Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:FCEL,CNR,ACHN,PQ,

On Tuesday, our Under the Radar Movers�newsletter suggested�small cap shipping stock�Capital Product Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: CPLP)�as a short-term trading idea:

��Capital Product Partners has been on our bullish watchlist for a while as well. We knew there's been a breakout effort brewing for a while, stemming from a very rough cup-and-handle pattern. The clincher was today's move above a recently-developed ceiling at $3.36 AFTER WE SAW BULLISH CROSSES OF LONG-TERM MOVING AVERAGE LINES. It's these moving average crosses, in fact, that tell us something huge has changed for the better. We haven't seen anything like this since 2014 for CPLP.��

��Capital Product Partners is one of those trades that is being entered as short-term idea, but has the potential to become a longer-term position.��

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: FuelCell Energy Inc.(FCEL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) posted a decrease of 4% in short interest during the period. Some 7.42 million shares were short as of June 15. The stock closed at $1.37 on Tuesday, down about 1.4% for the day, in a 52-week range of $1.18 to $2.49. Shares traded down more than 10% in the short interest period, and days to cover dropped from 17 to six.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Electro Scientific Industries (NASDAQ: ESIO) and FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and earnings.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) is one of 25 public companies in the “Miscellaneous electrical machinery, equipment, & supplies” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare FuelCell Energy to related companies based on the strength of its risk, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) shares traded up 5.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $1.49 and last traded at $1.45. 12,581,855 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 983% from the average session volume of 1,161,380 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.37.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited(CNR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Alberta as represented by Alberta Investment Management Corp cut its position in Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 21.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,956,400 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 522,300 shares during the period. Canadian National Railway accounts for about 1.7% of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Alberta as represented by Alberta Investment Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Alberta as represented by Alberta Investment Management Corp owned 0.27% of Canadian National Railway worth $184,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Shares of Canadian National Railway (TSE:CNR) (NYSE:CNI) have been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$109.36.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Compass Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,535 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  State of Tennessee Treasury Department lessened its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 842,775 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 13,507 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department owned about 0.11% of Canadian National Railway worth $61,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ACHN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATXI) rose 29.4 percent to $5.50 in pre-market trading after the company disclosed that its first pivotal Phase 3 trial of IV tramadol achieved the primary and key secondary endpoints. MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBFI) rose 16.8 percent to $51.00 in pre-market trading. Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) agreed to acquire MB Financial for $54.70 per share in cash and stock. LiveXLive Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIVX) rose 9.3 percent to $5.40 in pre-market trading after falling 28.92 percent on Friday. Celyad SA (NASDAQ: CYAD) shares rose 9 percent to $29.30 in pre-market trading after climbing 3.26 percent on Friday. Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE: ETH) rose 6.7 percent to $26.40 in pre-market trading after gaining 1.64 percent on Friday. Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) rose 5.4 percent to $3.90 in pre-market trading after gaining 3.06 percent on Friday. Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIA) rose 5.2 percent to $34.70 in pre-market trading after gaining 1.38 percent on Friday. Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (NYSE: WAB) rose 5.1 percent to $100 in pre-market trading. General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) agreed to merge its transportation unit with Wabtec. Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) shares rose 4.7 percent to $11.50 in pre-market trading. Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) shares rose 4.3 percent to $93.98 in the pre-market trading session. LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE: LHO) shares rose 4.2 percent to $33.25 in pre-market trading. Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) will buy LaSalle Hotel Properties in a $4.8 billion deal, Bloomberg reported. Monro, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNRO) shares rose 4 percent to $58.35 in pre-market trading as the company posted upbeat quarterly earnings and disclosed that it has acquired Free Service Tire. HUYA Inc. (NYSE: HUYA) rose 3.7 percent to $19.75 in pre-market trading after falling 4.80 percent on Friday.

  Find out what's going

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACHN) – Research analysts at B. Riley reduced their FY2018 EPS estimates for shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 2nd. B. Riley analyst M. Kumar now anticipates that the biopharmaceutical company will earn ($0.58) per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of ($0.55). B. Riley has a “Neutral” rating and a $3.50 price objective on the stock. B. Riley also issued estimates for Achillion Pharmaceuticals’ FY2019 earnings at ($0.64) EPS, FY2020 earnings at ($0.71) EPS, FY2021 earnings at ($0.70) EPS and FY2022 earnings at ($0.84) EPS.

• [By Keith Speights]

  Skeptics might deride a comparison of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) and Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) as an exercise in finding the biggest loser. Both companies continue to post huge net losses every quarter, and their stocks are down by at least 30% over the last 12 months.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: Petroquest Energy Inc(PQ)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  News headlines about Petroquest Energy (NYSE:PQ) have been trending somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. Accern identifies negative and positive news coverage by reviewing more than 20 million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Petroquest Energy earned a coverage optimism score of 0.05 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news stories about the energy company an impact score of 47.638327846877 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near future.

Why Ferrari Shares Plunged 11% Today

What happened

Shares of Italian supercar maker Ferrari N.V. (NYSE:RACE) fell sharply in trading on Wednesday. In his first earnings call since taking the top job, Ferrari's new CEO seemed to walk back earnings-growth expectations set by his late predecessor, characterizing a key profit target as "aspirational."

Ferrari's shares closed at $118.00 in New York, down 11% from Tuesday's closing price.

The death last week of charismatic Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne (center) left investors rattled. His successor's comments during Wednesday's earnings call didn't help. Image source: Ferrari N.V.

So what

Ferrari reported its second-quarter earnings result before the market opened on Wednesday, and the numbers were mixed. While earnings per share of 0.84 euros beat Wall Street's 0.81-euro average estimate, Ferrari's 906 million euros in revenue fell short of expectations on unfavorable exchange-rate shifts.

That revenue shortfall wasn't really the issue, though. Analysts on Ferrari's earnings call became concerned after new CEO Louis Camilleri, who succeeded the highly regarded Sergio Marchionne less than two weeks ago, seemed to walk back an aggressive profit-growth target that had been set by Marchionne earlier this year.

In January, Marchionne said that Ferrari's adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) would reach 2 billion euros annually no later than 2022 -- roughly double the 1.04 billion euros in adjusted EBITDA that Ferrari generated in 2018.

That target seemed to give considerable support to Ferrari's lofty stock price. But Camilleri seemed to want to reduce expectations, describing Marchionne's target as "aspirational" early on. Pressed by an analyst, he said, "That number [2 billion euros in adjusted EBITDA] is certainly an aspirational target, and we will do everything we can in terms of our plans to get there. Beyond that, I can't tell you."

Needless to say, that didn't go over well with investors who were already concerned about the company's future without Marchionne.

Now what

Marchionne had planned to present Ferrari's growth strategy in detail in a briefing for investors in September. Camilleri confirmed that Ferrari will stick to that plan. Investors will have to wait several more weeks to learn how -- and perhaps if -- Ferrari intends to double its profit over the next four years.

Domino's Pizza Extends Its Growth Streak

Domino's�Pizza (NYSE:DPZ) announced second-quarter earnings results this week that extended the pizza chain's impressive streak of growth in both its U.S. and international markets.

Here's a look at how the pizza delivery leader's headline results stacked up against the prior-year period:�

�Metric

Q2 2018

Q2 2017

Year-Over-Year Change

Revenue	$779 million	$629 million	24%
Net income	$77 million	$66 million	18%
EPS	$1.78	$1.32	35%

Data source: Domino's financial filings.

What happened this quarter?

Revenue rose 24% thanks to the combination of a quickly growing store base and robust sales gains at existing locations. Domino's profitability took a small step lower, though, as rising expenses outpaced savings from tax cuts to push margins down.

Image source: Getty Images.

Here are some of the key highlights from the quarter:

Comparable-store sales growth was a robust 7% in the core U.S. segment. That marked a slight slowdown from the prior quarter's 8% rate but easily kept Domino's among the best-performing fast-food companies around. The international segment slowed a bit, too, falling to a 4% increase from 5%. Yet this division stayed within management's target of between 3% and 6% for the year. Domino's added 156 stores to its global base, split between 43 locations in the U.S. and 113 new restaurants in outside markets. Operating costs expanded faster than sales, which pushed operating margin down to 16.2% of sales from 18% a year ago. Tax payments dove, but the reduced operating margin combined with higher interest payments to push bottom-line profitability down to 9.9% of sales from 10.5% of sales. The chain spent $219 million repurchasing its stock, which led per-share earnings to rise by 35% compared to the 18% growth in net income. Domino's ended the quarter with $158 million of cash and $3.5 billion in debt. What management had to say

CEO Ritch Allison, in his first quarter as the company's new leader, highlighted the chain's strong sales and store growth metrics." Global retail sales remain strong as we see our franchisees building new stores, growing same store sales and bringing customers back again and again," Allison said.

Management noted that customers reacted positively to tech initiatives like its recent "hotspots" program, which has created over 200,000 non-traditional delivery locations for places like beaches and parks that lack standard addresses. "I'm delighted to report that our franchisees and team members continued to deliver great results across the global Domino's system," Allison concluded.

Looking forward

Domino's doesn't issue specific sales guidance, but its recent results keep the company right on track to meet -- or exceed -- its long-term objectives. In fact, comps in the core U.S. market have been running ahead of management's annual target for the last six months, which suggests the chain has a good shot at improving on last year's 13% overall sales increase in 2018.

Profits are being pinched by increasing wages and higher commodity costs, particularly cheese. Domino's significant debt load, meanwhile, has kept interest payments at a hefty 4% of sales. Still, the chain has generated $166 million of net income through the first half of 2018, or 10.6% of sales, compared to $128 million, or 10.2% of sales in the prior-year period. As long as Domino's continues winning market share at home while expanding its store base internationally, shareholders can expect that profitability uptick to power robust earnings growth.

Top Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:MIK,CSTR,XIV, &l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-1050802082&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1050802082/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  The week ahead will likely bring more volatility, particularly for shareholders of�Dave & Buster's�(NASDAQ:PLAY), H&R Block�(NYSE:HRB), and Michaels�(NASDAQ:MIK)�as each of these companies is set to announce quarterly earnings results over the next few days. Let's look at a few key trends to watch for in the reports.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:MIK) issued an update on its FY19 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $2.19-2.32 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $2.32. The company issued revenue guidance of $5.217-5.293 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $5.26 billion.Michaels Companies also updated its Q2 guidance to $0.12-0.14 EPS.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Arts and crafts retailer The Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:MIK) reported first-quarter results in the early-morning hours of Thursday. The company met Wall Street's targets and confirmed that its full-year guidance targets are on track, but the stock still crashed due to an unimpressive slate of second-quarter guidance goals.

• [By Chris Lange]

  The Michaels Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIK), the arts and crafts retail chain, released its fiscal first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. The Irving, Texas-based company said it had $0.39 in earnings per share (EPS) and $1.16 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.38 in EPS and $1.15 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.38 in EPS and $1.16 billion in revenue.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Also, the two look at the sharp sell-offs that the market treated Michaels�(NASDAQ:MIK) and Tailored Brands�(NYSE:TLRD) to yesterday -- what went wrong, and can the companies improve from here? Finally, they dip into the Fool mailbag to explain how a company's market cap compares to the size of its total potential market.

Top Stocks To Own Right Now: Coinstar Inc.(CSTR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Shares of Capstar Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CSTR) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.75.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Capstar Financial (NASDAQ: CSTR) and Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and risk.

Top Stocks To Own Right Now: region(XIV)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Money Morning News Team]

  This led some traders to purchase leveraged ETFs that move inverse to the VIX, like the�VelocityShares Daily Inv VIX Short Term�(Nasdaq: XIV).

  The VIX is a derivative of the broad S&P 500, and the XIV is a derivative of that derivative.

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now

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

Cypress Semiconductor's (NASDAQ:CY) business looked precarious the last couple of years. As part of a strategy to enter the lucrative Internet of Things (IoT) industry, profits were sacrificed in order to generate sales growth and a bigger payoff down the road. After several years of running in the red, it looks like 2018 could be the year Cypress begins to reap the rewards of its gamble.

What a difference a year makes

The first quarter of 2018 was quite different from a year ago. Cypress Semiconductor showed a return to bottom-line profits in the first quarter.

Metric

Q1 2018

Q1 2017

Change (YOY)

Revenue

$582.2 million

$531.9 million

9.5%

Gross profit margin

36.5%

29.5%

N/A

Operating profit (loss) margin

6.1%

(2.6%)

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [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.

• [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:

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  Some reasons for my bearishness on retail stocks:

  Higher Energy Prices. Oil prices have rallied dramatically and back to 2014 levels, rising from about $35 a barrel in early 2016 to around $67 Thursday. That's bad news for U.S. retailers, as rising oil prices historically squeeze consumer disposable incomes. That's one reason why I've been consistently raising my short exposure to retail and plan to continue doing so. Shaky Same-Store Sales Growth. Recent improvements to same-store sales at Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) , Urban Outfitters (URBN) , Dillard's (DDS) , Gap Inc. (GPS) and Macy's (M) come against downgraded expectations, and might not be sustainable anyway. No Deal for Nordstrom (JWN) . The Nordstrom family has apparently abandoned plans to take its namesake company private. I had expressed concerns that this would happen. Higher Interest Rates. A rise in the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) has recently accelerated. That's bad news for retailers, as many variable-rate consumer debts (particularly mortgages) key off of the LIBOR. This will likely put a damper on mortgage refinancings -- something that many see as an important ingredient for personal-consumption expenditures.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN)Q1 2018 Earnings Conference CallMay 17, 2017, 4:45 p.m. ET

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

  Operator

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  A lot has changed since then, however. J.C. Penney badly underperformed its own comparable sales target in the second half of 2016, as comparable sales fell instead of hitting the 3-4% mark the company had projected. Its peers continued to struggle -- Macy's�(NYSE:M),�Kohl's�(NYSE:KSS), and�Nordstrom�(NYSE:JWN) all reported declining comps in the fourth quarter, and Macy's said last year it would close 100 stores.

• [By Chris Lange]

  The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Monday was Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN) which traded down about 2% at $51.92. The stock��s 52-week range is $37.79 to $54.00. Volume was 2.3 million compared to the daily average volume of 2.0 million.

• [By Steve Symington]

  But several individual companies bucked the indexes' trend. Read on to learn why MiMedx Group (NASDAQ:MDXG), Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB), and Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) trailed the broader market today.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  One bit of good news for Walmart is that its Sam’s Club warehouse stores scored an 80 to tie for third behind Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) at 83 and Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) at 81.

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: MEDIFAST INC(MED)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSPM) shares rose 35.8 percent to $3.00. Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGI) shares surged 32 percent to $8.94 after reporting upbeat Q1 earnings. Carbon Black, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBLK) gained 29.6 percent to $24.62. Carbon Black priced its IPO at $19 per share. California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) shares rose 26.8 percent to $32.70 following upbeat Q1 earnings. Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE: P) gained 25 percent to $7.185 after reporting strong quarterly results. Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares climbed 23.7 percent to $122.87 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. (NYSE: NGVC) rose 23.2 percent to $8.4999 after reporting Q2 results. Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTLA) gained 22.2 percent to $41.27 after the FDA approved the company's Andexxa, the only antidote indicated for patients treated with rivaroxaban and apixaban. Shake Shack Inc (NYSE: SHAK) rose 22.2 percent to $57.955 after the company reported upbeat results for its first quarter and raised its FY18 guidance. Atomera Incorporated (NASDAQ: ATOM) jumped 19.7 percent to $6.12 after reporting Q1 results. Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) rose 16.4 percent to $21.00 after reporting strong preliminary results for the third quarter. Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) shares rose 16.4 percent to $12.21 following Q1 earnings. Integer Holdings Corporation (NYSE: ITGR) shares gained 14.9 percent to $63.75 following Q1 results. Control4 Corporation (NASDAQ: CTRL) shares climbed 14.5 percent to $23.98 folloiwng strong Q1 results. B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS) climbed 12.6 percent to $25.40 after reporting Q1 earnings. HMS Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: HMSY) shares gained 10 percent to $19.59 after reporting upbeat quarterly earnings. Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAV) rose 7 percent to $10.09 following Q3 r
• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $119 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  MediBloc (CURRENCY:MED) traded 3.9% lower against the U.S. dollar during the 1-day period ending at 20:00 PM E.T. on June 13th. One MediBloc token can now be purchased for $0.0083 or 0.00000131 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinrail, Gate.io and Bibox. During the last seven days, MediBloc has traded 36.5% lower against the U.S. dollar. MediBloc has a total market cap of $24.58 million and $216,935.00 worth of MediBloc was traded on exchanges in the last day.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $124.60 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [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 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]

  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.

• [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 Logan Wallace]

  Trueblue (NYSE: TBI) is one of 23 public companies in the “Help supply services” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Trueblue to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk.

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: Intuitive Surgical Inc.(ISRG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [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 Stephan Byrd]

  MSA Safety (NYSE: MSA) and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

• [By Brian Stoffel]

  That's the basic business model behind the two companies in today's match-up: surgical robot maker�Intuitive Surgical�(NASDAQ:ISRG) and medical device maker�Medtronic�(NYSE:MDT). If you're interested in investing in this field, the question becomes: Which is the better stock to buy at today's prices?

Mindtree Q1 PAT may dip 11.8% QoQ to Rs. 150 cr: HDFC Securities

HDFC Securities has come out with its first quarter (April-June�� 18) earnings estimates for the Technology sector. The brokerage house expects Mindtree to report net profit at Rs. 150 crore down 11.8% quarter-on-quarter (up 60.7% year-on-year).

Net Sales are expected to increase by 7.4 percent Q-o-Q (up 21.9 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs. 1,572 crore, according to HDFC Securities.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are likely to fall by 1.8 percent Q-o-Q (up 61.2 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs. 231 crore.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Read More First Published on Jul 18, 2018 12:30 pm

Somewhat Favorable News Coverage Somewhat Unlikely to Impact Colony Bankcorp (CBAN) Stock Price

Media headlines about Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) have been trending somewhat positive this week, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. Accern scores the sentiment of media coverage by analyzing more than twenty million blog and news sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Colony Bankcorp earned a media sentiment score of 0.13 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news articles about the financial services provider an impact score of 46.5935973221915 out of 100, meaning that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the next few days.

Colony Bankcorp stock remained flat at $$17.55 during midday trading on Thursday. 88 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,222. The stock has a market cap of $150.22 million, a P/E ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Colony Bankcorp has a 52 week low of $11.10 and a 52 week high of $19.50.

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Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $12.56 million during the quarter. Colony Bankcorp had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 12.04%.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 4th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 1st. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%.

In other news, insider M. Edward Jr. Hoyle bought 2,625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $16.08 per share, for a total transaction of $42,210.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 6,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $98,425.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders bought 3,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,162 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.45% of the company’s stock.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc operates as the holding company for Colony Bank that provides banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. It offers various deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. The company also offers loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans.

Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) Earns Daily Media Sentiment Rating of 0.06

Media stories about Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) have trended somewhat positive on Thursday, Accern Sentiment reports. The research group scores the sentiment of press coverage by reviewing more than twenty million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Esperion Therapeutics earned a coverage optimism score of 0.06 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news headlines about the biopharmaceutical company an impact score of 44.5459109210657 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the next several days.

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

Get Esperion Therapeutics alerts: Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) Downgraded by Northland Securities (americanbankingnews.com) Esperion Therapeutics Inc (ESPR) Expected to Announce Earnings of -$1.77 Per Share (americanbankingnews.com) Options Traders Expect Huge Moves in Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) Stock (zacks.com) CLASS ACTION UPDATE for ESPR, SYMC, and PPG: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Reminds Investors of Class Actions on Behalf of Shareholders (finance.yahoo.com) DEADLINE TOMORROW: The Schall Law Firm Announces it is Investigating Claims Against Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. and Encourages Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 to Contact the Firm (finance.yahoo.com)

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics traded up $0.26, reaching $41.49, during trading on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The company had a trading volume of 13,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 879,731. Esperion Therapeutics has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $82.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.94 and a beta of 2.37.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.73) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($1.56) by ($0.17). During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.80) earnings per share. sell-side analysts predict that Esperion Therapeutics will post -6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ESPR. Northland Securities raised their price target on Esperion Therapeutics from $100.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 19th. BidaskClub downgraded Esperion Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 20th. Chardan Capital raised their price target on Esperion Therapeutics from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 27th. ValuEngine raised Esperion Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.08.

In other Esperion Therapeutics news, major shareholder Target N. V. Biotech bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $1,974,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,182,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,663,418.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Target N. V. Biotech bought 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.57 per share, for a total transaction of $2,314,200.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,132,964 shares in the company, valued at $120,838,421.48. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 410,000 shares of company stock worth $16,190,100 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 32.50% of the company’s stock.

About Esperion Therapeutics

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, a lipid management company, focuses on developing and commercializing oral therapies for the treatment of patients with elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Its lead product candidate is bempedoic acid/ezetimibe combination pill, a non-statin, orally available, LDL-C lowering therapy for patients with hypercholesterolemia and with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and/or heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia that is in Phase III long-term safety and tolerability study.

Navios Maritime Acquisition (NNA) Trading Up 9.1%

Navios Maritime Acquisition Co. (NYSE:NNA)’s share price traded up 9.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $0.62 and last traded at $0.60. 733,073 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 17% from the average session volume of 627,412 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.55.

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Navios Maritime Acquisition from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 28th. ValuEngine raised shares of Navios Maritime Acquisition from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Navios Maritime Acquisition from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Navios Maritime Acquisition currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1.63.

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The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.35 million, a P/E ratio of -5.00 and a beta of 0.89.

Navios Maritime Acquisition (NYSE:NNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 10th. The shipping company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $40.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.68 million. Navios Maritime Acquisition had a negative net margin of 52.11% and a negative return on equity of 9.11%. equities research analysts anticipate that Navios Maritime Acquisition Co. will post -0.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 21st were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 20th. Navios Maritime Acquisition’s payout ratio is -66.67%.

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in Navios Maritime Acquisition during the fourth quarter worth $171,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Navios Maritime Acquisition by 137.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 186,773 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 108,077 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Navios Maritime Acquisition by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 369,556 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 82,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Navios Maritime Acquisition by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,985,852 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $4,424,000 after purchasing an additional 90,608 shares during the last quarter. 18.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Navios Maritime Acquisition

Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation provides marine transportation services worldwide. The company owns a fleet of crude oil, refined petroleum product, and chemical tankers. It charters its vessels to oil companies, refiners, and large vessel operators under long, medium, and short term charters.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2019

tags:AMGN,BIIB,ARQL,ALNY, &l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image ap size-large wp-image-c6a6e9a6e5e8471fae6d84f5cff3c6ce&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/c6a6e9a6e5e8471fae6d84f5cff3c6ce/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;532&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; A house is under construction Friday, May 4, 2018, in Roseville, Calif. Federal data released Friday shows California has surpassed the United Kingdom to become the world fifth largest economy, with real estate and financial services leading other economic sectors in driving the state&s;s economic growth. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Places like Seattle, Austin, Washington, D.C., and Cambridge are endowed with large numbers of highly educated people. Thanks to sectors like software, biotechnology and IT, job growth has recovered from its pre-recession levels and home prices have also surpassed their pre-recession peak. Companies like Twitter and Facebook have had to raise salaries to keep their workers from moving to larger numbers of fast-growing and power-hungry startups. These brain hubs are prime models of economic development gone good and their fortunes have caused rent and home prices to skyrocket &a;ndash; not such good news for those not able to afford them.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2019: Amgen Inc.(AMGN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  AlphaMark Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,973 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,638 shares during the period. Amgen comprises about 2.0% of AlphaMark Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. AlphaMark Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $4,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) saw its short interest rise to 10.72 million shares from the previous level of 9.62 million. Shares were last seen at $184.61 in a 52-week trading range of $161.13 to $201.23.

• [By Keith Speights]

  The big reason Humira will maintain its position at the top is the U.S. market. U.S. sales of the drug are projected to be around $12.2 billion in 2024. That's not much lower than Humira's 2017 U.S. sales of nearly $12.4 billion. Will Amgen's (NASDAQ:AMGN) biosimilar Amjevita, which will go on sale in the U.S. effective Jan. 31, 2023, really make that small of a dent in Humira's sales? Not really. The impact will be greater than the 2024 projections indicate.

• [By Trey Thoelcke]

  Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) shares saw a nice bump after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved Aimovig (erenumab), Amgen’s preventive treatment of migraine in adults. It is the first FDA-approved preventive migraine treatment in a new class of drugs, which work by blocking the activity of calcitonin gene-related peptide, which is believed to play a critical role in migraine attacks.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Field & Main Bank grew its stake in shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,153 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 345 shares during the quarter. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Amgen were worth $708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,023 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,000.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2019: Biogen Idec Inc(BIIB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benzinga News Desk]

  A distillery in a small Spanish town has claimed it invented the original Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) recipe and now wants recognition: Link

  ECONOMIC DATA Initial Jobless Claims For Week Ended May 25 221K vs 225K Economist Estimate, Down From 234K In Prior Week Personal Income Apr. Up 0.3%, Personal Spending Up 0.6% The Chicago PMI for May is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for April will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET. Fed Governor Lael Brainard will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET. Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 8:30 p.m. ET. ANALYST RATINGS Canaccord upgrades Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) from Hold to Buy Morgan Stanley upgrades Corning (NYSE: GLW) from Equal-Weight to Overweight Morgan Stanley downgrades Micron (NASDAQ: MU) from Overweight to Equal-Weight Cantor downgrades HealthEquity (NASDAQ: HQY) from Overweight to Neutral

  This is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Short interest in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) increased to 3.50 million shares from the previous 3.16 million. The stock recently traded at $262.15, within a 52-week range of $244.28 to $370.57.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS) shares made a handy gain on Friday after the firm announced an expanded strategic collaboration with Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB). Through this partnership, these companies are planning to tackle and develop novel antisense drug candidates for a broad range of neurological diseases.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2019: ArQule Inc.(ARQL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQL) insider Value Fund L. P. Biotechnology sold 1,035,939 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $5,179,695.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

• [By Cory Renauer]

  What's behind these dramatic gains? Read on to find out.

  Company Gain in H1 2018 Market Cap Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR) 270% $1.19 billion ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQL) 235% $482 million Endocyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECYT) 222% $959 million Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc.�(NASDAQ:MDGL) 205% $3.99 billion

  Data source: YCharts.

• [By Money Morning Staff Reports]

  But Blink and our other penny stocks to watch are unlikely to continue to lock in such spectacular gains in June. After looking at our 10 top penny stocks to watch this month, we'll show you a small-cap stock with great profit potential in its future…

  Penny Stock Current Share Price Law Month's Gain �Blink Charging Co. (Nasdaq: BLNK) $7.07 439.85% Senes Tech Inc. (Nasdaq: SNES) $1.27 175.40% Vivis Inc. (Nasdaq: VVUS) $0.77 150.41% Adomani Inc. (Nasdaq: ADOM) $1.49 137.68% NF Energy Saving Co. (Nasdaq: NFEC) $2.34 134.88% Vaalco Energy Inc. (NYSE: EGY) $2.15 109.06% Heat Biologics Inc. (Nasdaq: HTBX) $2.35 99.12% ArQule Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQL) $4.88 90.74% LiqTech International Inc. (NYSE: LIQT) $0.66 85.60% Transenterix Inc. (NYSE: TRXC) $3.46 77.84%

  While last month's gains are tremendous, they also illustrate the inherent dangers that come with investing in penny stocks.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on ArQule (ARQL)

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  ArQule (NASDAQ:ARQL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $6.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $5.00. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 134.38% from the company’s previous close.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQL) Director Ronald M. Lindsay acquired 23,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.67 per share, for a total transaction of $63,813.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 43,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,213. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2019: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ALNY)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  BidaskClub lowered shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday.

• [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 Max Byerly]

  Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.41) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $21.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.23 million. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 36.81% and a negative net margin of 565.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.25) earnings per share. equities analysts anticipate that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Earnings: 3 Hot Stocks to Watch This Month

So far, it's been a pretty underwhelming year for the overall stock market. The S&P 500, for instance, is up just 2% year to date. But some tech stocks have outperformed the market impressively during this time. Netflix�(NASDAQ:NFLX), Facebook�(NASDAQ:FB), and Alphabet�(NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), for instance, have all easily beaten the broader market. Year to date, Netflix, Facebook, and Alphabet are up 104%, 10%, and 7%, respectively.

With performance like this, investors have high expectations for all three companies going into their upcoming earnings reports -- all of which are due this month. Ahead of their quarterly updates, here's a look at some of the key items investors will want to watch.

Image source: Getty Images.

Netflix

The one metric arguably most important to Netflix's success is its streaming members. Growth in streaming members is what drives Netflix's top line. And it's what supports its aggressive reinvestment into original content production, third-party content acquisition, and marketing. In Netflix's most recent quarter, the company added 7.4 million streaming members sequentially,�crushing management's guidance for 6.4 million net adds during the period.�

Going into Netflix's first quarter, management guided for 6.2 million net new members. Highlighting the company's momentum, this would be the most members Netflix has ever added in its second quarter.

Other notable areas for investors to check on when Netflix's second-quarter results go live include the company's revenue growth, international subscribers, and operating margin.

Facebook

For Facebook investors, it all boils down to growth. The social network has spoiled shareholders with uncanny growth rates for years -- and the first quarter of 2018 was no exception. Revenue increased 49% year over year, and earnings per share (EPS) soared 63% year over year.�On average, analysts expect Facebook's second-quarter revenue and EPS to come in at $13.3 billion and $1.97, respectively. This implies year-over-year growth of 43% and 49%, suggesting analysts expect Facebook's strong momentum to persist.�

Since Facebook has habitually outperformed analyst expectations, the social network may have to deliver results above these consensus estimates in order to live up to investors' expectations.

Investors should also watch Facebook's operating expenses and user growth.

Alphabet

For Alphabet, investors should check in on what management calls its "three big areas." These are its cloud, YouTube, and hardware -- and they're all growing very rapidly.

Of these three businesses, YouTube is almost certainly the biggest. Accounted for in Alphabet's Google properties revenue, YouTube was one of the key drivers for the 26% year-over-year growth in this segment's revenue during Q1, management said.�In addition, YouTube channels with creators earning six figures on the platform increased 40% year over year, highlighting strong growth in the YouTube community.

Cloud and hardware are both accounted for in Alphabet's Google other segment, which saw revenue increase from $3.2 billion in the year-ago quarter to $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2018, representing 36% growth. Investors should look for these two important businesses to help drive a similar segment growth in Q2.

When Alphabet reports its second-quarter results, investors may also want to take a look at the company's advertising revenue growth, momentum in the Android app store, and overall top- and bottom-line numbers.

Netflix, Facebook, and Alphabet will report their second-quarter results after market close on Jul. 16,�25,�and 23,�respectively.

Columbia Banking System (COLB) Upgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Hold”

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

According to Zacks, “Columbia Banking System, Inc. is a registered bank holding company whose wholly owned subsidiary, Columbia State Bank,conducts a full-service commercial banking business. Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, the Company provides a full range of banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals and other individuals through banking offices located in the Tacoma metropolitan area and contiguous parts of the Puget Sound region of Washington, as well as the Longview and Woodland communities in southwestern Washington. “

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Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BidaskClub raised Columbia Banking System from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 24th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Columbia Banking System from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Shares of Columbia Banking System opened at $41.50 on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. Columbia Banking System has a 52-week low of $35.67 and a 52-week high of $48.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.14.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.07). Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 9.04% and a net margin of 24.05%. The business had revenue of $138.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. equities research analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 28,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 8,644 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 645,287 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,070,000 after acquiring an additional 16,111 shares during the last quarter. CIBC World Markets Inc. bought a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the 1st quarter worth approximately $424,000. Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB now owns 11,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 149,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,287,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Columbia Banking System Company Profile

Columbia Banking System, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Columbia State Bank that provides a range of banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and individuals in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It offers personal banking products and services, including noninterest and interest-bearing checking, saving, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; home mortgages for purchases and refinances, home equity loans and lines of credit, and personal loans; debit and credit cards; and digital banking services.

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Columbia Banking System (COLB)

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

3 Top Dividend Stocks to Buy Right Now

Finding the best dividend stocks involves selecting companies that have the financial stability to continue paying dividends for years to come, a healthy yield, and a solid business that can weather the inevitable tides of the stock market.

To help you track down a few such companies, we asked a few Motley Fool contributors for some to dividend stocks you should consider adding to your portfolio right now. Here's why Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) made it on to their list.

Image source: Getty Images.

Adjusting to a changing market

Reuben Gregg Brewer (The Procter & Gamble Company): Consumer tastes are changing, and that's having a negative impact on Procter & Gamble, whose stock is down around 15% so far this year. But the consumer products giant hasn't been sitting still; it's adjusting to better serve customers.

The biggest change was the decision to slim down, getting rid of smaller and unprofitable brands. That effort is complete, allowing P&G to focus on its largest and most important businesses, including iconic brands like Gillette, Bounty, and Pampers. Procter & Gamble's core strengths are in research & development, marketing, and distribution, so putting more of its money and time behind a smaller portfolio of brands makes complete sense.

It's also been augmenting its product lineup by introducing "natural" versions of its iconic brands to better align with current consumer demand. In addition, it has been more aggressively taking on internet-based competitors. These are all hard choices that require near-term sacrifices for a long-term benefit. Fiscal 2017 revenues, for example, fell about 0.5%.�

Image source: PG Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts.

However, nine months into fiscal 2018, we're starting to see improved results as P&G's top line advanced 3% year over year. So, the combination of its efforts appear to be taking hold. That, however, is being obscured somewhat today by rising costs, notably for transportation. While investors are worrying about the current headwind (which will eventually get resolved by price increases), you can buy P&G with a yield of nearly 4% and pay more attention to the improving big picture.� �

A great software company

Ashraf Eassa (Microsoft): Software giant Microsoft isn't the highest-yielding stock on the market -- its dividend yield is just 1.7% as of writing -- but it's a phenomenal business that should continue to do well over the long term.

Microsoft's growth, despite the fact that it's already a huge business, continues to be impressive. Last quarter, the company reported that its revenue surged 16% to an eye-popping $26.8 billion, with operating income -- my favorite measure of a business's financial health -- growing 23% to $8.3 billion.

The company isn't a one-trick pony, either, with its growth being relatively broad-based. For example, last quarter, Microsoft's Productivity and Business Process segment enjoyed 17% revenue growth, its Intelligent Cloud business unit saw sales grow by 15%, and its More Personal Computing segment saw revenue rise by 11%.

Microsoft has a lot of great product franchises and business units that have delivered and could continue to deliver excellent, highly profitable growth. So, if you're looking for a solid business that, in addition to offering investors a real opportunity for significant share price appreciation, also pays a reasonable dividend, Microsoft is definitely worth a look.

A bet on emerging wireless tech

Chris Neiger (Verizon): Verizon hardly needs an introduction, but it's worth taking a second to consider the company's position in the mobile wireless market. Even with increased competition in the cellular space over the past few years from AT&T and T-Mobile, Verizon still remains the biggest carrier in the U.S. by customers. Not only that, but Verizon is bent on leading the competition in the nascent 5G wireless market as well.

5G will allow for faster uploads and downloads across the mobile internet, enhance wireless connections for Internet of Things devices, and bring new business opportunities for telecoms like fixed wireless broadband. The push for 5G technology is growing across the globe, and in the U.S., Verizon is quickly becoming a leader.

The company launched 5G tests in five markets this year and aims to start commercial 5G services next year. If you think 5G is just another cell-phone company gimmick, consider that this new tech is expected to become a $251 billion market by 2025.

Not only does 5G offer new ways for the company to grow its wireless and home broadband businesses, it's also becoming clear that Verizon is looking to 5G to enhance its content business as well. You may recall that Verizon currently owns Yahoo!, AOL, and other content services, which are housed under its Oath subsidiary. Well, last month, Oath CEO Tim Armstrong�(formerly the CEO of AOL)�told CNBC in an interview: "That's why 5G is important. It's more speed, but it's also amazing amounts of compute power for us to do different types of content."

Investors will have to be patient in waiting for Verizon to launch its�commercial 5G services next year, and understand that it could take a few more years before it spreads across the country. Nevertheless, it's clear that the nation's No. 1 wireless telecom is taking the right steps now to benefit from this new technology in the coming years.

With Verizon's dividend yield at about 4.7% right now and its shares trading at just 6.6 times the company's trailing earnings -- along with its growing 5G potential -- this dividend stock should easily earn a spot on nearly any income investor's short list.�

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:COP,PPL,LO,TAL,UPS,

CEO of Ticc Capital Corp (NASDAQ:TICC) Jonathan H Cohen bought 27,632 shares of TICC on 12/13/2017 at an average price of $6.06 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $167,450.

TICC Capital Corp. is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The company's primary focus is to seek current income by investing primarily in corporate debt securities. TICC Capital Corp has a market cap of $311.430 million; its shares were traded at around $6.05 with a P/E ratio of 5.20 and P/S ratio of 8.56. The dividend yield of TICC Capital Corp stocks is 14.73%.

CEO Recent Trades:

CEO Jonathan H Cohen bought 27,632 shares of TICC stock on 12/13/2017 at the average price of $6.06. The price of the stock has decreased by 0.17% since.CEO Jonathan H Cohen bought 1,070 shares of TICC stock on 11/22/2017 at the average price of $6.09. The price of the stock has decreased by 0.66% since.CEO Jonathan H Cohen bought 7,068 shares of TICC stock on 11/20/2017 at the average price of $6.07. The price of the stock has decreased by 0.33% since.CEO Jonathan H Cohen bought 25,529 shares of TICC stock on 11/15/2017 at the average price of $6.02. The price of the stock has increased by 0.5% since.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2019: ConocoPhillips(COP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  As things stand right now, analysts anticipate that at least some Iranian oil will come off the market as a result of the sanctions. That lost output would further tighten an oil market that suddenly has little margin for error thanks to red-hot demand and tame supply growth. That's the recipe for higher oil prices and could make top-tier U.S. oil stocks Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) big winners in the coming years.

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) has worked hard to differentiate itself from other oil companies by focusing on creating value for investors as opposed to growing at all costs. That plan continued paying dividends during the first quarter, as the company blew past expectations. That strong showing sets the U.S. oil giant up for an exceptional year.

• [By Spencer Israel]

  Oil companies were popular sells for the month, including ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP), and Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) all net sold. Investors also net sold Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA), Starbucks Corporation (NYSE: CMG). and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) in the midst of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress. 

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2019: PPL Corporation(PPL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) dropped about 4.3% Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $25.73. Shares closed at $26.88 on Tuesday and the stock’s 52-week high is $39.90. The company goes ex-dividend tomorrow.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Wall Street brokerages expect Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) to report $1.51 billion in sales for the current quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Two analysts have made estimates for Pembina Pipeline’s earnings, with the lowest sales estimate coming in at $1.19 billion and the highest estimate coming in at $1.83 billion. Pembina Pipeline posted sales of $866.72 million during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year over year growth rate of 74.2%. The firm is expected to issue its next quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 7th.

• [By ]

  If this is, indeed, the case, investors have a handful of high quality names at attractive prices to choose from. One that has popped up on my radar is PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL).

• [By Paul Ausick]

  PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) posted a 52-week low of $31.11 after closing Wednesday at $31.59. The 52-week high is $40.20. Volume was about 9.6 million, more than double the daily average of around 4.2 million shares. The electric utility company had no specific news.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Pembina Pipeline (TSE:PPL) (NYSE:PBA) had its target price lowered by CIBC from C$53.00 to C$51.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2019: Lorillard Inc(LO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  News articles about Lorillard (NYSE:LO) have been trending extremely positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment. 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 negative one to one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Lorillard earned a news impact score of 0.81 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news coverage about the company an impact score of 44.1727475800447 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 Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2019: TAL International Group Inc.(TAL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  News articles about TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) have trended positive on Tuesday, according to Accern Sentiment. The research group rates the sentiment of media coverage by analyzing more than 20 million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. TAL Education Group earned a coverage optimism score of 0.33 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media coverage about the company an impact score of 46.9172533861743 out of 100, meaning that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the next few days.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Tarena International (NASDAQ: TEDU) and TAL Education (NYSE:TAL) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on TAL Education Group (TAL)

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

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2019: United Parcel Service Inc.(UPS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Baldwin]
  Markets are cheering a major development in efforts to fix the ongoing trade conflict between the United States and China. According to Reuters, Chinese telecom giant ZTE has signed an agreement to get back into business with its American partners. The agreement will lift a ban by the U.S. Commerce Department that prevented China's No. 2 telecommunications equipment from buying from U.S. suppliers. This is a major development, and one that signals progress among trade officials from both nations. There are now more job openings in the United States than available workers. This is the first time that the Department of Labor has documented this phenomenon. There are 6.7 million openings compared to the 6.4 million workers available to fill those positions. As a result, U.S. companies have been forced to increase compensation in order to attract talent. All of the positive economic development could come to a screeching halt should the U.S. experience the largest labor strike in a decade. Reports indicate that the Teamsters and the United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) are on a collision course that could result in a general strike. The union has announced that 260,000 UPS employees have authorized a strike should both sides fail to reach a labor deal by August 1. UPS is responsible for the transport of 6% of the nation's gross domestic product. Three Stocks to Watch Today: TSLA, NOG, WFC Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) investors remain committed to giving Chairman Elon Musk more of their money. On Tuesday, shareholders struck down proposals that would have removed Musk from the chairman role and shaken up the board of directors. Both proposals failed. At the same shareholder event, Musk announced plans for Tesla to open a production facility in Shanghai and projected that his firm will likely produce 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of June. In deal news, defense contractor Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOG) has won U.S. antitrust approval to purchase rocket moto
• [By ]

  At the beginning of May, after taking a look at the bizarre circumstances surrounding United Parcel Service's (NYSE: UPS) most recent earnings "beat," I warned that the stock was set to drop. Despite numerous positive headlines praising the company's Q1 "win," the company was suffering from declining profits and operating margins that had been deteriorating for three consecutive quarters.

• [By ]

  United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS)  rose Thursday, April 26, after posting better-than-expected first-quarter revenue even as winter weather costs weighed on the U.S. segment's operating results.

GameStop Confirms It's Holding Talks With Potential Suitors

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GameStop Corp., the long-ailing video-game retailer, confirmed that it’s holding deal talks with possible suitors, backing up a report that sent the stock soaring on Monday.

The company said on Tuesday that it’s in “exploratory discussions” with third parties about a potential transaction.

“There can be no assurance any agreement will result from these discussions,” the chain said in a one-paragraph statement. “GameStop does not intend to make any additional comments regarding these discussions unless and until it is appropriate to do so.”

GameStop kicked off its biggest rally in more than three years on Monday, following a Reuters report that it had drawn takeover interest from private equity firms. Sycamore Partners is one of the firms investigating a possible deal, the news service said. That sent the shares up 8.9 percent to close at $15.20, marking their biggest one-day gain since January 2015.

It’s possible that GameStop could fetch $20 a share if private equity buyers pursue a leveraged buyout, according to Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Seth Sigman. That’s based on a 4.5 multiple of its forward earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization -- a bit below what Staples Inc. received in a recent LBO.

A takeover would bring a payday to investors after a more than four-year stock slump. The Grapevine, Texas-based company has been struggling to remain relevant in an era when more and more gamers download their software, rather than buying it at a store.

The stock had been down 22 percent this year through the end of last week.

Tech Brands

A buyer could find ways of revamping the business, according to Matthew Breda, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. A key goal will be lowering the debt load on its balance sheet, he said.

The company also could rethink its Tech Brands business -- an attempt to diversify away from video games. As part of the effort, the company acquired AT&T Inc. wireless stores and a reseller of Apple Inc. products.

“GameStop Corp.’s Tech Brands segment has not been meaningfully profitable, despite a very fast increase in store footprint,” said Breda in a phone interview. “I would think the buyers would be interested in winding down the Tech Brands business, refinancing or eliminating the company’s significant debt burden.”

(Updates with analyst’s comment in 10th paragraph.)

Buy Cipla; target of Rs 600: JM Financial

JM Financial's research report on Cipla

Cipla disappointed in 4QFY18, in-line with previous years�� trend, with Revenues/EBITDA/PAT being 6%/28%/50% below our estimates, mainly due to negative operating leverage on account of lower sales as well as one-time costs related to sales and distribution (INR 450- 500mn), employee recruitment, disposal of Yemen subsidiary (FX loss of INR 512mn) and provisions (INR 775mn) towards ongoing DPCO overcharging litigation.

Outlook

Cipla��s targets crossing USD 1bn of domestic sales in FY19, implying an ambitious low-teen growth rate which could be difficult to achieve organically. We cut our FY19/20 EPS estimates by 12%/11% to incorporate lower revenues and slower margin expansion going forward and arrive at a Mar��19 TP of INR 600. Maintain BUY.

For all recommendations report,�click here

Disclaimer:�The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Analyzing Airgain (AIRG) and Superconductor Technologies (SCON)

Superconductor Technologies (NASDAQ: SCON) and Airgain (NASDAQ:AIRG) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

Get Superconductor Technologies alerts:

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Superconductor Technologies and Airgain, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Superconductor Technologies	0	0	1	0	3.00
Airgain	0	1	2	0	2.67

Superconductor Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 226.09%. Airgain has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 71.15%. Given Superconductor Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Superconductor Technologies is more favorable than Airgain.

Volatility & Risk

Superconductor Technologies has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Airgain has a beta of 2.04, meaning that its share price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

8.3% of Superconductor Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.0% of Airgain shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Superconductor Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 20.4% of Airgain shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Superconductor Technologies and Airgain’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Superconductor Technologies	-1,317.27%	-139.63%	-121.99%
Airgain	-0.68%	1.58%	1.31%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Superconductor Technologies and Airgain’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Superconductor Technologies	$450,000.00	25.19	-$9.52 million	($0.91)	-1.01
Airgain	$49.52 million	1.60	$1.14 million	$0.11	74.36

Airgain has higher revenue and earnings than Superconductor Technologies. Superconductor Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Airgain, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Airgain beats Superconductor Technologies on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Superconductor Technologies

Superconductor Technologies Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and commercializes high temperature superconductor materials and related technologies in the United States. It is involved in developing Conductus superconducting wire for power applications. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Airgain

Airgain, Inc. designs, develops, and engineers antenna products for original equipment and design manufacturers, chipset vendors, and service providers worldwide. Its products include MaxBeam embedded antennas; profile embedded antennas; profile contour embedded antennas; ultra-embedded antennas; omnimax high performance external antennas; MaxBeam carrier class antennas; and SmartMax embedded antennas, as well as automotive, fleet, public safety, and M2M antennas. The company provides embedded antenna technologies to enable high performance wireless networking across a range of home, enterprise, automotive, and Internet of Things. As of December 31, 2017, it had 131 issued patents in the United States, 23 companion patents outside the United States, and 81 patent applications on file. The company was formerly known as AM Group and changed its name to Airgain, Inc. in 2004. Airgain, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Anjali Sud was rejected from dozens of investment banks. Now she's the CEO of Vimeo

As a senior at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school, Anjali Sud applied to dozens of jobs in investment banking. She didn't get any.

"I got rejected from every single big investment bank," Sud, now the CEO of Vimeo, told CNNMoney. "I remember leaving one of the interviews, and they told me that they didn't think I had the personality to be a banker," she recalled. "That definitely was a low point."

"It was the first time that I really felt like this was something I wanted to do and I couldn't do it," the 34-year-old recalled.

But Sud had faced challenges before. As a young teen in Flint, Michigan, she applied on a whim to a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts. She was accepted, and left home at the age of 14. At first, Sud had a difficult time in the academically rigorous environment.

"I failed a lot in my first year," she said. "I had to work really hard to catch up. I think that was a wake-up call that most people probably don't get at 14."

Despite the negative feedback, Sud didn't give up on her search for a job in investment banking. Ultimately she took a job as the first analyst for a small firm, Sagent Advisors.

At Sagent, Sud learned the skills that would help her succeed later on.

"I found myself doing things that most investment bankers don't get to do," she said. Sud hired and trained new analysts, helped the fledgling company expand internationally and worked on partnerships. The time at Sagent "taught me that sometimes the non-traditional path can be the best one," she said.

A winding road

After spending a few years at Sagent, Sud started exploring other options. She earned a degree from Harvard Business School and held a few positions at Amazon.

"I have gotten advice to not move around so much ... and to stay focused in one path," Sud said. "I've gotten advice to stay in my lane and not be so impatient about my own career growth."

But Sud ignored that advice.

"I wanted a diversity of experiences because I thought it would make me a better leader and a better decision maker," she said. The approach paid off. Sud went from Amazon (AMZN) to Vimeo, where she started out as a leader in the global marketing department.

During her time there, she made the case that the business should focus its attention on content creators.

"That was a really valuable business opportunity, and an area no one was really focused on," Sud said. She made the case to Vimeo, and "because of that, I was given an opportunity to run the company."

She credits her speedy rise to that ability to carve out her own path. "You can create your own opportunities," she said. "It's sometimes really smart to look where others aren't looking."

Don't sweat it

Looking back, Sud wishes she had worried less about having a linear career path. "The advice I wish I had known is 'don't sweat it so much,'" she said.

Sud values the guidance she received from her parents. "Growing up, my dad would always tell me and my siblings to pursue the world," she said. "He taught us to never make decisions based on your fears, always make them based on your strengths."

That doesn't mean avoiding failure. "Failing early and often can be really empowering," she said. "Failure is essential to success."

Those early failures helped her ignore the people who told her to ask for less. "I probably don't look like, or seem like, a CEO of a company of the size of Vimeo," she said. "Don't let people tell you you're not a good fit for things."

TJX Companies Gets the Job Done in the First Quarter

Investors had been optimistic heading into�TJX Companies'�(NYSE:TJX) first-quarter earnings report this week. The leading off-price retailer of home goods and apparel had announced healthy sales growth in the prior quarter, after all, and management sounded an optimistic tone back in February that fiscal 2019 will bring new operating and financial records for the company.

TJX Companies modestly surpassed those expectations, as customer traffic held up well across its core brands of TJ Maxx, Marshall's, and Home Goods.

Let's take a look at how the headline numbers compared to the prior-year period:

�Metric

Q1 2018

Q1 2017

Change (YOY)

Revenue	$8.7 billion	$7.8 billion	12%
Net income	$716 million	$536 million	34%
Earnings per share	$1.13	$0.82	38%

Data source: TJX financial filings. YOY = year over year.

What happened with TJX Companies this quarter?

Sales growth continued its healthy pace from the holiday period and kept TJX Companies on track to expand revenue for the 23rd consecutive year in fiscal 2019. Profits held up well, too, as customers snapped up its heavily discounted merchandise.

Here are the key highlights of the quarter:�

Comparable-store sales rose in each of the company's four main retailing divisions, led by a 4% spike at the Marshalls and TJ Maxx stores. The 3% overall increase was powered by positive customer traffic in each of its segments. Gross profit margin held steady at 29% of sales, which suggests the retailer didn't have to cut prices to keep inventory moving. Operating margin ticked up to 11% of sales from 10.7% a year ago, leading to a 17% increase in adjusted earnings per share. The retailer added 71 stores to its footprint, equating to a 5% boost in square footage. TJX Companies sent $600 million to shareholders, split between $400 million in stock repurchase spending and $200 million in dividend payments. What management had to say

"We are pleased with our first quarter results," CEO Ernie Herrman noted in a press release. "Both our consolidated comp store sales growth of 3% and earnings per share exceeded our expectations," Herrman explained.

Management highlighted TJX Companies' steadily growing shopper traffic as particularly good news. "We believe that the consistency of our customer traffic increases demonstrates the strength and resiliency of our business and our ability to succeed through many types of economic and retail environments," Herrman said.

Regarding its buyers' opportunities to continue securing high-quality merchandise at discount prices, the retailer saw reason for more optimism. "[TJX Companies] is in an excellent inventory position entering the second quarter and has plenty of liquidity to take advantage of the terrific opportunities it sees in the marketplace for quality, branded merchandise," the company said.

Looking forward

The strong start to the year convinced management to boost its earnings outlook slightly, up to an increase of between 5% and 6%. Executives left their sales growth forecast unchanged at between 1% and 2%, likely due to the fact that so much of the fiscal year is still to come.

Investors can expect those returns to be supplemented by significantly higher cash payments, which are being funded by healthy cash flow and beneficial changes to U.S. tax law.�TJX Companies' dividend was recently lifted by 25% and management, consistent with its comments at the start of the year, still expects to roughly double share buyback spending to as much as $3 billion in fiscal 2019.