Friday, August 3, 2018

ONGC gains 3% on better June quarter numbers; ICICI Securities maintains buy

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) gained 3 percent intraday Friday as company posted better numbers in the quarter ended June 2018.

The company has reported a rise of 4 percent in net profit for the June quarter at Rs 6,143 crore against Rs 5,915.2 crore during the previous quarter.

The company��s revenues rose 14 percent at Rs 27,212 crore against Rs 23,970 crore on a quarter on quarter basis.

At the operating level, the company reported a jump of 29 percent in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation at Rs 14,695 crore against Rs 11,382 crore.

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The operating margin has been reported at 54 percent against 47.4 percent QoQ.

Brokerage: ICICI Securities | Rating: Buy | Target: Rs 227

Research house ICICI Securities has maintained buy call on ONGC and cut target to Rs 227 from Rs 234 per share.

ICICI Securities cut volume and other income estimates and raised cost estimates. It also cut FY19 EPS estimate by 15 percent.

Share price factors in the long-term oil price realisation of USD45/bbl, it added.

Brokerage: Nomura | Rating: Neutral | Target: Rs 185

Nomura has maintained neutral call on ONGC with a target at Rs 185 per share.

According to Nomura, the operational volumes were weak, particularly for oil and gas production was relatively weak in Q1.

The near-term focus will be on stemming the decline in oil production, while continue to prefer OMCs over upstream, it added.

At 09:49 hrs Oil and Natural Gas Corporation was quoting at Rs 168.10, up Rs 2.10, or 1.27 percent on the BSE.

Posted by Rakesh Patil First Published on Aug 3, 2018 09:53 am

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019

tags:TRIP,BLKB,EVTC,INOD,TISA,LDOS,GRVY,CCMP,FEIM,ALNY,

Source: ThinkstockMay 15, 2018: The S&P 500 closed down 0.7% at 2,711.45. The DJIA closed down 0.8% at 24,706.62. Separately, the Nasdaq was down 0.8% at 7,351.63.

Tuesday was a down day for the broad U.S. markets. Crude oil continued to make a run, even if the gain was only slight as it continues to stabilize above the $70 price level. The S&P 500 sectors were entirely negative. The most ��positive�� sector was energy down only 0.1%. The worst performing sectors were real estate, health care, and technology down 1.7%, 1.4%, and 1.0%, respectively.

Crude oil was up 0.4% at $71.21.

Gold was down 2% at $1,291.70.

The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Tuesday was Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) which traded down about 10% at $62.51. The stock��s 52-week range is $55.60 to $75.00. Volume was 14 million compared to the daily average volume of 2.6 million.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: TripAdvisor, Inc.(TRIP)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Garrett Baldwin]

    President Trump will announce today if he will pull the United States out of the Obama-era nuclear deal. Trump wants European members of the treaty to amend certain issues regarding Iran's uranium enrichment capacity. Energy stocks and oil prices had been rising on speculation that Trump would slap Iran again with economic sanctions, disrupting the region's oil production. Comcast Corp.�(Nasdaq: CMCSA) is currently working to obtain enough capital to purchase certain assets of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.�(NYSE: FOXA). The ability to raise capital would allow Comcast to replace Disney's $52 billion bid for the many of Fox's key businesses. Markets are reacting to a speech made this morning by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. During a speech in Zurich, Switzerland, Powell said that rising U.S. interest rates would not have a significant impact on emerging markets and foreign stock markets. This has long been a concern for other nations as the U.S. dollar rises and American bonds become more attractive to international investors. Four Stocks to Watch Today: DIS, C, SNAP The Walt Disney�Co.�(NYSE: DIS) will lead another busy day of earnings reports today. Investors will be exploring the impact of recent price hikes at the company's theme parks, as well as the ongoing concerns about cable cutting and how this trend affects ESPN. Markets anticipate that the company will report earnings per share of $1.68 on top of $14.23 billion in revenue. Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) are on the move. The uptick came after activist investor ValueAct announced a $1.2 billion stake in the investment bank. Citigroup shares were up 1.2% in pre-market hours. Shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) gained 1% in pre-market hours. The owner of social media giant Snapchat said that its CFO Drew Vollero will step down next week. The executive will be replaced by a financial executive at Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN). Snap continues to face incredible pressures after the f
  • [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRPA) shares jumped 31.6 percent to $12.18 following TripAdvisor Q1 earnings beat. ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ: ZAGG) rose 26.5 percent to $14.55 after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings. OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK) shares gained 25 percent to $4.0234 following Q1 beat. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAXN) jumped 23.5 percent to $55.12 following a big Q1 beat. The company raised its fiscal 2018 sales growth guidance from 16-18 percent to 18-20 percent. Penn Virginia Corporation (NASDAQ: PVAC) gained 23.3 percent to $59.00 after reporting Q1 results. TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) rose 22.5 percent to $47.51 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Tuesday. Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) shares surged 21.7 percent to $3.36. Amazon.com's partnership with Sears started in 2017 with an agreement to sell Kenmore-branded appliances online. On Wednesday, the companies announced an extension of their relationship to now include tire delivery and installations. EP Energy Corporation (NYSE: EPE) jumped 21.3 percent to $2.68 following Q1 results. LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC) surged 20.4 percent to $3.395 following better-than-expected Q1 earnings. Superior Industries International, Inc. (NYSE: SUP) gained 19 percent to $15.82 after reporting Q1 results. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLCM) shares rose 18.5 percent to $8.13 following Q1 results. Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) rose 18.3 percent to $52.47 after the company posted strong quarterly results. Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) shares jumped 18.3 percent to $6.47 following quarterly results. IEC Electronics Corp. (NYSE: IEC) shares climbed 17 percent to $4.68 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings. New Relic, Inc. (NYSE: NEWR) rose 16.8 percent to $90.10 following Q4 results. Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: GPOR)
  • [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

    TripAdvisor's (NASDAQ:TRIP) 62% spike makes it the fifth-best performer on the S&P 500 to date. The travel booking giant has delivered plenty of good news to investors lately. In February it announced that it had ended a brutal streak of profitability declines in its core hotel booking business even as management promised stronger earnings ahead. Executives delivered on that goal with a solid first-quarter report that sent shares soaring by 39% in May. To keep the good times rolling, TripAdvisor will need to show that it can sustain its sales growth even as it slashes spending in key areas like marketing.

  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    Don't look now, but TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP)�is getting hot again. The online travel site's stock has soared 65% since bottoming out six months ago. The recovery has been gradual but steady. TripAdvisor stock has moved higher in four of this year's first five months. The shares hit another fresh 52-week high earlier this week.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Blackbaud, Inc.(BLKB)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Max Byerly]

    Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) EVP Kevin W. Mooney sold 9,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $1,015,245.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,418,730. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Evertec, Inc.(EVTC)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Equities research analysts at Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Evertec (NYSE:EVTC) in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a “market perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Evertec (NYSE:EVTC) was downgraded by equities research analysts at ValuEngine from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Innodata Inc.(INOD)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Luzich Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Innodata Inc (NASDAQ:INOD) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,316,550 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,944 shares during the period. Innodata accounts for approximately 1.5% of Luzich Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Luzich Partners LLC owned about 5.09% of Innodata worth $1,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Media coverage about Innodata (NASDAQ:INOD) has trended somewhat positive this week, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research firm scores the sentiment of press coverage by analyzing more than twenty million blog and news sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Innodata earned a media sentiment score of 0.10 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news articles about the technology company an impact score of 47.3485759085159 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near future.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Innodata (NASDAQ:INOD) will be releasing its Q1 2018 earnings data before the market opens on Tuesday, May 8th.

    Innodata (NASDAQ:INOD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 8th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $15.66 million for the quarter. Innodata had a negative return on equity of 10.94% and a negative net margin of 8.30%.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Top Image Systems Ltd.(TISA)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ethan Ryder]

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

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

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Leidos Holdings, Inc.(LDOS)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 213,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,482 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.14% of Leidos worth $13,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

  • [By Lou Whiteman]

    Scale matters in the government IT business, as larger companies are better able to manage the increasingly large and complex systems customers demand, and a broader cost basis helps in putting together low-cost, competitive bids. In recent years, a wave of mergers and acquisitions has left a clear top two in the market. Industry leader Leidos Holdings (NYSE:LDOS) in 2016 bought the IT business of Lockheed Martin, while General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) vaulted to No. 2 earlier this year via its acquisition of CSRA.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Leidos (LDOS)

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

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: GRAVITY Co. Ltd.(GRVY)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    BidaskClub upgraded shares of Gravity (NASDAQ:GRVY) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    ILLEGAL ACTIVITY WARNING: “Gravity (GRVY) Receives Coverage Optimism Score of 0.17” was first published by Ticker Report and is the sole property of of Ticker Report. If you are viewing this story on another publication, it was copied illegally and reposted in violation of U.S. & international trademark and copyright laws. The legal version of this story can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/3382037/gravity-grvy-receives-coverage-optimism-score-of-0-17.html.

  • [By Cooper Creagan]

    For example, if you had taken five minutes to set up a Night Trade on Gravity Co. (Nasdaq: GRVY) in October, you could've tripled your money, and then some.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Cabot Microelectronics Corporation(CCMP)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Shares of Cabot Microelectronics Co. (NASDAQ:CCMP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $112.25.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Cabot Microelectronics (NASDAQ: CCMP) and Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and dividends.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    News coverage about Cabot Microelectronics (NASDAQ:CCMP) has been trending somewhat positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment. Accern identifies positive and negative press coverage by reviewing more than 20 million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Cabot Microelectronics earned a daily sentiment score of 0.03 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news stories about the semiconductor company an impact score of 46.640513544039 out of 100, meaning that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near term.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Cabot Microelectronics (CCMP)

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

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Shares of Cabot Microelectronics Co. (NASDAQ:CCMP) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $114.80.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Frequency Electronics Inc.(FEIM)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    News articles about Frequency Electronics (NASDAQ:FEIM) have trended somewhat positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment. Accern identifies positive and negative news coverage by reviewing more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Frequency Electronics earned a news impact score of 0.15 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media headlines about the communications equipment provider an impact score of 46.4556074629456 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the near term.

Top 10 Tech Stocks To Own For 2019: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ALNY)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Keith Speights]

    I wrote three months ago that I viewed Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) stock as a pretty good pick -- but with a couple of qualifications. First, I didn't think that the biotech would generate returns in 2018 nearly as great as it did last year. Second, I thought that there were even better stocks to buy than Alnylam.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a hold rating to a sell rating. According to Zacks, “Although Alnylam has a broad and promising pipeline, we note that most candidates are in mid stages of development. These candidates still have a long way to go before hitting the market. The company relies highly on collaborators for funding. Any development/regulatory setback would be a negative for the company.  However, Alnylam reported positive data from the ATLAS study in the first quarter which led to regulatory filings for its late-stage pipeline candidate patisiran and the FDA set an action date of Aug 11, 2018. The company along with its partners Sanofi and The Medicines Company, restarted fitusiran's ATLAS phase III study and advanced inclisiran in the ORION-9, -10, and -11 phase III studies, respectively, with results expected for both programs in 2019. Alnylam expects to achieve the profile of three marketed products by the end of 2020.”

  • [By Keith Speights]

    It's not exactly David vs. Goliath. However, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BLCM) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) are definitely in different leagues right now. Both are clinical-stage biotechs, but Bellicum's market cap is less than $350 million while Alnylam's market cap is close to $10 billion.

  • [By Keith Speights]

    Speaking of competition, Ionis should have its hands full battling rivals for Tegsedi assuming the drug wins approval. Alnylam (NASDAQ:ALNY) anticipates winning FDA approval for its hATTR drug patisiran within a few weeks. Because the FDA delayed its decision on Tegsedi, Alnylam appears to be in position to reach the market first. In addition to its first-mover advantage, patisiran�appears to have an edge over Tegsedi in efficacy and safety based on clinical data for the two drugs.�

  • [By Brian Orelli]

    Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) released first-quarter results last week, but all eyes were looking forward as the company waits for a potential approval of its hereditary TTR amyloidosis (ATTR) drug, patisiran.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

California Resources (CRC) Raised to Buy at Zacks Investment Research

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday. The firm currently has a $44.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.31% from the stock’s previous close.

According to Zacks, “California Resources Corporation is engaged in exploration and production of oil and gas. The Company produces, gathers, processes and markets crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and electricity primarily in the State of California. California Resources Corporation is based in Los Angeles, California. “

Get California Resources alerts:

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Imperial Capital raised their price objective on California Resources from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 7th. ValuEngine upgraded California Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 23rd. Bank of America set a $38.00 price objective on California Resources and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 4th. Finally, Societe Generale cut California Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $31.25.

California Resources stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.53. 1,461,200 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,001,564. California Resources has a 12-month low of $6.47 and a 12-month high of $48.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of -7.56, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.98 and a beta of 5.91.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by $0.93. The business had revenue of $609.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $537.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.02) EPS. California Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. analysts forecast that California Resources will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRC. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of California Resources during the first quarter worth $5,092,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in California Resources by 1,855.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 727,722 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $12,480,000 after acquiring an additional 690,503 shares during the last quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in California Resources in the first quarter valued at $10,011,000. Elephas Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in California Resources by 15.1% in the first quarter. Elephas Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,544,668 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $26,491,000 after acquiring an additional 203,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in California Resources in the first quarter valued at $1,446,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.64% of the company’s stock.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company in the State of California. The company sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids to marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities.

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Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on California Resources (CRC)

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

Analyst Recommendations for California Resources (NYSE:CRC)

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) PT Raised to $207.00

Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP) (TSE:CP) had its target price increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $200.00 to $207.00 in a research note issued on Thursday. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 6.17% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on CP. Zacks Investment Research cut Canadian Pacific Railway from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank cut Canadian Pacific Railway to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 9th. Seaport Global Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Canadian Pacific Railway in a research report on Monday, June 25th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Canadian Pacific Railway in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $208.00 price objective on shares of Canadian Pacific Railway in a research report on Thursday, April 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Canadian Pacific Railway has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $211.45.

Get Canadian Pacific Railway alerts:

Canadian Pacific Railway opened at $194.97 on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $27.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. Canadian Pacific Railway has a twelve month low of $150.91 and a twelve month high of $196.34.

Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP) (TSE:CP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 18th. The transportation company reported $3.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. Canadian Pacific Railway had a return on equity of 28.25% and a net margin of 33.92%. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. research analysts predict that Canadian Pacific Railway will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC acquired a new stake in Canadian Pacific Railway during the 1st quarter worth approximately $116,000. We Are One Seven LLC acquired a new stake in Canadian Pacific Railway during the 4th quarter worth approximately $156,000. Financial Gravity Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Canadian Pacific Railway during the 1st quarter worth approximately $175,000. Credit Agricole S A acquired a new stake in Canadian Pacific Railway during the 1st quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in Canadian Pacific Railway during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. 68.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Canadian Pacific Railway Company Profile

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates a transcontinental freight railway in Canada and the United States. The company transports bulk commodities, including grain, coal, potash, fertilizers, and sulphur; and merchandise freight, such as finished vehicles and machineries, automotive parts, chemicals and plastics, petroleum and crude products, and metals and minerals, as well as forest, industrial, and consumer products.

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Analyst Recommendations for Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP)

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Hot Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019

tags:EBAY,BBK,EXEL,

On Thursday, our Under the Radar Movers�newsletter suggested shorting small cap rare disease stock Abeona Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ABEO):

��Abeona Therapeutics is clearly a timing trade - we think today's something of a blowoff top, marked by a volume surge and the fact that the stock's already peeling back from its peak; the profit-takers are already going to work. We saw a similar surge on Tuesday, and though that one didn't end up kick-starting a pullback, it helped set up today's reversal bar (by virtue of luring in the last of the would-be buyers). There's just not a lot of room left for more upside.��

Our Under the Radar Movers�newsletter has a more detailed discussion about Abeona Therapeutics Inc��s technical chart along with an appropriate short/bearish strategy:

Hot Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: eBay Inc.(EBAY)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Motley Fool Staff]

    Lewis: It must have been in the late 90s. My mom was super into eBay�(NASDAQ:EBAY) back then, and I was a pretty avid baseball card collector. There were a lot of times where I was trying to get this one specific card, and some guy in Oklahoma was selling it on eBay, so I was involved in the auction. I think that was my early online purchase experience.

  • [By Money Morning Staff Reports]

    You may have used eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) to buy used items. But have you ever considered buying used gold on there as well?

    If you're anything like us, then you love finding deals. And there aren't many better places to find good deals than in a peer-to-peer online marketplace like eBay.

  • [By Adam Levy]

    Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) benefited from that rule for a long time, but it eventually expanded its fulfillment center network to the point where it now collects sales tax in every state. Requiring other online retailers to collect sales tax -- including third-party sellers on marketplaces like Amazon's, eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), or even Walmart's (NYSE:WMT) website -- would actually put Amazon back on equal footing with its biggest competition. What's more, it could make smaller retailers more reliant on Amazon or other services to provide tax collection services, putting them at a further disadvantage.

  • [By Todd Campbell, Rich Smith, and Neha Chamaria]

    Great stocks that disrupt big markets and reward shareholders with massive long-term returns, such as eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), don't come around every day, so when they do, investors should consider adding them to their portfolios. These Motley Fool investors think Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU), Raven Industries (NASDAQ:RAVN), and Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ:FMI) fall into that camp. Are they worth buying right now? Read on to learn more about these stocks and what could cause them to deliver envy-inspiring returns in the future.

Hot Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: Blackrock Municipal Bond Trust(BBK)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Media coverage about BlackRock Municipal Bond Trust (NYSE:BBK) has been trending somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment reports. Accern identifies negative and positive media coverage by analyzing 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 closest to one being the most favorable. BlackRock Municipal Bond Trust earned a media sentiment score of 0.25 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave headlines about the financial services provider an impact score of 47.5280376576675 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near future.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Doliver Capital Advisors LP trimmed its stake in shares of Blackrock Municipal Bond Trust (NYSE:BBK) by 26.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,598 shares during the quarter. Doliver Capital Advisors LP owned about 0.10% of Blackrock Municipal Bond Trust worth $147,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hot Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: Exelixis, Inc.(EXEL)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    Wall Street had another good session on Thursday, with further gains for major markets as benchmarks like the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks flirted with record highs. A favorable reading from the consumer price index showed only modest growth in prices, and the idea that inflation remains in check led market participants to believe that the Federal Reserve won't have to speed up its efforts to return short-term interest rates to more normal levels. Yet even with the overall market picking up ground, some companies had bad news that weighed on their share prices. Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG), Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL), and L Brands (NYSE:LB) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.

  • [By ]

    Exelixis (EXEL) : "Biotechs are not working so I'm not going to recommend it."

    Moneygram (MGI) : "No, you need quality and this one doesn't have it."

  • [By Max Byerly]

    BidaskClub upgraded shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a report released on Friday.

    EXEL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Cann restated a buy rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, May 30th. ValuEngine lowered Exelixis from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note on Friday, May 11th. William Blair reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised Exelixis from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Exelixis from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $32.80.

  • [By Brian Orelli]

    After a disappointing fourth quarter, Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) reaccelerated growth in the first quarter, bolstered by a new approval for Cabometyx in previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), also known as kidney cancer.

Monday, July 16, 2018

Zeitcoin (ZEIT) Price Hits $0.0000

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Wednesday, July 11, 2018

The Simply Good Foods Company (SMPL) Q3 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) Q3 2018 Earnings Conference CallJul. 10, 2018 8:30 a.m. ET

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

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to The Simply Good Foods Company third-quarter 2018 earnings call. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host Mr. Mark Pogharian, vice president of investor relations for Simply Good Foods.�Thank you. You may begin.

Mark Pogharian -- Vice President, Investor Relations

Thank you, Melissa. Good morning. I am pleased to welcome you to The Simply Good Foods Company earnings call for the fiscal third quarter ended May 26, 2018. Joe Scalzo, president and CEO,�and Todd Cunfer, CFO, will provide you with an overview of the results, which will then be followed by a Q&A session for the questions the sell-side analysts may have.

The company issued its earnings press release this morning at approximately 7 a.m. Eastern Time. A copy of the release and accompanying presentation are available under the Investors section of the company's website at thesimplygoodfoodscompany.com. This call is being webcast live on the website, and an archive of today's remarks will also be available for 30 days.

During the course of today's call, management will make forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based on subsequent events. A detailed listing of such risks and uncertainties can be found in today's press release and the company's SEC filings. In addition, management will make references to adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure that it believes provides investors with useful information with which to evaluate the company's operating performance.

Today's earnings release includes a reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP measures. And finally, the company has included in today's earnings release and presentation unaudited�financial information for the 13 weeks and 39 weeks ended May 22, 2018,�and unaudited pro forma financial information from the 13 weeks and 39 weeks ended May 27, 2018. The pro forma adjustments are based on available information and upon assumptions that our management believes are reasonable in order to reflect on a pro forma basis the impact of its business combination transaction on the historical information of our predecessor and successor entities, as applicable. The pro forma financial statements provide results as the business combination transaction had been completed as of the beginning of fiscal 2017.

All financial measures related to the fiscal 2017 discussed today will be on a pro forma basis. With that, it is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Joe Scalzo, president and chief executive officer.

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Thank you, Mark. Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. Today I'll recap our third-quarter highlights and I'll provide an update on our business, then Todd will discuss a summary of our third-quarter and our year-to-date financial results, and after that we'll open the call to your questions. But before we get into it, on the behalf of myself and the Board of Directors, I want to say thank you to all of our employees and our business partners whose efforts and hard work have resulted in a strong marketplace financial results that we'll be discussing today.

Our third quarter continued the strong business momentum we experienced in the first half of the year. For the third quarter, organic net sales grew 11.1% year over year,�with adjusted EBITDA up 21.4%. Our top-line growth continues to underscore the strength of our brand and the powerful nutritious snacking macro tailwinds of convenience, meal replacement,�and low-carb, low-sugar, protein-rich products. Volume was the biggest contributor to growth in Q3,�about 6.5 percentage points.

Additionally, lower direct trade was a 4.6 percentage point contributor to sales growth. The increase in adjusted EBITDA is a direct result of the sales growth and favorable trade. These gains were partially offset by a slightly higher distribution cost and the incremental expenses in the business that we mentioned earlier in the year versus public company costs, marketing investments and investments to enhance organizational capabilities and key functions, including preparation for future compliance requirements. Given the investments we've made across the business combined with on-air advertising and in-store programming, we're seeing solid sales growth across all channels.

And our e-commerce business continues to do well, up about 70% year to date. We anticipate there's a percent of our total sales, e-commerce will increase at least 1 point in the fiscal year to 4% of our total sales. For the year to date, 39-week period ended May 27, 2018, measured channel U.S. POS growth per IRI was up 6.9%.

Growth is driven by our strategic marketing initiatives, addressing low carb seeking lifestyle consumers, an opportunity is four times greater than our original programmatic weight loss target. Our measured channel POS growth in Q3 was strong, up 9.8%, this excludes our e-commerce business, which continues to be robust. The initial first wave of consumer response to Rob Lowe in his sugars' advertising is having a positive impact on our growth. Over the remainder of the year, we expect our POS strength to continue.

The most encouraging part of our strong retail performance is that it's coming entirely from base velocity growth, partially offset by slight volume declines in distribution as well as declines in feature and display activity. We believe our strong base velocities are driven by the strategic initiatives we outlined earlier in this year, specifically our new marketing campaign is resonating with and bringing consumers to our franchise. Our clean label initiative delivers on consumer preferences for fewer recognizable ingredients. The packaging refreshes improved shelf presence and aisle shopability.

And several of our recent new product introductions are among some of our highest velocity items already. Our strong results give us the financial flexibility to invest in the business. As we discussed last quarter, in the second half of fiscal 2018, we're making incremental strategic investments in marketing, supporting both our brick-and-mortar and e-commerce businesses as well as in brand building initiatives that should drive further top-line growth and enable us to carry our momentum into the next year. Additionally, we're enhancing our organizational capabilities and key functions including preparation for future compliance requirements.

As we entered the fourth quarter, we kicked off a strategic sourcing initiative that we believe will result in significant supply chain improvements that will enable us to maintain our strong gross margins. As such, we have engaged with an industry specialist to assist us in the implementation. The program will be focused on procurement, co-manufacture supply processes,�and logistics. We're encouraged to make an implementation cost associated with this program in the fourth quarter as well as in the first half of the next fiscal year.

We anticipated achieving savings for the program in the second half of next year and with this overview I'd like now to turn the call over to Todd Cunfer, who'll provide you with some additional financial details. Todd?

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Let me start with two points as it relates to the numbers which will be on the slides to follow. First for comparative purposes, we will review unaudited financial statements for the quarter and year to date ended May 26, 2018, and pro forma financial statements for the quarter and year to date ended May 27, 2017, which presents our results as if the business culmination had occurred as of August 28, 2016, including amortization expense based on the fair value of assets after the purchase and interest expense based on the new capital structure. We believe this discussion provides helpful information on the performance of the business during this period and all financial measures discussed today will be on a pro forma combined basis.

Second, we also evaluate our performance on an adjusted EBITDA basis based on our asset-light strong cash flow model. We have included a detailed reconciliation from GAAP net income to adjusted EBITDA in today's press release. We believe this measure is a key indicator of the true underlying performance of the business. The third-quarter results are as follows, net sales were up 11.1% to $107.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA increased 21.4% to $17.9 million.

The net-sales increase was driven by organic core volume growth of 6.5 percentage points, direct trade was at 4.6 percentage point benefit due to a lower promotional activity versus the year-ago period as it focused on higher ROI program. Gross profit increased 17.7% to $51.3 million,�with gross margin up 270 basis points to 47.8%, driven primarily by lower direct trading status. The increase in gross profit was partially offset by other expenses including slightly higher distribution expense, a 13.4% increase in selling and marketing expense, which includes a portion of the incremental investment we discussed last quarter, and a 14.7% increase in G&A to the previously discussed public company cost and accelerated capability expenses. Due to the tax reform act, our effective tax rate in the third quarter was 28.5% versus an assumed pro forma rate to about 40% in the�year-ago period.

We continue to anticipate that the full-year tax rate will be around 28%. As a result, net income increased 31.9% to $7.1 million. Year-to-date results are as follows:�net sales were up 8.2% to $323.2 million and adjusted EBITDA increased 9.7% to $60.5 million. Year-to-date net-sales increase was driven by organic core volume growth of 6.3 percentage points. Additionally, the acquisition of SimplyProtein was a 1.3 percentage point benefit and favorable direct trade is 0.6 percentage point contribution to growth.

Year to date, gross profit increased 11.1% to $154.3 million,�with gross margin up 120 basis points to 47.7% due to lower direct trade and favorable product mix. This was partially offset by other expenses including higher distribution costs, $1.9 million of previously discussed transaction costs, a 7.6% increase in selling and marketing expense and a 12.2% increase in G&A as a result of Wellness Foods, public company cost and accelerated capability expenses. Additionally, recall our second-quarter disclosure of a $29 million gain in deferred-tax liability remeasurement and the $4.7 million gain on the TRA. As a result, net income increased $37.8 million to $58.7 million.

The company continues to benefit from very attractive cash flow characteristics underpinned by our asset-light model, which enabled strong cash flow generation. Capital expenditures for the first nine months of 2018 were approximately $1.3 million, driven primarily by investment in our new website and digital media application. We estimate full-year capex�to be slightly less than $2 million. Before I move on to the balance sheet, please note that we lack the acquisition of Wellness Foods�SimplyProtein brand in the second quarter.

However, the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 includes a catch-up for four months of Wellness Foods net sales. Additionally, we do not expect that the third-quarter favorable direct trade will repeat in the fourth quarter of 2018. Moving on to the balance sheet and cash flows. The company's solid balance sheet and cash flow provides us with financial flexibility to support future growth.

As of May 26, 2018, the company had cash of $88.4 million and�$199 million remaining on the outstanding term loan resulting in a pro forma net-debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of about 1.4 times. The company also has a $75 million revolving line of credit available with no borrowings outstanding as of May 26, 2018. Lastly in late May, Standard & Poor's and Moody's reaffirmed the company's debt rate. That concludes my financial overview.

I would like to now turn it back to Joe for a few brief closing remarks.

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Thank you, Todd. In summary, we confident in the growth opportunities for our business moving forward and confident in our ability to execute in the marketplace to deliver on our strategic initiatives. The incremental investments that we made in the business in the third quarter delivered strong sales and POS growth. POS in June remained strong, we expect the full-year 2018 net sales growth rate to be similar to the year-to-date growth rate.

Including the previously discussed investments in the business, we anticipate adjusted EBITDA growth will be slightly lower than net sales growth. And lastly, we feel very good about our long-term target of generating annual net sales growth of 4% to 6% and adjusted EBITDA growth greater than that. We believe our algorithm is realistic, we believe it is achievable and it will result in value creation for our shareholders. We appreciate everyone's interest in the company.

And with that, Todd and I are now available to take your questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. [Operator instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Jason English with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Hey, good morning, folks.

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Good morning, Jason.

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Good morning, Jason

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Thank you for letting me ask a question. I've got a couple. First one on the trade spend, the ability to pull out trade spend stands increased to our contrast with the industry overall, which seems to be putting more and more money above the line. Can you talk about the dynamics there? What's driving it? And is there anything transitory, timing related to this benefit that we should be cognizant of, as we think about the forward?

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Yes, Jason, it's Todd. So it was really more due to the amount of activity we had last year, that our POS below a little bit in Q2 and the beginning of Q3, we decided to spend some more money in the marketplace.We got some returns for it, not as much as we liked, so as we lacked that coming into this year, we decided with the strength of the core business not to repeat that activity. So we were really doing a great job managing our trade but that did decline -- was majority just the amount that we put in last year.

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

OK. That's helpful. And then the new initiative, the strategic sourcing initiative. Was the Callisto listed have anything to do with the fact that so much of your supply is coming out of Canada? Is there a risk to contemplate there? And then, sorry this is a little bit long winded, building on that, I think it was you, Joe, who mentioned that the initiative is designed to sustain strong gross margins, not expand gross margins, so again, I guess this raises the question of whether or not this is in response to some headwinds that you see on the come?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Yes, not -- actually not in response to headwinds and you know our algorithm we do have gross margin improvement of 10 to 20 basis points a year. So this is just another arrow that we can use in our quiver to find efficiency in our business, how it will play out vis-a-vis inflation in the future, your guess is as good as mine. We would say right now our basket of goods and services as we look into next year, yet little early for us to be providing a point of view, feels relatively benign. I mean it's a very dynamic environment given what's going on with dueling tariffs.

But at this point, you know we don't anticipate any significant step up in inflation, at least that we can see from right now.

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

And in your guidance -- your implicit guidance for the fourth quarter on EBITDA suggests that EBITDA will be flat to maybe down mid-singles depending on how you interpret the slightly below sales. Is the bulk of that related to the implementation cost that you mentioned that some might may spill into next year? Or do you plan on treating those implementation costs�as one-time in nature?

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

No, they will -- they're embedded in the EBITDA calculation. So there's really kind of three drivers to that implicit EBITDA Q4 that you mentioned. So it is those implementation costs, it is a continued step up in our marketing investment. And then just with the recent really over delivering POS and increase in our very strong third quarter, we need to take our set of comp off of this, so that's hitting in Q4 as well.

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

That's a high-quality problem. Thanks, guys. I'll pass it on.

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Smith with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Matthew Smith -- Stifel Financial Corp. -- Analyst

Hi, good morning.

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Good morning.

Matthew Smith -- Stifel Financial Corp. -- Analyst

We saw a gross margin benefited from a trade promotion efficiency. Did strong volume growth also benefit the gross margin or the volume benefits limited by the copacking agreements? Yeah. Go ahead.

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

I'm sorry. So as you mentioned, the fact that we're outsourced, there's limited leverage from volume. We do get a little bit of leverage and the fact that the more volume going through our co-mans, we tend to get the higher rebate and lower cost but not your typical in-house manufacturing where you're really leveraging those fixed assets.

Matthew Smith -- Stifel Financial Corp. -- Analyst

Given the strong volume performance on a year-to-date basis and what you expect in the fourth quarter, could you see that benefit accelerate going forward? Or is it too small to really matter?

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

It's not a major impact.

Matthew Smith -- Stifel Financial Corp. -- Analyst

All right. Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brian Holland with Consumer Edge Research. Please proceed with your question.

Brian Holland -- Consumer Edge Research -- Analyst

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. First question I guess, can you help us reconcile, I guess it implied something in the range of 8% top-line growth, I understand some of the Canada offsets but that doesn't seem to be too material in the grand scheme of things. And then scanner data out this morning for you guys, you're now growing at about 16% so obviously, tremendous performance there.

But just trying to understand maybe the delta between what's implied by your Q4 top-line guidance and what we're seeing in scanner, any other offsets we should just be mindful of at this point?

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Yes, so as I mentioned in the call, we do have some headwinds with lapping four months of the Wellness Foods business but that's about a percent. As we've been discussing, we've been having restructuring in our international business and that will be declining in Q4, so that is also an impact. I just said we got off to a great June in the scanner data. It's difficult sometimes at year-end because there's lots of things in the bubble between year-end and beginning of next year on promotional shipments and there is new shelf resets and so there's always some noise around there.

So there -- we feel good about the guidance that we've given and I'll leave it at that.

Brian Holland -- Consumer Edge Research -- Analyst

OK. Fair enough. If I could just ask about -- I know that you talked about the top-line growth being velocity driven, but I'm curious if we can kind of peel back a little bit to the extent that you guys are tracking metrics such as household penetration servings for buyers, things that you talked about before. Can you provide any sense of maybe year to date, how that's performing, maybe the balance of this growth? Is it all new households coming in and trialing? Is it a balance of households coming in and servings per household going up? I know we have data that suggest it's a healthy mix of both, by -- I trust you guys are looking at that pretty closely, so just kind of curious what that underlying consumer behavior looks like?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Yes. We have both as you mentioned, more buyers buying in the same year-to-date period in the prior year and buy rate is healthy. So we're getting a combination of both of those things, which is encouraging for our business. And just to remind folks right, the core to our strategy is, we were targeting programmatic weight-loss consumers, they're about 8 million of those, we had about a 40 share.

We're now going after the 31 million lifestyle low-carb, low-sugar, protein-rich consumers. And we're seeing as we've targeted them with Rob Lowe and the sugars, we're seeing a nice uptick in the consumer fundamentals of our business, which is leading to improving POS results.

Brian Holland -- Consumer Edge Research -- Analyst

And I guess last one from me, you've talked before -- I think you talked last quarter about sort of shifting toward the higher end of maybe a 9% to 10% marketing spend, as percentage of sales, you're a little bit above that 10%. Given the more focused approach and the returns that you're seeing, should we continue to sort of think about maybe the high end of that 9% to 10% range or a little -- maybe even a little bit above that as you guys kind of continue to move on this momentum?

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Yes, so as I mentioned earlier, we do have incremental marketing in the fourth quarter. So yes, I think you can expect us to be at the high end for the year and we will continue -- our goal is to grow net sales with marketing at least in the future. So I think you should in your models continue to think of it in that way.

Brian Holland -- Consumer Edge Research -- Analyst

Appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rob Dickerson with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question.

Analyst -- Deutsche Bank

Hi, good morning. It's Matt on for Rob. Thanks for the question. I have two quick ones.

Do you have any timeline updates or early successes you're able to share on SimplyProtein launch?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

A little too early to talk about that Matt. So we're just starting to sell it to customers. So we -- when we get some POS results that we can talk about, give you some insight into, we'll be more happy to do that.

Analyst -- Deutsche Bank

OK. Perfect. And then just on the M&A environment, from a hypothetical-acquisition-targets perspective, why join Simply Good Foods over continuing to run a business independently or selling to a larger food company with more resources, history, portfolio diversity etc.?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

I'm not sure I understand your question, Matt, why would somebody sell to us versus the independent or sell to somebody bigger?

Analyst -- Deutsche Bank

Right. So if -- obviously, the M&A environment I'm sure is pretty competitive in your space given the growth that you guys are seeing, what is attractive about Simply Good Foods that as a potential parent-company perspective relative to selling to a larger CPG company?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

That's an interesting question. I mean besides value, we'll put -- set value aside for a second, synergy and all those things. I think the hardest thing to do in running a business is to maintain a balance of speed and smart strategic thinking and marketing ideas, right? And I think that we've shown as a management team that we're pretty good at mining consumer ideas, turning them to initiatives in the marketplace and moving quickly to capture those. Best example I can give you is identification of the self-directed�low-carbers, the ability to get a celebrity like Rob Lowe, the concept around hidden sugars is a proxy for eating too many carbs and to execute that in the marketplace to relatively quick order to get good business results, see those results and then be willing to invest, lean in and invest forward.

So our company that's looking to be able to sell and drive growth, we've shown to be entrepreneurial and quick moving in our ability to capture opportunities in the marketplace and that's not a negative comment on larger company, it's a positive comment about our organization we've been able to do. So I think that is attractive, especially if you talk to founders looking to want to sell their business, but continue to note that it's going to be in good hands and people are going to nurture it growing, we've shown the ability to do that.

Analyst -- Deutsche Bank

Perfect. Yeah. Very interesting.

Operator

Thank you. [Operator instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Bill Chappell with SunTrust Robinson. Please proceed with your question.

Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Thanks. Good morning.

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Good morning, Bill.

Just like on the sourcing initiatives, is there kind of a timeline of how quick that will pay back? It's whenever you'll get the benefits in '19 but didn't know if it's a pretty quick payback or if this is a multiyear type project?

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Yes. I don't want to get into all specificity on the amount that we're spending and the amount that we'll save but as we mentioned Q4 this year, first half of next year is when the expense will be incurred, we will start to get savings from that in the second half. We anticipate a pretty fast payback on our investment. I would say the total, it will take us at least 24 months to get the full impact of all the different initiatives that we're going to be working on but we feel really good about the project.

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

We're not patient people.

Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

I want to look easy with that. The second -- in terms of I think you alluded to kind of shelf space resets in the fall, which I guess is more normal for your category. I understand you have a high level of ACV and certainly a high share within your categories, but is it possible you get some meaningful gains in the fall and into next year with kind of where the scanner data is running, with the Rob Lowe kind of expansion? Is it -- do you see new customers or new shelf space popping up?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Yes. First, I would say it's hard to predict going forward, right? So that's playing out as we speak even to the fall, we haven't heard what the answers to those things are. But I like the metrics that we're seeing right now, first and foremost our base velocity, so like items in the store are up in the 20% range. That is normally a pretty good indicator around the productivity of the -- of your shelf and your ability to get incremental space on the shelf.

So I think I like the line-up of products that we've got, that we've offered to customers to put into the set, starting in the fall. So I think the combination of those two things made us optimistic we could actually make some progress. Frankly, the results that we're getting make us confident that even in flat distribution world that our business results are going to be strong. Like what we believe is happening right now is more people are coming to the shelf and buying more products.

Now I'd like to believe that we could put a few new interesting products in front of them and those can perform incrementally better than we would without them, but we feel good about our -- just our core business right now, we feel good about the trajectory of the business and we like the new products we're putting in the marketplace right now. So we will probably tell you a little bit more about the progress there in the next quarterly earnings.

Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Great. And then last one for me, just trying to understand, as you kind of look at -- to Rob Lowe and look to kind of where you're expanding into the new market, is there more you need to do and I guess going back, there had been a talk that clean label was kind of the key and new packaging was the key to really reach this expanded demographic, is that still the case and kind of where do we stand on that whole move?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

I love the question and as a CEO, there is always more to do. So I will tell you the core of what we've been doing has been around talking to the self-directed�low-carbers and helping make them smarter about nutrition. That's the core of what we've been doing. The packaged refresh, the cleaner label, just lowers the barriers to entry into the brand for people.

But the core of it is, and what we believe has been driving our business is we're giving people better information about how to feed their bodies. And there is always more that they can learn and there is always more that we can teach. So that's kind of the path that we think we're going down, that you can rely on Atkins as a -- to provide you good education around what you're putting in your bodies and what you should be putting in your bodies. And that's kind of the path I think you'll see us continue to press and the encouraging part of it is, it appears to be equally compelling to programmatic weight loss folks as it is to self-directed�low-carbers.

So there is an efficiency in that that we really like.

Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Got it. Thanks so much.

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

All right. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is a follow-up from the line of Jason English with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Well, hello again, guys. Thank you for allowing me to ask a follow-up. I thought your answer to the question on why you may be the preferred strategic suitor was interesting. You focused a lot on culture and capabilities, which I respect and appreciate.

One area you didn't touch on was the ability, given your size to facilitate a tax advantage deal structure. So something like an RMT. It was part of the conversation early on. I guess my question is why wasn't it part of your answer there? Is that something that you see a little likelihood of? If so, why has tax policy changed it? Any color you can add there? And then while we're on the topic, if you can give us an update on where your appetite stands for further acquisitions and what the pipeline may look like?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Yes. So I think if I could paraphrase your question is, where are we fishing? From a deal standpoint, and as we've progressed throughout the year, I think we've pretty consistently said we like the nutritional snacking space, it's core to our capability, it's core to who we are and it is a preponderance of the assets that we're looking at. So just because we believe we add significant amount of value there, it's where we're doing most of our fishing. It's a larger asset tax advantage, larger asset in center of store, other snacking became available, we would absolutely consider it but it's not where we're mostly looking.

And we would consider it based upon a -- using simple criteria, do we like the criteria? Do we like the brand and the brand position in that category? And because it would probably be a significant asset, does it have capability and a management team? Or do we believe that we could recruit capability and the management team? The sub tax at that is in its current owner, it's probably being underappreciated and we believe we could over appreciate it. So those are the -- did I answer your question?

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Yes. You kind of -- you answered a part of my question. The other part of my question is, why aren't you talking more about the tax advantage structure you can offer? And maybe embedded within your prior answer was the answer to that. And the nutritious snacking assets are more likely to be stand-alone businesses where you're just buying them outright rather than carve-outs, where an RMT would make sense.

Is that a fair interpretation?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Yes. And by definition, the larger carve-outs are more opportunistic. So you don't fish for those as much as they show up at your boat and you then start talking to them, right? So where we're looking tend to be more growthy, nutritious snacking assets and that's where we're actively looking at things. I suspect that a larger, maybe less growthy RMT spinout of a larger food company is going to be more opportunistic in nature, but something we can go out and hunt for.

They'll show up when they show up. And I think even in the conversations early on in this process, if you listened to Dave and to Brian from our board. They said the same thing, right? It's very opportunistic, they're going to divest those assets when they want to divest those assets. They know that we're interested, if those things show up, we'll consider those based on the criteria I talked about before.

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Understood. Really helpful, guys. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is another follow-up from the line of Brian Holland with Consumer Edge. Please proceed with your question.

Brian Holland -- Consumer Edge Research -- Analyst

Yeah. Thank you. Just a question about the competitive landscape. Obviously, if you're taking share, somebody is losing share.

I don't expect you to comment specifically on a competitor but generally speaking, can you sort of give us some color but behind the type of -- I mean is it broad-based, but you're taking share kind of from everyone? Or is it the larger more stale brands that maybe have been less active then you certainly have been within the past 12 months or so? Or maybe that's some of these other brands that have been aggressive in spending. I know you've talked recently in the public forum about being able to be a little bit more rational if your plan is just to basically sell your stuffs on competitive on price, promotion etc.? Just given how fragmented that space is, just curious if you could give us some insight on maybe is there a commonality with who you're taking share from?

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Yes, first observation is the category has accelerated as we've accelerated. So the broad nutritious snacking category in that broad competitive set is seeing really good growth. So if you're a competitor and you're losing share and you're losing volume, that's a concerning thing for you. But basically what's happening is pretty much all the boats are floating with the growth of the category and I think it's driven by the fact that we're a category that people are coming to.

So there's more household, penetration is increasing, retailers are dedicating more space to the categories. So I think it's more a win-win situation than it is we're taking share and people are losing. Now there is some people growing faster than others and I think those are pretty obvious if you see the data. And there is a few people that are kind of lagging right now, they're pretty obvious -- they're growing but they're not growing anywhere near the rate that some other folks are.

The other observation I make is there are a lot of small brands in this category. I think we count over 400 of them and those have been slow pretty volatility throughout the years. So I say right now, there is not a whole lot of people losing, I think there is people winning better than others. If that's helpful.

Brian Holland -- Consumer Edge Research -- Analyst

Got it. Fair enough. Appreciate the color.

Operator

Thank you. Mr. Scalzo there are no further questions at this time. I'll turn the floor back to you for any final comments.

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Thanks again for your participation on the call today. We look forward to updating you on our third-quarter results in November. We hope you have a good day and rest of the week.

Operator

[Operator signoff]

Duration: 41 minutes

Call Participants:

Mark Pogharian -- Vice President, Investor Relations

Joseph E. Scalzo -- Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

Todd Cunfer -- Chief Financial Officer

Jason English -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Matthew Smith -- Stifel Financial Corp. -- Analyst

Brian Holland -- Consumer Edge Research -- Analyst

Analyst -- Deutsche Bank

Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

More SMPL analysis

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

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Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Worthless Just Two Years Ago, West Texas Sand Now Brings in Billions

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Standing high on top of a windswept dune in the West Texas plains, Greg Edwards stares out into a vast ocean of sand. It stretches in every direction, interrupted only by an occasional strip of asphalt or clusters of silos that rise high into the sky.

Edwards runs a frack-sand mine. And those silos mark the presence of his rivals, who suddenly seem to be popping up everywhere. As he turns 360 degrees under the blistering midday sun, he calls out their names one by one: “Badger ... Atlas ... High Roller ... Alpine ... Black Mountain ... Covia.”

#lazy-img-329177313:before{padding-top:66.75%;}Greg Edwards walks through the sand dunes in Kermit, Texas.Photographer: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg
​​​​

Twelve months ago, none of them existed -- not even the mine owned by Edwards’s employer, Hi-Crush Partners. It was the first of its kind here in West Texas. Day one was July 31, 2017. Ten others immediately followed. And another 10 or so are now hustling to get started.

Together, they will mine and ship some 22 million tons of sand this year to shale drillers all around them in the Permian Basin, the hottest oil patch on Earth. It is a staggering sum of sand, equal to almost a quarter of total U.S. supply. And within a couple years, industry experts say, the figure could climb to over 50 million tons.

David Cutbirth, the long-time mayor of the nearby town of Monahans, is dumbfounded by it all. Until the miners arrived, these dunes were a quasi-barren wasteland -- good only for weekend adventurers zipping around on buggies. And the price of sand was, well, zero. Today, it fetches $80 a ton, making this year’s haul alone worth about $2 billion.

"I’m in awe everyday," Cutbirth says. "This stuff is worth something?"

There is perhaps no industry that better captures the money-multiplying effect of the Permian boom than the out-of-nowhere emergence of West Texas as a rival to the original capital of U.S. frack-sand mining in northwestern Wisconsin. With such explosive growth, of course, comes the risk of over-expansion. The local miners are unmoved by such talk -- Hi-Crush CFO Laura Fulton actually laughed at the notion -- but to the more dispassionate set of analysts and investors who watch the industry from afar, it is a major risk even if the oil market continues to go strong.

“The fear on Wall Street today is, ‘Oh my gosh, things look great today, but we can’t assume this is gonna last,”’ said Joseph Triepke, a former Jefferies Group analyst who now runs an industry research firm called Infill Thinking. “Look at all this capacity.”

Marble vs. Jelly Bean

This concern is clearly visible in the stock market. Shares of Hi-Crush are down more than 10 percent since mid-May. So too are those of U.S. Silica Holdings and Emerge Energy Services. And Covia Holdings, a new company formed in a merger of two sand powerhouses, has slumped 27 percent since it began trading last month.

All of these miners, with the exception of Emerge, now have operations in West Texas. And they all have quarries back in Wisconsin too. That state had quickly emerged as the epicenter of the sand market when fracking took off a decade ago. Large, rugged and round as marbles, the granules found there are ideally shaped to prop open crevices in shale rock so that the oil can seep out freely.

#lazy-img-329177321:before{padding-top:66.75%;}Hi-Crush mining facility in Kermit, Texas.Photographer: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg​​​​​​​

The West Texas sand isn’t nearly as big or as sturdy. And it’s oddly shaped too -- more like a jelly bean than a marble.

So for years, it was ignored. (No one was even interested in it for use in other industries, like cement or microchips.) But then, in the summer of 2014, the price of oil plunged. Suddenly, cost-cutting was all the rage. And there was no cheaper place to pump shale oil than in the Permian.

As drillers piled into the region, they began to wonder if they really needed to have sand shipped some 1,300 miles by rail from Wisconsin when they had this inferior, but serviceable, stuff lying all around them. Shipping costs from Wisconsin come to about $90 per ton of sand. That’s triple the $25 or so it costs to truck in the Texas sand.

“The business plan is simple,” says Peter Allen, senior project manager at Black Mountain Sand. “We cut out the cost of railing it here.”

Backed by a private-equity firm named Natural Gas Partners, Black Mountain is the biggest outfit in the area. It runs two mines nestled up against a desolate strip of highway that stretches into unincorporated parts of Texas along the border with New Mexico. They’re called Vest and El Dorado. Both are just months old. And both are already cranking out sand at a pace equal to 5 million tons a year.

It takes an army of trucks to haul that much sand to well sites. And they need to get in and out of the mines efficiently. Allen’s target is eight minutes or less. An automated system that knows which sand to feed each truck speeds the process along. Still, they come in so fast that the line can back up quickly. On a recent afternoon, it was several deep. Sergio Pando, a load-out operator, says that’s nothing. On a really hectic day, it can swell to 100.

‘Gold Rush’

Like most everyone else here, Pando was lured to the sand mines by the prospect of big pay. Even unskilled newbies can pull down $19 an hour, almost triple the state’s $7.25-per-hour minimum wage. A student at Texas Tech University, Pando took off the spring semester to start working at Black Mountain. Six months into the job, he’s making $28 an hour.

“You have this flood of people and resources and capital going into this small,
condensed area,” says Allen, who himself was recruited away from Rio Tinto’s U.S. mining operation. “It’s like a gold rush.”

#lazy-img-329177355:before{padding-top:66.75%;}Sand dunes at a state park near Monahans, Texas.Photographer: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg

This gold rush metaphor comes up again and again in conversations here. Or gold mine. That one is popular too. Fulton, the Hi-Crush CFO, says it’s apt for the situation because, just like the speculators of old, people are trying to snap up land now before the actual mining companies arrive.

“They’re trying to just find something, quickly flip it and make some quick cash,” Fulton says. “They really don’t have the intention of staying and working in the sand industry.”

But as Edwards, the mine manager, stood atop that sand dune later that day and took in the sight of all of those rival silos dotting the horizon, he was struck by something very different. And while he didn’t betray any concern when he said it, there’s a cautionary, almost foreboding, note to the observation: “We knew there were people talking about it. We didn’t know how many would go through with it.”

Monday, July 9, 2018

Ford Benefited From Strong Sales In June

The US auto market saw a very strong sales month in June. Sales came in close to 17.5 million (SAAR) with strong demand in the SUV and truck segments. Ford (F) was able to present investors with another month of rock-solid sales, which is a good representation of the current economic environment. Source: Ford

The Trend Continues

One of the reasons why I spend quite some time studying monthly sales statistics is to figure out what the consumer is up to. The car is the ultimate consumer product, which simply means that a good economy supports higher sales while a slower economy pushes sales down. In addition to that, we have been seeing a massive trend from cars to trucks and SUVs supported by lower gas prices and an overall solid economy.

The first overview shows that the US auto market did quite well in June. All major manufacturers were able to grow sales in June with the exception of Daimler (OTCPK:DDAIF), the owner of Mercedes-Benz. It is also quite impressive that 4 out of 5 top-selling companies were able to grow sales by more than 3.5%. Furthermore, it is important to mention that GM (NYSE:GM), Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) were able to grow sales on a YTD basis (all more than 3.0%).

Source: Goodcarbadcar

Even more important is that the total seasonally adjusted annual rate is up from slightly less than 17 million in May to currently 17.48 million. This is the highest level since December of 2017 when sales hit 17.85 million units. Note that I am ignoring the March 2018 number, which was just 10,000 units above the current reading.

Source: Motor Intelligence

Not only is it important for the automotive industry to get sales up into the high 17 million range, it is also important for the outlook of many suppliers. Especially steel producers have forecasted sales in the lower 17 million range.

AK Steel (NYSE:AKS), for example, is expecting 17.2 million cars to be produced in 2018 as you can read in its first-quarter earnings transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.

Every reading close to 18 million would be a huge tailwind for these companies as well as automotive manufacturers (obviously).

That being said, Ford did really well in June.

Trucks, SUVs & Lincoln

Ford's June sales are up 1.2%. This is 0.5 point above last month's growth rate, which is entirely due to higher truck and SUV sales. Car sales growth actually decreased another 0.7 point. Current car sales are less than half of total truck sales. Also note that fleet sales were down slightly which is due to the timing of orders. It is important to mention that Ford is not pushing fleet sales. The company is adapting its sales to customer needs, which causes fleet sales to fluctuate a lot.

Source: Ford Sales Report June 2018

Total truck sales increased 3.2%. This includes a 1.7% increase of F-150 sales which pushes YTD sales up to 4.9%. However, Transit sales massively outperformed with 25.0% growth to more than 13,500 units. YTD Transit sales are currently up 7.5%, which shows the real success of the transit as I already mentioned in last month's article. Capital expenditures remain high which results in higher Transit sales. On a side note, heavy trucks saw a 35.1% sales increase to 1,098 units.

But that's not everything. Lincoln did really well in June. Yes, Lincoln cars were a total mess with sales being down 31.6% YTD. However, Lincoln SUVs are gaining momentum. Both the MKC and Navigator did really well with sales growth numbers of 24.0% and 68.4%. The Navigator is up 82.4% YTD, which is a confirmation of the strength of the new Navigator model. And it's not just the 'regular' Navigator. Customers are increasingly buying the Black Label model which caused the average Navigator ticket price to soar $27,000, according to Ford. The same goes for the F-150 model which has an average selling price of $46,800.

Source: Ford Sales Report June 2018

Macro Matters

One of the things auto manufacturers look at is the leading indicator, the ISM manufacturing index (graph below). This index massively beat estimates in June as I discussed in this article. This means that the general economy remains in a stage of above-average growth, which stimulates both consumer spending and capital expenditures.

That being said, I also look at the difference between average hourly earnings growth and the consumer price index to see if the trend from cars to SUVs and trucks might be in danger. It is clearly visible that consumers did benefit from outperforming earnings growth between 2015 and 2017. The trend from cars to bigger vehicles started during this period.

That's why I am getting a bit cautious at this point. I am not turning bearish on truck and SUV sales, but think that is important to see if we get signs of an ending trend in case inflation starts outperforming hourly earnings growth. The same happened in 2008 and can be considered a typical late-cycle occurrence.

Takeaway

There are two things I am getting from the current sales report.

The automotive market seems to be strengthening SUVs, trucks and commercial vehicles continue to do very well

I think that everything I have read so far is a clear confirmation of the economic trend we are in. Growth is strong and people desperately want to buy the cars they like. This includes bigger vehicles as well as more expensive versions of models like the F-150 and Navigator. None of these things are visible during an economic growth slowing trend.

However, it is important to further monitor these sales, especially given that inflation and commodities in general are showing typical late-cycle behaviour.

And last but not least, I hope to see that sales continue to be close to the 18 million SAAR level over the next few months, which would beat a lot of expectations as I mentioned in this article.

Stay tuned!

Thank you for reading my article. Please let me know what you think of my thesis. Your input is highly appreciated!

Disclosure: I am/we are long F.

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

Additional disclosure: This article serves the sole purpose of adding value to the research process. Always take care of your own risk management and asset allocation.