Top 10 Growth Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:ISRG,TBI,JWN,BWLD,MED,

Analysts forecast that Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc (NYSE:AJRD) will announce earnings per share (EPS) of $0.24 for the current quarter, according to Zacks. Two analysts have issued estimates for Aerojet Rocketdyne’s earnings, with the lowest EPS estimate coming in at $0.21 and the highest estimate coming in at $0.27. Aerojet Rocketdyne reported earnings of $0.32 per share during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a negative year over year growth rate of 25%. The business is expected to announce its next quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 2nd.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Aerojet Rocketdyne will report full year earnings of $0.97 per share for the current financial year, with EPS estimates ranging from $0.89 to $1.05. For the next financial year, analysts expect that the company will report earnings of $1.15 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $1.09 to $1.20. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of research analysts that that provide coverage for Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Top 10 Growth Stocks To Invest In 2019: Intuitive Surgical Inc.(ISRG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Speights]

  If you buy stocks that have great business models and you have a long-term perspective, there's no reason to bail out even if a recession is right around the corner. As an example, let's consider Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), a stock that I own. The company has a razor-and-blades type of business model with its robotic surgical systems and instruments and accessories for those systems.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  Earnings season is well underway. And if you're looking to make real money, the time to get started is now. Money Morning Quantitative Specialist Chris Johnson argues the markets are at a tipping point. And with just a few smart plays in today's classic stock picker's market… you can pull in triple-digit gains with just a small investment. Read those picks right here.

  The Top Stock Market Stories for Thursday This morning, the U.S. Department of Labor said that weekly jobless claims came in at 207,000 for the week. That figure is below the 220,000 jobless claims expected by economists and brings U.S. unemployment claims to a 48.5-year low. It's a big day of earnings reports, as dozens of blue chip companies will report results from the June-ending quarter. The biggest name today will be Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), which reports earnings after the bell. Wall Street expects that the technology giant will report earnings of $1.07 per share. Analysts project quarterly revenue of $29.17 billion. Three Stocks to Watch Today: PM, IBM, AA International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) stock added 2.5% in pre-market hours after Big Blue topped Wall Street earnings and revenue expectations. The tech giant continues to post positive results as it accelerates its turnaround efforts. IBM reported earnings per share of $3.08, a figure that beat estimates by $0.04 per share. It also reported quarterly revenue of $20.0 billion, a figure that surpassed estimates of $19.85 billion. Shares of Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) fell 2% this morning. The aluminum manufacturer slashed its 2018 outlook due to falling prices and the recent round of metals tariffs introduced by the Trump administration. But there could be more pain in sight. Today, the U.S. Justice Department will hold a hearing that aims to determine whether vehicle and light truck imports present a national security threat to the United States. The hearing is due to President Trump's pledge to hit European auto man
• [By Anders Bylund, Leo Sun, and Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  Read on to see why you should forget about bitcoin and Ethereum in favor of Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) -- at least when it comes to serious investments for the long term.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Right now, it's time for that yearly review of the ones he picked to honor the month, and also the briefly famous pregnant giraffe: five companies, and the first letters of their tickers spelled out A-P-R-I-L. They were Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AAXN), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacific (NYSE:PAC), ResMed (NYSE:RMD), Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), and Live Nation (NYSE:LYV).

• [By Brian Feroldi]

  TransEnterix (NYSEMKT:TRXC) recently surprised investors on the upside when it reported its first-quarter results. The company's Senhance surgical system is off to a fast start right out of the gate, and it has attracted a lot of positive attention from the medical community. This just goes to show how much demand is out there for an alternative to Intuitive Surgical's (NASDAQ: ISRG) dominant da Vinci platform. 

• [By Keith Speights]

  You might have thought that Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) would have a hard time beating its performance in 2017. After all, the maker of robotic surgical systems reported record revenue. Its stock soared nearly 73%. 

Top 10 Growth Stocks To Invest In 2019: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Trueblue were worth $823,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and three have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.50.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) by 21.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 137,178 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,951 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Trueblue were worth $3,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  ValuEngine downgraded shares of Trueblue (NYSE:TBI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

  Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on TBI. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Trueblue from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Trueblue from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 11th. TheStreet cut shares of Trueblue from a b- rating to a c rating in a research report on Monday, December 31st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on shares of Trueblue from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Trueblue presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $26.00.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) by 24.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 95,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,680 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Trueblue worth $2,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Media stories about Trueblue (NYSE:TBI) have trended somewhat positive on Monday, according to Accern Sentiment. The research firm rates the sentiment of news coverage by reviewing more than 20 million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Trueblue earned a media sentiment score of 0.09 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media stories about the business services provider an impact score of 45.3296498009881 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near future.

Top 10 Growth Stocks To Invest In 2019: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) insider Ken Worzel sold 13,703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.97, for a total value of $671,035.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

• [By Trey Thoelcke]

  And Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) EPS are expected to grow 12.2% in the next five years, a turnaround from the 4.4% decline in the prior five years. However, recent sales projections for the next five years may tell another story. The share price is more than 5% higher than at the beginning of the year. The company is expected to release its second-quarter results later today.

• [By Motley Fool Transcribing]

  Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 28, 2019 4:45 p.m. ET

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

  Operator

Top 10 Growth Stocks To Invest In 2019: Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  A long term performance chart shows Dave & Busters Entertainment tripling in value before falling back while small cap upscale gentlemen's clubs and restaurant owner RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: RICK) began taking off in 2016 and small cap Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) is being acquired by Arby's Restaurant Group:

• [By Steve Symington]

  That's not to say it was a quiet day for every stock on the market. With earnings season ramping up, brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) and restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) served as an exercise in contrast as investors reacted to their respective quarterly reports.

Top 10 Growth Stocks To Invest In 2019: MEDIFAST INC(MED)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  MediBloc [MED] (CURRENCY:MED) traded 11.7% lower against the U.S. dollar during the 1 day period ending at 20:00 PM ET on February 16th. MediBloc [MED] has a total market capitalization of $19.63 million and $281,103.00 worth of MediBloc [MED] was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. During the last seven days, MediBloc [MED] has traded down 27.6% against the U.S. dollar. One MediBloc [MED] token can currently be bought for $0.0066 or 0.00000100 BTC on major exchanges including Coinrail, Bibox and Gate.io.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  MediBloc [QRC] (MED) is a proof-of-work (PoW) token that uses the HybridScryptHash256 hashing algorithm. Its genesis date was January 3rd, 2014. MediBloc [QRC]’s total supply is 4,097,545,844 tokens and its circulating supply is 2,966,384,100 tokens. The official website for MediBloc [QRC] is medibloc.org/en. MediBloc [QRC]’s official Twitter account is @MEDDevTeam. The Reddit community for MediBloc [QRC] is /r/MediBloc and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here. The official message board for MediBloc [QRC] is medium.com/@MediBloc.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  MediBloc [QRC20] (MED) is a proof-of-work (PoW) token that uses the HybridScryptHash256 hashing algorithm. It was first traded on January 3rd, 2014. MediBloc [QRC20]’s total supply is 4,097,545,844 tokens and its circulating supply is 2,966,384,100 tokens. MediBloc [QRC20]’s official website is medibloc.org/en. MediBloc [QRC20]’s official Twitter account is @MEDDevTeam. The official message board for MediBloc [QRC20] is medium.com/@MediBloc. The Reddit community for MediBloc [QRC20] is /r/MediBloc and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here.

• [By Max Byerly]

  MediBloc [QRC20] (MED) is a proof-of-work (PoW) token that uses the HybridScryptHash256 hashing algorithm. It was first traded on January 3rd, 2014. MediBloc [QRC20]’s total supply is 4,097,545,844 tokens and its circulating supply is 2,966,384,100 tokens. The official website for MediBloc [QRC20] is medibloc.org/en. MediBloc [QRC20]’s official Twitter account is @MEDDevTeam. The Reddit community for MediBloc [QRC20] is /r/MediBloc and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here. MediBloc [QRC20]’s official message board is medium.com/@MediBloc.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  MediBloc [MED] (CURRENCY:MED) traded down 11.7% against the U.S. dollar during the 1 day period ending at 21:00 PM Eastern on September 2nd. One MediBloc [MED] token can now be bought for approximately $0.0066 or 0.00000100 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinrail, Bibox and Gate.io. During the last week, MediBloc [MED] has traded down 27.6% against the U.S. dollar. MediBloc [MED] has a total market cap of $19.63 million and approximately $281,103.00 worth of MediBloc [MED] was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Own For 2019

tags:WFC,FCF,CM,AP,HSBA,

News articles about Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) have trended somewhat positive this week, according to Accern. The research firm identifies positive and negative press coverage by monitoring more than twenty million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Paylocity earned a news sentiment score of 0.09 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned press coverage about the software maker an impact score of 45.7246636887572 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the immediate future.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PCTY shares. First Analysis upped their price target on shares of Paylocity from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 19th. BidaskClub cut shares of Paylocity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 3rd. SunTrust Banks upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $52.72 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, March 12th. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Paylocity from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 11th. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.33.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Own For 2019: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  Wells Fargo (WFC) likely won't get a lot of attention this weekend, but Cramer said the worst is likely behind this company. Buffett's other bank, Bank of America (BAC)  , is a big winner though, especially with rising interest rates.

• [By ]

  In Tuesday's Kass Insider I remarked that there are a number of factors contributing to my cautious near-term market view:

  Narrow Market Leadership. We're back to a market that's basically led by the FAANGs -- Facebook (FB) , Amazon (AMZN) , Apple (AAPL) , Netflix (NFLX) and Google/Alphabet (GOOG) , (GOOGL) . Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS. Rising Short-Term Interest Rates. The 2-year U.S. note yield is up about 1.3 basis points at 2.39%. Complacency. I'm seeing more investor complacency -- anecdotally, in the business media and elsewhere -- ever since market's main indices rallied off of their recent lows. Gold. The rise in gold looks solid. I'm currently long the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) . Lackluster Banks. We're seeing disappointing action in the financials. However, I continue to buy them. I'm long Bank of America (BAC) , Citigroup (C) , JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) , although I'm shorting Goldman Sachs (GS) .

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Though this large cap bank is a solid value play for 2018, it still faces the possibility of large fines. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.8 trillion in assets. The company provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer and commercial finance through 8,700 locations, 12,800 ATMs, the Internet and mobile banking. It also has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) short interest grew to 43.99 million shares from the previous reading of 35.55 million. Shares were trading at $55.51 within a 52-week range of $49.27 to $66.31.

• [By Jordan Wathen]

  Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) is often described as America's largest community bank, but I don't think most people really understand the accuracy of that descriptor. If you examine it on a branch-by-branch basis, it really is a community bank, size and all.

• [By Jim Crumly]

  As for individual stocks, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) were among several big banks reporting third-quarter earnings today.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Own For 2019: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation(FCF)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

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

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

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

• [By Logan Wallace]

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

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

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

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

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

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

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

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

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Own For 2019: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce(CM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

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

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

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

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM) (NYSE:CM) – Analysts at Desjardins reduced their Q2 2018 earnings per share estimates for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, May 2nd. Desjardins analyst D. Young now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $2.85 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $2.86.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) (TSE:CM) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 2,517 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 3,772% compared to the typical volume of 65 call options.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Own For 2019: Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation(AP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  The 2018 Subaru Outback, one of the original SUV alternatives. Subaru is well-known for offering cars that can handle themselves when the going gets rough, and its Outback lies squarely in that tradition. (Photo: AP)

• [By ]

  ORG XMIT: MASR201 In this Feb. 22, 2012 photo, shoppers enter a Sears department store location in Dedham, Mass. Sears Holdings is expanding its partnership with Amazon, enabling tire buyers to have them installed at a local Sears Auto Center. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Photo: AP)

• [By ]

  Jerusalem (AP) -- Israeli authorities have begun distributing deportation notices to thousands of African migrants.

  In letters delivered Sunday, Israel says the migrants have 60 days to accept the offer to leave the country for an unnamed African destination in exchange for $3,500 and a plane ticket. Those who don't by Apr. 1 will be incarcerated indefinitely.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Own For 2019: HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  HSBC (LON:HSBA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Credit Suisse Group to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. The firm presently has a GBX 720 ($9.38) target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of GBX 680 ($8.86). Credit Suisse Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 5.82% from the company’s previous close.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

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

• [By Max Byerly]

  Credit Suisse Group set a GBX 720 ($9.32) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Morgan Stanley set a GBX 855 ($10.91) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Life After Facebook: The Untold Story Of Billionaire Eduardo Saverin’s Highly Networked Venture Fi

&l;p&g;&l;sup class=&q;drop-cap color-accent font-accent&q;&g;W&l;/sup&g;&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;hen Eduardo Saverin greets entrepreneurs who come to visit him in his 8th-floor offices at the Singapore Land Tower, the 36-year-old knows he'll get asked &l;em&g;the question. &l;/em&g;The Facebook question. The cofounder of the social media giant is not only one of the world's youngest billionaires (net worth: $10 billion), but also something of a household name after his portrayal in the 2010 hit movie &l;em&g;The Social Network&l;/em&g;. A year later he renounced his American citizenship, &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2012/05/17/on-eve-of-facebook-ipo-eduardo-saverin-fires-back-at-critics-over-accusations-of-tax-dodging/#2d256fe3792c&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;reportedly&l;/a&g; avoiding some $700 million in U.S. taxes. &a;nbsp;He's always denied moving to Singapore for tax reasons and cringes at his Hollywood alter ego—he's more comfortable behind a spreadsheet than on the silver screen. But he rolls with it, all in the name of furthering what he wants the world to know about the Eduardo Saverin of 2019, the cofounder of B Capital, a rapidly expanding venture capital firm that's on the cusp of taking bigger swings. &l;/p&g;&l;fbs-ad position=&q;top&q;&g;&l;/fbs-ad&g;&l;p&g;"I'm incredibly open, because I understand where the curiosity comes from," Saverin says in his first one-on-one interview for an article in seven years. "I'm happy to have them learn from me than otherwise through movies."&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;Since launching B Capital in 2015, Saverin and his partner Raj Ganguly have been working on deploying their first $360 million technology fund (Saverin fronted an undisclosed part of it), guided by a twist on the traditional firm-building approach. Most venture capital firms start local, with a couple investments in companies in their backyards. Not B Capital, where 30 employees in California (San Francisco and Los Angeles), New York and Singapore pursued a multinational approach from the start. Also key: an alliance with Boston Consulting Group providing Saverin's portfolio companies access to the elite consultancy's brain trust and their clients. Now with several high-profile hires joining the firm, including a U.S.-based chairman and a new partner with Apple and Box credentials, Saverin and Ganguly are taking the wraps off their business, which has grown well beyond a billionaire's hobby. They are expected to soon raise a second, much larger, fund.&l;/p&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-2&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c8fcfdc31358e79cabede2c/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;Raj Ganguly&q; data-height=&q;1687&q; data-width=&q;3000&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;A friend from Saverin&s;s Harvard days, Raj Ganguly cofounded B Capital with him in 2015.&l;small&g;David Yellen&l;/small&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;p&g;"No matter how lucky or blessed I might be, I will never retire on a beach," says Saverin. "We are still so early into making the technologies that will impact the world."&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;&l;sup class=&q;drop-cap color-accent font-accent&q;&g;w&l;/sup&g;&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;hen Mark Zuckerberg celebrated his IPO by ringing the Nasdaq opening bell from Facebook's California offices &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2012/05/18/facebook-ipo-gets-chilly-greeting-on-a-cool-morning/#5f84bc263833&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;in May 2012&l;/a&g;, his cofounder Saverin was thousands of miles away and out of mind, save for a securities filing detailing that his 53 million shares were converting to common stock. No surprise there. Saverin's stint with the company had ended in 2005, mired in controversy and lawsuits over his reduced stake in the company. By 2009, Saverin had moved to Singapore, &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2012/05/11/eduardo-saverin-renounces-u-s-citizenship-ahead-of-mega-facebook-ipo/#65962ad51ff6&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;giving up his U.S. citizenship&l;/a&g;. His life seemed a cliché: Gossip sheets gushed about his &l;a href=&q;https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-pat-facebook-cofounder-eduardo-saverin-has-a-bentley-and-doesnt-know-how-to-spend-his-ipo-billions-2012-5&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;Bentley&l;/a&g;, a &l;a href=&q;https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2146991/Eduardo-Saverin-The-geek-learning-party-Facebook-billions.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;standing table&l;/a&g; at an elite night club and &l;a href=&q;https://nypost.com/2012/05/13/facebook-cofounder-living-large-in-singapore-as-he-stiffs-us-for-a-possible-600m-in-taxes/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;legendary bar tabs&l;/a&g; that could reach &l;a href=&q;https://pagesix.com/2011/12/30/social-animal/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;$50,000&l;/a&g;.&l;/p&g;&l;fbs-ad position=&q;topx&q;&g;&l;/fbs-ad&g;&l;p&g;Saverin tells a different story today. The son of Brazilian parents who relocated to Miami, Saverin was born in São Paulo but grew up affluent in south Florida, attending boarding school there before heading to Harvard, where he made his fateful connection to Zuckerberg while a junior studying economics. After his involvement with Facebook, Saverin dabbled at several startup projects before moving to Singapore for what was supposed to be a short stay to help a friend launch a business. He never left, he says now, because he fell in love with a local woman—whom he'd known briefly in his college days—and with the city itself. "Being a technology guy, it's an exciting place. It's a five-hour plane ride from a large part of the world's population." His decision to renounce U.S. citizenship the year before the IPO, he says, had more to do with setting up roots in Singapore than paying a lower tax rate on his wealth. "It was nothing related to the news at the time. That is not true," he says. That &l;a href=&q;https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303360504577410571011995562&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-accent&q;&g;reported $700 million&l;/a&g; was a speculative "back-of-the-envelope figure," says his spokesperson.&l;/p&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-5&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c8fd37531358e79cabede81/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;rule&q; data-height=&q;20&q; data-width=&q;900&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-17&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c8feec231358e79cabee3cb/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;Facebook-founders&q; data-height=&q;1176&q; data-width=&q;1239&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;h2 class=&q;subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent&q;&g;&l;strong&g;Facebook's First Friends&l;/strong&g;&l;/h2&g;&l;h3 class=&q;subhead3-embed color-body bg-base font-accent&q;&g;&l;strong&g;Fifteen years ago, five young Harvard students started a little social experiment on campus called The Facebook. It's now a $475 billion tech giant, but only Mark Zuckerberg is still at work there. &l;/strong&g;&l;/h3&g;&l;h2 class=&q;subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent&q;&g;&l;strong&g;(1) Mark Zuckerberg,&l;/strong&g; 34 &l;/h2&g;&l;h3 class=&q;subhead3-embed color-body bg-base font-accent&q;&g;CEO of Facebook recently announced a plan to more closely integrate Facebook with two other apps it owns, WhatsApp and Instagram.&l;/h3&g;&l;h2 class=&q;subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent&q;&g;&l;strong&g;(2) Dustin Moskovitz,&l;/strong&g; 34&l;/h2&g;&l;h3 class=&q;subhead3-embed color-body bg-base font-accent&q;&g;Zuckerberg&s;s former college roommate and currently cofounder and CEO of Asana, a work productivity software unicorn.&l;/h3&g;&l;h2 class=&q;subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent&q;&g;&l;strong&g;(3) Eduardo Saverin,&l;/strong&g; 36&l;/h2&g;&l;h3 class=&q;subhead3-embed color-body bg-base font-accent&q;&g;Cofounder of B Capital, a venture capital firm.&l;/h3&g;&l;h2 class=&q;subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent&q;&g;&l;strong&g;(4) Chris Hughes,&l;/strong&g; 35&l;/h2&g;&l;h3 class=&q;subhead3-embed color-body bg-base font-accent&q;&g;Worked as Facebook&s;s first spokesperson before buying &l;em&g;The New Republic&l;/em&g; magazine in 2012—selling it four years later—and writing a 2018 book on economic equality.&l;/h3&g;&l;h2 class=&q;subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent&q;&g;&l;strong&g;(5) Andrew McCollum,&l;/strong&g; 35&l;/h2&g;&l;h3 class=&q;subhead3-embed color-body bg-base font-accent&q;&g;Designed Facebook's initial logo. Now CEO of a TV streaming startup, Philo, which raised $40 million in July 2018.&l;/h3&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-6&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c8fd38fa7ea43206f12834e/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;facebook-rule&q; data-height=&q;20&q; data-width=&q;900&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;p&g;And to hear Saverin talk about it, he's at peace with his Facebook past (and remains one of the biggest individual shareholders, with a 2% stake in the $475 billion company). Across two interviews, Saverin says the company is "incredibly close to my heart" and shares praise for Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg's leadership. "I'm incredibly proud of what Mark has done, to build an institution of its size and value. He'll work hard to get things right," he says.&l;/p&g;&l;fbs-ad position=&q;topx&q;&g;&l;/fbs-ad&g;&l;p&g;Whether Saverin's serenity is the result of maturity or careful practice, it's unfaltering. As he speaks via Google Hangout in January, &l;em&g;Forbes &l;/em&g;asks if he's used a Facebook Portal, the video chat device the company launched in October to some criticism. Saverin bought one and hasn't opened it, but he's optimistic his son, now a toddler, will be one of Facebook's next billion members. "Today, hopefully he doesn't become a user at his age, he's too young. But hopefully it will preserve and be something then," he says.&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;In the years since he secured his once-in-a-lifetime stake—$2 billion at the time of IPO—he's embraced a new role as venture capitalist at B Capital, the firm he cofounded in 2015. While cofounder Ganguly oversees more of the day-to-day management, Saverin's on every investment call and oversees one key aspect of B Capital's strategy, its investments in Southeast Asia and India. Although he keeps a lower profile among Singapore's party set, now famous from &l;em&g;Crazy Rich Asians&l;/em&g;, access to Saverin is one key component of the B Capital pitch. "People come in expecting him to be a rock star," says Ganguly. &q;And he sits with the entrepreneur and starts asking about first-time delivery success rates."&l;/p&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-18&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c8ff4fb4bbe6f0d933bc72e/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;Bizongo&q; data-height=&q;1063&q; data-width=&q;1920&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;p&g;Ganguly's worked with Saverin since 2012, when the friends from their Harvard days—Ganguly got his business school degree there—reconnected in Singapore. Saverin was already writing smaller checks to startups, but with Ganguly, a former consultant and vice president at Bain Capital, he set out to raise formal funds from outside investors. Their first effort was Velos Partners, an $80 million private equity vehicle with a consumer bent they launched with several other friends. But by 2015, Ganguly and Saverin split off with a new idea to build a firm around two points of distinction: a strong footprint in Southeast Asia, an emerging market with less competition for deals, and as a matchmaker for one of the world's most prominent consulting firms, Boston Consulting Group. &l;/p&g;&l;p&g;Look at B Capital's portfolio today—it's made about 20 investments—and you'll see a pattern of international opportunism. Saverin and Ganguly have favored companies involved in commerce and logistics, specifically European, Indian and Asian companies that don't make it onto Silicon Valley's radar and where their knowledge of local complexity can help. &l;/p&g;&l;fbs-ad position=&q;topx&q;&g;&l;/fbs-ad&g;&l;p&g;One example: Ninja Van. A last-mile logistics provider for delivery services in Southeast Asia, the Singapore-based startup employs 2,000 people and works with 10,000 drivers. It's an expensive, complex business where B Capital stepped in to write a check when others balked. "Eduardo and the team asked the right questions," says Lai Chang Wen, CEO of Ninja Van. "They're able to give us a wider perspective across businesses and geographies." &l;/p&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-21&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c8ff588a7ea43206f128b8e/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;Desktop - MSWIPE&q; data-height=&q;1063&q; data-width=&q;1920&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;p&g;Then there are more traditional VC-backed companies in healthcare and business software where B Capital's U.S. team pitches its access to BCG. Armed with deep knowledge and executive connections, consulting firms have tried their hand at venture capital investing for years. But venture arms have traditionally been viewed as distractions from the consultancies' core businesses and usually are the first projects to get cut when the economy slows. Ganguly's and Saverin's big idea was to provide much of the benefit with no strings attached. BCG is a passive investor in B Capital, meaning they only call in the consultants when founders ask. "It's the cherry on top of the cake," says Sam Bodas, CEO of Bellevue, Washington-based Icertis, a contract management software maker that has signed at least three multimillion-dollar deals from connections made by senior partners at BCG.&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;Those ties impressed B Capital's newest partner, Karen Appleton Page. The former Box and Apple executive is joining B Capital in its San Francisco office, giving the firm seven partners. Of the early days of Box, where she was the eighth employee and ran business development, Page says: "At Box, we would have given our teeth for those connections to BCG."&l;/p&g;&l;fbs-ad position=&q;topx&q;&g;&l;/fbs-ad&g;&l;p&g;Giving B Capital even more street cred: Howard Morgan, the cofounder of First Round Capital, known for his early investments in Uber and Warby Parker, came out of retirement in 2017 to become chairman of the entire firm.&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;B Capital is growing fast. But it's too early to say if Saverin's second act is a success. The firm hasn't had any exits yet. Only about half a dozen of its investments carry significantly higher valuations than when B Capital invested, and it got into its best-known brand—scooter company Bird—relatively late. But Saverin and Ganguly are optimistic. With its first fund nearly fully committed, B Capital will go out to raise a second fund expected to be twice as large, sources tell &l;em&g;Forbes&l;/em&g;. B Capital declined to comment on its fundraising plans.&l;/p&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-16&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c8fe90d31358e79cabee1e1/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;Ninja Van&q; data-height=&q;1063&q; data-width=&q;1920&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;p&g;Founders who meet with Saverin and B Capital in 2019 can't be sure they're sitting down with a future Midas List-caliber tech investor or a billionaire dilettante. But as in his second act as venture capitalist, Saverin is uniquely positioned to guide entrepreneurs through the perils of success. Facebook famously implored its early employees to "move fast and break things." Fifteen years later, its estranged cofounder offers up a twist on the old motto for 2019: "Make mistakes all the time, but learn from it immediately," Saverin says. "Apologize if it affects anyone else. And make sure you don't make that mistake again."&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;&l;em&g;Cover photograph by Bryan van der Beek for Forbes&l;/em&g;&l;/p&g;&q;,&q;bodyAsDeltas&q;:&q;

Top Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:RESI,AJG,COLM,MIK,

It's important for investors to know how to invest in penny stocks safely. That's because they're often volatile and can sometimes be fraudulent, despite offering triple-digit returns in a matter of weeks. We'll show you our top two strategies for finding good penny stocks to buy, plus our small-cap stock pick primed for double-digit growth this year…

Video3 Strategies for Investing in Penny Stocks

If you're looking for proof of just how explosively profitable penny stocks are, Delcath Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: DCTH) is a perfect piece of evidence. This company saw its stock price surge from $0.02 on June 1 to $0.19 on June 26. That marked a stunning 850% gain, which happened after the company announced phase 2 trial data for its cancer drug Melphalan would be released.

But these triple-digit returns aren't always justified by the company's profits or business potential. For instance, Chinese energy company Hongli Clean Energy Technologies Corp. (Nasdaq: CETC) saw shares jump 144% from $1.90 to $4.63 during just the first five sessions of April.

Top Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Altisource Residential Corporation(RESI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Front Yard Residential (NYSE:RESI) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.02), Morningstar.com reports. Front Yard Residential had a negative return on equity of 25.77% and a negative net margin of 196.93%.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Front Yard Residential Corp (NYSE:RESI) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 3,877 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 899% compared to the average volume of 388 put options.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Vonovia SE Depository Receipt (NYSE: RESI) and Front Yard Residential (NYSE:RESI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Top Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.(AJG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Arthur J Gallagher & Co (AJG)

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

• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Arthur J Gallagher & Co (AJG)

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

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Arthur J Gallagher & Co (NYSE:AJG) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $76.05 and last traded at $75.83, with a volume of 35973 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $75.00.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  COPYRIGHT VIOLATION NOTICE: “Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. Has $17.16 Million Holdings in Arthur J Gallagher & Co (AJG)” was originally posted by Ticker Report and is the property of of Ticker Report. If you are accessing this news story on another publication, it was illegally stolen and republished in violation of United States and international copyright and trademark laws. The correct version of this news story can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4192642/los-angeles-capital-management-equity-research-inc-has-17-16-million-holdings-in-arthur-j-gallagher-co-ajg.html.

Top Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: Columbia Sportswear Company(COLM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) had its target price raised by research analysts at Wedbush from $102.00 to $103.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the textile maker’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.99% from the company’s current price.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) hit a new 52-week high and low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $88.86 and last traded at $88.27, with a volume of 4020 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $87.29.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Columbia Sportswear (COLM)

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 218,646 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 38,455 shares during the period. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.31% of Columbia Sportswear worth $20,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Bessemer Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,300 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Sportswear were worth $1,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Top Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: The Michaels Companies, Inc.(MIK)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:MIK) was upgraded by research analysts at BidaskClub from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Shares of Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:MIK) fell as much as 19.1% lower on Thursday morning, following the release of solid first-quarter earnings with a side of modest next-period guidance. At 12:50 p.m. EDT, the stock had recovered only slightly to reach a 17.6% price drop.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  By submitting your email address you will receive a free subscription to Profit Alerts and occasional special offers from Money Map Press and our affiliates. You can unsubscribe at anytime and we encourage you to read more about our privacy policy.

  Stocks to Watch Today: AMZN, CPB, ANF Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) is now sitting just shy of the $1 trillion market after the stock added 3% before the bell Thursday. The stock has doubled over the last year and is on the verge of cracking the $2,000-per-share level. The stock has rallied as it has pursued profitability at the expense of growth in recent quarters, a departure from its earlier years as an expanding, do-it-all e-commerce company. Shares of Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) fell 1.2% in pre-market hours after the firm reported earnings and revenue before the bell. The consumer goods firm matched earnings per share expectations of $0.28 but fell short of the $2.243 billion in revenue forecast by Wall Street. The stock has been under significant pressure in 2018, falling 25%, while its CEO stepped down from the position in May. The firm said today that it plans to divest two international business divisions and its fresh foods business. Look for earnings reports from Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), Dollar Tree Inc. (Nasdaq: DLTR), Michaels Co. Inc. (NYSE: MIK), American Outdoor Brands Corp. (Nasdaq: AOBC), and Lululemon Athletica Inc. (Nasdaq: LULU).

  Follow Money Morning on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Michaels Companies Inc (NASDAQ:MIK) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 19,553 put options on the company. This is an increase of 3,850% compared to the average volume of 495 put options.

Salesforce Stock Still Going Strong After 20 Years

Despite raised expectations, the guidance from salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) disappointed, pushing CRM stock a bit lower on Tuesday and keeping it suppressed on Wednesday. The post-earnings-announcement rhetoric, however, was anything but bearish.

Source: Shutterstock

The numbers — and negative response to them — are a microcosm of a long-standing debate that’s surrounded the company since its earliest days as a publicly traded entity. Salesforce stock has been habitually overvalued by every conventional interpretation of the word and, often, seen as a ticking time bomb for the day it fails to grow at a brisk, double-digit clip. The company has yet to see such a slowdown take shape, though.

And, if CEO Marc Benioff’s feel for what the next five years will look like, that slowdown has yet to even appear on the horizon.

Salesforce Earnings Recap

It’s a textbook picture of superior execution.

The cloud-based customer relationship software platform has no real defensible moat, to be fair. Additionally, a myriad of outfits ranging from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and others are all willing to give customers more for less money.

And, yet, salesforce.com continues to roll over them, driving results like last quarter’s resounding beat.

For the three-month stretch ending in January, the company beefed up the top line to $3.6 billion, up 26% year over year. Moreover, they turned an operating profit of 70 cents per share of CRM stock versus the year-ago bottom line of 28 cents per share. Analysts expected earnings of 46 cents per share on sales of $3.56 billion.

The backlog, even excluding the benefit of the MuleSoft acquisition, was up 23% YOY to $25.7 billion.

However, the narrative slipped for nearer-term guidance. For the fiscal year now underway, Salesforce anticipates a top line between $15.95 billion and $16.05 billion. Of that figure, between $3.67 billion and $3.68 billion will materialize in the first quarter alone.

Both are below analyst estimates. For fiscal 2020 (essentially calendar 2019), the pros have collectively called for revenue of $16.04 billion. Further, they anticipate $3.7 billion in sales for the current quarter. Also in this present three-month track, profits should roll in between 60 and 61 cents per share. Again, this downgraded forecast falls short of the analyst consensus of 63 cents per share of CRM stock.

Analysts Unfazed

At 20 years of age with technology than can be (and is) easily replicated by other competitors, CRM remains relevant. After all, the continued double-digit growth pace impresses, even if it’s slowing down. Thus, the headwind is more about the challenge of competing with the company’s own historical growth.

Still, the expected red flags of size and age have started to wave.

One of them is rapidly escalating spending. While revenue grew 26% last quarter, operating expenditures — including sales and marketing costs — were up 32% YOY. It may be a sign of increased commoditization of customer relationship management platforms.

Still, analysts have largely maintained enthusiasm for growth prospects in CRM stock. Essentially, they regard Tuesday’s dip as a buying opportunity into an organization that’s proven all it needs to prove.

Deutsche Bank analyst Karl Keirstead is one of those optimists, noting:

“Given the solid results and outlook, we’re raising our PT from $165 to $185, based on an assumed FY21E FCF multiple of 34x, up from our prior estimate of 33x and fair given the 20%-25% growth outlook, rising margins and what appears to be conservative FY20 guidance … impressive for a company about to hit its 20th birthday. We reaffirm our BUY rating.”

Morgan Stanley’s analysts also responded positively to the company, stating:

“Three key factors bolster our confidence in the durability of Salesforce.com’s growth longer-term: 1) Targeting a $200 Billion total Available Market, … 2) Best in Class Positioning for digitalization initiatives, … and 3) the big get bigger in SaaS (software as a service).”

Salesforce suggested it continued to win market share last quarter. If so, the company is holding the position as the favorite within the fastest-growing component of the enterprise software market.

Looking Ahead for CRM Stock

Most analysts may have been looking past the next twelve months, and keying in on Benioff’s longer-term outlook. The CEO believes the company will produce between $26 billion and $28 billion worth of revenue for fiscal 2023 (calendar 2022) and alluded to an annualized run rate of $30 billion following that growth.

That would more than double the company’s current top line, implying a CAGR of roughly 20%.

With little reason to fear, Benioff is merely massaging a stock that’s already up nearly 25% in the trailing year. Shares have almost gained nearly 90% for the past two years, confirming that investors are largely taking analysts’ advice.

CRM stock may be off a bit since immediately before its earnings results were posted, but would-be buyers are already testing the waters. If nearer-term movements are any gauge, the stock was up slightly on Tuesday, while the broad market fell flat.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can learn more about James at his site, jamesbrumley.com, or follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley.

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Companies with big global exposure could face big Q1 earnings decline

The economic weakness outside the U.S. is about to pose a big threat to U.S. companies.

Those international-oriented companies, with more than half of their sales generated overseas, are expected to see an earnings decline of 11.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019, according to FactSet.

That is significantly lower than the earnings estimates for the S&P 500 and for domestic-oriented companies. Wall Street is projecting a 3.4 percent earnings loss for the S&P 500, while seeing 1 percent growth for companies with more than half of their sales coming from the U.S., according to FactSet.

"The U.S. economy seems stable, but an international slowdown eventually could spill over to the U.S.," Scott Wren, Wells Fargo's senior global equity strategist said in a note. "International trade and forward-looking economic data still are weakening, particularly in Europe. China's growth should stabilize, but its economic stimulus probably cannot lift the whole world economy."

Stocks have staged a strong comeback in 2019 but the economic weakness across the globe is starting to derail a market that has rallied more than 10 percent this year. The market posted its biggest weekly decline in 2019 last week after the European Central Bank slashed its economic growth forecast for 2019 and announced a new round of stimulus to help banks in the region. A disappointing U.S. jobs report also added to growing concerns on the global slowdown.

Executives from many companies have voiced concerns about the effects of slowing demand overseas and a global economic slowdown, leading some to cut earnings guidance. According to FactSet, 74 percent of companies have issued negative EPS guidance, which is above the five-year average of 71 percent.

Things are worrisome across the globe. The Bank of Canada said Wednesday there was "increased uncertainty " around future rate hikes, while Australia's fourth-quarter GDP expanded at a pace of just 0.2 percent. Amid the ongoing trade negotiations, China set its economic growth target for 2019 between 6 percent and 6.5 percent, its slowest pace since 1990.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell echoed the worries in an interview that aired Sunday on "60 Minutes," when he said the economy is still strong, but weakness around the world could start to hit the U.S.

Top 5 Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:LULU,LFUS,HTGM,CYTR,NYCB, As Venezuela's crisis deepens, President Nicolas Maduro's stepsons spent last week skydiving with top international athletes.

The family's indulgence -- first mentioned by the nonprofit Human Rights Foundation -- comes at a time when Venezuelans suffer through food and medical shortages and the country is going through a major political upheaval with protests springing up across the nation. Over 30 protesters have died.

The Human Rights Foundation says the family's actions contradict the president's message of a government empowered by working class Venezuelans.

"This situation perfectly illustrates the hypocrisy of Venezuela's socialist regime," says Javier El-Hage, chief legal officer of the Human Rights Foundation.

The athletes, along with their sponsor Red Bull, also found themselves in the center of a maelstrom. They were the subject of sharp backlash on social media this week after Human Rights Foundation lambasted them for skydiving with Maduro's stepsons.

Top 5 Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: lululemon athletica inc.(LULU)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  In the mid-level, Boss said that Urban Outfitters (URBN) is recovering, along with Kohl's Stores (KSS) . He also liked PVH (PVH) and Lululemon Athletica (LULU) .

• [By John Ballard]

  I've selected three stocks that are in a solid position to ride this massive consumer shift to online and mobile shopping. These companies cover all the bases of e-commerce. More people are choosing to pay for online orders with PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL), FedEx (NYSE:FDX) is there to ship those online orders, and lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) has got one of the top brands in apparel that is enjoying strong momentum right now thanks to its booming online business.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) had its price objective increased by Oppenheimer to $180.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, The Fly reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the apparel retailer’s stock. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for Lululemon Athletica’s Q3 2019 earnings at $0.68 EPS, Q4 2019 earnings at $1.65 EPS, FY2019 earnings at $3.60 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $5.15 EPS.

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  Over the first half of the year, lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) trounced the market, gaining 59% compared to a 2% uptick in the S&P 500, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

• [By Steve Symington]

  Shares of lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) jumped 29.2% in August, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, after the yoga-apparel retailer released impressive quarterly results and increased its full-year guidance.

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  Below, we'll look at a few companies that, by exceeding expectations in the industry, have seen their stocks soar so far in 2018. Read on to see how Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE), Under Armour (NYSE:UA) (NYSE:UAA), and lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) are standing out from the crowd of mediocre retailers.

Top 5 Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Littelfuse Inc.(LFUS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

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

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) – Research analysts at Barrington Research reduced their Q3 2019 earnings estimates for Littelfuse in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, January 31st. Barrington Research analyst G. Prestopino now forecasts that the technology company will post earnings per share of $2.76 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.81. Barrington Research has a “Hold” rating on the stock. Barrington Research also issued estimates for Littelfuse’s Q4 2019 earnings at $2.35 EPS, Q2 2020 earnings at $2.91 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $10.63 EPS.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,115 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,762 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH’s holdings in Littelfuse were worth $1,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

• [By Logan Wallace]

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

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

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Littelfuse (NASDAQ: LFUS) and ABB Group (NYSE:ABB) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Top 5 Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc.(HTGM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  HTG Molecular Diagnostics (NASDAQ: HTGM) is one of 24 publicly-traded companies in the “Analytical instruments” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare HTG Molecular Diagnostics to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, dividends, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on HTG Molecular Diagnostics (HTGM)

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

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Quanterix (NASDAQ: QTRX) and HTG Molecular Diagnostics (NASDAQ:HTGM) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  HTG Molecular Diagnostics (NASDAQ: HTGM) is one of 24 publicly-traded companies in the “Analytical instruments” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare HTG Molecular Diagnostics to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  HTG Molecular Diagnostics (NASDAQ: HTGM) is one of 24 public companies in the “Analytical instruments” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare HTG Molecular Diagnostics to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, profitability and dividends.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on HTG Molecular Diagnostics (HTGM)

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

Top 5 Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: CytRx Corporation(CYTR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Oncobiologics (NASDAQ: ONS) and CytRx (NASDAQ:CYTR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

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

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

• [By Shane Hupp]

  News coverage about CytRx (NASDAQ:CYTR) has trended somewhat positive this week, Accern Sentiment reports. Accern ranks the sentiment of media coverage by reviewing more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. CytRx earned a news sentiment score of 0.17 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media coverage about the biotechnology company an impact score of 46.6205108631258 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the next several days.

Top 5 Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: New York Community Bancorp, Inc.(NYCB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on New York Community Bancorp (NYCB)

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

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Hourglass Capital LLC lifted its stake in New York Community Bank (NYSE:NYCB) by 19.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 589,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 97,000 shares during the quarter. New York Community Bank makes up about 1.8% of Hourglass Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Hourglass Capital LLC owned about 0.12% of New York Community Bank worth $7,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Shares of New York Community Bank (NYSE:NYCB) reached a new 52-week high and low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $11.65 and last traded at $11.73, with a volume of 2440855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.02.

Why Titan International, Hamilton Beach Brands, and Barnes & Noble Slumped Today

Wall Street suffered further losses on Thursday, as most major stock indexes fell around 1% following news from Europe that suggested weak prospects for economic growth internationally. Although the U.S. has largely been able to avoid downward pressure from sluggish levels of business activity overseas, some fear that it won't be able to do so much longer. Moreover, some earnings reports signaled potential headwinds for certain industries in the U.S. Titan International (NYSE:TWI), Hamilton Beach Brands (NYSE:HBB), and Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) were among the worst performers. Here's why they did so poorly.

Titan seems a little small

Shares of Titan International plunged 22% after the maker of construction and farming equipment reported its fourth-quarter financial results. The company said that sales for the quarter were down 3% from year-ago levels, with weakness in the agricultural and consumer divisions offsetting strength in the construction and earth-moving segment. Adjusted net losses more than doubled from the fourth quarter of 2017. Moreover, shareholders seemed dissatisfied with CEO Paul Reitz's guidance for 2019, which included calls for full-year sales growth of 6% to 7.5%. Given how much the stock has suffered throughout the past year, investors want to see more from Titan before they'll fully regain confidence in its growth prospects.

Image source: Titan Machinery.

Hamilton Beach sees a consumer slowdown

Hamilton Beach Brands stock fell 16.5% following the release of the company's fourth-quarter financial report. The maker of various kitchen and household small appliances said revenue for the holiday quarter fell 9% from the same period in 2017, and adjusted net income also fell over the same time frame. Hamilton Beach said that it saw lower sales volume in its consumer market, even though it worked hard to gain strong placements and promotional support from its retail partners. The company hopes for moderate growth in 2019, but a modest impact from tariffs could make it more difficult for Hamilton Beach to achieve its long-term growth objectives.

Barnes & Noble slams the book shut on the holidays

Finally, shares of Barnes & Noble dropped almost 13%. The bookseller said that sales in its fiscal third quarter were flat from year-ago results, with comparable-store sales climbing 1.1%. That was relatively strong compared to the recent past, and profits were also solid on an adjusted basis. However, investors had wanted to see better performance during the holiday period, and Barnes & Noble's guidance for the full year wasn't terribly encouraging. As book industry rival Amazon.com looks to open more bookstore locations, Barnes & Noble will see more pressure to mount a viable long-term turnaround strategy in order to survive.

Group 1 Automotive (GPI) Upgraded at Goldman Sachs Group

Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $77.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $67.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on GPI. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 13th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $55.00 price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 14th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Tuesday, February 19th. They issued an overweight rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Group 1 Automotive currently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $73.67.

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Shares of GPI stock opened at $61.93 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Group 1 Automotive has a 1 year low of $48.69 and a 1 year high of $81.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.80.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 5th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.03. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive will post 9.12 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.67%.

Group 1 Automotive declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 21st that permits the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,931,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Bank of Australia increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Bank of Australia now owns 8,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IndexIQ Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. IndexIQ Advisors LLC now owns 34,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.86% of the company’s stock.

Group 1 Automotive Company Profile

Group 1 Automotive, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the automotive retail industry. It sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts; arranges vehicle financing; sells service and insurance contracts; and provides automotive maintenance and repair services. The company has operations primarily in the metropolitan areas of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas in the United States; 28 towns in the United Kingdom; and in the metropolitan markets of Sao Paulo, Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Santa Catarina, Brazil.

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Antero Resources Corp (AR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Antero Resources Corp (NYSE:AR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 38,416,246 shares, a growth of 17.3% from the January 31st total of 32,758,799 shares. Currently, 16.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 6,805,452 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. grew its position in Antero Resources by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 3,000 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Quantamental Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Antero Resources during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Financial Architects Inc bought a new stake in Antero Resources during the 4th quarter worth $56,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Antero Resources by 114.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,900 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 4,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Antero Resources during the 3rd quarter worth $177,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.80% of the company’s stock.

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AR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Antero Resources in a research note on Monday, December 17th. Raymond James lowered Antero Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 19th. MKM Partners initiated coverage on Antero Resources in a research note on Wednesday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. TheStreet lowered Antero Resources from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $19.00 price target on Antero Resources and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.05.

Shares of AR stock opened at $8.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.04. Antero Resources has a twelve month low of $8.52 and a twelve month high of $22.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 13th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. Antero Resources had a positive return on equity of 3.67% and a negative net margin of 9.60%. Antero Resources’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Antero Resources will post 0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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About Antero Resources

Antero Resources Corporation, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, explores, produces, and develops natural gas, natural gas liquids, and oil properties in the United States. As of December 31, 2017 had approximately 484,000 net acres in the southwestern core of the Marcellus Shale; approximately 137,000 net acres in the core of the Utica Shale; and approximately 214,000 net acres of Marcellus Shale leasehold.

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JP Morgan says one factor makes for big year in mergers: Trump and 2020 election

Billion-dollar corporate mergers may be about to get a Trump bump of sorts.

Now that the stock market has mostly recovered from last year's swoon and the government reopened after the longest shutdown in U.S. history, CEOs are once again mulling deals to scale up their businesses or sell themselves to a willing partner.

But there's one date on the calendar that CEOs are eyeing warily: the 2020 elections, according to John Richert, J.P. Morgan Chase's head of regional investment banking. The expectation is that as campaign season heats up, uncertainty will spike as a fiery, unpredictable President Donald Trump faces off with Democratic candidates proposing changes to taxes and regulation.

"Most of the CEOs I'm talking to would like to get something done this year and not have to deal with the noise of next year," Richert said. "People are going to really drive hard to get things done this year in a known environment."

Deals in North America hit $2.22 trillion last year, the second biggest total after 2015, fueled by a surge in megadeals of at least $10 billion in size, according to J.P. Morgan data. But the deals pace slowed late in 2018 after stock and debt markets seized up and the U.S. government shuttered in December.

Merger prospects turned around recently after markets rebounded in January and February and the Federal Reserve signaled that slowing growth around the world made it pause its campaign of raising interest rates. That soothed concerns that a recession could strike in 2019, giving business leaders a window to attempt deals this year, Richert said.

The deals pipeline has sputtered back to life, and there will be a wave of announcements in the next two to three months, he said.

"Now that the Fed has gone the other direction, and you've had a complete re-correction in markets, people feel good about this year," he said. "What it's really going to come down to is how much of a distraction will the 2020 election be from a confidence standpoint."

Of particular focus for Richert and his team of regional investment bankers are deals in the $1 billion to $3 billion range. He believes that is a sweet spot as megadeals become scarcer as investors shy away from financing the massive transactions.

Cathay General Bancorp (CATY) Files 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended on December 31, 2018

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) files its latest 10-K with SEC for the fiscal year ended on December 31, 2018. Cathay General Bancorp is a holding company for Cathay Bank, which offers various financial services for individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in California. It provides loans, savings, time deposits, and others. Cathay General Bancorp has a market cap of $3.08 billion; its shares were traded at around $38.24 with a P/E ratio of 11.51 and P/S ratio of 5.31. The dividend yield of Cathay General Bancorp stocks is 2.89%.

For the last quarter Cathay General Bancorp reported a revenue of $156.4 million, compared with the revenue of $145.7 million during the same period a year ago. For the latest fiscal year the company reported a revenue of $597.6 million, an increase of 13.2% from last year. For the last five years Cathay General Bancorp had an average revenue growth rate of 9.7% a year.

The reported diluted earnings per share was $3.34 for the year, an increase of 53.9% from previous year. Over the last five years Cathay General Bancorp had an EPS growth rate of 15.5% a year. The profitability rank of the company is 3 (out of 10).

At the end of the fiscal year, Cathay General Bancorp has the cash and cash equivalents of $600.3 million, compared with $539.8 million in the previous year. The long term debt was $736.7 million, compared with $641.6 million in the previous year. Cathay General Bancorp has a financial strength rank of 4 (out of 10).

At the current stock price of $38.24, Cathay General Bancorp is traded at 12.4% premium to its historical median P/S valuation band of $34.03. The P/S ratio of the stock is 5.31, while the historical median P/S ratio is 4.74. The stock lost 4.27% during the past 12 months.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

Vice Chairman Anthony M Tang sold 10,000 shares of CATY stock on 02/20/2019 at the average price of $39.76. The price of the stock has decreased by 3.82% since.EVP, Chief Risk Officer Kim R Bingham sold 900 shares of CATY stock on 02/04/2019 at the average price of $37.61. The price of the stock has increased by 1.68% since.

For the complete 20-year historical financial data of CATY, click here.

Best Buy Is Still In Business -- And Thriving

&l;p&g;Electronics retailer&a;nbsp;Best Buy&a;nbsp;is still in&a;nbsp;business, standing up to Amazon, and thriving.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, the company&a;nbsp;reported $42.1 billion in revenue,&l;span&g;&a;nbsp; &l;/span&g;$2.72 in non-GAAP earnings per share, and an 11% dividend increase.

That&a;rsquo;s certainly a big turnaround from almost a decade ago when Best Buy was under pressure from online giant Amazon, fighting for its survival.

Wall Street took notice, helping the company&a;rsquo;s shares rise almost 6-fold from the 2012 lows, and trade near its ten-year high.

Best Buy&a;rsquo;s big turnaround&a;nbsp;isn&a;rsquo;t spontaneous good fortune. &l;span&g;&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;It is the result of a smart strategy &a;mdash;&a;nbsp;&l;a href=&q;https://users/pmourdou/Downloads/BBY%20Fiscal%202014%20Annual%20Report.pd&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Renew Blu&l;/a&g;e&a;nbsp;&a;ndash;&a;nbsp;launched five years ago, which helped the company capitalize&a;nbsp;on its two competitive advantages, scale and location, to fend off competition from Amazon.

&l;img class=&q;size-large wp-image-19578&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/panosmourdoukoutas/files/2019/03/koyfin_20190302_104323975-1200x600.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;600&q; data-width=&q;1200&q;&g; Best Buy Revenues

&l;img class=&q;size-large wp-image-19579&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/panosmourdoukoutas/files/2019/03/koyfin_20190302_104208596-1200x600.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;600&q; data-width=&q;1200&q;&g; Best Buy Shares on Wall Street

&a;ldquo;The company has made significant strides in improving the customer store experience, being more price competitive, and having a really good online capability,&a;rdquo; says&l;span&g;&a;nbsp; &l;/span&g;Jeffrey Eglow, Chief Investment Officer for Guardian Wealth Advisory. &a;ldquo;The retail industry is not dead so long as you stay one step ahead of Amazon and make sure you are relevant. &a;ldquo;

Here&a;rsquo;s how it happened.

Once&a;mdash;before&a;nbsp;Amazon&a;nbsp;invaded electronics commerce &a;mdash;&a;nbsp;Best Buy was growing bigger and better, benefiting from scale (bigger stores) in prime locations. Revenues, profits and stock prices&a;nbsp;soared, catching the attention of&a;nbsp;business&a;nbsp;strategists and Wall Street analysts.

After&a;nbsp;Amazon&a;rsquo;s arrival, however, the game changed.&a;nbsp;Best Buy&a;rsquo;s most important assets&a;mdash;location and scale&a;mdash;turned&a;nbsp;into liabilities.&a;nbsp;In what has come to be known as &a;ldquo;show-rooming,&a;rdquo; customers did their window-shopping at&a;nbsp;Best Buy,&a;nbsp;and their actual shopping at&a;nbsp;Amazon.com&a;nbsp;&a;mdash; which offered better price deals than&a;nbsp;Best Buy.

Best Buy&a;rsquo;s revenues, profits, and stock headed south.&a;nbsp;And business strategists and stock analysts&a;mdash;some here at Forbes&a;mdash;predicted the slow death of the company.

Renew Blue changed the game. It helped Best Buy capitalize again on the benefits of scale and location -- in several ways. One of them was the introduction of matching prices policy. This was helped by a push in certain &l;span&g;&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;states to have on-line retailers collect&a;nbsp;&l;a href=&q;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424127887323916304578403073398789876.html?mod=ITP_marketplace_1&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;taxes&l;/a&g;, narrowing the gap between on-line and in-store sales.

Then too, there was the use of stores as both warehouses and pick-up places to speed up delivery for on-line shoppers.

And there was expansion of product offerings in each store location to catch up with emerging trends in consumer electronics -- like home theaters and computing, health technology solutions, and assured living.

Wait, there&s;s more. The concept of stores-within-stores,&a;nbsp;with&a;nbsp;Korean electronics giant Samsung and&a;nbsp;Microsoft&a;nbsp;opening up in&a;nbsp;Best Buy&a;nbsp;stores&a;mdash;in essence shifted the cost of show-rooming to these manufacturers.

The rest is history. Samsung and Microsoft were followed by Google, turning the partnership Best-Buy and electronics vendors into a form of &a;ldquo;collective entrepreneurship.&a;rdquo;

That&a;rsquo;s a business model which&a;nbsp;allows the two sides to share the risks and rewards of getting closer to the customer.

Meanwhile, the company continues to reap the synergies associated with increased customer traffic &a;mdash; and the efficient and effective deployment of its Geek Squad to customers who buy flat panel TVs and other accessories that need installation services.

Still, Best Buy is in a cyclical and highly competitive industry in which the growing use of mobile Internet is eliminating boundaries between e-commerce and traditional commerce, depressing prices and margins across industries and sectors.

That&a;rsquo;s why investors should be very cautious before buying Best Buy&a;rsquo;s stock, especially after the recent big run up.&l;/p&g;

The Best Small-Cap Stocks Are Crushing the Market – Here's Your Next Winner

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It's hard to be the "little guy" in business.

The "big guy" has all the advantages from pricing power, lower cost structure, and an ability to acquire the best and the brightest workers.

Really, it's just not fair.

That is, unless the Federal Reserve is on your side. When the central bank is in your corner, it's far better to be the "small guy."

The same applies to the market, where right now, the small are significantly outperforming the large.

As you can see from the chart below, there is a direct correlation to the January Federal Reserve dovish statements on rates and the performance of small-cap stocks.

Now, small-cap stocks aren't just great investments because of those few percentage points. When you identify the best small caps, you can land windfall profits. I'm talking 100%, 200%, or more in very short order.

In fact, I made one of the best small-cap stock recommendations of my career in very similar market conditions back in 2016. That's when the Federal Reserve was firmly ensconced on the side of small companies with its aggressive quantitative easing campaign.

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With easy money flowing into the economy, the nimble small company truly has enormous potential and upside.

Consumers are flush with cash during these times of easy money. That's all small-cap companies need to thrive.

At the end of 2016, one such company with great prospects was diet business Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE: WTW).

Shares of this small-cap stock were trading for just over $10 at the time.

Hints of future success were already present.

The company had a huge profile with its star endorser, Oprah Winfrey.

The analyst community noticed, expecting the company to grow profits at a rate well above the market multiple on earnings that investors had assigned to the company.

Buying growth at a cheap price is the key to owning the best small-cap stocks.

With Weight Watchers, the disparity between the current valuation and expected was too rich to pass up.

I made the company my stock of the year for 2017, offering up the view that shares would double in value in one to three years.

I was wrong.

Weight Watchers didn't just double, it rose by more than 700% when I advised investors sell shares. The stock had crossed $100 a mere 18 months after I recommended buying shares.

That is the potential of owning the best small-cap stocks.

Today, with the Federal Reserve in our corner again, it is a great time to buy small-cap stocks.

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This Is One of the Best Small-Cap Stocks to Buy Today

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