Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:NTC,VXF,NXST,CII,LIQT,RIGL,ALXN,RHP,CBOE,BBW,

Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp (NYSE:VAC) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $107.17 and last traded at $108.54, with a volume of 13086 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $110.04.

Several research firms have recently commented on VAC. SunTrust Banks upped their price target on shares of Marriott Vacations Worldwide to $149.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 27th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. ValuEngine lowered shares of Marriott Vacations Worldwide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 1st. Janney Montgomery Scott reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $122.61 target price on shares of Marriott Vacations Worldwide in a report on Tuesday, May 1st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Marriott Vacations Worldwide in a report on Friday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank reduced their target price on shares of Marriott Vacations Worldwide from $139.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Marriott Vacations Worldwide has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.40.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Nuveen Connecticut Premium Income Municipal Fund(NTC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Media stories about Nuveen Connecticut Premium Income Mun Fd (NYSE:NTC) have trended very positive recently, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. The research firm identifies negative and positive news coverage by monitoring more than 20 million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Nuveen Connecticut Premium Income Mun Fd earned a news sentiment score of 0.53 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news stories about the investment management company an impact score of 47.4041994466706 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the next few days.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Vanguard Extended Market ETF (VXF)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Vanguard Extended Market ETF (NYSEARCA:VXF) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,927 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vanguard Extended Market ETF were worth $1,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  MML Investors Services LLC lowered its position in shares of Vanguard Extended Market ETF (NYSEARCA:VXF) by 14.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,370 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,926 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Vanguard Extended Market ETF were worth $1,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Vanguard Extended Market ETF (NYSEARCA:VXF) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 29th will be given a dividend of 0.3704 per share on Tuesday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 28th. This is an increase from Vanguard Extended Market ETF’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc.(NXST)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Barrington Research reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) in a report issued on Tuesday. They currently have a $110.00 target price on the stock. Barrington Research also issued estimates for Nexstar Media Group’s Q2 2019 earnings at $1.84 EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at $1.67 EPS, Q4 2019 earnings at $2.07 EPS, Q1 2020 earnings at $1.51 EPS, Q2 2020 earnings at $2.40 EPS, Q3 2020 earnings at $2.96 EPS, Q4 2020 earnings at $4.49 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $9.10 EPS.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ: NXST) and Liberty Media Formula One Series C (NASDAQ:FWONK) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and risk.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) was upgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a hold rating to a buy rating.

  Oritani Financial (NASDAQ:ORIT) was upgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a sell rating to a hold rating.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) had its price target cut by B. Riley to $87.00. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

  Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a buy rating to a hold rating. According to Zacks, “Ralph Lauren outperformed the industry in the past six months backed by robust bottom-line performance in recent quarters. Notably, third-quarter fiscal 2018 marked the company’s 12th consecutive earnings beat while sales lagged estimates after a beat in the previous quarter. Additionally, the company’s Way Forward Plan is on track, and it remains keen on bolstering digital and international presence. Also, the company has been gaining from favorable geographic and channel mix shifts along with lower promotions and reduced product costs. Further, management adjusted fiscal 2018 outlook to account for the positive currency rates, which are likely to aid revenues and operating margins. However, its North America business continues to suffer due to distribution and brand exits, planned reduction in shipments and promotions to enhance the quality of sales, and lower customer demand.”

• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Nexstar Media Group (NXST)

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

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Nexstar Media Group Inc (NASDAQ:NXST) – Research analysts at B. Riley decreased their Q3 2018 EPS estimates for Nexstar Media Group in a research note issued on Thursday, September 6th. B. Riley analyst B. Crockett now anticipates that the company will post earnings per share of $2.07 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $2.19. B. Riley currently has a “Buy” rating and a $92.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley also issued estimates for Nexstar Media Group’s Q4 2018 earnings at $3.22 EPS, FY2018 earnings at $8.14 EPS, FY2019 earnings at $7.14 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $10.51 EPS.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Blackrock Capital and Income Strategies Fund Inc(CII)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  News headlines about BlackRock Enhanced Capital and Income Fd (NYSE:CII) have trended positive this week, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research firm identifies positive and negative media coverage by reviewing more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. BlackRock Enhanced Capital and Income Fd earned a news sentiment score of 0.31 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media headlines about the real estate investment trust an impact score of 47.3179811195894 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the immediate future.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: LiqTech International, Inc.(LIQT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Money Morning Staff Reports]

  However, it's unlikely Netlist repeats these returns anytime soon. After looking at last week's top performing penny stocks, we'll show you a penny stock on the verge of jumping over 230%…

  Penny Stock Current Share Price Last Week's Gain Netlist Inc. (Nasdaq: NLST) $0.83 542.67% Mannkind Corp. (Nasdaq: MNKD) $1.80 79.09% Fred's Inc. (Nasdaq: FRED) $2.49 73.68% Delcath Systems Inc. (OTCMKTS: DCTH) $3.70 72.63% Gemphire Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: GEMP) $1.96 50.71% Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: BLPH) $1.05 47.98% Cel-Sci Corp. (NYSE: CVM) $3.78 44.78% ParkerVision Inc. (OTCMKTS: PRKR) $0.60 29.42% Superior Drilling Products Inc. (NYSE: SDPI) $2.63 29.23% LiqTech International Inc. (NYSE: LIQT) $1.50 25.20%

  How to Profit off This $11.1 Billion Money Pool: By following a few simple steps, one IRS directive could help set you up to receive checks of up to $1,795 every single month thanks to a genius investment. Learn more…

• [By Logan Wallace]

  LiqTech International Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:LIQT) shares rose 11.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $0.94 and last traded at $0.91. Approximately 1,268,573 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 253% from the average daily volume of 359,292 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.82.

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ: CLWT) shares climbed 70.3 percent to $5.45 after reporting 2017 year-end results. MEDIGUS Ltd/S ADR (NASDAQ: MDGS) surged 39.8 percent to $1.58 in reaction to its Monday announcement of a distribution agreement. The medical device company said it reached an agreement to distribute its minimally invasive medical devices in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RKDA) gained 25.6 percent to $11.50. Arcadia Biosciences reported that Albert D. Bolles, Ph.D. has joined its board of directors. Aytu Bioscience Inc (NASDAQ: AYTU) shares jumped 21.8 percent to $0.4798 after the company late Monday reported lighter-than-expected Q1 loss. Hollysys Automation Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: HOLI) shares gained 21.1 percent to $26.77 following Q3 results. Pfenex Inc. (NYSE: PFNX) rose 16.8 percent to $7.1271 after the company announced the positive top-line PF708 study results in Osteoporosis patients that showed no imbalances in severity or incidence of adverse events. MEI Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEIP) rose 13.8 percent to $2.88. Red Violet, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDVT) jumped 13.1 percent to $6.41 after reporting Q1 results. SORL Auto Parts, Inc. (NASDAQ: SORL) shares gained 12 percent to $5.87 after reporting upbeat Q1 results. Bovie Medical Corporation (NYSE: BVX) gained 8.4 percent to $3.96 after reporting a first-quarter sales beat. Rosehill Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: ROSE) surged 8.4 percent to $7.90 after announcing Q1 results. LiqTech International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIQT) rose 8.1 percent to $0.5171 following Q1 results. ProPhase Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRPH) rose 7.7 percent to $5.6103 following Q1 results. Nine Energy Service, Inc. (NYSE: NINE) shares climbed 7.4 percent to $35.90. Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: XENE) rose 6.7 percent to $6.40 after the company presented XEN901 Phase 1 clinical update and XEN1101 TMS pharmacodynamic Phase 1 data. MYnd
• [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 Lisa Levin] Gainers Red Violet, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDVT) rose 75.31 percent to close at $9.94 after reporting Q1 results. Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ: CLWT) shares jumped 40.62 percent to close at $4.50 on Tuesday after reporting 2017 year-end results. MEI Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEIP) gained 34.39 percent to close at $3.40. MEDIGUS Ltd/S ADR (NASDAQ: MDGS) gained 32.74 percent to close at $1.50 in reaction to its Monday announcement of a distribution agreement. The medical device company said it reached an agreement to distribute its minimally invasive medical devices in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Pfenex Inc. (NYSE: PFNX) surged 31.15 percent to close at $8.00 after the company announced the positive top-line PF708 study results in Osteoporosis patients that showed no imbalances in severity or incidence of adverse events. Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RKDA) rose 21.07 percent to close at $11.09. Arcadia Biosciences reported that Albert D. Bolles, Ph.D. has joined its board of directors. Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNPX) rose 20.23 percent to close at $10.58. Turtle Beach Corporation (NASDAQ: HEAR) shares gained 17.62 percent to close at $17.82. Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: APVO) rose 17.1 percent to close at $5.82. Phoenix New Media Limited (NYSE: FENG) shares jumped 16.23 percent to close at $4.87 following Q1 earnings. Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT) rose 16.04 percent to close at $3.69. PPDAI Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PPDF) climbed 15.99 percent to close at $7.98 following Q1 results. Tyme Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: TYME) rose 15.93 percent to close at $3.42. LiqTech International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIQT) gained 15.59 percent to close at $0.5532 following Q1 results. Sophiris Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPHS) gained 13.92 percent to close at $3.52 on Tuesday following Q1 results. Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA) jumped 13.4 percent to close at $2.37. Iteris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITI) shares surged 13.05 percent to close
• [By Shane Hupp]

  LiqTech International Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:LIQT) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 320,188 shares, a decline of 9.3% from the May 31st total of 352,974 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 364,702 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc.(RIGL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Thursday ended in the red for most major benchmarks on Wall Street, with the Dow trading down by triple digits at times before climbing back toward the close. After having bounced back sharply in recent days, stocks seemed to lose upward momentum, and interest rate fears returned to the market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond once again moved above the 2.9% mark, and shorter-term Treasurys had yields reach levels they haven't seen in years. Yet even though the overall market was ready to take a break, some companies still enjoyed good news that lifted their shares. Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK), Snap-on (NYSE:SNA), and Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) were among the best performers on the day. Here's why they did so well.

• [By Trey Thoelcke]

  Here too, the low price makes this stock an attractive target. Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL) is engaged in the discovering, developing and providing novel small molecule drugs that improve the lives of patients with immune and hematological disorders, cancer and rare diseases.

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) climbed over 17% today after the company announced second-quarter and first-half 2018 earnings results. The pharma company reported $1.8 million in net product sales of Tavalisse, the portfolio's first approved product, during the most recent quarter. That may not seem like much, but not when you consider that the chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) treatment only launched on May 29. 

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(ALXN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Lange]

  Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) is breaking out from a bullish continuation pattern after completing a 2-year+ consolidation bottom. Upside is seen to the $200 area. Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN), and Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) have weaker technical patterns and may have further downside risks. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) is forming a potential bearish top – a move below $77.98 would open $71 to the $60 area.

• [By Motley Fool Transcribing]

  Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 4, 2019 8:00 a.m. ET

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

  Operator

• [By Cory Renauer]

  Shares of Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN), a biopharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases, rose 26.3% in January, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Investors were relieved to see trial results that suggest switching patients from Soliris to Ultomiris won't be a problem.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 863 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Alexion Pharmaceuticals were worth $5,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Chris Lange]

  The Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) second-quarter report is scheduled for Thursday before the opening bell. The consensus forecast is $1.70 in EPS on $977.89 million in revenue. Shares ended the week at $135.27 apiece. The consensus price target is $158.89, and the 52-week range is $102.10 to $149.34.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc.(RHP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP) had its price objective increased by Deutsche Bank from $94.00 to $98.00 in a research report released on Monday. They currently have a buy rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Neuberger Berman Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 155,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,363 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned about 0.30% of Ryman Hospitality Properties worth $12,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

• [By Motley Fool Transcribers]

  Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc  (NYSE:RHP)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 26, 2019, 11:00 a.m. ET

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

  Operator

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP)’s share price hit a new 52-week high and low during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $80.07 and last traded at $79.93, with a volume of 191025 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.56.

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: CBOE Holdings Inc.(CBOE)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Asit Sharma]

  Exchange holding company Cboe Global Markets (NYSEMKT:CBOE) enjoyed brisk trading across multiple asset classes after two consecutive quarters of sluggish volume. Management also indicated that it expects robust utilization of the company's options and futures instruments during the 2019 trading year.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Last December, two major futures exchanges started offering futures contracts on bitcoin. CBOE Global Markets (NASDAQ:CBOE) was the first to market with its futures offering, and CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) didn't waste any time coming out with its own version of a bitcoin contract.

• [By Asit Sharma]

  Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBOE) reported expansive earnings growth in its first-quarter 2018 report, issued on May 3. In addition to revenue tacked on from its acquisition of Bats Global Markets in March 2017, Cboe enjoyed increased volume in trading of the company's proprietary VIX (Cboe Volatility Index) futures and options.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Clinton Group Inc. boosted its position in Cboe Global Markets Inc (NASDAQ:CBOE) by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,970 shares during the quarter. Cboe Global Markets comprises 1.5% of Clinton Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Clinton Group Inc.’s holdings in Cboe Global Markets were worth $4,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.96 per share on revenue of $3.46 billion. Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $2.8 per share on revenue of $2.93 billion. American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AXL) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.81 per share on revenue of $1.75 billion. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.88 per share on revenue of $9.27 billion. LifePoint Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPNT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.13 per share on revenue of $1.62 billion. V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.65 per share on revenue of $2.90 billion. Newell Brands Inc. (NYSE: NWL) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.26 per share on revenue of $3.05 billion. Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.04 per share on revenue of $407.27 million. Boise Cascade Company (NYSE: BCC) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.45 per share on revenue of $1.09 billion. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE: LNG) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.39 per share on revenue of $1.59 billion. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.24 per share on revenue of $308.05 million. ITT Inc. (NYSE: ITT) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.73 per share on revenue of $683.96 million. Fred's, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED) is expected to report quarterly loss at $0.19 per share on revenue of $551.00 million. Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.52 per share on revenue of $288.31 million. Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: CQP) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $1.38 billion. Genesis Energy, L.P

Top 10 Value Stocks To Invest In 2019: Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.(BBW)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

    

  Clearside Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLSD) shares declined 32.19 percent to close at $9.86 on Thursday. Clearside Biomedical disclosed that its Phase 2 trial of CLS-TA met primary and secondary endpoints met in 6-month trial. scPharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SCPH) shares dipped 30.1 percent to close at $9.94 on Thursday after the FDA identified deficiencies in the company’s New Drug Application for FUROSCIX. However, the FDA letter did not specify deficiencies identified and notification does not reflect final decision on information under review. Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA) fell 24.08 percent to close at $1.86. Euroseas announced completion of the spin-off of its drybulk fleet into EuroDry Ltd. Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ: GLNG) fell 25.09 percent to close at $25.98 following Q1 results. Oragenics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OGEN) shares dropped 25 percent to close at $1.50 on Thursday. Guess', Inc. (NYSE: GES) dropped 19.44 percent to close at $19.60 following Q1 results. Cantel Medical Corp. (NYSE: CMD) dropped 15.94 percent to close at $109.09 on Thursday following FQ3 results. Fusion Connect, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSNN) shares fell 15.55 percent to close at $3.91. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW) dropped 14.44 percent to close at $8.00 after reporting Q1 results. Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) shares declined 14.28 percent to close at $82.59 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and lowered its FY2018 earnings guidance. Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN) dropped 13.94 percent to close at $18.09 after reporting Q1 results. Co-Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) declined 13.17 percent to close at $2.90 after declining 5.65 percent on Wednesday. Concordia International Corp. (NASDAQ: CXRX) fell 12.89 percent to close at $0.2440 after the company announced that it would be delisted from the Nasdaq. Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) slipped 12.46 percent
• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.23 per share on revenue of $5.56 billion. Express, Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) is projected to report quarterly loss at $0.02 per share on revenue of $466.25 million. Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.4 per share on revenue of $6.20 billion. Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ: TECD) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.46 per share on revenue of $8.13 billion. Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE: BURL) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.09 per share on revenue of $1.49 billion. Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.3 per share on revenue of $726.56 million. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.22 per share on revenue of $806.17 million. Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN) is estimated to report quarterly loss at $0.08 per share on revenue of $276.27 bmillion. Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE: DCI) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.52 per share on revenue of $682.68 million. Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE: SFL) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.21 per share on revenue of $92.08 million. Perry Ellis International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PERY) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.67 per share on revenue of $232.30 million. Kirkland's, Inc. (NASDAQ: KIRK) is estimated to report quarterly loss at $0.09 per share on revenue of $140.83 million. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.18 per share on revenue of $90.20 million. J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE: JILL) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.19 per share on revenue of $160.50 million. Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE: CBK) is expected to report quarterly loss at $0.08 per share on revenue of $89.35 million.
• [By Joseph Griffin]

  News coverage about Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE:BBW) has been trending somewhat negative on Thursday, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. Accern identifies positive and negative press coverage by analyzing more than 20 million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Build-A-Bear Workshop earned a media sentiment score of -0.07 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media stories about the specialty retailer an impact score of 43.9525750448852 out of 100, meaning that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the next few days.

Top Gold Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:NGD,ORE,NXG,GSS,

Nano (CURRENCY:NANO) traded 2.8% lower against the dollar during the one day period ending at 19:00 PM ET on October 2nd. During the last seven days, Nano has traded 0.8% higher against the dollar. Nano has a total market capitalization of $291.38 million and approximately $2.79 million worth of Nano was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Nano coin can currently be purchased for $2.19 or 0.00033383 BTC on popular exchanges including Mercatox, Coindeal, Nanex and Koinex.

Here is how other cryptocurrencies have performed during the last day:

Get Nano alerts: Bitcoin (BTC) traded 0.5% lower against the dollar and now trades at $6,555.82 or 1.00000000 BTC. Ethereum (ETH) traded 1.4% lower against the dollar and now trades at $227.36 or 0.03470923 BTC. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) traded 0.4% higher against the dollar and now trades at $532.23 or 0.08125114 BTC. Litecoin (LTC) traded 0.8% lower against the dollar and now trades at $59.75 or 0.00912157 BTC. Monero (XMR) traded 2.5% higher against the dollar and now trades at $117.67 or 0.01796382 BTC. Ethereum Classic (ETC) traded 0.3% lower against the dollar and now trades at $11.17 or 0.00170517 BTC. Dogecoin (DOGE) traded 1.7% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0058 or 0.00000089 BTC. Zcash (ZEC) traded 0.6% lower against the dollar and now trades at $126.79 or 0.01935636 BTC. Bitcoin Gold (BTG) traded up 3.5% against the dollar and now trades at $25.50 or 0.00389252 BTC. Bytecoin (BCN) traded 2.4% higher against the dollar and now trades at $0.0023 or 0.00000035 BTC.

Nano Profile

Top Gold Stocks To Invest In 2019: NEW GOLD INC.(NGD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  New Gold Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: NGD) dropped about 1.9% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $2.09. Shares closed at $2.13 on Monday and the stock’s 52-week high is $4.25. The junior gold miner had no specific news.

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers ARMO BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARMO) shares rose 67.5 percent to $49.96 in pre-market trading after Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced plans to acquire ARMO BioSciences for $50 per share. Turtle Beach Corporation (NASDAQ: HEAR) rose 62.8 percent to $11.30 in pre-market trading after the company reported Q1 results and raised its FY18 outlook. vTv Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VTVT) rose 23.4 percent to $2.11 in pre-market trading following announcement that the company will pre-specify new subgroup with the FDA and report Phase 3 Part B results in June. Resonant Inc. (NASDAQ: RESN) rose 19.1 percent to $5.00 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: RXII) rose 17.7 percent to $2.39 in pre-market trading following Q1 results. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) rose 15.2 percent to $2.20 in pre-market trading after French company Total announced plans to acquire 25 percent stake in Clean Energy Fuels for $83.4 million. Everspin Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRAM) rose 14.6 percent to $8.50 in pre-market trading after the company reported strong results for its first quarter. Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) shares rose 11 percent to $27.50 in pre-market trading after reporting upbeat Q1 sales. Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) rose 8.9 percent to $10.70 in pre-market trading following upbeat quarterly earnings. MediciNova, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNOV) rose 8.1 percent to $11.35 in pre-market trading after the company announced opening of Investigational New Drug Application for MN-166 (ibudilast) in glioblastoma. New Gold Inc. (NYSE: NGD) shares rose 7.7 percent to $2.65 in pre-market trading after the company reported that its President and CEO Hannes Portmann left the company. The company named Raymond Threlkeld as successor. Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ: OTTR) shares rose 7.4 percent to $46.60 in the pre-market trading session. Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) shares rose
• [By Ethan Ryder]

  New Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:NGD) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $1.25 to $1.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday. The brokerage currently has an “underperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 14.50% from the stock’s current price.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

  Losers Check-Cap Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHEK) fell 23.3 percent to $9.87 in pre-market trading after declining 13.45 percent on Wednesday. SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SXCP) fell 12.8 percent to $16.00 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE: BGG) fell 11 percent to $17.55 in pre-market trading after the company posted mixed Q3 results and lowered its FY18 guidance. New Gold Inc. (NYSE: NGD) fell 8.4 percent to $2.30 in pre-market trading following downbeat Q1 results. Quality Care Properties, Inc. (NYSE: QCP) fell 8.2 percent to $20.85 in pre-market trading. Welltower announced plans to acquire QCP for $20.75 per share in cash. China Customer Relations Centers Inc. (NASDAQ: CCRC) shares fell 7.5 percent to $17.25 in pre-market trading after climbing 18.73 percent on Wednesday. Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) shares fell 5.7 percent to $5.58 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) fell 5.6 percent to $38.66 in pre-market trading following Q1 results. Southw

Top Gold Stocks To Invest In 2019: Orezone Gold Corp (ORE)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Galactrum (CURRENCY:ORE) traded 1.7% lower against the U.S. dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 18:00 PM Eastern on August 31st. Galactrum has a total market capitalization of $866,847.00 and approximately $5,272.00 worth of Galactrum was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One Galactrum coin can now be purchased for about $0.42 or 0.00006032 BTC on major exchanges including Stocks.Exchange and Cryptopia. In the last seven days, Galactrum has traded 12.5% higher against the U.S. dollar.

• [By Jim Robertson]

  Finally, Richard Seville, the CEO of Brisbane-based Orocobre Ltd (ASX: ORE) which began lithium sales in 2015 from northern Argentina and also experienced difficulty boosting output, commented that an "inability to access traditional funds has delayed the development of the sector" and that "these projects aren't easy -- so the banks just don't want to go there."

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Galactrum (ORE) is a PoW/PoS coin that uses the
  Lyra2RE hashing algorithm. It was first traded on December 13th, 2017. Galactrum’s total supply is 2,781,952 coins and its circulating supply is 2,061,952 coins. Galactrum’s official website is galactrum.org. Galactrum’s official Twitter account is @galactrum.

• [By Peter Graham]

  Sandstorm's due diligence is thorough, they don't just invest in any company. They like West Africa because they understand the area and the opportunities that exist there. Sandstorm is a royalty and streaming company, so they make these investments and receive cashflow deals that often kick in much later on. But they have already established a presence in Burkina and have deals in place with larger companies like Orezone Gold (TSXV: ORE) and Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV). Sandstorm's investment also potentially gives us access to their marketing department through something they call Launch Lab, and it looks like it will really benefit our own marketing efforts and will expose us to more opportunities over the coming year.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Galactrum (ORE) is a PoW/PoS coin that uses the
  Lyra2RE hashing algorithm. It launched on November 11th, 2017. Galactrum’s total supply is 2,092,679 coins and its circulating supply is 1,372,679 coins. Galactrum’s official Twitter account is @galactrum. Galactrum’s official website is galactrum.org.

Top Gold Stocks To Invest In 2019: Northgate Minerals Corporation(NXG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Shares of NEX Group PLC (LON:NXG) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is GBX 696 ($9.21).

Top Gold Stocks To Invest In 2019: Golden Star Resources Ltd(GSS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Golden Star Resources Ltd. (TSE:GSC) (NYSE:GSS) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$1.48.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Golden Star Resources (GSS)

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

• [By Max Byerly]

  Golden Star Resources Ltd. (NYSEAMERICAN:GSS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 28th, there was short interest totalling 10,021,831 shares, an increase of 6.9% from the September 14th total of 9,371,344 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,038,207 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.7 days. Approximately 4.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Golden Star Resources (GSS)

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Golden Star Resources (GSS)

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

Large fund firms' support for combating climate change is all talk, proxy voting shows

Climate change questions don't get more fundamental than this one: How much time is left to act before it is too late?

Right now the difficulty of answering that question is showing up in a place where many individuals are heavily invested in getting the answer right: The index funds responsible for meeting millions of Americans personal financial goals, from saving for a house, to a child's education, and a secure retirement.

Before he died, Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle said one of the biggest issues the index fund would face in the future is its societal influence. Specifically, he meant the need to vote proxies on complex issues such as sustainability at annual meetings held by every publicly traded company and on behalf of so many individual fund shareholders.

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, and Vanguard Group, the creator of the index fund, manage more than $11 trillion combined. Just in ETFs, they manage roughly $2.5 trillion. And their market influence continues to grow: Vanguard has attracted roughly $1 trillion in the past three years alone.

"Larger mutual funds companies, like Vanguard, Fidelity, BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors, can move the market," said Mindy Lubber, CEO and president of Ceres, a nonprofit organization that works with big investors and companies on sustainability. "They can take a shareholder resolution from 10 percent to 40 percent."

In 2017 both companies voted to require ExxonMobil to produce a report on climate change, a watershed moment showing what can occur when index funds punch their weight in proxy voting.

Yet shareholder advocates say there have not been nearly enough of those ExxonMobil vote moments.

Big funds in the bottom quartile

A data analysis released by Ceres in early March shows that when BlackRock and Vanguard are measured on their up-or-down votes on climate change resolutions at stockholder annual meetings, they have among the worst voting records in the fund industry.

Rob Berridge, director of shareholder engagement at Ceres, said when the group ran the numbers on 2018 proxy voting, there was plenty of reason for encouragement, just not among the biggest fund companies.

"The overall trends are positive," Berridge said. "More firms are above 50 percent for resolutions.

"The surprise is that the biggest firms aren't among those above 50 percent," he added. "Index funds are the ultimate long-term diversified investors, and it is in their interest to ask companies to address climate.

"They need ExxonMobil to be in business in 50 years."

Many are not even close to the 50 percent mark.

Among 48 large fund companies that Ceres included in its review of up-or-down votes on climate-related shareholder proposals, Vanguard finished 42nd (voting for climate proposals 12 percent of the time), and BlackRock finished 43rd (voting in favor of these resolutions 10 percent of the time). T. Rowe Price Group, Putnam Investments and financial advisor favorite Dimensional Fund Advisors were all below BlackRock and Vanguard.

"It is unfortunate that the biggest firms are at the bottom of the list," Lubber said. "When they vote proxies, as they did on Exxon, the votes changed substantially and the conversations do get started, at least."

Fund companies say proxy votes aren't everything

The fund companies can't argue with the data, but they do argue with placing all the importance on proxy votes. Both BlackRock and Vanguard are among the companies with corporate stewardship departments that focus on engagement with corporations on issues from climate change to executive pay and human rights.

A Vanguard spokeswoman said that its Investment Stewardship team views voting proxies as one piece of a broader engagement strategy that also includes discussion with company boards and management and advocating on behalf of all shareholders.

"A vote against a shareholder proposal does not always indicate we disagree with the broader issue. ... As near-permanent investors intently focused on the long term, we engage with companies over the course of years, not weeks or months."

Sign Up for Our Newsletter Your Wealth Weekly advice on managing your money SIGN UP NOW Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about about our products and services.
By signing up for newsletters, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. .investigation-wrapper .description{ text-align:center; padding-bottom:15px; } .nl-privacy{ font-size: 10px; padding-top: 20px; display:block; } .wildcard .investigation-wrapper { -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px 0px #999999; /* Android 2.3+, iOS 4.0.2-4.2, Safari 3-4 */ box-shadow: 5px 5px 5px 0px #999989; } .subsection .investigation{ background: #efefef; border-radius: 3px; padding: 10px 20px 20px 20px; } .investigation small{white-space:normal;} .subsection .investigation h1{ text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; font-family: "Gotham Narrow Ssm 5r"; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom:0px; font-size: 18px; margin-top: 10px; word-spacing: 1.5px; color: #333333; } .subsection .investigation .headline_title { font-size: 28px; padding-top: 20px; display: block; font-family: "Gotham Narrow Ssm 7r"; padding-bottom:5px; } .subsection .email-info { background: rgba(74, 144, 226, 1); max-width: 140px; margin: 0px auto; text-align: center; padding: 6px 1px; color: #fff; border-radius: 5px; } .subsection .email-info { color:#fff; } .subsection .email-info:hover{ background: #2077B6; } body .subsection.investigation-wrapper{overflow:visible;}

Vanguard pointed to its Investment Stewardship report, which listed engagements with more than 700 portfolio companies, 200 of which are involved in carbon-intensive industries.

BlackRock declined to comment, referring questions to its published materials, which include its approach to corporate stewardship, its most recent stewardship annual report discussing climate change and a full voting history that includes a list of companies with which it engages.

But here's the problem: Disclosure of a proxy vote is black and white; disclosure of ongoing engagement is not.

Shareholder advocates say these lists may be long in the number of companies engaged, but fund shareholders don't know who specifically was engaged at the companies and what policy changes were offered as a result of the fund companies' efforts.

Wide gap in progress between big funds over three years

Jackie Cook, a specialist in corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure analysis and founder of FundVotes, which was acquired last year by Morningstar, said the "engagement first, voting later" rationale doesn't add up, because there is no reason why these companies can't do both. And the engagements suffer from a lack of transparency. "There is no standard disclosure structure," Cook said. "No one shows any granularity to the engagement. ... We want more transparency from the fund managers."

A broad data set that Cook has compiled over the past three years — the Ceres report is based on her analysis but uses a more narrow definition for climate-related proposals — shows that in 2016 neither Vanguard nor BlackRock voted in favor of any climate change proposal. In 2017 they voted in favor of 4 percent. State Street Global Advisors, by contrast, voted for 38 percent of climate proposals in 2016 and 45 percent last year. Fidelity Investments went from voting in favor of no climate change proposals in 2016 to voting in favor of 45 percent last year.

The fund companies counter with what amounts to a catch-22: They can't talk more openly about their engagement, because the nature of engagement precludes them from doing so.

"We believe that Vanguard and portfolio companies need to have candid, direct dialogue, so we don't publicly disclose specific details about particular engagements," the Vanguard spokeswoman said.

A report Cook published for Morningstar last Friday found something else disappointing. Socially responsible funds specifically created by these managers to target issues such as climate change don't always vote in support of climate resolutions, either. The BlackRock Impact U.S. Equity (BIRAX) voted against three greenhouse-gas and climate change shareholder proposals in 2018, including two that called for greater greenhouse-gas disclosure from oil and gas companies Chevron and Range Resources.

The FundVotes' analysis found that environmental, social and governance funds from Vanguard, Fidelity Investments and TIAA-CREF, among others, cast a number of votes that seemingly conflict with an ESG mandate, including funds specifically aimed at the environment.

"The main reason to have oil and gas companies in an 'impact fund' should be to improve the climate-related performance. ... Proxy voting is an obvious, simple way to do that," Berridge said.

Funds do need to go beyond proxy voting and engage with these companies as part of their impact investing mandate, but he said, "Voting in conflict with an ESG mandate should raise red flags, above and beyond the red flags associated with not voting for these resolutions in a non-ESG fund."

The first climate change bankruptcy

Tim Smith, director of ESG shareowner engagement at Walden Asset Management, which has specialized in socially responsible investing and shareholder advocacy for decades, said there is a disconnect between BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's words on corporate stewardship and his firm's actions.

"Larry talks about being deeply concerned and how he understands climate change, but the voting record is still backward-looking. They can argue they are engaging with management, but you don't end up voting only 10 percent of the time against management when you are engaging with this."

Another thing that BlackRock and Vanguard have not done, even as they point to weakness in shareholder proposals as a reason for voting against them: offer their own shareholder proposals on issues such as climate change.

"They still need to up their game, because the situation is urgent. We don't have a calm five- year waiting period." -Tim Smith, Walden Asset Management

For shareholder advocates, there simply isn't enough time to debate the relative merits of long-term dialogue versus the annual proxy voting power: Climate change is a material risk to corporate value today. Lubber pointed to a market event that recently occurred but not long ago would have been unthinkable: a highly regulated, "safe" utility company, PG&E, going bankrupt as a result of unprecedented California wildfire liabilities. "Two years ago people would have said that was unreasonable, an absurd proposition."

"We need to see progress — material progress," Lubber said. "Having 2,000 or 5,000 engagements that nobody knows what is happening doesn't reflect the urgency of the problem. Given the dialogue that Larry Fink has put out in the public domain, his lofty, thoughtful quarterly letters, one would expect to see more consistency in their voting of proxies. Larry has said these issues matter, but there is only one way for them to matter."

The proxy season is just beginning across corporate America, and climate-related proposals are again expected to be a major push among shareholder advocates. According to an analysis of proxies from shareholder advocate As You Sow that was released last Tuesday, climate change and corporate political influence spending are the top investor concerns in about half the proposals filed so far.

In an annual letter line from 2017 that has been quoted often, Fink wrote that BlackRock is patient on behalf of its long-term investors, but that does not mean it is "infinitely patient," and there does come a time to vote against management when long-term value is at risk.

"I respect the pressure that their voice as world's largest money manager brings. It is quite significant and should not be dismissed. ... But they still need to up their game, because the situation is urgent," Smith said. "We don't have a calm five- year waiting period."

In Wake Of Wells Fargo Hearing, Private Prison Stocks Take Big Hit

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;size-large wp-image-274&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/morgansimon/files/2019/03/SF_-credit-to-Jasmine-Rashid-of-Candide-Group-_Immigrant-women-shared-powerful-tesitmoies-of-their-experiences-with-the-privately-run-detention-centers-that-big-banks-help-fund_-1200x800.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;800&q; data-width=&q;1200&q;&g; Activists protesting outside of a Wells Fargo branch in San Francisco on Valentine&s;s Day.

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;The stocks of private prison leaders GEO Group and CoreCivic are down &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.thestreet.com/quote/GEO.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;16%&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; and &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.thestreet.com/quote/CXW.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;8%&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; respectively today since last Tuesday &a;mdash; the day when the country&a;rsquo;s largest bank, &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2019/03/05/jpmorgan-chase-is-done-with-private-prisons/#313f771d690d&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;JPMorgan Chase&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;, publicly announced that they will take their money out of the private prison industry following mass activism by #FamiliesBelongTogether organizations and the long standing #BackersOfHate campaign. &l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;While ending this relationship has minimal impact on banks, private prison companies certainly feel the heat. &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;GEO Group and CoreCivic are structured as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which means that they have to distribute 90% of profits each year. This makes them extra reliant on big banks because they simply need a ton of cash on hand &a;mdash; like the &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2019-03-05/jpmorgan-backs-away-from-private-prison-finance&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;$1.8 billion&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; debt load from investors last year &a;ndash; to do things like buy beds for their facilities and run day-to-day operations. &a;ldquo;The chain reaction in big banks stepping away from private prison companies is doing &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://inthesetimes.com/article/21793/private-prison-divestment-jpmorgan-ocasio-cortez-wells-fargo&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;major damage&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; to Geo Group and CoreCivic&a;rdquo; said Javier H. Valdes of Make the Road New York. &a;ldquo;Immigrant communities and our allies are going to continue to pressure all banks to withdraw from this morally bankrupt industry, which has a tragic record of violating the rights of our loved ones.&a;rdquo;&l;/span&g;

&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-275&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/morgansimon/files/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-03-15-at-11.46.44-AM.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;547&q; data-width=&q;673&q;&g; CoreCivic market summary

&l;img class=&q;size-large wp-image-276&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/morgansimon/files/2019/03/D1tJevhWsAEPEW0-1200x983.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;983&q; data-width=&q;1200&q;&g; GEO Group Market Summary

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;So let&a;rsquo;s take stock of all that&a;rsquo;s happened these past two weeks (which I&a;rsquo;ve had a front-seat to as a member of the Families Belong Together Coalition). On March 5th, &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2019/03/05/jpmorgan-chase-is-done-with-private-prisons/#313f771d690d&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;JP Morgan&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; (which has provided &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/20180427%20CBOH%20Digital.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;at least $254 million in debt financing&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; to GEO Group and CoreCivic) stated &a;ldquo;we will no longer bank the private prison industry.&a;rdquo; On March 10th, U.S. Bank told &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/banks-bow-to-pressure-to-stop-profiting-from-trumps-immigration-policy-but-big-tech-remains-defiant/2019/03/10/87bec704-40ea-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html?utm_term=.86338cdcf41e&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;the &l;/span&g;&l;i&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Washington Post&l;/span&g;&l;/i&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; that it reduced its credit exposure to GEO Group and CoreCivic to &a;ldquo;an immaterial amount.&a;rdquo; Then on March 12th, Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan found himself &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/rep-ocasio-cortez-blames-wells-fargo-caging-children-climate-change&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;under questioning&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) about why Wells was financing companies &a;ldquo;involved with the caging of children.&a;rdquo; Sloan&a;rsquo;s response? &a;ldquo;We will exit that relationship .&a;rdquo;&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;How did we get for-profit prisons that are reliant on household-name big banks in the first place? In the US, &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;the world&a;rsquo;s most incarcerated country&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;, &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;private prisons were virtually nonexistent before the 1980s. However the industry massively expanded, many believe, due to America&a;rsquo;s predatory &a;ldquo;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://lasvegassun.com/news/2019/mar/13/private-prisons-are-counterproductive/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;failed war on drugs &l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;policies, which have destroyed countless lives, especially in working-class communities&a;rdquo; (as articulated by Nevada Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno). For many, the horrors of private prisons first hit mainstream consciousness in 2009 with the &a;ldquo;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/23/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Kids for Cash&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;&a;rdquo; scandal in Pennsylvania. As a refresher, privately-owned juvenile facilities paid off judges to dictate harsh sentences to juvenile offenders and keep them incarcerated longer. This scheme continued for over nine years.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Grassroots and shareholder activism in recent years has helped local jurisdictions phase out private prisons in their communities, and in 2016, President Obama&a;rsquo;s &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/18/us-government-private-prisons-use-justice-department&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Justice Department &l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;banned the development of more federal private prisons (though, notably, not saying anything about &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.realmoneymoves.org/learn-more/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;immigrant detention centers&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; &a;mdash; the majority of which are for-profit). This victory was short lived once &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;President Trump, who &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/23/private-prisons-back-trump-and-could-see-big-payoffs-new-policies/98300394/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;received hundreds of thousands of dollars&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; in donations from the private prison industry, came into office and reversed the decline. Private prison company stock prices then &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-new-study-uncovers-troubling-information-about-immigrant-only-prisons&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;soared&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;: between election day 2016 and March of 2017, &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://money.cnn.com/2017/02/24/investing/private-prison-stocks-soar-trump/index.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;CoreCivic rose by 140% and Geo Group rose by 98%&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;. That makes the news of today&a;rsquo;s stock decline all the more impressive, with GEO Group and CoreCivic down &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.thestreet.com/quote/GEO.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;54%&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; and &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.thestreet.com/quote/CXW.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;59%&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; respectively since their highest points in 2017. &l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Cautiously, activists &a;ndash; who have been pressuring the big banks to take their money out of private prisons for &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2018/09/25/what-do-big-banks-have-to-do-with-family-detention-familiesbelongtogether-explains/#72e451c02b6a&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;years &l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;&a;mdash; are acknowledging this moment as one of historic commitments that will need to be reiterated and enforced over time. Is this a categorical acknowledgment that the banks will stay out of private prisons, or just a temporary pause? Banks have a history of making statements and then reneging. For instance, in the case of financing coal, banks made commitments in 2015 that they then &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/business/banks-coal-loans.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;ignored&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; by 2018.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;But in the case of Wells CEO Tim Sloan, commitments were made in front of Congress and the nation &a;mdash; definitely making them much more difficult to roll back. &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/07/what-happens-if-you-lie-to-congress.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Not telling the truth to Congress&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; comes with a maximum five-year prison sentence and potential fine.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Additionally, it&a;rsquo;s worth noting the distinction between no longer financing (or underwriting loans) for &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;CoreCivic and GEO Group and actually divesting from stock ownership. There has not been a clear signal yet from Chase, Wells, or US Bank that they will relinquish their shares in the companies. Beyond these three banks, &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;the fight for moving money is still very much in process: according to a &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_BanksPrivatePrisonCompanies_Nov2016.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;2016 report&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; from In The Public Interest, banks like Bank of America, SunTrust and BNP Paribas still haven&a;rsquo;t addressed their (very significant) roles in funding private prisons and immigrant detention centers. &l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;Activists hope this victory is part of a larger trend toward the eventual abolishment of private prisons in the US , as the financial rug gets pulled out from under them. Major &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/opinion/private-prisons-immigration-divest.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;public employee pension funds&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; and municipal governments in places like New York, Philadelphia, and California have been fully divesting from the private prison industry in just the last year. Additionally, research indicates that corporations linked to practices notorious for human rights abuses are at growing risk of &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://fortune.com/2019/03/14/jpmorgan-chase-private-prisons/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;losing socially conscious customers&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;. As the Families Belong Together Corporate Accountability stated in a press release on Tuesday, &a;ldquo;&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;many private prisons have documented &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aclu.org%2Fnews%2Faclu-government-must-end-use-private-prisons-immigration-detention&a;amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7C9039d994620e4ea1b61408d6a1bc8add%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636874228484448941&a;amp;sdata=UsoIKoEwwvwcNggKqPUsO1aOeCiCyPLVLdjKD9WJQX0%3D&a;amp;reserved=0&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;histories&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g; of human rights abuses, and since ICE&a;rsquo;s creation in 2003, immigrant detention centers, overall, have reported &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/22-immigrants-died-ice-detention-centers-during-past-2-years-n954781&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;188 detainee deaths&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;.&a;rdquo; Encouragingly for anti-incarceration advocates, 93% of millennials believe that a company&a;rsquo;s social and environmental impact is &a;ldquo;key to their investing decisions&a;rdquo; &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;&a;nbsp;&a;mdash; up from 74% only two years ago. &l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;&a;ldquo;It speaks to cultures changing and &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://inthesetimes.com/article/21793/private-prison-divestment-jpmorgan-ocasio-cortez-wells-fargo&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;consciousness increasing&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;,&a;rdquo; said Presente.org&a;rsquo;s Matt Nelson, an organizational partner within the Families Belong Together coalition. &a;ldquo;We had a cultural shift around how people view migrants and refugees, and how people connect with basic values. They are now seeing how these values translate through their money, and now we see the results in the market.&a;rdquo; &l;/span&g;

&l;i&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400;&q;&g;In full disclosure, the author&a;rsquo;s firm, Candide Group, and its project Real Money Moves, are members of the #FamiliesBelongTogether coalition referenced in this piece. Thank you to Jasmine Rashid for her contributions to this piece. &l;/span&g;&l;/i&g;&l;/p&g;

Facebook Stock Is Still a Good Buy on Any Dip … For Now

The 12-month scoreboard would show that Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) stock is lagging since it’s down 8%, while the markets, in general, are up 3% for the same period. But lately, FB stock has had an incredible rally off its December lows.

Source: Shutterstock

Even though I saw the breakout in FB early enough to trade it, I chose to use the Nasdaq Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) as the vehicle to capture the rally. Why? For the simple reason of it now being a company prone to surprise headlines and I am not referring to the global outage they had this week.

Case in point, while investors on Wall Street were exuberant about Facebook stock this week, it got hit with nasty headlines about legal troubles ahead. These likely stem from the data privacy debacle from the Cambridge Analytica that just won’t quit.

Now the company may face criminal investigations from the Justice Department on how Facebook shared user data with business partners. This is different from merely having a few public outcries over privacy expectations. It is serious stuff to have criminal indictment looming over your stock.

To make matters worse, we learned that the head of Chief Product Officer and the head of WhatsApp are leaving the company. This comes on the heels of major announcements from FB CEO Mark Zukerberg. Needless to say, the company’s future seems in limbo.

However, I still believe it is a money-making engine that will be hard to break. I wrote a note years ago saying that it would take colossal mistakes to ruin the potential of a billion users. Well, they are sure trying and testing my theory on that.

I was lucky to trade FB stock from the long side into earnings based on conversations I’ve had with advertisers. They absolutely love the way it works for their businesses and they didn’t care at all about the privacy issues. So I view those as a distraction away from the engine that actually generates the revenues: The advertisers.

It is not easy to replicate the reach that Facebook has, so until there is an alternative. It would take a serious change in how ads flow through its model to kill the top line. So if you’re in Facebook stock for the long term, then I stay in it. Nothing so far has changed the thesis on that front.

From a shorter-term trading perspective, there are levels to know.

Compare Brokers
Bottom Line on FB Stock

Last year was tough for all stocks and the crash ended on Christmas. Since then, FB stock set on a 40% rally off the double bottom test, but it is now looking like a double top is forming at $173 per share. This is not surprising because this is a level that has been in contention since July 2017.

Contention levels like these create congestion and on the way up these are temporary resistance. As long as the fundamentals remain the same, eventually the bulls will prevail and take them out. That’s how breakouts develop. They bang against resistance until they pierce it and overshoot higher.

The best way to evaluate a stock is to cover up the name and examine the price action. The FB weekly volume profile also tells me that the zone around $173 is the point of interest, so both bulls and bears want to rule it.

The problem for short-term FB traders is that the fast rally left weak levels for the stock. If it loses $166 per share it could target $159. The problem is that this is another potential trigger line that could itself send the stock lower to cover the open gap at $151 per share.

This is not my forecast but it is a set of two scenarios that could unfold into next week. If this happens I bet that it would be a trading opportunity from the long side. I am not one to short the stock, but I will go long it on dips where I have clear levels.

The Facebook thesis is still intact for as long as advertisers are happy. I will change my mind as the facts change, but for now, the bulls have the advantage.

Nicolas Chahine is the managing director of SellSpreads.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him as @racernic on Twitter and 

Is Tractor Supply a Buy?

Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) has been around since 1938 serving farmers and rural lifestyle customers and has delivered exceptional returns to investors over the years. A $1,000 investment at Tractor Supply's IPO price in 1994 would be worth $248,300 today with dividends reinvested. 

However, you didn't need to be that lucky to make a killing on the stock. If you had invested $1,000 just 10 years ago, at the bottom of the market crash in March 2009, your investment would be worth $12,164, including dividends. 

Still, investors who missed those opportunities need not worry, because the company is still growing, and there's potential for more store openings to drive growth over the long term.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

The stock's valuation has become more attractive

Tractor Supply stock is up only 27% over the last five years, but operating performance has been solid over that time. Over the last five years, revenue increased 50% cumulatively to $7.9 billion, and earnings per share climbed 83% to $4.31. The reason the stock hasn't moved much is that the price-to-earnings ratio contracted from over 30 times earnings to a more attractive P/E multiple of 21 at current market prices. In other words, investors aren't valuing Tractor Supply shares as richly as they were a few years ago, which we'll return to further below.  

Recent performance has been positive as well. In 2018, comparable-store sales increased 5.1%, driven by year-over-year revenue growth of 9%. Earnings per share rose 31% last year, but some of that improvement was due to a lower tax rate. 

Management is calling for a slight slowdown in comparable-store sales this year, while revenue is expected to climb 5.9% at the midpoint of guidance. Earnings per share should be in the range of $4.60 to $4.75, representing a growth rate of 8.5%. 

The slower expected growth likely explains why the stock's P/E has come down, but Tractor Supply has been a standout performer in a harsh retail environment over the last five years. Before the surge in consumer spending last year, many retailers were struggling to grow traffic, but Tractor Supply posted rare positive growth in comp-store sales between 2015 and 2017. 

It's also impressive that Tractor Supply has managed to persuade people to drive to its stores even as Amazon.com and Walmart have applied the full-court press in e-commerce. Tractor Supply has still delivered the goods for investors because it puts a high priority on customer service and offering specific products that meet the particular needs of farmers. 

The company is clearly doing many things right. So, what's going to drive growth going forward?

More store openings will fuel revenue growth

The company ended 2018 with 1,765 Tractor Supply stores and 175 Petsense stores. Petsense is a small specialty pet store that has allowed the company to meet specific needs for customers that the Tractor Supply stores are not equipped to handle. Petsense delivered solid growth for the company, and management expects to open as many as 1,000 of these stores over the long term. 

As for Tractor Supply, management sees the potential for as many as 2,500 stores. There is plenty of room for store openings to fuel expansion for at least another 10 years, but given that Tractor Supply has been around for nearly a century, something tells me management will keep finding ways to grow the company for a long time.

In addition to revenue expansion, management's deliberate efforts to beef up profit margin should also fuel earnings growth.

How management plans to improve margins

Since 2015, Tractor Supply's operating margin has declined from over 10% to less than 9%. Several things pressured margins last year, including increases in freight expense and higher diesel fuel prices. There was also an impact from an unfavorable product mix shift to lower-margin items. These types of things come and go and will balance out over the long term. 

Also pressuring margins last year were investments to improve the supply chain, as well as the closure of some underperforming Petsense stores. Infrastructure and technology are two key areas where management is investing heavily to enhance the company's online fulfillment business. For example, Tractor Supply just opened a new distribution center in Frankfort, New York, that will assist the company's growth in the northeast. 

Other infrastructure enhancements involve import transload centers and mixing centers that will improve the flow of product through the supply chain. The company is also working to better communicate digitally with customers, which should accelerate its growth in e-commerce sales. 

Of course, higher online sales should be a significant cost-saver for the company. Tractor Supply has had success with its buy online, pick up in store service, in which its physical stores fulfill 70% of online orders. The organization's online business grew at a double-digit rate in 2018. 

All of these initiatives should not only assist the company's long-term revenue growth but also provide a boost to its operating margin over the next several years. Analysts expect the company to increase earnings by 11.2% annually over the next five years, which seems to imply the expectation for margin expansion. 

Tractor Supply is a buy

An investment in Tractor Supply currently looks attractive: Shares sport a forward P/E of 17.5 times next year's earnings estimates and offer a dividend yield of 1.34%. The company has increased its dividend for eight consecutive years. 

I believe Tractor Supply is a buy at the current price level and has something to offer investors looking for long-term capital appreciation and dividend growth.

Northwest Pipe Company (NWPX) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Northwest Pipe Company  (NASDAQ:NWPX)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallMarch 14, 2019, 10:00 a.m. ET

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

Operator

Welcome and thank you all for standing by. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode until the Q&A session of this conference. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this point.

Now, I will turn the meeting over Scott Montross, you may begin.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Thank you, Andy. Good morning, and welcome to Northwest Pipe's Conference Call. My name is Scott Montross, and I'm President CEO of the company. I'm joined by Robin Gantt, or Chief Financial Officer.

As we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements we make in this call about are expectations for the future are forward-looking statements and actual results could differ materially. Please refer to our most recent SEC filing on Form 10-K for a discussion of risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations.

I will now turn to Robin, who will discuss our fourth quarter and full year results.

Robin A. Gantt -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

Thank you, Scott. Our fourth quarter income from continuing operations was $148,000 or $0.02 per diluted share. Adjusted for the bargain purchase, moderate sale gains and restructuring and acquisition related costs, our adjusted income from continuing operations was $2.6 million or $0.27 per diluted share compared to an adjusted loss from continuing operations of $1.1 million or $0.11 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Sales were $57.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to $35.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. Gross profit as a percent of sales was 11.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to 5.1% in the fourth quarter of 2017. Ameron acquisition added about $19.1 million in sales. The remaining increase was due to the 23% increase in selling price per ton, partially offset by 12% decrease in tons produced. Gross profit as a percent of sales improved with the increases in selling prices per ton.

Selling, general and administrative costs increased to $4.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, from $3.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. This increase was due primarily to $600,000 in acquisition related costs. We sold the Monterrey facility in the fourth quarter for net proceeds of $2.7 million and recorded a gain of about $200,000. We did have an adjustment in the fourth quarter to the bargain purchase recorded with the acquisition of Ameron Water Transmission Group, and have a net gain of $20.1 million. The initial gain was recorded based on a preliminary fair value of the assets and liabilities, and we recorded some adjustments as we continued our fair value assessments. We may have additional adjustments in the future through first and second quarter of 2019.

As we noted last quarter, Ameron has been consolidated into Northwest Pipe's results. And excluding the acquisition related costs, Ameron has been accretive to Northwest Pipe's income in the third and fourth quarters.

Moving on to the full year results, our income from continuing operations was $20.3 million or $2.09 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $8.4 million or $0.88 per diluted share in 2017. We did have several one-time adjustments in 2018 and 2017 that impacted results, including the bargain purchase gain, gains on the sale of Houston and Monterrey, acquisition related costs, restructuring expenses and a change in workers compensation reserves. When we adjust the results for these one-time items net of tax, our adjusted net loss from continuing operations was $1.7 million or $0.18 per diluted share in 2018, compared to an adjusted net loss of $7.1 million or $0.74 per diluted share in 2017. Sales increased to $172.1 million in 2018 from $132.8 million in 2017.

Gross profit as a percent of sales was 7% in 2018, compared to 4.4% in 2017. The Ameron acquisition added about $30.2 million in sales. The remaining increase was due with 6% increase in selling price per ton, and a 1% increase in tons produced. Gross profit as a percent of sales improved with the increases in selling prices per ton.

Selling, general and administrative costs increased to $16.7 million in 2018, from $14.1 million in 2017. This increase was due to $2.6 million in acquisition related costs. We had an income tax benefit rate of 19.1% in 2018, compared to an income tax benefit rate of 11.6% in 2017. Our 2018 rate was impacted by the non-taxable bargain purchase gain, as well as changes in the valuation allowance and the tax windfall from share-based compensation.

In 2018, the company used $18.4 million in cash from operations. Depreciation and amortization were $9.3 million in 2018 and $6.6 million in 2017. Capital expenditures were $3.8 million in 2018, which were for ongoing maintenance capital expenditures. We have planned about 12 million in total capital expenditures for 2019, most of which falls under maintenance capital spending. At the end of 2018, have had borrowed $11.5 million under the line of credit. Today, we do not have any borrowings and have about $50 million in availability for working capital needs.

Now, I'll turn it over to Scott for an update on our business.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

We continue to make progress on integrating the Ameron Water Transmission Group into Northwest Pipe. This acquisition has created a strong platform, this is expected to have major impact on the ongoing earning potential of the company. As of December 31st, 2018, our backlog, including confirmed orders, was $252 million, an all time record compared to $201 million in the third quarter, and $88 million in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The significant increase in backlog at year-end was a result of a strong fourth quarter bidding opportunities that we've discussed in our previous calls. The current demand levels, along with a stable competitive landscape should lead to a stronger first quarter than we've seen recently bucking the trend for relatively slow first quarters for the last three years. We expect first quarter to be similar to the fourth quarter of 2018 with respect to revenue and gross profit. Furthermore, we expect continuing improvement in revenues and margins as we progressed through the rest of 2019.

The following is a look at current and upcoming water transmission projects. In the Texas market, the SWIFT program has funded over $8 billion in projects over the last six years. SWIFT is expected to continue to fund major projects like the Houston Project in Bois d'Arc Reservoir well into the future. The Houston Surface Water Project is a major multi-year, multi-agency program with a series of segments representing 90,000 tons of pipe. Northwest Pipe has been the successful bidder on multiple Houston segments, representing over 150,00 tons of pipe. The production of the individual segments are in various stages from pre-manufacturing to ship complete.

There are additional segments of Houston project that will bid throughout 2019 and 2020 that represent about 35,000 tons of pipe. The Bois d'Arc Reservoir project by the North Texas Municipal Water District has begun construction and represents approximately 60,000 tons of pipe. Northwest Pipe was the successful bidder on a portion of the raw water line for Bois d'Arc in the fourth quarter of 2018. The segments that we were awarded represent approximately 25,000 tons of pipe scheduled to be produced in 2019. The finished water line for this project is forecast to bid in the first half of 2019 and represent an additional 22,000 tons of pipe.

In the Western market, the $2.6 billion California reline program began in 2017 and will be active over the next 20 years. In 2018, Northwest Pipe was successful bidder on to reliner segments. First, the 6,000 ton MWD reline project on which production began in the fourth quarter, and will run through the first quarter of 2019. And the 3,500 ton San Diego County Authority reline project with production that will run through the first quarter of 2019. Two to three additional reline segments will bid each year, representing 8000 to 10,000 tons of pipe annually. The city of San Diego's $1.7 billion pure water program is a 6000 ton project that is scheduled to begin bidding in the first half of 2019. The Santa Clara Valley Water District's $1 billion pure water program represents 8500 tons of pipe projected to start bidding in early 2020.

In North Dakota, progress has slowed on 140 mile, 87,000 ton Red River Valley Water Supply Project, as it is competing for funding with an urgent flood diversion project, which appears to be taking priority. We are hopeful that beginning on this project will start sometime within the next year. With a very strong backlog coming out of 2018 and a solid bidding year projected for 2019, along with a stable bidding environment, we expect a positive trend in revenue and margins throughout 2019. And because a substantial portion of the project is currently bidding on multi-year programs, we expect to see continued strength in the backlog, which should translate into positive business conditions beyond 2019. The acquisition of the Ameron Water Transmission Group further strengthens our position in the business.

In closing, as we move forward, we will remain focused on, one, the successful integration of the Ameron Water Transmission Group, two, improving the performance of the business by focusing on margin over volume, and three, driving cost reductions and efficiencies at all levels of the company.

At this time, we would be happy to answer any of your questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session over the phone. (Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Brent Thielman. You may ask your question.

Brent Thielman -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst

Hey, thanks. Congrats on a strong finish of the year.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Hey, Brent. Thank you.

Robin A. Gantt -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

Good morning, Brent.

Brent Thielman -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst

Good morning. Scott or Robin, you've seen lot of improvement and profitability but I know it's still not exactly where you wanted to be. I guess two questions. Did the fourth quarter have any negative sort of price cost impact because of this big move in steel last year and I presume now it subsided. And then also, have you seen your gross profit percentage sort of markedly improve month-over-month? In other words are you sort of exiting the quarter at something above that 12% level?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

You know, when you think about the steel piece, Brent. I think that the steel piece is -- in the pricing on pipe is pretty much kept up with the increasing on steel as we've gone through the marketplace. And in fact, I think the price on pipe has increased even more than we've seen. As you go through a period of time, as you know, we've grown this backlog to $252 million, so you continue to work your way through a backlog that, quite frankly, as you look at it chronologically, has an improving margin over a period of time which is what we expect to see as we move from the first quarter to the second quarter, to the third quarter of this year.

Really what I would say is, moving back toward what the historical margins level were for the company. So, I think we're kind of in that track at this point.

Brent Thielman -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst

Okay, OK. And Scott, I seem to recall, I think maybe last quarter, maybe your thought process was -- was 2019 might not quite be as strong from a bidding perspective relative to 2018? Is that view changed at all?I mean, you sound like you should be still able to grow that backlog as we move through the year.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Yeah, Brent, the interesting thing is, every year we expect to start out one way and it kind of changes around a little bit and more straight. So, 2018 was a really big bidding year. You know, there were probably somewhere in the area of about 250,000 or so tons of bidding. When you look at 2019 bidding wise, it looks like a year with the Municipal market and some of the hydro work and plant work that's in there, that's probably you now a relatively solid year that's around 200,000 tons when you put that all together. So it's not a significant drop off from what we would consider to be a very strong market.

So as we look at -- as we look at bidding as we progress through 2019, as you know, and you've heard really for the last few years, the first quarter generally starts off not only relatively slow from a result standpoint, but relatively slow from bidding standpoint. So you see, probably the January, February time frame are a little bit slow and then things start to pick up in March for this year, and really probably get to the highest level in the second and third quarter or sometime between the second third quarter. So, when we look at what we're forecasting our backlog to be, you know probably takes a little bit of a dip in the first quarter. But we expect it, at least at this point with the way the bidding is shaping up, we expect it to be relatively range-bound and stay within a range and settle out at a higher level than we've seen recently.

Brent Thielman -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst

Got it. Okay. Out of curiosity, I mean, this does sound like weather has been a hang up for you in-terms of volumes. Seems like that's been chatted about a lot across the industry and other areas of construction?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Yeah, I think weather has been an issue in certain places. We've seen weather issues in both Texas and California, that have created issues with -- I guess probably as much as anything getting shipments to lay locations in the field to the contractors. But yeah, we definitely have seen some weather related situations. And looking at some of the transcripts from some of the earnings calls that we've seen on other people in similar businesses. I would agree that we've had some impact from the weather.

Obviously, the winter weather in the Midwest and further East has impacted things too. So I would say its had a -- its reasonable impact on the -- what the revenues been.

Brent Thielman -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst

Yeah. Okay, I think that's it from me. Thank you.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Thanks, Brent.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of David Wright. You may ask your question.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Robin and Scott, good morning.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Hi, David.

Robin A. Gantt -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

Good morning, David.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Brent asked my questions, so let me just try to drill down on him a little bit further. So on backlog -- I'm sorry, on bidding opportunity. I was going to ask and the answers you gave. So the total opportunity this year was maybe about 80% of what you saw at as last year.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Yeah, you know, I would say that's probably in the right range. But in general, when you look at a year that has this kind of volume and this is a pretty solid year that we would characterize a bidding year being in any normal time, other than, David, when you follow a year has 250,000 tons of project bidding. So --

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Right. Do you have sense of what percentage of last year's opportunities you were successful on?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

When you look at market percentages last year, God, I would say that -- because remember we've only had the Ameron assets within the fold of the company for the last four or five months of the year. So I would say we were probably in the mid 40s percent of market share. As we look forward, we think it's probably somewhere between 48% and 52% in this market that probably settles out as a market share for us.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Okay, so even with a lower opportunity, if you get a little more market share, that's going to push you up a bit?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Yeah. And I think, David, just to add on to this, when you look at where the opportunities are in the market, we still see strength in the Texas market, which is where we were been strong for years. But we also see some strength in the Western market, and that's not just California, it's different parts of the West. So, I think we are located in pretty good spots to be able to take advantage of the tons that are going to be bid.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Okay, and then, going over the margins. I like your phrase, I hope it's not deemed an official condition, chronologically improving margins toward the historical norms. What would you call the historical gross (inaudible) profit margin?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

I would say that when you when you look at the gross profit percentages historically, they probably are bound by about 15% to 17% is what we've seen historically in gross profit margins when we've had good markets. I think as the longer the market stay stable and the competitive landscape remains stable, I think those continue to improve. If you look back to where we were in 2013, we had gross margin percentages in 2013 that for the year averaged over 20%. I think it was somewhere, Robin in the area of 21%.

So I don't think that's out of the question at all. I think things are setting up quite nicely as long as the bidding stays the way it looks right now, David, there's no reason why we can't get back to those kind of levels.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

And does Ameron with their slightly different product mix, does Ameron make it harder or easier to get to that gross profit level?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

No, I don't -- I don't think it makes it harder. Certainly I think that, with the operational efficiencies and the administrative efficiencies that we see with combining the Ameron business in the Northwest Pipe, we see room for margin improvement, just based on that, OK. So, I think that when you look at the different products they have, one, they have that reinforced concrete product out of the Tracy facility, which is a -- more of when you look at concrete pipe, more of a specialty product compared to what you normally think of reinforced concrete pipe being the stuff that we make in Tracy is large diameter, heavy -- deep-burry corrosive soil, able to handle heavy loads. So it's more of a niche product. And that kind of a niche product generally carries a higher margin. But there's less of that niche product in the bidding environment. So -- but all in all, we think that the Ameron assets as part of the company definitely helps the gross margin profile.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Okay, that's great. Last question, I'm going to call it personal. So you're integrating an acquisition, you've got new facilities, just kind of in legacy Northwest Pipe, what's your headcount relative to where it was directionally?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

I would say the legacy headcount for Northwest Pipe of the legacy company is probably just below 500 in that area. In total, the headcount for both companies is, I think, somewhere in the area of a little over 700. And we originally got about 228 from the Ameron Group.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

I guess where I was going was just on doing less tons, you're getting more for them, but does less tons mean less people you know to compared to five years ago?

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Well not necessarily. I mean, it all depends on the mixed profile of the product that you're making. One, we could be doing smaller diameter, lighter wall product. It's less tons with more lineal feet. So it's kind of that kind of a combination. But when you look at the less tons is -- I think we're probably comparing to the script. If look at where we were with the legacy company through the July time frame, we were actually ahead year-over-year on tons. And it starts to get a little bit difficult when you look at the legacy company and trying to figure what the tons are for the legacy company because since day one, and when we got the Ameron assets, we've been bidding things as a combined entity and we've chosen where to put all those orders that best fits our strategic goals.

So it's difficult to tell just by looking at the legacy plants where the tons are. If you look at year-over-year, where we were versus '17 and where we are in '18. obviously, we're having more production facilities. We were, it's probably 27% higher in tons and for the year higher than -- in tons. But it's difficult to look at just the legacy plants because we're deciding where to put things now.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Okay. Well, it's great to see the projects you've been working on actually make their way into the revenue line. And keep up the good work and good luck with the chronological improvements.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Thanks, David.

David Wright -- -- Analyst

Okay.

Operator

Speakers, right now there are no questions on queue. (Operator Instructions) Excuse me speakers, right now there are no questions on queue. You may proceed.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Okay. Well, thank you everyone for attending the call. Obviously, we are excited about the improvement that we're seeing in the business and the company, and look forward to seeing more of that as we go forward into the future. So we'll see you on the next call, which is in --

Robin A. Gantt -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

The early May.

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Early May. So thank you very much.

Robin A. Gantt -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And that concludes today's conference. Thank you all for joining. You may disconnect now.

Duration: 26 minutes

Call participants:

Scott J. Montross -- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Robin A. Gantt -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

Brent Thielman -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst

David Wright -- -- Analyst

More NWPX analysis

Transcript powered by AlphaStreet

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.