Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:CBAN,NDAQ,WSB,TSBK,PBIB,EWBC,SAFT,SRCE,PEO,WRI, Many millennials are stretching financially to buy homes. 

Members of this younger generation are exhibiting risky behavior when coming up with a down payment to buy a home, with about 1 in 3 (29 percent) saying they raided their 401(k) or IRA or borrowed against their retirement accounts, a move personal finance pros say could hurt their financial well-being, according to a new survey from Bank of the West.

Long known for being cautious when it comes to taking risk and approaching the unpredictable stock market with trepidation, millennials now view real estate as the "cornerstone" of their investment portfolio. Nearly 6 in 10 (56 percent) cited homeownership as the most popular ingredient of the American Dream, according to the bank's "2018 Millennial Study" released Thursday. Being debt-free ranked second at 51 percent and retiring comfortably came in third at 49 percent.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Colony Bankcorp Inc.(CBAN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

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

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Media stories about Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) have trended somewhat positive this week, according to Accern. The research group identifies positive and negative media coverage by monitoring more than 20 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. Colony Bankcorp earned a daily sentiment score of 0.02 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news stories about the financial services provider an impact score of 48.3992787299045 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near term.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Headlines about Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) have trended somewhat positive on Saturday, Accern Sentiment reports. The research group identifies negative and positive media coverage by analyzing more than 20 million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Colony Bankcorp earned a media sentiment score of 0.16 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news stories about the financial services provider an impact score of 46.0420470648687 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near term.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: The NASDAQ OMX Group Inc.(NDAQ)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Nasdaq (NDAQ)

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

• [By ]

  There's at least one traditional financial giant that not only doesn't fear blockchain technology, but is actively embracing it -- Nasdaq (NDAQ) , the second-largest stock exchange in the world by market cap.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: “$644.24 Million in Sales Expected for Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ) This Quarter” was first posted by Ticker Report and is the sole property of of Ticker Report. If you are reading this story on another site, it was illegally stolen and reposted in violation of U.S. & international trademark and copyright laws. The legal version of this story can be read at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/3374974/644-24-million-in-sales-expected-for-nasdaq-inc-ndaq-this-quarter.html.

• [By Sean Williams]

  However, Canada becoming the first developed country in the world to legalize adult-use cannabis is far from the only "marijuana first" we've witnessed this year. In February, Canadian weed investment company Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON), which has three core assets, announced that it was becoming the first Canadian pot stock to uplist to the Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ). Moving from the over-the-counter (OTC) exchange to a more reputable exchange like the Nasdaq allowed for improved liquidity, as well as cleared the way for institutional investors to take a position in Cronos Group. Wall Street traditionally shies away from investing in OTC-listed companies. 

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Shares of Nasdaq Inc (NASDAQ:NDAQ) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $87.54.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: WSB Holdings Inc.(WSB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  Markets have been under pressure once again by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Inflation levels are going through the roof… but the people in charge of managing it have been lying to Americans for years. Now it's time to get even. Money Morning Liquidity Specialist Lee Adler has the perfect way to make a lot of money when no one is looking. Read it here.

  The Top Stock Market Stories for Wednesday In addition to Trump's concerns about China and trade, the President also stated that he is unsure whether a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un will take place as planned. Multiple media outlets this morning are questioning if the event will take place. The summit is tentatively planned for June 12. Banking stocks were on the move after Congress passed new laws designed to reduce regulations for thousands of financial institutions. The new rules will ensure that smaller banks are not facing the same strict rules as the bigger giants. The financial sector has been lobbying to changes to the Dodd-Frank Act since its inception after the 2008-09 financial crisis. Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with members of the European Union on Tuesday. The CEO of the social media giant outraged European Parliament members after reportedly dodging questions about user privacy and the firm's collection of personal data. During the conversation, EU members questioned whether Facebook is a monopoly and pondered if the firm should be broken up due to antitrust concerns. Three Stocks to Watch Today: TGT, LOW, TIF Shares of Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) fell nearly 6% after the retail giant fell short of earnings expectations before the bell. The firm reported earnings per share of $1.32. This figure missed Wall Street earnings expectations by six cents. The retail giant blamed poor spring weather for its performance and said that its bottom line has been impacted by the costs of upgrading its physical locations. Lowe's Companies (NYSE: LOW) stock gained

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Timberland Bancorp Inc.(TSBK)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Press coverage about Timberland Bancorp (NASDAQ:TSBK) has trended somewhat positive on Friday, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. Accern ranks the sentiment of press coverage by analyzing more than twenty million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Timberland Bancorp earned a daily sentiment score of 0.01 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media coverage about the savings and loans company an impact score of 46.0053181885204 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near future.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSBK) declared a None dividend on Tuesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.23 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 25th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 10th.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Porter Bancorp Inc.(PBIB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Media stories about Porter Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBIB) have trended somewhat positive this week, Accern Sentiment reports. Accern identifies negative and positive news coverage by analyzing more than twenty million news and blog sources. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Porter Bancorp earned a media sentiment score of 0.07 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news coverage about the financial services provider an impact score of 44.3359026173577 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near future.

• [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

  For the details of PATRIOT FINANCIAL PARTNERS GP, LP's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=PATRIOT+FINANCIAL+PARTNERS+GP%2C+LP

  These are the top 5 holdings of PATRIOT FINANCIAL PARTNERS GP, LPBanc of California Inc (BANC) - 2,850,564 shares, 32.49% of the total portfolio. Meta Financial Group Inc (CASH) - 397,069 shares, 25.6% of the total portfolio. Guaranty Bancorp (GBNK) - 1,391,767 shares, 23.3% of the total portfolio. MBT Financial Corp (MBTF) - 2,060,302 shares, 13.08% of the total portfolio. Sterling Bancorp (STL) - 323,980 shares, 4.31% of the total portfolio.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: East West Bancorp Inc.(EWBC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) was downgraded by stock analysts at ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) insider Douglas Paul Krause sold 5,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.65, for a total transaction of $348,250.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,387,358.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 17.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,189 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Safety Insurance Group Inc.(SAFT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jordan Wathen]

  Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) reported that winter weather activity and an accounting change were drags on its first-quarter results, though a lower tax rate was a net positive to the Massachusetts-based insurance company. 

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Amerisafe (NASDAQ: SAFT) and Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

• [By Jordan Wathen]

  A relatively wet but warm fourth quarter in the Northeast United States helped Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) earn $18.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, a 62% improvement over the year-ago period.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: 1st Source Corporation(SRCE)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  1st Source (NASDAQ:SRCE)’s share price hit a new 52-week high and low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $56.13 and last traded at $55.94, with a volume of 100 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $55.94.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  1st Source (NASDAQ:SRCE) was upgraded by stock analysts at BidaskClub from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on 1st Source (SRCE)

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

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  1st Source (NASDAQ:SRCE) was downgraded by investment analysts at BidaskClub from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Petroleum Resources Corporation(PEO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Press coverage about Adams Natural Resources Fund (NYSE:PEO) has trended somewhat negative recently, Accern reports. The research group identifies positive and negative news coverage by monitoring more than twenty 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. Adams Natural Resources Fund earned a coverage optimism score of -0.09 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news articles about the financial services provider an impact score of 48.0521373671292 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the immediate future.

Top 10 Financial Stocks To Invest In 2019: Weingarten Realty Investors(WRI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $127.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $123.99 million. Weingarten Realty Investors had a return on equity of 22.88% and a net margin of 80.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Weingarten Realty Investors will post 2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

  TRADEMARK VIOLATION NOTICE: “Weingarten Realty Investors (WRI) Updates FY 2019 Earnings Guidance” was originally posted by Ticker Report and is the sole property of of Ticker Report. If you are reading this piece on another publication, it was stolen and republished in violation of US & international copyright and trademark law. The original version of this piece can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4167088/weingarten-realty-investors-wri-updates-fy-2019-earnings-guidance.html.

  About Weingarten Realty Investors

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Weingarten Realty (WRI)

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

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at ValuEngine from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  State of Alaska Department of Revenue trimmed its position in Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) by 7.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 70,653 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,007 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Weingarten Realty Investors were worth $2,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2019

tags:HCOM,RBA,BXC,SEM,RTEC,WERN,

Things aren't going to script right now in the financial sector. It's a widely established fact (based on years of historical evidence) that banks and other lenders typically prosper when interest rates are rising. In previous rate-tightening cycles, the financial sector was usually among the market's top performers.

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As I've discussed before in my High-Yield Investing premium newsletter, banks can feast in these conditions because the rates they charge borrowers on loans usually rise faster than the rates they pay to depositors. That widens net interest margins (NIMs) and fattens the bottom line.

Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2019: Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc.(HCOM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  News coverage about Hawaiian Telcom HoldCo (NASDAQ:HCOM) has been trending somewhat positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research group identifies positive and negative news coverage by monitoring more than 20 million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Hawaiian Telcom HoldCo earned a news impact score of 0.06 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media coverage about the utilities provider an impact score of 46.776618457707 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near future.

Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2019: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated(RBA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE:RBA) (TSE:RBA) had its price target increased by TD Securities from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday. They currently have a reduce rating on the business services provider’s stock.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc (TSE:RBA) (NYSE:RBA) – Equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group raised their FY2018 EPS estimates for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers in a research note issued to investors on Monday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group analyst S. Volkmann now expects that the company will earn $1.50 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $1.28. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers’ FY2019 earnings at $1.76 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $1.95 EPS.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (RBA)

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

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc (TSE:RBA) (NYSE:RBA) – Research analysts at Barrington Research increased their FY2019 EPS estimates for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, August 14th. Barrington Research analyst G. Prestopino now anticipates that the company will earn $1.68 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $1.63.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc (NYSE:RBA) (TSE:RBA) – Analysts at Jefferies Group boosted their Q2 2018 earnings estimates for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers in a report issued on Monday, April 9th. Jefferies Group analyst S. Volkmann now expects that the business services provider will earn $0.39 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.37. Jefferies Group has a “Hold” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers’ Q3 2018 earnings at $0.16 EPS.

Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2019: BlueLinx Holdings Inc.(BXC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Bitcedi (CURRENCY:BXC) traded 0.7% lower against the US dollar during the twenty-four hour period ending at 19:00 PM E.T. on May 20th. One Bitcedi coin can currently be bought for $0.0099 or 0.00000109 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges. Bitcedi has a market capitalization of $57,027.00 and approximately $0.00 worth of Bitcedi was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. In the last seven days, Bitcedi has traded down 28.3% against the US dollar.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Bitcedi (BXC) is a proof-of-work (PoW) coin that uses the
  Cryptonight hashing algorithm. Its launch date was May 16th, 2016. Bitcedi’s total supply is 9,616,277 coins and its circulating supply is 5,756,371 coins. Bitcedi’s official website is bitcedi.org. Bitcedi’s official Twitter account is @bitcedis and its Facebook page is accessible here.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  JBF Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BXC) by 14.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 31,900 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. JBF Capital Inc.’s holdings in BlueLinx were worth $1,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2019: Select Medical Holdings Corporation(SEM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Strs Ohio boosted its position in Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) by 5.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,500 shares of the health services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned 0.05% of Select Medical worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.50.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) Chairman Robert A. Ortenzio sold 21,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.52, for a total value of $389,883.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 6,789,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,746,132.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) insider Scott A. Romberger sold 5,000 shares of Select Medical stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.63, for a total transaction of $93,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 158,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,952,575.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2019: Rudolph Technologies Inc.(RTEC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Rudolph Technologies (RTEC)

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

• [By Motley Fool Transcribers]

  Rudolph Technologies Inc  (NYSE:RTEC)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 04, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET

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

  Operator

• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Rudolph Technologies (RTEC)

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

Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2019: Werner Enterprises, Inc.(WERN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  BidaskClub downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Werner Enterprises (WERN)

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

• [By ]

  Werner Enterprises (Nasdaq: WERN) competes in the full-truckload (FTL) segment of the industry where drivers deliver entire truck-loads between two points, rather than making many stops to consolidate partial loads as in the LTL segment. This could mean that the company has relatively more to gain from autonomous trucking since highway driving is a larger portion of total drive time.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) and Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) are both transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan lessened its holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,510 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,040 shares during the period. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $395,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Zendesk Intensifies Its Competitive Challenge Against Salesforce

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-1132874986&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1132874986/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;625&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Cropped shot of a handsome young man working in a call center with a female colleague in the background

After rising 72% last year, shares of &l;a href=&q;http://zendesk.com&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;strong&g;Zendesk&l;/strong&g;&l;/a&g; (ZEN) are off to a good start in 2019, sporting a YTD gain of 44%. The provider of a cloud-based customer service platform continues to successfully expand its enterprise business, and has introduced new products aimed at taking market share from Salesforce (CRM).

Zendesk has emerged as an innovator when it comes to improving the customer service experience, sporting a customer count of nearly 137,000.

The company still generates about 85% of its revenue from its core Support solution, which includes AI technology to help automate responses and quickly resolve issues. But Zendesk has been steadily adding new offerings to its product portfolio that are intended to drive more proactive customer engagement across various channels&a;mdash;including voice, text and chat.

Zendesk puts a lot of emphasis on continuously improving its technology to stay competitive, spending about 20% of total revenue on R&a;amp;D. Two or three years ago, the R&a;amp;D budget was geared mainly toward shifting Zendesk to serve more enterprise customers, which have greater technology requirements than small and midsize (SMB) organizations, historically the company&a;rsquo;s core customer base.

Today, about 40% of Zendesk&a;rsquo;s monthly recurring revenue comes from enterprise accounts (those with 100+ seats), up from 38% a year ago. Now that Zendesk&a;rsquo;s core customer service offerings are fully enterprise capable, the focus has turned to overall innovation and new-product development.

Zendesk&a;rsquo;s R&a;amp;D dollars are now directed at integrating various communications channels in a fluid manner. For example, organizations need to be ready for when a customer starts an interaction on chat and wants to finish it with a call. With Zendesk, the entire omni-channel communications process is made easier, creating a better experience for the end customer. Self-service is another area of focus, as it leads to higher overall customer satisfaction.

The company recently rolled out three new products. Sell, a sales force automation (SFA) tool, looks most promising. The product gives Zendesk a presence in the large market for business sales applications, which IDC forecasts will be worth $13.8 billion in 2021. Sell also places Zendesk squarely within Salesforce&a;rsquo;s main competitive zone.

Sell is built specifically to assist sales reps in interacting with prospects and moving hot leads through the sales pipeline. Aimed predominantly at the mid-market segment, which has been under-served by SFA tools, Sell provides a nice cross-sell vehicle for Zendesk&a;rsquo;s core Support offering.

Sell was developed with the technology from last year&a;rsquo;s purchase of FutureSimple, the company behind the Base SFA solution. Before the acquisition, Zendesk and Base had integrated their products to bring together support and sales information about customers. When integrated with Zendesk&a;rsquo;s Support product, Sell lets support agents notify sales reps of opportunities surfaced during support calls.

Explore, Zendesk&a;rsquo;s new analytics solution, is designed to provide businesses with the ability to measure and improve the customer service experience. The solution comes with built-in best practices dashboards, enabling teams of any size to see the metrics that help them better understand their customers. Explore integrates data from every channel, providing a broad view of how customers interact with a brand.

Sunshine is one of Zendesk&a;rsquo;s most ambitious new offerings. Built natively on Amazon&a;rsquo;s AWS, Sunshine is an open and flexible customer relationship management (CRM) platform that competes directly with Salesforce. Zendesk says the solution offers a more modern approach to the CRM environment, as Sunshine enables businesses to connect and understand all of their customer data, no matter where it might live.

Sunshine also enables developers to build and deploy customer apps and services at a faster pace.&a;nbsp;Given the transition these days to a more subscription-based economy, organizations of all sizes must keep better track of customer buying trends and interactions over time. While providing steadier cash flow, subscriptions can make customer service more challenging because they&a;rsquo;re not a one-and-done transaction.

Sunshine, available now as part of Zendesk Enterprise, provides a complete picture of a customer&a;rsquo;s relationship with an individual business. The more a business knows about its customers, the longer it will be able to keep them happy, engaged and coming back to buy more products or services.

With Sunshine, users can create a single, unified view of the customer across all applications, leading to improved cross-system identification and conversations. Using the Events capability, companies can capture any customer activity (including customer service interactions, website visits and purchase transactions) in a historical timeline. The Custom Objects API allows users to collect additional information tied to products.

Zendesk shares recently traded to a new all-time high of $84.56, sparked in part by the company&a;rsquo;s strong Q4 results, which showed top-line growth accelerating to 41% from 38% in Q3. Per-share earnings of 10 cents beat the consensus by three cents.

Zendesk is seeing solid demand for its Suite offering, an omni-channel bundle aimed at the SMB customer segment. Introduced in May 2018, Suite combines the company&a;rsquo;s Support, Guide, Talk and Chat offerings into one package.

The combo sale provides a nice boost to average deal sizes at the lower end. The lift is measurable: Zendesk sees an average per/customer sales price increase of 50% on Suite deals, vs. a typical single-product sale.

The upper end of the market continues to perform well, with enterprise customers driving up deal sizes. In Q4, the number of deals worth $50,000 or more rose 6% year over year, while the average contract value of these large transactions advanced 60% during the same period. In a new go-to-market move, Zendesk this year plans to offer omni-channel bundles aimed at enterprise customers.

For 2019, Zendesk&a;rsquo;s initial revenue guidance range of $795 million to $805 million (growth of 33.6% at the midpoint) came in well above the consensus estimate of $779.3 million. Look for upside to the revenue forecast to come from Zendesk&a;rsquo;s top priorities for 2019&a;mdash;including advancement of the CRM platform and an expanded reach into larger enterprises.&l;/p&g;

Best Undervalued Stocks To Own For 2019

tags:MSA,RLGY,ETSY,PRE,SFS,

As if finding bargain-priced stocks in a sky-high market weren't difficult enough, investors who hunt for undervalued names face the threat of succumbing to value traps. These stocks masquerade as temporarily beaten-down shares of promising companies, but are, in fact, trading at depressed prices because of long-term problems with the business. The difference between true value plays and value traps becomes apparent in hindsight: The former eventually bounce back, while value traps continue to sag.

See Also: 7 Bargain Stocks in Today's Pricey Market

Picking the winners is often more art than science. Start by asking yourself two questions, advises John Linehan, who manages a number of value-oriented mutual funds at T. Rowe Price. First, do the company's problems seem fixable within a time frame you can live with? If the answer is yes, the stock deserves further consideration. Second, imagine that the company didn't exist, then ask yourself if people would care. If the answer is no, says Linehan, you're probably looking at a company without staying power.

Best Undervalued Stocks To Own For 2019: MSA Safety Incorporporated(MSA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Shares of Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE:MSA) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $97.33.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on MSA Safety (MSA)

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

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  MSA Safety Inc (NYSE:MSA) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $103.99 and last traded at $103.62, with a volume of 6177 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.40.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE: MSA) is one of 26 publicly-traded companies in the “Surgical appliances & supplies” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Mine Safety Appliances to similar companies based on the strength of its risk, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Best Undervalued Stocks To Own For 2019: Realogy Holdings Corp.(RLGY)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By George Budwell, Chuck Saletta, and Todd Campbell]

  Armed with this insight, we asked three of our Motley Fool contributors which top small-cap stocks have their attention right now. They named AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACRX), Realogy Holdings (NYSE:RLGY),  and Regenxbio Inc. (NASDAQ:RGNX). Read on to find out why. 

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Canada Pension Plan Investment Board decreased its position in shares of Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE:RLGY) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,100 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.06% of Realogy worth $173,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Realogy (NYSE:RLGY) had its target price trimmed by Citigroup from $37.00 to $35.00 in a report released on Friday morning. The firm currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Old Mutual Global Investors UK Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE:RLGY) by 11.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,142,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 269,939 shares during the period. Old Mutual Global Investors UK Ltd.’s holdings in Realogy were worth $58,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Best Undervalued Stocks To Own For 2019: Etsy, Inc.(ETSY)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Etsy (ETSY)

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

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  So let's kick it off. The ticker symbol is [ETSY]. The company's name is Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY). It is, of course, the online commerce platform uniting buyers and sellers, often around handicrafts and it's a global player these days. But Etsy [ETSY]. Matt Argersinger, what is the market cap of Etsy?

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY), meanwhile, gained 35% on the week, powered by improved guidance for the fiscal year. But will the business model change behind that updated outlook deliver, or might management's expectations be too high?

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, Rich Duprey, and Nicholas Rossolillo]

  Nicholas Rossolillo (Etsy): A year ago, e-commerce marketplace Etsy was just beginning to show signs of life after a long and difficult stretch. Spending was out of control, and sales growth wasn't getting any benefit from it. Investors also fretted that increasing digital competition in the handmade crafts retail space would weigh on Etsy.

Best Undervalued Stocks To Own For 2019: PartnerRe Ltd.(PRE)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Presearch (CURRENCY:PRE) traded 7.7% higher against the US dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 18:00 PM ET on March 2nd. Over the last week, Presearch has traded up 3.5% against the US dollar. One Presearch token can now be bought for approximately $0.0285 or 0.00000737 BTC on exchanges including CoinExchange, HitBTC and YoBit. Presearch has a market capitalization of $4.41 million and $21,659.00 worth of Presearch was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Presearch (CURRENCY:PRE) traded 2.1% lower against the dollar during the 1 day period ending at 22:00 PM ET on August 20th. In the last week, Presearch has traded 7.4% lower against the dollar. Presearch has a market capitalization of $13.33 million and $54,882.00 worth of Presearch was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Presearch token can currently be bought for about $0.0860 or 0.00001360 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including HitBTC, CoinExchange and YoBit.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Presearch (CURRENCY:PRE) traded up 0.3% against the dollar during the twenty-four hour period ending at 12:00 PM ET on October 3rd. Presearch has a market capitalization of $12.37 million and approximately $28,704.00 worth of Presearch was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Presearch token can currently be purchased for approximately $0.0798 or 0.00001230 BTC on major exchanges including YoBit, HitBTC and CoinExchange. Over the last week, Presearch has traded 12.3% lower against the dollar.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Presearch (CURRENCY:PRE) traded down 2.1% against the U.S. dollar during the 1 day period ending at 11:00 AM Eastern on July 21st. Presearch has a total market capitalization of $18.94 million and $65,603.00 worth of Presearch was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. Over the last week, Presearch has traded 14.6% higher against the U.S. dollar. One Presearch token can now be purchased for $0.12 or 0.00001662 BTC on cryptocurrency exchanges including CoinExchange, YoBit and HitBTC.

Best Undervalued Stocks To Own For 2019: Smart(SFS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Thursday was a relatively quiet day on Wall Street, as market participants were uncertain how to respond to conflicting messages on the geopolitical and macroeconomic fronts. By most readings, the U.S. economy continues to do well, but a delay in trade talks between leaders of the U.S. and China spurred more nervousness about whether tariffs could hold back economic growth globally. Some bad earnings results also weighed on investor sentiment. Dollar General (NYSE:DG), Cloudera (NYSE:CLDR), and Smart & Final Stores (NYSE:SFS) were among the worst performers. Here's why they did so poorly.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Smart & Final Stores (SFS)

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

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Smart & Final (NYSE: SFS) and Kroger (NYSE:KR) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

• [By Brian Stoffel]

  But over the past five years, the industry has been turned upside down by changes in business models, a focus on delivery, and mass consolidation. While the dust is far from settled, here are 10 of the largest publicly traded grocers you can buy stock in.

  Company Market Cap Stores Regions Chains Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) $780 billion 500 USA Whole Foods Walmart (NYSE:WMT) $250 billion 11,700 Worldwide Walmart Costco (NASDAQ:COST) $86 billion 750 USA Costco Kroger (NYSE:KR) $21 billion 2,800 USA Kroger, Roundy's, Ralph's, Food 4 Less Sprouts (NASDAQ: SFM) $3 billion 300 Western and Southern U.S. Sprouts Farmer's Market Weis Market (NYSE: WMK) $1.3 billion 200 Mid-Atlantic U.S. Weis Market SUPERVALU (NYSE: SVU) $630 million 100 Midwestern U.S. Cub Foods, Shopper's Food, Hornbacher Ingles Market (NASDAQ: IMKTA) $580 million 200 Southeastern U.S. Ingles Market, Sav-Mor Smart & Final (NYSE: SFS) $360 million 350 Western U.S. Smart & Final, Cash & Carry Natural Grocers (NYSE: NGVC) $230 million 150 Western U.S. Natural Grocers

  Data source: Yahoo! Finance, company websites.

• [By Motley Fool Transcribers]

  Smart & Final Stores (NYSE:SFS)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallMarch 13, 2019, 5:00 p.m. ET

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

  Operator

BlueLinx Holdings Inc (BXC) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

Image source The Motley Fool.

BlueLinx Holdings Inc  (NYSE:BXC)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallMarch 13, 2019, 10:00 a.m. ET

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

Operator

Good morning. My name is Mary, and I'll be your Conference Operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Fourth Quarter 2018 Investor Relations call. All lines have been placed on mute to avoid any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Mary Moll, Director of Investor Relations, Ms. Moll, you may begin.

Mary Moll -- Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Mary and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for the fourth quarter 2018 earnings conference call. The earnings release and presentation slides for this call can be found in the Investors section of the company's website at www.bluelinxco.com. Joining us on the call today are Mitch Lewis, Chief Executive Officer; and Susan O'Farrell, Chief Financial Officer. I'll also remind you that this presentation includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about our future operations and financial performance. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those provided, including, but not limited to, those identified in our press release and discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to revise them in light of new information. Today's presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Mitch.

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Thanks, Mary, and good morning. We would like to update you today on our fourth quarter's performance. Our continued efforts on integration. The recent amendment to our term loan and what we're seeing in our markets in the first two months of the year. Before I dive into our business performance, I'd like to let you know that D. Wayne Trousdale will be leaving his full-time role with BlueLinx in April. D. Wayne has agreed to continue collaborating with BlueLinx on a part-time basis for the next three years.

As many of you know was, D was one of the founders of Cedar Creek and he has been instrumental in bringing our two companies together culturally while also helping to realize the synergies we have achieved. D. Wayne has decided to spend more time with his family and alternative business interests, and I want to personally thank him on behalf of the entire BlueLinx organization for not only his contributions in the past, but also the value we know it will bring to our team in the years ahead.

We are rapidly approaching the one-year anniversary of the Cedar Creek acquisition and are pleased with the progress of the integration. The initial enthusiasm we felt at the time of the announcement of the transaction has only increased as we have seen firsthand the likely commercial benefits to the combined entity. We remain confident that we will exceed the promised $50 million in synergies as we exit 2019. And we are pleased to once again reduce our estimate of the cost to achieve synergies. Our new estimate of the cost associated with achieving our synergies is between $25 million and $30 million well below our initial $40 million to $55 million range.

In addition, we are firmly ahead of our initial integration schedule and expect most of the integration efforts associated with the synergies to be completed by the end of the third quarter. We've now consolidated 11 locations and expect to consolidate two additional locations by June. At that point, we will have five remaining overlap locations which may require significant capital investment to consolidate. We will be assessing these remaining locations over the next several months, but will likely not make any additional consolidations until at least 2020. No incremental synergies from the consolidation of these locations are included in our projected $50 plus million of annual synergies nor are any of the associated costs included in our cost to achieve these synergies. We're also ahead of pace in our ERP implementation. As of this past weekend, we now have 46 of our 62 locations on the same ERP platform and anticipate having all of our facilities on one ERP system by the end of June.

As you would expect, it has been both challenging and disruptive to drive this ERP implementation and a little over one year. We fully expect that having the business on one system will help propel continued efficiencies, but more importantly, enable the organization to utilize harmonized information to deliver results in the months ahead.

When faced with the headwinds experienced in the fourth quarter, we accelerated our previously planned reduction in G&A costs. We now anticipate that synergies associated with G&A reductions will exceed $20 million annually, which is approximately $10 million higher than we reported during our Q3 earnings results.

In order to take advantage of the combined strength of the larger BlueLinx, our relationships with some suppliers have necessarily been affected. While we are confident that our combination enhances our value to our supply base, we anticipated short-term disruptions and costs as we recast many of our commercial arrangements. We remain confident that BlueLinx provides an excellent distribution channel for our supplier partners while enhancing their revenue potential with our approximately 700 associates who call on our customers everyday. This strength, coupled with our distribution excellence, should enhance our sales synergies in the years ahead.

While we made great progress in integrating Cedar Creek, the fourth quarter was another challenging period for two step building products, distributors. The continued deterioration in commodity panel and lumber prices once again negatively impacted our results. In fact, the decline from mid-summer through December was the worst price collapse that we've experienced in these markets and at least the last 20 years.

The composite framing lumber index declined by about 41% from June through the end of the year, while the composite structural panel index dropped by approximately 36%. During the same period, OSB prices dropped by about 50%. This level of decline over a three to six month period is highly unusual and has not occurred in over two decades. And we certainly don't anticipate that this historic pricing collapse will repeat itself in the future. Susan will discuss the impact of this decline that this decline had on our fourth quarter performance in detail, but I do want to reiterate that the impact to our margins from the declining commodity lumber and panel market was not due to speculation in these products. As we discussed during our last call, the inventory in our warehouses, which is typically 30 days or less for our domestic commodity products as well as our in-transit shipments have a higher cost than prevailing market prices in a rapidly declining price environment. This compresses our margins and significantly impacted us in the third and fourth quarters of 2018.

Good news is that our gross margins in these products moved up as we entered into 2019 which correlated with the apparent bottoming of pricing for lumber and panel commodity products toward the end of 2018. While we were fighting through the commodity class, we also saw softening in a single-family housing starts during the fourth quarter. Single-family housing starts declined approximately 10% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to 2017 levels. As you would expect this slowdown in the industry impacted our volume as well.

We remain bullish on the long-term prospects of single-family housing starts as the December 2018 seasonally average rate for single-family housing starts was still 27% below the average annual start level over the last 58 years. As I alluded to earlier, one way react -- we reacted quickly to the challenges we faced in the fourth quarter was by reducing non-essential costs and eliminating additional fixed salaries in the business. We're starting to see the impact of these cost reductions in the first quarter and will continue to aggressively manage all aspects of the business to help mitigate the impact of any volume declines we experience.

We also wanted to give you some color on what we're seeing in the markets to the first couple months of this year. We appear to be gaining momentum in the first half of January, but volume drop as we entered into February correlating with a stronger winter than we experienced in 2018. The good news is that, I've been able to talk to many customers over the last 30 days and can report that there remains cautious optimism for 2019. While the expectations for growth are muted in the low to mid single-digit range for 2019, our lumber yard customers generally believe that the slow start to 2019 is primarily a result of weather patterns, which have impacted performance relative to last year rather than an inflection point and the momentum we have seen in single-family housing starts over the last few years.

They are optimistic that the second quarter should improve as the country dries out and warms up. While the current headwinds of the slowdown in housing starts and short-term sales disintermediation will likely impact our short-term revenue performance, our synergy efforts will understandably help mitigate its effect. I can tell you that our organization is excited that we are very close to putting the integration behind us. Integrations of major companies, are by their nature, intrinsically focused exercises. We are pleased that by the end of the summer, we expect to have essentially integrated Cedar Creek. This will be an important milestone for BlueLinx as it will enable the organization to focus more clearly on our remaining key strategic objectives. Utilizing our enhanced service proposition and product offering to ultimately grow market share, enhancing margins in our products and deleveraging the company. We think the recent amendment of our term loan was a good step in our effort to reduce our leverage, our lending partners supported our ability to enter into sale leaseback arrangements of up to $50 million this year. This amount is in addition to an approximate $25 million of specifically identified real estate that we can sell through our consolidation efforts.

We are actively pursuing both opportunities and hope to be able to provide you more definitive information regarding these deleveraging activities by the end of the second quarter, it's been a busy eight months at BlueLinx. We have merged to executive leadership teams, established 10 new general managers in local markets across the country, converted 24 locations to a common ERP platform, consolidated 11 facilities, negotiated key new strategic supply partnerships, integrated our entire compensation and benefit programs and stayed focus and our commitment to excellence in distribution and customer service. It's truly been a great effort by the team. I'd like to personally thank our BlueLinx team for their hard work during this transition period. We clearly understand that we're just getting started and that the best is yet to come.

And now, I'd like to turn it over to Susan, who will provide details on our financial performance.

Susan O'Farrell -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President and Treasurer

Thanks, Mitch, and good morning everyone. It's a pleasure for me to speak with you today and to review our fourth quarter and full year 2018 business results. As Mitch discussed, last year was a transformative year for BlueLinx with the acquisition of Cedar Creek in April 2018. We are excited about the great progress we have made to date with our integration efforts. We are ahead of schedule and exceeded our 2018 exit run rate synergy objectives obtaining over $30 million in cost savings that we expect to realize in 2019. This is double our original 2018 end-of-year run rate estimate of $15 million. The integration results that we achieved in 2018 give us continued confidence that we will achieve at least $50 million in annual run rate synergies by the end of 2019.

And now that we're further along in our integration actions, we also continue to refine our cost-to-achieve objectives. We now estimate the cost to achieve these synergies to be $25 million to $30 million, a range that is $15 million to $20 million lower than what we shared with you right after the acquisition, and an even tighter range, then we shared with you in our third quarter call. As we've discussed on previous calls, one of the key attributes of combining our two legacy businesses is the improved financial flexibility that will support our growth and long-term deleveraging.

Real estate remains a key strength of our business, a hidden asset on our balance sheet. We have 33 properties owned with an estimated market value of $150 million to $160 million and approximately four times the book value. That's why we are so pleased with our recent term loan amendment. In addition to our ability to sell certain specified properties, the amended facilities allows us to monetize up to $50 million of properties through sale leasebacks in 2019 and provides additional flexibility with our covenants and reporting requirements. We are now beginning to move forward with potential sale leaseback opportunities to monetize certain owned properties and deleverage the company. To the extent we enter into any sale-leasebacks, the first $30 million of these proceeds will pay down our term loan with any remainder reducing our ABL balance.

I'm now pleased to share with you our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year. Starting on Page 10 in the presentation, I'll touch on some highlights for the quarter. Net sales were $673 million, up $239 million or 55%. Pro forma net sales, which take into account the acquisition of Cedar Creek, as it has occurred on January 1, 2017, were $673 million, down $104 million or 13% versus the same period last year. The volume decline we experienced during the fourth quarter is in line with the 10% decline in single-family housing starts during the quarter. We delivered gross profit of $81 million, up $26 million over the same prior year period. Included in gross profit is the impact of commodity deflation. s Mitch shared, commodity wood prices continue to decline significantly during the fourth quarter, impacting gross profit by $14 million.

The impact to gross profit was offset by the reversal of $5 million at the lower of cost or net realizable value reserve from the third quarter. Gross margin for this quarter was 12.1% when you add back the third quarter LCNRV reserve. For the quarter, we had positive adjusted EBITDA of $7 million. This is our fifth consecutive year with positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter. And we are pleased to share that we ended the fourth quarter with strong liquidity averaging $132 million during the quarter and excess availability and cash on hand.

As we move to Page 11, we'll highlight our full year 2018 performance. Net sales were $2.9 billion, up $1 billion or 58%. On a pro forma basis, net sales were $3.3 billion, up $27 million over the prior year. Full year gross profit was $332 million, up $101 million. Commodity price deflation experienced in the second half of 2018 impacted gross profit by $26 million for the year, offset by the reversal of substantially all of the LCNRV that was booked in the third quarter. Full year gross margin was 11.6%, which was further reduced by the one-time acquisition-related inventory step up charge of approximately $12 million. Excluding the acquisition related inventory step up charge, full year gross margin was 12%.

We recorded a net loss of $48 million for the year, which included $38 million of one-time acquisition and stock appreciation right charges as well as the previously mentioned one-time acquisition related inventory step up charge of approximately $12 million. In addition to this $50 million impact to net income, as part of our continuing strategy to de-risk pension liability, we negotiated a partial withdrawal from our multi-employer pension plan at four consolidated locations during the third quarter of 2018. This withdrawal had an additional $7 million reduction to net income for the year. The long-term benefits for our company greatly outweigh the accounting charge as it mitigates the risk of future assessments from multi-employer pension plans, while having an immaterial impact on our annual cash pension obligation. We are pleased with the way we managed expenses in late 2018, especially during the macro environment that we experienced in the second half of the year.

Given the embedded cost of integration on the P&L, it's a bit tricky to see, but we are working hard on creating a leaner operation while staying committed to our investment in sales personnel. With our core value of continuous improvement, we have found ways to run the business more efficiently together especially in back office costs. Heading into 2019, we are well positioned with our cost structure. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA was $68 million, up $25 million year-over-year. This is our highest full-year adjusted EBITDA since 2006. Pro forma adjusted EBITDA was $80 million, the historic decline the panel and lumber commodity prices and it's resulting negative consolidated impact to our gross profit in the third and fourth quarters of approximately $26 million significantly impacted our performance for the second half of 2018.

Moving to Page 12, on our third quarter earnings call, we discussed with you the impacts of the declining commodity prices on our gross margin and volumes. Page 12 indicates the impact of continued decline in our fourth quarter performance. In addition to reducing net sales by approximately 11% for the quarter compared to 2017 levels, we saw commodity and lumber and panel sales volumes in the fourth quarter remain correlated to the decline in single-family housing starts. The gross profit impact for the quarter was $14 million, we reversed $5 million from the LCNRV reserve we took at the end of the third quarter, which reduced the EBITDA impact to $9 million.

We certainly do not anticipate this historical level of price decline and wood-based commodities will occur again in the near future. Commodity prices have remained relatively stable since December and have recently begun to tick up ending February at 374 and 377 for lumber and panels respectively. As we are now in March, we can see this relatively stable -- stability has impact and alleviate the gross margin pressure on commodities that we experienced in the back half of 2018.

Moving to Page 13, we think it's important you understand the potential post integration uses of cash on an annualized basis. As an illustration, if you assume $120 million in estimated annual adjusted EBITDA and then take into account the major estimated annual cash outlays including interest and capital leases CapEx, state taxes which remain a cash item and a few smaller items that could be $50 million or more in cash available to deleverage the company by paying down debt. This of course does not include changes in working capital which are seasonally funded through our ABL.

Consistent with our third quarter presentation on Page 14, we show you some ways to think about our annual cash generation attributes and our real estate and then see how either or both could be meaningful factors in deleveraging BlueLinx. Our term-loan balances are $179 million at year-end implying term loan leverage of only 1.5 times, when including the $40 million in unrealized expected run rate synergies with our annual pro forma adjusted EBITDA. Our revolver balance was $333 million as of the end of the fourth quarter 2018. Remember that our revolver supports our working capital and is the day in, day out part of our business, enabling us to serve our customers with supply chain financing.

The revolver seasonally expands and contracts to the building seasons and we secured with our high quality inventory and receivables. In fact, at the end of December, our inventory and receivables were approximately $200 million higher than the ABL balance. On Page 15, our real estate remains a valuable asset that provides unrealized value on the balance sheet as well as additional opportunities to delever the company. Our unencumbered real estate was appraised by a national real estate appraisal firm near the end of 2017 to be worth $150 million to $160 million, which is approximately four times the book value. In addition to sale leaseback opportunities, our real estate team is now proactively marketing seven properties that we exited in connection with our consolidations.

We estimate the value of these properties to be disposed off approximately $25 million. These industrial properties are desirable for their location as well as access to rail service. The industrial property market remains strong and we have received substantial interest in these properties including unsolicited offers. As a matter of fact, we are in active contract negotiations for a few properties and anticipate being able to update you regarding our progress of these potential sales in the second quarter. I would also like to highlight our tax assets. Due to our sale leasebacks that occurred during the first quarter of 2018, we currently have estimated taxable income of approximately $68 million to the fourth quarter. We anticipate using our federal NOLs to offset this income, leaving approximately $91 million in NOLs available for use in the future.

As we think about our market opportunities for organic and inorganic growth, we are well positioned to offset gains from ordinary income and real estate gains with our remaining federal NOLs. 2018 was a historical year for BlueLinx for many reasons, but most importantly, as we welcomed Cedar Creek at BlueLinx family. We exceeded our integration goals for 2018 on navigating through a challenging commodity market in the second half of the year.

I would like to sincerely thank our entire BlueLinx team for their hard work and efforts. The results we share today are testament to your many contributions. And of course, special thanks throughout to our customers and suppliers for their continued partnership. We look forward to the year ahead. And now, Marie, we'd like to open it up for any questions that we may have at this time.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from the line of Alan Weber from Robotti Advisors. Your line is open.

Alan Weber -- Robotti Advisors -- Analyst

Good morning.

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Good morning, Alan.

Alan Weber -- Robotti Advisors -- Analyst

Mitch, can you talk about -- you talked a little about I guess the issues with suppliers. Can you just kind of explain kind of where you are today regarding that?

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Yes. So we have, from a synergy integration perspective, we had used third-party consulting group to help us strategically approach our supply base and our product categories. And we have gone through the first round of that. But it's an iterative process. So as you would expect, particularly when we started the process which was in May and June of 2018. The commodity markets were very hot. It was difficult getting products. It was a difficult time also, as you would expect to negotiate potential opportunities. So what we're doing now is we're going back through on a product category basis or a supply chain to look at opportunities to rationalize that. The other point I was alluding to was that in connection with some of the rationalizations and discussions that we've had, we definitely have had some disruption from a supply perspective. And so we're realigning to a certain extent some of the brands that we have in the product categories that we have which is natural. You may recall from the outset when we talked about the acquisition, we intentionally did not include any sales synergies from bringing the companies together and that was because of the concern that in the process, we may have supplier disruption, as well as share disruption to local markets as we consolidate facilities, integrate the business and so forth. The confidence that we have as a leadership team as it relates to bringing the companies together and the long-term opportunity that the scale of this business and the breadth that we have in the sales effort that we have for the industry remains unbeatable. We feel very confident and that over the long term, what we're doing now will bode well for this company from a sales perspective. And just a follow-up on that, can you talk about the kind of the positive on sales synergies when that could happen. And I guess, you can't really quantify, but just kind of talk about that?

Well, we're starting to see some of that now. So one of the things we were able to do was take existing product categories or brands that we had in either one of the legacy markets and push those two facilities or -- geographic territories that didn't have the opportunity to sell those products, so that's happening now. We're getting some very good positive response in some of that product that's coming out and that will, we believe, continue to propel relationships we have with key suppliers, the ability to continue to sell and grow both territories in volume for them.

As far as a clear-cut timeframe, it's difficult to say exactly how long that takes. Any time you're trying to move new products into particular location and displace existing market share, it's an effort and typically takes some time.

Alan Weber -- Robotti Advisors -- Analyst

Okay. And I guess my last question is basically, I mean -- when you look at the results in the last half of the year, what really -- I mean obviously, the pro forma numbers are down and you talk about volume and pricing. Is there any part of that kind of surprised you? In other words, given those declines, which you obviously didn't know six months before the quarter began, anything in that actually surprised you or disappoint you?

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Well, obviously, the way that the market moved was very disappointing. And one of the things, Alan, it's an interesting exercise to do to look at our structural product sales in the back half of the year and then imply, a typical, however you want to use, a two or three-year margin compared to what the margin was we saw there and I think if you did that exercise, you would see clearly $20 plus million of gross profit. Obviously it's the past and the future may be different, but I think from a true understanding, what happened -- the commodity decline was very important and significant to us. I would say, in our calendar we clearly didn't hit a home run in every one of the consolidations. And so we had a -- we had a long-term strategy, as we talked about as it related to some of the multi-employer plans from a pension perspective, which made us move pretty quickly in some locations that was challenging. So, I would say, I think the long-term strategy was terrific, underappreciated probably some of the short-term implications on that. But generally, it really feels like more of a story about what was going on in the market as (inaudible) and anything we've done, and I really feel good and the team should be proud of the way we put together an integration team that was fully dedicated, the speed in which we've integrated, which as you know is critical for the long-term benefits of an integration. So generally we feel really good about it and I think the market's just created some headwinds for us that we did not anticipate.

Alan Weber -- Robotti Advisors -- Analyst

Great, thank you very much. And of course the markets of that product is out your control. So -- OK, thank you.

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Yeah. Okay, thank you.

Operator

Our next question is from the line of Tim Dougherty(ph)the from Welspun(ph)Wealth. The line is open.

Tim Dougherty -- Welspun Wealth -- Analyst

Hey. Just wondering, since we've seen lumber bottom here kind of in November, December time period, can we sort of assume that this $13 million, $14 million a quarter of gross margin headwinds is kind of behind us as we enter this year?

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

I think the short answer is yes. From a gross margin standpoint as we talk about it, it certainly was an anomaly, that we have had an experience the last six months and two decades. So we would expect that. And we're starting to see that (inaudible).

Tim Dougherty -- Welspun Wealth -- Analyst

And then do you have an investor presentation here $13 million to $14 million kind of quarterly headwind on the commodity side. Is there any headwinds we've seen from commodity prices in the structural side of the business?

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

So especially interest of yes. No, I mean as we look at the specialty partners, we feel good about where they were in, they were not certainly no nowhere near the impact that (inaudible) standpoint. So we're not seeing really much bleed over from the pure commodities into our -- our specialty products.

Tim Dougherty -- Welspun Wealth -- Analyst

Okay, that's all I had.

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Thank you.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. Speakers, I turn the call back over to you.

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Okay. We thank you Mary. We certainly appreciate your time and everyone's continued interest in BlueLinx and we look forward to sharing our progress with you during our next call.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you everyone for joining and you may now disconnect.

Duration: 32 minutes

Call participants:

Mary Moll -- Director of Investor Relations

Mitchell Lewis -- President, Chief Executive Officer, Director

Susan O'Farrell -- Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President and Treasurer

Alan Weber -- Robotti Advisors -- Analyst

Tim Dougherty -- Welspun Wealth -- Analyst

More BXC 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.

Morgan Stanley's Jonas: Tesla price cuts reveal demand 'air pocket'

Tesla's decision to cut the price of its popular Model 3 suggests the electric car maker is approaching an "air pocket" in demand, which Morgan Stanley says could weigh on both its bottom line and stock price.

Analyst Adam Jonas on Tuesday cut his first-quarter deliveries by 23 percent, reduced his Model 3 average transaction price to $53,000 by the end of the year and slashed his 12-month price target by more than 8 percent.

He also reduced his 2019 earnings per share estimate to $1.30 from $4.17 and his 2020 estimate to $6.69 from $10.22.

"The company is undergoing multiple transitions with sales momentum slowing, shift to online channels, management changes, setting a foot into China and the early Model Y unveil among other developments," Jonas wrote. "We continue to see the stock as fundamentally overvalued while potentially strategically undervalued."

The analyst's new $260 stock price target implies about 10 percent downside to Tesla shares over the next year from Monday's close at $290.92. Shares fell 1.5 percent in premarket trading following the Morgan Stanley note.

The electric carmaker said last month that it is lowering the price of its Model 3 by $1,100 thanks to the end of a costly customer referral program. That second price cut to the Model 3 this year brought the cost of its least expensive auto to $42,900, according to the company's website.

CEO Elon Musk also sparked controversy late last month after he confirmed that the company is shifting its sales to online only, and giving drivers up to a week to return their newly purchased vehicles if they aren't satisfied. Tesla explained in a blog post that moving sales online will allow it to market the Model 3 for the long-awaited base model price of $35,000.

"For what many investors believe to be a high growth tech firm, Tesla has made notable moves to cut costs/prices and stimulate orders," Jonas added. "We are not inclined to buy now as we don't believe we'd be compensated for the amount of risk we're taking. The potential longer-term 'resolution' of the Tesla story as we approach nine years after its IPO may require a few more chapters to play out."

Jonas has an equal-weight rating on Tesla shares.

Disclaimer

Upbeat on private banks, auto and cement sector: Kim Eng Securities

Jigar Shah, CEO of Kim Eng Securities India, in an interview with CNBC-TV18 shared his views on the market fundamentals and select stocks.

"The rally seems to be driven on the back of the immediate announcement and excitement, with the narrative being more towards the return of current government to power," said Shah.

"The market valuations are not cheap, earnings growth is tardy, plus macro data is not encouraging and domestic flows are a bit down, so one is not sure if the current market rally would be sustainable, but if current narrative becomes stronger then the market could touch previous highs or go higher," he added.

According to Shah, the key aspect of earnings and fundamentals would return after elections, "which will decide the trajectory for market and equity return in the second half".

The house is upbeat on private banks, auto and cement sector.

Source: CNBC-TV18 First Published on Mar 12, 2019 02:19 pm

Zacks: Brokerages Anticipate Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp (MCB) to Announce $0.77 Earnings Per Sha

Equities research analysts expect Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp (NYSE:MCB) to report $0.77 earnings per share for the current quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Two analysts have made estimates for Metropolitan Bank’s earnings. The highest EPS estimate is $0.78 and the lowest is $0.76. Metropolitan Bank reported earnings per share of $0.75 during the same quarter last year, which suggests a positive year over year growth rate of 2.7%. The company is expected to announce its next quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th.

On average, analysts expect that Metropolitan Bank will report full year earnings of $3.38 per share for the current financial year, with EPS estimates ranging from $3.36 to $3.40. For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the business will report earnings of $4.11 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.09 to $4.12. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are a mean average based on a survey of research analysts that that provide coverage for Metropolitan Bank.

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Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 24th. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $21.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.03 million. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 26.43% and a return on equity of 10.16%.

MCB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research report on Thursday, January 10th.

MCB traded down $0.25 during trading on Monday, reaching $36.69. 27,830 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,307. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $301.12 million, a P/E ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 1.30. Metropolitan Bank has a 12 month low of $29.05 and a 12 month high of $55.00.

In other news, insider Mark R. Defazio sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total transaction of $70,980.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark R. Defazio sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $141,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,000 shares of company stock worth $352,820 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 21.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 403,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,439,000 after purchasing an additional 82,397 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc now owns 216,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,895,000 after purchasing an additional 29,023 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 216,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,895,000 after purchasing an additional 29,023 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 73.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 66,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 28,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Context BH Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 94.1% during the 4th quarter. Context BH Capital Management LP now owns 50,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 24,647 shares in the last quarter. 52.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Metropolitan Bank

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank that provides a range of business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to small businesses, middle-market enterprises, public entities, and individuals in the New York metropolitan area.

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

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2019

tags:PBH,RNO,ST,TRP,PTI,

A key reason for buying this Canadian energy stock — our Top Pick for speculative investors — was the management, asserts Benj Gallander, contrarian advisor and editor of Contra the Heard.

This experienced team appeared to have what it takes to lead acquiring Penn West Petroleum (PWE) through a crisis. And the group has taken bold steps to deleverage the company, selling assets while cutting expenses and eliminating the dividend.

Tough decisions have been the order of the day. At the end of 2015, debt stood at $2.1 billion. It’s now down to $576 million, which lets the company to say “buh-bye” to the unsightly auditors’ “going concern” tag. All of the positives caught the eyes of a flurry of investors and the share price popped.

In November, PWT paid off another $448 million at par and on a pro rata basis. The cash was available thanks to the sale of assets in Saskatchewan, and management is prepared to use it in what we debt-averse guys believe is a positive manner.  Wow! Talk about a revamped enterprise!

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2019: Prestige Brand Holdings Inc.(PBH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc (NYSE:PBH) – Stock analysts at William Blair cut their Q4 2019 earnings estimates for shares of Prestige Consumer Healthcare in a report released on Thursday, February 7th. William Blair analyst J. Andersen now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.69 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.70. William Blair also issued estimates for Prestige Consumer Healthcare’s FY2020 earnings at $2.80 EPS.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Premium Brands Holdings Corp (TSE:PBH) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$132.14.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Prestige Brands (NYSE:PBH) by 103.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,597 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,431 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Prestige Brands were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2019: Rhino Resource Partners LP(RNO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Renold (LON:RNO) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported GBX 4.50 ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of GBX 4.50 ($0.06), Bloomberg Earnings reports. Renold had a return on equity of 201.92% and a net margin of 4.30%.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a €98.00 ($113.95) price target on Renault (EPA:RNO) in a research note released on Monday. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Deutsche Bank set a €115.00 ($133.72) target price on Renault (EPA:RNO) in a report released on Friday morning. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a €74.00 ($86.05) target price on Renault (EPA:RNO) in a research report report published on Thursday morning. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Credit Suisse Group set a €73.00 ($84.88) price objective on Renault (EPA:RNO) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2019: Sensata Technologies Holding N.V.(ST)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Sensata Technologies (ST)

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

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Sensata Technologies (ST)

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

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Canaccord Genuity assumed coverage on shares of Sensata Technologies (NYSE:ST) in a note issued to investors on Friday, The Fly reports. The firm set a “buy” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2019: Transcananda Pipelines Ltd.(TRP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  Meanwhile, TransCanada (NYSE:TRP) has been working to revive its Keystone XL pipeline. After years of delay, TransCanada could start full construction next year, which would put the line into service by 2021. However, the hotly contested pipeline could face new delays or even another rejection.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: TRP) and TC PIPELINES LP Common Stock (NYSE:TRP) are both large-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

• [By Jason Hall]

  Priestley: Yeah, absolutely. The last company is also on this natural gas trend, it's TransCanada (NYSE:TRP), ticker TRP. It's a Canadian energy infrastructure company. They have assets in the U.S., Canada, obviously, and Mexico. They operate 40,000 miles of natural gas pipeline. A notable project that they operate is the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline system. It also has interests in 20 power generation facilities, mostly in Canada. And, they have significant scale as a midstream company. I kind of like these midstream players, because they're really winners, so to speak, in a lot of respects. A lot of the contracts that they make with the oil refiners or the oil companies themselves are 15-20-year contracts.

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Own For 2019: Patni Computer Systems Limited(PTI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Lange]

  Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PTI) saw its shares slide early on Thursday after the company reported that it had positive data from its early stage trial in cystic fibrosis (CF). These results come from the firm's ongoing Phase 1 dosing study of PTI-801 in CF patients on background Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) therapy.

Regency Centers Corp (REG) Insider Nicholas Andrew Wibbenmeyer Sells 2,621 Shares

Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG) insider Nicholas Andrew Wibbenmeyer sold 2,621 shares of Regency Centers stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $168,451.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

NYSE:REG traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.01. 850,766 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 895,309. Regency Centers Corp has a twelve month low of $55.38 and a twelve month high of $67.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

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Regency Centers (NYSE:REG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.48). Regency Centers had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 23.19%. The business had revenue of $277.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Regency Centers Corp will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.585 per share. This represents a $2.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Regency Centers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Regency Centers’s payout ratio is 60.16%.

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,981,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,144,000 after buying an additional 79,055 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic bought a new stake in shares of Regency Centers in the 4th quarter worth $1,320,000. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 53,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 3,958 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 828.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,656,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,822,000 after buying an additional 2,370,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American International Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 61,037 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,947,000 after buying an additional 10,984 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.87% of the company’s stock.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Investment Research lowered Regency Centers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 13th. Barclays upgraded Regency Centers from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Monday, February 4th. SunTrust Banks reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Regency Centers in a research report on Friday, February 22nd. Citigroup set a $75.00 target price on Regency Centers and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered Regency Centers from a “top pick” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $62.30 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Regency Centers currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.12.

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Regency Centers Company Profile

Regency Centers is the preeminent national owner, operator, and developer of shopping centers located in affluent and densely populated trade areas. Our portfolio includes thriving properties merchandised with highly productive grocers, restaurants, service providers, and best-in-class retailers that connect to their neighborhoods, communities, and customers.

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