Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Mohawk Industries (NYSE: MHK ) were looking stronger today, gaining as much as 10% after the flooring specialist topped earnings estimates in its first-quarter report.
So what: Mohawk delivered an adjusted EPS of $0.87, 50% above its year-ago total, and $0.02 better than the analyst consensus. Revenue increased 5.5% to $1.5 billion, but missed estimates. CEO Jeffrey Lorberbaum said improvements in the U.S market helped counteract the slowdown in Europe, and noted that the company recently closed on its acquisition of the Marazzi Group, which makes Mohawk No. 1 in ceramic tile around the world. Second-quarter EPS guidance at $1.58-$1.67 came in ahead of the analyst consensus of $1.58.
Now what: After last night's earnings announcement, Mohawk reported this morning that it had made another acquisition, purchasing Belgian panel-board manufacturer, Spano Group, for 125 million Euros. The slew of recent purchases seems to show that management is focused on growth and strengthening the company's position in key markets and products.� Like most growth stocks, Mohawk shares aren't cheap at a P/E of 31, but that strategy should pay off in the long run.
10 Best Heal Care Stocks To Watch For 2015: Alliance Holdings GP L.P.(AHGP)
Alliance Holdings GP, L.P., through its subsidiaries, produces and markets coal primarily to utilities and industrial users in the United States. It produces a range of steam coal with varying sulfur and heat contents. The company operates nine underground mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 697.4 million tons of proven and probable coal reserves in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. In addition, the company leases land; and operates a coal loading terminal, with a capacity of 8.0 million tons with ground storage of approximately 60,000 to 70,000 tons, on the Ohio River at Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Further, it engages in purchasing and selling coal; and providing services, including ash and scrubber sludge removal, coal yard maintenance, and arranging alternate transportation services. Alliance GP, LLC, serves as the general partner of the company. Allian ce Holdings GP, L.P. is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Alliance Holdings GP (Nasdaq: AHGP ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2014: USG Corporation(USG)
USG Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and distribution of building materials worldwide. The company offers gypsum and related products, including gypsum wallboard, joint compounds used for finishing wallboard joints, cement boards, glass mat sheathing, gypsum fiber panels, poured gypsum underlayments, ultra light panels, and various construction plaster products. Its gypsum products are used in various building applications to finish the interior walls, ceilings, and floors in residential, commercial, and institutional constructions, and repair and remodel constructions. The company also produces gypsum-based products for agricultural and industrial customers to use in various applications, including soil conditioning, road repair, fireproofing, and ceramics. In addition, it manufactures ceiling grid and acoustical ceiling tile for electrical and mechanical systems, and air distribution and maintenance applications. USG Corporation distribut es its gypsum products through specialty wallboard distributors, building materials dealers, home improvement centers and other retailers, contractors, and a network of distributors. Further, it distributes other manufacturers? gypsum wallboard, joint compound and other gypsum products, as well as drywall metal, insulation, and roofing products and accessories. The company sells its products under SHEETROCK, DUROCK, FIBEROCK, SECUROCK, LEVELROCK, RED TOP, IMPERIAL, DIAMOND, SUPREMO, AURATONE, ACOUSTONE, DONN, DX, FINELINE, CENTRICITEE, CURVATURA, and COMPASSO brands. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
Pimco managing director Mark Kiesel mentions Whirlpool (WHR), Weyerhaeuser (WY), USG (USG), Toll Brothers (TOLL) and KB Home (KBH) as good plays on housing:�
- [By Seth Jayson]
USG (NYSE: USG ) reported earnings on April 24. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), USG missed estimates on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2014: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated provides healthcare services in the United States. Its Health Benefits segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; and non-employer based insurance options for purchase by individuals. It also provides health and well-being services for individuals aged 50 and older; and for services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals, as well as health plans for the beneficiaries of acute and long-term care Medicaid plans. This segment offers its services through a network of 730,000 physicians and other health care professionals, and 5,300 hospitals. Its OptumHealth segment provides health, financial, and ancillary services and products that assist consumers through personalized health management solutions; benefit administration, and clinical and network management; health-based financi al services; behavioral solutions; and specialty benefits, such as dental, vision, life, critical illness, short-term disability, and stop-loss product offerings. The company?s Ingenix segment offers database and data management services, software products, publications, consulting and actuarial services, business process outsourcing services, and pharmaceutical data consulting and research services. Its Prescription Solutions segment provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services comprising retail network pharmacy contracting and management, claims processing, mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy, benefit design consultation, rebate contracting and management, drug utilization review, formulary management programs, disease therapy management, and adherence programs to employer groups, union trusts, managed care organizations, Medicare-contracted plans, Medicaid plans, and third party administrators. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Minne tonka, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Divine]
Another stock on a recent tear is UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) , which rose 1.5% Friday to log nearly 7% gains on the week. On Wednesday, the White House released a trove of data detailing discrepancies in the prices of medical procedures at more than 3,000 hospitals across the country. The release pleased investors, driving the stock higher on hopes that it portends lower payouts down the line.
- [By Matt Thalman]
UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH ) slid lower by 0.94% today. This fall comes after shares dropped 0.4% yesterday. Very little news pertaining directly to the company came out on both days, but some believe the declines are related to Obamacare and the uncertainty that still surrounds the industry. Investors still do not fully understand if the new health-care laws will help or hurt the insurance companies, and it is unlikely they will know for sure until the law goes into effect and a few quarterly reports showing new revenue and costs are released. �
- [By Reuters]
HealthCare.gov/AP The White House official brought in to fix the U.S. government website created to enable Americans to buy insurance under President Barack Obama's health care law said Friday that HealthCare.gov will be working smoothly for most users by the end of November. Jeffrey Zients told reporters in a conference call that Quality Software Services, or QSSI, will serve as a general contractor to oversee the repairs. The website hasn't had a technology company overseeing the entire project. Instead, the government decided early on that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would serve as the system integrator. The company, a unit of health insurer UnitedHealth Group (UNH), already has a technology contract related to the website and testified on Thursday to a congressional panel about problems with the system. QSSI produced the federal data hub and a software tool for creating online consumer accounts, which was at the center of early logjam problems. Online insurance exchanges were launched on Oct. 1 under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, often called "Obamacare," to offer health care insurance plans to millions of uninsured Americans. But many Americans have experienced error messages and long waits in trying to sign on to HealthCare.gov, which has become a political embarrassment for Obama.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Finally, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) rose 1.2%. Last week's news that health insurers would pay a total of half a billion in premium rebates because of Obamacare regulations would ordinarily seem like bad news for UnitedHealth, but the figure has been coming down as health insurance companies get used to the requirements of the law. The move also indicates that companies are getting better about pricing their products correctly, rather than having to return excess premiums in the form of rebate payments. Watch for similar Obamacare-motivated moves from UnitedHealth and its peers in the months to come.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2014: LifePoint Hospitals Inc.(LPNT)
LifePoint Hospitals Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates general acute care hospitals in non-urban communities in the United States. The company?s hospitals provide a range of medical and surgical services comprising general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, emergency room care, radiology, oncology, diagnostic care, coronary care, rehabilitation services, and pediatric services, as well as specialized services, such as open-heart surgery, skilled nursing, psychiatric care, and neuro-surgery. Its hospitals also offer outpatient services, including one-day surgery, laboratory, x-ray, respiratory therapy, imaging, sports medicine, and lithotripsy. As of December 31, 2009, LifePoint Hospitals owned or leased 47 hospitals with a total of 5,552 licensed beds in 17 states. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. Lifepoint Hospitals Inc. (NasdaqNM:LPNT) operates independently of HCA Inc. as of May 11, 1999.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Yesterday afternoon, Pennsylvania announced that it would use federal dollars to pay private insurers to cover eligible Pennsylvanians. UBS analysts A.J. Rice and Jailendra Singh think Community Health Systems (CYH), Tenet Healthcare (THC) and LifePoint Hospitals (LPNT) stand to benefit the most from the deal:
- [By Keith Speights]
The fun wasn't just limited to the big three hospital operators. Lifepoint Hospitals (NASDAQ: LPNT ) stock jumped 5% on the CMS news, reflecting a $109 million market cap expansion. Likewise, Vanguard Health Systems (NYSE: VHS ) shares climbed 5%, bumping its market cap up by�$55 million.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2014: Capstone Turbine Corporation(CPST)
Capstone Turbine Corporation develops, manufactures, markets, and services turbine generator sets and related parts for use in stationary distributed power generation applications. Its stationary distributed power generation applications include cogeneration combined heat and power (CHP), integrated (CHP), resource recovery, and secure power, as well as combined cooling, heat, and power; and its products are used as battery charging generators for hybrid electric vehicle applications. The company primarily offers microturbine units, subassemblies, and components. It also provides various accessories, including rotary gas compressors with digital controls, heat recovery modules for CHP applications, dual mode controllers that allow automatic transition between grid connect and stand-alone modes, batteries with digital controls for stand-alone/dual-mode operations, power servers for multipacked installations, and protocol converters for Internet access, as well as frames, ex haust ducting, and installation hardware. Further, it remanufactures microturbine engines; and provides after-market parts and services, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and factory and on-site training services. The company?s microturbines can be fueled by various sources, including natural gas, propane, sour gas, landfill or digester gas, kerosene, diesel, and biodiesel. It primarily sells its products directly to end users, as well as through distributors in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Russian Federation, and South America. Capstone Turbine Corporation was founded in 1988 and is based in Chatsworth, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tyler Crowe and Aimee Duffy]
Over the past couple weeks Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST ) shares have launched into orbit on the news that the company had secured several orders for its microturbines. But 40% in a month? On the surface, it seems a bit silly that a company could gain that much on a couple news stories about sales. For a company like Capstone, which has struggled with sales, this kind of news is exactly what shareholders were looking for.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST ) will release its quarterly report on Monday, and investors have been increasingly optimistic about the microturbine maker's immediate prospects. Yet, even though the company's stock rose recently to its best levels in almost three years, Capstone still has to demonstrate that its niche offerings give it a viable market that is too insignificant for larger rivals General Electric (NYSE: GE ) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT ) to go after.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST) soared 14.29% to $2.24 in the pre-market trading after surging 7.10% on Monday.
Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP) shares jumped 10.17% to $7.58 in pre-market trading after jumping 30.30% on Monday.
Hot Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2014: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Russ Kaplan]
Our pick is the well-known blue chip company International Business Machines (IBM). Technology has changed drastically since 1910, and IBM has always risen to a challenge, which, over the years, has left many high tech companies in the dust.
- [By Cheryl Kaften]
To remain relevant and competitive, current smart grid vendors -- among them ABB (NYSE: ABB ) , General Electric (NYSE: GE ) �, IBM� (NYSE: IBM ) , �and�Siemens� (NYSE: SI ) --�may have to make market adjustments, including partnerships, acquisitions, and advances of their own.
- [By Matt Thalman]
After losing 1.46% this past week, shares of IBM (NYSE: IBM ) ranked as the third worst performing Dow component of the week. The biggest decline came on Tuesday, when the stock fell 1.88% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from a "buy" to "neutral" and cut its price target from $220 to $200. The Goldman analyst responsible for the move was Bill Shope, who cited increasing pressure in emerging markets. IBM currently relies on such areas in its five-year growth plan for roughly $17 billion in revenue. This is certainly something current shareholders will need to keep an eye on, and if Shope is wrong, the stock may realize a nice move higher.
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway meeting for shareholders this weekend let investors - not just Berkshire (NYSE: BRK.A; BRK.B) investors - get some nuggets of wisdom from the 83-year-old billionaire.
Berkshire's earnings are meticulously scrutinized every quarter because its investments include a number of well-known consumer-oriented components. Stock holdings include American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).
No comments:
Post a Comment