Troubling headlines continue to plague upscale athletic-wear maker�Lululemon Athletica (LULU), but that’s done little to deter analysts from recommending its shares.
This morning, Nomura�� Robert Drbul joined the bullish team when he initiated Lululemon at Buy with a $70 price target, citing the current price decline (30% over the past year) as the perfect entry point. He explains:
We believe the brand is strong and estimate the company can double revenues to $3 billion over the next five to seven years. We expect this growth to come from: a recovery in comps, U.S. store expansion, e-commerce, and an expansion of international markets. We believe lululemon can nearly double its U.S. store base footprint to 300 stores (from 166 currently) over the next five to seven years; its international potential remains largely untapped. In addition, we see opportunity to increase productivity in U.S. stores, which generate nearly $1,800 per square foot, compared with Canada, where stores generate close to $2,750- $3,000 per square foot.
Top Airline Companies To Invest In Right Now: Crocs Inc.(CROX)
Crocs, Inc. and its subsidiaries engage in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of footwear, apparel, and accessories for men, women, and children. The company primarily offers casual and athletic shoes, and shoe charms. It also designs and sells a range of footwear and accessories that utilize its proprietary closed cell-resin, called Croslite. The company?s footwear products include boots, sandals, sneakers, mules, and flats. In addition, it provides footwear products for the hospital, restaurant, hotel, and hospitality markets, as well as general foot care and diabetic-needs markets. Further, the company offers leather and ethylene vinyl acetate based footwear, sandals, and printed apparels principally for the beach, adventure, and action sports markets; and accessories comprising snap-on charms. The company sells its products through the United States and international retailers and distributors, as well as directly to end-user consumers th rough its company-operated retail stores, outlets, kiosks, and Web stores primarily under the Crocs Work, Crocs Rx, Jibbitz, Ocean Minded, and YOU by Crocs brand names. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 164 retail kiosks located in malls and other high foot traffic areas; 138 retail stores; 76 outlet stores; and 46 Web stores. Crocs, Inc. operates in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company was formerly known as Western Brands, LLC and changed its name to Crocs, Inc. in January 2005. Crocs, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Niwot, Colorado.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Suravi Thacker]
People�� tastes and preferences keep changing with the changing times. So was the case with the footwear industry, when Crocs��(CROX) fancy and new style shoes took over the market. Customers became highly fascinated with the new style of resin-molded shoes which came in a variety of bright colors. It became a fashion statement. However, a few years later, this fascination started to fade away as customers got bored of the same old style. Crocs��footwear became tacky for the same lot of customers. This resulted in sharp decline in the retailers��revenue.
Top Growth Companies To Watch In Right Now: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)
Nordstrom, Inc., a fashion specialty retailer, offers apparel, shoes, cosmetics, and accessories for women, men, and children in the United States. It offers a selection of brand name and private label merchandise. The company sells its products through various channels, including Nordstrom full-line stores, off-price Nordstrom Rack stores, Jeffrey? boutiques, treasure & bond, and Last Chance clearance stores; and its online store, nordstrom.com, as well as through catalog. Nordstrom also provides a private label card, two Nordstrom VISA credit cards, and a debit card for Nordstrom purchases. The company?s credit and debit cards feature a shopping-based loyalty program. As of September 30, 2011, it operated 222 stores, including 117 full-line stores, 101 Nordstrom Racks, 2 Jeffrey boutiques, 1 treasure & bond store, and 1 clearance store in 30 states. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Seattle, Washington.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) shares were also up, gaining 13.53 percent to $69.73 as the company reported upbeat first-quarter results. Nordstrom posted a quarterly profit of $0.72 per share on revenue of $2.93 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.68 per share on revenue of $2.86 billion. Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded Nordstrom from Neutral to Outperform.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) tumbled 3.86% to $66.04 after the company reported Q2 results. The company reported earnings of $183 million, or $0.95 per share.
Top Growth Companies To Watch In Right Now: Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc.(EIHI)
Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides workers compensation insurance and reinsurance products in the United States. The company?s Workers Compensation Insurance segment provides traditional workers compensation insurance coverage products, including guaranteed cost policies, policyholder dividend policies, retrospectively-rated policies, deductible policies, and alternative market products to employers. This segment distributes its workers? compensation products and services through its independent insurance agents primarily in Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, and Virginia. Its Segregated Portfolio Cell Reinsurance segment offers alternative market workers compensation solutions comprising program design, fronting, claims administration, risk management, segregated portfolio cell rental, asset management, and segregated portfolio management services to individual companies, groups, and associations. Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
ProAssurance Corp.(PRA) agreed to acquire Eastern Insurance Holdings Inc.(EIHI) for about $205 million, expanding the insurance company’s casualty insurance offerings. Eastern Insurance is a domestic casualty insurance group specializing in workers’ compensation products and services, among other things. ProAssurance plans to pay $24.50 in cash for each outstanding Eastern share, a 16% premium over Monday’s closing price.
Top Growth Companies To Watch In Right Now: Delphi Financial Group Inc. (DFG)
Delphi Financial Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated employee benefit services. The company operates in two segments, Group Employee Benefit Products and Asset Accumulation Products. The Group Employee Benefit Products segment provides disability, group life, and excess workers? compensation insurance products to small and mid-sized employers. It also offers travel accident, voluntary accidental death and dismemberment, group dental, and limited benefit health insurance products, as well as assumed workers? compensation and casualty reinsurance. This segment markets its group products to employer-employee groups and associations in various industries primarily through independent brokers and agents. The Asset Accumulation Products segment primarily offers fixed annuities, such as single premium deferred annuities, flexible premium annuities, and multi-year interest guarantee products to individuals through networks of independent insurance agen ts. The company also provides integrated disability and absence management services, including event reporting, leave of absence management, claims and case management, and return to work management. Delphi Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1987 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
Some of Elliott Management�� top equity positions in the first quarter 2012 are Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD), Delphi Automotive (DFG), Iron Mountain (IRM) and News Corp. (NWS).
Top Growth Companies To Watch In Right Now: Intuitive Surgical Inc.(ISRG)
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets da Vinci surgical systems for various surgical procedures, including urologic, gynecologic, cardiothoracic, general, and head and neck surgeries. Its da Vinci surgical system consists of a surgeon?s console or consoles, a patient-side cart, a 3-D vision system, and proprietary ?wristed? instruments. The company?s da Vinci surgical system translates the surgeon?s natural hand movements on instrument controls at the console into corresponding micro-movements of instruments positioned inside the patient through small puncture incisions, or ports. It also manufactures a range of EndoWrist instruments, which incorporate wrist joints for natural dexterity for various surgical procedures. Its EndoWrist instruments consist of forceps, scissors, electrocautery, scalpels, and other surgical tools. In addition, it sells various vision and accessory products for use in conjunction with the da Vinci Surgical System as surgical procedures are performed. The company?s accessory products include sterile drapes used to ensure a sterile field during surgery; vision products, such as replacement 3-D stereo endoscopes, camera heads, light guides, and other items. It markets its products through sales representatives in the United States, and through sales representatives and distributors in international markets. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Chris Hill]
Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG ) reported�double-digit sales growth and that first-quarter profits rose 32%. Despite the strong quarter, shares fell on Friday. In this segment, our analysts talk about Intuitive Surgical's business and how big a red flag the company's FDA investigation is for investors.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) has still not discovered the da Vinci code.
That would be its da Vinci robotic surgery device, which was responsible for a big of today’s disappointing financial report from Intuitive surgical. It reported a profit of $3.99–besting analyst forecasts for $3.40–but revenue plunged to $499 million, well below the $526 million forecast. Intuitive sold just 101 da Vinci systems, Bloombergsays, down from 155 a year ago.
It wasn’t just da Vinci that disappointed, however. Canaccord Genuity’s Jason Mills and Jeffrey Chu sum up troubling quarter:
Investors hoping management would call the bottom in falling procedure growth rates were disappointed Thursday evening as issues that have plagued ISRG over the past few quarters could stick around for the foreseeable future, in our view. Slower growth in benign GYN, uncertainty in hospital capital spending (which ISRG attributed to the Affordable Care Act, with which we do not concur), and increased capacity in the U.S. installed base have made predicting robotic system sales particularly difficult. Commentary from management suggests investors should continue to expect lumpiness in the business in the near term. As a result of uncertainty, management narrowed its fullyear sales and procedure growth expectations.
Raymond James analysts Lawrence Keusch and Konstantin Tcherepachenets see a turnaround taking quarters:
Although we see long-term growth for robotic surgery, especially as the company�� technology evolves to capture less complex procedures more cost effectively, we believe that it will take several quarters to soak up the excess capacity and drive an improvement in system sales. We remain on the sidelines.
Intuitive Surgical has fallen 4.4% to $381.39 today, but doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact on comparable companies. Hologic (HOLX) has ticked up 0.2% to $22.06, Danaher (DHR) has fallen -.4% to $72.05 an
- [By Brian Pacampara]
What: Shares of robotic surgery system specialist Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG ) plunged yet again on Friday after it issued guidance that disappointed Wall Street, and said that the FDA had issued a warning letter over one of its facilities.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) have jumped this morning after the maker of surgical robots announced that it would buy back $1 billion dollars of its shares from Goldman Sachs (GS).
ISI Group’s Vijay Kumar calls the buyback “huge for investors.” He explains why:
This is a huge positive for shareholders, and reiterates our belief in the long term opportunity for robotic surgery. Recall that the company reiterated its commitment to grow OpEx by 12-15% on its 1Q call (April 22) while lowering procedure estimates by ~500bps at the mid-point, implying its belief in new product opportunity and willingness to spend. We had urged management…to back this belief by share repurchases and send a proactive message to the Street. We are encouraged to see this announcement, and would further note that our recent channel checks on the new Xi product has been very positive. Given this, we reiterate our Strong Buy rating of [Intuitive Surgical] shares.
…[Intuitive Surgical] could repurchase ~2-2.8MM of shares, which implies earnings accretion by ~5-7% (and consequently expect shares to be up at least ~7%).
Shares of Intuitive Surgical have gained 1.7% to $365.24 at 2:04 p.m., while Goldman Sachs has dropped 1% to $158.81.
Top Growth Companies To Watch In Right Now: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)
TrueBlue, Inc. provides temporary blue-collar staffing services in the United States. It supplies on demand general labor to various industries under the Labor Ready brand; skilled labor to manufacturing and logistics industries under the Spartan Staffing brand; and trades people for commercial, industrial, and residential construction, and building and plant maintenance industries under the CLP Resources brand. The company also provides mechanics and technicians to the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul, aerospace manufacturing, and assembly industries, as well as to other transportation industries under the Plane Techs brand; and temporary drivers to the transportation and distribution industries under the Centerline brand. It primarily serves small and medium-size businesses. The company was formerly known as Labor Ready, Inc. and changed its name to TrueBlue, Inc. in December 2007. TrueBlue, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonathan Yates]
For those looking to invest in real estate stocks, highly recommended is the Dr. Housing Bubble blog. In a recent posting, the "Dr." pointed out that there was a "Lost Generation" when it came to household income. That has not happened for those investing in staffing industry stocks such as Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI), TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE: TBI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).
- [By idahansen]
The entire demand labor industry should do well as the US Department of Labor just reported that 169,000 more jobs were added to the American economy. The more work there is, the more demand there is for the services of staffing solutions firms such as Labor SMART, Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), and Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI).
- [By Jonathan Yates]
Even though the stock market rallied on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and Standard & Poor's 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) surging, the long term winners will be stocks in the staffing industry such as Paychex(NASDAQ: PAYX), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), Robert Half (NYSE: RHI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).
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