates producer Martin Marietta lost money, and a foray into gold on&a;nbsp;inflation fears has yet to pay off. The era of cheap money also meant many of his most prominent shorts like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters were undone by cash-rich buyers. Sometimes Einhorn&a;rsquo;s&a;nbsp;timing was painful. In 2014, he&a;nbsp;exited a losing short bet against Chipotle Mexican Grill that had him complaining of heartburn. A year later, an&a;nbsp;E. coli outbreak at Chipotle stores nationwide pummeled the stock.

This year,&a;nbsp;after holding a two-day offsite with Greenlight&a;rsquo;s staff to review their wounds&a;mdash;one day devoted to shorts and the other to longs&a;mdash;Einhorn emerged with redoubled belief. After capping risk during 2018, Greenlight entered 2019 with a smaller portfolio focused on investments in which Einhorn has the highest conviction.

&a;ldquo;Some have looked for reasons other than isolated mistakes. Theories include getting older, changing lifestyles and an unwillingness to adapt to new market environments. We have been accused of being stubborn, but one person&a;rsquo;s stubbornness is another person&a;rsquo;s discipline. We will continue to be disciplined,&a;rdquo; he told investors last year. &a;ldquo;Right now the market is telling us we are wrong, wrong, wrong about nearly everything. And yet, looking forward from today we think this portfolio makes a lot of sense.&a;rdquo;

Perhaps a rebound is in the cards if longs&l;span&g;&a;nbsp;Brighthouse, GM, Greenbrick and aircraft lessor AerCap rise from rock-bottom valuations and he&s;s proven right on companies like Tesla with weak finances.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;In 2019, Greenlight has gained 13.6%, beating the S&a;amp;P 500. Einhorn declined to comment through a spokesperson.&l;/p&g;

Stock Market News: Netflix Subscribers Seen Soaring; H&R Block Deals With Tax Delays

The stock market declined on Thursday morning, reflecting rising investor anxiety about the state of the global economy. A move from the European Central Bank sent overseas markets lower, and the impact spilled over into U.S. stocks as well. As of 11:30 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) was down 212 points to 25,461. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) dropped 15 points to 2,756, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) fell 62 points to 7,444.

Despite the overall concerns among investors, individual companies continue to have an important impact on sentiment. Streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has enjoyed impressive subscriber growth in recent years, and those favorable trends seem likely to continue. Yet for H&R Block (NYSE:HRB), tax reform has had pros and cons, and the tax-prep specialist is still navigating the impact of new tax laws on its customers.

Don't touch that dial

Shares of Netflix were down less than 1% after a stock analyst company issued positive comments about the streaming video specialist. Piper Jaffray said that Netflix could see double-digit percentage growth in subscriber counts over the past 12 months, with projections coming in 3.5 percentage points better than the 9.1% consensus among those following the stock. Piper expects Netflix to see huge traction on the global front, with international subscribers counts expected to see gains of more than half compared to the 38% that most had expected.

Image source: Netflix.

Many Netflix shareholders have worried about slowing subscriber growth in recent years. Particularly in the U.S. market, Netflix has just barely kept expansion above a 10% rate since 2016, and eventually, the company would like to take its current domestic subscriber base of roughly 60 million households and grow it to 90 million.

Nevertheless, international markets are the bigger opportunity for Netflix. Despite competition overseas, Netflix has been smart about developing not just streaming technology but also prized content, and that could make the difference in selling global viewers on the value of its platform.

A not-too-taxing quarter for H&R Block

H&R Block's stock did better, rising 4% following the release of its fiscal third-quarter financial report. The tax preparation specialist said that it had to deal with delays in tax return filings as a result of the government shutdown and the late start to tax season, contributing to a drop of total return volume of 1% through Feb. 28. In particular, assisted returns were down 6.5%, with more customers opting to use H&R Block's do-it-yourself return option. Revenue dropped 4% from the year-earlier quarter, but per-share losses got cut in half due largely to H&R Block's own tax benefit from the lower corporate tax rate.

Stock analysts have feared that H&R Block would see a big drop in returns this year, due in large part to the increase in the standard deduction and other moves to try to simplify tax preparation. Yet comments from executives seem to suggest otherwise, as CFO Tony Bowen said that the company "remain[s] on track with our strategic and operational plans and expect[s] to achieve our financial outlook for the fiscal year."

As we've seen in other areas, this year's tax season has seen some early surprises give way to more typical conditions. That could prove to be the case with H&R Block's business as well -- especially if taxpayers striving to make the most of tax reform decide they need help to do so.

Top 5 Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2019

tags:EMR,RCII,XPO,IBM,UNH,

One share of Facebook stock will cost you almost $180.

A single share of Netflix is worth almost $200.

Apple stock will run you more than $165 per share.

But these popular tech stocks look downright cheap compared with Amazon and Google. You would have to fork over more than $1,000 for just one share of either of these household-name tech giants.

If you're looking to get in on the ground floor of Wall Street's next tech all-stars on the cheap, you're better off going after hot names right when they debut on the public markets, right?

Wrong.

The most anticipated initial public offering of 2017 was Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP). The company is the creator of the Snapchat app that's constantly distracting your kids. As you would probably expect, it debuted on the market eight months ago to a hoard of hungry buyers.

Unfortunately, investors grabbing shares of SNAP weren't exactly getting in on the ground floor. The hot social media stock was valued at around $30 billion the first day it hit the New York Stock Exchange.

Top 5 Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2019: Emerson Electric Company(EMR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Truehand Inc purchased a new position in shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 34,486 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,061,000. Emerson Electric makes up 1.8% of Truehand Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position.

• [By Asit Sharma]

  Diversified industrial conglomerate Emerson (NYSE:EMR) submitted its first-quarter 2019 earnings report on Tuesday. Three months into the new fiscal year, Emerson hit the low end of its full-year underlying revenue growth target range and tweaked earnings expectations slightly higher.

• [By Lee Samaha]

  While long-term secular growth looks assured, it's the cyclical part of its growth that has come under scrutiny in 2018. It hasn't been an easy year for Rockwell shareholders, not least because they watched on as management rejected a $225 bid from Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) in the fall, and then watched on as its peer significantly outperformed while Rockwell's stock has declined in 2018.

Top 5 Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2019: Rent-A-Center Inc.(RCII)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Timothy Green]

  Shares of Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII) surged on Tuesday after Vintage Capital Management increased its offer to acquire the company. Rent-A-Center disclosed on Monday that it had received an offer from one of the companies involved in its strategic review process soon after that process was ended. Rent-A-Center stock was up about 15% at 12:35 p.m. EDT.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  AerCap (NYSE: AER) and Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ:RCII) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Rent-A-Center (RCII)

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

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Shares of Rent-A-Center Inc (NASDAQ:RCII) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $8.75.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Rent-A-Center (RCII)

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

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  There's no guesswork involved, and the best part is – it'll only take you 10 minutes per day! Click here now to start this once-in-a-lifetime journey…

  Stocks to Watch Today: KHC, HD, JWN, M, AAPL Kraft Heinz Co. (NYSE: KHC) is still licking its wounds after an abysmal earnings report on Thursday and a weak 2019 outlook. The consumer goods giant is looking to reshape its business as consumer tastes continue to evolve. According to reports, the firm – backed heavily by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) – is considering a deal to sell its Maxwell House brand. Warren Buffett is also affecting shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Although AAPL stock added 0.4% in pre-market hours, Buffett said he would not purchase more shares of the company stock at these levels. However, should AAPL stock pull back in the near future, the "Oracle of Omaha" would consider purchasing more. Earnings season may be winding down, but concerns about the U.S. brick-and-mortar retail industry are always high. This week, Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), and Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) will report earnings from the holiday quarter. Look for earnings reports from American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR), Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE: CLDT), EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR), Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY), Life Storage Inc. (NYSE: LSI), Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS), Oneok Inc. (NYSE: OKE), Potbelly Corp. (NASDAQ: PBPB), Preferred Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE: APTS), Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ: RCII), Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK), and Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC).

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Top 5 Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2019: Express-1 Expedited Solutions Inc.(XPO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lou Whiteman]

  Onetime highflier XPO Logistics (NYSE:XPO) has had a difficult run of late, as a third-quarter miss followed by a blistering criticism from short-seller Spruce Point Capital caused XPO shares to lose more than half of their value since Oct. 1.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  By following an aggressive acquisition strategy known as a rollup, XPO Logistics (NYSE:XPO) has grown its revenue by 100 times in recent years.

  In the following segment from Industry Focus: Energy, Motley Fool Asset Management's Bill Barker and host Nick Sciple discuss how Barker discovered XPO, the advantages and risks of a rollup strategy, and the basics of XPO's business.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  After enjoying rapid price appreciation over the past five years, XPO Logistics (NYSE:XPO) shares have fallen back to earth in recent months. What was behind this slide in share price?

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Highland Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of XPO Logistics Inc (NYSE:XPO) by 14.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,249 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 27,400 shares during the period. XPO Logistics makes up about 1.2% of Highland Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Highland Capital Management LP’s holdings in XPO Logistics were worth $22,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  Somebody's got to deliver all of those products that we're ordering online, and increasingly, that somebody is XPO Logistics (NYSE:XPO). The freight and logistics company has become the leader in last-mile delivery of heavy goods like furniture and appliances, making it a key partner of retailers like Amazon, IKEA, Wayfair, and Home Depot.

Top 5 Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2019: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Noonan, Rich Smith, and Timothy Green]

  With that in mind, we asked three Motley Fool investors to identify a top high-yield stock that's worth holding forever. Read on to see why they picked UBS (NYSE:UBS), International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), and AT&T (NYSE:T).

• [By Money Morning News Team]

  This ETF includes 30 stocks that are instrumental in cloud computing services. One is Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), whose Azure service is the second most used cloud platform in the world, and another is the world leader, Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN).  IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), whose supercomputer-driven artificial intelligence platform is now being used in industries from healthcare to education, is also included.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Wednesday was International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) which traded up 2.85% at $158.65. The stock’s 52-week range is $139.13 to $182.79. Volume was about 35% above the daily average of around 4.8 million shares. The company’s stock was raised to Outperform at RBC Capital Markets this morning.

• [By Leo Sun]

  IBM (NYSE:IBM) is a diversified tech company that offers IT services, business software, mainframes, and cloud services. IBM has been investing heavily in the growth of five "strategic imperatives" -- its cloud, mobile, security, analytics, and social units -- to offset the slower growth of its legacy IT services and business software businesses.

Top 5 Cheap Stocks To Watch For 2019: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:UNH) CEO Steven H. Nelson sold 8,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $2,157,630.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,961,440. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  WINTON GROUP Ltd cut its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:UNH) by 21.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,812 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 32,650 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 0.7% of WINTON GROUP Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $25,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Logan Wallace]

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

  Get UnitedHealth Group alerts: UnitedHealth strikes two long-term deals with lab giants (bizjournals.com) LabCorp Extends UnitedHealthcare Pact, Lifts Diagnostics Arm (finance.yahoo.com) UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Director Sells $3,732,300.00 in Stock (americanbankingnews.com) Is UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year? (nasdaq.com) Brief Overview on Stock’s Performances – UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH) (financerater.com)

  Several research analysts recently commented on UNH shares. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, April 18th. Barclays started coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $254.66.

• [By Chris Lange]

  UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) is scheduled to reveal its fourth-quarter results on Tuesday. The consensus estimates are $2.51 in earnings per share (EPS) and $51.5 billion in revenue. Shares traded at $228.64 as the week came to a close. The consensus price target is $248.19, and the 52-week trading range is $156.09 to $231.77.

Gold prices are expected to trade lower today: Angel Commodities

Angel Commodities' report on Gold

On Tuesday, Spot gold prices rose marginally by 0.06 percent to close at $1287.2 per ounce. Gold prices declined after the US Dollar appreciated over stronger U.S. economic data and rising Treasury yields. With US-China trade tension easing off and the softening of Brexit negotiations seems to have increased the risk appetite in the markets. Investors are moving towards riskier asset class and withdrawing their investments in metals which weighed on Gold prices. Increasing US treasury yields and strong growth witnessed by US in the fourth quarter supported Dollar in turn making Gold expensive for other currency holders. As per the US data, Hedge funds and fund managers have reduced their long position in COMEX gold and in turn increased their long position in Silver. On the MCX, Gold prices declined by 0.89 percent to close at Rs.32083.0 per 10 gms.

Outlook

Appreciating Dollar over stronger than expected US economic data and rising US Treasury yields might pressurize Gold. On the MCX, gold prices are expected to trade lower today; international markets are trading higher by 0.19 percent at $1287.15 per ounce.

For all commodities 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.

Read More First Published on Mar 6, 2019 12:00 pm

Jabil Inc (JBL) Shares Sold by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. cut its holdings in shares of Jabil Inc (NYSE:JBL) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 161,796 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 24,970 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Jabil were worth $3,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in JBL. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Jabil by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 399,537 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,826,000 after acquiring an additional 121,982 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,107,000. Signition LP acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $212,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,258,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Jabil by 13,956.2% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,510 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 12,421 shares during the period. 92.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Get Jabil alerts:

In related news, CEO Kenneth S. Wilson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.30, for a total transaction of $145,800.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Steven D. Borges sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $217,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,978,335. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,022 shares of company stock valued at $1,125,766. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. ValuEngine lowered shares of Jabil from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Jabil to $24.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 27th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Jabil in a research note on Tuesday, December 11th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. TheStreet raised shares of Jabil from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Monday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Jabil from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Jabil currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.20.

Shares of NYSE:JBL traded down $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.54. The company had a trading volume of 2,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,182,330. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.60. Jabil Inc has a twelve month low of $21.49 and a twelve month high of $31.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 18th. The technology company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.21. Jabil had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 19.52%. The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Jabil Inc will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 14th. Jabil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.75%.

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About Jabil

Jabil Inc provides electronic manufacturing services and solutions worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Electronics Manufacturing Services and Diversified Manufacturing Services. It offers electronics design, production, and product management services. The company provides electronic circuit design services, such as application-specific integrated circuit design, firmware development and rapid prototyping services; and designs plastic and metal enclosures that include the electro-mechanics, such as the printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA).

See Also: How is the S&P 500 index different from the DJIA?

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