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The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript September 7, 2023The Toro Company misses on earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.95 EPS, expectations were $1.23.Operator: Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The Toro Company's Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Gigi, and I'll be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session toward the end of today's conference. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today's conference, Julie Kerekes, Treasurer and Senior Managing Director of Global Tax and Investor Relations. Please proceed, Ms. Kerekes.Julie Kerekes: Thank you, and good morning everyone. Our earnings release was issued this morning and a copy can be found in the Investor Information section of our corporate website, thetorocompany.com. We have also posted a third quarter earnings presentation to supplement our earnings release and general investor presentation. On our call today are Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Jeremy Steffan, Director, Investor Relations. We begin with our customary forward-looking statement policy. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding our plans and projections for the future. This includes estimates and assumptions regarding financial and operating results as well as economic, technological, weather, market acceptance, acquisition-related, and other factors that may impact our business and customers.22 Cool Jobs You Have Never Heard Oflassedesignen/Shutterstock.com You are all aware of the inherent difficulties, risks, and uncertainties in making predictive statements. Our earnings release, as well as our SEC filings details some of the important risk factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those in our predictions. Please note that we do not have a duty to update our forward-looking statements. In addition, during this call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of historical non-GAAP financial measures to reported GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release and on our website in our investor presentations, as well as in our applicable SEC filings. We believe these measures may be useful in performing meaningful comparisons of past and present operating results and cash flows to understand the performance of our ongoing operations and how management views the business.Story continuesNon-GAAP financial measures should not be considered superior to or a substitute for the GAAP financial measures presented in our earnings release and this call. With that, I will now turn the call over to Rick.Rick Olson: Thanks, Julie, and good morning, everyone. We are disappointed by our third quarter results, which came in below our expectations, largely due to a reduction in homeowner demand for residential and professional segment lawn care products. This was driven by a combination of macro factors and unusually unfavorable weather patterns. Demand was strong across the rest of our end customer base, and with that, the other businesses in our diverse portfolio delivered excellent growth. In a moment, I'll discuss our initial estimates and assumptions for the third quarter and which of those did and did not come to fruition. Before I do that, it's important to note that we are encouraged by our continued market leadership, and believe we are well-positioned to drive long-term profitable growth in each of our attractive end markets.We're also excited by today's announcements of our partnership with Lowe's, which we expect will further strengthen our mass retail channel. We'll be discussing this development later in the call. But first, I'd like to explain what drove our lower-than-expected results for the quarter. On our June call, we shared expectations for total company net sales growth slightly below 7% in the third quarter. Instead, our net sales of $1.08 billion was a decline of 7%. We also shared expectations of adjusted diluted earnings per share slightly higher than last year's $1.19, and instead delivered $0.95. When we provided our third quarter and updated full year outlook on our last call, we outlined the key estimates and assumptions underlying our guidance.These included, continued strong demand across key professional segment markets, steady supply chain improvements, reduced volume for solutions geared to homeowners, and more normalized weather patterns for the remainder of the year. The first assumption held. Robust demand continued for products in our underground and specialty construction in golf and grounds businesses within our professional segment. The second assumption also held as the supply chain continued to stabilize. This, along with our operational execution drove meaningful volume growth for these professional segment businesses on a year-over-year basis. While lead times are improving with more stable supply, the sustained strength and demand continues to keep backlog level significantly elevated.This leads me to the third and fourth assumptions underlying our guidance, neither of which played out as anticipated. Shipments of lawn care solutions within both our residential and professional segments were down much more significantly than expected. This was driven by a sharp decrease in demand for homeowners during this quarter as compared to prior quarters, combined with an acceleration of channel destocking, and this is what led to the change in performance from our previous expectations. The reduced demand from homeowners was due to a number of macro factors and weather. Macro factors included economic uncertainty, higher interest rates and consumer spending preferences following the exceptional demand during the pandemic. With respect to weather, hot and dry weather patterns persisted across key regions.While the abnormal weather patterns delayed replacement needs, macro factors further reduced demand from homeowners leading to purchase deferrals and some trade-downs to lower-priced models. This in-turn, led to a reduction in replenishment orders by our residential and professional segment dealer channels. Macro factors also drove an acceleration of destocking by our residential segment mass channel, where in many cases, significant SKUs were left out of stock. For the past several quarters, we have discussed the trend toward more normalized demand patterns for solutions sold to homeowners following a period of exceptional demand during the pandemic. We believe the combination of macro factors and weather factors this quarter exacerbated the rebalancing trend.With this, we now expect dealer inventories of long-term products to be higher than typical heading into next year. These factors also played into the Intimidator Group impairment charges we recorded in connection with the preparation of our third quarter financial statements. Since closing on the acquisition in January of 2022, the operating environment has been more challenging than anticipated. Even so, in its first year of business, delivered top-line growth of 16.5% compared to the 12-month period prior to the acquisition. During the third quarter of this year, the Intimidator business experienced a significant reduction in demand from homeowners who prefer professional solutions, driven by a combination of unfavorable macro factors and unusual weather patterns.As we mentioned on last quarter's call, the end-user sales mix for this business includes a sizable portion of homeowners. In addition, we have also mentioned that this business has a stronger presence in Southern US markets where abnormally hot and dry weather patterns have been more persistent and pronounced than other regions. These factors are reflected in our results and have also dampened our near- to mid-term outlook for this business. While the short-term has not played out as anticipated, we remain confident in our market leadership and our long-term strategy in the attractive zero-turn mower space. We continue to expect benefits from our ability to leverage technology and drive efficiencies and design, procurement and manufacturing across our three trusted brands: Exmark, Toro and Spartan.Based on our current visibility for the fourth quarter and taking into account our third quarter results, we are reducing our full year net sales and adjusted earnings per share guidance. Angie will share the specifics shortly. And while we spelled out the confluence of factors that have affected our near-term outlook, we're encouraged by a number of positive trends and operational initiatives. First, as I mentioned at the outset, we are seeing and expect to continue to see strong performance across much of our professional segment, with notable strength in our underground and specialty construction and golf and grounds businesses. Second, given our long history of delivering consistent positive financial results, we're taking swift action in light of our current market dynamics.This includes scrutinizing all costs, further aligning production with demand and driving productivity and operational excellence across the enterprise. For our construction, and golf and grounds businesses, we intend to enable incremental, flexible production capacity as key component supply continues to stabilize. We expect this will improve lead times and allow us to better serve our customers. Importantly, we plan to leverage our existing manufacturing footprint to do so. And third, we're extremely excited about our new strategic partnership with Lowe's, which was announced in a separate press release this morning. Lowe's leadership position in the zero-turn mower category and strong footprint in key customer markets complements our existing channel strategy, and is expected to bolster placements of our powerful 60-volt battery portfolio.Our full line of Toro-branded all-season outdoor power equipment will be available at Lowe's nationwide for the spring 2024 selling season. As I hand the call over to Angie, I'd like to summarize my introductory remarks by emphasizing the high confidence we have in our ability to navigate the current macro headwinds. And just as importantly, the confidence we have in our ability to continuing to capitalize on growth opportunities, including the demand we're seeing across many of our professional businesses and the eventual rebound expected from homeowner markets. With that, I will turn the call over to Angie to walk through the details of our third quarter performance and our updated full year guidance.Angie Drake: Thank you, Rick, and good morning everyone. While our performance in the third quarter fell short of our expectations, our market leadership remains strong, and many of the businesses in our portfolio delivered excellent growth. Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $1.08 billion, a decrease of 6.8% compared to last year. Reported EPS was a loss of $0.14 per diluted share. This includes non-cash goodwill impairment charges of $151.3 million on a gross basis, offset by an associated tax benefit of $36.7 million for a net of $114.6 million. Adjusted EPS was $0.95 per diluted share, both were down from $1.19 last year. Professional segment net sales for the third quarter were $896.3 million, up 1.1% year-over-year.This increase was primarily driven by higher shipments of construction and golf and grounds products and net price realization. This was partially offset by lower shipments of lawn care equipment, a reflection of reduced demand from homeowners who prefer professional solutions. Overall, the professional segment net sales growth reflects positive volume and price. Professional segment earnings for the third quarter were $13 million on a reported basis, down from $166.2 million last year. When expressed as a percentage of net sales, earnings for the segment were 1.5%, down from 18.8%. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to gross non-cash impairment charges of $151.3 million and higher material and manufacturing costs. This was partially offset by productivity improvements and net price realization.Residential segment net sales for the third quarter were $175.3 million, down 35.1% compared to last year. The decrease was primarily driven by lower shipments of products broadly across the segments. Residential segment earnings for the quarter were down 85.4% to $3.8 million. When expressed as a percentage of net sales, earnings for the segment were 2.2%, down from 9.8%. The year-over-year decrease was primarily driven by lower volume and unfavorable product mix, partially offset by lower material costs. Turning to our operating results. Our reported and adjusted gross margins were both 34.4% for the quarter, down slightly from 34.5% for both in the same period last year. The decrease was primarily driven by higher material costs, mostly offset by lower freight expense.SG&A expense as a percentage of net sales for the quarter was 22.2%, compared to 20.5% in the same period last year. This increase was primarily driven by lower net sales, higher marketing costs and increased investment in research and engineering. Operating earnings as a percentage of net sales for the third quarter were a negative 1.8%, inclusive of the impairment charges. This compares to 14% last year. On an adjusted basis, operating earnings as a percentage of net sales were 12.2%, compared to 14.1%. Interest expense for the quarter was $15 million, up $5.8 million from the same period last year. The increase was primarily due to higher average interest rates. The reported effective tax rate for the third quarter was 47.6%, compared with 20.3% last year.This change was primarily due to the tax benefit from non-cash impairment charges in the current-year period. The adjusted effective tax rate for the third quarter was 19% compared with 20.7%. This decrease was primarily due to an increased benefit from the geographic mix of earnings in the current-year period. Turning to our balance sheet as of the end of the third quarter. Accounts receivable were $391 million, up 11% from a year ago, primarily driven by payment terms and higher international sales. Inventory was $1.1 billion, up 18% compared to last year. This increase was primarily due to higher finished goods, largely driven by decreased demand for solutions sold to homeowners. Sequentially, from the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2023, inventory came down slightly, primarily driven by a reduction in work in process.Accounts payable were $407 million, down 16% compared to a year ago, primarily driven by a reduction in material purchases. Year-to-date free-cash flow was $56.1 million. This reflects unfavorable working capital fluctuations year-over-year as we adjust production and cost to demand. This also reflects the timing of capital expenditures, with $99 million spent year-to-date compared to $76 million in the same period last year. We remain within our one to two times target gross debt to EBITDA leverage ratio and are committed to maintaining our investment-grade credit ratings. This supports our strong balance sheet, which in-turn provides the financial flexibility to fund investments that drive long-term sustainable growth. Our disciplined approach to capital allocation remains the same.With priorities that include: making strategic investments in our business to drive long-term profitable growth, both organically and through acquisitions; returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases; and maintaining our leverage goals. These priorities are highlighted by our recent actions, including our plan to deploy $130 million in capital expenditures this year to fund new product investments, advanced manufacturing technologies and capacity for growth; our dividend payout increase of 13% over last year; and our return of nearly $60 million to shareholders year-to-date through share repurchases. As we look ahead to the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, we expect continued strong demand for our innovative products in key professional segment markets.We are also encouraged by the stabilizing supply chain that is enabling increased production for our construction and golf and grounds product. At the same time, we are entering the fourth quarter with elevated field inventory levels for professional and residential segment lawn care solutions as well as residential snow products. This, combined with the macro factors we've been discussing, are expected to dampen demand for these products in the near-term. With this backdrop and based on our current visibility, we are revising our full year fiscal 2023 net sales and adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance ranges. For fiscal 2023, we now expect total company net sales to be similar to slightly higher than last year compared to our previous expectations for 7% to 8% growth.This reflects anticipated volume reductions for residential and professional lawn care solutions, as previously discussed. This also reflects expectations for a continuation of improved production rates for construction and golf and grounds products as well as the assumption that we will experience more normal weather patterns for the remainder of the year. We expect professional segment net sales to grow mid to high single-digits on a full year basis. Looking at profitability, we continue to expect gross margin improvement in fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022, and still expect our gross margins in the second half of the year to be lower than the first half of the year. We also expect gross margin in the fourth quarter to be lower than the third quarter.This is primarily driven by anticipated manufacturing inefficiencies as we adjust production volumes to demand for lawn care solutions and work to improve our inventory position as we close out the year. We expect these manufacturing inefficiencies to be partially offset by productivity gains and net price realization. In addition, for the full year, we now expect total company adjusted operating earnings as a percentage of net sales to be flat to slightly down compared to last year. We now expect our professional segment earnings margin to be lower than last year, driven by the third quarter impairment charges. We continue to expect a lower earnings margin for the residential segment for the full year as compared to last year. This is a reflection of the expected reduction in volume.For our other activities categories, we expect the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 to be similar to slightly higher than the average quarterly run rate year-to-date. In line with our revised net sales expectations and manufacturing adjustments, we are revising our full year adjusted EPS guidance range to $4.05 to $4.10 per diluted share from the previous range of $4.70 to $4.80. This adjusted diluted EPS estimate excludes the impact of non-cash impairment charges, as well as the benefit of the excess tax deduction for share-based compensation. Additionally, for the full year, we now expect depreciation and amortization of about $120 million to $125 million, interest expense of about $59 million, and free cash flow conversion of approximately 50% to 60% of reported net earnings.We continue to expect an adjusted effective tax rate of about 21%. We believe our organization is positioned to emerge from this challenging time even stronger. We're prepared to remain nimble as we drive execution on cost reduction and productivity initiatives, while continuing to prudently invest in the future. We're building our business for long-term profitable growth and remain confident in our ability to drive sustained value for all stakeholders. With that, I'll turn the call back to Rick.Rick Olson: Thank you, Angie. Our business fundamentals remain strong, supported by our outstanding team of dedicated employees and channel partners. We have a long and proven track-record of managing through economic cycles and seasons with agility and resiliency. We expect that resiliency will help us navigate through the current rebalancing of homeowner demand. While consumer rebalancing in this macro-environment had a greater impact in the quarter than expected, we have a number of factors that we believe will drive positive results in the coming quarters. First and foremost, we are encouraged by very positive demand trends in other parts of the business. For example, we expect continued demand strength across the majority of our professional customer base, including professional contractors, golf courses, municipalities, sports fields and grounds, and our construction customers.Second, we believe our new strategic partnership with Lowe's is an excellent opportunity to complement and strengthen our mass channel in the residential segment. Third, the supply chain has been more stable, and we expect that it will continue to improve. This should enable productivity gains across our manufacturing facilities and help us drive incremental production for our backlog businesses. Finally, we're taking decisive actions to adjust our production and cost structure in the current demand environment. We believe these actions will drive near- and long-term productivity and margin benefits. I'd now like to provide additional comments on the factors we're seeing in our end markets which could impact future results. We anticipate continued strength in demand for our construction and golf and grounds businesses.We expect the drivers to be the same as we've noted previously, including infrastructure spending and support, sustained momentum in new golfers and rounds played, and the prioritization of public green spaces. Our order backlog for these businesses remain significantly elevated, and our team is focused on driving incremental output and reducing lead times to support our customers. Our goal is to return backlog to more normalized levels as soon as possible. For snow and ice management, we continue to expect more subdued demand heading into the upcoming season, driven by a lack of snowfall earlier this year. At the same time, early season snowfall events in key regions would typically drive an uptick in orders. And finally, looking at residential and professional lawn care solutions, for homeowners, we're watching consumer confidence, spending preferences and weather patterns.For landscape contractors, we expect budgets to remain healthy, and we'll continue to watch business confidence and other macro factors. We're also keeping an eye on inventory levels in the field and inventory management actions across our channels. Despite the recent dynamics, we believe these remain excellent long-term markets for us and our leadership position is strong. The solutions we provide for these markets are essential for turf maintenance and have regular replacement cycles. We believe we are extremely well-positioned to expand share in these attractive markets with our leading brands, innovative products and best-in-class channels. Looking longer-term, we remain confident in our ability to drive sustained value for all stakeholders, guided by our enterprise strategic priorities of accelerating profitable growth, driving productivity and operational excellence and empowering people.We continue to prioritize investments in innovation and transformational technologies, including alternative power, smart connected and autonomous solutions. We are leveraging these investments across our broad portfolio to accelerate new product development and capitalize on growth opportunities. A great example of this is our proprietary HyperCell battery management system, which is now powering solutions across our professional segment including lawn care equipment, golf and grounds solutions and specialty construction products. We're excited about our new product pipeline and our ability to help our customers increase productivity while also addressing their sustainability goals. We expect our expanding suite of innovative solutions to strengthen our market leadership now and into the future, bolstered by our trusted brands and extensive distribution networks.On that note, I would like to thank our employees and channel partners for going above and beyond every day to support our customers, even in the most challenging of times. You are the key to The Toro Company's long-term success. I would also like to extend my gratitude to our customers and shareholders for your continued support. With that, we will open up the call for questions.See also 13 Mistakes to Avoid When Divorcing Over 50 and 16 Most Profitable Dividend Stocks.Q&A SessionOperator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Michael Shlisky from D.A. Davidson & Company.Michael Shlisky: Yes. Hello. Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. A lot to unpack here...Rick Olson: Good morning, Mike.Michael Shlisky: Good morning. There's lot to unpack here, maybe I'll start with the questions on the Lowe's agreement. I guess, first of all, I mean, this sounds like a pretty heavy invoice you'll be giving them. It's a pretty big sell-in or stock-up order for them happening in the spring, I would imagine. Angie, was that part of the reason why maybe the free cash might be a little challenge in the near-term, do you have to build inventory and work in process in advance of that shipment? And then, just some kind of sizing as to how much that first invoice could be? I'm trying to think back to what happened with Tractor Supply. Just some sensibility of the sizing, too, if you could?Angie Drake: Okay. Sure, Mike. I'll start by answering your question on the free cash flow. I would say, no, that wasn't a big impact to our free cash flow for the quarter. We have been working on our working capital metrics really all year long. Inventory is higher than we want it to be today, but not necessarily driven by the Lowe's impact or building up inventory for that. We do expect to see improvement throughout the year on our free cash flow. I know we've guided down now to 50% to 60% from our previous 90% to 100%, and expect that historically to get back to our conversion rate of about 100%. And it's really based on all working capital metrics, inventory, AP and AR. Rick, may want to comment further on the Lowe's piece.Rick Olson: Sure. As you can imagine, we're incredibly excited to have a partnership with Lowe's and it's -- actually, it's a great fit for us given a couple of factors. First of all, the strength of Lowe's, particularly in the zero-turn category, the location of their stores matches up well with that demographic. Our leadership in the area of these and really the combination of the two brands that's really a powerful opportunity for both. An opportunity really to bring our Flex-Force products to more customers was another thing that was important to us. And we value all of our long-term channel partners, but we really believe that this is the right thing to do for us and for our customers, a broader availability of the products. And it will be a substantial deal for us right off the bat in the first year. We're not guiding -- so, we're not specifically guiding for '24 yet, but will be a positive impact for '24.Michael Shlisky: Okay. And just a follow-up there, does what's happening at Lowe's change how you work at all with Home Depot? As far as I know with sort of exclusive until now, obviously, is it change in terms or the mix that you might have in that store going forward?Rick Olson: As with all of our partners, the Home Depot has been a terrific and continues to be a terrific partner for us. So, we will continue to look to them and each of our partners to provide a unique value proposition for each of their customers sets. There are differences, and we really want to work with each of our partners to help them grow their business as we grow as well. So, we continue to view the Home Depot as a strong partner as we do our other mass, and certainly our dealer channel as well, all important to us, bringing our products and our offerings to our customers in different ways, in the ways that they would like to have access to them.Michael Shlisky: Okay. And then turning to the other piece of big news, how the lawn care business was impacted by dry weather. I'd be curious, on the other side of things, did you have a good quarter or good outlook here for the golf irrigation business. If things were so dry, but people are still playing. Do you feel people are getting a lot of usage out of their systems and looking to upgrade or add some new products going forward on some of the golf courses out there?Rick Olson: Yes. Thanks for the question. That's an excellent question. We had a fantastic quarter on the golf side of the business. And really the non-landscape contractor portion of our professional business was very strong, particularly, we called out golf grounds and irrigation, but also the underground specialty construction. The big piece of this is the steady progress that we're making, excuse me -- steady progress that we're making with the supply chain as our plants have been able to operate more consistently. Our supply chain team has done an excellent job in working with our suppliers to get more consistent supply of components and the plants are gearing up much closer to pre-pandemic level on a consistent basis. So, that's been the driver. The demand has continued to be there across those businesses, and we've been able to meet that more significantly recently.Michael Shlisky: Okay. Thank you. I'm going to leave it there. I appreciate the help.Rick Olson: Okay. Thank you, Mike.Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Tim Wojs from Baird.Tim Wojs: Yeah. Hey, guys. Good morning.Rick Olson: Good morning, Tim.Tim Wojs: Maybe just the first question on the lawn care business within pro, or maybe just in pro in general. I mean, could you give us a little bit -- some flavor or maybe some buckets just in terms of how much the lawn care business declined in the third quarter in the pro business, and then maybe how much the other businesses underground and golf and grounds kind of grew? Just to give us an idea of the moving pieces there.Rick Olson: Yeah. As I mentioned the demand remains very strong on those other pieces. And if you look at -- you know, there's different ways to look at the reduction in-demand from a homeowner standpoint. If you look in the third quarter year-over-year, the split was pretty even between residential and the professional side or landscape contractor side. We've built-in a larger portion of that into what we said in the second quarter and our thinking was different than we expected was more reduction on the landscape contractor side. So, that was kind of the splits. It was pretty evenly split between res and the professional portion, landscape contractor going to homeowner. But the residential portion, we had anticipated more and on the landscape contractor side that ended up being a bigger piece.The other factor that was there, Tim, was just the normal rebalancing that our channel does, and as they look at their inventory carrying costs, the time of the season, they were looking to reduce their stock as well. So that's a factor that's kind of in-between us and the end-customers as well, that was a factor. But, the underground specialty construction, golf grounds, those parts of the business remain strong. Underlying drivers for those infrastructure, the strength of golf continue to be extraordinarily strong.Tim Wojs: Okay, good. And then, I guess, just on the field inventory, I mean, it sounds like you're going to -- you expect to actually exit the season with higher inventory in the field. So, I guess, what are the conversations that you're having with distributors and dealers, just given -- I think you do have some pretty tough comps in the first half of the year for '23, and it seems like just given kind of exiting the year with higher inventory and then just higher cost to carry and those types of things, I mean, do you think it's possible that your distributors and dealers kind of take inventory into next year more on a -- I guess, just in time basis, or closer to the season?Rick Olson: Field inventory for us is really a story that's different depending on which of the categories. If you do think about those areas of high demand, our field inventory is very low. For example, the underground specialty construction, much, much lower than we would like to see it. That product is going directly to customers. The same with golf and grounds. The other end of the spectrum is what you're talking about, which is for those landscape contractor products specifically, in some categories of res, we go into a lower part where they're off part of the season with higher field inventory. So, we do expect that, that will take into 2024 to work through that. And probably realistically, if it gets carried through the off-season, it's going to be largely the second quarter when the demand is high enough to really bleed that off in a significant way and get back to a more normal level, just kind of working through the rebalancing of demand, the channel expectations and what our production is.Tim Wojs: Okay. That makes sense. All right, appreciate the color, guys. Good luck on the rest of the year.Rick Olson: Thank you.Angie Drake: Thank you.Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Eric Bosshard from Cleveland Research Company.Eric Bosshard: Thank you. Two things. First of all, if you go back a little bit in time, like, the only residential mass customer was Home Depot. And it felt like that was a strategic decision. And over the last three years -- three years ago, you had Tractor, now you got Lowe's. And so, I'm curious, philosophically or strategically, what changed in either the market or your thinking that suggested good idea to do business with all three of these guys versus previously there obviously was a conscious decision to just sell one. What changed?Rick Olson: I don't know that anything has necessarily changed. We make that kind of calculation on an annual basis. We think through our strategies, we look at particular product categories where we're looking to grow. And we value all of our long-term and medium-term partners as you've mentioned. We just look at the opportunity that was there with Lowe's to bring our product to more customers and look at the entire picture, and we believe that it was the right thing to do for us now. And so, we have the opportunity to bring our brand to more customers and that ability to leverage at higher volumes, it's important for us as we're investing in new technologies and so forth to the level of investments in new product development becomes even greater.And to have larger scale and larger volume really is a help for all of our partners. We have a relationship with each of our channel partners, and we have an incredibly important dealer channel that we think of in every decision, and we believe we have the opportunity to grow at each of those channel types of channel partners as we go forward.Eric Bosshard: Okay. Secondly, Intimidator, just curious to understand a little bit better within this. I would assume when you bought the business or valued the business or pro forma the business, the revenue growth -- the mid-teen revenue growth last year was probably better than you had budgeted. I guess, I'm just surprised 18 months later to have a write-off of this magnitude, especially considering the first 12 months performance was again probably better than the pro forma. Is this inventory being written-off? Is this goodwill being written-off? Is there like something over the medium-term that -- or what's different in the medium-term that changes the arc of this business that accounting-wise got you to having to make such a move today?Angie Drake: Yeah, you're right. We saw a really nice growth in the first year of Intimidator Group, it was about 16.5%, so, very strong growth. What we saw impact that group and that business this year was the same thing that we saw in our other residential and homeowner businesses. Our Q3 results were significantly lower than expected. Really, the summer seasonality trends that they normally see did not come to fruition, mainly due to the weather. June ended up being a really hot month, and it impacted them in kind of the southern regions and -- that they play in. They are also largely based on customers that are homeowners who prefer to buy a professional product. So that, with the macro factors that Rick discussed earlier and he had in his prepared remarks, really affected that business. So, it's really goodwill and the trade name that were impaired. It's not a write-down of their assets.Eric Bosshard: Okay. And I -- admittedly, I don't -- totally understand the accounting piece of it, but what I guess I don't understand is like the June was a hot month in the summer seasonality and -- which seems very near-term to then impact how you carry the asset on the balance sheet. It just seems like a big change, if it's just indeed hot weather in June and some unique seasonality. There's not something different on a sustained go-forward basis. It's just as narrow as what happened here this summer.Rick Olson: It's largely -- Eric, for us, it's largely a math exercise, and really the impacts in near-term on our model is more significant. So, the actual results in the current quarter, for example, and then projecting just as we've talked about with the other businesses through -- into next year really has a more significant impact on the overall model for the business. Interest rates were also significantly higher. So, you put that all together, and I'd indicated it was appropriate for us to have the impairments related to goodwill and trade name that we're carrying.Angie Drake: Yeah. I would just also add to that, they're going into next year as well with a lot of field, a lot of channel inventory, so just like our res business.Rick Olson: So, we'll take into 2024 to get through that. I will say just not to get lost in this discussion, we still feel incredibly positive about the Intimidator Group and the Spartan business, we have no regrets about that becoming part of The Toro Company and have very strong expectations for that business going forward.Eric Bosshard: Okay. Thank you.Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Tom Hayes from C.L. King.Tom Hayes: Hey, good morning everyone. Appreciate the time today.Rick Olson: Good morning, Tom.Tom Hayes: Hey Rick, you mentioned a couple of times in your prepared remarks that it sounds like the supply chain is getting better. Could you just maybe elaborate a little bit on that? And kind of where you think -- is there further improvement we could see going forward?Rick Olson: Yeah, thanks for the question. We have seen a really significant improvement in supply chain, especially if you're looking at a year-over-year basis, it's been a steady improvement. The categories we've talked about over the last several quarters, wiring harnesses, hydraulic components, chips, et cetera, there's still -- we're still having periodic issues with those, but the frequency and the duration of those issues impacting our plants is much less. So, we're back closer to production levels before the pandemic in many cases. We've also been able to shift production of our products to plants that have lesser demand for some of the reasons we just talked about. And in fact, some of those abilities were really developed during the pandemic.So, we've become a little bit more flexible that way. And I would just say, having been out to a number of our plants within the last 30 days, there is a different sense than we had just a short time ago that the products are running down the lines consistently. The plants are busy and producing products very consistently, and just it's physically noticeable that we're back in a much better position. We still have ways to go in some areas and especially in some particular facilities and lines. But in general, a much different situation than we were in 12 months ago.Tom Hayes: Okay. And then maybe as a follow-up on the residential side. I'm just wondering if you're seeing the broad-based decline in activity in the quarter, was that spread across both the traditional gas-powered engines and the battery products, or is -- there was maybe one a little bit better than the other?Rick Olson: It was spread across both, yeah, pretty similar response.Tom Hayes: Okay. I appreciate the color. Thank you.Rick Olson: Okay, thank you.Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of David MacGregor from Longbow Research.David Macgregor: Yeah. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions.Rick Olson: Good morning, David.David Macgregor: Maybe I -- good morning, Rick. Can we just start by, for context sake, what percentage of this -- of the LCE business today do you think is the residential customer buying up and versus what percentage is the professional landscape contractor? I'm just trying to get some context for what's going on here.Rick Olson: Yeah. In the landscape contractor category in general across the three brands, the residential, what we would call -- I think you said residential, while we would say a homeowner, because it's typically a homeowner that has acreage that would justify a machine like that from a capacity standpoint or just the desire to get a professional product, but it is an appreciable portion of those businesses and it ranges a little bit differently across the brands. The x mark is a higher percentage of pure professionals and larger contractors, but still has an element of homeowners. On the other end of the spectrum, a higher percentage of it is homeowners and the Spartan brand, and then Toro is kind of in between. We don't break out the specific numbers because most of our competitors are private companies in these areas, and we know they look for information when we talk about it publicly, but it's an appreciable portion.David Macgregor: Okay. I guess, is there any way to just talk about -- where you are seeing some strength here in golf and in construction equipment, obviously, you've got a very substantial backlog that you continue to ship against. But could you speak to what you're seeing in order patterns in terms of incoming orders? And are you seeing any inflection or slowing or cancellation in orders, specifically maybe smaller courses or smaller dealers?Rick Olson: Yeah. The order flow continues to be very strong across those backorder categories, again, golf and grounds, underground construction and just as a -- thinking of the same kinds of questions, we just recently went through a kind of an aging review in our backorders and the majority by far of the backorders are actually in the current year, so that's something that's changed. It really speaks to the idea, although the overall backorder number has only come down slightly, it's been refreshed as we've been able to fulfill orders. New orders have been coming in. Lead times have been improving. So, those kind of multiyear orders that we're trying to fulfill are much smaller than they were a couple of years ago.David Macgregor: So, when you say that the backorders, the majority of those backorders are in the current year, are you saying 4Q, we're going to work down a very large portion of your current backlog in 4Q?Rick Olson: I would just say the composition of what we refer to as backorders or open orders were generated this year as opposed to last year or the year before.David Macgregor: You mean the incoming order as opposed to when you expect to ship?Rick Olson: When -- exactly. Yeah, when the order was placed. So, it speaks to the aging of those orders.Angie Drake: Right. As we still work out kind of the COVID era, it still takes some time to do that. So we're still working through orders that had come in, in '21 and '22.David Macgregor: Okay. I got it. Thank you for that distinction. And then, is there any way to isolate within the margins the impact of manufacturing curtailments versus everything else that's going on?Angie Drake: No. We are seeing manufacturing variances affect us, but we don't break it out specifically.Rick Olson: And to that point, obviously, when we see a decline in demand, the first thing we do is make adjustments within our plants to make sure we're not producing products that we don't need and making any expense adjustments that we need to make sure we're right-sized relative kind of to the market opportunity. But in Q3 and Q4, manufacturing variance is a factor, definitely, as you can imagine, with the reduction in volume.David Macgregor: Sure. That makes sense. Last question from me. During the quarter, you had kind of a short two-week period where you did not have any retail promotions, and that was kind of a gap between one sales event and the other. What did you see in the way of POS elasticity during that period? I'm just trying to get a sense of how impactful incentives might ultimately be in terms of helping you kind of elevate demand here and clear inventory, or whether the market has just become maybe a little more insensitive to incentives. But just maybe what did you see during that period that would inform that thought?Rick Olson: We're returning to a more normal situation. And I would say the programs that we run do have an impact. So they -- it is helpful in demand generation, et cetera. And -- but it's really returning to more normal kind of pre-pandemic type of response. We just hadn't been running those kind of promotions during the pandemic due to lack of availability of product. So, we're back to a more normal situation where we use those throughout the season to help drive or stimulate demand just on a normal basis and they have been working...David Macgregor: Thanks very much -- and they have been working, okay.Rick Olson: Yes.David Macgregor: Thank you.Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Joshua Wilson from Raymond James.Joshua Wilson: Good morning, and thanks for fitting me in.Rick Olson: Good morning, Josh.Joshua Wilson: Just one clarification on the backlog before I get to some other questions. You said it was down slightly versus three months ago. Is that right?Angie Drake: That's correct. Yes. We're down slightly from year-end.Joshua Wilson: Okay. And then as it relates to the new relationship with Lowe's, are there going to be any product exclusives or anything like that in the relationship? And then separately, do you have a sense of who you're displacing at Lowe's?Rick Olson: With regard to specific SKUs, that becomes part of the discussions with each of our channel partners. So, you would expect there would be some at any of our partners, including Lowe's. And with regard to displacement, we really can't speak to that. That's really within the -- with another discussion of the Lowe's with their other suppliers, but we are extraordinarily excited about the opportunity that Lowe's presents for us here as we go forward.Joshua Wilson: And do you have any sense of the net gain or loss in like shelf space between Lowe's and Home Depot?Rick Olson: We don't at this point. As you can imagine, we're pretty early in the relationship, and those -- all of those details are being worked out right now. And we're not really guiding to what's going to happen in '24. We'll be much more specific in December.Joshua Wilson: Got it. Thank you very much.Rick Olson: Thank you.Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Ted Jackson from Northland Securities.Ted Jackson: Thanks. Down to the wire for me.Angie Drake: Hi, Ted.Rick Olson: Hi, Ted.Ted Jackson: How are you? I just have a couple of follow-up questions. All the main ones I wanted have been asked. So first, just quickly on Lowe's. Is it fair to assume, I know you're not giving guidance, but we would see the impact of Lowe's in the second quarter of the next fiscal year just in terms of their -- how it would impact your business and they're getting stock in place with regards to the season and such?Angie Drake: Yeah. I think, Ted, you'll begin to see that in the spring 2024 selling season.Ted Jackson: Again since -- and given that your second quarter is April, second quarter is where we would be looking for that impact to start showing up?Angie Drake: Yeah. Although we're not really -- we don't really know what the guidance will be at this point, but that's a good assumption.Ted Jackson: Yeah. I'm just talking about timing. And then, the other question on inventory, you made a commentary that inventories are higher because of the weakness on the homeowner side of lawn care and that you felt that, that would be normalized by the time you got -- or I mean, I think you basically kind of said second quarter of '24 also. Can you give a little definition of what the term normal means? Is that like on a turns basis, the days of inventory basis? Is it on a dollar basis? Just kind of what's the bogey there?Rick Olson: Yeah. I think it would be really on all those basis. But we mentioned in the second quarter, we -- just in general, we believe it will take time into fiscal 2024 to normalize, to use that term again. And the biggest opportunity is in the second quarter just because of the traditional scale of sales as a percentage of the year for those types of products. So, that's when the volume becomes large enough to really impact the field. In the meantime, we're working with our channel partners to make sure that we've got the right stock levels, and they're making decisions based on their own business metrics. So, that's really what we refer to. But normal to us would be back to the more historical days inventory on hands and those kinds of metrics that we typically look at, and we're beyond those...Ted Jackson: The new kid on the block, which is me, who doesn't have the history with the company, like what is the historical norm in terms of like days of inventory? I mean, in [indiscernible].Rick Olson: Yeah, it depends on both the channel and the specific brand and the flow of the product. So, I can't say that specifically in general.Ted Jackson: If I were to look back at a year, could you give me a year I can calculate out like what you'd say would be a typical year that I would want to go look at for a reference point?Angie Drake: Yeah. We might be able to cover some of that a little bit later. I think that we are still trying to figure out what some of that normal means post COVID as well. But just to give you some comfort, we are seeing something good. We're making good progress in WIP, and we have seen the inventory come down two quarters in a row. So, we do believe to be in a better position in F '24.Rick Olson: And I was referring to field inventory there. So there are probably two different matters, yeah.Ted Jackson: Yeah, I would be able to see that one as much, I'm sure. I mean, then my last thing, and I will step aside at [if that's what this is] (ph). I know we're not getting into guidance with Lowe's or anything else. But just, I don't recall, have you ever provided any kind of color of the percentage of your top-line that comes from mass markets? And if so, what...Rick Olson: We have not given specific numbers. A number of years ago, when we're a smaller company, we reported the numbers based on the need to do so, because it was more than 10% of our business. But that's -- we don't do that since we become larger. But they are -- it's a significant piece of our business. It's a significant part of the residential business specifically. And so, if you look at the total of residential, it's going to be a good portion of that.Ted Jackson: Okay. I guess that's all I can ask for. All right, thanks very much.Rick Olson: Okay. Thank you.Angie Drake: Thank you.Operator: Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session. Ms. Kerekes, please proceed to closing remarks.Julie Kerekes: Thank you all for your questions and interest in The Toro Company. We look forward to talking with everyone again in December to discuss our fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full year results.Operator: Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Good day.

Insider Monkey

The Toro Company (NYSE:TTC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toro-company-nyse-ttc-q3-125742572.html

a3c7e01a-37f8-3984-9035-ea88cdf32b7e

TTC

This was hardly a shock and a surprise, as on Thursday it released underwhelming quarterly results that were soon followed by several analyst price target cuts. The third quarter of Toro's fiscal 2023 saw the company's revenue slide by 7% on a year-over-year basis to slightly more than $1.08 billion. More worryingly, under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), it flipped to a net loss on the bottom line of $15 million, against the healthy year-ago profit of over $125 million.Continue reading

Motley Fool

Why The Toro Company Stock Plummeted by 21% This Week

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/f4873abc-3c41-337f-a1c9-8f94db7672f9/why-the-toro-company-stock.html

f4873abc-3c41-337f-a1c9-8f94db7672f9

TTEK

Key InsightsUsing the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Tetra Tech fair value estimate is US$154With US$158 share price, Tetra Tech appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value Analyst price target for TTEK is US$191, which is 24% above our fair value estimateHow far off is Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex.We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Tetra Tech What's The Estimated Valuation?We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:Story continues10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate2024202520262027202820292030203120322033 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$293.9mUS$354.4mUS$378.3mUS$398.6mUS$416.1mUS$431.7mUS$445.7mUS$458.7mUS$471.1mUS$483.0mGrowth Rate Estimate SourceAnalyst x4Analyst x2Est @ 6.74%Est @ 5.37%Est @ 4.40%Est @ 3.73%Est @ 3.25%Est @ 2.92%Est @ 2.69%Est @ 2.53% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 6.9% US$275US$310US$310US$305US$298US$290US$280US$269US$259US$248("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$2.8bAfter calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.9%.Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2033 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$483m× (1 + 2.2%) ÷ (6.9%– 2.2%) = US$10bPresent Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$10b÷ ( 1 + 6.9%)10= US$5.4bThe total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$8.2b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of US$158, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.dcfImportant AssumptionsWe would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Tetra Tech as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.9%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.946. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.SWOT Analysis for Tetra TechStrengthEarnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.WeaknessEarnings growth over the past year is below its 5-year average.Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Commercial Services market.Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.OpportunityAnnual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the American market.ThreatAnnual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.Next Steps:Whilst important, the DCF calculation shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Tetra Tech, we've compiled three additional elements you should look at:Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Tetra Tech you should know about.Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market's sentiment for TTEK's future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors.Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

A Look At The Intrinsic Value Of Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/look-intrinsic-value-tetra-tech-122928410.html

c16ec2c0-914b-3d9c-8b75-60941dc436be

TTEK

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Tetra Tech (TTEK). Shares have lost about 5.3% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.Will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Tetra due for a breakout? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.Tetra Tech Q3 Earnings & Revenues Beat, ’23 View UpTetra Tech reported impressive third-quarter fiscal 2023 (ended Jul 2, 2023) results. The company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.3%, marking the 24th consecutive quarter of delivering a surprise. Sales also surpassed estimates by 1.5%.Tetra Tech’s adjusted earnings per share in the reported fiscal quarter were $1.29, ahead of the consensus estimate of adjusted earnings per share of $1.18. Quarterly earnings expanded 19.4% from the year-ago reported figure of 1.08 cents per share.The bottom line also surpassed management’s projection of earnings of $1.15-$1.20 per share.Revenue & Segmental PerformanceIn the fiscal third quarter, Tetra Tech generated adjusted revenues of $1,208.9 million, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 35.8%. Adjusted net revenues (adjusted revenues minus subcontractor costs) were $987.6 million, up 37.1% year over year. The quarterly top line came above management’s guidance of $750-$800 million.Tetra Tech’s revenues exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $973 million.The backlog at the end of the fiscal quarter was $4,386.3 million, up 25% year over year.Revenues from U.S. Federal customers (accounting for 25% of the quarter’s revenues) were up 30% year over year, supported by broad-based environmental growth. U.S. Commercial sales (20% of the quarter’s revenues) increased 22% year over year on higher clean Energy and Environmental sales.U.S. State and Local sales (12% of the quarter’s revenues) increased 16%, due to strength in digital water. International sales (43% of the quarter’s revenues) increased 68% year over year, backed by higher sustainable Infrastructure sales.Tetra Tech reports revenues under the segments discussed below:Net sales of the Government Services Group segment were $390 million, up 16% year over year. Revenues from the Commercial/International Services Group segment totaled $597 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 55%.Story continuesMargin ProfileIn the fiscal third quarter, Tetra Tech’s subcontractor costs totaled $221.4 million, reflecting an increase of 30.4% from the year-ago quarter. Other costs of revenues (adjusted) were $798.7 million, up 38.7% from the fiscal third quarter 2022. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $89.1 million, up 46.2% from the year-ago fiscal quarter.Operating income (adjusted) in the reported fiscal quarter increased 20.4% year over year to $99.8 million, while the adjusted margin increased 60 basis points to 12.1%.Balance Sheet and Cash FlowWhile exiting third-quarter fiscal 2023, Tetra Tech had cash and cash equivalents of $176.1 million, compared with $185.1 million recorded at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. Long-term debt was $906.9 million, compared with $246.2 million recorded at the end of fourth-quarter fiscal 2022.In the first nine months of fiscal 2023, Tetra Tech generated net cash of $246.1 million from operating activities, compared with $276 million in the prior fiscal year’s comparable period. Capital expenditure was $17.3 million, up 106.2% year over year. In the said fiscal period, TTEK’s proceeds from borrowings amounted to $979.9 million, while repayments on long-term debt totaled $411.7 million.Shareholder-Friendly PoliciesTetra Tech distributed dividends totaling $38.3 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2023. This compares favorably with the dividends of $33.8 million distributed in the year-ago fiscal period.Fiscal 2023 Outlook RaisedFor fiscal 2023 (ending September 2023), Tetra Tech anticipates net revenues of $3.66-$3.71 billion, compared with $3.10 - $3.20 billion anticipated earlier. The midpoint of the guided range — $3.69 billion — lies above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.66 billion. Adjusted earnings are predicted to be $5.23-$5.28 per share, compared with $5.07-$5.17 per share predicted earlier. The consensus estimate for the same is $5.12 per share.For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, management estimates net revenues of $965-$1,015 million. The midpoint of the guided range — $990 million — lies above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $976.7 million. Adjusted earnings are projected to be $1.43-$1.48 per share for the fiscal quarter. The midpoint of the guided range — $1.46 — lies above the consensus estimate of adjusted earnings of $1.44 per share.How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?In the past month, investors have witnessed an upward trend in fresh estimates.VGM ScoresCurrently, Tetra has a nice Growth Score of B, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with a C. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of C on the value side, putting it in the middle 20% for this investment strategy.Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of B. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.OutlookEstimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of this revision looks promising. It comes with little surprise Tetra has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We expect an above average return from the stock in the next few months.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportTetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Why Is Tetra (TTEK) Down 5.3% Since Last Earnings Report?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-tetra-ttek-down-5-153025203.html

0e2c8fb1-6dc3-3932-a2d9-37cd6be90bbb

TTGT

The Company was again named in the Gartner Market Guide for Revenue Data Solutions and now also appears in the Gartner Hype Cycle™ for Revenue and Sales Technology, 2023NEWTON, Mass., August 17, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TechTarget, Inc. (Nasdaq: TTGT), the global leader in B2B technology purchase intent data and services, today announced it has been recognized in the April 2023 Gartner Market Guide for Revenue Data Solutions and July 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle for Revenue and Sales Technology, 2023 reports. This is the second time in a row that the Company was named in the Market Guide for Revenue Data Solutions. For TechTarget, we believe these inclusions mark broader recognition of the significant outcomes that B2B revenue and sales teams are achieving leveraging TechTarget’s proprietary Prospect-Level Intent™ data and its portfolio of revenue-driving solutions."We feel it is very rewarding to be acknowledged by Gartner in these reports," said Michael Cotoia, Chief Executive Officer, TechTarget. "We believe our inclusion is reflective of how TechTarget’s powerful combination of market-leading intent data and its suite of sales intelligence & execution solutions are helping our clients’ revenue-oriented teams more effectively target, prioritize and engage real buying teams, significantly accelerating opportunities and closing more deals faster."The Hype Cycle for Revenue and Sales Technology states, "Buying groups continue to grow in size and rely more on digital channels for their needs. As a result, revenue data solutions help go-to-market (GTM) teams identify and target the right individuals and companies by facilitating the acquisition, combination, refinement and application of buyer data. Sales leaders are able to use insights into buyer behavior and engagement to improve prioritization strategies, thus streamlining workflows and increasing productivity at scale."Leveraging TechTarget’s unique intent data available within its proprietary Priority Engine platform, revenue teams can get direct access to powerful audiences – a uniquely concentrated population of enterprise tech buying teams -- actively researching purchase solutions on the TechTarget network. The actionable insights available in the platform, combined with TechTarget’s expansive suite of marketing & sales services, allow clients to engage the right buyers in an actual buying-relevant context. According to a recent TechTarget study across 92,600 accounts and 368,000 individual opportunities, those that were influenced by TechTarget matured to closed-won status 35% faster than those that were not.Story continuesTechTarget, as a top provider of Prospect-Level Intent data for Enterprise Tech, has received many recent accolades acknowledging the impact of its purchase intent data-driven offerings. It was recently named a leader in The Forrester Wave, B2B Intent Data Providers, Q2 2023 and Quadrant Knowledge Solutions’ SPARK Matrix, Account-Based Marketing Platform, 2023. In June, Priority Engine also won (2) 2023 CODiE Awards for Best Sales & Marketing Intelligence Solution and Best Marketing Solution.For more information on TechTarget Priority Engine and TechTarget’s proprietary intent data, visit www.techtarget.com/Priority-Engine.About TechTargetTechTarget (Nasdaq: TTGT) is the global leader in purchase intent-driven marketing and sales services that deliver business impact for enterprise technology companies. By creating abundant, high-quality editorial content across 150 highly targeted technology-specific websites and more than 1,000 channels, TechTarget attracts and nurtures communities of technology buyers researching their companies’ information technology needs. By understanding these buyers’ content consumption behaviors, TechTarget creates the purchase intent insights that fuel efficient and effective marketing and sales activities for clients around the world.TechTarget has offices in Boston, London, Munich, New York, Paris, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, visit techtarget.com and follow us on LinkedIn.(C) 2023 TechTarget, Inc. All rights reserved. TechTarget and the TechTarget logo are registered trademarks and Priority Engine and Prospect-Level Intent are trademarks of TechTarget. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.GARTNER and HYPE CYCLE are registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230817578299/en/ContactsGarrett MannVice President, Corporate CommunicationsTechTarget, [email protected]

Business Wire

TechTarget Recognized in Multiple Gartner® Reports

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/techtarget-recognized-multiple-gartner-reports-190200977.html

f8bd9fe2-994f-3907-a1b7-819b8161e2e6

TTGT

One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand TechTarget, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTGT).Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital. Check out our latest analysis for TechTarget How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' EquitySo, based on the above formula, the ROE for TechTarget is:13% = US$26m ÷ US$202m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.13 in profit.Does TechTarget Have A Good Return On Equity?Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. Pleasingly, TechTarget has a superior ROE than the average (10%) in the Media industry.roeThat's what we like to see. Bear in mind, a high ROE doesn't always mean superior financial performance. Especially when a firm uses high levels of debt to finance its debt which may boost its ROE but the high leverage puts the company at risk. You can see the 2 risks we have identified for TechTarget by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.How Does Debt Impact Return On Equity?Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.Story continuesCombining TechTarget's Debt And Its 13% Return On EquityIt's worth noting the high use of debt by TechTarget, leading to its debt to equity ratio of 2.26. There's no doubt its ROE is decent, but the very high debt the company carries is not too exciting to see. Debt increases risk and reduces options for the company in the future, so you generally want to see some good returns from using it.SummaryReturn on equity is a useful indicator of the ability of a business to generate profits and return them to shareholders. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better.But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So I think it may be worth checking this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

A Closer Look At TechTarget, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TTGT) Impressive ROE

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/closer-look-techtarget-inc-nasdaq-143125241.html

05e41344-d868-3446-8f39-5a3b07662e24

TTI

Most of us have heard the dictum "the trend is your friend." And this is undeniably the key to success when it comes to short-term investing or trading. But it isn't easy to ensure the sustainability of a trend and profit from it.Often, the direction of a stock's price movement reverses quickly after taking a position in it, making investors incur a short-term capital loss. So, it's important to ensure that there are enough factors -- such as sound fundamentals, positive earnings estimate revisions, etc. -- that could keep the momentum in the stock going.Investors looking to make a profit from stocks that are currently on the move may find our "Recent Price Strength" screen pretty useful. This predefined screen comes handy in spotting stocks that are on an uptrend backed by strength in their fundamentals, and trading in the upper portion of their 52-week high-low range, which is usually an indicator of bullishness.Tetra Technologies (TTI) is one of the several suitable candidates that passed through the screen. Here are the key reasons why it could be a profitable bet for "trend" investors.A solid price increase over a period of 12 weeks reflects investors' continued willingness to pay more for the potential upside in a stock. TTI is quite a good fit in this regard, gaining 85.6% over this period.However, it's not enough to look at the price change for around three months, as it doesn't reflect any trend reversal that might have happened in a shorter time frame. It's important for a potential winner to maintain the price trend. A price increase of 9.3% over the past four weeks ensures that the trend is still in place for the stock of this oil and gas services company.Moreover, TTI is currently trading at 94.6% of its 52-week High-Low Range, hinting that it can be on the verge of a breakout.Looking at the fundamentals, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which means it is in the top 20% of more than the 4,000 stocks that we rank based on trends in earnings estimate revisions and EPS surprises -- the key factors that impact a stock's near-term price movements.Story continuesThe Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>Another factor that confirms the company's fundamental strength is its Average Broker Recommendation of #1 (Strong Buy). This indicates that the brokerage community is highly optimistic about the stock's near-term price performance.So, the price trend in TTI may not reverse anytime soon.In addition to TTI, there are several other stocks that currently pass through our "Recent Price Strength" screen. You may consider investing in them and start looking for the newest stocks that fit these criteria.This is not the only screen that could help you find your next winning stock pick. Based on your personal investing style, you may choose from over 45 Zacks Premium Screens that are strategically created to beat the market.However, keep in mind that the key to a successful stock-picking strategy is to ensure that it produced profitable results in the past. You could easily do that with the help of the Zacks Research Wizard. In addition to allowing you to backtest the effectiveness of your strategy, the program comes loaded with some of our most successful stock-picking strategies.Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportTetra Technologies, Inc. (TTI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Here's Why Momentum in Tetra Technologies (TTI) Should Keep going

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-momentum-tetra-technologies-125006626.html

b9a7f8fa-1ed9-39f7-8e2d-fb81426dc446

TTI

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Sept. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TETRA Technologies, Inc. ("TETRA" or the "Company") (NYSE:TTI) announced that its senior management will be presenting at the H.C. Wainwright 25th Annual Global Investment Conference in New York City on September 12, 2023 from 12:30 to 1:00 P.M. (ET). Brady Murphy, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Elijio Serrano, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be hosting one-on-one meetings throughout the day. Interested parties who would like to participate in one-on-one meetings, please register on the following link (www.hcwevents.com/annualconference).Company OverviewTETRA Technologies, Inc. is an energy services and solutions company operating on six continents with a focus on bromine-based completion fluids, calcium chloride, water management solutions, frac flowback, and production well testing services. Calcium chloride is used in the oil and gas, industrial, agricultural, road, food, and beverage markets. TETRA is evolving its business model by expanding into the low carbon energy markets with its chemistry expertise, key mineral acreage, and global infrastructure. Low carbon energy initiatives include commercialization of TETRA PureFlow® ultra-pure zinc bromide clear brine fluid that is used for stationary batteries and energy storage and development of TETRA's lithium and bromine mineral acreage to meet the growing demand for oil and gas products and energy storage. Visit the Company's website at www.tetratec.com for more information or connect with us on LinkedIn.TETRA Technologies, Inc. logo. (PRNewsFoto/TETRA Technologies, Inc.)CisionView original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tetra-technologies-inc-to-participate-in-the-hc-wainwright-25th-annual-global-investment-conference-301919879.htmlSOURCE TETRA Technologies, Inc.

PR Newswire

TETRA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. TO PARTICIPATE IN THE H.C. WAINWRIGHT 25TH ANNUAL GLOBAL INVESTMENT CONFERENCE

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tetra-technologies-inc-participate-h-210000254.html

2264b4e6-b15e-35bc-a795-87bf4c91dff1

TTNP

Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Company to receive $2 million in upfront payments, with the potential to receive up to $50 million in milestone payments and single digit royalty payments on future net salesSAN FRANCISCO, July 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTNP) ("Titan" or the "Company") today announced that it has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Fedson, Inc., a Delaware Corporation (“Fedson”), for the sale of certain ProNeura assets including Titan’s portfolio of drug addiction products, in addition to other early development programs based on the ProNeura drug delivery technology. The Company’s addiction portfolio consists of the Probuphine and Nalmefene implant programs. Under the terms of the Agreement, Fedson will purchase the ProNeura assets from Titan for an upfront purchase price of $2 million ($1 million at closing, $1 million to be held in escrow pending completion of certain conditions) with potential milestone payments to Titan of up to $50 million on future net sales of the products. Titan would also receive single digit royalties on future net sales of the products. Additionally, Fedson will assume all liabilities related to a pending employment claim against Titan. The transaction is expected to close 10 days following signing of the Agreement.“This transaction provides the opportunity for two much-needed products for the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder to continue, with the potential return of Probuphine as an available treatment option and the possible continuation of the development of the Nalmefene product, and allows Titan to renew our focus on extracting value from our principal asset, TP-2021 for the treatment of pruritus,” commented Kate Beebe DeVarney, Ph.D., President and Chief Operating Officer of Titan Pharmaceuticals.“We are pleased to announce the sale of these potentially lifesaving assets to Fedson,” stated David E. Lazar, Chief Executive Officer of Titan Pharmaceuticals. “The injection of this upfront non-dilutive capital, with the potential for future milestone and royalty payments not only strengthens our current balance sheet but provides future upside potential. This transaction is in line with our focus to evaluate all options to enhance shareholder value.” Story continuesAbout Titan PharmaceuticalsTitan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTNP), based in South San Francisco, CA, is a development stage company developing proprietary therapeutics with its ProNeura® long-term, continuous drug delivery technology. The ProNeura technology has the potential to be used in developing products for treating a number of chronic conditions, where maintaining consistent, around-the-clock blood levels of medication may benefit the patient and improve medical outcomes. In December 2021, Titan commenced a process to explore and evaluate strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to our product development programs and any other statements that are not historical facts. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations include those risks and uncertainties relating to our ability to raise capital, the regulatory approval process, the development, testing, production and marketing of our drug candidates, patent and intellectual property matters and strategic agreements and relationships. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. A complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect Schmitt's business, including the business of its subsidiary, is included in "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Media & Investor Contacts:Kate Beebe DeVarney, Ph.D.President and Chief Operating Officer (650) 989-2268

GlobeNewswire

Titan Pharmaceuticals Announces Sale of Certain ProNeura Assets

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/titan-pharmaceuticals-announces-sale-certain-113000686.html

087a5529-1b9f-3017-986b-198612f64304

TTNP

Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TTNP) experienced a loss of -8.52% in its daily trading and a 3-month loss of -30.01%. With a Loss Per Share of $0.57, the question arises: is the stock significantly overvalued? This article seeks to explore this valuation question by providing an in-depth analysis. Let's dive in.Company IntroductionWarning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with TTNP. Click here to check it out. TTNP 30-Year Financial DataThe intrinsic value of TTNPTitan Pharmaceuticals Inc is a pharmaceutical company that develops therapeutics utilizing its proprietary long-term drug delivery platform, ProNeura. This platform is used for the treatment of select chronic diseases where steady state delivery of a drug provides efficacy and/or safety benefits. The company's first product based on ProNeura technology, the Probuphine (buprenorphine) implant, has been approved in the United States, Canada, and the European Union for the maintenance treatment of opioid use disorder in clinically stable patients taking 8 mg or less a day of oral buprenorphine.At a price of $0.5 per share, Titan Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TTNP) has a market cap of $7.60 million. However, the GF Value, an estimation of its fair value, stands at $0.01, indicating that the stock may be significantly overvalued.Unveiling Titan Pharmaceuticals (TTNP)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive GuideUnderstanding GF ValueThe GF Value represents the current intrinsic value of a stock, derived from our proprietary method. This value is calculated based on historical multiples, GuruFocus adjustment factor based on the company's past returns and growth, and future estimates of business performance. In the case of Titan Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TTNP), the stock appears to be significantly overvalued based on the GF Value calculation.Because Titan Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TTNP) is significantly overvalued, the long-term return of its stock is likely to be much lower than its future business growth.Unveiling Titan Pharmaceuticals (TTNP)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive GuideFinancial StrengthInvesting in companies with poor financial strength carries a higher risk of permanent loss of capital. It's essential to review a company's financial strength before deciding whether to buy its stock. Titan Pharmaceuticals has a cash-to-debt ratio of 0.82, which is worse than 81.53% of companies in the Biotechnology industry. This indicates that the financial strength of Titan Pharmaceuticals is poor.Story continuesUnveiling Titan Pharmaceuticals (TTNP)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive GuideProfitability and GrowthCompanies that have been consistently profitable over the long term offer less risk for investors. Titan Pharmaceuticals has been profitable 2 over the past 10 years. However, its operating margin is -15248.21%, which ranks worse than 92.93% of companies in the Biotechnology industry, indicating poor profitability.Growth is a crucial factor in the valuation of a company. Titan Pharmaceuticals's 3-year average revenue growth rate is worse than 98.95% of companies in the Biotechnology industry. However, its 3-year average EBITDA growth rate is 55%, which ranks better than 92.63% of companies in the industry.ROIC vs WACCComparing a company's return on invested capital (ROIC) and the weighted cost of capital (WACC) is another way to assess its profitability. For the past 12 months, Titan Pharmaceuticals's ROIC is -669.31, and its WACC is 12.15.Unveiling Titan Pharmaceuticals (TTNP)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive GuideConclusionIn conclusion, the stock of Titan Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TTNP) appears to be significantly overvalued. The company's financial condition is poor, and its profitability is weak. However, its growth ranks better than 92.63% of companies in the Biotechnology industry. For more information about Titan Pharmaceuticals stock, check out its 30-Year Financials here.To find out high-quality companies that may deliver above-average returns, please check out the GuruFocus High Quality Low Capex Screener.This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

GuruFocus.com

Unveiling Titan Pharmaceuticals (TTNP)'s Value: Is It Really Priced Right? A Comprehensive Guide

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unveiling-titan-pharmaceuticals-ttnp-value-164419384.html

26caf0e0-c9cd-322c-96f7-666822a617a7

TTWO

It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Take-Two Interactive (TTWO). Shares have added about 1.1% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Take-Two due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.Take-Two Q1 Earnings Lag Estimates, Revenues Up Y/YTake-Two Interactive Software reported first-quarter fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings of 36 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. The company reported earnings of 61 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.Net revenues jumped 16.5% year over year to $1.28 billion.Game revenues (85.3% of revenues) improved 7.5% year over year to $1.1 billion. Advertising revenues (14.7% of revenues) surged 126.7% year over year to $188.6 million.Quarter DetailsRecurrent consumer spending (which is generated from ongoing consumer engagement and includes virtual currency, add-on content, in-game purchases and in-game advertising) surged 29% year over year and accounted for 83% of total net revenues.Top-line growth benefited from strong adoption titles, including NBA 2K23, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, hyper-casual mobile portfolio, Toon Blast, Empires & Puzzles, Merge Dragons!, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, Words With Friends and Toy Blast.Take-Two’s gross profit increased 1.9% year over year to $679.2 million. Reported gross margin was 52.9% compared with 60.5% reported in the year-ago quarter.Operating expenses surged 25.5% year over year to $883.5 million.Operating loss was $204.3 million against the year-ago quarter’s operating income of $128.9 million.Balance SheetAs of Jun 30, 2023, Take-Two had $1.27 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments compared with $1.01 billion as of Mar 31, 2023.The company had a debt of $3.08 billion as of Jun 30, almost unchanged from Mar 31, 2023.Story continuesGuidanceFor the second quarter of fiscal 2024, Take-Two expects GAAP net revenues between $1.26 billion and $1.31 billion. It expects a loss between $1 and 90 cents per share.For fiscal 2024, the company expects GAAP net revenues between $5.37 billion and $5.47 billion. It expects a loss between $3.20 and $2.95 per share.For fiscal 2024, net cash provided by operating activities is expected to be roughly $90 million. Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $180 million.How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in estimates revision.VGM ScoresAt this time, Take-Two has a poor Growth Score of F, a grade with the same score on the momentum front. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of F on the value side, putting it in the lowest quintile for this investment strategy.Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.OutlookEstimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of this revision indicates a downward shift. Notably, Take-Two has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.Performance of an Industry PlayerTake-Two belongs to the Zacks Toys - Games - Hobbies industry. Another stock from the same industry, Hasbro (HAS), has gained 10.4% over the past month. More than a month has passed since the company reported results for the quarter ended June 2023.Hasbro reported revenues of $1.21 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -9.7%. EPS of $0.49 for the same period compares with $1.15 a year ago.Hasbro is expected to post earnings of $1.82 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +28.2%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -1.2%.Hasbro has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of F.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportTake-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportHasbro, Inc. (HAS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Take-Two (TTWO) Up 1.1% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Continue?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/two-ttwo-1-1-since-153055448.html

3dd74e2a-c0be-378c-8350-a4579c4ebb4f

TTWO

Celebrate 25 years of the award-winning NBA 2K series featuring new ProPLAY™* technology, Crossplay**, a new MAMBA MOMENTS™ mode and moreNEW YORK, September 08, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, 2K announced that NBA® 2K24, the latest iteration of the top-rated NBA video game simulation series, is now available worldwide on PlayStation®5 (PS5®), PlayStation®4 (PS4®), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch™ family of systems, and PC***. Players can experience the past, present, and future of hoops culture with innovative updates in NBA 2K24. A focus on increased realism and competition are at the forefront of the newest entry with the introduction of immersive ProPLAY technology and crossplay functionality for New Gen, alongside so much more.This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230908269347/en/Today, 2K announced that NBA® 2K24, the latest iteration of the top-rated NBA video game simulation series, is now available worldwide on PlayStation®5 (PS5®), PlayStation®4 (PS4®), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchTM family of systems, and PC***. Players can experience the past, present, and future of hoops culture with innovative updates in NBA 2K24. A focus on increased realism and competition are at the forefront of the newest entry with the introduction of immersive ProPLAY technology and crossplay functionality for New Gen, alongside so much more. (Graphic: Business Wire)"NBA 2K24 is a special entry for us because we get to celebrate one of basketball’s greatest players of all time - Kobe Bryant - and the 25th anniversary of the series," said Greg Thomas, President at Visual Concepts. "We’ve ushered in a new era of 2K, thanks to the groundbreaking ProPLAY technology delivering the most authentic and realistic NBA 2K gameplay to date. NBA 2K24 also introduces new updates to our beloved modes with incredible details that will delight gamers and basketball fans alike."Story continuesNBA 2K24 Seasons will feature new Season Pass options and a unified Seasonal progressions track that combines MyCAREER and MyTEAM into one linear rewards system. Jump into the first Season right away to enjoy unique experiences across MyCAREER, MyTEAM, and The W*. From new events to exciting rewards and powerful MyTEAM cards, Season 1 is just the beginning of what’s set to be an action-packed year.NBA 2K24 features a series of innovations, from ProPLAY, a brand-new beachfront City*, to the MAMBA MOMENTS™ mode and more, including:UNPARALLELED REALISM* - NBA 2K24 New Gen introduces ProPLAY, a groundbreaking new technology that directly translates actual NBA footage into NBA 2K24 gameplay. ProPLAY delivers animations and movements via on-court NBA action for a generational leap in authenticity on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.GAME RECOGNIZES GAME - New gameplay innovations in NBA 2K24 deliver an elevated basketball experience for all. Experience next-level gameplay and lifelike visuals as players compete with their favorite NBA and WNBA teams. Showcase your deep arsenal of moves with revamped interior defense and dribble combo controls for more rewarding skill-based actions and effectiveness. Enjoy pure, authentic action with up-to-date rosters and historic teams bringing players even closer to the game like never before.MAMBA MOMENTS™ - In the all-new mode, players can recreate some of Kobe’s most dominant and captivating performances during his rise to global superstardom. Revisit his early career triumphs as a young phenom, and progress through his transcendent journey from elite scorer to one of the greatest players of all time.HOOP IN PARADISE - Explore the brand-new City on New Gen as you flex your skills with non-stop hoops. Take in the vibrant and sun-soaked beachfront views during the day and explore the electrifying and vivid atmosphere as night falls. Step up your game with your MyPLAYER in a new picturesque Neighborhood (for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC) filled with streamlined quests as they rise to the top. Players can take control of their legacy in MyCAREER and ascend from a generational talent to a Hall of Famer as they chase greatness and championships along the way.MANAGE YOUR MyTEAM - MyTEAM is back with foundational changes delivering one of the most all-encompassing card-collecting modes in the industry. Draw from the past and present using today’s All-Stars and all-time legends to form a squad capable of dominating single player and multiplayer modes. MyTEAM features a collection of innovative improvements, including an all-new salary cap mode, while maintaining its signature competitive feel.PURSUE GREATNESS WITH THE W* - Pick your path in NBA 2K24 and become one of the greatest players The W has ever seen. New Gen players on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles will be able to take on their rivals in the all-new "Pursuit of Greatness" feature and climb the ranks with the GOAT meter that tracks in-game performance. Compete in 3v3 street games, complete challenges, and unlock exciting rewards on the way to becoming a legend on the court.MyNBA* - New to MyNBA will be the LeBron era, beginning in 2011. Players can guide their team against, or even with LeBron and take their franchise to the next level against some of the all-time greats. Also coming to NBA 2K24 is MyNBA Lite, a casual, easier to navigate version of the main mode aimed at players who just want to make a few moves and get on with the action.18-time All-Star, five-time NBA Champion, two-time Finals MVP, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, all-time leading scorer for the Los Angeles Lakers and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, Kobe Bryant is featured as the NBA® 2K24 KOBE BRYANT Edition and BLACK MAMBA Edition cover athlete. The KOBE BRYANT Edition is available for $59.99**** on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC and $69.99**** on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The BLACK MAMBA Edition is available for $99.99**** on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch family of systems, and PC. In addition, the limited availability 25th Anniversary Edition will be available through September 10, 2023, for $149.99**** on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.Players in the U.S. and Canada can also purchase an exclusive GameStop version of the game, the NBA® 2K24 WNBA Edition featuring WNBA All-Star, NCAA all-time triple-doubles leader and New York Liberty guard, Sabrina Ionescu, on this year’s cover. A full breakdown of each available version is available on the NBA 2K24 official website.Developed by Visual Concepts, NBA 2K24 is rated E for Everyone from the ESRB. For more information on NBA 2K24, please visit https://nba.2k.com/2k24/.Follow NBA 2K on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook for the latest NBA 2K24 news.Visual Concepts is a 2K studio. 2K is a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).Online Account (varies 13+) required to access online features. See www.take2games.com/legal and www.take2games.com/privacy for additional details.*Crossplay, ProPLAY, The City, MyNBA, and The W are only available on the new-generation of NBA 2K24 and will require PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S hardware to play.**Crossplay only available on New Gen NBA 2K24. NBA 2K Account, internet connection and separate, paid online console subscription required.***NBA 2K24 is available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, Nintendo Switch family of systems, and PC platforms. PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S required to play the new-generation version of NBA 2K24.**** Based on 2K’s suggested retail price. Actual retail price may vary. See local store for info.About 2KFounded in 2005, 2K develops and publishes interactive entertainment for video game consoles, personal computers, and mobile devices, with product availability including physical retail and digital download. The Company is home to many talented development studios, including Visual Concepts, Firaxis Games, Hangar 13, Cat Daddy Games, 31st Union, Cloud Chamber, and HB Studios. 2K’s portfolio currently includes several AAA, sports, and entertainment brands, including global powerhouse NBA® 2K; renowned BioShock®, Borderlands®, Mafia, Sid Meier’s Civilization® and XCOM® brands; popular WWE® 2K and WWE® SuperCard franchises; as well as the critically and commercially acclaimed PGA TOUR® 2K. Additional information about 2K and its products may be found at 2k.com and on the Company’s official social media channels.About Take-Two Interactive SoftwareHeadquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher, and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products principally through Rockstar Games, 2K, Private Division, and Zynga. Our products are currently designed for console gaming systems, PC, and Mobile including smartphones and tablets, and are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms, and cloud streaming services. The Company’s common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO.All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.BLACK MAMBA®, MAMBA™, KOBE BRYANT™, MAMBA MOMENTS™, MAMBA MENTALITY®, Kobe Bryant’s signature, and the Kobe Sheath Logo are trademarks of Kobe Bryant, LLC, used with permission.Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsStatements contained herein which are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws and may be identified by words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "potential," "predicts," "projects," "seeks," "should," "will," or words of similar meaning and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the outlook for the Company's future business and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to them, which are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may vary materially from these forward-looking statements based on a variety of risks and uncertainties including: risks relating to our combination with Zynga; the uncertainty of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken in response thereto; the effect that measures taken to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic have on our operations, including our ability to timely deliver our titles and other products, and on the operations of our counterparties, including retailers and distributors; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on both consumer demand and the discretionary spending patterns of our customers as the situation with the pandemic continues to evolve; the risks of conducting business internationally; the impact of changes in interest rates by the Federal Reserve and other central banks, including on our short-term investment portfolio; the impact of inflation; volatility in foreign currency exchange rates; our dependence on key management and product development personnel; our dependence on our NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto products and our ability to develop other hit titles; our ability to leverage opportunities on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S; the timely release and significant market acceptance of our games; the ability to maintain acceptable pricing levels on our games; and risks associated with international operations.Other important factors and information are contained in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the risks summarized in the section entitled "Risk Factors," and the Company's other periodic filings with the SEC, which can be accessed at www.take2games.com. All forward-looking statements are qualified by these cautionary statements and apply only as of the date they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230908269347/en/ContactsPaige Farrell 2K (415) 985-5826 [email protected] Lewis (Corporate Press) Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (646) 536-2983 [email protected]

Business Wire

See You on the Court: NBA® 2K24 Now Available Worldwide

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/see-court-nba-2k24-now-140000483.html

e330aecd-658d-3624-9d09-eb21d4839fc2

TWI

For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – August 23, 2023 – Zacks Equity Research shares Alibaba BABA as the Bull of the Day and Titan International TWI as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Evolution Petroleum Corp. EPM, Profire Energy, Inc. PFIE and Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. GRNT.Here is a synopsis of all five stocks.Bull of the Day:Somewhere along the way, Chinese stocks fell out of favor. I suppose that whole “Trade War” thing had a little to do with it. Even now, the occasional headline hits the wires about US-Chinese relations having some strain. That doesn’t mean that you should ignore the stocks. To the contrary, some of these stocks are showing signs of serious growth.I lean on the Zacks Rank to help me find ideas. Stocks which are in the good graces of our Zacks Rank have the most consistent earnings trends. One such stock is today’s Bull of the Day, the well known Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.Alibaba Group Holding Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands, retailers, and other businesses to engage with their users and customers in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates through seven segments: China Commerce, International Commerce, Local Consumer Services, Cainiao, Cloud, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others.Alibaba is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) in the Internet – Commerce industry which ranks in the Top 25% of our Zacks Industry Rank. The reason for the favorable rank is the series of positive earnings estimate revisions coming from analysts over Wall Street. Over the last 30 days, two analysts have increased their earnings estimates for the current year and next year. The bullish moves have pushed up our Zacks Consensus Estimates from $7.81 to $9.16 for the current year and $8.61 to $9.96 for next year.Story continuesThat means that analysts are forecasting 15.37% EPS growth for this year and 8.73% for next year. That’s on revenue growth of 4.97% for this year and 8.95% for next year. With that sort of growth, you’d expect to see some rich valuations. However, that is not the case here with Alibaba. Forward PE on Alibaba is only 9.67x earnings. Compare that to the industry average of 18.6x earnings and the broad market’s 20.5x.Bear of the Day:With inflation hitting all around the world, several industries got a boost. Among them was the farming industry. Higher prices meant higher profits for many farms, but that was partially offset by higher input costs. Ancillary industries did well as a result, including manufacturing for farm equipment. However, just because a company is within a certain industry doesn’t guarantee its success.Today’s Bear of the Day is a stock in the Manufacturing – Farm Equipment industry. It’s the Bear of the Day because of weakness in earnings estimate revisions coming from analysts on Wall Street. It is Titan International.Titan International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells wheels, tires, and undercarriage systems and components for off-highway vehicles in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States region, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and internationally. The company operates in Agricultural, Earthmoving/Construction, and Consumer segments.The reason for the unfavorable rank is that two analysts have cut estimates for the current quarter, next quarter, current year and next year over the last thirty days. The bearish moves have dropped our Zacks Consensus Estimates for the current year down from $1.83 to $1.50 while next year’s number is off from $1.89 to $1.73.That means that current year EPS is set to contract by 31.82% for the year, but next year marks a return to growth. Next year’s 15% growth number is a step in the right direction, yet not enough to make up for this year’s contraction. Tough for the company to provide EPS growth when revenue forecasts call for a 13.36% contraction in revenue within a year.The Manufacturing – Farm Equipment industry ranks In the Bottom 29% of our Zacks Industry Rank.Additional content:Combat Volatility with These 3 Low-Beta Energy StocksOil prices have witnessed wild swings since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting that notorious volatility is an integral part of the energy sector. Hence, creating a portfolio of low-beta energy stocks is of utmost importance since the securities will deliver healthy returns and shield against choppy market conditions.In this regard, stocks like Evolution Petroleum Corp., Profire Energy, Inc. and Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. are worth betting on.Extremely Volatile Energy MarketWe should not forget how oil prices have behaved since the initial coronavirus outbreak. The early pandemic period, when there were no vaccines, saw an environment of heightened uncertainties. The commodity’s price plunged to a negative $36.98 per barrel on Apr 20, 2020.However, with the rapid developments of vaccines by scientists, which led to the gradual reopening of the economies, the pricing scenario of West Texas Intermediate crude improved drastically over time to reach $123.64 per barrel on Mar 8, 2022. Oil price data were provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Oil is currently trading higher than the $80-per-barrel mark.Low-Beta Energy Stocks to the RescueWhile the energy market is highly volatile, it will be better to consider stocks belonging to the sector that are less volatile than the market. For analyzing a stock’s risk profile, it is better to employ a statistical measure called beta — one of the popular indicators. Beta measures the volatility or risk of a particular asset compared to the market. In other words, beta measures the extent of a security’s price movement relative to the market. In this article, we are considering the S&P 500 as the market.If a stock has a beta of 1, its price will move with the market. Therefore, the stock is more volatile than the market if its beta is more than 1. In the same way, the stock is not as volatile as the market if its beta is less than 1.For example, if the market offers a return of 20%, a stock with a beta of 3 will return 60%, which is overwhelming. Similarly, when the market slips 20%, the stock will sink 60%, which is devastating.While employing our proprietary stock screener, we have zeroed in on three low-beta energy stocks that investors should bet on. The three companies currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), and all have a beta lower than 1, which is our prime criterion for screening stocks. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Evolution Petroleum is a well-known name in the upstream space, with investments in onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The company’s production outlook seems bright since it has a long life and low decline asset bases with low-risk development inventories. Thanks to the low-risk assets and conservative acquisitions, EPM has the capability of returning capital back to shareholders through growing dividends. Profire Energy is a leading provider of powerful and safe burner and combustion management solutions. PFIE’s business is mainly focused on the energy sector’s upstream, midstream and downstream areas. Profire Energy is highly focused on expanding its product solutions in oil and gas operations that have new opportunities.As a non-operated oil and gas exploration and production company,Granite Ridge has top-tier acreage across the Permian — the most prolific basin in the United States.Granite Ridge also has a strong portfolio of wells. Apart from the Permian, GRNT has exposure to another four key unconventional basins in the United States.Why Haven’t You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +6.2 average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +46.4%, +49.5% and +55.2% per year. Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.See Stocks Free >>Media ContactZacks Investment Research800-767-3771 ext. 9339https://www.zacks.comZacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index.Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportTitan International, Inc. (TWI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportEvolution Petroleum Corporation, Inc. (EPM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportProfire Energy, Inc. (PFIE) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAlibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGranite Ridge Resources, Inc. (GRNT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Alibaba and Titan International have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alibaba-titan-international-highlighted-zacks-121800339.html

8f96d1e4-6672-33e6-8690-1d53ff3b0120

TWI

Key InsightsSignificantly high institutional ownership implies Titan International's stock price is sensitive to their trading actionsA total of 7 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership Recent sales by insiders To get a sense of who is truly in control of Titan International, Inc. (NYSE:TWI), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 69% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).And institutional investors saw their holdings value drop by 12% last week. The recent loss, which adds to a one-year loss of 17% for stockholders, may not sit well with this group of investors. Institutions or "liquidity providers" control large sums of money and therefore, these types of investors usually have a lot of influence over stock price movements. As a result, if the downtrend continues, institutions may face pressures to sell Titan International, which might have negative implications on individual investors.Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Titan International. Check out our latest analysis for Titan International ownership-breakdownWhat Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Titan International?Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.We can see that Titan International does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Titan International's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.Story continuesearnings-and-revenue-growthInvestors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Titan International. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 15% of shares outstanding. With 13% and 6.0% of the shares outstanding respectively, MHR Fund Management LLC and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 7 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.Insider Ownership Of Titan InternationalThe definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.We can report that insiders do own shares in Titan International, Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$39m worth of the US$734m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling. General Public OwnershipWith a 13% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Titan International. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.Private Equity OwnershipWith a stake of 13%, private equity firms could influence the Titan International board. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.Next Steps:It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Titan International better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Titan International (at least 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Titan International, Inc.'s (NYSE:TWI) recent 12% pullback adds to one-year year losses, institutional owners may take drastic measures

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/titan-international-inc-nyse-twi-130039680.html

195c1d8b-8634-3f94-aa9f-d562ad08d67d

TXG

Researchers uncover mechanisms behind divergent responses to immune checkpoint blockade between primary and metastatic brain tumorsPLEASANTON, Calif., Sept. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 10x Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TXG), a leader in single cell and spatial biology, announced today that its technologies were used in a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation to explain why immune checkpoint blockade, a type of immunotherapy, is more effective for treating cancers that spread to the brain than it is for cancers that originate in the brain, like glioblastoma. The collaborative research project was led by researchers from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.10x Genomics Logo (PRNewsfoto/10x Genomics, Inc.)Researchers conducting the study, "Immune checkpoint blockade induces distinct alterations in the microenvironment of primary and metastatic brain tumors," analyzed resected glioblastoma and brain metastases from patients prior to immunotherapy and after with Chromium Single Cell Immune Profiling and Visium Spatial Gene Expression. Spatial transcriptomics revealed that brain metastases had higher T-cell infiltration into the tumor parenchyma, potentially because T-cells have already been primed in the draining lymph nodes by tumor antigens from extracranial tumors. Such priming may not occur for primary brain tumors, like glioblastoma.Researchers also found an immune subpopulation in both tumor types that was correlated with better overall survival. This population can be rejuvenated by blocking inhibitory CTLA-4 and TIGIT receptors, suggesting new combination immunotherapy strategies that are now being investigated in phase 1 trials by the group."Single cell RNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics technologies were integral to this study. In particular, we used single cell RNA-seq to identify the transcriptional program of distinct T cell sub-populations that infiltrated these tumors and how these programs changed with immunotherapy," said the study's senior author, Robert Prins, a professor of molecular and medical pharmacology and of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Spatial transcriptomics was used to overlay many of the gene signatures specific to the immune subsets and highlight how there were distinct changes in the spatial architecture following immunotherapy."Story continues"This study is the latest in more than 1,200 peer-reviewed publications that use 10x Genomics' tools to advance our understanding of cancer," said Ben Hindson, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at 10x Genomics. "We're so proud to have our technologies help researchers make new discoveries like these, which help transform our understanding of health and disease and open up new and better ways to diagnose, treat and ultimately cure cancer."This study is the latest development resulting from a partnership between 10x Genomics and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI). The collaboration began in 2021 with the goal to accelerate the pace of research in immuno-oncology by promoting joint effort research using 10x Genomics' tools.Since the start of the partnership, 10x and PICI have initiated multiple scientific collaborations focused on enabling the use of single cell, spatial transcriptomics and in situ technologies to detangle mechanisms of response and resistance to immunotherapies, like checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapies. They also worked together on a scientific workshop that was summarized in Nature Medicine in 2022.John Connolly, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of PICI, said findings from the UCLA-led study illuminate the factors shaping patient responses to immunotherapy and provide valuable insights for refining innovative strategies to transform the landscape of brain tumor treatment."By partnering with 10x Genomics, UCLA and others, we are working to accelerate breakthrough immune therapies for patients," Connolly said. "This research exemplifies the value of scientific collaboration and our dedication to addressing the challenges of brain tumors, one of the most formidable tumor types."For more information, please read this article from UCLA Health.About 10x Genomics10x Genomics is a life science technology company building products to accelerate the mastery of biology and advance human health. Our integrated solutions include instruments, consumables and software for single cell and spatial biology, which help academic and translational researchers and biopharmaceutical companies understand biological systems at a resolution and scale that matches the complexity of biology. Our products are behind breakthroughs in oncology, immunology, neuroscience and more, fueling powerful discoveries that are transforming the world's understanding of health and disease. To learn more, visit 10xgenomics.com or connect with us on LinkedIn or X (Twitter).Forward Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "will,""enable," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "would," "likely," "seek" or "continue" or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding 10x Genomics, Inc.'s expectations regarding the continued growth and expansion of our platforms, their performance and our product momentum and progress. These statements are based on management's current expectations, forecasts, beliefs, assumptions and information currently available to management, and actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors. The material risks and uncertainties that could affect 10x Genomics, Inc.'s financial and operating results and cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release include those discussed under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the company's most recently-filed 10-K and elsewhere in the documents 10x Genomics, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.Although 10x Genomics, Inc. believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot provide any assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct nor can it guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. These forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments 10x Genomics, Inc. may make. Further, such forward-looking statements may not accurately or fully reflect the potential impact of adverse geopolitical and macroeconomic events, difficulties selling in APAC, product capabilities and adoption rates, international economic, political, legal, compliance, social and business factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, supply chain that may have on the business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of 10x Genomics, Inc. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to 10x Genomics, Inc. as of the date hereof, and 10x Genomics, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements provided to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing 10x Genomics, Inc.'s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.Disclosure Information10x Genomics, Inc. uses filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, our website (www.10xgenomics.com), press releases, public conference calls, public webcasts and our social media accounts as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.ContactsInvestors: [email protected]: [email protected] original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/study-enabled-by-10x-genomics-single-cell-and-spatial-technologies-explains-why-immunotherapy-is-more-effective-for-certain-brain-tumors-than-others-301916381.htmlSOURCE 10x Genomics, Inc.

PR Newswire

Study Enabled by 10x Genomics Single Cell and Spatial Technologies Explains Why Immunotherapy is More Effective for Certain Brain Tumors Than Others

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/study-enabled-10x-genomics-single-130000565.html

abff849e-f181-3781-8374-8a2d51dd78bc

TXG

10x Genomics Inc (NASDAQ:TXG) experienced a daily loss of 5.62% and a 3-month loss of 12.81%. The company also reported a Loss Per Share of 1.49. Despite these figures, we aim to explore whether the stock is significantly undervalued. In the following analysis, we'll delve deeper into the valuation of 10x Genomics, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the stock's potential.Introduction to 10x GenomicsWarning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with TXG. Click here to check it out. TXG 30-Year Financial DataThe intrinsic value of TXG10x Genomics Inc is a U.S.-based life science technology company. The company's offerings include instruments, consumables, and software for analyzing biological systems. Its product portfolio includes Chromium Controller, Reagent Kits, 10x Compatible Products, and Informatics Software, among others. The majority of the company's revenue is generated from consumables. With a market cap of $5.60 billion and a stock price of $47.36 per share, it's worth comparing these figures to the estimated fair value of the stock, also known as the GF Value.10x Genomics (TXG)'s True Worth: A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Market ValueUnderstanding the GF Value of 10x GenomicsThe GF Value represents the current intrinsic value of a stock derived from our exclusive method. The GF Value Line on our summary page gives an overview of the fair value that the stock should be traded at. It is calculated based on three factors:1. Historical multiples (PE Ratio, PS Ratio, PB Ratio, and Price-to-Free-Cash-Flow) that the stock has traded at. 2. GuruFocus adjustment factor based on the company's past returns and growth. 3. Future estimates of the business performance.According to our valuation method, 10x Genomics shows every sign of being significantly undervalued. The stock's fair value is estimated based on historical multiples, an internal adjustment based on the company's past business growth, and analyst estimates of future business performance. If the stock's share price is significantly above the GF Value Line, the stock may be overvalued and have poor future returns. On the other hand, if the stock's share price is significantly below the GF Value Line, the stock may be undervalued and have high future returns.Story continuesBecause 10x Genomics is significantly undervalued, the long-term return of its stock is likely to be much higher than its business growth.10x Genomics (TXG)'s True Worth: A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Market ValueLink: These companies may deliver higher future returns at reduced risk.Financial Strength of 10x GenomicsInvesting in companies with low financial strength could result in permanent capital loss. Therefore, investors must carefully review a company's financial strength before deciding whether to buy shares. Looking at the cash-to-debt ratio and interest coverage can give a good initial perspective on the company's financial strength. 10x Genomics has a cash-to-debt ratio of 3.93, which ranks better than 71.67% of 653 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry. Based on this, GuruFocus ranks 10x Genomics's financial strength as 7 out of 10, suggesting a fair balance sheet.10x Genomics (TXG)'s True Worth: A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Market ValueProfitability and Growth of 10x GenomicsCompanies that have been consistently profitable over the long term offer less risk for investors who may want to purchase shares. Higher profit margins usually dictate a better investment compared to a company with lower profit margins. 10x Genomics has been profitable 0 over the past 10 years. Over the past twelve months, the company had a revenue of $568.40 million and a Loss Per Share of $1.49. Its operating margin is -31.39%, which ranks worse than 79.94% of 648 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry. Overall, the profitability of 10x Genomics is ranked 3 out of 10, indicating poor profitability.Growth is probably the most important factor in the valuation of a company. GuruFocus research has found that growth is closely correlated with the long term stock performance of a company. A faster-growing company creates more value for shareholders, especially if the growth is profitable. The 3-year average annual revenue growth of 10x Genomics is -10.3%, which ranks worse than 88.97% of 571 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry. The 3-year average EBITDA growth rate is -28.3%, which ranks worse than 89.16% of 526 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry.Evaluating Profitability: ROIC vs WACCOne can also evaluate a company's profitability by comparing its return on invested capital (ROIC) to its weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Return on invested capital (ROIC) measures how well a company generates cash flow relative to the capital it has invested in its business. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected to pay on average to all its security holders to finance its assets. If the return on invested capital exceeds the weighted average cost of capital, the company is likely creating value for its shareholders. During the past 12 months, 10x Genomics's ROIC is -37.34 while its WACC came in at 14.1.10x Genomics (TXG)'s True Worth: A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Market ValueConclusionIn conclusion, the stock of 10x Genomics shows every sign of being significantly undervalued. The company's financial condition is fair, but its profitability is poor. Its growth ranks worse than 89.16% of 526 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry. To learn more about 10x Genomics stock, you can check out its 30-Year Financials here.To find out the high-quality companies that may deliver above-average returns, please check out GuruFocus High Quality Low Capex Screener.This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

GuruFocus.com

10x Genomics (TXG)'s True Worth: A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Market Value

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10x-genomics-txg-true-worth-233728153.html

e30a2503-1151-3097-9977-8b3dd38d8a5e

TXN

In the latest trading session, Texas Instruments (TXN) closed at $164.66, marking a -0.03% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.14% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.22%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.09%.Heading into today, shares of the chipmaker had lost 1.7% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 0.07% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.27% in that time.Investors will be hoping for strength from Texas Instruments as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Texas Instruments to post earnings of $1.82 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 25.71%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.57 billion, down 12.86% from the year-ago period.For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.34 per share and revenue of $18.03 billion, which would represent changes of -21.83% and -9.96%, respectively, from the prior year.Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Texas Instruments. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Texas Instruments is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).Digging into valuation, Texas Instruments currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 22.43. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.39, so we one might conclude that Texas Instruments is trading at a premium comparatively.Story continuesAlso, we should mention that TXN has a PEG ratio of 2.4. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Semiconductor - General industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.84 as of yesterday's close.The Semiconductor - General industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 81, which puts it in the top 33% of all 250+ industries.The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.To follow TXN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportTexas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Texas Instruments (TXN) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-instruments-txn-stock-sinks-215018717.html

6a97e5a6-db1f-3978-a8a9-bd98ab1e76e0

TXN

Key InsightsInstitutions' substantial holdings in Texas Instruments implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price50% of the business is held by the top 22 shareholdersUsing data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a companyTo get a sense of who is truly in control of Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 86% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).And so it follows that institutional investors was the group most impacted after the company's market cap fell to US$150b last week after a 3.0% drop in the share price. The recent loss, which adds to a one-year loss of 0.7% for stockholders, may not sit well with this group of investors. Also referred to as "smart money", institutions have a lot of sway over how a stock's price moves. Hence, if weakness in Texas Instruments' share price continues, institutional investors may feel compelled to sell the stock, which might not be ideal for individual investors.Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Texas Instruments. View our latest analysis for Texas Instruments ownership-breakdownWhat Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Texas Instruments?Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.We can see that Texas Instruments does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Texas Instruments, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.Story continuesearnings-and-revenue-growthInvestors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Texas Instruments. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 9.7% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.8% and 4.2%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.After doing some more digging, we found that the top 22 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.Insider Ownership Of Texas InstrumentsThe definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Texas Instruments Incorporated in their own names. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own US$184m worth of shares (at current prices). In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling. General Public OwnershipWith a 13% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Texas Instruments. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.Next Steps:I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Texas Instruments (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored) .Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Texas Instruments Incorporated's (NASDAQ:TXN) recent 3.0% pullback adds to one-year year losses, institutional owners may take drastic measures

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-instruments-incorporateds-nasdaq-txn-140014845.html

30387563-e26d-35eb-b942-47938040074b

TXRH

ParticipantsDale N. Ganobsik; VP of Corporate Finance, IR & Treasurer; Lancaster Colony CorporationDavid A. Ciesinski; President, CEO & Director; Lancaster Colony CorporationThomas K. Pigott; VP, Assistant Secretary & CFO; Lancaster Colony CorporationAlton Kemp Stump; MD; Loop Capital Markets LLC, Research DivisionAndrew Paul Wolf; Senior VP & Senior Research Analyst; CL King & Associates, Inc., Research DivisionConnor Rattigan; Research Analyst; Consumer Edge Research, LLCTodd Morrison Brooks; Senior Equity Analyst; The Benchmark Company, LLC, Research DivisionPresentationOperatorGood morning. My name is Tanya, and I will be your conference call facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Lancaster Colony Corporation Fiscal Year 2023 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. Conducting today's call will be Dave Ciesinski, President and CEO; and Tom Pigott, CFO. (Operator Instructions) And now to begin the conference call, here is Dale Ganobsik, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations for Lancaster Colony Corporation. You may begin.Dale N. GanobsikGood morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Lancaster Colony's Fiscal Year 2023 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. Our discussion this morning may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based upon subsequent events. A detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties is contained in the company's filings with the SEC. Also note that the audio replay of this call will be archived and available at our company's website, lancastercolony.com later this afternoon. For today's call, Dave Ciesinski, our President and CEO, will begin with the business update and highlights for the quarter. Tom Pigott, our CFO, will then provide an overview of the financial results. Dave will then share some comments regarding our current strategy and outlook for fiscal 2024. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to respond to any of your questions. Once again, we appreciate your participation this morning. I'll now turn the call over to Lancaster Colony's President and CEO, Dave Ciesinski. Dave?Story continuesDavid A. CiesinskiThanks, Dale, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you today as we review our fourth quarter results for fiscal year 2023. In our fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30, consolidated net sales increased 50 basis points to a fourth quarter record $455 million, while gross profit declined $5.2 million to $93.2 million. As a reminder, last year's fourth quarter included an estimated $25 million in incremental net sales or 6% of the total, which were attributed to advanced orders ahead of our ERP go-live on July 1, 2022. These incremental sales added about $5 million to last year's Q4 gross profit. In our retail segment, net sales increased 1.3%, driven by the favorable impact of pricing actions to offset inflation and continued growth from our licensing program. Excluding the prior year advanced ordering ahead of our ERP go-live, retail sales volumes measured in pounds shipped increased 1.7%. Given these period-on-period shifts, it's informative to look at retailer scanner data as a barometer of our retail business. During the quarter ending June 30, retailer consumption for our branded products measured in pounds was up 4.7%, led by growth in our licensing program. Circana data, formerly IRI, showed notable share gains in the quarter for our category-leading New York Bakery and Sister Schubert brands. New York Bakery's leading share of the frozen garlic bread category grew 180 basis points to 42.3%, and Sister Schubert's leading share of the frozen dinner roll category increased 200 basis points to 56.1%. Our licensed products also continued to perform very well during the quarter as Chick-fil-A sauces were up 28% to $43.7 million, Olive Garden dressings were up 15.8% to $42.6 million, and Buffalo Wild Wings sauces were up 43.1% to $20.7 million. I'm also happy to report that Chick-fil-A sauces were recently recognized by Circana as a new product paysetter. In calendar year 2022, Chick-fil-A sauces were the fastest-growing retail food item in the food and mass channels, generating more than $140 million in retail sales. In the Foodservice segment, net sales were essentially flat at $218 million and compared with a significant increase of 28% in last year's fourth quarter. In addition to the impact of last year's advanced ordering, which comprised about 8%, Foodservice sales also reflect a modest slowdown in traffic for some of our national chain customers. During Q4, we continued to experience high levels of inflation for raw materials and packaging. Although we did note a considerable decline in the rate of inflation compared to the first 3 quarters of fiscal year 2023. Through the benefit of our pricing actions, our Q4 PNOC, or Pricing Net Of Commodities was favorable versus the prior year. This is a continuation of the trend that began in Q1 of fiscal year 2023, whereby we are recovering some of the prior year's negative PNOC. Q4 gross profit fell short of our expectations as we incurred some temporary costs associated with our long-term strategic investments in production capacity and our ERP network. These issues have since been resolved, and we look forward to the many benefits these investments will provide our business in the years ahead. Our focus on supply chain productivity, value engineering and revenue management will also remain core elements to improve our financial performance during fiscal year 2024 and beyond. I'll now turn the call over to Tom Pigott, our CFO, for his commentary on our fourth quarter results.Thomas K. PigottThanks, Dave. The results for the quarter reflected continued top line growth and favorable pricing net of commodities performance versus the prior year quarter. These positive contributions were offset by 3 items: comping to the prior year quarter's customer pull forward of shipments in advance of our SAP go-live, short-term challenges we experienced in our gross profit performance that Dave mentioned and a noncash impairment charge we recorded in our flat-out business. Fourth quarter consolidated net sales increased by 50 basis points to $454.7 million. Decomposing the revenue performance, revenue was unfavorably impacted by approximately 5.9 percentage points from the pull forward, while higher pricing contributed 6.4 percentage points of growth. Consolidated gross profit declined by $5.2 million or 5.3% to $93.2 million versus the prior year quarter. The gross profit decline was driven by comping to the prior year's pull forward of customer orders, which we estimate to have been an approximate $5 million headwind, start-up costs at our recently expanded Horse Cave dressings and sauce facility, interim inefficiencies at facilities we recently added to our SAP network and costs related to a discontinued product line. These unfavorable impacts were partially offset by favorable pricing net of commodity performance. Our commodity inflation was approximately 9% this quarter, reflecting some moderation in the level of year-over-year inflation we experienced. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 4.7% or $2.6 million. The increase reflects investments to support the growth of the business as well as higher IT and personnel costs. The investments to support the growth of the business included higher consumer spending and increased brokerage costs. Consumer spending increased in the second half as our product supply position has improved. Expenditures for Project Ascent, our ERP initiative, were down, partially offsetting these increases. Costs related to the project totaled $5.6 million in the current year quarter versus $11 million in the prior year quarter. During the quarter, we recorded a $25 million noncash impairment charge to reduce the carrying value of our Flatout flatbread business and tangible assets. The impairment charge was reflected in our Retail segment. In the prior year quarter, restructuring and impairment charges totaled $10.5 million. Consolidated operating income decreased $22.2 million to $11.5 million due to the impact of the impairment charge as well as the lower gross profit and higher SG&A costs I mentioned. Our tax rate for the quarter was 26.4%, the tax rate was impacted by lower pretax income due to the impairment charge. We estimate our tax rate for fiscal '24 to be 23%. Fourth quarter diluted earnings per share decreased $0.73 to $0.33. The year-over-year impact of the restructuring and impairment charges was unfavorable by $0.41 per share. The net impact of the reduction in project Ascent expenses was favorable at $0.15. With regard to capital expenditures, our full year payments for property additions totaled $90.2 million. For fiscal '24, we are forecasting total capital expenditures of $70 million to $80 million. This forecast reflects a decline versus the prior 2-year spending with the Horse Cave expansion now substantially complete. In addition to investing in our business, we also returned funds to shareholders. Our quarterly cash dividend of $0.85 per share paid on June 30 represented a 6% increase from the prior year's amount. Our full year dividend payments were $92.4 million and our enduring streak of annual dividend increases stands at 60 years. The company was able to fund the capital investments and dividend payments through its operating cash flow generating ability. Operating cash flow totaled $226 million on the year. Our financial position remains strong with a debt-free balance sheet and $88.5 million in cash. So to wrap up my commentary, our fourth quarter results reflect a continued investment in the company as well as some short-term challenges we incurred as we position the company for future growth. I'll now turn it back over to Dave for his closing remarks. Thank you.David A. CiesinskiThanks, Tom. As we look ahead, Lancaster Colony will continue to leverage the combined strength of our team, our operating strategy and our balance sheet in support of the 3 simple pillars of our growth plan to: one, accelerate core business growth; two, simplify our supply chain to reduce our cost and grow our margins; and three, to expand our core with focused M&A and strategic licensing. In fiscal year 2024, we anticipate retail segment sales will continue to benefit from volume growth led by our licensing program, including incremental growth from new products, flavors and sizes we introduced in fiscal year 2023. We're also very excited to share our plans to add Texas Roadhouse steak sauces to our licensing program with a spring launch date. Finally, we foresee continued positive momentum for our New York Bakery frozen garlic bread, which is a tasty complement to everyday meal occasions. In Foodservice, we expect sales volumes to be led by growth from select QSR restaurant customers in our mix of national accounts. Suffice it to say, external factors, including U.S. economic performance and potential changes in consumer sentiment may impact Foodservice segment demand. Finally, consolidated net sales will also continue to benefit from pricing actions taken in fiscal year 2023. We project the impact of inflationary cost to subside notably in the coming year. The pricing actions we have implemented, along with our cost savings initiatives will help to offset remaining inflationary cost. With respect to our ERP initiative, Project Ascent, we are pleased to announce that as planned, we completed the final wave of implementation and we'll devote our attention to leveraging the capabilities of the new system to strengthen our execution in fiscal year 2024. Turning to our supply chain. We are very excited about the opportunities ahead under the leadership of Louis Viso, our new Chief Supply Chain Officer. Louis has built a long and successful career with nearly 40 years of experience in supply chain operations, innovation and R&D. His extensive experience in the food and beverage industry at Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola and Monster Beverage as well as his strong people-oriented leadership will benefit our organization tremendously as we continue to execute our growth strategy into fiscal year 2024 and beyond. In closing, I'd like to thank the entire Lancaster Colony team for all their hard work and ongoing commitment to our business during fiscal year 2023. I look forward to working together with everyone in the coming year as we continue our journey to be the better food company. This concludes our prepared remarks for the day, and we would be happy to answer any questions you might have.Question and Answer SessionOperator(Operator Instructions) Our first question is coming from Todd Brooks of The Benchmark Company.Todd Morrison BrooksTwo quick questions, if I may, to start off. One, I think, Dave, at one point as we were thinking about Horse Cave and the incremental unlock that facility may have been for the licensed branded product. I think it has been sized in like the $100 million range, but that was over a couple year period. Can we maybe either speak to what the incremental unlock was in fiscal '23, so we can start to bake in, thinking for what the incremental potential is from licensed branded products, the capacity and the product line expansions in '24. And then maybe if we can lay over the top of it, the thinking about Texas Roadhouse and just talk more broadly about your thoughts for growth in the licensed branded products in fiscal '24.David A. CiesinskiSure. So Todd, when we talked about what Horse Cave have afforded us, we framed it in the context of we thought somewhere in the range of 3 to 5 and even upwards of 7 years of growth for both retail and Foodservice with 5 years of growth being sort of the target that we thought that it would afford us. So going back, so it would be definitely north of $100 million of capacity to grow in retail behind bottles. We won't go into exact numbers of that. But we'd love to take you down there to show you the facility to give you an appreciation for the scale and capabilities. But as you think about it, based on what we see and the way it's running today, it's definitely going to give us 5 years of growth, maybe a little bit longer, maybe a little bit shorter, but it definitely gives us capacity on bottles to grow. Now how do we think about this platform going forward? If you -- you've been following us long enough to remember we saw it as literally billions of dollars of addressable opportunities if you put in dipping sauces, marinades, barbecue sauces, things like ranch dressing and other categories, you could size it somewhere between probably $6 billion and upwards of even $10 billion of addressable opportunity. So -- and you see us sort of sequentially working our way through that. First, in the pourable salad dressing category, which is north of several billion dollars in the center of the store, and we're adding to that, behind Olive Garden with our new addition in Caesar, which we couldn't be more excited about. Then you move on to other areas, building on to the platform with new sauces behind Chick-fil-A, the barbecue and the sweet and spicy Sriracha, also in the period adding bigger sizes on Chick-fil-A, which we're thrilled to see how it's performing, and then finally, expanding behind Buffalo Wild Wings. What Texas Roadhouse is going to give us is a solution for really the red meat occasion or if you look at the majority of our sauces right now, they tend to play around chicken and things like fish, but we really haven't had a red meat solution and what Texas Roadhouse is going to give us is, first of all, just an iconic restaurant brand that's been one of -- consistent and one of the fastest-growing restaurant brands out there that's kind of under the radar because of the way that they advertise and the ability to go after a couple of other entrenched competitors that are out there. So we couldn't be more excited. Texas Roadhouse has been a great partner to work with and we think this platform has nice big shoulders.Todd Morrison BrooksTom, my second question, and I'll jump back in queue. If we look at and it may be an assumption on my part that there's not a lot of future pricing actions coming over the next 12 months. Can you walk through what the pricing waterfall looks like for each segment as prior increases lap, just so we need to -- so we can get a sense of the dynamic between volume and pricing as we go across fiscal '24?Thomas K. PigottYes. Todd, great question. So your assumption is correct. As we look into fiscal '24, we really look at our top line primarily driven by volume. As you look at it by quarter, we do expect some pricing benefit to create in both businesses but modest and thereafter, we're really driving it by volume.OperatorAnd our next question will be coming from Andrew Wolf of CL King.Andrew Paul WolfI wanted to ask about -- your update on your retail sales consumption was pretty positive at 4.7%.David A. CiesinskiYes.Andrew Paul WolfObviously, there's a gap there between what you shipped at [1.7%] but the prior quarter, you shipped [6.1%]. So it kind of seems at the end of commentary you had last quarter, it sounds like -- you've put a lot of new products into the channel in the March quarter had really good sell-through, frankly, this quarter. So as we're kind of trying to model out volume into the next year, it would strike me, obviously, at some point, it equates to the retail sell-through. So is that sort of how we should think about it? Is that how you're thinking about it? How would you sort of help us to sort of think about your volume trends sort of looking forward in the next quarter or 2 and through the full year.David A. CiesinskiAndrew, good morning, and second, you're exactly right. If you look at our consumption in pounds in the quarter, they were 4.7% they accelerated over the consumption in the prior period. And you're right, we overshipped consumption in the prior period as we were building the pipeline, so you're precisely right. Now as we think about where this goes forward, what we're anticipating is volume growth to continue in the low-to-mid range based on what we're seeing throughout the year. That's the target that we're laying out. And you might expect that to see that even marginally stronger on the front end of that. And then as we begin to lap some of this stuff later on, you might see that soften. But across the arc of the period, we're expecting to see volumetric growth for retail in the low-to-mid range. And if you look at it versus our peers that are out there, we think it puts us in the best-in-class area. What you can expect in terms of the drivers of that. As Tom pointed out, we don't have new pricing. We have some wraparound pricing that we're going to see in retail for the first half of the year and then no pricing plan thereafter. And this is really going to be an algorithm driven by volume through the year.Andrew Paul WolfGot it. And I did want to follow up. I understand you didn't want to give a dollar amount when Todd asked you about what Horse Cave means for kind of sales power and what have you. But can you give us a sense maybe in terms of capacity utilization? You built, put a lot of capital into the business and now sort of the payoff phase, how much of -- where is the capacity at? It's always a nice time to own certain stocks when the capacity utilization is going up.David A. CiesinskiYes. So as you might imagine, we took up a building, a facility that was 225,000 square feet, essentially added on another 225,000 square feet. So we doubled the size of it and the plan there was to build a facility that would allow us to run for, like I shared with Todd on the front end, 5 years, call it, plus/minus. So the utilization overall in the factories is definitely north of 50%, approaching 60%. But bear in mind, when you build something that big, what you do is the boxes there. In some cases, you have the kitchens that are there, but you don't necessarily have line started up and stuff like that. So I don't know if I would necessarily say that's the right way to look at it, just because it's not like that capacity is available to run now just because we haven't staffed it with labor. I think the more -- maybe the way we're looking at this thing is we have something that's laid out that's going to allow us to incrementally step up, adding more labor to the lines, more staffing, adding more shifts as we run through the period and allow us to grow for that 5 years and that's both retail and food service because as you think about it in Foodservice, Chick-fil-A remains our biggest customer when you guys get a chance to dig into the K, you're going to see that they represent north of 40% of the business today in Foodservice. And their business in terms of sales continues to grow in double digits. And if you look at them in terms of traffic, which I know you track up that space as well. They're continuing to grow in the high single digits in terms of traffic, the mid- to high.Andrew Paul WolfOkay. And just I guess my last question is just on the macro, which you alluded to, more in reference to Foodservice. And obviously, you just highlighted Chick-fil-A, which is a great relationship in many ways, but certainly commercially. It seems like the rest of the portfolio, therefore, was the drag on the business. We don't have to point to any one of them, but just as a group, and that's not surprising as you mentioned, given the traffic issues in restaurants. So would it be fair to -- for us on the outside to think the Foodservice side, as you look at the year, maybe a little more subdued compared to in the volume side compared to what you expect in retail, given the innovation pipeline that's in retail?David A. CiesinskiNo, I think you're exactly right. What we expect is first of all, the retail business to grow faster than the Foodservice business for the reasons that you described. I think if you look at now the macros take us out of the equation, look to macros, I think you're going to see Foodservice overall, this is quick service restaurant, full-service restaurants, everything across the board, probably to be somewhere between flat and down a couple of points in terms of traffic. I think you're going to see the pricing benefit that's been floating these concepts begin to subside. So I think you're going to see their sales begin to trail off again to that same sort of a reason -- same sort of area. The folks that are going to grow are going to be doing it behind traffic. Now if you bring it in, that's the macro, and you look at our mix of business, I think what you're going to see is, given the size of Chick-fil-A as long as Chick-fil-A continues to grow, and as long as some of our other QSR partners continue to grow, we expect to be outperforming the rest of the broader Foodservice group by probably several hundred, 300 basis points. So I think our business is probably in terms of volume closer to flat to maybe marginally up just based on the strength of Chick-fil-A, and that's where we are now. Things change with the consumer. We'll see what happens. If the outlook gets stronger, we may see that improve. If there's more pressure on the consumer, we could see that soften. But again, relative to the peer group, we feel like from a volume perspective in Foodservice, we're in a position to outperform. The other thing that I would share just on Foodservice, maybe a couple of notables. We had the chance several weeks ago to invite the Chick-fil-A leadership team to our facility at Horse Cave, and they had a chance to see it end-to-end in full operations. And I think it was an important milestone for all of us. Parenthetically, when we were starting the project, Dan Cathy was the CEO, and he had a chance to walk through the plans with us. And now Andrew Cathy's assumed the role as the CEO, he had a chance to see it up and running. That continues to be a very important partnership, obviously. And we look forward to hosting other partners there in the weeks ahead. We have other similar sort of visits that are planned. Maybe the one thing that you guys haven't asked yet, and I want to get into in terms of how we think about Horse Cave is if you look at that plant, it continues to be our most cost advantaged plant to continue to operate and what we haven't set outside of our commentary is we had a rough quarter, particularly at Horse Cave behind that startup and behind SAP. And both of those conversions happen pretty closely to each other, which drove cost issues that were enumerated during the course of the call. we don't expect those to continue as we press forward. So as you're thinking about the cost structure, one of the things that I wanted to sort of steer you from is that those cost issues that we ran into associated with the SAP cutover and operating at full speed as well as the startup and those 2 things interacting together, we expect to be one-timers that's stung us in that quarter.Andrew Paul WolfOkay. I didn't want to hog the call, but I want to ask a follow-up since you brought it up. When you talk about cost advantage, I assume it's greater at Horse Cave for Foodservice, given the single item pack, and if you automate that at a greater scale. Just a relative sense is that where you get margin-wise, is that where the margin improvement is on a relative basis greater than versus retail, where even an older production facility can still scale up pretty -- there's just more relative scale even on an older facility at retail. Would I be thinking about it right is -- in other words, the Horse Cave is going to give more relative margin improvement to the Foodservice side than retail.David A. CiesinskiIt's going to provide margin improvement on both facilities because if you look at it, take retail, for example, most of the bottle lines that we have in our other facilities are a little bit older, this facility operates at bottle speeds that are, in some cases, 2x or a little better than what we're running at other places. And it's more automated end-to-end in terms of reliance on labor. So in retail, it's going to give us an advantage because of the speed and the scale and the automation and the same thing is going to be true in Foodservice.OperatorOur next question is coming from Alton Stump of Loop Capital.Alton Kemp StumpGreat. Just wanted to ask you about the Texas Roadhouse deal, obviously, is coming out in the spring. So you probably can't share too much. But I guess how much of a role did the new capacity that you now have aligned with Horse Cave play in your ability to take on new partners such as Texas Roadhouse.David A. CiesinskiWell, it's a great question. It's certainly a consideration. What I would tell you is that it didn't really factor into the discussions that we had with them. This is another one where as we've developed a reputation in the industry or for a competency around licensing, it's just developed into conversations. And this is one that came to us inbound. It was actually recommended the way it went was Texas Roadhouse talked to a customer expressing an interest in an idea and that customer referred them to us, and that sort of germinated into a conversation that went into -- that went on for a while as we explored how we thought we could go about this. So the capacity availability was a consideration, but not a very big one in this case. For us, it just allows us to do it far more profitably than it would have been otherwise.Alton Kemp StumpAnd then just as a follow-up to the end, you mentioned the word inbound, which I'm certainly not surprised everybody in Russian industry as, which you well know is watching what Chick-fil-A is doing, and I'm sure they've all taken note of the huge growth that they've seen with you guys with the licensed business. I mean, how much of an impact has that had on the number of inbound interest calls you're getting from other major operators in the QSR and/or casual sectors?David A. CiesinskiWell, I think a fair amount. And Alton, I would ladder back to Olive Garden where we started this. If you looked at it in the period, their retail sales in the quarter, so scanner sales were $42 million. And I think they were the original one that people started to look at. And it's a reflection of several things going on. The blurring of lines between retail and Foodservice and food that's being consumed off-prem, right? And all of a sudden, these restaurant operators, I think, were less fixed on restaurant versus out of the restaurant and then just the size of the opportunity and how these brands play in retail, particularly after COVID, I think, presented an opportunity to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their consumers in different ways. So I think Olive Garden was the first of those. But Chick-fil-A was sort of the one that not only did it grow to the size, but as we talked about in the script, it was one of IRI's pay setters, which means one of their top 10 fastest-growing items in all the food and beverage during the calendar year 2022 and is the fastest-growing food item in 2022. So I think that starts to get other restaurants' attention. So as we're looking at this, we continue to see this platform behind licensing and principally restaurant licensing as an opportunity where we can take this great capability that we have around innovation of sauces, dressings, condiments, flavor systems and take those to the marketplace. And we're not necessarily encumbered by just having a brand. It allows us to leverage a brand with strong awareness that already exists that's out there, put that great sauce behind the brand and then deliver it to consumers, and it allows us to overcome the barrier of awareness and trial and repeat more rapidly and get returns instead of betting on the come on marketing spending.OperatorOur next question will be coming from Connor Rattigan of Consumer Edge.Connor RattiganAnd I guess it's worth mentioning, given the news I'm taking this call from a Texas Roadhouse parking lot, so definitely very timely. So I guess I just want to make sure. I'm not sure if I might have missed it, but just circling back to the top line, so obviously, results came in quite a bit below, I guess, our and consensus expectations. I guess can you sort of just kind of maybe walk us through sort of how we got here and maybe what the drag was. And I guess, how did results come in versus your internal expectations? I know you had the $25 million ERP pull-forward headwind. But I guess what exactly was the real top line headwind in the quarter?David A. CiesinskiSure. I think we're all aware of the pull forward that we had in the prior period that made planning a little bit more challenging. The second biggest item beyond that, and this is targeted at retail, would have been that pipeline build that we had in Q3 that really elevated Q3 that we saw scan through in Q4, right? So I think that would have been the other one. And then I think as we looked at what played out as the quarter went on, we do believe there was a bit of an Easter effect that was in Q3. Now it only shifted about a week this year, but it seemed to have been enough to create a little bit different order pattern between Q3 and Q4 on both our dressings and also on Sister Schubert. So I think those really were the items that created the gap between what you guys were calling for and what we were calling for. I think it's also part of the reason why that as we want to think about what the outlook is, right? Some of this period-on-period noise because of SAP finally is going to be behind us. We implemented our last wave, so we're done. It's really focusing now on consumption and then shipping to consumption.Connor RattiganGot it. Okay. That makes total sense. And then also, two, just on Foodservice as well, right? So I guess you guys noted a bit of a slowdown in Foodservice traffic, but it sounds like Chick-fil-A traffic is doing quite well. So I guess, I mean, the general slowdown in traffic kind of somewhat runs in contrast, what we've heard from peers. I mean, I guess, was this maybe more of a recent phenomenon? Or was it a pretty steady slowdown throughout the quarter? And I mean, I guess, maybe could you comment sort of was this more indexed to certain QSRs or maybe other channels?David A. CiesinskiYes, it's a great question, and it's interesting. If you look at the 52-week traffic, the 12-week traffic and the 4-week, so for June, June was a slowdown for several of our customers that were in there. Chick-fil-A, it was not. Chick-fil-A was kind of flat through the period, but we had other customers that seen from a traffic perspective to slow down a little bit in June. Now ironically, we're looking at weekly data thereafter and into July, they seem to be doing a little bit better thereafter. So we think that also contributed to the gap between Foodservice.Connor RattiganGot it. Okay. That was helpful. And then I guess just 1 more as well, right? So on the cost front, it sounds like you guys are seeing quite a bit of relief. I guess from -- what we've heard from other folks, too, is soybean oil and whatnot still tends to remain quite high. I mean, I guess, is your optimism on the cost environment just centered around maybe egg prices coming down? And also, as we sort of think about that as it relates to gross margins in 2024, with the carryover pricing you guys have and productivity in the mix as well, I mean, I guess, would it be fair to assume the expectation is returned to historical gross margin levels?David A. CiesinskiWell, maybe I'll kind of walk through those -- that range of questions and start first with just an inflation outlook, and then I'll turn it over to Tom, and he'll take you through more depth. Part of our frame of reference here is the last 2 years, fiscal year '22 and '23, we saw 20% inflation. So on a relative basis, we're looking at a year, this year, where we're seeing inflation on a gross basis in the low single digits. Really eggs being most certainly a contributor to that, and then we're seeing an easing on some of our other commodity classes as well. So certainly not deflationary, but we're not expecting it to be nearly in the range of which it was. So I think that whole piece is really all about being relative. Maybe with that, Tom, I'll turn it over to you if you have want to help with some of the commodity cost.Thomas K. PigottYes. So great question, Connor. So as we look at our commodity basket for next year, we still are slightly inflationary. I think our comments are more that the level of inflation has started to go down. Sweeteners, obviously, a key item for us. It's up considerably year-over-year. That's mitigating or offsetting some of the favorability we're seeing elsewhere. As you look at the broader margin profile as we enter fiscal year '24. From a PNOC standpoint, given that we're still looking at some level of inflation, we're not assuming that we're going to be -- get back some of that margin that you alluded to, we really need to get into more of a deflationary environment to assume that? And then the second thing is, obviously, this consumer environment is something we're monitoring closely. And like other companies, we're concerned about the need to spend back and to reinvest in our retail business to continue to drive the outsized volume growth that we do. But last, I would end with, we feel -- in terms of a tailwind, we feel like we do have a robust productivity plan put into place for next year that will help us to offset some of these potential headwinds.OperatorAnd our next question will be coming from Todd Brooks of The Benchmark Company.Todd Morrison BrooksThanks for taking my followup. Boiling down kind of qualitative commentary, it sounds like maybe low-to-mid single-digit volume growth in the combined business, pricing waning over the course of the year. Tom, I just want to follow up on Connor's question. You talked about needing to be back to a deflationary environment to return to historical margins. But I guess there's an intermediate place where if we are seeing less inflation, you still have a little bit of effective pricing in the first half of next year. Do we expect to start that path back that this is a year where we're not just kind of operating to protect gross profit dollars, but we can actually see the margin rate start to work its way back towards historical levels, at least get that process going?Thomas K. PigottYes. Certainly, Todd, that is a goal of what we're trying to achieve in terms of both driving the productivity and the PNOC. Just in this environment, we're not necessarily seeing enough to really commit that to you in terms of a significant level of margin accretion as the year progresses. But certainly, that is our key focus in terms of driving for improved margin percentages.Todd Morrison BrooksOkay. Great. Secondary question. If we go to core SG&A spend and backing out project and the changes year-over-year. How much do you think core SG&A needs to grow, if any, in fiscal '24 for what you're trying to accomplish? And then can we walk through what the next step down in project expenses should be fiscal '24 versus fiscal '23?Thomas K. PigottYes, Todd, that -- so as we're looking at SG&A in fiscal '24, we're excluding Ascent, we're really just looking at inflationary impacts in terms of core SG&A. And then with Ascent, we're projecting that to be an approximate $20 million tailwind in the next fiscal year as that project winds down.Todd Morrison BrooksOkay. So $10 million versus the $30 million this year?Thomas K. PigottYes. Yes, roughly. That's correct. The absolute spend, about $10 million as we wind things up and optimize, yes.OperatorAnd our next question will be coming from Andrew Wolf of CL King.Andrew Paul WolfI don't know if you mentioned anything regarding quantification of the 3 somewhat transitory or maybe fully transitory impacts to gross profit in terms of Horse Cave, both start-up and I guess, ERP there and the discontinuation of a retail brand. But could you just comment on them as a group and/or separately how much it was if you quantify it and what this data play us.Thomas K. PigottAbsolutely. So as we look at all 3 together, they combined to be about a $6 million item for us or 130 basis points of margin impact on the quarter. I think the overall state of play is, as you look at each one of them, certainly, the Horse Cave team has done a wonderful job, and we've seen that production output increase considerably in the most recent period. So we feel very good about that. In terms of the SAP inefficiencies, listen, this -- we've been working through many waves of go-lives, and we're very happy to say we're now complete and we don't expect that to be a driver going forward in the product discontinuation. Certainly we've taken the necessary charge, and we're ready to move on from that one as well.Andrew Paul WolfAnd on the SAP or the Ascent costs, the positive swing. Is that inclusive of the increased amortization charge? Is it net $20 million or is it a little less than that when you throw in the amortization charge?Thomas K. PigottSo when we look at it, it's $20 million as would be reported on the Ascent line in our P&L. We will incur a bit of a headwind on the amortization charge in the next fiscal year in the core SG&A, but that's built into my comments of just inflationary. So we're partially offsetting that with other items to get to that profile.Operator(Operator Instructions) And I'm showing no further questions. I'll now turn the call back to Dave Ciesinski for closing remarks.David A. CiesinskiThank you, everyone, for your participation this morning and your questions. We look forward to being back together with you in November as we take you through our Q1 results. Have a great rest of the morning.OperatorAnd ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Thank you for your participation.

Thomson Reuters StreetEvents

Q4 2023 Lancaster Colony Corp Earnings Call

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/q4-2023-lancaster-colony-corp-042812999.html

673e203a-33ff-36e5-885e-d5691c276d43

TXRH

It looks like Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Meaning, you will need to purchase Texas Roadhouse's shares before the 5th of September to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 26th of September.The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.55 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$2.20 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Texas Roadhouse has a trailing yield of 2.1% on the current stock price of $105.33. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Texas Roadhouse's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing. See our latest analysis for Texas Roadhouse Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. That's why it's good to see Texas Roadhouse paying out a modest 47% of its earnings. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Dividends consumed 65% of the company's free cash flow last year, which is within a normal range for most dividend-paying organisations.It's positive to see that Texas Roadhouse's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.Story continuesClick here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.historic-dividendHave Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. Fortunately for readers, Texas Roadhouse's earnings per share have been growing at 19% a year for the past five years. Texas Roadhouse is paying out a bit over half its earnings, which suggests the company is striking a balance between reinvesting in growth, and paying dividends. Given the quick rate of earnings per share growth and current level of payout, there may be a chance of further dividend increases in the future.Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, Texas Roadhouse has lifted its dividend by approximately 20% a year on average. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.To Sum It UpShould investors buy Texas Roadhouse for the upcoming dividend? Earnings per share have grown at a nice rate in recent times and over the last year, Texas Roadhouse paid out less than half its earnings and a bit over half its free cash flow. Texas Roadhouse looks solid on this analysis overall, and we'd definitely consider investigating it more closely.While it's tempting to invest in Texas Roadhouse for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. For example - Texas Roadhouse has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Be Sure To Check Out Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sure-check-texas-roadhouse-inc-100350249.html

32ab38a1-c728-3386-aa92-22c434f393e5

TXT

The Boeing Company BA recently clinched a $474.5-million contract to enhance Japan’s F-15 fighter jet with electronic warfare capabilities under the Japan Super Interceptor Program. The contract, which is under foreign military sales for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, requires Boeing to add the Eagle Passive Warning Survivability System to its F-15 family of jets.The work related to the deal will be carried out in St. Louis, MO. The contract, which is expected to be completed by Dec 31, 2028, has been awarded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.Importance of F-15 Fighter JetsThe F-15 jet has the longest range, carries more weapons, flies faster and has the capability to deter any emerging threats. The complementary and interoperable capabilities of the F-15 strengthen its ability to secure peace throughout the region.The jet has sufficient space, computing infrastructure, structural strength and power to continue evolving in the future. The need to equip the jet with technological upgrades has resulted in Boeing winning several contracts to modernize the jet with evolving technologies.Per the report from Statista, Japan owned 200 F-15J/DJ fighters as of Mar 31, 2023. This highlights the possibility of more order inflows for Boeing to win such upgrade contracts, like the latest one, thus boosting its revenues from the defense line of business.What Lies Ahead?A strong defense structure acts as a deterrent against potential threats. Nations are augmenting their defense purchase to strengthen their warfare capabilities. This has led to the increased demand for fighter jets that boast advanced technology and are equipped with efficient arms and ammunition.Per the report from the Coherent Market Insights firm, the global military aircraft market is poised to witness a CAGR of 5.4% over the 2022-2030 period.Such abounding growth prospects are expected to boost Boeing’s position in the military aircraft market. The company is the prime contractor of the AH-6 Light Attack, AH-64D Apache, EA-18G Growler, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, etc. Its proficiency in aircraft design, manufacturing and maintenance services provides a distinct advantage for thriving amid the increasing demand.Story continuesPeer ProspectsOther defense companies that may enjoy the perks of the expanding military aircraft market are as follows:Lockheed Martin LMT: It designs and integrates systems and manufactures the most agile and effective aircraft. Its product portfolio includes the Black Hawk, C-130J Super Hercules, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft, etc.Lockheed boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 6.5%. Its shares have returned 1.5% to its investors in the past year.Airbus Group EADSY: Its military aircraft consist of the A400M, the C295 tactical transporter, the new-generation A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport and the Eurofighter, the most advanced swing-role fighter ever conceived.Airbus’ long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 12.4%. Shares of EADSY have returned 52.2% value to its investors in the past year.Textron TXT: Its military aircraft includes the Beechcraft T-6 training aircraft and the Beechcraft AT-6 light-attack aircraft. The company also manufactures the Beechcraft Model 18 light bomber, the T-44 and T-34 training aircraft and the T-1A jet trainer.Textron boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.7%. TXT stock has appreciated 17.7% in the past year.Price PerformanceShares of Boeing have rallied 36.8% in the past year against the industry’s fall of 6.6%.Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchZacks RankBoeing carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportThe Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportLockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTextron Inc. (TXT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAirbus Group (EADSY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Boeing (BA) Wins Contract to Enhance Japan's F-15 Fighter Jets

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-ba-wins-contract-enhance-130900097.html

ec5af8b7-74cd-37b7-8052-6d4823ebb862

TXT

GE Aerospace will develop the digital backbone for the Bell V-280 Valor, which the U.S. Army selected to replace the its workhorse Black Hawk helicopters.Continue reading

American City Business Journals

GE Aerospace partners with Bell Textron on U.S. Army programs to replace Black Hawk helicopters

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/dca3256e-1588-3d8c-bc5a-901608a8e8a4/ge-aerospace-partners-with.html

dca3256e-1588-3d8c-bc5a-901608a8e8a4

TYL

It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Cognizant (CTSH). Shares have added about 1.6% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Cognizant due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.Cognizant Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Down Y/YCognizant Technology Solutions reported second-quarter 2023 non-GAAP earnings of $1.10 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.4% but decreased 3.5% year over year.Revenues of $4.89 billion beat the consensus mark by 1.5%. However, the top line decreased 0.4% year over year and 0.1% at constant currency (cc). On a sequential basis, revenues increased more than 1%.Acquisitions contributed 130 basis points (bps) to top-line growth.Bookings increased 17% year over year, which benefited from mix-shift towards larger deals. Cognizant continued to witness weakness in smaller, shorter-duration contracts, primarily due to sluggish discretionary spending.On a trailing twelve-month basis, bookings increased 14% year over year to $26.4 billion, which represented a book-to-bill of approximately 1.4 times.Top-Line DetailsFinancial services revenues (29.9% of revenues) decreased 4.8% year over year at cc to $1.46 billion. The decline was attributed to a challenging demand environment and weakness in discretionary spending.Financial services revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.41%.Health Sciences revenues (29.5% of revenues) increased 2.1% year over year at cc to $1.44 billion. Strong demand for integrated software solutions (up mid-teens year over year) drove growth.Health Sciences revenues beat the consensus mark by 0.61%.Products and Resources revenues (24.1% of revenues) increased 3.7% year over year at cc to $1.18 billion and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.05%. Continued strength among automotive, travel and hospitality customers benefited the segment’s top-line growth.Communications, Media and Technology revenues (16.5% of revenues) were $806 million, which declined 0.4% from the year-ago quarter at cc but beat the consensus mark by 0.51%.Region-wise, revenues from North America decreased 1.7% year over year at cc and accounted for 73.5% of total revenues. The decline was primarily attributed to weakness in Financial Services, as well as the Communications, Media and Technology segment.Revenues from Europe increased 6.3% from the year-ago quarter at cc and made up 19.8% of total revenues. Revenues from the U.K. and Continental Europe increased 3.3% and 9.5% year over year at cc, respectively.The Rest of the World revenues were flat at cc and represented 6.8% of total revenues.Story continuesOperating DetailsSelling, general & administrative expenses, as a percentage of revenues, decreased 100 bps year over year to 17%.Total headcount at the end of the second quarter was 345,600, down 5,900 sequentially but up 4,300 year over year.Voluntary attrition – Tech Services, on a trailing 12-month basis, declined to 19.9% from 23.1% in the first quarter of 2023 and 31.1% in the second quarter of 2022.Cognizant reported a non-GAAP operating margin of 14.2%, which contracted 130 bps year over year.The company incurred $117 million in costs related to the NextGen program, negatively impacting GAAP operating margin by 240 bps.Key Q2 DevelopmentsCognizant strengthened its partner base in the reported quarter. It expanded its partnership with Gilead Sciences, ServiceNow, Alphabet’s division Google Cloud, AT&T and Orkla. Cognizant also inked new partnerships with Microsoft subsidiary Nuance Communications and Accuray.The partnership with Gilead Sciences is valued at $800 million over the next five years. Per the renewed and expanded partnership, Cognizant will manage Gilead’s global IT infrastructure, platforms, applications and advanced analytics, and lead initiatives designed to accelerate its digital transformation, leveraging the power of generative AI.The expanded partnership with ServiceNow aims to improve AI-driven automation across industries. Cognizant’s newly formed ServiceNow Business Group will offer AI-based solutions that will solve complex problems, automate operations, and enhance employee and end-customer experiences.Moreover, as a part of its expanding alliance with Google Cloud, Cognizant will open new Google Cloud AI innovation centers in Bangalore, London and San Francisco to support a new Cognizant Google Cloud AI University to train 25,000 Cognizant associates and clients.Cognizant will help the Microsoft subsidiary Nuance to develop Dragon Ambient eXperience Operations. For Accuray, the company will support its deployment of SAP S/4HANA to obtain better data and analytics and achieve greater business efficiencies.Moreover, Cognizant launched a new business group, Cognizant Ocean, to help support ocean industries or the “Blue Economy,” leveraging digital technologies, including AI and data analytics.Blue Economy companies encompass a broad range of sectors, including shipping, marine transportation, offshore oil and gas, marine renewables, aquaculture and marine conservation. These companies are facing challenges related to sustainability, environmental impact and climate change.Cognizant Ocean will help Blue Economy companies to be more sustainable and efficient. Apart from improving business outcomes, Cognizant will help reduce their carbon output and decarbonize the oceans.The company also announced a partnership with Tidal, a project inside X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory. Under the collaboration, Tidal’s ocean information platform will be widely available to the aquaculture market. Tidal leverages innovation in underwater perception, machine learning, AI and automation to gather and analyze data.Balance SheetCognizant had cash and short-term investments of $2.1 billion as of Jun 30, 2023 compared with $2.48 billion as of Mar 31, 2023.As of Jun 30, 2023, the company had a total debt of $793 million, up from $646 million reported as of Mar 31, 2023.It generated $36 million in cash from operations compared with $729 million in the previous quarter.Free cash outflow was $32 million against free cash flow of $631 million reported in the prior quarter. Free cash flow was negatively impacted by tax payments of approximately $300 million related to 2022.In the second quarter of 2023, the company returned $200 million through share repurchases. As of Jun 30, 2023, it had $2.4 billion remaining under the current share repurchase program.GuidanceCognizant expects third-quarter 2023 revenues between $4.89 billion and $4.94 billion, indicating a decline of 0.5% to an increase of 0.5% on a cc basis. Favorable forex is expected to aid the top line by 110 bps while acquisitions are expected to contribute 100 bps.In the Financial Services segment, Cognizant continues to expect the challenging macro environment to hurt spending rates, thereby negatively impacting top-line growth.Cognizant expects the Communications, Media and Technology segment to improve in the third quarter of 2023, due to ramping up of new bookings.However, it expects a softer fourth quarter than usual due to weak and sluggish discretionary spending.For 2023, revenues are expected to be $19.2-$19.6 billion, indicating a decline of 1% to growth of 1% at cc. Adjusted operating margin for 2023 is expected between 14.2% and 14.7%. Adjusted earnings for 2023 are expected between $4.25 and $4.44 per share.The company anticipates interest income of $115 million in 2023. Moreover, Cognizant now expects to incur $350 million in NextGen charges, out of which, $250 million will be recognized in 2023.Cognizant still expects to return $1.4 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and regular quarterly dividends.How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?It turns out, fresh estimates have trended downward during the past month.VGM ScoresAt this time, Cognizant has a subpar Growth Score of D, however its Momentum Score is doing a lot better with a B. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of B on the value side, putting it in the top 40% for this investment strategy.Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of C. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.OutlookEstimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. Notably, Cognizant has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.Performance of an Industry PlayerCognizant is part of the Zacks Business - Software Services industry. Over the past month, Tyler Technologies (TYL), a stock from the same industry, has gained 4.1%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended June 2023 more than a month ago.Tyler Technologies reported revenues of $504.28 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +7.6%. EPS of $2.01 for the same period compares with $1.88 a year ago.For the current quarter, Tyler Technologies is expected to post earnings of $1.97 per share, indicating a change of -4.4% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -0.3% over the last 30 days.Tyler Technologies has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of F.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportCognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (CTSH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTyler Technologies, Inc. (TYL) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Cognizant (CTSH) Up 1.6% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Continue?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cognizant-ctsh-1-6-since-153139159.html

84b7cbfe-0bee-37be-a5fe-6ad555f1daa7

TYL

Solutions will streamline clerk operations and enhance transparency with the publicPLANO, Texas, September 05, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) announced it has signed an agreement with Licking County, Ohio, Clerk of Courts and the Courts of Common Pleas, General and Domestic Relations Division, for Tyler’s Enterprise Justice software suite, including its re:Search portal."We have been seeking a more extensive case management system that would allow us to efficiently manage the courts’ cases, now and in the future, as our county continues to grow," said Licking County Common Pleas Clerk of Courts Olivia C. Parkinson. "We are pleased to select Tyler’s Enterprise Justice system as the ideal choice to make our courts’ systems more transparent and accessible to our users, from pro se litigants to the general public."Licking County selected numerous products within the Enterprise Justice suite, including: Enterprise Case Manager, Enterprise Financial Manager, Enterprise Jury Manager, Enterprise Custom Reports, Document Management, eSignatures, Notifications, and re:Search Portal. Once implemented, Tyler’s products will help Licking County comply with new and potential changes in legislation relative to public access, including online document imaging and e-filing. Additionally, the solutions will help the courts integrate and communicate more efficiently with constituents. The solutions will be powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in a Tyler SaaS environment, enhancing the county’s security, resiliency, and scalability.Tyler’s Enterprise Case Manager solution will provide comprehensive court administration for Licking County’s courts, including easily locating case information; creating and viewing dockets in various ways; generating forms, letters, and a variety of reports with advanced tools; sending notifications by text and email; and calculating fees, fines, and distributing payments automatically.Story continues"We’re excited to bring our robust court case management system to Licking County," said Brian McGrath, president of Tyler’s Courts & Justice Division. "As a leader in this market, we’re confident that we can enhance efficiency, streamline clerk operations, and bring increased accessibility and transparency to all users."Licking County is located in central Ohio, with its county seat in Newark. It has a population of approximately 180,000.About Tyler Technologies, Inc.Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) provides integrated software and technology services to the public sector. Tyler’s end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate efficiently and transparently with residents and each other. By connecting data and processes across disparate systems, Tyler’s solutions transform how clients turn actionable insights into opportunities and solutions for their communities. Tyler has more than 40,000 successful installations across nearly 13,000 locations, with clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations. Tyler has been recognized numerous times for growth and innovation, including Government Technology’s GovTech 100 list. More information about Tyler Technologies, an S&P 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, can be found at tylertech.com.####TYL_FinancialView source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230905076793/en/ContactsJennifer KeplerTyler [email protected]

Business Wire

Tyler Technologies to Provide Enterprise Justice Solution Suite to Licking County, Ohio

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tyler-technologies-enterprise-justice-solution-131700936.html

5645c73b-1cca-3004-b926-438e02828d0c

TYRA

CARLSBAD, Calif., Aug. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tyra Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: TYRA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation precision medicines that target large opportunities in Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) biology, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) to its lead precision medicine program, TYRA-300, for the treatment of achondroplasia.Achondroplasia is the most common form of dwarfism with limited therapeutic options.  People living with achondroplasia may experience severe skeletal complications including cranial and spinal stenosis, hydrocephalus and sleep apnea. A specific mutation in FGFR3 causes over 97% of achondroplasia. TYRA-300 is an oral FGFR3 selective inhibitor whose design may have a meaningful impact on achondroplasia and other skeletal dysplasias."People living with achondroplasia can have significant health complications that are not adequately addressed with currently available therapies.  Our goals with TYRA-300 in achondroplasia are to address not only height, but the long-term health complications associated with this condition," said Hiroomi Tada, M.D. Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer of TYRA.  "The FDA's decision to grant Orphan Drug Designation to TYRA-300 is an important recognition of the potential of our approach to deliver benefit to the achondroplasia community.  We remain on track to submit an IND to the FDA to enable a Phase 2 study of TYRA-300 in pediatric achondroplasia in 2024."The FDA's Office of Orphan Products Development grants orphan designation status to drugs and biologics that are intended for treatment, diagnosis or prevention of rare diseases and conditions that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. Orphan Drug Designation provides certain benefits, including tax credits for qualified clinical trials and exemption from certain user fees to support clinical development and the potential for up to seven years of market exclusivity in the U.S. upon regulatory approval.Story continuesTYRA also announced today the appointment of Michael Bober, M.D. Ph.D., as Vice President, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, to lead the skeletal dysplasia program.  Dr. Bober is a leader in the diagnosis and management of skeletal dysplasia. He served on numerous scientific and medical advisory boards within the skeletal dysplasia community.  Dr. Bober joins TYRA following a distinguished career as the Medical Director of the Skeletal Dysplasia Program, Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware.Dr. Bober added, "I am excited to join TYRA and contribute to the team working to develop TYRA-300 into a therapy for the patient community which I care so much about. I believe TYRA-300 has the potential to improve function and quality of life in achondroplasia."About TYRA-300TYRA-300 is the Company's lead precision medicine program stemming from its in-house SNÅP platform. TYRA-300 is an investigational, oral, FGFR3-selective inhibitor currently in development for the treatment of cancer and skeletal dysplasias including achondroplasia.  TYRA-300 is being evaluated in a multi-center, open label Phase 1/2 clinical study, SURF301 (Study in Untreated and Resistant FGFR3+ Advanced Solid Tumors). SURF301 (NCT05544552) was designed to determine the optimal and maximum tolerated doses (MTD) and the recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D) of TYRA-300, as well as to evaluate the preliminary antitumor activity of TYRA-300.  SURF301 is currently enrolling adults with advanced urothelial carcinoma and other solid tumors with FGFR3 gene alterations.  In skeletal dysplasias, TYRA-300 has demonstrated positive preclinical results and the Company expects to submit an IND for the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical study in pediatric achondroplasia in 2024.About Tyra BiosciencesTyra Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: TYRA) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation precision medicines that target large opportunities in FGFR biology. The Company's in-house precision medicine platform, SNÅP, enables rapid and precise drug design through iterative molecular SNÅPshots that help predict genetic alterations most likely to cause acquired resistance to existing therapies. TYRA's initial focus is on applying its accelerated small molecule drug discovery engine to develop therapies in targeted oncology and genetically defined conditions. TYRA is based in Carlsbad, CA. For more information about our science, pipeline and people, please visit  www.tyra.bio and engage with us on LinkedIn.Forward-Looking Statements TYRA cautions you that statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and include, but are not limited to: the potential to develop next-generation precision medicines and the potential safety and therapeutic benefits of TYRA-300 and other product candidates, including the potential for TYRA-300 to become a treatment option for achondroplasia; the expected timing and phase of clinical development of TYRA-300, including timing of a submission of an IND for TYRA-300 in pediatric achondroplasia; and the potential for SNÅP to enable rapid and precise drug design. Actual results may differ from those set forth in this press release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business, including, without limitation: we are early in our development efforts, have only recently begun testing our lead product candidate in clinical trials and the approach we are taking to discover and develop drugs based on our SNÅP platform is novel and unproven and it may never lead to product candidates that are successful in clinical development or approved products of commercial value; potential delays in the commencement, enrollment, and completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials; results from preclinical studies or early clinical trials not necessarily being predictive of future results; our dependence on third parties in connection with manufacturing, research and preclinical testing; acceptance by the FDA of INDs or of similar regulatory submissions by comparable foreign regulatory authorities for the conduct of clinical trials of TYRA-300 in pediatric achondroplasia; an accelerated development or approval pathway may not be available for TYRA-300 or other product candidates and any such pathway may not lead to a faster development process; unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate efficacy of our product candidates that may limit their development, regulatory approval, and/or commercialization; the potential for our programs and prospects to be negatively impacted by developments relating to our competitors, including the results of studies or regulatory determinations relating to our competitors; we may not realize the benefits associated with ODD, including that orphan drug exclusivity may not effectively protect a product from competition and that such exclusivity may not be maintained; regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; we may use our capital resources sooner than we expect; unstable market and economic conditions and adverse developments with respect to financial institutions and associated liquidity risk may adversely affect our business and financial condition and the broader economy and biotechnology industry; and other risks described in our prior filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including under the heading "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, which is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.Contact:Amy [email protected](PRNewsfoto/Tyra Biosciences, Inc.)CisionView original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tyra-biosciences-announces-fda-orphan-drug-designation-for-tyra-300-for-the-treatment-of-achondroplasia-301890095.htmlSOURCE Tyra Biosciences

PR Newswire

Tyra Biosciences Announces FDA Orphan Drug Designation for TYRA-300 for the Treatment of Achondroplasia

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tyra-biosciences-announces-fda-orphan-120000519.html

4d0fc629-e609-3d59-bd18-7d910dc1fe2e

TYRA

-Orphan Drug Designation granted to TYRA-300 for achondroplasia-- SURF301 Phase 1/2 oncology study remains on target; enrollment ongoing in Part B --TYRA-200 Phase 1 study on track; first patient to be dosed in 2H 2023-- Strong cash position of $232.4 million as of Q2 2023-CARLSBAD, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tyra Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: TYRA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation precision medicines that target large opportunities in Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) biology, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 and highlighted recent corporate progress."TYRA is a precision medicine biotech company focused on large opportunities in FGFR biology, and we continued to advance our pipeline and approach during the last several months," said Todd Harris, CEO of TYRA.  "We believe that TYRA-300, our oral FGFR3-selective inhibitor, is potentially a best-in-class agent designed to address unmet needs in oncology and skeletal dysplasias.  Our SURF301 oncology study remains on target, and we are pleased to receive Orphan Drug Designation for TYRA-300 in achondroplasia from the U.S. FDA. This is another important milestone in the development of TYRA-300, and we are excited about the opportunity to deliver a new therapeutic option for patients."Second Quarter 2023 and Recent Corporate HighlightsTYRA-300Granted Orphan Drug Designation from U.S. FDA for Achondroplasia. In July 2023, TYRA-300, an investigational oral FGFR3-selective inhibitor, was granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for the treatment of achondroplasia. TYRA remains on track to submit an Investigational New Drug application (IND) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enable a Phase 2 study of TYRA-300 in pediatric achondroplasia in 2024.SURF301 Phase 1/2 Study for Oncology is On Target. SURF301 (Study in Untreated and Resistant FGFR3+ Advanced Solid Tumors) (NCT05544552) is a multi-center, open label study designed to determine the optimal and maximum tolerated doses and the recommended Phase 2 dose of TYRA-300, as well as to evaluate the preliminary antitumor activity of TYRA-300. The study remains on target and enrollment is ongoing in Part A and Part B in Phase 1 of the study at multiple clinical sites in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.Story continuesTYRA-200Advanced Preparation Activities for Phase 1 Study. TYRA continued to advance activities for its planned Phase 1 clinical study of TYRA-200, an FGFR1/2/3 inhibitor with potency against activating FGFR2 gene alterations and resistance mutations, during the second quarter of 2023. The trial will be focused on intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma resistant to prior FGFR inhibitors. TYRA remains on track to dose the first patient in this trial in the second half of 2023.SNÅP Platform and PipelineTYRA continued to advance its in-house precision medicine discovery engine, SNÅP, to develop therapies in targeted oncology and genetically defined conditions including FGF19+/FGFR4-driven cancers and RET (REarranged during Transfection kinase) driven cancers.CorporateStrengthened Leadership. TYRA made key senior appointments including Dr. Michael Bober, Vice President, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, who, prior to joining TYRA, served as the Medical Director of the Skeletal Dysplasia Program, Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware, and is a key opinion leader in the skeletal dysplasia community. Additionally, TYRA appointed George Melko, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Gary Price, Vice President, Quality.Second Quarter 2023 Financial ResultsSecond quarter 2023 net loss was $13.3 million compared to $15.1 million for the same period in 2022.Second quarter 2023 research and development expenses were $12.2 million compared to $12.0 million for the same period in 2022.Second quarter 2023 general and administrative expenses were $3.9 million compared to $3.4 million for the same period in 2022.As of June 30, 2023, TYRA had cash and cash equivalents of $232.4 million that will support TYRA's important clinical and operational milestones over at least the next two years.About TYRA-300TYRA-300 is the Company's lead precision medicine program stemming from its in-house SNÅP platform. TYRA-300 is an investigational, oral, FGFR3-selective inhibitor currently in development for the treatment of cancer and skeletal dysplasias including achondroplasia. TYRA-300 is being evaluated in a multi-center, open label Phase 1/2 clinical study, SURF301 (Study in Untreated and Resistant FGFR3+ Advanced Solid Tumors). SURF301 (NCT05544552) was designed to determine the optimal and maximum tolerated doses (MTD) and the recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D) of TYRA-300, as well as to evaluate the preliminary antitumor activity of TYRA-300.  SURF301 is currently enrolling adults with advanced urothelial carcinoma and other solid tumors with FGFR3 gene alterations.  In skeletal dysplasias, TYRA-300 has demonstrated positive preclinical results and the Company expects to submit an IND for the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical study in pediatric achondroplasia in 2024.About Tyra BiosciencesTyra Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: TYRA) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation precision medicines that target large opportunities in FGFR biology. The Company's in-house precision medicine platform, SNÅP, enables rapid and precise drug design through iterative molecular SNÅPshots that help predict genetic alterations most likely to cause acquired resistance to existing therapies. TYRA's initial focus is on applying its accelerated small molecule drug discovery engine to develop therapies in targeted oncology and genetically defined conditions. TYRA is based in Carlsbad, CA. For more information about our science, pipeline and people, please visit  www.tyra.bio and engage with us on LinkedIn.Forward-Looking Statements TYRA cautions you that statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and include, but are not limited to: the potential to develop next-generation precision medicines, the potential safety and therapeutic benefits of TYRA-300 and other product candidates and the potential for TYRA-300 to become a best-in-class agent; the sufficiency of our cash position to support clinical and operational milestones; expected cash runway; the expected timing and phase of clinical development of TYRA-300 and TYRA-200, including timing of a submission of an IND for TYRA-300 in pediatric achondroplasia and patient dosing for TYRA-200; and the potential for SNÅP to develop therapies in targeted oncology and genetically defined conditions. Actual results may differ from those set forth in this press release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business, including, without limitation: we are early in our development efforts, have only recently begun testing our lead product candidate in clinical trials and the approach we are taking to discover and develop drugs based on our SNÅP platform is novel and unproven and it may never lead to product candidates that are successful in clinical development or approved products of commercial value; potential delays in the commencement, enrollment, and completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials; results from preclinical studies or early clinical trials not necessarily being predictive of future results; our dependence on third parties in connection with manufacturing, research and preclinical testing; acceptance by the FDA of INDs or of similar regulatory submissions by comparable foreign regulatory authorities for the conduct of clinical trials of TYRA-300 in pediatric achondroplasia; an accelerated development or approval pathway may not be available for TYRA-300 or other product candidates and any such pathway may not lead to a faster development process; unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate efficacy of our product candidates that may limit their development, regulatory approval, and/or commercialization; the potential for our programs and prospects to be negatively impacted by developments relating to our competitors, including the results of studies or regulatory determinations relating to our competitors; we may not realize the benefits associated with ODD, including that orphan drug exclusivity may not effectively protect a product from competition and that such exclusivity may not be maintained; regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; we may use our capital resources sooner than we expect; unstable market and economic conditions and adverse developments with respect to financial institutions and associated liquidity risk may adversely affect our business and financial condition and the broader economy and biotechnology industry; and other risks described in our prior filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including under the heading "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, which is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.Contact:Amy [email protected] Tyra Biosciences, Inc.Condensed Balance Sheet Data(in thousands)June 30,December 31,20232022(unaudited)Balance Sheet Data:Cash and cash equivalents$232,413$251,213Working capital235,341251,587Total assets250,012266,181Accumulated deficit(120,848)(95,696)Total stockholders' equity238,572257,829 Tyra Biosciences, Inc. Condensed Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss (in thousands, except share and per share data)(unaudited)Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,2023202220232022Operating expenses:Research and development$12,162$12,047$22,570$21,692General and administrative3,8523,3817,7788,570Total operating expenses16,01415,42830,34830,262Loss from operations(16,014)(15,428)(30,348)(30,262)Other income (expense):Interest income2,7633465,218364Other expense(21)(13)(22)(23)Total other income2,7423335,196341Net loss and comprehensive loss$(13,272)$(15,095)$(25,152)$(29,921)Net loss per share, basic and diluted$(0.31)$(0.36)$(0.59)$(0.72)Weighted-average shares used to compute    net loss per share, basic and diluted42,589,21341,777,20642,492,37741,665,155 (PRNewsfoto/Tyra Biosciences, Inc.) CisionView original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tyra-biosciences-reports-second-quarter-2023-financial-results-and-highlights-301898210.htmlSOURCE Tyra Biosciences, Inc.

PR Newswire

Tyra Biosciences Reports Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results and Highlights

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tyra-biosciences-reports-second-quarter-200500053.html

417f7631-0d58-3b72-94e5-5ed7baf19ab8

TZOO

The retail sector has put up a solid fight amid the ongoing inflation pressures, thanks to robust demand for goods. This has seen sales growing steadily over the months, and the overall scenario looks far better than a year ago.The Commerce Department said earlier this week that retail sales rose in July, driven by solid online sales. E-commerce has been a key player in driving overall retail sales and is projected to play a bigger role in the coming months. Given this situation, retail stocks with a strong online presence, such as Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Travelzoo TZOO, JD.com, Inc. JD and Rover Group, Inc. ROVR, are likely to benefit in the near term.E-Commerce Driving Retail SalesRetail sales rose 0.7% in July to hit $696.4 billion after increasing 0.3% in June, the Commerce Department said on Aug 15. Experts noted that the promotional offers and discounts presented during Amazon Prime Day, which took place in July, probably contributed to an increase in online consumer spending.According to the report, the solid jump in July was driven by a 1.9% rise in online sales. E-commerce has become a preferred choice for millions of Americans over the past three years or since the COVID-19 outbreak.Consumers realized the ease and convenience of shopping online during the peak of the pandemic. E-commerce, thus, was also responsible for saving the retail sector from total collapse during that time.This saw online sales hitting the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 2022, and this year's figures are expected to grow further. According to the 2023 US Online Retail Report by FTI Consulting, online retail sales are projected to exceed $1.1 trillion in 2023, reflecting a 10% rise from the previous year.This expansion is in line with the continuous upward trend of the e-commerce sector in recent times. Forecasts have indicated that e-commerce sales in the United States are expected to hit $1.6 trillion by 2027.Our ChoicesGiven this scenario, it would be wise to invest in these four e-commerce stocks. Each of these stocks carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Story continuesAmazon.com, Inc. is one of the largest e-commerce providers, with sprawling operations in North America and across the globe. AMZN’s online retail business revolves around the Prime program well-supported by the company’s massive distribution network. Further, the Whole Foods Market acquisition helped Amazon establish its footprint in the physical grocery supermarket space.Amazon.com’sexpected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 38.5% over the past 60 days. AMZN presently sports a Zacks Rank #1.Travelzoo is an Internet media company. TZOO engages in the provision of information to subscribers and website users about travel, entertainment and local deals available from companies. Travelzoo’s operating segment consists of Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.Travelzoo’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 35.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 2.9% over the past 60 days. TZOO presently carries a Zacks Rank #1.JD.com, Inc. operates as an online direct sales company in China. JD, through its website www.jd.com and mobile applications, offers a selection of authentic products.JD.com’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 13.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 4.7% over the past 60 days. JD currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.Rover Group, Inc. provides an online marketplace for pet care. ROVR connects pet parents with pet providers who offer overnight services, including boarding and in-home pet sitting, as well as daytime services, including doggy daycare, dog walking, drop-in visits and grooming.Rover Group’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 200% over the past 60 days. ROVR currently carries a Zacks Rank #1.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportAmazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportJD.com, Inc. (JD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTravelzoo (TZOO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportRover Group, Inc. (ROVR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

4 E-Commerce Stocks to Buy on Robust Online Retail Sales

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-e-commerce-stocks-buy-121700910.html

50f3c7ed-4c50-3275-9a5d-53b3db4aff3c

TZOO

Major U.S. indexes have hit a bump in August after a smooth ride from the beginning of 2023. The bulls are still in control as the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and the Dow have a positive return of 13.8%, 27.2%, and 4.0%, respectively, so far this year.The month has witnessed profit booking mostly due to investor fears. Moody’s downgrading of small and medium-sized U.S. lenders and the review of six banks citing funding risks and weaker profitability hit the panic button.On the brighter side, the Commerce Department on Aug 15 reported that retail sales adjusted for seasonality but don’t account for inflation jumped at the fastest pace of 0.7% in July compared to the prior months' gain of 0.3%. As inflation continues to soften, online retail spending jumped 1.9%, sporting goods and related stores rose 1.5%, and food and drinks services saw a 1.4% rise.The Consumer Price Index, which is the most accepted gauge for inflation, rose slightly to 3.2% year on year in July but is way below the 9.1% recorded last summer. The Federal Reserve's hawkish monetary policy stances to fight inflation have begun to show results after a series of 11 rate hikes since March 2022. However, it seems that the Fed's 2% inflation target will not be easy to achieve.The labor market remains resilient for the month of July. Data released by the labor department on Aug 4, shows that U.S. non-farm payroll increased by 187,000, unemployment rates changed a little at 3.5%, and average hourly wage rates gained by 0.4% to $33.74. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.4%. The numbers suggest that the labor market is still tight, boosting consumer spending.Robust retail sales numbers indicate that consumer spending was broad-based. To ride the tide, we have selected three companies that are expected to perform well shortly from robust consumer spending. Prudent investors can gain from such an opportunity and earn attractive returns by investing in top-ranked stocks like Chuy's CHUY, Travelzoo TZOO and GIII Apparel Group GIII. These companies hold Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), have a low price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) compared to the industry, and have outperformed the S&P 500 Index year to date.Story continuesChuy's owns and operates full-service restaurants serving a distinct menu of authentic Mexican food. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.CHUY has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings increasing 4.6% over the last 60 days.Chuy's has a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 20.65 compared with 31.50 for the Retail – Restaurants industry. Its shares have gained 29.9% over the year-to-date period compared with the S&P 500’s rise of 16.5%.Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchTravelzoo is an Internet media company, which is engaged in the provision of information to subscribers and website users about travel, entertainment, and local deals available from companies.TZOO has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings increasing 2.9% over the last 60 days.Travelzoo has a P/E of 8.9 compared with 19.20 for the Internet – Commerce industry. Its shares have gained 47.0% over the year-to-date period.Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchGIII Apparel Group is a manufacturer, designer and distributor of apparel and accessories under licensed brands, owned brands and private-label brands. The company’s portfolio includes outerwear, dresses, sportswear, swimwear, women’s suits and women’s performance wear as well as women’s handbags, footwear, small leather goods, cold weather accessories and luggage.GIII has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings increasing 2.5% over the last 60 days.GIII Apparel Group has a P/E of 7.22 compared with 20.80 for the Textile – Apparel industry. Its shares have gained 50.5% over the year-to-date period.Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportG-III Apparel Group, LTD. (GIII) : Free Stock Analysis ReportChuy's Holdings, Inc. (CHUY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTravelzoo (TZOO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

3 Top Stocks to Gain on Robust Consumer Spending

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-top-stocks-gain-robust-122200779.html

007e194f-fb6a-376b-8f17-296762880fc3

UAL

(Adds Boeing statement)By David ShepardsonWASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday the February 2021 engine failure on a United Airlines Boeing 777 in Colorado was due to a crack in a fan blade and cited inadequate inspections as a contributing cause.Soon after the failure, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered immediate inspections of 777 aircraft with Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines before further flights, which led to the planes' grounding for more than a year.The Boeing 777-200 bound for Honolulu after takeoff from Denver showered debris over nearby cities, but no one was injured and the plane safely returned to the airport.The NTSB cited "the inadequate inspection of the blades, which failed to identify low-level indications of cracking, and the insufficient frequency of the manufacturer’s inspection intervals, which permitted the low-level crack indications to propagate undetected and ultimately resulted in the fatigue failure." Pratt & Whitney, a unit of RTX, did not immediately comment.United said on Friday it "closely collaborated with the NTSB, FAA, Boeing and Pratt and Whitney on each step of the investigation and are pleased to have these aircraft back in our fleet."In March 2022, the FAA finalized new safety directives after three reported in-flight fan blade failures including the Colorado incident that prompted enhanced inspections and modifications. The FAA said on Friday it had issued the safety directives in response to the fan blade incidents.Boeing said since the failure it "has identified appropriate design changes to improve the structural integrity of the engine inlet and cowling and has been communicating with the FAA, Pratt & Whitney and airline customers on its progress.”United is the only U.S. operator of 777s with the PW4000 engine and had 52 of those planes as of 2022.As of January, 17 confirmed cracked fan blades have been found, the NTSB said, the first of which was identified in December 2004 - not including three fan blades that sustained full-blade separation in service. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool)

Reuters

UPDATE 2-US NTSB cites inadequate inspections in 2021 United Airlines engine failure

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-ntsb-cites-inadequate-212503272.html

3009b0ca-fb6c-39d8-8c25-92f9c6ac440b

UAL

By David ShepardsonWASHINGTON (Reuters) -The National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday the February 2021 engine failure on a United Airlines Boeing 777 in Colorado was due to a crack in a fan blade and cited inadequate inspections as a contributing cause.Soon after the failure, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered immediate inspections of 777 aircraft with Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines before further flights, which led to the planes' grounding for more than a year.The Boeing 777-200 bound for Honolulu after takeoff from Denver showered debris over nearby cities, but no one was injured and the plane safely returned to the airport.The NTSB cited "the inadequate inspection of the blades, which failed to identify low-level indications of cracking, and the insufficient frequency of the manufacturer’s inspection intervals, which permitted the low-level crack indications to propagate undetected and ultimately resulted in the fatigue failure." Pratt & Whitney, a unit of RTX, did not immediately comment.United said on Friday it "closely collaborated with the NTSB, FAA, Boeing and Pratt and Whitney on each step of the investigation and are pleased to have these aircraft back in our fleet."In March 2022, the FAA finalized new safety directives after three reported in-flight fan blade failures including the Colorado incident that prompted enhanced inspections and modifications. The FAA said on Friday it had issued the safety directives in response to the fan blade incidents.Boeing said since the failure it "has identified appropriate design changes to improve the structural integrity of the engine inlet and cowling and has been communicating with the FAA, Pratt & Whitney and airline customers on its progress.”United is the only U.S. operator of 777s with the PW4000 engine and had 52 of those planes as of 2022.As of January, 17 confirmed cracked fan blades have been found, the NTSB said, the first of which was identified in December 2004 - not including three fan blades that sustained full-blade separation in service.(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool)

Reuters

US NTSB cites inadequate inspections in 2021 United Airlines engine failure

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-ntsb-cites-inadequate-inspections-213517868.html

d17c6e57-0ab7-3d1c-bf65-d041c5f64061

UBCP

United Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:UBCP) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to $0.1675 on 20th of September. This takes the dividend yield to 6.8%, which shareholders will be pleased with. Check out our latest analysis for United Bancorp United Bancorp's Earnings Will Easily Cover The DistributionsWe like to see robust dividend yields, but that doesn't matter if the payment isn't sustainable.Having distributed dividends for at least 10 years, United Bancorp has a long history of paying out a part of its earnings to shareholders. Past distributions do not necessarily guarantee future ones, but United Bancorp's payout ratio of 42% is a good sign as this means that earnings decently cover dividends.Looking forward, EPS is forecast to rise by 10.9% over the next 3 years. The future payout ratio could be 40% over that time period, according to analyst estimates, which is a good look for the future of the dividend.historic-dividendDividend VolatilityWhile the company has been paying a dividend for a long time, it has cut the dividend at least once in the last 10 years. The dividend has gone from an annual total of $0.28 in 2013 to the most recent total annual payment of $0.81. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 11% over that duration. Dividends have grown rapidly over this time, but with cuts in the past we are not certain that this stock will be a reliable source of income in the future.The Dividend Looks Likely To GrowGiven that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. United Bancorp has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 14% per annum. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing.We Really Like United Bancorp's DividendIn summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For instance, we've picked out 2 warning signs for United Bancorp that investors should take into consideration. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

United Bancorp (NASDAQ:UBCP) Is Increasing Its Dividend To $0.1675

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-bancorp-nasdaq-ubcp-increasing-121743123.html

db7cbb63-f225-3522-88f8-21bf6e1a7df3

UBCP

United Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBCP) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in four days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Meaning, you will need to purchase United Bancorp's shares before the 7th of September to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 20th of September.The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.17 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.81 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, United Bancorp stock has a trailing yield of around 6.9% on the current share price of $11.75. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether United Bancorp's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether United Bancorp can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow. Check out our latest analysis for United Bancorp Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. That's why it's good to see United Bancorp paying out a modest 42% of its earnings.Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.Click here to see how much of its profit United Bancorp paid out over the last 12 months.historic-dividendHave Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. Fortunately for readers, United Bancorp's earnings per share have been growing at 16% a year for the past five years.Story continuesAnother key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, United Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 11% a year on average. It's exciting to see that both earnings and dividends per share have grown rapidly over the past few years.The Bottom LineFrom a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid United Bancorp? Companies like United Bancorp that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. This strategy can add significant value to shareholders over the long term - as long as it's done without issuing too many new shares. Overall, United Bancorp looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.While it's tempting to invest in United Bancorp for the dividends alone, you should always be mindful of the risks involved. Our analysis shows 2 warning signs for United Bancorp and you should be aware of them before buying any shares.If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

United Bancorp (NASDAQ:UBCP) Could Be A Buy For Its Upcoming Dividend

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-bancorp-nasdaq-ubcp-could-120435148.html

b8f3e2f8-0ff8-3ecc-96cb-0a404f717363

UBER

(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. is working on a TaskRabbit-like service that will let app users hire people to conduct various tasks in an expansion beyond driving and deliveries.Most Read from BloombergTrudeau Is Stuck in India With Faulty Aircraft After Hearing Criticism From ModiIndia’s G-20 Win Shows US Learning How to Counter China RiseMeloni Tells China That Italy Plans to Exit Belt and RoadBiden Doubts China Able to Invade Taiwan Amid Economic WoesBoss of Failed Crypto Exchange Gets 11,000-Year SentenceThe potential new service, codenamed “Chore,” was discovered inside of Uber’s iPhone app within hidden code strings. According to the code, a “tasker” can be hired for a minimum of one hour. The app will ask users to specify what job is needed, how long it will take and when they want the person to arrive.Similar to a ride or a food delivery within Uber’s application, the code indicates the user will be asked to specify the address of the request, review their submission and then press a button to request it. The app will determine the cost based on the time required to conduct the task.The code, which was discovered by developer Steve Moser and shared with Bloomberg News, is still early and doesn’t provide examples of possible chores. But competing services, such as TaskRabbit Inc. and Angi Inc., support tasks including mounting TVs, appliance repair, cleaning, moving assistance and furniture assembly.An Uber spokesman declined to comment on the code findings. There is no guarantee the company will ultimately launch such a service or when, but the engineering work on the expansion indicates Uber is considering such a move. The company often pilots new features in select geographies, but it isn’t currently testing any such service.A move into the tasking market would be a significant expansion for Uber. While the company posted its first-ever operating profit last quarter, sales increased 14%, the slowest growth rate since the first quarter of 2021. Uber is seeking new sources of growth and additional ways to create revenue. Last year, the ride-hailing company piloted an unrelated service called Errands for chores like dropping off flowers or an online order return.Story continuesCode findings previously revealed that Uber is working on an artificial intelligence-based chat bot to speed up and improve ordering within Uber Eats.Most Read from Bloomberg BusinessweekHuawei’s Surprise Phone Gives Ammo to Biden Doubters on ChinaLyme Disease Has Exploded, and a New Vaccine Is (Almost) Here©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Bloomberg

Uber Working on TaskRabbit-Like Service in Potential Expansion

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uber-working-taskrabbit-potential-expansion-201816573.html

ccc162bb-ba48-3134-b396-330d3ddcbd06

UBER

The market rally is under pressure, but Amazon and Shopify are stocks to watch that are forging handles in bases.Continue reading

Investor's Business Daily

Amazon Leads 5 Stocks Near Buy Points With A Handle On This Market

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/c31fe833-799d-3694-b303-2b6a735edfd2/amazon-leads-5-stocks-near.html

c31fe833-799d-3694-b303-2b6a735edfd2

UDR

UDR, Inc. UDR is well-poised to benefit from a diversified portfolio, with a superior product mix of A/B quality properties in urban and suburban communities in both coastal and Sunbelt locations.The company’s efforts to diversify its portfolio with respect to geographies and price points limit its exposure to volatility and concentration risks while assuring stable cash flows. Moreover, in recent quarters, UDR has been experiencing strong pricing power, as evidenced by blended lease rate growth. For 2023, management expects year-over-year same-store revenue growth (on a cash basis) of 6-7%. Our estimate indicates a year over-year increase of 6.7% in same-store revenues in 2023.UDR is also leveraging technological investments and process enhancements to drive innovation and margin expansion. Its Next Generation Operating Platform allows the company to electronically interact with and provide service to residents and prospects throughout its diversified portfolio. These efforts are likely to give UDR a competitive edge over its peers. For 2023, management expects year-over-year same-store net operating income (NOI) growth (on a cash basis) of 6.5-8%. We estimate year-over-year growth of 7.4% in the company’s same-store NOI in the current year.The company maintains a healthy balance sheet position with ample liquidity. It exited the second quarter of 2023 with $1.1 billion liquidity. The company’s debt maturity schedule is well-laddered, with weighted average years to maturity of 6.3 and a weighted average interest rate of 3.21%. Also, 88.4% of its NOI is unencumbered.Solid dividend payouts are arguably the biggest enticement for REIT investors and UDR remains committed to that. The company has increased its dividend five times in the last five years, and the five-year annualized dividend growth rate is 4.21%, which is encouraging.Moreover, backed by healthy operating fundamentals, we expect the FFO as adjusted (FFOA) to increase 8.7% in 2023. Given our FFOA growth projections and UDR’s solid financial position, the latest dividend hike seems sustainable and well covered by cash flow from operations. Such efforts boost investors’ confidence in the stock.Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 1.8% so far in the year, slightly below its industry’s increase of 2.1%.Story continuesZacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchHowever, the struggle to lure the renters is likely to persist as the supply volume is expected to remain elevated in a number of its markets. With the ongoing construction standing at a high level, a sizeable number of apartment deliveries are expected in the upcoming period. Particularly, management expects its pricing power across its Sunbelt markets to remain constrained in the near term amid a relatively high level of new supply deliveries in these markets.Furthermore, a high interest rate environment is a concern for UDR. Elevated rates imply high borrowing costs for the company, affecting its ability to purchase or develop real estate. The company has a substantial debt burden and its total debt as of Jun 30, 2023, was $5.4 billion. Our estimate indicates a year-over-year rise of 15.1% in interest expenses in 2023.Stocks to ConsiderSome better-ranked stocks from the REIT sector are Invitation Homes Inc. INVH and American Homes 4 Rent AMH. Both Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Invitation Homes’ current-year FFO per share has been revised marginally north over the past two months to $1.79.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for American Homes 4 Rent’s 2023 FFO per share has been revised marginally north in the past month to $1.65.Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportUnited Dominion Realty Trust, Inc. (UDR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportAmerican Homes 4 Rent (AMH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportInvitation Home (INVH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Is It Wise to Retain UDR Stock in Your Portfolio for Now?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wise-retain-udr-stock-portfolio-120100415.html

206abb05-b506-3646-824a-c1336753a5f2

UDR

DENVER, September 06, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UDR, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: UDR), a leading multifamily real estate investment trust and GRESB 5 Star rated company for its sustainability leadership, announced today that the Company will participate in the Bank of America Securities 2023 Global Real Estate Conference being held at the Westin New York Times Square on September 12-13, 2023. The UDR Executive Team will host a roundtable discussion on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, at 1:25 p.m. Eastern Time.The Company’s roundtable discussion will be made available as a webcast which can be accessed at https://bofa.veracast.com/webcasts/bofa/realestate2023/idW84y19.cfm as well as in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at ir.udr.com. A replay of the roundtable will be available for 90 days on the Company’s website. A copy of materials provided by the Company at the conference will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, under "Presentations & Webcasts."About UDR, Inc.UDR, Inc. (NYSE: UDR), an S&P 500 company, is a leading multifamily real estate investment trust with a demonstrated performance history of delivering superior and dependable returns by successfully managing, buying, selling, developing and redeveloping attractive real estate properties in targeted U.S. markets. As of June 30, 2023, UDR owned or had an ownership position in 58,412 apartment homes including 415 homes under development. For over 51 years, UDR has delivered long-term value to shareholders, the best standard of service to residents and the highest quality experience for associates.View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230906694470/en/ContactsUDR, Inc. Trent [email protected] 720-283-6135

Business Wire

UDR to Participate in Bank of America Securities 2023 Global Real Estate Conference

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/udr-participate-bank-america-securities-201600631.html

3bf49e55-337b-3bb1-9047-1a050d1aabc6

UFPI

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., August 22, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UFP Packaging, part of UFP Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: UFPI), will make its PACK EXPO Las Vegas debut from September 11-13, 2023. The company will feature packaging solutions and services from three business units: Protective Packaging, Structural Packaging, and Machine-Built Pallets. Representatives from each business unit will be available for consultation at booth N-9415.UFP Packaging provides total packaging solutions throughout the world, and the booth will showcase offerings such as:Protective Packaging ProductsLabels, label printers, and label applicators from Advantage Label & PackagingStretch wrap, shrink wrap, foam, corner protectors, and strappingCorrugated boxes and insertsStructural Packaging ProductsCustom palletsCustom wood cratesCustom steel cratesStrip-Pak® corrugated/wood cratesSpecialty packagingMachine-Built PalletsStandard GMA palletsCP palletsISTM-15 palletsWinged and flush palletsOther standard-dimension palletsServices & CertificationsEngineering and design servicesASTM and ISO testingStructural analysis testingISTA CertifiedAmazon 6 Certified"We’re excited to introduce our full complement of packaging solutions to the attendees of PACK EXPO Las Vegas," said Robert Bilbrough, director of product development and marketing for UFP Packaging. "UFP Packaging is unlike most other companies in that we can provide everything businesses need to get their product out the door and ship it anywhere in the world. We are the total packaging solutions provider."About UFP PackagingA subsidiary of UFP Industries, UFP Packaging provides full-service packaging solutions to a variety of industries, including industrial manufacturing, power equipment and transportation, logistics, moving and storage, technology and medical, agriculture/horticulture, glass, auto, appliance and more. The company manufactures and distributes the most diverse line of custom packaging available, ranging from wood pallets and crates to highly customized packaging products, including labels. The company has the expertise and geographic coverage to serve the needs of regional, national and global customers.Story continueswww.ufppackaging.comUFP Industries, Inc.UFP Industries is a holding company whose operating subsidiaries – UFP Packaging, UFP Construction and UFP Retail Solutions – manufacture, distribute and sell a wide variety of value-added products used in residential and commercial construction, packaging and other industrial applications worldwide. Founded in 1955, the company is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., with affiliates in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. UFP Industries is ranked #403 on the Fortune 500 and #149 on Industry Week’s list of America’s Largest Manufacturers. For more about UFP Industries, go to www.ufpi.com.View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230822704414/en/ContactsRobert BilbroughDirector, Product Development and Marketing, UFP Packaging(470) 330-9982

Business Wire

UFP Packaging to Showcase Its Breadth and Depth as a Total Packaging Solutions Provider at PACK EXPO Las Vegas

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ufp-packaging-showcase-breadth-depth-165700487.html

c82141ae-39bc-3abd-80eb-f55710025667

UFPI

Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that UFP Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPI) is about to go ex-dividend in just 2 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Accordingly, UFP Industries investors that purchase the stock on or after the 31st of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of September.The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.30 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$1.20 per share. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that UFP Industries has a trailing yield of 1.2% on the current share price of $101.04. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether UFP Industries's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing. View our latest analysis for UFP Industries Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. UFP Industries has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 11% of its income after tax. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether UFP Industries generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Luckily it paid out just 7.1% of its free cash flow last year.It's positive to see that UFP Industries's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.Story continuesClick here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.historic-dividendHave Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. That's why it's comforting to see UFP Industries's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 36% per annum for the past five years. UFP Industries looks like a real growth company, with earnings per share growing at a cracking pace and the company reinvesting most of its profits in the business.Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, UFP Industries has lifted its dividend by approximately 25% a year on average. It's great to see earnings per share growing rapidly over several years, and dividends per share growing right along with it.The Bottom LineIs UFP Industries an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? UFP Industries has been growing earnings at a rapid rate, and has a conservatively low payout ratio, implying that it is reinvesting heavily in its business; a sterling combination. UFP Industries looks solid on this analysis overall, and we'd definitely consider investigating it more closely.In light of that, while UFP Industries has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. For example - UFP Industries has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Is It Smart To Buy UFP Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPI) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/smart-buy-ufp-industries-inc-101434832.html

d2e0f737-1ae2-3150-8639-07985a605cf5

UHS

With a daily gain of 2.36%, a three-month loss of -6.69%, and an Earnings Per Share (EPS) of 9.63, Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) presents an interesting case for potential investors. However, the question remains: is the stock modestly undervalued? This article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of Universal Health Services' valuation and offers insights into its financial health and growth prospects. Read on to discover if this healthcare giant holds potential for your investment portfolio.Company OverviewWarning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with UHS. Click here to check it out. UHS 30-Year Financial DataThe intrinsic value of UHSUniversal Health Services Inc owns and operates acute care hospitals, behavior health centers, surgical hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and radiation oncology centers. The firm operates in two key segments: Acute Care Hospital Services and Behavioral Health Services. The Acute Care Hospital Services segment includes the firm's acute care hospitals, surgical hospitals, and surgery and oncology centers. With a current market cap of $9.10 billion and annual sales of $13.80 billion, the company's stock price stands at $131.12, against a GF Value of $170.02. This discrepancy suggests that the stock might be modestly undervalued.Universal Health Services (UHS): A Hidden Gem in the Healthcare Sector?Understanding GF ValueThe GF Value represents the current intrinsic value of a stock derived from our exclusive method. The GF Value Line on our summary page gives an overview of the fair value that the stock should be traded at. It is calculated based on three factors:Historical multiples (PE Ratio, PS Ratio, PB Ratio and Price-to-Free-Cash-Flow) that the stock has traded at.GuruFocus adjustment factor based on the company's past returns and growth.Future estimates of the business performance.Given these factors, Universal Health Services is perceived to be modestly undervalued. This suggests that the long-term return of its stock is likely to be higher than its business growth.Story continuesUniversal Health Services (UHS): A Hidden Gem in the Healthcare Sector?Link: These companies may deliver higher future returns at reduced risk.Financial StrengthBefore investing, it's crucial to assess a company's financial strength. Companies with poor financial strength pose a higher risk of permanent loss. Universal Health Services' cash-to-debt ratio of 0.02 is lower than 94.79% of 653 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry, indicating fair financial strength.Universal Health Services (UHS): A Hidden Gem in the Healthcare Sector?Profitability and GrowthInvesting in profitable companies, especially those demonstrating consistent profitability over time, is typically less risky. Universal Health Services, with an operating margin of 7.94%, ranks better than 66.36% of 648 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry. However, its 3-year average EBITDA growth rate is 3.3%, which ranks worse than 61.41% of 526 companies in the industry.ROIC vs WACCComparing a company's return on invested capital (ROIC) and the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is another way to evaluate its profitability. For the past 12 months, Universal Health Services' ROIC is 7.11, and its WACC is 8.73.Universal Health Services (UHS): A Hidden Gem in the Healthcare Sector?ConclusionIn summary, Universal Health Services (NYSE:UHS) is believed to be modestly undervalued. While the company's financial condition is fair and its profitability is strong, its growth ranks worse than 61.41% of 526 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry. To learn more about Universal Health Services stock, you can check out its 30-Year Financials here.To find out the high-quality companies that may deliver above-average returns, please check out GuruFocus High Quality Low Capex Screener.This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

GuruFocus.com

Universal Health Services (UHS): A Hidden Gem in the Healthcare Sector?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/universal-health-services-uhs-hidden-153501446.html

beb66a25-4292-367d-82aa-e187c91130d4

UHS

Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) has recently been in the spotlight, drawing interest from investors and financial analysts due to its robust financial stance. With shares currently priced at $131.34, Universal Health Services Inc has witnessed a surge of 2.53% over a period, marked against a three-month change of -4.81%. A thorough analysis, underlined by the GuruFocus Score Rating, suggests that Universal Health Services Inc is well-positioned for substantial growth in the near future.Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with UHS. Click here to check it out. UHS 30-Year Financial DataThe intrinsic value of UHSUnpacking the Investment Potential of Universal Health Services Inc (UHS): A Deep Dive into Key Financial MetricsDecoding the GF ScoreThe GF Score is a stock performance ranking system developed by GuruFocus using five aspects of valuation, which has been found to be closely correlated to the long-term performances of stocks by backtesting from 2006 to 2021. The stocks with a higher GF Score generally generate higher returns than those with a lower GF Score. Therefore, when picking stocks, investors should invest in companies with high GF Scores. The GF Score ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 as the highest rank.Universal Health Services Inc's GF Score components are as follows:1. Financial strength rank: 5/102. Profitability rank: 9/103. Growth rank: 10/104. GF Value rank: 9/105. Momentum rank: 9/10Each one of these components is ranked and the ranks also have positive correlation with the long term performances of stocks. The GF score is calculated using the five key aspects of analysis. Through backtesting, we know that each of these key aspects has a different impact on the stock price performance. Thus, they are weighted differently when calculating the total score. With a high profitability rank and a slightly lower financial strength rank, GuruFocus assigned Universal Health Services Inc the GF Score of 95 out of 100, which signals the highest outperformance potential.Understanding Universal Health Services Inc's BusinessUniversal Health Services Inc, with a market cap of $9.12 billion and sales of $13.80 billion, operates acute care hospitals, behavior health centers, surgical hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and radiation oncology centers. The firm operates in two key segments: Acute Care Hospital Services and Behavioral Health Services. The Acute Care Hospital Services segment includes the firm's acute care hospitals, surgical hospitals, and surgery and oncology centers. The company's operating margin stands at 7.94%.Story continuesUnpacking the Investment Potential of Universal Health Services Inc (UHS): A Deep Dive into Key Financial MetricsProfitability Rank BreakdownThe Profitability Rank shows Universal Health Services Inc's impressive standing among its peers in generating profit. The Piotroski F-Score confirms Universal Health Services Inc's solid financial situation based on Joseph Piotroski's nine-point scale, which measures a company's profitability, funding and operating efficiency. Universal Health Services Inc's strong Predictability Rank of 5.0 stars out of five underscores its consistent operational performance, providing investors with increased confidence.Growth Rank BreakdownRanked highly in Growth, Universal Health Services Inc demonstrates a strong commitment to expanding its business. The company's 3-Year Revenue Growth Rate is 12.4%, which outperforms better than 60.6% of 571 companies in the Healthcare Providers & Services industry. Moreover, Universal Health Services Inc has seen a robust increase in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) over the past few years. Specifically, the three-year growth rate stands at 3.3, and the rate over the past five years is 5.3. This trend accentuates the company's continued capability to drive growth.Unpacking the Investment Potential of Universal Health Services Inc (UHS): A Deep Dive into Key Financial MetricsConclusionGiven Universal Health Services Inc's financial strength, profitability, and growth metrics, the GuruFocus Score Rating highlights the firm's unparalleled position for potential outperformance. This analysis underscores the importance of considering these key financial metrics when making investment decisions. GuruFocus Premium members can find more companies with strong GF Scores using the following screener link: GF Score ScreenThis article first appeared on GuruFocus.

GuruFocus.com

Unpacking the Investment Potential of Universal Health Services Inc (UHS): A Deep Dive into Key ...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unpacking-investment-potential-universal-health-160309494.html

baaccbfd-4b98-3303-afcf-0c1462a3c893

UHT

Consolidated Results of Operations - Three-Month Periods Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022:KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., July 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE: UHT) announced today that for the three-month period ended June 30, 2023, net income was $3.5 million, or $.25 per diluted share, as compared to $5.2 million, or $.38 per diluted share, during the second quarter of 2022.The decrease in our net income of $1.7 million, or $.13 per diluted share, during the second quarter of 2023, as compared to the comparable quarter of 2022, consisted of the following: (i) a decrease of $1.8 million, or $.13 per diluted share, resulting from an increase in interest expense due to increases in our average borrowing rate and average outstanding borrowings; (ii) a decrease of $862,000, or $.06 per diluted share, from demolition expenses incurred during the second quarter of 2023 related to a property located in Chicago, Illinois, partially offset by; (iii) an increase of $929,000, or $.06 per diluted share, resulting from an aggregate net increase in the income generated at various properties, including a reduction of $227,000, or $.02 per diluted share, in the expenses related to the property located in Chicago.As calculated on the attached Schedule of Non-GAAP Supplemental Information ("Supplemental Schedule"), our funds from operations ("FFO") were $10.6 million, or $.77 per diluted share, during the second quarter of 2023, as compared to $12.2 million, or $.88 per diluted share during the second quarter of 2022. The decrease of $1.6 million, or $.11 per diluted share, was due primarily to the above-mentioned $1.7 million, or $.13 per diluted share, decrease in our net income during the second quarter of 2023, as compared to the second quarter of 2022, partially offset by an increase in depreciation and amortization expense.Consolidated Results of Operations - Six-Month Periods Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022:Story continuesFor the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, net income was $7.9 million, or $0.57 per diluted share, as compared to $10.6 million, or $.77 per diluted share during the first six months of 2022.The decrease in our net income of $2.7 million, or $.20 per diluted share, during the first six months of 2023, as compared to the comparable period of 2022, was primarily due to: (i) a decrease of $3.3 million, or $.24 per diluted share, resulting from an increase in interest expense due to increases in our average borrowing rate and average outstanding borrowings; (ii) a decrease of $1.1 million, or $.08 per diluted share, from demolition expenses incurred during the first six months of 2023 related to a property located in Chicago, Illinois, partially offset by; (iii) a net increase of $1.7 million, or $.12 per diluted share, resulting from an aggregate net increase in the income generated at various properties, including a reduction of $568,000, or $.04 per diluted share, in the expenses related to the property located in Chicago.As calculated on the attached Supplemental Schedule, our FFO were $22.0 million, or $1.59 per diluted share, during the first six months of 2023, as compared to $24.6 million, or $1.78 per diluted share during the comparable period of 2022. The decrease of $2.6 million, or $.19 per diluted share, was due primarily to the above-mentioned $2.7 million, or $.20 per diluted share, decrease in our net income during the first six months of 2023, as compared to the first six months of 2022, partially offset by an increase in depreciation and amortization expense.Dividend Information:The second quarter dividend of $.72 per share, or $10.0 million in the aggregate, was declared on June 7, 2023 and paid on June 30, 2023.Capital Resources Information:At June 30, 2023, we had $311.4 million of borrowings outstanding pursuant to the terms of our $375 million revolving credit agreement and $60.5 million of available borrowing capacity as of that date, net of outstanding borrowings and letters of credit.New Construction Project - Sierra Medical Plaza I:In March, 2023, construction was substantially completed on the Sierra Medical Plaza I, an 86,000 square foot medical office building ("MOB") located in Reno, Nevada. This MOB is located on the campus of the Northern Nevada Sierra Medical Center, a hospital that is owned and operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary of UHS, which was completed and opened during April, 2022. The master flex lease agreement in connection with this building, which commenced in March, 2023 and has a ten-year term scheduled to expire on March 31, 2033, covers approximately 68% of the rentable square feet of the MOB at an initial minimum rent of $1.3 million annually, plus a pro-rata share of the common area maintenance expenses. This master flex lease agreement is subject to reduction based upon the execution of third-party leases. The aggregate cost of the MOB is estimated to be approximately $35 million, approximately $24 million of which was incurred as of June 30, 2023.Vacant Specialty Facilities:Demolition of the former specialty hospital located in Chicago, Illinois, has been substantially completed. Demolition costs were approximately $1.5 million in the aggregate, all of which have been incurred as of June 30, 2023. These demolition costs were included in other operating expenses in our consolidated statements of income during the following periods: $332,000 during the fourth quarter of 2022, $265,000 during the first quarter of 2023 and $862,000 during the second quarter of 2023.Including the above-mentioned demolition costs incurred during the three and six-months ended June 30, 2023, the operating expenses incurred by us in connection with the property located in Chicago, Illinois, were $983,000 and $1.4 million during the three and six-months ended June 30, 2023, respectively, (or $120,000 and $272,000 during the three and six-months ended June 30, 2023, respectively, excluding the demolition costs) as compared to $347,000 and $840,000 during the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2022, respectively.In addition, the aggregate operating expenses for the two vacant specialty facilities located in Evansville, Indiana, and Corpus Christi, Texas, were approximately $202,000 and $197,000 during the three-month periods ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and approximately $389,000 and $373,000 during the six-month periods ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively.We continue to market the three above-mentioned properties to third parties. Future operating expenses related to these properties, which are estimated to be approximately $1.3 million in the aggregate during the full year of 2023 (excluding the demolition costs incurred in connection with the property in Chicago, Illinois), will be incurred by us during the time they remain owned and unleased. Should these properties continue to remain owned and unleased for an extended period of time, or should we incur substantial renovation or additional demolition costs to make the properties suitable for other operators/tenants/buyers, our future results of operations could be materially unfavorably impacted.General Information, Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors and Non-GAAP Financial Measures:Universal Health Realty Income Trust, a real estate investment trust, invests in healthcare and human-service related facilities including acute care hospitals, behavioral health care hospitals, specialty facilities, medical/office buildings, free-standing emergency departments and childcare centers. We have investments or commitments in seventy-six properties located in twenty-one states.This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current management expectations. Numerous factors, including those disclosed herein, as well as the operations and financial results of each of our tenants, those related to healthcare industry trends and those detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (as set forth in Item 1A-Risk Factors and in Item 7- Forward-Looking Statements in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in Item 7- Forward-Looking Statements and Certain Risk Factors in our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023), may cause the results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements which reflect management's view only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.Many of the factors that could affect our future results are beyond our control or ability to predict, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future operations and financial results of our tenants, and in turn ours, could be materially impacted by various developments including, but not limited to, decreases in staffing availability and related increases to wage expense experienced by our tenants resulting from the nationwide shortage of nurses and other clinical staff and support personnel, the impact of government and administrative regulation of the health care industry; declining patient volumes and unfavorable changes in payer mix caused by deteriorating macroeconomic conditions (including increases in uninsured and underinsured patients as the result of business closings and layoffs); potential disruptions related to supplies required for our tenants' employees and patients; and potential increases to other expenditures.In addition, the increase in interest rates has substantially increased our borrowings costs and reduced our ability to access the capital markets on favorable terms. Additional increases in interest rates could have a significant unfavorable impact on our future results of operations and the resulting effect on the capital markets could adversely affect our ability to carry out our strategy.We believe that, if and when applicable, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per diluted share (as reflected on the Supplemental Schedule), which are non-GAAP financial measures ("GAAP" is Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America), are helpful to our investors as measures of our operating performance. In addition, we believe that, when applicable, comparing and discussing our financial results based on these measures, as calculated, is helpful to our investors since it neutralizes the effect in each year of material items that are non-recurring or non-operational in nature including items such as, but not limited to, gains on transactions.Funds from operations ("FFO") is a widely recognized measure of performance for Real Estate Investment Trusts ("REITs"). We believe that FFO and FFO per diluted share, which are non-GAAP financial measures, are helpful to our investors as measures of our operating performance. We compute FFO, as reflected on the attached Supplemental Schedules, in accordance with standards established by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("NAREIT"), which may not be comparable to FFO reported by other REITs that do not compute FFO in accordance with the NAREIT definition, or that interpret the NAREIT definition differently than we interpret the definition. FFO adjusts for the effects of certain items, such as gains on transactions that occurred during the periods presented. FFO does not represent cash generated from operating activities in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered to be an alternative to net income determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, FFO should not be used as: (i) an indication of our financial performance determined in accordance with GAAP; (ii) an alternative to cash flow from operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP; (iii) a measure of our liquidity, or; (iv) an indicator of funds available for our cash needs, including our ability to make cash distributions to shareholders. A reconciliation of our reported net income to FFO is reflected on the Supplemental Schedules included below.To obtain a complete understanding of our financial performance these measures should be examined in connection with net income, determined in accordance with GAAP, as presented in the condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto in this report or in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including our Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and our Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. Since the items included or excluded from these measures are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance under GAAP, these measures should not be considered to be alternatives to net income as a measure of our operating performance or profitability. Since these measures, as presented, are not determined in accordance with GAAP and are thus susceptible to varying calculations, they may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Investors are encouraged to use GAAP measures when evaluating our financial performance.Universal Health Realty Income TrustConsolidated Statements of IncomeFor the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022(amounts in thousands, except share information)(unaudited)Three Months EndedSix Months EndedJune 30,June 30,2023202220232022Revenues:  Lease revenue - UHS facilities (a.)$8,236$7,394$16,023$14,820  Lease revenue - Non-related parties13,66812,93327,02925,828  Other revenue - UHS facilities245233476462  Other revenue - Non-related parties292242773497  Interest income on financing leases - UHS facilities1,3651,3692,7312,73923,80622,17147,03244,346Expenses:  Depreciation and amortization6,8496,67913,46713,388  Advisory fees to UHS1,3231,2662,6252,490  Other operating expenses8,2506,98615,77113,85316,42214,93131,86329,731Income before equity in income of unconsolidated limitedliability companies ("LLCs") and interest expense7,3847,24015,16914,615  Equity in income of unconsolidated LLCs268345639597Interest expense, net(4,176)(2,367)(7,873)(4,589)Net income$3,476$5,218$7,935$10,623Basic earnings per share$0.25$0.38$0.58$0.77Diluted earnings per share$0.25$0.38$0.57$0.77Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Basic13,78413,76813,78113,766Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Diluted13,80913,78913,80613,788(a.) Includes bonus rental on McAllen Medical Center, a UHS acute care hospital facility of $730 and $643 for the three-month periods ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and $1,495 and $1,321 for the six-month periods ended June30, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Universal Health Realty Income TrustSchedule of Non-GAAP Supplemental Information ("Supplemental Schedule")For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022(amounts in thousands, except share information)(unaudited)Calculation of Adjusted Net IncomeThree Months EndedThree Months EndedJune 30, 2023June 30, 2022AmountPerDiluted ShareAmountPerDiluted ShareNet income$3,476$0.25$5,218$0.38Adjustments----Subtotal adjustments to net income----Adjusted net income$3,476$0.25$5,218$0.38 Calculation of Funds From Operations ("FFO")Three Months EndedThree Months EndedJune 30, 2023June 30, 2022AmountPerDiluted ShareAmountPerDiluted ShareNet income$3,476$0.25$5,218$0.38Plus: Depreciation and amortization expense:Consolidated investments6,8490.506,6790.48Unconsolidated affiliates2980.022950.02FFO$10,623$0.77$12,192$0.88Dividend paid per share$0.720$0.710 Universal Health Realty Income TrustSchedule of Non-GAAP Supplemental Information ("Supplemental Schedule")For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022(amounts in thousands, except share information)(unaudited)Calculation of Adjusted Net IncomeSix Months EndedSix Months EndedJune 30, 2023June 30, 2022AmountPerDiluted ShareAmountPerDiluted ShareNet income$7,935$0.57$10,623$0.77Adjustments----Subtotal adjustments to net income----Adjusted net income$7,935$0.57$10,623$0.77 Calculation of Funds From Operations ("FFO")Six Months EndedSix Months EndedJune 30, 2023June 30, 2022AmountPerDiluted ShareAmountPerDiluted ShareNet income$7,935$0.57$10,623$0.77Plus: Depreciation and amortization expense:Consolidated investments13,4670.9813,3880.97Unconsolidated affiliates5910.045900.04FFO$21,993$1.59$24,601$1.78Dividend paid per share$1.435$1.415 Universal Health Realty Income TrustConsolidated Balance Sheets(amounts in thousands, except share information)(unaudited)June 30,December 31,20232022Assets:Real Estate Investments:Buildings and improvements and construction in progress$642,619$641,338Accumulated depreciation(252,365)(248,772)390,254392,566Land56,63156,631               Net Real Estate Investments446,885449,197Financing receivable from UHS83,44483,603               Net Real Estate Investments and Financing receivable530,329532,800Investments in and advances to limited liability companies ("LLCs")9,2969,282Other Assets:Cash and cash equivalents9,4597,614Lease and other receivables from UHS5,9445,388Lease receivable - other8,3798,445Intangible assets (net of accumulated amortization of $13.1 million and    $15.4 million, respectively)8,3439,447Right-of-use land assets, net11,35811,457Deferred charges and other assets, net20,20323,107               Total Assets$603,311$607,540Liabilities:Line of credit borrowings$311,400$298,100Mortgage notes payable, non-recourse to us, net39,74144,725Accrued interest335373Accrued expenses and other liabilities12,53112,873Ground lease liabilities, net11,35811,457Tenant reserves, deposits and deferred and prepaid rents11,31110,911               Total Liabilities386,676378,439Equity:Preferred shares of beneficial interest,    $.01 par value; 5,000,000 shares authorized;    none issued and outstanding--Common shares, $.01 par value;    95,000,000 shares authorized; issued and outstanding: 2023 - 13,822,027;    2022 - 13,803,335138138Capital in excess of par value269,923269,472Cumulative net income818,596810,661Cumulative dividends(883,001)(863,181)Accumulated other comprehensive income10,97912,011     Total Equity216,635229,101               Total Liabilities and Equity$603,311$607,540 CisionView original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-health-realty-income-trust-reports-2023-second-quarter-financial-results-301885472.htmlSOURCE Universal Health Realty Income Trust

PR Newswire

UNIVERSAL HEALTH REALTY INCOME TRUST REPORTS 2023 SECOND QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/universal-health-realty-income-trust-202000384.html

2614894a-c992-33a4-9cbf-b1f883060068

UHT

Hippocratic AI10 Health Systems and Digital Health Companies to Co-Develop a Safety-Focused LLM for HealthcarePALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hippocratic AI has announced the formation of its Founding Partner Program. The program involves leading health systems and digital health companies in both the United States and Canada, including HonorHealth, Cincinnati Children’s, Universal Health Services (UHS), SonderMind, Vital Software, Capsule, and Canada's ELNA Medical Group, who will play an integral role in developing Hippocratic AI’s technology.“Across our large network of locations, both nationally and internationally, we recognize that global issues facing healthcare today – such as access to care, staffing challenges, consumer expectations and the need for operational efficiencies – will only grow over time,” said Marc D. Miller, President & CEO of United Health Services. “Partnering with Hippocratic AI promises to be game-changing, as we together seek to develop, validate and leverage technologies that will evolve how individuals interact with service providers, and in our industry, transform and improve the way healthcare is delivered.”Hippocratic AI is building the industry’s first safety-focused Large Language Model (LLM) designed specifically for healthcare, with an initial emphasis of non-diagnostic, patient-facing applications. To build a safer LLM, Hippocratic AI has implemented a multi-faceted approach in creating its product, including: outperforming GPT-4 on over 100 healthcare certifications, training on healthcare specific vocabulary, reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF) via healthcare professionals, and working closely with industry experts to verify the model is truly safe."We are looking forward to building with Hippocratic AI the tools that will have the biggest impact on improving mental health access, utilization, and outcomes. This work is critical to individuals' ability to improve their mental health and wellness, as well as empowering clinicians to deliver even higher quality care,” said Mark Frank, CEO and Co-founder, SonderMindStory continuesThe founding partners will play a pivotal role in ensuring safety and shaping Hippocratic AI. Over the course of their partnerships, they will:Guide the development of the modelParticipate in Data Governance and Model Safety committeesEstablish use casesEngage their medical professionals in conducting RLHFValidate clinical and patient safetyAs the teams who currently perform the tasks being considered for Hippocratic AI’s initial use cases, the founding partners are best positioned to determine the model’s readiness for deployment. Each brings expertise, a commitment to safety and innovative spirit, and an eagerness to contribute to the development of Hippocratic AI."I've been working with AI for years, and understand the importance of models that are trained on specific inputs," said Aaron Patzer, CEO of Vital Software and founder of the top consumer finance app Mint.com. "There are safe and effective ways to use LLMs like GPT-4 in healthcare today, but ultimately there is a growing need for LLMs that are built, trained, and monitored specifically for healthcare. For us at Vital, partnering with Hippocratic AI means we can more easily build certain functionality for our suite of care experience software in ways that would have otherwise proven to be a challenge.""With large language models growing across industries, we are witnessing a technological advancement unlike anything seen in our lifetimes. Bringing this technology to healthcare, in particular, requires an acute understanding of safety and the unique challenges of caring for patients," said Dr. Jim Whitfill, SVP and Chief Transformation Officer at HonorHealth. "As caregivers ourselves, our team at HonorHealth is thrilled to partner with Hippocratic AI to harness the power of innovation. Together, we will improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve."“Our vision is to make healthcare accessible at a scale we’ve never seen before,” said Munjal Shah, Co-Founder and CEO of Hippocratic AI. “Only through the use of LLMs can we get there. These partners are innovative leaders who each have the visions to see that LLMs can radically improve access while deeply understanding that much work needs to be done to ensure safety. It is an honor to work alongside them.”Hippocratic AI intentionally sought a diversity of thought and expertise for their Founding Program. These partners represent large health systems, patient constituencies, digital health providers, mental health, and children’s health. Some partners have also chosen to invest in Hippocratic AI. As shareholders, they will have additional oversight of the model.“At General Catalyst, we’re firm believers in the power of radical collaboration to transform healthcare,” said Daryl Tol, Head of Health Assurance Ecosystem at General Catalyst. “Our health assurance ecosystem — comprised of 15 hospital systems and dozens of companies worldwide — merges industry leaders from healthcare, tech, and venture under a shared vision for a more accessible and equitable model of care. This network is deeply interested in the power of LLMs to address staffing shortages and improve care quality, which is why we invested in Hippocratic AI and are thrilled to foster its strategic partnerships supporting their mission to create the safest LLM for healthcare. Each founding partner brings expertise that will be pivotal in training and testing the model. We believe these hospital systems also have the incredible opportunity to be early adopters and shapers of this innovative technology.”About Hippocratic AI Hippocratic AI’s mission is to develop the safest artificial Health General Intelligence (HGI). The company believes that safe HGI can dramatically improve healthcare accessibility and health outcomes in the world by bringing deep healthcare expertise to every human. No other technology has the potential to have this level of global impact on health. The company was founded by a group of physicians, hospital administrators, Medicare professionals, and artificial intelligence researchers from El Camino Health, Johns Hopkins, Washington University in St. Louis, Stanford, Google, and Nvidia. Hippocratic AI received $50M in seed financing from two of the pioneering healthcare investors in Silicon Valley: General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz. For more information on Hippocratic AI’s performance on 100+ Medical and Compliance Certifications, go to www.HippocraticAI.comAbout CapsuleCapsule is rebuilding the pharmacy industry from the inside out with an emotionally resonant experience and technology that enables customized outcomes for doctors, hospitals, insurers, and manufacturers. Capsule has designed every aspect of the pharmacy experience to give consumers and partners the peace of mind of having their health looked after. Capsule is available in dozens of cities nationwide.About Cincinnati Children’s Cincinnati Children’s ranks No. 1 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-23 listing of Best Children’s Hospitals. In addition, Cincinnati Children’s was recognized as one of America’s Most Innovative Companies by Fortune in 2023. Established in 1883, Cincinnati Children’s is a nonprofit, comprehensive pediatric health system that is internationally recognized for improving child health and transforming delivery of care through research, education, and innovation. Nearly one-third of Cincinnati Children’s more than 18,500 employees are engaged in research. Additional information may be found at CincinnatiChildrens.org.About ELNA Medical GroupELNA Medical Group is Canada’s largest network of medical clinics. Serving more than 1.6 million Canadians every year, ELNA is transforming the future of healthcare delivery and continuity of care by building a seamlessly integrated omnichannel ecosystem. Always striving to improve and optimize access to quality care, ELNA empowers patients and practitioners by leveraging and building state-of-the-art technologies, with a focus on AI-powered systems, and strategic partnerships with global healthcare leaders to provide better outcomes for Canadians. ELNA combines its best-in-class medical offering with access to premier diagnostic services, thanks to its wholly owned subsidiary, CDL Laboratories, a leader in round-the-clock medical testing for more than three decades.About HonorHealthHonorHealth is one of Arizona’s largest nonprofit healthcare systems, serving a population of five million people in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The comprehensive network encompasses six acute-care hospitals, an extensive medical group with primary, specialty and urgent care services, a cancer care network, outpatient surgery centers, clinical research, medical education, a foundation, an accountable care organization, community services and more. With nearly 14,000 team members, 3,700 affiliated providers and hundreds of volunteers dedicated to providing high quality care, HonorHealth strives to go beyond the expectations of a traditional healthcare system to improve the health and well-being of communities across Arizona. Learn more at HonorHealth.com.About SonderMindSonderMind provides accessible, personalized mental health care that produces high-quality outcomes for individuals. SonderMind's individualized approach to care starts with using innovative technology to help people not just find a therapist, but find the right, in-network therapist for them. From there, SonderMind's clinicians are committed to delivering best-in-class care to all people by focusing on high-quality clinical outcomes. To enable our clinicians to thrive, SonderMind defines care expectations while providing tools such as clinical note-taking, secure telehealth capabilities, outcome measurement, messaging, and direct booking. Learn more at sondermind.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.About Universal Health ServicesOne of the nation’s largest and most respected providers of hospital and healthcare services, Universal Health Services, Inc. has built an impressive record of achievement and performance. Growing steadily since our inception into an esteemed Fortune 500 corporation, UHS has been perennially recognized as one of the World’s Most Admired Companies by Fortune and consistently ranked on Forbes’ Global 2000 World’s Largest Public Companies.Our operating philosophy is as effective today as it was upon the Company’s founding in 1979, enabling us to provide compassionate care to our patients and their loved ones. Our strategy includes building or acquiring high quality hospitals in rapidly growing markets, investing in the people and equipment needed to allow each facility to thrive, and becoming the leading healthcare provider in each community we serve.Headquartered in King of Prussia, PA, UHS operates, through its subsidiaries, acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities, outpatient facilities and ambulatory care access points, an insurance offering, physician networks and various related services located in 39 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. It acts as the advisor to Universal Health Realty Income Trust, a real estate investment trust (NYSE:UHT). For additional information visit www.uhs.com.About Vital SoftwareVital is on a mission to build software that gives more control, clarity, and predictability to any emergency department visit or hospital stay. Using advanced artificial intelligence (AI), Vital transforms complex health record data into intuitive web apps that engage and empower over one million patients per year, with no downloads or passwords required. With Vital, patients can better understand progress toward discharge, request service and comfort items, set goals, view labs, share health status with family, book follow-up care, and more. Vital helps over 100 hospitals across the country improve patient satisfaction, grow and retain patient loyalty, achieve better clinical outcomes, and reduce workload for staff.Founded by Mint.com creator Aaron Patzer (@apatzer) and Emergency Physician Dr. Justin Schrager, Vital is a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based software that sits on top of any existing electronic health record system (EHR): Epic, Cerner, Meditech and more. For more information, please visit vital.io or follow us on LinkedIn or [email protected]

GlobeNewswire

Hippocratic AI Announces Founding Partner Program

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hippocratic-ai-announces-founding-partner-130000023.html

22326f6a-8430-391b-b310-a09fe3cf1201

ULH

Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ULH) investors are due to receive a payment of $0.105 per share on 2nd of October. This means that the annual payment will be 1.5% of the current stock price, which is in line with the average for the industry. Check out our latest analysis for Universal Logistics Holdings Universal Logistics Holdings' Dividend Is Well Covered By EarningsUnless the payments are sustainable, the dividend yield doesn't mean too much. However, prior to this announcement, Universal Logistics Holdings' dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.Over the next year, EPS is forecast to fall by 1.0%. If the dividend continues along the path it has been on recently, we estimate the payout ratio could be 9.1%, which is comfortable for the company to continue in the future.historic-dividendDividend VolatilityAlthough the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was $1.00 in 2013, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $0.42. Doing the maths, this is a decline of about 8.3% per year. A company that decreases its dividend over time generally isn't what we are looking for.The Dividend Looks Likely To GrowDividends have been going in the wrong direction, so we definitely want to see a different trend in the earnings per share. It's encouraging to see that Universal Logistics Holdings has been growing its earnings per share at 23% a year over the past five years. Earnings per share is growing at a solid clip, and the payout ratio is low which we think is an ideal combination in a dividend stock as the company can quite easily raise the dividend in the future.We Really Like Universal Logistics Holdings' DividendOverall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Universal Logistics Holdings might even raise payments in the future. The earnings easily cover the company's distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. If earnings do fall over the next 12 months, the dividend could be buffeted a little bit, but we don't think it should cause too much of a problem in the long term. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Just as an example, we've come across 3 warning signs for Universal Logistics Holdings you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit unpleasant. Is Universal Logistics Holdings not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Universal Logistics Holdings' (NASDAQ:ULH) Dividend Will Be $0.105

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/universal-logistics-holdings-nasdaq-ulh-122907471.html

502dcdda-bf6d-3d88-9049-8dfe4eb0ccbd

ULH

Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULH) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next two days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. This means that investors who purchase Universal Logistics Holdings' shares on or after the 31st of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 2nd of October.The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.10 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.42 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Universal Logistics Holdings has a trailing yield of 1.5% on the current share price of $27.24. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Universal Logistics Holdings's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing. View our latest analysis for Universal Logistics Holdings Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Universal Logistics Holdings has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 8.5% of its income after tax. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. It paid out 12% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservatively low.It's positive to see that Universal Logistics Holdings's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.Story continuesClick here to see how much of its profit Universal Logistics Holdings paid out over the last 12 months.historic-dividendHave Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. That's why it's comforting to see Universal Logistics Holdings's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 38% per annum for the past five years. Universal Logistics Holdings looks like a real growth company, with earnings per share growing at a cracking pace and the company reinvesting most of its profits in the business.Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Universal Logistics Holdings has seen its dividend decline 8.3% per annum on average over the past 10 years, which is not great to see. It's unusual to see earnings per share increasing at the same time as dividends per share have been in decline. We'd hope it's because the company is reinvesting heavily in its business, but it could also suggest business is lumpy.The Bottom LineIs Universal Logistics Holdings worth buying for its dividend? Universal Logistics Holdings has grown its earnings per share while simultaneously reinvesting in the business. Unfortunately it's cut the dividend at least once in the past 10 years, but the conservative payout ratio makes the current dividend look sustainable. It's a promising combination that should mark this company worthy of closer attention.So while Universal Logistics Holdings looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Universal Logistics Holdings (1 is concerning) you should be aware of.If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULH) Looks Interesting, And It's About To Pay A Dividend

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/universal-logistics-holdings-inc-nasdaq-102011067.html

6712829d-dd5a-3939-b675-da8cacee4f5c

ULTA

At first slowly and then with the force of other viral hashtags, the term #GirlMath has started to take over TikTok. Popularized by three radio hosts on New Zealand's FVHMZ radio station over the summer, the term refers to justifying one's frivolous purchases and shopping pick-me-ups — one TikToker used the example of how paying for something in cash "feels like I got it for free" while another described how she "returned something at Zara that was $50, bought something else that was $100 [so] it only cost me $50." At the end of August, makeup giant Ulta Beauty released a TikTok video in which it said that girl math is "the only type of math that matters" over a six-second video of a woman filling a shopping basket with inexpensive hand creams and shampoos.Continue reading

TheStreet.com

'It's girl math': Ulta, fashion brands cash in on viral TikTok term

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/ed3b2612-8625-30d1-b9d9-0cec170a73fc/-it-s-girl-math-ulta-.html

ed3b2612-8625-30d1-b9d9-0cec170a73fc

ULTA

The brick-and-mortar beauty store has been building up a mammoth online presence -- with the fulfillment capabilities to keep up.Continue reading

TheStreet.com

This beloved retailer is quietly staging an online-shopping takeover

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/2be4652d-986c-32f4-b6fe-759c3506e69a/this-beloved-retailer-is.html

2be4652d-986c-32f4-b6fe-759c3506e69a

UMH

UMH Properties, Inc.FREEHOLD, NJ, Sept. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH) (TASE:UMH), a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in the ownership and operation of manufactured home communities, is providing investors with an update on our third quarter 2023 operating results.Demand throughout our portfolio remains strong as evidenced by our monthly rent roll and occupancy growth. For the first two months of the third quarter, approximately 234 rental homes in inventory were occupied, making them income producing, and 25 new homes were sold, creating additional site rent. This resulted in an increase in overall occupancy of approximately 167 units. Year-to-date, approximately 845 rental homes in inventory were rented, making them income producing, and 108 new homes were sold.This increase in occupancy, together with rent increases implemented throughout the year, generated an increase in monthly rental charges of approximately $243,000 as of September 1, 2023, compared to August 1, 2023. For the first two months of the quarter, monthly rental charges increased by $377,000. Year-to-date, monthly rental charges have increased by $1.2 million. At the start of this year, our inventory was over 1,000 homes and has been substantially reduced over the last eight months. Our current inventory is approximately 488 homes, which is still above our normal levels, but is continuing to rapidly decrease as we continue to fill over 100 homes a month. This reduction in inventory has resulted in a decrease in our floor plan loan balance, resulting in a decrease in our floor plan interest expense.It should be noted that the financial information set forth above reflects our preliminary estimates with respect to such information, based on information currently available to management, and may vary from our actual financial results as of and for the quarter ending September 30, 2023. UMH’s full Third Quarter 2023 results will be released on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange and will be available on the Company’s website at www.umh.reit, in the Financials section. Senior management will discuss the results, current market conditions and future outlook on Thursday, November 9, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.Story continuesUMH Properties, Inc., which was organized in 1968, is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 135 manufactured home communities containing approximately 25,700 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. UMH also has an ownership interest in and operates two communities in Florida, containing 363 sites, through its joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate.Certain statements included in this press release which are not historical facts may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current expectations and involve various risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, the Company can provide no assurance those expectations will be achieved. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from expectations are contained in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K and described from time to time in the Company’s other filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.Contact: Nelli Madden732-577-4062

GlobeNewswire

UMH PROPERTIES, INC. 2023 OPERATIONS UPDATE

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/umh-properties-inc-2023-operations-110000009.html

15899cac-6c8f-3728-8be3-0f5034d32721

UMH

UMH Properties’ UMH recent update on its third-quarter 2023 operating results reveals a promising trajectory, showcasing strong demand and growth in key areas. Particularly, increased occupancy combined with rent increases implemented throughout the year has led to a rise in its monthly rental charges.This REIT, which specializes in the ownership and operation of manufactured home communities, noted that during the first two months of third-quarter 2023, the company achieved occupancy in approximately 234 rental homes, adding to its income-generating portfolio. Additionally, 25 new homes were sold, creating further opportunities for site rent. This led to an increase in overall occupancy of around 167 units, highlighting the company's ability to attract tenants and buyers.Year-to-date figures are even more impressive, with approximately 845 rental homes being rented, leading to income-producing assets and 108 new homes sold. These numbers underscore UMH Properties' robust business model and its effective management of manufactured home communities.UMH Properties hasn't just been focusing on occupancy, it has also implemented rent increases throughout the year. This strategy has paid off handsomely, resulting in a substantial uptick in monthly rental charges.As of Sep 1, 2023, there was an increase of approximately $243,000 in monthly rental charges compared to Aug 1, 2023. For the first two months of the quarter, the increase amounted to an impressive $377,000. Year to date, monthly rental charges have soared by $1.2 million.This boost in rental income is not only a testament to UMH Properties' strategic pricing decisions but also a positive reflection of the continued demand for manufactured home communities. The company's ability to capitalize on this demand speaks volumes about its management's effectiveness.On the inventory front, UMH Properties noted that at the beginning of the year, its inventory stood at more than 1,000 homes. However, in the last eight months, it has substantially decreased, currently standing at approximately 488 homes.While the figure is still above its normal levels, it is likely to rapidly decline as UMH remains focused on filling more than 100 homes a month. As a result of this inventory reduction, UMH Properties has witnessed a decrease in its floor plan loan balance, which translates into a reduction in floor plan interest expenses.With healthy growth in occupancy rates, rental charges, and effective inventory management, UMH Properties is demonstrating its prowess in the manufactured home community sector. The preliminary results for third-quarter 2023 are encouraging, and indicate healthy demand for manufactured home communities and the company's ability to harness that demand for profitability.However, a choppy macroeconomic environment and elevated interest rates remain concerns. Additionally, the company's upcoming release of its full third-quarter 2023 results on Nov 8, 2023, will be a key event to watch, for a comprehensive understanding of UMH's financial health and prospects.Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have declined 6% in the past six months, wider than its industry’s decline of 0.9%.Story continuesZacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchStocks to ConsiderSome better-ranked stocks from the REIT sector are Invitation Homes Inc. INVH and American Homes 4 Rent AMH. Both Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Invitation Homes’ current-year FFO per share has been revised marginally north over the past two months to $1.79.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for American Homes 4 Rent’s 2023 FFO per share has been revised marginally north in the past month to $1.65.Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.Disclaimer: This article has been written with the assistance of Generative AI. However, the author has reviewed, revised, supplemented, and rewritten parts of this content to ensure its originality and the precision of the incorporated information.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportAmerican Homes 4 Rent (AMH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportUMH Properties, Inc. (UMH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportInvitation Home (INVH) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

UMH Properties (UMH) Experiences Growth in Occupancy & Rent

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/umh-properties-umh-experiences-growth-120000230.html

abdf1cb8-665e-3c3d-b772-e0f453bd24bc

UNB

Union Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNB) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 3 days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Accordingly, Union Bankshares investors that purchase the stock on or after the 27th of April will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 4th of May.The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.36 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$1.44 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Union Bankshares has a trailing yield of approximately 6.4% on its current stock price of $22.36. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether Union Bankshares can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow. View our latest analysis for Union Bankshares Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see Union Bankshares paying out a modest 50% of its earnings.Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.Click here to see how much of its profit Union Bankshares paid out over the last 12 months.historic-dividendHave Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. With that in mind, we're encouraged by the steady growth at Union Bankshares, with earnings per share up 8.1% on average over the last five years.Story continuesMany investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the past 10 years, Union Bankshares has increased its dividend at approximately 3.7% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.The Bottom LineIs Union Bankshares an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Union Bankshares has seen its earnings per share grow slowly in recent years, and the company reinvests more than half of its profits in the business, which generally bodes well for its future prospects. In summary, Union Bankshares appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it.Keen to explore more data on Union Bankshares's financial performance? Check out our visualisation of its historical revenue and earnings growth.A common investing mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a full list of high-yield dividend stocks.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.Join A Paid User Research SessionYou’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here

Simply Wall St.

Union Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNB) Passed Our Checks, And It's About To Pay A US$0.36 Dividend

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/union-bankshares-inc-nasdaq-unb-122944627.html

5b31b3d2-6c5e-385b-97b4-135ad5d3757b

UNB

Union Bankshares, Inc.MORRISVILLE, Vt., July 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Union Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ - UNB) today announced results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 and declared a regular quarterly cash dividend. Consolidated net income for the three months ended June 30, 2023 was $2.7 million, or $0.60 per share, compared to $2.9 million, or $0.65 cents per share, for the same period in 2022, and $5.7 million, or $1.26 per share, for the six months ended June 30, 2023, compared to $5.4 million, or $1.20 per share for the same period in 2022.Second Quarter HighlightsConsolidated net income decreased $232 thousand, or 7.9%, to $2.7 million for the second quarter of 2023 compared to the second quarter of 2022 due to a decrease in net interest income of $53 thousand and an increase of $653 thousand in noninterest expense, partially offset by an increase in noninterest income of $203 thousand, a reduction of $96 thousand in credit loss expense and a decrease in income tax expense of $175 thousand.Net interest income was $9.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to $9.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022, a decrease of $53 thousand, or 0.5%. Interest income was $13.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to $10.4 million for the same period in 2022, an increase of $3.4 million, or 32.7%, due to the larger earning asset base and higher interest rates on new loan volume. Interest expense increased $3.5 million to $4.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 due to customers seeking higher returns on their savings and utilization of wholesale funds which often are at higher rates.Noninterest income was $2.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to $2.3 million for the same period in 2022 an increase of $203 thousand, or 8.9%. Noninterest expenses were $9.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to $8.4 million for the same period in 2022, an increase of $653 thousand, or 7.8%.Story continuesYear-to-Date HighlightsConsolidated net income increased $263 thousand, or 4.9%, to $5.7 million for the first six months of 2023 compared to the first six months of 2022 due to increases of $959 thousand in net interest income and $258 thousand in noninterest income, a reduction in credit loss expense of $22 thousand, and a decrease of $138 thousand in income tax expense, partially offset by an increase in noninterest expenses of $1.1 million.Interest income was $26.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023 compared to $20.1 million for the comparable period in 2022, an increase of $6.7 million, or 33.4%, due to a larger earning asset base and higher average yields. Interest expense was $7.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023 compared to $1.5 million for the same period in 2022, an increase of $5.8 million, or 384.9%. Rates paid on customer deposit accounts did not begin to increase until the latter half of 2022 and customer demand for higher rates rapidly increased during the first six month of 2023. The rate increases coupled with customer deposits leaving bank balance sheets required utilization of wholesale funding which are often at higher rates.Noninterest income was $4.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023 compared to $4.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, an increase of $258 thousand, or 5.7%. Sales of qualifying residential loans to the secondary market for the first half of 2023 were $29.6 million resulting in net gains of $500 thousand, compared to sales of $34.4 million and net gains on sales of $300 thousand for the same period in 2022. Noninterest expenses increased $1.1 million, or 6.7%, during the comparison periods due to increases of $245 thousand in salaries and wages, $248 thousand in employee benefits, $71 thousand in occupancy expenses, and $621 thousand in other expenses, partially offset by a decrease of $71 thousand in equipment expenses. Income tax expense decreased $138 thousand.Total assets were $1.3 billion as of June 30, 2023 compared to $1.2 billion as of June 30, 2022, an increase of $142.8 million, or 12.0%. Asset growth was primarily driven by loans. Total loans outstanding as of June 30, 2023 were $940.2 million, which included $3.1 million in loans held for sale, compared to $823.0 million as of June 30, 2022, with $3.8 million in loans held for sale.Investment securities were $268.9 million at June 30, 2023 compared to $262.8 million at June 30, 2022. The Company classifies its investment portfolio as available-for-sale and is required to report balances at their fair market value. As a result of the fair market value adjustment, unrealized losses in the investment portfolio were $46.5 million as of June 30, 2023. The unrealized losses in the portfolio are due to the interest rate environment as current rates remain above the coupon rates on these securities resulting in fair market values less than current book values. The offset to recording the unrealized losses is an increase in deferred taxes included in other assets and accumulated other comprehensive losses included in total equity as discussed below.Total deposits were $1.1 billion as of June 30, 2023 and include $138.0 million of purchased brokered deposits compared to deposits of $1.1 billion as of June 30, 2022 with no purchased deposits. Also, advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank totaling $120.5 million were outstanding as of June 30, 2023 compared to no outstanding advances as of June 30, 2022.The Company had total equity capital of $59.1 million and a book value per share of $13.10 as of June 30, 2023 compared to $59.9 million and $13.34 per share as of June 30, 2022. The decrease in total capital was primarily attributable to an increase in the accumulated comprehensive loss of $7.9 million as it relates to unrealized losses in the investment portfolio discussed above.The Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.36 per share for the quarter payable August 3, 2023 to shareholders of record as of July 29, 2023.The State of Vermont suffered an historical flood from July 7-12, 2023, many towns impacted are located in the communities served by Union Bank, the Company's subsidiary. This flood has devastated many businesses, individuals, and municipalities. While clean up and recovery has begun it will be quite some time before homes, businesses, and roads are repaired. Union Bank staff is working with customers impacted by the flood to provide necessary resources. Water damage was sustained at two branch locations, located in Jeffersonville and Johnson, Vermont. The Jeffersonville branch has re-opened to serve customers through the drive-up window, and the Johnson branch remains closed while clean up and damage assessments continue. A major disaster declaration request was made by Vermont's governor which was approved by the President that will provide funding under the federal Public Assistance and Individual Assistance programs.About Union Bankshares, Inc.Union Bankshares, Inc., headquartered in Morrisville, Vermont, is the bank holding company parent of Union Bank, which provides commercial, retail, and municipal banking services, as well as, wealth management services throughout northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Union Bank operates 18 banking offices, three loan centers, and multiple ATMs throughout its geographical footprint.Since 1891, Union Bank has helped people achieve their dreams of owning a home, saving for retirement, starting or expanding a business and assisting municipalities to improve their communities. Union Bank has earned an exceptional reputation for residential lending programs and has been recognized by the US Department of Agriculture, Rural Development for the positive impact made in lives of low to moderate home buyers. Union Bank is consistently one of the top Vermont Housing Finance Agency mortgage originators and has also been designated as an SBA Preferred lender for its participation in small business lending. Union Bank's employees contribute to the communities where they work and reside, serving on non-profit boards, raising funds for worthwhile causes, and giving countless hours in serving our fellow residents. All of these efforts have resulted in Union receiving and "Outstanding" rating for its compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act ("CRA") in its most recent examination. Union Bank is proud to be one of the few independent community banks serving Vermont and New Hampshire and we maintain a strong commitment to our core traditional values of keeping deposits safe, giving customers convenient financial choices and making loans to help people in our local communities buy homes, grow businesses, and create jobs. These values--combined with financial expertise, quality products and the latest technology--make Union Bank the premier choice for your banking services, both personal and business. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.Forward-Looking StatementsStatements made in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements necessarily involve risks and uncertainties, and many factors could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements. When we use any of the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates” or similar expressions, we are making forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results and events to differ from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements: uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; changes in the interest rate environment; inflation; political, legislative or regulatory developments; acts of war or terrorism; the markets' acceptance of and demand for the Company's products and services; technological changes, including the impact of the internet on the Company's business and on the financial services market place generally; the impact of competitive products and pricing; and dependence on third party suppliers. For further information, please refer to the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov or on our investor page at www.ublocal.com.Contact: David S. Silverman(802) 888-6600

GlobeNewswire

Union Bankshares Announces Earnings for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2023 and Declares Quarterly Dividend

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/union-bankshares-announces-earnings-three-183000897.html

73f409e0-d034-33d8-806d-ce20d0ca80af

UNH

(Bloomberg) -- Walmart Inc. is exploring buying a majority stake in ChenMed, a closely held operator of primary care clinics for seniors, according to people familiar with the matter.Most Read from BloombergTrudeau Is Stuck in India With Faulty Aircraft After Hearing Criticism From ModiIndia’s G-20 Win Shows US Learning How to Counter China RiseMeloni Tells China That Italy Plans to Exit Belt and RoadBoss of Failed Crypto Exchange Gets 11,000-Year SentenceEverything Apple Plans to Show on Sept. 12: iPhone 15, Watches, AirPodsThe companies are in talks for a deal that would value ChenMed at several billion dollars, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. A deal could still be weeks away, the people said.Terms aren’t finalized and talks could still fall apart, the people said. It’s also possible a different potential buyer could emerge.A Walmart spokesperson declined to comment while a representative for ChenMed didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.A deal would come as pharmacy chains, insurers and retailers have been moving deeper into the business of taking care of patients, positioning themselves as entry points to the $4 trillion health-care system. Providing health care is also a way for retailers to get closer to consumers as e-commerce chips away at their traditional business.Amazon.com Inc. closed a $3.5 billion purchase this year of primary-care concierge provider One Medical, while CVS Health Corp. bought Oak Street Health for $10.6 billion. VillageMD, the primary-care provider controlled by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., closed an $8.9 billion deal for Summit Health-CityMD in January.Biggest ForayBuying ChenMed would represent Walmart’s biggest foray yet into health care. In 2021, it acquired telehealth provider MeMD and started offering low-cost insulin. Last year, it partnered with UnitedHealth Group Inc. to care for Medicare patients at Walmart Health centers. The company is also building a network of health centers that offer primary care, labs, X-rays and counseling.Story continuesPhysician Jen-Ling James Chen founded ChenMed after a cancer diagnosis forced him and his family to navigate a health-care system focused on profits, according to its website. That inspired him to create a company that offers affordable care to under-served patients.Owned by the Chen family, ChenMed is focused on taking care of seniors in payment arrangements where it takes on financial risk for the cost of patients’ medical needs, a structure sometimes called value-based care. That’s meant to incentivize long-term relationships, preventive care and management of chronic diseases to avoid costly hospital visits.It’s a different model than retail clinics that typically focus on episodic or urgent needs. But health-care giants like UnitedHealth Group Inc. and CVS Health are focusing on this approach, tapping into billions of dollars flowing through private Medicare Advantage.There are other signs Walmart is exploring this strategy. As part of 10-year deal with UnitedHealth announced last year, the companies offered a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan and said at the time they aimed to eventually serve hundreds of thousands of seniors in value-based arrangements.--With assistance from Brendan Case and John Tozzi.Most Read from Bloomberg BusinessweekHuawei’s Surprise Phone Gives Ammo to Biden Doubters on ChinaLyme Disease Has Exploded, and a New Vaccine Is (Almost) Here©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Bloomberg

Walmart Explores Buying Majority Stake in ChenMed

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-explores-buying-majority-stake-002248771.html

551b6070-4c3f-3e03-8054-eee58014d1f6

UNH

Healthcare is an evergreen frontier for investing. An endless need for better treatments and cures demands innovation and growth, which isn't a bad place to find long-term winners you can stick in a diversified portfolio. Here are three quality healthcare stocks you should consider buying this month.Continue reading

Motley Fool

3 Top Healthcare Stocks to Buy for September

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/854a153a-f358-324b-85fd-db6911712fdc/3-top-healthcare-stocks-to.html

854a153a-f358-324b-85fd-db6911712fdc

UNM

All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.Unum in FocusBased in Chattanooga, Unum (UNM) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 20.13%. The insurance company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.37 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.96%. This compares to the Insurance - Accident and Health industry's yield of 2.65% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.65%.Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.46 is up 15.9% from last year. Unum has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 5.21%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Unum's current payout ratio is 19%. This means it paid out 19% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.UNM is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 is $7.73 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 24.48%.Bottom LineInvestors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout.Story continuesBig, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, UNM is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportUnum Group (UNM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Unum (UNM) Could Be a Great Choice

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unum-unm-could-great-choice-154508912.html

f23795b5-2d5f-38cd-857f-10b2246c58cd

UNM

It's common for many investors, especially those who are inexperienced, to buy shares in companies with a good story even if these companies are loss-making. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses. While a well funded company may sustain losses for years, it will need to generate a profit eventually, or else investors will move on and the company will wither away.In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like Unum Group (NYSE:UNM), which has not only revenues, but also profits. Even if this company is fairly valued by the market, investors would agree that generating consistent profits will continue to provide Unum Group with the means to add long-term value to shareholders. See our latest analysis for Unum Group Unum Group's Earnings Per Share Are GrowingThe market is a voting machine in the short term, but a weighing machine in the long term, so you'd expect share price to follow earnings per share (EPS) outcomes eventually. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. Unum Group managed to grow EPS by 17% per year, over three years. That's a good rate of growth, if it can be sustained.One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. Not all of Unum Group's revenue this year is revenue from operations, so keep in mind the revenue and margin numbers used in this article might not be the best representation of the underlying business. While revenue is looking a bit flat, the good news is EBIT margins improved by 3.9 percentage points to 17%, in the last twelve months. Which is a great look for the company.In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.earnings-and-revenue-historyThe trick, as an investor, is to find companies that are going to perform well in the future, not just in the past. While crystal balls don't exist, you can check our visualization of consensus analyst forecasts for Unum Group's future EPS 100% free.Story continuesAre Unum Group Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?Owing to the size of Unum Group, we wouldn't expect insiders to hold a significant proportion of the company. But we do take comfort from the fact that they are investors in the company. Holding US$70m worth of stock in the company is no laughing matter and insiders will be committed in delivering the best outcomes for shareholders. This would indicate that the goals of shareholders and management are one and the same.Should You Add Unum Group To Your Watchlist?As previously touched on, Unum Group is a growing business, which is encouraging. For those who are looking for a little more than this, the high level of insider ownership enhances our enthusiasm for this growth. The combination definitely favoured by investors so consider keeping the company on a watchlist. Now, you could try to make up your mind on Unum Group by focusing on just these factors, or you could also consider how its price-to-earnings ratio compares to other companies in its industry.The beauty of investing is that you can invest in almost any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here is a list of companies with insider buying in the last three months.Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Does Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/does-unum-group-nyse-unm-132838394.html

15163ce7-b12e-33d2-91ce-2f0b7ade9caa

UNP

Union Pacific Corporation UNP is being hurt by high-debt levels and low volumes.Let’s delve deeper.Southward Earnings Estimate Revisions: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-quarter current-year earnings has been revised downward by 8.6% and 7%, respectively, over the past 60 days. The unfavorable estimate revisions indicate brokers’ lack of confidence in the stock.Bearish Industry Rank: The industry, to which UNP belongs, currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 191 (of 250 plus groups). Such an unfavorable rank places UNP in the bottom 24% of the Zacks industries. Studies show that 50% of a stock price movement is directly related to the performance of the industry group it belongs to.A mediocre stock within a strong group is likely to outclass a robust stock in a weak industry. Therefore, reckoning the industry’s performance becomes imperative.Underperformance: Union Pacific has declined 5.7% in the past year compared with a 4.7% decline of the industry it belongs to.Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchWeak Zacks Rank and Style Score: UNP currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Moreover, its current Momentum Style Score of C shows its short-term unattractiveness.Other Headwinds:  We are concerned about Union Pacific's high-debt levels. Debt/earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) ratio (adjusted) at Union Pacific deteriorated to 2.3 in 2018 from 1.9 in 2017. It increased to 2.5 at the end of 2019.This rose further to 2.9 at the end of 2020. The reading was 2.7 at the end of 2021. The figure inched up to 2.9 at 2022 end.The metric was 2.9 at the end of the second quarter of 2023 as well. A high debt/EBITDA ratio often indicates that a firm may be unable to service its debt appropriately.A decline in volumes due to soft consumer markets and reduced fuel surcharge revenues are concerns. Volumes declined 2% year over year in the first half of 2023. Given the soft freight market scenario, revenue weakness is likely to persist throughout 2023. This may hurt overall volumes.Story continuesStocks to ConsiderSome better-ranked stocks for investors interested in the Zacks Transportation sector are GATX Corporation GATX and Triton International Limited TRTN.GATX, which presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has strengthened its railcar leasing operations. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.For third-quarter and full-year 2023, GATX’s earnings are expected to register 36.6% and 14.3% growth, respectively, on a year-over-year basis.Triton, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #2, is benefiting from its consistent efforts to reward shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.Triton has an impressive liquidity position. Its current ratio (a measure of liquidity) was 3.83 at the end of second-quarter 2023. A current ratio of more than 1 often indicates that the company will be easily paying off its short-term obligations.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportUnion Pacific Corporation (UNP) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGATX Corporation (GATX) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTriton International Limited (TRTN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Here's Why You Should Avoid Union Pacific (UNP) Stock Now

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-avoid-union-pacific-181000900.html

be5afed2-ae4d-35ea-b483-a94e56584dc0

UNP

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal inspectors said they found an alarming number of defects in the locomotives and railcars Union Pacific was using at the world's largest railyard in western Nebraska this summer, and the railroad was reluctant to fix the problems.Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose wrote a letter to UP's top three executives Friday expressing his concern that the defects represent a “significant risk to rail safety " on the Union Pacific railroad.Bose said the 19.93% defect rate on rail cars and the 72.69% rate for locomotives that inspectors found in July and August are both twice the national average. But the letter didn't detail what kind of defects inspectors found in the Bailey Yard in North Platte, and there are a myriad of federal rules.“The compliance of the rolling stock (freight cars and locomotives) on the UP network is poor, and UP was unwilling or unable to take steps to improve the condition of their equipment,” Bose said in his letter.Bose questioned whether the recent layoffs of 94 locomotive craft employees and 44 carmen across the Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad that is one of the nation's largest left UP without enough people to complete the necessary repairs.Kristen South, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific, said Sunday that the layoffs weren't a problem, and the railroad remains committed to safety.“Union Pacific will never compromise on the safety of our employees. Safety is always our first priority, and we are reviewing and will address the concerns raised by the FRA,” South said.Railroad safety has been a key concern nationwide this year ever since another railroad, Norfolk Southern, had a train derail and catch fire in eastern Ohio in February. That East Palestine derailment prompted regulators and members of Congress to call for reforms, but few significant changes have been made since then.South said the railroad has appropriate staffing levels with enough capacity to have “a buffer to allow for the natural ebb and flow nature of our business.”Those layoffs that UP announced late last month came after the FRA wrapped up its inspection, and they represent a tiny fraction of the railroad's workforce that numbers more than 30,000.Union Pacific's new CEO Jim Vena just took over the top spot at the railroad last month. Union Pacific has a network of 32,400 miles (52,000 kilometers) of track in 23 Western states.

AP Finance

Federal railroad inspectors find alarming number of defects on Union Pacific this summer

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/federal-railroad-inspectors-alarming-number-185040204.html

53261910-98e0-343a-88d7-c54086d423a6

UP

Results highlight operating progress of recent initiativesNEW YORK, Aug. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wheels Up Experience Inc. (NYSE:UP) today announced financial results for the second quarter, which ended June 30, 2023.Wheels Up (PRNewsfoto/Wheels Up)Second Quarter 2023 HighlightsRevenue decreased $90 million year-over-year to $335 millionNet loss increased year-over-year to $161 million, driven by a $70 million non-cash goodwill impairment chargeAdjusted EBITDA improved slightly year-over-year to a loss of $40 million"The actions we have taken to improve our operations are translating to a better experience for our customers and an improved financial performance for the company," said CFO and  Interim CEO Todd Smith. "Our on-time performance and reliability are showing marked improvement while our Adjusted Contribution margin and Adjusted EBITDA are at the best levels in almost two years, reflecting our focus on our network strengths as well as significant cost reductions and process improvements. We still have more work to do, but I am extremely encouraged by this quarter's performance.""We are continuing to engage with strategic and financial partners around the path forward and look forward to sharing more information in the days ahead. Meanwhile, we are continuing to provide exceptional service and experiences to our customers, who are reaping the benefits of our continued focus on operations."Announcement DetailsCompany received a short-term capital infusion from Delta Air Lines, which is actively engaged with the company as it pursues strategic options.Member program changes launched in June focus flying in regions where Wheels Up has a significant network density. Company expects those programs to comprise over 50% of flying by the end of the year and drive continued improvement in Adjusted Contribution margin next year.Pursuant to a non-binding letter of intent, Wheels Up expects to divest non-core aircraft management business to Airshare, a well-respected operator in the United States with a complementary business.Licensed Avianis fleet management software to Portside, which will serve the existing base of customers, market to prospective customers and develop new features on the platform. Wheels Up has retained the intellectual property associated with Avianis and will continue to use it for its 1P fleet.Story continuesFinancial and Operating HighlightsAs of June 30,20232022% ChangeActive Members(1)11,63912,667(8) %Three Months Ended June 30,(In thousands, except Active Users,  Live Flight Legs and Flight revenue per Live Flight Leg)20232022% ChangeActive Users(1)12,54913,119(4) %Live Flight Legs(1)18,13721,705(16) %Flight revenue per Live Flight Leg12,97313,088(1) %Revenue$           335,062$           425,512(21) %Net loss$          (160,593)$            (92,760)(73) %Adjusted EBITDA(1)$            (40,303)$            (46,889)14 %Six Months Ended June 30,(In thousands)20232022% ChangeRevenue$           686,874$           751,147(9) %Net loss$          (261,459)$          (181,800)44 %Adjusted EBITDA(1)$            (89,218)$            (96,317)7 %(1)For information regarding Wheels Up's use and definition of this measure see "Definitions of Key Operating Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and "Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" sections herein.For the second quarter:Active Members decreased 8% year-over-year to 11,639 offset by a higher mix of Core members, in line with our conscious efforts toward more profitable flying.Active Users decreased 4% year-over-year to 12,549.Live Flight Legs decreased 16% year-over-year to 18,137 reflecting our efforts to focus on profitable flying.Flight revenue per Live Flight Leg was relatively consistent year-over-year.Revenue decreased 21% year-over-year primarily driven by reduced flight revenue and reduced aircraft sales.Net loss increased by $67.8 million year-over-year primarily drive by the $70.0 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge recognized during the quarter.Adjusted EBITDA loss decreased by $6.6 million to $40.3 million, reflecting the impact of the March 2023 Restructuring Plan, our operational efficiency initiatives and other spend-reduction efforts.About Wheels UpWheels Up is a leading provider of on-demand private aviation in the U.S. and one of the largest private aviation companies in the world. Wheels Up offers a complete global aviation solution with a large, modern and diverse fleet, backed by an uncompromising commitment to safety and service. Customers can access membership programs, charter, aircraft management services and whole aircraft sales, as well as unique commercial travel benefits through a strategic partnership with Delta Air Lines. Wheels Up also offers freight, safety and security solutions and managed services to individuals, industry, government and civil organizations.Wheels Up is guided by the mission to connect private flyers to aircraft, and one another, through an open platform that seamlessly enables life's most important experiences. Powered by a global private aviation marketplace connecting its base of approximately 12,000 members and customers to a network of approximately 1,500 safety-vetted and verified private aircraft, Wheels Up is widening the aperture of private travel for millions of consumers globally. With the Wheels Up mobile app and website, members and customers have the digital convenience to search, book and fly.Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside of the control of Wheels Up Experience Inc. ("Wheels Up", or "we", "us", or "our"), that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies of Wheels Up regarding the future, including, without limitation, statements regarding: (i) Wheels Up's ability to continue as a going concern, (ii) the expected impact of any potential acquisitions or divestitures, investments, financings, restructurings or other strategic transactions involving Wheels Up or its subsidiaries or affiliates, including realizing any anticipated benefits relating to any such transactions and any potential impacts on the trading prices and trading market for Wheels Up's Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share; (iii) Wheels Up's liquidity, future cash flows, measures intended to increase Wheels Up's operational efficiency and certain restrictions related to its debt obligations; (iv) the impact of Wheels Up's cost reduction efforts on its business and results of operations, including the timing and magnitude of such expected reductions and any associated expenses in relation to liquidity levels and working capital needs; (v) Wheels Up's ability to perform under its contractual obligations and maintain or establish relationships with third-party vendors and suppliers; (vi) the degree of market acceptance and adoption of Wheels Up's products and services, including member program changes implemented in June 2023; (vii) the size, demands and growth potential of the markets for Wheels Up's products and services and Wheels Up's ability to serve those markets; (viii) Wheels Up's ability to compete with other companies engaged in the private aviation industry and to attract and retain customers; and (ix) general economic and geopolitical conditions, including due to fluctuations in interest rates, inflation, foreign currencies, consumer and business spending decisions, and general levels of economic activity. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "strive," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements, including those described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 filed with the SEC by Wheels Up on March 31, 2023 and Wheels Up's other filings with the SEC. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, and Wheels Up undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changes in expectations, future events or otherwise. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Except as required by law, we do not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release or to conform these statements to actual results or revised expectations.Use of Non-GAAP Financial MeasuresThis press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures such as Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted Contribution Margin. These non-GAAP financial measures are an addition, and not a substitute for or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America ("GAAP") and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), operating income (loss) or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP. Definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP counterparts are included in the "Definitions of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and "Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" sections, respectively, in this press release. Wheels Up believes that these non-GAAP financial measures of financial results provide useful supplemental information to investors about Wheels Up. However, there are a number of limitations related to the use of these non-GAAP financial measures and their nearest GAAP equivalents, including that they exclude significant expenses that are required by GAAP to be recorded in Wheels Up's financial measures. In addition, other companies may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently, or may use other measures to calculate their financial performance, and therefore, Wheels Up's non-GAAP financial measures may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Additionally, to the extent that forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures are provided, they are presented on a non-GAAP basis without reconciliations of such forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliations.For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, see the sections titled "Definitions of Key Operating Metrics," "Definitions of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and "Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" included at the end of this earnings press release. WHEELS UP EXPERIENCE INC.CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS(Unaudited, in thousands, except share data)June 30, 2023December 31, 2022ASSETSCurrent assets:Cash and cash equivalents$                151,828$               585,881Accounts receivable, net85,352112,383Other receivables3,8725,524Parts and supplies inventories, net23,42329,000Aircraft inventory5,38324,826Aircraft held for sale12,3888,952Prepaid expenses53,62639,715Other current assets14,00113,338Total current assets349,873819,619Property and equipment, net401,021394,559Operating lease right-of-use assets91,409106,735Goodwill282,133348,118Intangible assets, net130,588141,765Other non-current assets131,147112,429Total assets$             1,386,171$            1,923,225LIABILITIES AND EQUITYCurrent liabilities:Current maturities of long-term debt$                  26,504$                 27,006Accounts payable52,11043,166Accrued expenses115,864148,945Deferred revenue, current828,6071,075,133Other current liabilities47,63249,968Total current liabilities1,070,7171,344,218Long-term debt, net210,051226,234Operating lease liabilities, non-current71,32382,755Warrant liability5751Other non-current liabilities21,25617,347Total liabilities1,373,3521,671,305Equity:Common Stock, $0.0001 par value; 250,000,000 authorized; 25,622,496 and 25,198,298 shares issued and 25,357,196 and 24,933,857 common shares outstanding as of June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively33Additional paid-in capital1,563,6721,545,530Accumulated deficit(1,537,332)(1,275,873)Accumulated other comprehensive loss(5,834)(10,053)Treasury stock, at cost, 265,300 and 264,441 shares, respectively(7,690)(7,687)Total Wheels Up Experience Inc. stockholders' equity12,819251,920Non-controlling interests——Total equity12,819251,920Total liabilities and equity$             1,386,171$            1,923,225 WHEELS UP EXPERIENCE INC.CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS(Unaudited, in thousands except share and per share data)Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,2023202220232022Revenue$          335,062$          425,512$           686,874$           751,147Costs and expenses:Cost of revenue327,903408,898681,694741,656Technology and development14,43014,60630,30325,797Sales and marketing 23,14933,68848,95256,931General and administrative 40,06546,97379,48185,877Depreciation and amortization15,12316,13429,56830,362Gain on sale of aircraft held for sale(2,621)(663)(3,487)(2,634)Impairment of goodwill70,000—70,000—Total costs and expenses488,049519,636936,511937,989Loss from operations(152,987)(94,124)(249,637)(186,842)Other income (expense):Loss on extinguishment of debt(870)—(870)—Change in fair value of warrant liability6212,1297465,760Interest income1,8654055,686482Interest expense(7,658)—(15,777)—Other expense, net(1,580)(850)(1,435)(880)Total other income (expense)(7,622)1,684(11,650)5,362Loss before income taxes(160,609)(92,440)(261,287)(181,480)Income tax benefit (expense)16(320)(172)(320)Net loss(160,593)(92,760)(261,459)(181,800)Less: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests———(387)Net loss attributable to Wheels Up Experience Inc.$         (160,593)$           (92,760)$         (261,459)$         (181,413)Net loss per share of Common StockBasic and diluted$               (6.28)$               (3.80)$             (10.27)$               (7.42)Weighted-average shares of Common Stock outstanding:Basic and diluted25,570,20024,408,60425,446,19924,434,744 WHEELS UP EXPERIENCE INC.CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS(Unaudited, in thousands)Six Months Ended June 30,20232022Cash flows from operating activitiesNet loss$          (261,459)$          (181,800)Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:Depreciation and amortization 29,56830,362Equity-based compensation18,14243,335Amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discount1,124—Change in fair value of warrant liability(746)(5,760)Gain on sale of aircraft held for sale(3,487)(2,634)Loss on extinguishment of debt870—Impairment of goodwill70,000—Other1,519200Changes in assets and liabilities:Accounts receivable27,698(17,394)Parts and supplies inventories5,637(2,754)Aircraft inventory(2,008)(30,464)Prepaid expenses(14,499)(9,442)Other non-current assets(16,420)(27,496)Accounts payable9,1669,345Accrued expenses(32,393)(6,979)Deferred revenue(248,358)67,391Other assets and liabilities3,976(6,085)Net cash used in operating activities(411,670)(140,175)Cash flows from investing activitiesPurchases of property and equipment(12,201)(76,464)Purchases of aircraft held for sale(961)(43,774)Proceeds from sale of aircraft held for sale, net24,98127,135Acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired22(75,093)Capitalized software development costs(12,924)(12,901)Other172—Net cash used in investing activities(911)(181,097)Cash flows from financing activitiesPurchase of shares for treasury(3)(6,689)Repayments of long-term debt(18,680)—Net cash used in financing activities(18,683)(6,689)Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash(540)(4,345)Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash(431,804)(332,306)Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period620,153786,722Cash, cash equivalents and restricted, cash end of period$           188,349$           454,416Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:Cash paid for interest$             16,097$                   —Definitions of Key Operating MetricsActive Members. We define Active Members as the number of Connect, Core, and Business membership accounts that generated membership revenue in a given period and are active as of the end of the reporting period. We use Active Members to assess the adoption of our premium offerings which is a key factor in our penetration of the market in which we operate and a key driver of membership and flight revenue.Active Users. We define Active Users as Active Members and jet card holders as of the reporting date plus unique non-member consumers who completed a revenue generating flight at least once in the given quarter and excludes wholesale flight activity. While a unique consumer can complete multiple revenue generating flights on our platform in a given period, that unique user is counted as only one Active User. We use Active Users to assess the adoption of our platform and frequency of transactions, which are key factors in our penetration of the market in which we operate and our growth in revenue.Live Flight Legs. We define Live Flight Legs as the number of completed one-way revenue generating flight legs in a given period. The metric excludes empty repositioning legs and owner legs related to aircraft under management. We believe Live Flight Legs are a useful metric to measure the scale and usage of our platform, and our growth in flight revenue.Definitions of Non-GAAP Financial MeasuresAdjusted EBITDA. We calculate Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) adjusted for (i) interest income (expense), (ii) income tax expense, (iii) depreciation and amortization, (iv) equity-based compensation expense, (v) acquisition and integration related expenses and (vi) other items not indicative of our ongoing operating performance, including but not limited to, restructuring charges.We include Adjusted EBITDA because it is a supplemental measure used by our management team for assessing operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA is used in conjunction with bonus program target achievement determinations, strategic internal planning, annual budgeting, allocating resources and making operating decisions. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information for historical period-to-period comparisons of our business, as it removes the effect of certain non-cash expenses and variable amounts.Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted Contribution Margin. We calculate Adjusted Contribution as gross profit (loss) excluding depreciation and amortization and adjusted further for (i) equity-based compensation included in cost of revenue, (ii) acquisition and integration expense included in cost of revenue, (iii) restructuring expense in cost of revenue and (iv) other items included in cost of revenue that are not indicative of our ongoing operating performance. Adjusted Contribution Margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted Contribution by total revenue.We include Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted Contribution Margin as supplemental measures for assessing operating performance. Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted Contribution Margin are used to understand our ability to achieve profitability over time through scale and leveraging costs. In addition, Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted Contribution Margin provides useful information for historical period-to-period comparisons of our business and to identify trends.Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial MeasuresAdjusted EBITDAThe following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net loss, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure (in thousands):Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,2023202220232022Net loss$      (160,593)$         (92,760)$         (261,459)$      (181,800)Add back (deduct)Interest expense7,658—15,777—Interest income(1,865)(405)(5,686)(482)Income tax expense(16)320172320Other expense, net1,5808501,435880Depreciation and amortization15,12316,13429,56830,362Change in fair value of warrant liability(621)(2,129)(746)(5,760)Equity-based compensation expense6,60420,78118,14243,335Acquisition and integration expenses(1)747,5112,10811,345Restructuring charges(2)8,2012,80918,6925,483Atlanta Member Operations Center set-up expense(3)9,170—16,130—Certificate consolidation expense(4)4,873—7,520—Impairment of goodwill(5)70,000—70,000—Other(5)(491)—(871)—Adjusted EBITDA$         (40,303)$         (46,889)$           (89,218)$         (96,317)__________________(1)Consists of expenses incurred associated with acquisitions, as well as integration-related charges incurred within one year of acquisition date primarily related to system conversions, re-branding costs and fees paid to external advisors.(2)For the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, includes restructuring charges related to the Restructuring Plan and related strategic business initiatives implemented in the first quarter of 2023, as well as expenses incurred during the second quarter of 2023 to support significant changes to our member programs and certain aspects of our operations, primarily consisting of consultancy fees associated with designing and implementing changes to our member programs, and severance and recruiting expenses associated with executive transitions. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, includes restructuring charges for employee separation programs following strategic business decisions.(3)Consists of expenses associated with establishing the Atlanta Member Operations Center and its operations primarily including redundant operating expenses during the transition period, relocation expenses for employees and costs associated with onboarding new employees. The Atlanta Member Operations Center began operating on May 15, 2023.(4)Consists of expenses incurred to execute consolidation of our FAA operating certificates primarily including pilot training and retention programs and consultancy fees associated with planning and implementing the consolidation process.(5)Represents non-cash impairment charge related to goodwill recognized in the second quarter of 2023. See Note 1, Summary of Business and Significant Accounting Policies of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included herein.(6)Includes collections of certain aged receivables which were added back to Net Loss in the reconciliation presented for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.Refer to "Supplemental Expense Information" below, for further information Adjusted Contribution and Adjusted Contribution MarginThe following table reconciles Adjusted Contribution to gross profit (loss), which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure (in thousands):Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,2023202220232022Revenue$          335,062$          425,512$          686,874$          751,147Less: Cost of revenue(327,903)(408,898)(681,694)(741,656)Less: Depreciation and amortization(15,123)(16,134)(29,568)(30,362)Gross profit (loss)(7,964)480(24,388)(20,871)Gross margin (2.4) %0.1 %(3.6) %(2.8) %Add back:Depreciation and amortization15,12316,13429,56830,362Equity-based compensation expense in cost of revenue1,0923,3072,2717,739Restructuring expense in cost of revenue(1)——755—Atlanta Member Operations Center set-up expense in cost of revenue(2)7,999—11,798—Certificate consolidation expense in cost of revenue(3)1,840—4,441—Adjusted Contribution $            18,090$            19,921$            24,445$            17,230Adjusted Contribution Margin 5.4 %4.7 %3.6 %2.3 %__________________(1)For the six months ended June 30, 2023, includes restructuring charges related to the Restructuring Plan and other strategic business initiatives.(2)Consists of expenses associated with establishing the Atlanta Member Operations Center and its operations primarily including redundant operating expenses during the transition period, relocation expenses for employees and costs associated with onboarding new employees. The Atlanta Member Operations Center began operating on May 15, 2023.(3)Consists of expenses incurred to execute consolidation of our FAA operating certificates primarily including pilot training and retention programs and consultancy fees associated with planning and implementing the consolidation process. Supplemental Revenue Information(In thousands)Three Months Ended June 30,Change in20232022$%Membership$             21,478$             24,020$           (2,542)(11) %Flight235,284284,071(48,787)(17) %Aircraft management48,50260,718(12,216)(20) %Other29,79856,703(26,905)(47) %Total$           335,062$           425,512$         (90,450)(21) %(In thousands)Six Months Ended June 30,Change in20232022$%Membership$             43,158$             44,667$           (1,509)(3) %Flight467,046520,434(53,388)(10) %Aircraft management112,196121,224(9,028)(7) %Other64,47464,822(348)(1) %Total$           686,874$           751,147$         (64,273)(9) % Supplemental Expense InformationThree Months Ended June 30, 2023Cost of revenueTechnology anddevelopmentSales andmarketingGeneral andadministrativeTotalEquity-based compensation expense$            1,092$               673$               641$            4,198$            6,604Acquisition and integration expenses———7474Restructuring charges———8,2028,201Atlanta Member Operations Center set-up expense7,999201—9709,170Certificate consolidation expense1,840——3,0334,873Other———(491)(491)Six Months Ended June 30, 2023Cost of revenueTechnology and developmentSales and marketingGeneral andadministrativeTotalEquity-based compensation expense$            2,271$            1,157$            1,341$          13,373$          18,142Acquisition and integration expenses—531341,9212,108Restructuring charges7552,2992,05813,58118,692Atlanta Member Operations Center set-up expense11,798201—4,13116,130Certificate consolidation expense4,441——3,0797,520Other———(871)(871) Three Months Ended June 30, 2022Cost of revenueTechnology and developmentSales and marketingGeneral and administrativeTotalEquity-based compensation expense$            3,307$               655$            2,857$          13,962$          20,781Acquisition and integration expense———7,5117,511Restructuring charges———2,8092,809Six Months Ended June 30, 2022Cost of revenueTechnology and developmentSales andmarketingGeneral and administrativeTotalEquity-based compensation expense$            7,739$            1,296$            5,558$          28,742$          43,335Acquisition and integration expense———11,34511,345Restructuring charges———5,4835,483 CisionView original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wheels-up-reports-second-quarter-results-301900234.htmlSOURCE Wheels Up

PR Newswire

Wheels Up Reports Second Quarter Results

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wheels-reports-second-quarter-results-213900853.html

0ea31276-2387-3814-9caf-898ab2b4a14e

UP

Private jet membership company Wheels Up Experience has reached a deal to receive a $500 million rescue financing package from Delta Air Lines and investors with turnaround experience in the travel and tourism industries, the airline said Tuesday. A consortium of investors including Delta, Certares Management and Knighthead Capital Management agreed to provide a $400 million loan, while Delta will also provide an additional $100 million revolving credit facility. Lenders under the nonbinding agreement announced Tuesday will receive newly issued common shares in Wheels Up to give them a 95% stake in the company.Continue reading

The Wall Street Journal

Wheels Up Lands $500 Million Rescue That Puts Delta, Investors in Control

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/f0b1b91f-d5a3-3304-b88f-b6cca41abc22/wheels-up-lands-500-million.html

f0b1b91f-d5a3-3304-b88f-b6cca41abc22

UPS

Amazon restarted the delivery business it shut down in the pandemic. It might just be a taste of what's to come.Continue reading

Motley Fool

Did Amazon's Recent Move Just Make FedEx and UPS Stock Less Investible?

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/1323ad51-195d-36b4-97dc-84b31f9b1a1f/did-amazon-s-recent-move-just.html

1323ad51-195d-36b4-97dc-84b31f9b1a1f

UPS

FedEx keeps most rate, surcharge hikes in single-digit range. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)The dust has settled on FedEx Corp.’s and UPS Inc.’s headline tariff rate increases for 2024. Both carriers have clocked in with 5.9% general rate increases (GRIs), 100 basis points below the record 6.9% increases for 2023.As always, though, the real action is going on under the hood. The carriers will go to market with an array of rate increases and delivery surcharges that vary depending on the specific service, distance, weight and other factors. Those are the numbers that shippers and their parcel consultant partners will be watching, and that they will bargain from, as contracts get negotiated or renegotiated. Almost all parcel-delivery services are based on contracts rather than one-off or occasional services where a tariff rate might apply.UPS (NYSE: UPS), which announced its 2024 GRI Thursday night, has yet to publish its rate schedule for next year. FedEx, which generally acts before its rival, went out with its GRI on Aug. 29 and published its rate and surcharge details Thursday.One unusual move is that FedEx (NYSE: FDX) will hike its ground-delivery minimum charge by 5.9% to $10.70, matching its GRI increase. Hikes in ground minimums, which have been on a steady rise for years, typically exceed the pace of GRI increases, according to Paul Yaussy, senior professional services consultant for Shipware LLC, a consultancy. Next year will be different, however.FedEx will impose a 7.9% increase to its minimum charge for next-business-morning deliveries known as Priority Overnight. This brings the levy to $39.96, according to data from TransImpact LLC, a consultancy. Second-day delivery minimums will rise to $23.83, a 5.5% increase, according to the consultancy.FedEx’s ground rates will vary depending on package weight. Rate increases will be below the headline GRI for parcels weighing up to 10 pounds, according to data from AFS Logistics Inc., a non-asset-based provider that negotiates, audits and pays about $4 billion in annual parcel expenditures. From there, rate increases will exceed 6%, peaking at 6.71% for parcels weighing between 51 and 70 pounds.Story continuesFedEx will hike rates, on average, by 6.19% across all weight breaks, which includes parcels over 70 pounds, according to AFS.On its primary surcharges, FedEx is keeping increases in the single digits. This may be a response to the blah demand environment and shipper resistance to double-digit surcharge increases that have been the norm in recent years.It may also be a way to pressure UPS, which must manage through very high labor cost increases during the first year of a five-year contract with the Teamsters union, while winning back business diverted to rivals during the weeks and months leading up to the contract’s Aug. 22 ratification. Yaussy said that UPS’ rates and surcharges will come close to matching FedEx’s, although the labor cost pressures may compel UPS to impose higher surcharges and hope its shippers won’t notice.Residential delivery surcharges on FedEx’s Home Delivery product will be capped at 7.7%, while surcharges on deliveries made by FedEx Express will be held to 6%, according to TransImpact.Delivery area surcharge increases will range between 5.4% and 8.9%, depending on whether a package is shipped via air or ground, as well as the distance the package has to travel. The longer the trip and the longer the package is in the FedEx system, the higher the surcharge will be.Outlier surcharges, such as for additional handling services, will jump substantially, reflecting FedEx’s higher costs to process shipments requiring special services, as well as its desire not to handle them at all because the shipments might not move optimally through an automated operation. For a shipment whose actual weight is more than 50 pounds and requires special handling, the surcharge will jump 19% to 26.1% depending on the distance traveled, according to Shipware data. For shipments whose dimensions exceed FedEx’s handling requirements, surcharges will increase by 18.9% to 27.7%. For shipments whose packaging doesn’t comport with FedEx requirements, the levies will increase by 18.2% to 22%.FedEx will also impose punishing surcharges on super-large shipments that exceed the dimensional limits covered under the additional-handling charges. Those levies will increase in a range of 18.5% to 24.2%, depending on the delivery distance and whether the package is destined for a residential or commercial address.The pace of surcharge increases may have moderated from recent years when the pandemic fueled off-the-chart leaps in delivery demand. Still, they are well above current inflation rates, meaning they are ripe for being beaten back by shippers already operating in a slower demand climate.“In the current market, all shippers should be negotiating these charges down. Because the rates go up at such a high rate, even higher than the rate of inflation, every year, the carriers are practically inviting a negotiation of the rates,” said Yaussy.Yaussy advised shippers to begin negotiating before the new rates take effect as long as it’s been at least a year since the prior negotiation and there are no contractual terms prohibiting a reopening of the contract.FedEx’s 2024 rate and surcharge changes take effect Jan. 1. UPS’ take effect Dec. 26.Jey Yokeley, vice president, parcel sales at TransImpact, said that shippers who send significant volumes and have long-standing relationships with their carriers are in an advantageous negotiating position. “A high-volume shipper is more valuable to a carrier in the current environment. Unlike the last couple of years when national carriers limited their commitment to large-scale shippers, the current environment has created an enhanced focus on protecting higher volume clients by the carriers to maintain volume thresholds and increase density within their networks,” he said.Shippers who can demonstrate a willingness or ability to switch to alternative carriers can sometimes use this as a negotiating point, particularly in the current market where carriers are hyper-focused on converting new business opportunities and are willing to pay for it, Yokeley saId.Most shippers have contracts allowing for unrestricted reviews or renegotiations, Yokeley said. “Just as the carriers possess the ability to implement annual rate hikes and seasonal surcharges at their discretion, shippers equally withhold the power to renegotiate and reduce their costs on a regular cadence,” he said.The post FedEx keeps rate, surcharge increases relatively modest for ’24 appeared first on FreightWaves.

FreightWaves

FedEx keeps rate, surcharge increases relatively modest for ’24

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fedex-keeps-rate-surcharge-increases-182203131.html

363462ad-0d07-356c-b30e-04b7efd89ab8

URI

United Rentals (URI) closed at $475.06 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.94% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.7%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.57%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.06%.Prior to today's trading, shares of the equipment rental company had lost 2.07% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Construction sector's loss of 3.12% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 0.58% in that time.Investors will be hoping for strength from United Rentals as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect United Rentals to post earnings of $11.32 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 22.11%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.68 billion, up 20.52% from the year-ago period.For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $40.60 per share and revenue of $14.19 billion, which would represent changes of +24.92% and +21.93%, respectively, from the prior year.Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for United Rentals. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.22% higher within the past month. United Rentals currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).Story continuesDigging into valuation, United Rentals currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.59. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.57, which means United Rentals is trading at a discount to the group.Also, we should mention that URI has a PEG ratio of 0.72. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. URI's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.63 as of yesterday's close.The Building Products - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Construction sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 22, putting it in the top 9% of all 250+ industries.The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportUnited Rentals, Inc. (URI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

United Rentals (URI) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-rentals-uri-gains-market-221517995.html

3296cb93-7977-3116-966d-eb500333c226

URI

Key InsightsThe projected fair value for United Rentals is US$559 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to EquityWith US$475 share price, United Rentals appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value The US$500 analyst price target for URI is 11% less than our estimate of fair valueToday we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine.We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for United Rentals The ModelWe use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:Story continues10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast2024202520262027202820292030203120322033 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$2.73bUS$2.78bUS$2.63bUS$2.67bUS$2.67bUS$2.68bUS$2.71bUS$2.74bUS$2.79bUS$2.83bGrowth Rate Estimate SourceAnalyst x7Analyst x7Analyst x2Analyst x2Est @ -0.21%Est @ 0.50%Est @ 0.99%Est @ 1.34%Est @ 1.58%Est @ 1.75% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.5% US$2.5kUS$2.4kUS$2.1kUS$1.9kUS$1.8kUS$1.6kUS$1.5kUS$1.4kUS$1.3kUS$1.3k("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$18bWe now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.2%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.5%.Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2033 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$2.8b× (1 + 2.2%) ÷ (8.5%– 2.2%) = US$46bPresent Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$46b÷ ( 1 + 8.5%)10= US$20bThe total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$38b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$475, the company appears about fair value at a 15% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.dcfImportant AssumptionsNow the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at United Rentals as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.265. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.SWOT Analysis for United RentalsStrengthEarnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.WeaknessDividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Trade Distributors market.OpportunityAnnual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.ThreatAnnual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.Moving On:Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For United Rentals, we've compiled three further aspects you should explore:Risks: Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for United Rentals you should be aware of.Future Earnings: How does URI's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart.Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Estimating The Fair Value Of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/estimating-fair-value-united-rentals-140012176.html

2c650285-38c9-3978-9773-43ff10ab37c1

USB

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 8, 2023 / U.S. BankPhoto: Mark Salatino, second from left, with fellow Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra trombonists in 2002.Originally published on U.S. Bank company blogBefore Mark Salatino was analyzing deposit trends and products for U.S. Bank, he was playing the trombone with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in Rochester, New York."I got involved in negotiating orchestra contracts and that made me realize maybe I wanted to do something more analytical in my life," Salatino said, explaining his career shift after 14-years as a professional musician.He said he didn't have any formal training that would have qualified him to negotiate contracts, but it was something he volunteered to do and liked it so much he decided to pursue a degree in finance, which led him to banking.Today, Salatino is senior vice president, Product and Branch Enablement at U.S. Bank, where he's recently played a significant role in growing deposits by ensuring branch bankers have the tools and capabilities to meet customer needs during a time of fierce competition following a series of aggressive interest rate hikes that began last year.Salatino moved to Minneapolis after starting his career at M&T Bank in Buffalo, New York."I traded less snow for more cold," he joked of the move, and added that despite how different being a banker and a trombonist might seem, he sees parallels between both."When you are performing music, you are trying to connect with an audience and make them appreciate the music you're performing and making sure they feel good about it," he said. "It's the same with banking; we are trying to connect with customers and make them feel really good about the relationship they have with U.S. Bank."Relating to customers is also an emphasis at the Consumer Bankers Association Executive Banking School, a three-year program that recently wrapped its 72nd year training veteran bankers. Salatino not only graduated from the program while also working full-time, but he won the program's top award, named after Tem Wooldridge, a former faculty member and awarded to a student who demonstrates outstanding academic performance, high integrity and a strong work ethic.Story continuesJill Enabnit, senior vice president and Head of Product Wholesale and Channel Enablement for U.S. Bank, won the award in 2013 and is now a faculty member with the program."If we can serve our customers with empathy, that is critical because we need to be able to put ourselves in their shoes. In going through the program, that is a focus constantly through all three years," Salatino said.The program, which has 43 participating institutions and 350 students, is held on the campus of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and brings together bankers from all over the country to participate in small-group learning and takes a top-down approach, with the curriculum providing different perspectives within a bank, including the head of retail banking, chief financial officer, chief risk officer and CEO."It teaches leadership in a supercharged way," said Salatino, who added that working with bankers from different institutions, geographies and in different roles who he had never met before helped foster those leadership skills.The program is also an investment by the banks who send their bankers there. The bankers, meanwhile, take time away from their families to attend over the three years and do intersession projects, which Salatino said were big undertakings, spending roughly 50 to 100 hours on each project."This is a big investment, but it's a smart one" said Arijit Roy, head of consumer segment and solutions at U.S. Bank. "Learning and development activities are key to our success, and having colleagues who are building leadership skills and learning, while representing the bank, is a terrific embodiment of powering human potential.""Congratulations to Mark on his hard work and to all our bankers that graduated this year," Roy said, noting that U.S. Bank had 13 bankers in this year's graduating class.Salatino said he was grateful for the opportunity and brought it back to the customer."Empathetic leaders are the best leaders in my opinion, and that's how we serve our customers, with empathy," he said.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from U.S. Bank on 3blmedia.com.Contact Info:Spokesperson: U.S. BankWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/us-bankEmail: [email protected]: U.S. BankView source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/782072/trombonist-turned-banker-finds-parallels-connecting-with-audiences-and-customers

ACCESSWIRE

Trombonist Turned Banker Finds Parallels Connecting With Audiences and Customers

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trombonist-turned-banker-finds-parallels-141500415.html

45b49135-3320-3f01-8105-624960603891

USB

U.S. Bancorp USB is likely to benefit from its diverse revenue sources and solid loan and deposit balance. Also, its inorganic growth moves support expansion into new geographic footprints. However, a persistent rise in costs is expected to weigh on its bottom line. Further, lack of diversification in the loan portfolio and legal hassles are major near-term headwinds.U.S. Bancorp’s revenues witnessed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.3% over the last three years (2019-2022). The rising trend continued in the first half of 2023. USB’s net interest income and its efforts to enhance its range of products, services and capabilities will continue to support its revenues. Management expects adjusted total revenues to reach $28-$29 billion in 2023.Apart from rising revenues, the bank’s average deposits and loans witnessed a three-year CAGR of 10.5% and 14.6%, respectively, in 2022. The rising trend for average loans and average deposits continued in the first half of 2023 compared with the previous year.U.S. Bancorp has forayed into new markets and fortified existing markets through a number of strategic acquisitions in the past years. Last year, it completed the acquisition of MUFG Union Bank’s core regional banking franchise from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. It completed the conversion of Union Bank during second-quarter 2023. In 2021, it completed the buyout of PFM Asset Management, TravelBank and Bento Technologies. These past acquisitions have strengthened USB’s balance sheet and fee-based businesses.USB has maintained a strong balance sheet. As of Jun 30, the company’s cash and due from banks of $70.64 billion exceeded its long-term debt of $45.28 billion, reflecting manageable debt levels. Given its decent cash levels and impressive earnings strength, its capital distribution activities seem sustainable and are likely to boost investors’ confidence in the stock.However, USB continues to record a rise in non-interest expenses. The metric has witnessed a CAGR of 5.2% over the last three years (2019-2022). The rise was mainly due to higher merger and integration charges, compensation and employee benefits, net occupancy and equipment expenses, as well as technology and communications expenditures. The rising trend continued in the first half of 2023. Management expects to incur approximately $1.4 billion in total for the Union Bank integration. Hence, USB’s cost base remains relatively high, which is likely to hinder bottom-line growth.Story continuesFurther, the lack of diversification in loan portfolio amid uncertain economic conditions are likely to act as headwinds. Around 50.4% of USB’s loan portfolio comprises commercial loans (commercial and commercial real estate lending) as of Jun 30.Analysts seem bearish regarding USB’s earnings growth prospects. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company's 2023 earnings has been revised 2% downward over the past 60 days. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Over the past six months, shares of USB have declined 15.8% compared with the industry's fall of 4.9%.Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment ResearchBank Stocks Worth a LookA couple of better-ranked stocks from the banking space are JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM and Bank7 BSVN.JPMorgan Chase currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Its earnings estimates for 2023 have been revised marginally upward over the past 30 days. In the past three months, JPM shares have rallied 1.9%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Bank7’s current-year earnings has been revised 7.4% upward over the past 60 days. Its shares have gained 0.8% over the past year. Currently, BSVN carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportJPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) : Free Stock Analysis ReportU.S. Bancorp (USB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBank7 Corp. (BSVN) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

U.S. Bancorp (USB) Rides on Revenue Growth Amid High Costs

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-bancorp-usb-rides-revenue-155100675.html

a756743f-f27b-354d-b7d2-384722677098

USFD

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think US Foods Holding (NYSE:USFD) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on US Foods Holding is:Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)0.096 = US$961m ÷ (US$13b - US$3.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to July 2023).Thus, US Foods Holding has an ROCE of 9.6%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Consumer Retailing industry average of 11%. Check out our latest analysis for US Foods Holding roceAbove you can see how the current ROCE for US Foods Holding compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering US Foods Holding here for free.So How Is US Foods Holding's ROCE Trending?In terms of US Foods Holding's historical ROCE trend, it doesn't exactly demand attention. The company has employed 42% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 9.6%. This poor ROCE doesn't inspire confidence right now, and with the increase in capital employed, it's evident that the business isn't deploying the funds into high return investments.Story continuesOur Take On US Foods Holding's ROCEIn summary, US Foods Holding has simply been reinvesting capital and generating the same low rate of return as before. Unsurprisingly, the stock has only gained 22% over the last five years, which potentially indicates that investors are accounting for this going forward. Therefore, if you're looking for a multi-bagger, we'd propose looking at other options.On a final note, we've found 2 warning signs for US Foods Holding that we think you should be aware of.While US Foods Holding isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

US Foods Holding (NYSE:USFD) Has Some Way To Go To Become A Multi-Bagger

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-foods-holding-nyse-usfd-101305272.html

cf83fff9-2be4-3dd1-af46-64b4d6363528

USFD

Ha to Bring More than 30 Years of Legal Experience and Expertise to Executive Leadership TeamROSEMONT, Ill., September 06, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE: USFD) – one of America’s leading foodservice distributors – announced today that Martha Ha will join the company as Executive Vice President and General Counsel effective Sept. 25, 2023. She will report to Dave Flitman, Chief Executive Officer, as a member of the Executive Leadership Team."After an extensive and thoughtful search, I am thrilled to welcome Martha Ha to US Foods and our Executive Leadership Team," said Flitman. "With more than 30 years of experience, Martha is a seasoned business advisor with exceptional expertise in corporate governance, commercial transactions and leading high-performing teams. I also want to thank Andrew Johnstone for his leadership as Interim General Counsel as we conducted the search for our next General Counsel."In this critical leadership role, Ha will be responsible for the company’s legal, food safety, risk management, corporate secretary, corporate social responsibility and ethics and compliance functions. She will also serve as a key counselor to the company’s Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Team.Ha joins US Foods from Medtronic, a global medical device and technology company with approximately $31 billion in revenue, where she most recently was Vice President, Chief Counsel – Corporate Governance (including Sustainability, Insurance and Aviation), Mergers and Acquisitions, and Cardiovascular Portfolio. In this role, she served as Assistant Corporate Secretary responsible for all corporate governance matters, including ESG strategy and disclosures, shareholder and Board of Director matters and public company filings and disclosures. Additionally, she oversaw the company’s risk management program and was the lead counsel for all mergers and acquisitions and enterprise contracts. She was also the lead counsel for Medtronic’s cardiovascular portfolio – the largest segment of Medtronic’s business. From 2016-2020, Ha served as Chief Privacy Officer for the company. And since 2019 she has been the co-chair of the Asian Impact at Medtronic (AIM) Employee Network to elevate the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts.Story continuesPrior to Medtronic, Ha was Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and General Counsel – Corporate & International at DaVita Health Care Partners, an $11-billion health care company. She also served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel at W.W. Grainger, Inc. and several roles of increasing responsibility at Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Earlier in her career, she worked at Arthur Andersen LLP; Bell, Boyd and Lloyd; Coffield Ungaretti & Harris and Shefsky & Froelich, Ltd.Ha holds a Juris Doctor from Loyola Chicago School of Law and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois. She is also a Certified Public Accountant.About US FoodsWith a promise to help its customers Make It, US Foods is one of America’s great food companies and a leading foodservice distributor, partnering with approximately 250,000 restaurants and foodservice operators to help their businesses succeed. With 70 broadline locations and more than 85 cash and carry stores, US Foods and its 29,000 associates provides its customers with a broad and innovative food offering and a comprehensive suite of e-commerce, technology and business solutions. US Foods is headquartered in Rosemont, Ill. Visit www.usfoods.com to learn more.View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230906147062/en/ContactsINVESTOR CONTACT:Adam Dabrowski(847) [email protected] CONTACT:Sara Matheu(773) [email protected]

Business Wire

US Foods Appoints Martha Ha as Executive Vice President and General Counsel

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-foods-appoints-martha-executive-210500549.html

41ca5574-b362-39e3-ac15-12ca14523708

UTL

Celebrations may be in order for Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) shareholders, with the covering analyst delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. The consensus estimated revenue numbers rose, with their view now clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects.Following the latest upgrade, Unitil's one analyst currently expects revenues in 2023 to be US$590m, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to accumulate 2.2% to US$2.75. Previously, the analyst had been modelling revenues of US$528m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.77 in 2023. There's clearly been a surge in bullishness around the company's sales pipeline, even if there's no real change in earnings per share forecasts. Check out our latest analysis for Unitil earnings-and-revenue-growthTaking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 1.8% by the end of 2023. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 6.4% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 1.4% per year. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - Unitil is expected to lag the wider industry.The Bottom LineThe most obvious conclusion from this consensus update is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analyst holding earnings per share steady, in line with previous estimates. Fortunately, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting revenues to grow slower than the wider market. Seeing the dramatic upgrade to this year's forecasts, it might be time to take another look at Unitil.Story continuesEven so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. At least one analyst has provided forecasts out to 2024, which can be seen for free on our platform here.Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

News Flash: One Analyst Just Made A Captivating Upgrade To Their Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) Forecasts

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/news-flash-one-analyst-just-100551520.html

76df1bb4-5c58-3f05-86a8-e99b7a86acc1

UTL

Key InsightsInstitutions' substantial holdings in Unitil implies that they have significant influence over the company's share priceA total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a businessIf you want to know who really controls Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 77% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Unitil. Check out our latest analysis for Unitil ownership-breakdownWhat Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Unitil?Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.Unitil already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Unitil, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.earnings-and-revenue-growthInstitutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Unitil. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 19% of shares outstanding. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 7.8% of common stock, and State Street Global Advisors, Inc. holds about 3.8% of the company stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Thomas Meissner directly holds 0.6% of the total shares outstanding.Story continuesA closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 12 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.Insider Ownership Of UnitilWhile the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.We can report that insiders do own shares in Unitil Corporation. It has a market capitalization of just US$774m, and insiders have US$15m worth of shares, in their own names. This shows at least some alignment. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling. General Public OwnershipWith a 21% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Unitil. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.Next Steps:I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Unitil (1 is concerning) that you should be aware of.If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

With 77% institutional ownership, Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) is a favorite amongst the big guns

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/77-institutional-ownership-unitil-corporation-111700594.html

3a455fc0-45c3-3d15-9749-715b3ab3952a

UUU

OWINGS MILLS, Md., July 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Security Instruments, Inc. (NYSE Amex: UUU) today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and its fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.The Company reported:For the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023, sales increased $1,637,217 (38.2%) to $5,927,767 from $4,290,550 from the comparable period last year. The Company reported net income of $284,635, or $0.12 per basic and diluted share compared to a net loss of $235,838, or $0.10 per basic and diluted share for the comparable period of the previous year.For the twelve months ended March 31, 2023, sales increased $2,629,088 (13.4%) to $22,178,873 versus $19,549,785 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. The Company reported net income of $720,411, or $0.31 per basic and diluted share, versus a net loss of $78,150 or $0.03 per basic and diluted share, for the same period last year. Results for the twelve months ended March 31, 2023, included the receipt of a federal employee retention credit of approximately $181,000 during the second fiscal quarter of the fiscal year.Harvey Grossblatt, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "Universal was very pleased to return to profitability with higher sales despite continuing supply chain issues. We continue to strengthen our financial statements by reducing our debt and increasing shareholder equity."UNIVERSAL SECURITY INSTRUMENTS, INC. is a distributor of safety and security devices. Founded in 1969, the Company has an over 54-year heritage of developing innovative and easy-to-install products, including smoke, fire and carbon monoxide alarms.  For more information on Universal Security Instruments, visit our website at www.universalsecurity.com."Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws that inherently include certain risks and uncertainties.  Actual results could differ materially from those projected in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including, among other items, currency fluctuations, the impact of current and future laws and governmental regulations, and other factors which may be identified from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other public announcements.  We do not undertake and specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.  We will revise our outlook from time to time and frequently will not disclose such revisions publicly.                                                                                  Story continues UNIVERSAL SECURITY INSTRUMENTS, INC.CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS(UNAUDITED)Three Months Ended March 31,20232022Net sales$5,927,767$4,290,550Net income (loss)284,635(235,838)Net income (loss) per share – basic and diluted0.12(0.10)Weighted average number of common shares outstanding         Basic and diluted          2,312,887 2,312,887Fiscal Year Ended March 31,20232022Net sales$22,178,873$19,549,785Net income (loss)720,411(78,150)Net income (loss) per share – basic and diluted0.31(0.03)Weighted average number of common shares outstanding         Basic and diluted 2,312,887 2,312,887CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETSASSETSMarch 31,20232022Cash$    151,502$   438,735Accounts receivable and amount due from factor3,664,9484,090,113Inventory4,063,6326,229,061Prepaid expenses165,378241,342TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS8,045,46010,999,251PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT – NET318,641477,627OTHER ASSETS35,77344,243TOTAL ASSETS$8,399,874$11,521,121LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITYLine of credit - factor$1,459,350$ 2,157,086Short-term portion of operating lease liability 151,230131,880Accounts payable– Trade948,4652,557,433Note payable – Eyston Company Ltd.-1,081,440Accrued liabilities309,940619,465TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES2,868,9856,547,304LONG-TERM PORTION OF OPERATING LEASE LIABILITY172,072335,411TOTAL LONG-TERM LIABILITIES172,072335,411COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES--SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITYCommon stock, $.01 par value per share; 20,000,000 authorized, 2,312,887 shares issued andoutstanding at March 31, 2023 and 2022 23,129 23,129Additional paid-in capital12,885,84112,885,841(Accumulated Deficit)(7,550,153)(8,270,564)TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY5,358,8174,638,406TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY$8,399,874$11,521,121 Contact:  Harvey Grossblatt, President Universal Security Instruments, Inc.410-363-3000, Ext. 224OrZachary MizenerLambert & Co.315-529-2348CisionView original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-security-instruments-announces-its-fourth-quarter-and-year-end-results-301877196.htmlSOURCE Universal Security Instruments, Inc.

PR Newswire

Universal Security Instruments Announces its Fourth-Quarter and Year-End Results

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/universal-security-instruments-announces-fourth-203000923.html

f4ce1b2f-10e9-3b9f-a340-dd1b775aa8be

UUU

OWINGS MILLS, Md., Aug. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Security Instruments, Inc. (NYSE Amex: UUU) today announced results for its fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2023.The Company reported sales of $6,698,771 for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, versus $4,635,304 for the comparable period of last year.  The Company reported net income of $165,130 or $0.07 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $106,138, or $0.05 per basic and diluted share, for the same period last year.Harvey Grossblatt - President and CEO said "positive sales trends continued in the June 30, 2023 quarter despite supply chain difficulties in obtaining components on a timely basis."UNIVERSAL SECURITY INSTRUMENTS, INC. is distributor of safety and security devices. Founded in 1969, the Company has an over 55-year heritage of developing innovative and easy-to-install products, including smoke, fire and carbon monoxide alarms.  For more information on Universal Security Instruments, visit our website at www.universalsecurity.com."Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws that inherently include certain risks and uncertainties.  Actual results could differ materially from those projected in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including, among other items, currency fluctuations, the impact of current and future laws and governmental regulations, and other factors which may be identified from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other public announcements.  We do not undertake and specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.  We will revise our outlook from time to time and frequently will not disclose such revisions publicly.Story continues UNIVERSAL SECURITY INSTRUMENTS, INC.CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS(UNAUDITED)Three Months Ended June 30,20232022Sales$6,698,771$4,635,304Net Income (Loss):       Net Income (Loss) per share – basic and diluted                                                                     165,130                    0.07        (106,138)             (0.05)Weighted average number of common shares outstanding:       Basic and diluted                                                                                                                                                   2,312,887 2,312,887CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS(UNAUDITED) ASSETSJune 30, 2023June 30, 2022Cash $240,817 $255,881 Accounts receivable and amount due from factor4,670,9473,657,863Inventory2,878,3736,753,229Prepaid expense280,594291,829TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS8,070,73110,958,802PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS–NET313,550477,007OTHER ASSETS-4,000TOTAL ASSETS$8,384,281$11,439,809LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITYLine of credit – factorNote payable – Eyston Company Ltd.Short-term portion of operating lease liabilityAccounts payable $1,370,299-153,095831,915$2,836,627781,440145,7872,532,534Accrued liabilities372,366325,399TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES2,727,6756,621,787 LONG-TERM OPERATING LEASE LIABILITYTOTAL LONG-TERM LIABILITIES 132,659132,659 285,754285,754 SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY:       Common stock, $.01 par value per share; authorized        20,000,000 shares; issued and outstanding 2,312,887        at June 30, 2023 and 2022                                                                              23,129 23,129Additional paid-in capital12,885,84112,885,841Accumulated Deficit(7,385,023)(8,376,702)TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY5,523,9474,532,268TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY$8,384,281$11,439,809 Contact:  Harvey Grossblatt, CEO Universal Security Instruments, Inc. (410) 363-3000, Ext. 224 or Zachary Mizener Lambert & Co. (315) 529-2348CisionView original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-security-instruments-reports-first-quarter-results-301904011.htmlSOURCE Universal Security Instruments, Inc.

PR Newswire

Universal Security Instruments Reports First-Quarter Results

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/universal-security-instruments-reports-first-113000477.html

30d5fe95-526d-3480-89ee-387cad50bf63

UWMC

(Bloomberg) -- Mat Ishbia, the new owner of the Phoenix Suns, pledged more than half of mortgage giant UWM Holdings Corp.’s outstanding shares to secure loans before buying the NBA team for a record $4 billion.Most Read from BloombergCitadel Vets 69,000 Intern Applicants to Find Next Math GeniusesPutin Agrees to Visit China in First Trip Since Arrest WarrantCrypto Scores Landmark US Legal Win With Grayscale ETF RulingWhat to Do With a 45-Story Skyscraper and No TenantsStocks Up Most Since June as Fed Bets Sink Yields: Markets WrapIshbia, UWM’s chairman and chief executive officer, pledged stock he controls currently worth about $4.6 billion to back two loans that were finalized days before his purchase of the Suns was approved.He holds his stake through SFS Holding Corp., which owns 94% of UWM’s outstanding stock and pledged the shares, according to the firm’s 2023 proxy statement. Other investors in SFS include his brother Justin, managing partner of Shore Capital who bought a stake in the team alongside Mat.A spokesperson for Pontiac, Michigan-based UWM didn’t respond to an email and voicemail seeking comment.Ishbia, 43, a former walk-on basketball player at Michigan State University, is worth $5.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His fortune dropped by $3.4 billion after the pledged shares were removed from his net worth calculation.Ishbia agreed to purchase a majority stake in the National Basketball Association franchise in December from Robert Sarver after the league found Sarver had engaged in racist and sexist behavior. The deal, which was approved in February, involves more than 50% ownership of the Suns and the WNBA’s Mercury.SFS pledged 805 million shares to secure the two loans, slightly more than half of UWM’s outstanding stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was the lender on both deals, according to public records. The loan sizes weren’t disclosed.A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.Story continuesMusk, IcahnIt isn’t unusual for executives of publicly traded companies to pledge shares as collateral, with founders including Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk, Danaher Corp.’s Mitchell Rales and Softbank’s Masayoshi Son all having done so. What is unusual is the scope of Ishbia’s loans, with more than half his shares now tied up as collateral.Margin loans involve lending that’s collateralized by the value of the underlying shares. Typically, if the value of the stock declines lenders can request additional collateral or for the loan to be repaid. If the borrower fails to comply, the lender can seize and sell the shares.A margin loan taken out by Carl Icahn was highlighted in a report this year by short-seller Hindenburg Research into Icahn Enterprises LP, the billionaire’s investment firm. Icahn had pledged about 60% of his holdings to secure the loan, equivalent to about half of the company’s outstanding shares. Hindenburg criticized Icahn for failing to disclose how much he’d borrowed, the interest rate or the loan-to-value maintenance ratio associated with the debt.Two months after Hindenburg’s report, and after Icahn Enterprises’ share price had fallen by more than a third, Icahn renegotiated his loans so that he couldn’t be margin-called based on the market price.UWM went public in a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in January 2021 at a roughly $16 billion valuation. The company’s shares have climbed 71% this year, but are still down more than 50% from their merger price.--With assistance from Vernal Galpotthawela.Most Read from Bloomberg BusinessweekNigeria’s Train to Nowhere Shows How Not to Build Public TransitThe Next Wave of Scams Will Be Deepfake Video Calls From Your BossLuxury Villas Are Going Up in a Palestinian Boomtown Built on Shaky PeaceStock Pickers Never Had a Chance Against Hard Math of the MarketLyme Disease Has Exploded, and a New Vaccine Is (Almost) Here©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Bloomberg

Ishbia Pledged UWM Shares Worth $4.6 Billion Ahead of NBA Deal

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ishbia-pledged-uwm-shares-worth-144358967.html

b41bea60-778d-366c-9725-076194fa3571

UWMC

If you’re interested in finding out about real estate short squeeze candidates, look no further. Interest rates are soaring. The Federal Reserve is still worried about inflation and is keeping monetary policy tight. A potential recession looms. There’s a seemingly perfect storm out there for these real estate stocks to watch.And yet, quite possibly, the bears have overstayed their welcome. Markets are forward-looking, after all, and can anticipate when a turn is coming.Interest rates won’t keep going up forever. There are still strong demographic drivers to support the housing market. And the pandemic-driven impacts to commercial real estate won’t indefinitely linger either. All that to say that it’s a good time to be looking at these three real estate short squeeze candidates with high short interest today.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsVornado Realty Trust (VNO)Group of colleagues discuss something in an office conference room.Source: GaudiLab / ShutterstockVornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) is an office real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the New York City metropolitan market.As has been widely discussed in the media, the office market is struggling in the post-pandemic landscape. Some firms have gone remote permanently. Many others are returning to the office, but for only three- or four-day workweeks. This reduces demand for office space and lowers the potential rents and value of existing office buildings.VNO stock had already dipped from a peak of about $90 in 2015 to around $60 prior to the onset of COVID-19. Since then, the walls caved in, with Vornado crashing to as low as $12 per share earlier this year.Vornado shares are now starting to recover, however. That could be because the company’s portfolio remains attractive. It owns more than 20 million square feet of prime office space in Manhattan. Key tenants include the likes of business media giant Bloomberg and Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) New York City headquarters. It owns properties in world-class districts such as Fifth Avenue and Times Square.Story continuesNot all office space is going to make it through the current disruption. However, Vornado’s holdings of top-tier properties in the nation’s largest city should insulate it from the bust.UWM Holdings (UWMC)An image of a man holding a phone with a web of real estate icons above it; rent, sale, key, handshake, graph, paperworkSource: Denizce/ShutterstockUWM Holdings (NYSE:UWMC) is among the top real estate short squeeze candidates. It’s the nation’s largest mortgage lender. It took that title not too long ago thanks to its relentless growth, along with missteps by some of its rivals.There has been plenty of room for shifts in the industry due to the abrupt change in housing demand and interest rates. The housing market skyrocketed in 2020, leading to record volumes of mortgages and profits for UWM and its peers. However, that boom turned to bust amid surging interest rates and a near complete absence of refinancing transactions.However, UWM is seizing the moment. It is now investing in growth as its peers pull back. Meanwhile, thanks to prior cost discipline, UWM remains profitable and is even paying a dividend.UWM’s CEO Mat Ishbia had some stark words for his competition in the firm’s quarterly earnings report writing, “Other management teams seem to have forgotten that during a mortgage boom, the majority of the opportunity is in the first six months. Companies that are not prepared for those events react late, hire late, train late and miss most of the opportunity.”UWM is currently facing challenges due to the unsettled housing and interest rate environment. But the firm, as Ishbia suggested, is investing through the cycle and seems set to prosper when the macroeconomic winds improve. Meanwhile, the massive short interest in UWMC stock could run into trouble at any time.Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT)A sign for Blackstone (BX) hangs on a white wall.Source: Isabelle OHara / Shutterstock.comBlackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) is a REIT focused on commercial mortgages.Given a great deal of consternation about the commercial real estate market, short sellers have been hounding BXMT stock over the past year.But, perhaps things aren’t as bad as the market would suggest. For one thing, only 25% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s exposure is to U.S. office space. Blackstone Mortgage is diversified with exposure to apartments, life sciences buildings, and international properties among other things — in addition to its office loans.96% of the company’s loans are currently performing as planned. And earnings remain high enough to cover the dividend; the trust generated distributable earnings of 79 cents last quarter versus its dividend of 62 cents per share.Right now, bears have sold short more than 12% of the float of BXMT stock short. That’s a massive number for a sleepy mortgage REIT. As things stand today, Blackstone Mortgage’s 11% dividend yield appears to be safe, which could lead to a major short squeeze as bears tire of having to pay out that massive yield on their short positions.On the date of publication, Ian Bezek did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.Ian Bezek has written more than 1,000 articles for InvestorPlace.com and Seeking Alpha. He also worked as a Junior Analyst for Kerrisdale Capital, a $300 million New York City-based hedge fund. You can reach him on Twitter at @irbezek.More From InvestorPlaceChatGPT IPO Could Shock the World, Make This Move Before the AnnouncementMusk’s “Project Omega” May Be Set to Mint New Millionaires. Here’s How to Get In.The Rich Use This Income Secret (NOT Dividends) Far More Than Regular InvestorsThe post 3 Real Estate Stocks Due for a Massive Short Squeeze appeared first on InvestorPlace.

InvestorPlace

3 Real Estate Stocks Due for a Massive Short Squeeze

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-real-estate-stocks-due-120014228.html

eebfca69-06a6-30fb-beb6-7eaaa48ad708

V

The promise of the blockchain was always disrupting companies like Visa (NYSE: V). But Visa is now utilizing the blockchain and stablecoins to settle transactions, and that could be great news for Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN).Continue reading

Motley Fool

Visa, Coinbase, and the Future of Stablecoins

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/cfa45568-332c-3d8a-8a25-cb00374dfd4f/visa-coinbase-and-the.html

cfa45568-332c-3d8a-8a25-cb00374dfd4f

V

On Aug. 30, The Wall Street Journal reported that Visa (NYSE: V) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) planned to increase the fees that most merchants pay when accepting customers' credit cards. The article quoted CMSPI, a consulting firm that works for merchants, which said the changes could result in an additional $502 million annually in merchant fees. The increased fees would be a drop in the bucket for Visa and Mastercard, which generated $31.8 billion and $23.6 billion in revenue over the past 12 months and could lead to further regulatory scrutiny.Continue reading

Motley Fool

Visa and Mastercard Dispute Reports About Fee Hikes: Here's What Investors Need to Know

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/bb668d69-a6bc-3c37-9c2a-b35e934c8d67/visa-and-mastercard-dispute.html

bb668d69-a6bc-3c37-9c2a-b35e934c8d67

VBFC

By buying an index fund, investors can approximate the average market return. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. For example, Village Bank and Trust Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:VBFC) shareholders have seen the share price rise 59% over three years, well in excess of the market return (23%, not including dividends).With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies. Check out our latest analysis for Village Bank and Trust Financial To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).Village Bank and Trust Financial was able to grow its EPS at 3.5% per year over three years, sending the share price higher. In comparison, the 17% per year gain in the share price outpaces the EPS growth. This indicates that the market is feeling more optimistic on the stock, after the last few years of progress. That's not necessarily surprising considering the three-year track record of earnings growth.You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).earnings-per-share-growthDive deeper into Village Bank and Trust Financial's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Village Bank and Trust Financial's earnings, revenue and cash flow.What About Dividends?As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Village Bank and Trust Financial the TSR over the last 3 years was 62%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!Story continuesA Different PerspectiveVillage Bank and Trust Financial shareholders are down 5.0% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 2.7%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 7% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that Village Bank and Trust Financial is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Investors in Village Bank and Trust Financial (NASDAQ:VBFC) have seen respectable returns of 62% over the past three years

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investors-village-bank-trust-financial-142339530.html

6781cffa-9705-3986-bc03-84d6ff1c7e2a

VBFC

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Village Bank and Trust Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:VBFC) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Thus, you can purchase Village Bank and Trust Financial's shares before the 7th of September in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 15th of September.The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.16 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.64 per share. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Village Bank and Trust Financial has a trailing yield of approximately 1.4% on its current stock price of $45. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Village Bank and Trust Financial's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Village Bank and Trust Financial can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow. See our latest analysis for Village Bank and Trust Financial If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Village Bank and Trust Financial has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 13% of its income after tax.Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.Click here to see how much of its profit Village Bank and Trust Financial paid out over the last 12 months.Story continueshistoric-dividendHave Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. That's why it's comforting to see Village Bank and Trust Financial's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 30% per annum for the past five years.Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the past two years, Village Bank and Trust Financial has increased its dividend at approximately 6.9% a year on average. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.Final TakeawayHas Village Bank and Trust Financial got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Companies like Village Bank and Trust Financial that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings, are usually reinvesting heavily in their business. This strategy can add significant value to shareholders over the long term - as long as it's done without issuing too many new shares. Overall, Village Bank and Trust Financial looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.With that in mind, a critical part of thorough stock research is being aware of any risks that stock currently faces. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Village Bank and Trust Financial you should be aware of.Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Village Bank and Trust Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:VBFC) Looks Like A Good Stock, And It's Going Ex-Dividend Soon

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/village-bank-trust-financial-corp-121727133.html

97178945-789e-3da7-a4fa-d27eec71f3e1

VBTX

Veritex Holdings, Inc.DALLAS, Sept. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (www.vertexbank.com) Veritex Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: VBTX) (“the Company” or “Veritex”), the holding company for Veritex Community Bank (“the Bank”), is pleased to announce, following an extensive nationwide search by Chartwell Partners, the hiring of Dominic Karaba as President and Chief Banking Officer of Veritex Community Bank effective Sept. 18. Karaba has more than 28 years of experience in the banking industry and most recently served as UMB Financial Corporation’s President of Commercial Banking. He has a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Puget Sound and a graduate degree in banking and bank leadership from the Pacific Coast Graduate School of Banking. As President of the Bank, he will oversee all revenue lines of business, as well as strategic revenue initiatives, with the goal of driving sustainable growth. Karaba will report directly to C. Malcolm Holland, III, who will remain Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Veritex Community Bank as well as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Veritex Holdings, Inc.“We’re excited to have Dominic join our Veritex Bank family! He is a seasoned, proven leader who will undoubtedly make our company better,” Holland said. “His passion for the community is inspiring and will make a positive impact on the markets we serve. With his expertise and dedication, we are confident that Dominic will help us achieve new heights and continue our dream to build the best bank in Texas.”Veritex was founded by Holland in 2010 and completed its initial public offering in 2014. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Veritex operates banking centers primarily in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and Houston metropolitan areas and has recently expanded its digital banking presence into several new markets, including Waco, Austin, and San Antonio. With a strong commercial banking focus, Veritex has achieved remarkable growth since its inception. As of June 30, 2023, Veritex had approximately $12.5 billion in assets, with a diverse $9.7 billion loan portfolio primarily supported by a $9.2 billion deposit base.Story continues“I am excited to be joining the Veritex team and continuing the remarkable culture they have built,” Karaba said. “I look forward to collaborating with this exceptional team who has a proven history of delivering to our clients and investing in our communities. Together, we will continue to build the Veritex legacy, as we work to execute on the Company’s vision.”Karaba will relocate to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex with his wife, Gwen. About Veritex Bank Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Veritex is a bank holding company that conducts banking activities through its wholly owned subsidiary, Veritex Community Bank, with locations throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and in the Houston metropolitan area. Veritex Community Bank is a Texas state-chartered bank regulated by the Texas Department of Banking and the Federal Reserve System. Veritex specializes in providing depository and credit services to small and mid-size businesses, which have been largely neglected by national banks. The name “Veritex” is derived from the Latin word “veritas,” meaning truth and “Texas.” For more information, visit www.veritexbank.com. CONTACT: Source:Veritex Holdings, Inc.  Investor Relations:  972-349-6132  [email protected]

GlobeNewswire

Veritex Announces New President and Chief Banking Officer for Veritex Community Bank

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/veritex-announces-president-chief-banking-213000807.html

1f51e694-a303-3ccb-8dc0-793282e097d9

VBTX

Dominic Karaba, who has more than 28 years of banking industry experience, most recently served as president of Commercial Banking at Kansas City-based UMB Financial Corp., the parent company of UMB Bank.Continue reading

American City Business Journals

Veritex Community Bank names UMB commercial banking head Dominic Karaba as new president

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/8fc157ae-eeba-3661-95c9-5efa054b03e7/veritex-community-bank-names.html

8fc157ae-eeba-3661-95c9-5efa054b03e7

VERA

Chevron upgraded, SolarEdge downgraded: Wall Street's top analyst callsThe most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today's research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.Top 5 Upgrades: Mizuho upgraded Chevron (CVX) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $209, up from $205. Although higher commodity prices and an improving macro outlook have driven outperformance of U.S. oil and gas stocks, there are some secular tailwinds for the energy sector that give more confidence in longer-term cash generation, the firm says. [Read more]UBS upgraded Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $42, up from $37. Shares are pricing in a decline in earnings power over the next 12 months, but this is misplaced, the firm says, stating that an earnings inflection is beginning to take shape amid sustained mid-single-digit organic revenue growth and improved outlook for U.S. Coffee business. [Read more] Goldman Sachs upgraded Brixmor (BRX) to Buy from Neutral with a $27 price target. The company's and leasing spreads are providing "reliable growth," while the shares are trading at a discounted multiple, the firm says. [Read more] Wolfe Research upgraded NextDecade (NEXT) to Outperform from Peer Perform with an $8 price target. The firm believes the stock's risk/reward is "highly favorable" given the "limited commercial lift" to get a Train 4 of Rio Grande LNG final investment decision. [Read more]Evercore ISI upgraded Magnite (MGNI) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $14, up from $11. The firm says the company is seeing accelerating revenue and EBITDA growth and is in a more prominent position in the supply-side of the ad-tech food chain. [Read more]Top 5 Downgrades:BofA downgraded SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $181, down from $320. The firm is "incrementally bearish" on the company's medium term component sales outlook following channel checks with installers and distributors. [Read more]Argus downgraded Magellan Midstream (MMP) to Sell from Hold after a "strong run- up" in the stock. [Read more]BTIG downgraded Marqeta (MQ) to Sell from Neutral with a $4 price target. The stock has not moved significantly on news of the four-year contract renewal with Square's (SQ) Cash App, which is likely attributable to the details of the agreement and the effect on the net take rate, as well as ongoing woes for Marqeta's non-Block revenue streams, the firm says. [Read more]Mizuho downgraded Marathon Petroleum (MPC) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $161, up from $148. The firm stays constructive on the space, particularly U.S. exploration and production stocks, but while refining margins are likely strong, it says the risk/reward for the group is skewed to the downside. [Read more]JPMorgan downgraded Chesapeake Energy (CHK) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $96, down from $97. The firm cites valuation, with the stock currently among the most expensive of the natural gas focused exploration and production companies. [Read more] H.C. Wainwright downgraded Galera Therapeutics (GRTX) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of 30c, down from $6, after the company received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA for avasopasem for radiotherapy-induced severe oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing standard-of-care treatment. [Read more]Top 5 Initiations: Wells Fargo initiated coverage of GE HealthCare (GEHC) with an Overweight rating and $90 price target. The company is well positioned to capitalize on its opportunity in Alzheimer's, the firm tells investors in a research note. [Read more]Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of News Corp. (NWSA) with an Overweight rating and $27.50 price target. News Corp. still has a large cyclical media earnings component, and while the last 12 months have been challenging, there are signs of stabilization in the earnings outlook, the firm says. [Read more]JPMorgan reinstated coverage of ViaSat (VSAT) with a Neutral rating and $35 price target following a period of restriction. The firm is largely positive on the Inmarsat acquisition and the resulting shift towards higher-margin service revenue, but says the recent complications with the launch of ViaSat-3 Americas "pose a meaningful headwind" to the fixed broadband business. [Read more]Barclays initiated coverage of Fortrea Holdings (FTRE) with an Equal Weight rating and $29 price target. The firm notes that in the near term, the stock is a show-me story as investors may first want to see evidence of the funding greenshoots showing up in topline in addition to seeing margin improvements. [Read more]Guggenheim initiated coverage of Vera Therapeutics (VERA) with a Buy rating and $27 price target. The firm is bullish on the clinical, regulatory and commercial progress in the immunoglobulin A nephropathy market, and believes Vera's atacicept is well positioned to be a leader in that space. [Read more]

The Fly

Chevron upgraded, SolarEdge downgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chevron-upgraded-solaredge-downgraded-wall-140008886.html

3f7666c2-ce7a-3332-aff6-068bd74a40e9

VERA

Vera TherapeuticsBRISBANE, Calif., Aug. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERA), a late clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing transformative treatments for patients with serious immunological diseases, today announced that the Company’s management team will present and participate in one-on-one meetings at four investor conferences being held next month.Investor Conference Details: Citi 18th Annual BioPharma ConferenceFormat: Management hosting investor meetingsDate: Wednesday, September 6, 2023H.C. Wainwright 25th Annual Global Investment ConferenceFormat: Corporate Presentation and host investor meetingsDate and Time: Monday, September 11, 2023, 7:00 AM ETWebcast: https://journey.ct.events/viewThe H.C. Wainwright presentation will be available for 90 days and can be accessed by visiting the “Investor Calendar” section of the Vera Therapeutics website.Stifel 2023 Immunology and Inflammation Virtual Summit Format: Fireside ChatDate and Time: Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 2:15-3:00 PM ET2023 Cantor Global Healthcare Conference Format: Fireside Chat and host investor meetingsDate and Time: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 11:25-11:55 AM ETInvestors interested in scheduling a meeting with management during one of the investor conferences listed above should contact their Citi, H.C. Wainwright, Stifel, or Cantor sales representative.About Vera TherapeuticsVera Therapeutics is a late clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing treatments for serious immunological diseases. Vera’s mission is to advance treatments that target the source of immunologic diseases in order to change the standard of care for patients. Vera’s lead product candidate is atacicept, a fusion protein self-administered as a subcutaneous injection once weekly that blocks both B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), which stimulate B cells and plasma cells to produce autoantibodies contributing to certain autoimmune diseases, including IgAN, also known as Berger’s disease, and lupus nephritis. In addition, Vera is evaluating additional diseases where the reduction of autoantibodies by atacicept may prove medically useful. Vera is also developing MAU868, a monoclonal antibody designed to neutralize infection with BK virus (BKV), a polyomavirus that can have devastating consequences in certain settings such as kidney transplant. Vera retains all global developmental and commercial rights to atacicept and MAU868. For more information, please visit www.veratx.com.Story continuesFor more information, please contact:Investor Contact:Joyce AllaireLifeSci [email protected] Contact:Minyan WeissUncapped Communications, Inc. [email protected]

GlobeNewswire

Vera Therapeutics Scheduled to Present at September Investor Conferences

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vera-therapeutics-scheduled-present-september-120000915.html

a391dc6b-3eb7-3223-acd9-ab0abb77c952

VERB

In this piece, we will take a look at the fifteen worst performing technology stocks in 2023. If you want to skip a background on the tech sector and particularly the stock market, then take a look at 5 Worst Performing Tech Stocks in 2023. When it comes to mega cap stocks, the technology sector has been the best performing segment on the stock market during the first half of 2023. This sharp rebound came after the sector tumbled during the turbulent economic environment last year that saw significantly higher fuel prices lead to soaring inflation. During this turmoil, the consumer technology sector was hit particularly hard, with chip firms for instance finding it difficult to ship sufficient products into the market. The worsening consumer environment was dealt an added blow when the Federal Reserve acted fast to combat inflation by rapidly increasing interest rates. Such a decision has several broad implications, one of which was a disruption in the bond market which made fresh debt more lucrative than previously issued securities.However, while dismay in the bond caused mayhem in the banking industry in March, the technology sector soared to reverse all of its 2022 losses and add a little bit of gains on top. For instance, the S&P 500 Information Technology stock index had stood at 3,107 points in December 2021, and after dropping to roughly two thousand points at the bottom in October 2022, went on to touch 3,167 in mid July 2023. Technology stocks, defying all expectations, had performed well even when interest rates had touched multi decade highs. This trend has started to taper off a bit during the current quarter, as the index is down by a marginal 1.74% as of early August. Yet, the S&P technology index and the NASDAQ 100's year to date returns are roughly the same, with the former trailing the latter by 100 basis points. Some notable firms that rode the tech wave in H1 2023 are Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA).Story continuesThe tilt of the 2023 stock rally towards big tech becomes clear when we look at the S&P SmallCap 600 Capped Information Technology index. As compared to the 39.59% in returns offered by the technology index, the small cap index has yielded 17.7% - missing out on the premium that mega cap stocks enjoy due to their liquidity, brand awareness, and interest in emerging new technologies such as artificial intelligence. And, not all stocks have delivered strong returns in 2023 either. One of the worst performing firms in terms of stock market performance has been the penny stock Akumin Inc. (NASDAQ:AKU). A nano cap stock, Akumin is a medical services provider with services such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computational tomography (CT) scans. Its shares have been on a downturn since 2021 and currently trade for less than a dollar.If Akumin Inc's 75% year to date drop is too less for your taste, then consider a stock that is down 99.38% in 2023. Allarity Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALLR), a firm that is developing treatments for breast cancer, has seen a woeful 2023. A decision to announce a reverse stock split and an attempt to raise $11 million in equity while it was worth $4 million on the stock market are some events that have colored its share price red this year. The stock tanked by nearly a quarter in one day after the $11 million capital raise decision. This announcement had come after the firm had delayed its cancer trials due to a lack of enrollment, and year to date, the stock is down 99.38% to currently trade at $2.24. Safe to say, Allarity is not having a good day on the stock market.As for the outlook for the technology sector for the rest of this year, much depends on the future course of action taken by the Federal Reserve and the ability of the economy to withstand high interest rates for a longer period. While Q2 2023 economic growth remains robust, the full impacts of the interest rate hikes might not have rippled through the economy so far, and agencies such as Fitch continue to forecast a recession despite others such as Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NASDAQ:JPM) having revisited their earlier forecasts predicting recession.With these details in mind, let's take a look at the worst performing technology stocks in 2023, out of which the particularly ill fated ones are Satixfy Communications Ltd. (NYSE:SATX), AERWINS Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AWIN), and Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI).15 Worst Performing Tech Stocks in 2023Our MethodologyTo compile our list of the worst performing technology stocks in 2023, we ranked all technology firms according to their year to date performance and then picked the top 15 of them in terms of year-to-date losses. While we could have narrowed the list down by market capitalization, for instance by setting minimum market capitalization, this was avoided since the list would miss out on some firms with rather sizeable percentage point share price drops.Worst Performing Tech Stocks in 202315. Meta Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:MMAT)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 78.18%Meta Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:MMAT) is a materials science firm that sells products used in MRI scanners and other applications. The stock last tumbled in April when it announced a new public placement.During Q1 2023, nine of the 943 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had invested in the firm. Meta Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:MMAT)'s biggest investor is Israel Englander's Millennium Management with a $604,000 stake.Along with AERWINS Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AWIN), Satixfy Communications Ltd. (NYSE:SATX), and Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI), Meta Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:MMAT) is one of the worst performing tech stocks this year.14. AgileThought, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIL)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 80.81%AgileThought, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIL) is an American technology consulting firm. The firm has been in a bit of turmoil as of late, as its chief financial officer resigned in July and a replacement was already in place.By the end of this year's first quarter, seven of the 943 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's database had bought a stake in AgileThought, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIL). Out of these, the firm's largest shareholder is Israel Englander's Millennium Management with a stake worth $629,000, which was a new position added during the quarter.13. Movella Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MVLA)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 81.6%Movella Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MVLA) is a technology consulting firm that provides corporate customers with services to integrate technologies such as artificial intelligence into their business operations. The stock tanked in February after it listed its shares on the NASDAQ exchange by merging with a SPAC.17 of the 943 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey for their Q1 2023 shareholdings had invested in Movella Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MVLA).12. Verb Technology Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERB)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 83.44%Verb Technology Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERB) is a software as a service (SaaS) company whose platform allows video based software products such as webinars and other solutions. Its financial turmoil is evident from the fact that it sold its sales division assets in June to make room for core technology development.Insider Monkey dug through 943 hedge funds for their March quarter of 2023 investments and found out that two had invested in the firm. Out of these, Verb Technology Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERB)'s largest investor is Hal Mintz's Sabby Capital with a $1 million stake.11. WiSA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:WISA)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 87.58%WiSA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:WISA) is a small electronics firm that supplies chip products for consumer electronics audio systems. It had a solid first quarter that saw it heavily beat analyst EPS estimates, but the shares have been on a downward spiral since February.During 2023's March quarter, only one hedge fund out of the 943 that were part of Insider Monkey's database had invested in the firm. This lone WiSA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:WISA) investor is Hal Mintz's Sabby Capital with a $180,998 investment.10. Marti Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:MRT)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 88.93%Marti Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:MRT) is a Turkish company that operates a fleet of vehicles for users to utilize for their transportation needs. The firm listed its shares for trading on the NYSE through a SPAC merger on July 11th, and the shares fell by 47.4% during the first day of trading alone.9. Inpixon (NASDAQ:INPX)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 89.63%Inpixon (NASDAQ:INPX) is a technology company that enables users to scan their indoor environments and manage the space by using technology. The firm has announced that it is merging with an aircraft design company and the transaction is expected to close by Q4 2023.After sifting through 943 hedge fund portfolios for this year's first quarter, Insider Monkey discovered that one had held Inpixon (NASDAQ:INPX)'s shares. This investor was Steven Cohen's Point72 Asset Management which owned $10,750 worth of shares.8. WeTrade Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WETG)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 89.72%WeTrade Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WETG) is a Chinese technology company that offers payment processing and other services to small companies and individuals. The stock is down 89.72% year to date, with some of the performance likely tied to China's weak economic environment.Two out of the 943 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had held a stake in WeTrade Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WETG) as of Q1 2023.7. Near Intelligence, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIR)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 90.40%Near Intelligence, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIR) is a cloud company that provides customer management and marketing services. The stock was rated Speculative Buy by Benchmark in July 2023 and Outperform by Northland in April 2023.As of March 2023, nine of the 943 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had bought a stake in Near Intelligence, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIR).6. Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:PBTS)Year To Date Losses As Of August 6, 2023: 92.21%Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:PBTS) is a Chinese software company that provides business customers with a platform to manage their financial, operational, and manufacturing platforms. Its shares are currently under scrutiny by the NASDAQ exchange, and the firm is shaking things up as it announced the establishment of a new agricultural technology joint venture in July 2023.Satixfy Communications Ltd. (NYSE:SATX), Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:PBTS), AERWINS Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AWIN), and Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI) are some of the worst performing technology stocks in 2023. Click to continue reading and see 5 Worst Performing Tech Stocks in 2023. Suggested Articles:15 Worst Performing NASDAQ Stocks In 202320 Worst Performing Economies in 202310 Oversold NASDAQ Stocks to BuyDisclosure: None. 15 Worst Performing Tech Stocks in 2023 is originally published on Insider Monkey.

Insider Monkey

15 Worst Performing Tech Stocks in 2023

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-worst-performing-tech-stocks-121144194.html

bbd2838b-c3ad-3bc9-8be3-1ee7d63ea1cf

VERB

Verb Technology Company, Inc.New Strategic Relationship Expands US Addressable Audience To More Than 150 MillionLOS ALAMITOS, Calif. and LEHI, Utah, Sept. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verb Technology Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERB) ("VERB" or the "Company"), the company behind MARKET.live, the innovative multi-vendor, multi-presenter livestream social shopping platform, announces today that it has completed and launched a technology integration and strategic relationship with global social media platform TikTok. This initiative leverages TikTok's groundbreaking Shop feature and evidences VERB’s commitment to amplify MARKET.live's hosts’, vendors’, and creators' reach and impact across platforms, which now includes direct access to TikTok’s 150 million US users.One of MARKET.live’s most compelling platform features is the ability for its sellers to broadcast their livestreams simultaneously across multiple social platforms. What makes this integration with TikTok so important is that not only can MARKET.live sellers stream on TikTok simultaneously, but now their customers can check-out directly on and through the TikTok app, creating a far more seamless, friction-free buying experience for TikTok users that prefer not to leave the app to complete a purchase.One of the biggest advantages of this new integration and strategic relationship is access to a comprehensive dashboard of real-time sales data, not just of MARKET.live sales, but of product sales across all of TikTok, identifying what products are trending at any given moment, allowing MARKET.live creators to quickly launch shoppable ads and short-form and long-form live streams featuring those products from the vast catalogue of products available on MARKET.live.“The integration with TikTok Shop represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of MARKET.live, marrying the dynamic capabilities of MARKET.live with TikTok's visionary Shop feature and the enormously expansive reach of the TikTok platform,” states VERB CEO Rory J. Cutaia.Story continues“MARKET.live's integration with TikTok represents an unparalleled opportunity for hosts, vendors, and creators to magnify their audiences exponentially. By simulcasting their streams on TikTok, these sellers can tap into TikTok's vast user base while allowing TikTok viewers watching engaging content on TikTok to effortlessly access the products showcased and make purchases without leaving the TikTok app. The checkout process seamlessly flows through TikTok and back to MARKET.live, ensuring a cohesive and secure experience. This collaboration bridges the gap between creative content and seamless social shopping, delivering and capitalizing on the powerful convergence of entertainment and commerce.”“This strategic move underscores VERB’s dedication to pushing boundaries and we look forward to sharing many more of the innovations we’ve been working on quietly behind the scenes. We expect this to become a very exciting year for our Company and our stockholders with more announcements forthcoming,” concluded Mr. Cutaia.About VERBVerb Technology Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERB), is a market leader in interactive video-based sales applications. The Company’s MARKET.live platform is a multi-vendor, multi-presenter, livestream social shopping destination at the forefront of the convergence of ecommerce and entertainment, where hundreds of retailers, brands, creators and influencers can monetize their base of fans and followers across social media channels. The Company is headquartered in Lehi, Utah, and operates creator studios in Los Alamitos, California and Philadelphia, PA.Follow VERB AND MARKET.LIVE here:VERB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/market.liveofficialVERB on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@market.live_officialVERB on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/market.liveofficial/VERB on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verb-tech/VERB on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@market.liveofficialFORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTSThis communication contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words such as "anticipate," "expect," "project," "plan," or words or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any of our assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors are referred to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for additional information regarding the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.Investor Relations:[email protected] Contact:[email protected]

GlobeNewswire

VERB’s MARKET.live Launches Groundbreaking TikTok Integration

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/verb-market-live-launches-groundbreaking-123000485.html

8a2c52ce-8073-3144-84c2-cb411643a62f

VERO

In this article, we discuss the 12 best and cheapest countries for a hair transplant. If you want to skip our detailed analysis of the hair restoration market and recent trends in the hair care industry, then head straight to 6 Best and Cheapest Countries for a Hair Transplant. In many European airports, especially those with flights to and from Istanbul, you might notice something common: men who have recently shaved their heads. Some wear caps to cover red scabs, and others have bands on their foreheads to reduce swelling after hair transplant surgeries. These signs make it clear that they've just had procedures to get new hair.Global Insights into Hair Loss TrendsA study conducted by the World Population Review, utilizing data sourced from Vantage Hair Clinic and subsequently featured in an article by the Daily Mail, has undertaken the task of ranking the "baldest countries." This comprehensive analysis has pinpointed the top 21 nations grappling with high rates of hair loss, with both the United States and Europe prominently positioned within this list.Leading the pack, the Czech Republic boasts the highest proportion of bald men globally, with a staggering 42.8% affected by hair loss. Following closely behind in the top ten are Spain, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, and Belgium. These countries exhibit percentages ranging from 36% to 42% of their male populations experiencing various degrees of hair loss.Because of this increasing baldness issue, many countries have found a solution that works well. This has also given a boost to a growing industry called 'wellness tourism.' This kind of tourism offers special vacation packages that include things like flights, hotels, visits to clinics, transportation, meals, and even sightseeing.People mainly from Arab, European, and now Asian countries, as well as the U.S., often come in groups for these treatments and experiences.Story continuesKey Market Insights The landscape of the hair transplant market offers significant insights into its growth trajectory. In 2018, the global hair transplant market size reached a valuation of USD 5.94 billion. Forecasts indicate a remarkable ascent, with projections foreseeing it to surge to USD 43.13 billion by 2026. This expansion reflects a compound average growth rate of 28.1% spanning the period from 2015 to 2026.The hair transplant industry has rapidly evolved, transitioning from the conventional Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) to the more modern Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) technique. Within this context, the market has witnessed substantial technological advancements. Notably, alopecia, commonly known as baldness, is prevalent in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, thus driving the demand for hair restoration services. Furthermore, the integration of robotics with transplantation technologies, backed by growing investments, is poised to fuel the market's accelerated growth in the years to come.Hair transplantation stands as one of the most prevalent surgical procedures across the globe. According to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS), an estimated 35 million men in the US grapple with male pattern baldness each year.In the varied hair transplant market, including startups and established leaders, Venus Concept Inc. (NASDAQ:VERO) stands out with innovative surgical and non-surgical solutions. The sought-after ARTAS iX robotic system aids doctors in identifying and extracting hair units from alopecia patients' scalps. Venus Concept's partnership with Restoration Robotics Inc. has amplified the ARTAS system's impact on hair restoration.Venus Concept Inc. (NASDAQ:VERO). has surpassed earnings expectations, reporting an EPS of $-1.35 compared to the projected $-1.54. Dr. Hemanth Varghese, President and Chief Innovation and Business Officer shared this achievement and outlined a promising path forward, with plans for an exciting product launch in the fourth quarter of 2023.  During the Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call for Venus Concept Inc. (NASDAQ:VERO), he said: “The team has us poised for an exciting new product introduction in the fourth quarter of 2023 ahead of our original timeline. Our new product pipeline continues to progress favorably in terms of what we expect in 2024 as well. Specifically, we are on an accelerated plan for the commercial introduction of our next body system in the first half of 2024. And importantly, we are encouraged by the continued progress we are making in support of our target for commercial introduction of the AI.ME, our next generation aesthetic robotics platform in the second half of 2024. As announced last month, we are very excited to established our new medical advisory board for AI.ME, we are fortunate to have attracted the support of an industry-leading group of physicians to help us realize AI.ME’s full potential clinically.”With this information in mind, let's now explore some interesting questions. For example, which country has the best hair transplant services? Also, where can you find the best and cheapest options for hair transplants? As the world of hair restoration keeps changing, it's important to know about the latest developments and the places that offer good solutions for hair loss.12 Best and Cheapest Countries for a Hair TransplantDC Studio/Shutterstock.comOur MethodologyIn order to create a list of the 12 best and cheapest countries for a hair transplant, we consulted reliable sources such as Medical Tourism Magazine and The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS). We focused on two primary factors: Cost and Quality. To evaluate the cost aspect, we collected data from various medical clinics across each country, specifically targeting their initial pricing for hair transplant procedures. To assess the quality, we examined both the success rates of these procedures and feedback provided by patients who had undergone them. We then assigned a ranking to each country using a scale of 1 (representing an average score) to 5 (indicating the highest score). Subsequently, we organized the countries in ascending order based on their rankings.12 Best and Cheapest Countries for a Hair TransplantHere’s a list of the 12 best and cheapest countries for a hair transplant. 12. Poland Average Cost Per Graft: $2.82Average Success Rate: 74%Overall Score: 3.2Poland's healthcare system boasts quality medical technology and budget-friendly rates, drawing the attention of medical tourists seeking hair transplant procedures. The country witnesses a substantial influx of individuals coming for hair transplant treatments each year. Renowned globally, The Smile Hair Clinic in Poland offers top-tier hair transplant procedures, leveraging experienced surgeons and advanced technology. The clinic provides various hair restoration methods, such as Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Direct Hair Implantation (DHI). 11. Italy Average Cost Per Graft: $2.56Average Success Rate: 74%Overall Score: 3.5In Italy, hair surgeons are renowned for their keen sense of aesthetics and artistic approach. While hospitals across the country provide a wide array of services, many individuals prefer journeying to major cities for enhanced healthcare and broader options. Those opting for private hospitals in Italy might discover accommodations resembling 5-star hotels. 10. France Average Cost Per Graft: $2.43Average Success Rate: 75%Overall Score: 3.6France draws a lot of hair transplant tourists due to its numerous clinics offering advanced techniques and skilled surgeons. The nation is famed for its top-notch care and advanced technology resulting in the success and quality of hair transplant procedures. In France, you can find various hair restoration methods like Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), Direct Hair Implantation (DHI), and Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy. Beyond this, France's captivating history, culture, and cuisine make it an appealing choice for medical tourists seeking a cozy and friendly setting throughout their hair transplant experience.9. Russia Average Cost Per Graft: $2.28Average Success Rate: 78%Overall Score: 3.8Russia is celebrated for its accomplished and highly experienced hair transplant surgeons, who have earned global acclaim for their expertise. When it comes to pricing, there's a subtle contrast between Malaysia and Russia. Noteworthy hair transplant clinics in Russia include the Nordic Medical Center, situated in Ekaterinburg. Dr. Oleg Sertšenkov, an experienced hair transplant surgeon since 2001, leads the center. Moscow's Real Trans Hair is another prominent option, known for its adept hair transplant surgeons, Dr. Vladimir Leonidovich Orlowski and Dr. Igor Tskhay. These specialists specialize in FUE techniques and have successfully conducted numerous hair transplants.8. Malaysia Average Cost Per Graft: $2.27Average Success Rate: 78%Overall Score: 3.8Malaysia, already well-known for its affordable and efficient healthcare, has also gained recognition as a leading hub for hair transplant surgeons, boasting a significant number of experts with over a decade of experience and various medical certifications. The hair transplant market in Malaysia is projected to experience growth in the near future, fueled by a rising influx of medical tourists in pursuit of both quality and affordable hair transplant procedures. This is attributed to Malaysia's blend of quality care, cutting-edge technology, and competitive pricing, which sustains its appeal as a sought-after destination for hair transplant treatments.7. Brazil Average Cost Per Graft: $2.08Average Success Rate: 70%Overall Score: 3.9Brazil stands out as a growing market for hair transplants in Latin America. The nation's reputation in hair transplant surgery is on the rise, with specialized clinics offering a diverse array of techniques, including FUE, FUT, and robotic hair transplantation. Brazilian hair transplant surgeons are celebrated for their artistic finesse and knack for crafting natural hairlines. The hair transplant sector in Brazil is poised for expansion in the upcoming years, drawing a rising number of medical tourists in search of both affordability and top-notch quality. The allure of quality care, competitive pricing, and the chance to immerse in Brazil's lively culture and scenic beauty make it a compelling choice for those seeking hair transplant procedures.Click to continue reading and see the 6 Best and Cheapest Countries for a Hair Transplant.Suggested Articles:25 Best Hospitals for Cancer Treatment in the World25 Best Hospitals in the U.S.25 Countries With The Highest Cost of Living In The World in 2023Disclosure: None. 12 Best and Cheapest Countries for a Hair Transplant is originally published on Insider Monkey

Insider Monkey

12 Best and Cheapest Countries for a Hair Transplant

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/12-best-cheapest-countries-hair-114453700.html

ff951eaa-ab65-39ae-9184-ff8ca202c028

VERO

Venus Concept Inc.TORONTO, Sept. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Venus Concept Inc. (“Venus Concept” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: VERO), a global medical aesthetic technology leader, today announced that management will participate in the H.C. Wainwright 25th Annual Global Investment Conference, which is being held virtually and in person at the Lotte New York Palace in New York, NY from September 11th-13th.Management’s presentation will be available on demand beginning on Monday, September 11th at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Management will participate in investor meetings on Tuesday, September 12th.An audio webcast of the presentation will be accessible under the “Events” section of the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.venusconcept.com/. An archive of the webcast will be available for replay following the conference.About Venus ConceptVenus Concept is an innovative global medical aesthetic technology leader with a broad product portfolio of minimally invasive and non-invasive medical aesthetic and hair restoration technologies and reach in over 60 countries and 14 direct markets. Venus Concept’s product portfolio consists of aesthetic device platforms, including Venus Versa, Venus Legacy, Venus Velocity, Venus Fiore, Venus Viva, Venus Glow, Venus Bliss, Venus BlissMAX, Venus Epileve, Venus Viva MD and AI.ME. Venus Concept’s hair restoration systems include NeoGraft® and the ARTAS iX® Robotic Hair Restoration system. Venus Concept has been backed by leading healthcare industry growth equity investors including EW Healthcare Partners (formerly Essex Woodlands), HealthQuest Capital, Longitude Capital Management, Aperture Venture Partners, and Masters Special Situations.CONTACT: Investor Relations Contact: ICR Westwicke on behalf of Venus Concept: Mike Piccinino, CFA [email protected]

GlobeNewswire

Venus Concept Inc. to Present at the H.C. Wainwright 25th Annual Global Investment Conference

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venus-concept-inc-present-h-113000750.html

25c1eada-24e6-34dc-9d35-a69c624e84bc

VERU

Today is shaping up negative for Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a substantial negative revision to next year's forecasts. Revenue estimates were cut sharply as the analysts signalled a weaker outlook - perhaps a sign that investors should temper their expectations as well.Following the downgrade, the current consensus from Veru's three analysts is for revenues of US$25m in 2024 which - if met - would reflect a huge 67% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. The loss per share is anticipated to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 53% to US$0.57. Yet prior to the latest estimates, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$33m and losses of US$0.57 per share in 2024. So there's definitely been a change in sentiment in this update, with the analysts administering a substantial haircut to next year's revenue estimates, while at the same time holding losses per share steady. View our latest analysis for Veru earnings-and-revenue-growththe analysts have cut their price target 17% to US$3.33 per share, signalling that the declining revenue and ongoing losses are contributing to the lower valuation.These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Veru's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that Veru's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 51% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 10% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 6.8% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Veru to grow faster than the wider industry.The Bottom LineUnfortunately, analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, although our data indicates revenues are expected to perform better than the wider market. Furthermore, there was a cut to the price target, suggesting that the latest news has led to more pessimism about the intrinsic value of the business. Often, one downgrade can set off a daisy-chain of cuts, especially if an industry is in decline. So we wouldn't be surprised if the market became a lot more cautious on Veru after today.Story continuesAfter a downgrade like this, it's pretty clear that previous forecasts were too optimistic. What's more, we've spotted several possible issues with Veru's business, like a short cash runway. Learn more, and discover the 2 other flags we've identified, for free on our platform here. Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU) Analysts Just Trimmed Their Revenue Forecasts By 25%

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/veru-inc-nasdaq-veru-analysts-100245252.html

9a7c6bfb-d0e9-3f48-afc6-b98f9cab012e

VERU

Veru Inc.MIAMI, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Veru Inc. (NASDAQ: VERU), a late clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel medicines for metastatic breast cancer and for viral induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), today announced that Mitchell Steiner, M.D., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Veru, will present at the H.C. Wainwright 25th Annual Global Investment Conference to be held at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York City on Monday, September 11th, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. ET.A live webcast will be accessible through the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.verupharma.com. Following the event, an archived webcast will be available on the Veru website.About Veru Inc.Veru is a late clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel medicines for metastatic breast cancer and for viral ARDS.Oncology program: metastatic breast cancerThe Company’s late-stage breast cancer development portfolio comprises enobosarm, a selective androgen receptor targeting agonist.Enrolling Phase 3 clinical ENABLAR-2 study – enobosarm +/- abemaciclib combination versus estrogen blocking agent (active control) as a 2nd line treatment in AR+ ER+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer. The Company and Eli Lilly and Company have entered into a clinical study collaboration and supply agreement for the ENABLAR-2 study. Lilly supplies Verzenio® (abemaciclib).Infectious disease program: viral ARDSCOVID-19: Sabizabulin is an oral, first-in-class, new chemical entity, microtubule disruptor that has dual anti-inflammatory and host mediated antiviral properties. Veru has conducted a positive double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 COVID-19 clinical trial in 204 hospitalized moderate to severe COVID-19 patients at high risk for ARDS and death. The primary endpoint was the proportion of deaths by Day 60. Treatment with sabizabulin resulted in a clinically meaningful and statistically significant 51.6% relative reduction in deaths (p=0.0046) and was well tolerated. FDA granted Fast Track designation to the Company’s COVID-19 program in January 2022. In April 2023, the Company reached agreement with FDA on design of the Phase 3 confirmatory COVID-19 clinical trial to evaluate sabizabulin in hospitalized moderate to severe COVID-19 patients at high risk for ARDS. Although the Company has reached agreement with FDA for the design of Phase 3 confirmatory COVID-19 clinical trial, the Company now plans to meet with FDA to reach agreement on the design of a proposed expanded Phase 3 confirmatory study evaluating sabizabulin 9mg for the treatment of hospitalized adult patients who have and type of viral lung infection and on oxygen support who are at high risk for ARDS and death. The FDA has granted a meeting with Veru for September 2023. Smallpox and Ebola viruses: The Company is planning a pre-IND meeting with FDA to discuss the development of sabizabulin for smallpox virus and Ebola virus under the Animal Rule FDA regulatory approval pathway. A pre-IND meeting has been granted for smallpox virus in August 2023.Story continuesSexual health program – UrevVeru has a commercial sexual health division called Urev that is comprised of FC2 Female Condom® (internal condom), for the dual protection against unplanned pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections which is sold in the U.S. and globally. The Company has launched its own independent, FC2-dedicated direct to patient telehealth and pharmacy services portal. The Company is focused on executing new contracts with additional telehealth partners and has internet fulfillment pharmacy partners that provide coverage in all 50 states in the U.S.        Forward-Looking StatementsThe statements in this release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding: the planned design, enrollment, timing, commencement, interim and full data readout timing, scope, regulatory pathways, and results of the Company’s current and planned clinical trials, including the confirmatory Phase 3 study of sabizabulin for certain COVID-19 patients, the Phase 3 study of enobosarm in combination with abemaciclib for the 2nd line treatment of AR+ ER+ HER2 metastatic breast cancer, the Phase 3 study of enobosarm in bone-only non-measurable hormone receptor and HER2- metastatic breast cancer, the Phase 3 study of sabizabulin in hospitalized influenza patients at high risk of ARDS, and studies of sabizabulin in smallpox virus and Ebola virus, and whether any of such studies will meet any of its primary or secondary endpoint; whether and when any of the planned interim analyses in the planned Phase 3 confirmatory study of sabizabulin for certain COVID patients will occur and what the results of any such interim analyses will be; whether the results of such interim analyses or the completed confirmatory Phase 3 study or any other interim data will be sufficient to support a new EUA application or an NDA; whether and when the Company will expand the study of sabizabulin into other ARDS indications; whether and when the Company will receive the future installment payments of the ENTADFI purchase price or sales milestone payments; and the outlook for growth in the Company's FC2 business through telehealth customers, our direct to patient telehealth portal and the global public health sector. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current expectations and subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including unanticipated developments in and risks related to: the development of the Company’s product portfolio and the results of clinical studies possibly being unsuccessful or insufficient to meet applicable regulatory standards or warrant continued development; the ability to enroll sufficient numbers of subjects in clinical studies and the ability to enroll subjects in accordance with planned schedules; the ability to fund planned clinical development as well as other operations of the Company; the timing of any submission to the FDA or any other regulatory authority and any determinations made by the FDA or any other regulatory authority; the possibility that as vaccines, anti-virals and other treatments become widely distributed the need for new COVID-19 or other ARDS treatment candidates may be reduced or eliminated; government entities possibly taking actions that directly or indirectly have the effect of limiting opportunities for sabizabulin as a COVID-19 or other ARDS treatment, including favoring other treatment alternatives or imposing price controls on COVID-19 or other ARDS treatments; the Company’s existing products, including FC2 and, if authorized, sabizabulin, and any future products, if approved, possibly not being commercially successful; the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing on acceptable terms when needed to fund development and operations; demand for, market acceptance of, and competition against any of the Company’s products or product candidates; new or existing competitors with greater resources and capabilities and new competitive product approvals and/or introductions; changes in regulatory practices or policies or government-driven healthcare reform efforts, including pricing pressures and insurance coverage and reimbursement changes; risks relating to the Company's development of its own dedicated direct to patient telemedicine and telepharmacy services platform, including the Company's lack of experience in developing such a platform, potential regulatory complexity, development costs, and market awareness and acceptance of any telehealth platform we develop; risks relating to our ability to increase sales of FC2 after significant declines in recent periods due to telehealth industry consolidation and the bankruptcy of a large telehealth customer; the Company’s ability to protect and enforce its intellectual property; the potential that delays in orders or shipments under government tenders or the Company’s U.S. prescription business could cause significant quarter-to-quarter variations in the Company’s operating results and adversely affect its net revenues and gross profit; the Company’s reliance on its international partners and on the level of spending by country governments, global donors and other public health organizations in the global public sector; the concentration of accounts receivable with our largest customers and the collection of those receivables; the Company’s production capacity, efficiency and supply constraints and interruptions, including potential disruption of production at the Company’s and third party manufacturing facilities and/or of the Company’s ability to timely supply product due to labor unrest or strikes, labor shortages, raw material shortages, physical damage to the Company’s and third party facilities, product testing, transportation delays or regulatory actions; costs and other effects of litigation, including product liability claims and securities litigation; the Company’s ability to identify, successfully negotiate and complete suitable acquisitions or other strategic initiatives; the Company’s ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, technologies or products; and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s press releases, shareholder communications and Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. These documents are available on the “SEC Filings” section of our website at www.verupharma.com/investors. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.Investor and Media Contact:Samuel FischExecutive Director, Investor Relations and Corporate CommunicationsEmail: [email protected]

GlobeNewswire

Veru to Present at the H.C. Wainwright 25th Annual Global Investment Conference on September 11th, 2023

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/veru-present-h-c-wainwright-123000859.html

aae8d388-15f7-383d-af65-bb60e2619d60

VERV

Investors can approximate the average market return by buying an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. That downside risk was realized by Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERV) shareholders over the last year, as the share price declined 47%. That's disappointing when you consider the market returned 5.9%. We wouldn't rush to judgement on Verve Therapeutics because we don't have a long term history to look at. Unfortunately the share price momentum is still quite negative, with prices down 9.5% in thirty days. Importantly, this could be a market reaction to the recently released financial results. You can check out the latest numbers in our company report.Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns. See our latest analysis for Verve Therapeutics Verve Therapeutics wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).earnings-and-revenue-growthYou can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.A Different PerspectiveGiven that the market gained 5.9% in the last year, Verve Therapeutics shareholders might be miffed that they lost 47%. While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. It's great to see a nice little 2.7% rebound in the last three months. This could just be a bounce because the selling was too aggressive, but fingers crossed it's the start of a new trend. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that Verve Therapeutics is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is a bit concerning...Story continuesOf course Verve Therapeutics may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Investors in Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) have unfortunately lost 47% over the last year

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investors-verve-therapeutics-nasdaq-verv-131029702.html

fe1d5014-9b0c-38e9-a8e3-77377aaab2d5

VERV

Cathie Wood is one of the most influential investors in the area of high tech, and her Ark Innovation ETF has been a top performer this year. One of the stocks that Wood has been buying aggressively recently is Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VERV), a company developing base-edited therapies for cardiovascular diseases. The company's base-editing platform is based on tech licensed from Beam Therapeutics.Continue reading

Motley Fool

1 Cathie Wood Stock That Could Go Parabolic Soon

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/1db7c46f-42ff-38ef-a28e-d917b7ad6616/1-cathie-wood-stock-that.html

1db7c46f-42ff-38ef-a28e-d917b7ad6616

VERY

It's not a stretch to say that Vericity, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:VERY) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.6x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" for companies in the Insurance industry in the United States, where the median P/S ratio is around 0.9x. However, investors might be overlooking a clear opportunity or potential setback if there is no rational basis for the P/S. See our latest analysis for Vericity ps-multiple-vs-industryWhat Does Vericity's Recent Performance Look Like?As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Vericity over the last year, which is not ideal at all. Perhaps investors believe the recent revenue performance is enough to keep in line with the industry, which is keeping the P/S from dropping off. If you like the company, you'd at least be hoping this is the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's not quite in favour.Want the full picture on earnings, revenue and cash flow for the company? Then our free report on Vericity will help you shine a light on its historical performance.How Is Vericity's Revenue Growth Trending?In order to justify its P/S ratio, Vericity would need to produce growth that's similar to the industry.In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 2.8%. This has soured the latest three-year period, which nevertheless managed to deliver a decent 22% overall rise in revenue. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.It's interesting to note that the rest of the industry is similarly expected to grow by 5.8% over the next year, which is fairly even with the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.In light of this, it's understandable that Vericity's P/S sits in line with the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see average growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a moderate amount for the stock.Story continuesThe Bottom Line On Vericity's P/SIt's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.It appears to us that Vericity maintains its moderate P/S off the back of its recent three-year growth being in line with the wider industry forecast. Currently, with a past revenue trend that aligns closely wit the industry outlook, shareholders are confident the company's future revenue outlook won't contain any major surprises. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it's hard to see the share price moving strongly in either direction in the near future under these circumstances.You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Vericity you should be aware of.Of course, profitable companies with a history of great earnings growth are generally safer bets. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.Join A Paid User Research SessionYou’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here

Simply Wall St.

The Price Is Right For Vericity, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERY)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/price-vericity-inc-nasdaq-very-162317792.html

274cc666-f4f7-30cc-a1d1-26eeab216bf8

VERY

Key InsightsThe considerable ownership by private equity firms in Vericity indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy76% of the company is held by a single shareholder (J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC)Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stockTo get a sense of who is truly in control of Vericity, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERY), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 76% to be precise, is private equity firms. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).Meanwhile, individual investors make up 11% of the company’s shareholders.Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Vericity. View our latest analysis for Vericity ownership-breakdownWhat Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Vericity?Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.Institutions have a very small stake in Vericity. That indicates that the company is on the radar of some funds, but it isn't particularly popular with professional investors at the moment. If the business gets stronger from here, we could see a situation where more institutions are keen to buy. It is not uncommon to see a big share price rise if multiple institutional investors are trying to buy into a stock at the same time. So check out the historic earnings trajectory, below, but keep in mind it's the future that counts most.earnings-and-revenue-growthWe note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Vericity. Our data shows that J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC is the largest shareholder with 76% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 4.2% and 2.2% of the stock. James Hohmann, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.Story continuesResearching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.Insider Ownership Of VericityThe definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.We can report that insiders do own shares in Vericity, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$104m, and insiders have US$9.7m worth of shares, in their own names. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board, though we generally prefer to see bigger insider holdings. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling. General Public OwnershipThe general public-- including retail investors -- own 11% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.Private Equity OwnershipWith an ownership of 76%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. Sometimes we see private equity stick around for the long term, but generally speaking they have a shorter investment horizon and -- as the name suggests -- don't invest in public companies much. After some time they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.Next Steps:I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Take risks for example - Vericity has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

While individual investors own 11% of Vericity, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERY), private equity firms are its largest shareholders with 76% ownership

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/while-individual-investors-own-11-100502280.html

5fc53072-d92e-3a21-9cb8-7410c7178a70

VFC

Unveiling the dividend history, yield, growth, and future prospects of VF Corp (NYSE:VFC)VF Corp (NYSE:VFC) recently announced a dividend of $0.3 per share, payable on 2023-09-20, with the ex-dividend date set for 2023-09-08. As investors look forward to this upcoming payment, the spotlight also shines on the company's dividend history, yield, and growth rates. Using the data from GuruFocus, let's deep dive into VF Corp's dividend performance and assess its sustainability.What Does VF Corp Do?Warning! GuruFocus has detected 8 Warning Signs with VFC. Click here to check it out. High Yield Dividend Stocks in Gurus' PortfolioThis Powerful Chart Made Peter Lynch 29% A Year For 13 YearsHow to calculate the intrinsic value of a stock?VF Corp designs, produces, and distributes branded apparel, footwear, and accessories. Its apparel categories are active, outdoor, and work. Its portfolio of about a dozen brands includes Vans, The North Face, Timberland, Supreme, and Dickies. VF Corp markets its products in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific through wholesale sales to retailers, e-commerce, and branded stores owned by the company and partners. The company has grown through multiple acquisitions and traces its roots to 1899.VF Corp (VFC): A Closer Look at its Dividend Performance and SustainabilityA Glimpse at VF Corp's Dividend HistoryVF Corp has maintained a consistent dividend payment record since 1973. Dividends are currently distributed on a quarterly basis. VF Corp has increased its dividend each year since 1973. The stock is thus listed as a dividend king, an honor that is given to companies that have increased their dividend each year for at least the past 50 years.Below is a chart showing annual Dividends Per Share for tracking historical trends.VF Corp (VFC): A Closer Look at its Dividend Performance and SustainabilityBreaking Down VF Corp's Dividend Yield and GrowthAs of today, VF Corp currently has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 8.38% and a 12-month forward dividend yield of 6.28%. This suggests an expectation of decrease dividend payments over the next 12 months.Story continuesOver the past three years, VF Corp's annual dividend growth rate was -1.60%. Based on VF Corp's dividend yield and five-year growth rate, the 5-year yield on cost of VF Corp stock as of today is approximately 8.38%.VF Corp (VFC): A Closer Look at its Dividend Performance and SustainabilityThe Sustainability Question: Payout Ratio and ProfitabilityTo assess the sustainability of the dividend, one needs to evaluate the company's payout ratio. The dividend payout ratio provides insights into the portion of earnings the company distributes as dividends. A lower ratio suggests that the company retains a significant part of its earnings, thereby ensuring the availability of funds for future growth and unexpected downturns. As of 2023-06-30, VF Corp's dividend payout ratio is 5.37, which may suggest that the company's dividend may not be sustainable.VF Corp's profitability rank, offers an understanding of the company's earnings prowess relative to its peers. GuruFocus ranks VF Corp's profitability 6 out of 10 as of 2023-06-30, suggesting fair profitability. The company has reported net profit in 9 years out of past 10 years.Growth Metrics: The Future OutlookTo ensure the sustainability of dividends, a company must have robust growth metrics. VF Corp's growth rank of 6 out of 10 suggests that the company has a fair growth outlook.Revenue is the lifeblood of any company, and VF Corp's revenue per share, combined with the 3-year revenue growth rate, indicates a strong revenue model. VF Corp's revenue has increased by approximately 4.50% per year on average, a rate that outperforms approximately 55.71% of global competitors.The company's 3-year EPS growth rate showcases its capability to grow its earnings, a critical component for sustaining dividends in the long run. During the past three years, VF Corp's earnings increased by approximately -41.80% per year on average, a rate that outperforms approximately 9.65% of global competitors.ConclusionVF Corp's consistent dividend payment history, coupled with its status as a dividend king, make it a potential candidate for dividend-focused investors. However, its negative dividend growth rate and low payout ratio may raise concerns about the sustainability of its dividends. Furthermore, while the company has a fair growth outlook, its earnings growth rate is relatively low compared to global competitors. Therefore, investors should carefully consider these factors before making investment decisions.GuruFocus Premium users can screen for high-dividend yield stocks using the High Dividend Yield Screener.This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

GuruFocus.com

VF Corp (VFC): A Closer Look at its Dividend Performance and Sustainability

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vf-corp-vfc-closer-look-110301681.html

a66d4432-d2f3-378e-b240-6c273a546090

VFC

Wolverine Worldwide Inc. became the latest footwear company to make a change at the top when, in mid-August, it announced that CEO Brendan Hoffman had suddenly exited. He was promptly replaced by Christopher Hufnagel, formerly president of the company.The move was swift, but praised by industry watchers, who regarded the appointment of the Wolverine veteran as a step in the right direction for the challenged parent company of Saucony, Merrell, Sperry and Sweaty Betty, among other brands.More from Footwear NewsCEO Talks: Arne Freundt Outlines His Vision for Puma's Next ChapterWWD x FN x Beauty Inc 50 Women in Power 2023As CEO, Hufnagel takes the reins of Wolverine’s broad turnaround effort to lead the footwear giant back to profitability. It’s no small task, but it’s also become the standard job description for new footwear CEOs in 2023.Since the start of the year, VF Corp., Academy Sports & Outdoors, Under Armour, Adidas, Designer Brands, Converse, Pacsun, Kohl’s, Belk, Red Wing and more major footwear brands and retailers have ushered in a new top executive to their ranks. And that list grows wider — including firms like Foot Locker, Puma and Reebok — when the aperture is expanded to the last 12 months.These leaders are entering their roles in an unprecedented time for the footwear industry. The supply chain and pandemic-related issues of the last two years have now been replaced with a slew of other challenges — inflation, foreign exchange headwinds, an oversaturated North American athletic footwear market and cost-conscious consumers with little discretionary income to spend on shoes.“CEO jobs have always been challenging,” said Craig Rowley, a senior client partner in the consumer sector for consulting firm Korn Ferry. “[But] they’re probably as challenging and difficult as I’ve seen in my career.”As such, successful CEOs need a new set of qualities to get them through the fog. Namely, a clear vision, a strong sense for what the consumer wants and the ability to pivot quickly when the environment demands it.Story continuesSeeing around the cornerIn tandem with their CEO shifts, Wolverine, VF, Under Armour, Foot Locker and Adidas have all outlined different business transformation plans this year. These new leaders describe 2023 as a “reset” year, to set up their respective brands for long-term success with a focus on streamlining operations, cutting costs and elevating products.For example, as Mary Dillon approaches the one-year mark as CEO of Foot Locker, she told FN one of her top priorities is executing on Foot Locker’s transformation plan — or “Lace Up” strategy. In a recent interview, Dillon said it’s important for company leaders to have broader plans that drive “long-term, sustainable, profitable growth,” even if it takes longer to realize.Former executive chair and CEO of Ulta Beauty Mary Dillon came on board as Foot Locker’s new CEO in September.“Sometimes it takes a minute,” she said. “But at least in the long term, investing in the right places is critical for every business, because the world is changing rapidly.”But how did these companies — and CEOs — get to this point? According to Bobbie Lenga, who leads the global retail practice for leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds, some of these problems can be chalked up to a general lack of foresight.“There are a lot of companies that are going through turnarounds and it’s not because the CEOs, in most cases, had done something so wrong,” said Lenga. “They just didn’t take action fast enough. This business moves so fast … there wasn’t enough innovation and there wasn’t enough transformation.”An effective retail chief needs a strong vision, or as Lenga put it, the ability to “see around corners.” Just short of predicting the future, retail CEOs need to arm themselves with consumer data and analytics to effectively evolve with consumer preferences.With an emphasis on turnaround experience, some boards have been looking outside the shoe industry and their own ranks to find their new CEOs.“Tenure in the industry is not as critical right now,” said Jaimee Marshall, managing partner of executive search firm Kirk Palmer Associates. “If you look across footwear, as well as retail, apparel and accessories, the sector has been troubled, and boards feel like the same old talent might not be the answer.”VF Corp. president and CEO Bracken Darrell Courtesy of VF Corp.For example, VF Corp. in June appointed Logitech International CEO and president Bracken Darrell as its new president and CEO. Analysts were overall positive on Darrell’s potential to turn the company around, despite his lack of experience in the retail and footwear space. And Stephanie Linnartz joined Under Armour as CEO in February after a 25-year stint in the hospitality industry, culminating in her role as president of Marriott International Inc. As for Dillon at Foot Locker, the bulk of her career was spent in the food industry before entering retail in 2013 as the head of Ulta Beauty.“If the board believes that their company’s current leadership does not yet have a vision for the future and they believe they need to go through dramatic change, the more likely it is they will hire someone completely outside the industry,” said Korn Ferry’s Rowley.Building strong brandsIn his first conference call as Wolverine’s CEO last month, Hufnagel outlined his topline goal: transforming the company into a true “builder of brands” by focusing on product innovation, consumer preferences and demand creation.But building up brand equity is no small feat right now, as the athletic footwear market, in particular, reels with too many products and not enough demand to sustain it.Following Hufnagel’s appointment, Williams Trading analyst Sam Poser wrote in a note to investors that Wolverine’s new chief should be careful not to go too hard, too fast. He further explained to FN that athletic brands need to control allocation in a more measured way, even though it may lead to short-term sales dips. This builds brand equity and keeps products desirable as opposed to omnipresent. “Managing brand sanctity drives long-term profitable growth,” Poser said. “[If] you do this, you grow better and more profitably.”In practice, this might require pulling back distribution across different channels to keep the consumer looking for more. “It looks like what Nike did with Jordan,” Poser said. “You allocate, you control.”For new leaders entering the sneaker industry, Poser said to take this approach: “It’s counterintuitive, [but] if you do less, you get more.”Beyond tracking demand, experts agree that for a CEO to be successful, he or she must have a strong sense for what consumers want. Where are they shopping? What products are making them tick? And where will they choose to cut back when their wallets get stretched?“It’s a matter of how you respond to what your customers are telling you, and how you make adjustments in your business,” said Lenga of Russell Reynolds. “You have to work fast.”Best of Footwear NewsA History of Forever 21: From Humble Beginnings to Bankruptcy and the Shaquille O'Neal BouncebackFootwear Company CEOs You Should KnowList of Footwear Company CEOs You Should Know

Footwear News

As New Leaders Take the Reins, Here’s How to Succeed as a Footwear CEO in 2023

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/leaders-reins-succeed-footwear-ceo-123000584.html

e4b2da02-9ed6-3719-a80b-b2fe0175b489

VGZ

A downtrend has been apparent in Vista Gold (VGZ) lately. While the stock has lost 5.3% over the past two weeks, it could witness a trend reversal as a hammer chart pattern was formed in its last trading session. This could mean that the bulls have been able to counteract the bears to help the stock find support.The formation of a hammer pattern is considered a technical indication of nearing a bottom with likely subsiding of selling pressure. But this is not the only factor that makes a bullish case for the stock. On the fundamental side, strong agreement among Wall Street analysts in raising earnings estimates for this gold mining company enhances its prospects of a trend reversal.What is a Hammer Chart and How to Trade It?This is one of the popular price patterns in candlestick charting. A minor difference between the opening and closing prices forms a small candle body, and a higher difference between the low of the day and the open or close forms a long lower wick (or vertical line). The length of the lower wick being at least twice the length of the real body, the candle resembles a 'hammer.'In simple terms, during a downtrend, with bears having absolute control, a stock usually opens lower compared to the previous day's close, and again closes lower. On the day the hammer pattern is formed, maintaining the downtrend, the stock makes a new low. However, after eventually finding support at the low of the day, some amount of buying interest emerges, pushing the stock up to close the session near or slightly above its opening price.When it occurs at the bottom of a downtrend, this pattern signals that the bears might have lost control over the price. And, the success of bulls in stopping the price from falling further indicates a potential trend reversal.Hammer candles can occur on any timeframe -- such as one-minute, daily, weekly -- and are utilized by both short-term as well as long-term investors.Like every technical indicator, the hammer chart pattern has its limitations. Particularly, as the strength of a hammer depends on its placement on the chart, it should always be used in conjunction with other bullish indicators.Story continuesHere's What Increases the Odds of a Turnaround for VGZAn upward trend in earnings estimate revisions that VGZ has been witnessing lately can certainly be considered a bullish indicator on the fundamental side. That's because empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.Over the last 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 16.7%. What it means is that the sell-side analysts covering VGZ are majorly in agreement that the company will report better earnings than they predicted earlier.If this is not enough, you should note that VGZ currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which means it is in the top 20% of more than the 4,000 stocks that we rank based on trends in earnings estimate revisions and EPS surprises. And stocks carrying a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 usually outperform the market. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>Moreover, the Zacks Rank has proven to be an excellent timing indicator, helping investors identify precisely when a company's prospects are beginning to improve. So, for the shares of Vista Gold, a Zacks Rank of 2 is a more conclusive fundamental indication of a potential turnaround.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportVista Gold Corporation (VGZ) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Here's Why Vista Gold (VGZ) Is a Great 'Buy the Bottom' Stock Now

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-vista-gold-vgz-135507134.html

6d27ac2f-6ac7-37a3-8258-44d9ba2842a6

VGZ

For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – August 24, 2023 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Kinross Gold KGC, B2Gold BTG, Galiano Gold Inc. GAU and Vista Gold Corp. VGZ.Industry: GoldLink: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/2139555/4-gold-stocks-to-watch-in-a-lackluster-industryGold prices had started 2023 on a solid note but are currently facing headwinds from a strengthening U.S. dollar. The greenback has gained support from the recent slew of U.S. economic data, which suggest that interest rates will remain high for some time. The recent dip in gold prices combined with inflated costs cloud the near-term outlook for the Zacks Mining - Gold industry.Amid this uncertainty, Kinross Gold, B2Gold, Galiano Gold Inc. and Vista Gold Corp. are well-poised for growth, backed by their strong balance sheets, efforts to lower costs and growth initiatives.About the IndustryThe Zacks Mining - Gold industry mainly comprises companies engaged in extracting gold from mines. The mines may be either underground or open pits. Mining is a long and complex process and requires significant financial resources. It involves exploration to evaluate the deposit's size, then assessing ways to extract and process the ore efficiently, safely and responsibly, and develop the mine before the actual mining process.It normally takes 10-20 years for a gold mine to produce material that can finally be refined. The players in the industry nowadays use a range of sophisticated techniques to extract gold and convert it into dore bars, an alloy of gold and silver, alongside other impurities. These are then sent for purification, after which gold is purchased as bars or coins or used in jewelry or other purposes.Major Trends Shaping the Future of the Mining-Gold IndustryGold Prices Recently Losing Steam: Gold had an overall solid run in the second quarter of 2023, averaging a record $1,976 per ounce. At the beginning of the quarter, gold prices were supported by renewed concerns over the U.S. banking turmoil. Prices remained above $2,000 per ounce for most of the quarter but dipped near the end, as the U.S. Fed left interest rates unchanged at its June meeting.Story continuesIn July, the bullion fared better, gaining 3.1% and held its ground at above $1,900 an ounce. A weaker dollar aided gold prices. However, the tables turned in August, as the dollar gained, supported by the recent U.S. economic data reinforcing the view that interest rates will remain high for some time.  This has adversely impacted gold prices. Despite this setback, gold prices have gained 3.8% year to date.Efforts to Counter High Costs to Sustain Margins: The industry has been facing a shortage of skilled workforce, causing a spike in wages. Industry players are persistently grappling with escalating production costs, including electricity, water, and material and supply-chain issues. Since the industry cannot control gold prices, it focuses on improving the sales volume and the operating cash flow, and lowering unit net cash costs.The industry participants are opting for alternative energy sources, such as solar or wind farms, to minimize fuel-price volatility and secure supply. Miners are committed to cost-reduction strategies and digital innovation to drive operating efficiencies.India and China to Support Demand: India and China account for around 50% of consumer gold demand. China witnessed a pick-up in gold jewelry demand in the first half of 2023 triggered by the end of the zero-COVID policy and the pent-up wedding demand from last year. Even though demand has recently been weak in India in the backdrop of high prices, demand for physical gold is seasonally higher in the later part of the year, aided by the festival and wedding season in India.Holiday-related spending is expected to boost jewelry demand in China. With scarce mining opportunities and modest recycling levels, India heavily relies on bullion imports to meet its domestic demand.Impending Demand and Supply Imbalance to Support Prices: Depleting resources, declining supply in old mines and the lack of new mines remain inherent threats to the industry. Due to the scarcity of discoveries and exhaustive existing resources, miners prefer building up reserves through acquisitions rather than digging new ones that are inherently risky and capital-intensive.On the demand side, the use of gold in energy, healthcare and technology is rising. The yellow metal has long been considered a safe-haven investment in financial or political uncertainty. Gold demand also continues to be on the rise from central banks. Therefore, there will be an eventual demand-supply imbalance, which is likely to drive gold prices.Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Dull ProspectsThe group’s Zacks Industry Rank, basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bleak near-term prospects. The Zacks Mining - Gold Industry, which is a 39-stock group within the broader Zacks Basic Materials sector, currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #178, which places it at the bottom 29% of 251 Zacks industries.Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.Before we present a few stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.Industry Versus S&P 500 & SectorThe Mining-Gold Industry has outperformed the S&P 500 Index, as well as the Basic Material sector, in a year. The stocks in the industry have collectively jumped 7.6% compared with the broader sector’s rise of 4.1%. The S&P 500 has gained 6.6% in the same timeframe.Industry's Current ValuationOn the basis of the forward 12-month EV/EBITDA, a commonly used multiple for valuing gold-mining companies, we see that the industry is currently trading at 5.94X compared with the S&P 500’s 11.07X and the Basic Material sector’s forward 12-month EV/EBITDA of 6.78X.Over the last five years, the industry has traded as high as 9.26X and as low as 4.63X, with the median being 6.61X.4 Mining-Gold Stocks to Keep an Eye OnGaliano Gold: The company reported gold production of 66,351 ounces in the first half of 2023. The company raised its gold production guidance for 2023 to a range of 120,000 to 130,000 ounces to reflect higher metallurgical recoveries from its flagship Asanko Gold Mine. In 2022, the mine produced 170,342 ounces of gold, primarily from stockpiles, exceeding the revised guidance of 160,000 to 170,000 ounces.The company has recently awarded a mining contract in accordance with its plans to resume hard rock mining operations at the mine. Backed by these developments, the company's shares have gained 22.2% in the past six months. Galiano expects the mine’s annual gold production to reach 250,000 ounces in 2025. The company has plans to make AGM a significant gold mine in Ghana, with an average annual output of 220,000 ounces per year over its eight-and-a-half-year life.Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Galiano Gold has an expected earnings growth of 433% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fiscal 2023 earnings has moved up 45% over the past 60 days. GAU currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Vista Gold: VGZ’s flagship asset is the Mt Todd gold project in Northern Territory, Australia. It is one of the largest and most advanced undeveloped gold projects in Australia. The recently completed Mt Todd feasibility study indicated a 7-million-ounce gold reserve and a 16-year mine life.If developed as planned, Mt Todd has the potential to become one of Australia’s top five gold producers. The company recently extended its agreement with the Government of the Northern Territory of Australia regarding the potential future development of the project. VGZ has a strong financial position with no debt on its balance sheet.Also, completion of the exploration drilling program at Mt Todd combined with management’s ongoing efforts to control costs will significantly reduce its expenditures. In fact, in the last reported quarter, the company recorded a 16% fall in operating expenses. VGZ’s shares have declined 10.7% in the past six months owing to the decreasing gold price.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VGZ’s 2023 earnings is currently pegged at a loss of 5 cents per share. The estimate has narrowed from the loss of 6 cents per share expected 60 days ago.  The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2.B2Gold:  The company reported consolidated gold production of 245,961 ounces in the second quarter of 2023, which was up 17.8% year over year. The total gold production (including 16,740 ounces of attributable production from Calibre) in the quarter was 262,701 ounces.This upbeat performance can be attributed to the strong performance at the Fekola Mine in the quarter. It expects total gold production between 1,000,000 and 1,080,000 ounces for 2023, which includes 60,000-70,000 attributable ounces from Calibre. The company stated that its operations are on track to meet or exceed annual production guidance. In April 2023, the company completed the acquisition of Sabina, which resulted in acquiring the latter’s 100% owned Back River Gold District in Nunavut, Canada.The most advanced project in the district, Goose, is fully permitted, construction ready, and has been de-risked with significant infrastructure currently in place. The Goose Project has an estimated two-year construction period, with the first gold production expected in the first quarter of 2025. The company’s shares have gained 29.7% in the past six months.Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, B2Gold operates as a gold producer with three operating mines in Mali, the Philippines, and Namibia. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fiscal 2023 earnings has moved up 9.4% over the past 60 days. The estimate indicates year-over-year growth of 40%. BTG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Kinross Gold: The company reported second-quarter 2023 production of 555,036 gold equivalent ounces, which marked a 22% year-over-year increase. Tasiast delivered record quarterly production and sales due to strong grades and recoveries. Paracatu and La Coipa also witnessed year-over-year growth in the quarterly output.The company expects to produce 2.1 million gold equivalent ounces in 2023. It is on track to meet its guidance for the production cost of sales, all-in-sustaining cost and attributable capital expenditures. The Tasiast 24k expansion project achieved a significant milestone with the completion of construction and initial commissioning.The project is expected to boost production and lower costs and lead to significant free cash flow. Manh Choh is advancing per plan and is expected to come online in the second half of 2024. The company’s shares have gained 31.5% in the past six months.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the Toronto, Canada-based company’s 2023 earnings has moved up 11.4% over the past 60 days. The estimate indicates year-over-year growth of 11.4%. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 31.7%, on average. KGC currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.Free Report: Top EV Battery Stocks to Buy NowJust-released report reveals 5 stocks to profit as millions of EV batteries are made. Elon Musk tweeted that lithium prices have gone to "insane levels," and they're likely to keep climbing. As a result, a handful of lithium battery stocks are set to skyrocket. Access this report to discover which battery stocks to buy and which to avoid.Download free today.Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch/Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.Media ContactZacks Investment Research800-767-3771 ext. [email protected]://www.zacks.comPast performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportKinross Gold Corporation (KGC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportB2Gold Corp (BTG) : Free Stock Analysis ReportVista Gold Corporation (VGZ) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGaliano Gold Inc. (GAU) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Kinross Gold, B2Gold, Galiano Gold and Vista Gold

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zacks-industry-outlook-highlights-kinross-090000262.html

f43f9e4f-32e1-3249-8284-075398f7bae4

VIA

HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / July 28, 2023 / Via Renewables, Inc. ("Via Renewables" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:VIA), an independent retail energy services company, announced today that it plans to present its second quarter 2023 financial results in a conference call and webcast on Thursday, August 3, 2023 at 10:00 AM Central (11:00 AM Eastern).A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed from the Events & Presentations page of the Via Renewables Investor Relations website at ViaRenewables.com. An archived replay of the webcast will be available for twelve months following the live presentation.About Via Renewables, Inc.Via Renewables, Inc. is an independent retail energy services company founded in 1999 that provides residential and commercial customers in competitive markets across the United States with an alternative choice for their natural gas and electricity under our well-established and well-regarded brands, including Spark Energy, Major Energy, Provider Power, and Verde Energy. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Via Renewables currently operates in 20 states and serves 103 utility territories. Via Renewables offers its customers a variety of product and service choices, including stable and predictable energy costs and green product alternatives.We use our website as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Investors should note that new materials, including press releases, updated investor presentations, and financial and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are posted on the Via Renewables Investor Relations website at ViaRenewables.com. Investors are urged to monitor our website regularly for information and updates about the Company.Contact: Via Renewables, Inc.Investors:Stephen Rabalais, 832-200-3727Media:Kira Jordan, 832-255-7302Via Renewables, Inc. , Friday, July 28, 2023, Press release pictureSOURCE: Via Renewables, Inc.View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/770960/Via-Renewables-Inc-to-Present-Second-Quarter-2023-Financial-Results-on-Thursday-August-3-2023

ACCESSWIRE

Via Renewables, Inc. to Present Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results on Thursday, August 3, 2023

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/via-renewables-inc-present-second-220000560.html

fbe507e0-82dd-3207-9d70-d87b162cb462

VIA

HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 2, 2023 / Via Renewables, Inc. ("Via Renewables" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:VIA, VIASP), an independent retail energy services company, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.Key Highlights"We are proud to announce another strong quarter marked by organic growth in our customer book and continued financial discipline. Our proactive efforts in expanding our customer base allowed us to increase our RCEs for the second consecutive quarter " said Keith Maxwell, Via Renewables' President and Chief Executive Officer.Summary Second Quarter2023 Financial ResultsNet Income for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, was $19.1 million compared to Net Income of $12.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. The increase, compared to the prior year, was largely the result of an increase in the mark-to-market on our hedges, partially offset by an increase in G&A expense and income tax expense.For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, Via Renewables reported Adjusted EBITDA of $12.0 million compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $13.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. The decrease was driven by a $4.4 million one time add back related to Winter Storm Uri in the second quarter of 2022 coupled with a $4.1 million increase in G&A expense, excluding non-cash compensation expense. This was largely offset by a $7.0 million increase in Retail Gross Margin.For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, Via Renewables reported Gross Profit of $45.5 million compared to Gross Profit of $35.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. The increase, compared to the prior year, was predominately the result of an increase in the mark-to-market on our hedges and an increase in Retail Gross Margin for our retail electricity segment. The increase was partially offset by the $9.6 million add back to Retail Gross Margin related to Winter Storm Uri in the second quarter of 2022.For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, Via Renewables reported Retail Gross Margin of $30.7 million compared to Retail Gross Margin of $23.7 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. The $7.0 million increase in Retail Gross Margin was mainly due to higher unit margins for both retail electricity and natural gas coupled with higher natural gas volumes. This was partially offset by decreased retail electricity volumes.(1) Reflects amount of Letters of Credit that could be issued based on existing covenants as of June 30, 2023.(2) The availability of the Subordinated Facility is dependent on our Founder's discretion.DividendOn July 19, 2023, we declared a dividend in the amount of $0.75922 per share for the Series A Preferred Stock, which will be paid on October 16, 2023 to holders of record on October 1, 2023. The Company previously elected to suspend its common stock dividend seeking to enhance its financial flexibility and improve its ability to manage market volatility while focusing on strengthening its balance sheet and investing in both organic and inorganic customer growth. Via Renewables will continue to closely monitor market conditions and the Board will thoughtfully evaluate the timing of for reinstatement of the Class A common stock dividend.Business OutlookMr. Maxwell concluded, "We're strengthening our balance sheet which gives us additional financial flexibility as we navigate the ERCOT summer months. We've been able to lower our total debt and increase our liquidity over the three months ending June 30, 2023. Our objective is to build on this favorable momentum throughout the remainder of the year to ensure long term sustainable growth for our shareholders."Conference Call and WebcastVia will host a conference call to discuss Second Quarter2023 results on Thursday, August 3, 2023, at 10:00 AM Central Time (11:00 AM Eastern).A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed from the Events page of the Via Renewables Investor Relations website at https://viarenewables.com/. An archived replay of the webcast will be available for twelve months following the live presentation.About Via Renewables, Inc.Via Renewables, Inc. is an independent retail energy services company founded in 1999 that provides residential and commercial customers in competitive markets across the United States with an alternative choice for natural gas and electricity. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Via Renewables currently operates in 103 utility service territories across 20 states and the District of Columbia. Via Renewables offers its customers a variety of product and service choices, including stable and predictable energy costs and green product alternatives.We use our website as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Investors should note that new materials, including press releases, updated investor presentations, and financial and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are posted on the Via Renewables Investor Relations website at https://viarenewables.com/. Investors are urged to monitor our website regularly for information and updates about the Company.Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking StatementsThis earnings release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology including "may," "should," "could," "likely," "will," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "plan," "intend," "project," or other similar words. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this earnings release are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements include statements regarding the impacts of Winter Storm Uri, cash flow generation and liquidity, business strategy, prospects for growth and acquisitions, outcomes of legal proceedings, the timing, availability, ability to pay and implied amount of cash dividends and distributions on our Class A common stock and Series A Preferred Stock, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives, beliefs of management, availability and terms of capital, competition, government regulation and general economic conditions. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot give any assurance that such expectations will prove correct.The forward-looking statements in this earnings release are subject to risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:You should review the risk factors and other factors noted throughout this earnings release that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this earnings release. Unless required by law, we disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise these statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. It is not possible for us to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.For further information, please contact:Investor Relations:Stephen Rabalais,832-200-3727Media Relations:Kira Jordan,832-255-7302VIA RENEWABLES, INC.CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS(in thousands, except per share data)(unaudited)(1) Reflects the Retail Gross Margin attributable to our Retail Electricity Segment or Retail Natural Gas Segment, as applicable. Retail Gross Margin is a non-GAAP financial measure. See "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures" for a reconciliation of Retail Gross Margin to most directly comparable financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP.(2) Reflects the Retail Gross Margin for the Retail Electricity Segment or Retail Natural Gas Segment, as applicable, divided by the total volumes in MWh or MMBtu, respectively.Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP MeasuresAdjusted EBITDAWe define "Adjusted EBITDA" as EBITDA less (i) customer acquisition costs incurred in the current period, plus or minus (ii) net (loss) gain on derivative instruments, and (iii) net current period cash settlements on derivative instruments, plus (iv) non-cash compensation expense, and (v) other non-cash and non-recurring operating items. EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before the provision for income taxes, interest expense and depreciation and amortization. This conforms to the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA in our Senior Credit Facility.We deduct all current period customer acquisition costs (representing spending for organic customer acquisitions) in the Adjusted EBITDA calculation because such costs reflect a cash outlay in the period in which they are incurred, even though we capitalize and amortize such costs over two years. We do not deduct the cost of customer acquisitions through acquisitions of businesses or portfolios of customers in calculating Adjusted EBITDA.We deduct our net gains (losses) on derivative instruments, excluding current period cash settlements, from the Adjusted EBITDA calculation in order to remove the non-cash impact of net gains and losses on these instruments. We also deduct non-cash compensation expense that results from the issuance of restricted stock units under our long-term incentive plan due to the non-cash nature of the expense.We adjust from time to time other non-cash or unusual and/or infrequent charges due to either their non-cash nature or their infrequency. We have historically included the financial impact of weather variability in the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA. We will continue this historical approach, but during the first quarter of 2021 we incurred a net pre-tax financial loss of $64.9 million due to Winter Storm Uri. This loss was incurred due to uncharacteristic extended sub-freezing temperatures across Texas combined with the impact of the pricing caps ordered by ERCOT. We believe this event is unusual, infrequent, and non-recurring in nature.As our Senior Credit Facility is considered a material agreement and Adjusted EBITDA is a key component of our material covenants, we consider our covenant compliance to be material to the understanding of our financial condition and/or liquidity. Our lenders under our Senior Credit Facility allowed $60.0 million of the $64.9 million pre-tax storm loss incurred in the first quarter of 2021 to be added back as a non-recurring item in the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA for our Debt Covenant Calculations. We received a $0.4 million credit from ERCOT for Winter Storm related losses during the third quarter of 2021, resulting in a net pre-tax storm loss of $64.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. In June 2022, we received $9.6 million from ERCOT related to PURA Subchapter N Securitization financing. For consistent presentation of the financial impact of Winter Storm Uri, $5.2 million of the $9.6 million is reflected as non-recurring items reducing Adjusted EBITDA for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022.We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA provides information useful to investors in assessing our liquidity and financial condition and results of operations and that Adjusted EBITDA is also useful to investors as a financial indicator of our ability to incur and service debt, pay dividends, and fund capital expenditures. Adjusted EBITDA is a supplemental financial measure that management and external users of our consolidated financial statements, such as industry analysts, investors, commercial banks and rating agencies, use to assess the following:Retail Gross MarginWe define retail gross margin as gross profit less (i) net asset optimization revenues (expenses), (ii) net gains (losses) on non-trading derivative instruments, (iii) net current period cash settlements on non-trading derivative instruments and (iv) gains (losses) from non-recurring events (including non-recurring market volatility). Retail gross margin is included as a supplemental disclosure because it is a primary performance measure used by our management to determine the performance of our retail natural gas and electricity segments as a result of recurring operations. As an indicator of our retail energy business's operating performance, retail gross margin should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, gross profit, its most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.We believe retail gross margin provides information useful to investors as an indicator of our retail energy business's operating performance.We have historically included the financial impact of weather variability in the calculation of Retail Gross Margin. We will continue this historical approach, but during the first quarter of 2021 we added back the $64.9 million net financial loss incurred related to Winter Storm Uri, as described above, in the calculation of Retail Gross Margin because the extremity of the Texas storm combined with the impact of unprecedented pricing mechanisms ordered by ERCOT is considered unusual, infrequent, and non-recurring in nature. In June 2022, we received $9.6 million from ERCOT related to PURA Subchapter N Securitization financing. The $9.6 million is reflected as a non-recurring item reducing Retail Gross Margin for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 for consistent presentation of the financial impacts of Winter Storm Uri.Our non-GAAP financial measures of Adjusted EBITDA and Retail Gross Margin should not be considered as alternatives to net income (loss), net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, or gross profit. Adjusted EBITDA and Retail Gross Margin are not presentations made in accordance with GAAP and have limitations as analytical tools. You should not consider Adjusted EBITDA or Retail Gross Margin in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Because Adjusted EBITDA and Retail Gross Margin exclude some, but not all, items that affect net income (loss), net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, and gross profit, and are defined differently by different companies in our industry, our definition of Adjusted EBITDA and Retail Gross Margin may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.Management compensates for the limitations of Adjusted EBITDA and Retail Gross Margin as analytical tools by reviewing the comparable GAAP measures, understanding the differences between the measures and incorporating these data points into management's decision-making process.The following tables present a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income and net cash provided operating activities for each of the periods indicated.The following table presents a reconciliation of Retail Gross Margin to Gross Profit for each of the periods indicated.(1) Retail Gross Margin for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 includes a deduction of $9.6 million related to proceeds received under an ERCOT (Winter Storm Uri) securitization mechanism in June 2022. See further discussion above.SOURCE: Via Renewables, Inc.Story continuesReported $19.1 million in Net Income and $12.0 million in Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarterAchieved $45.5 million in Gross Profit and $30.7 million in Retail Gross Margin for the second quarterTotal RCE count of 346,000 as of June 30, 2023, up from 339,000 as of March 31, 2023Total liquidity of $86.3 million as of June 30, 2023($ in thousands)June 30, 2023Cash and cash equivalents$47,059Senior Credit Facility Availability (1)19,272Subordinated Debt Facility Availability (2)20,000Total Liquidity$86,331our ability to remediate the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, the identification of any additional material weakness in the future or otherwise failing to maintain an effective system of internal controls;the ultimate impact of Winter Storm Uri, including future benefits or costs related to ERCOT market securitization efforts, and any corrective action by the State of Texas, ERCOT, the Railroad Commission of Texas, or the Public Utility Commission of Texas;changes in commodity prices, the margins we achieve and interest rates;the sufficiency of risk management and hedging policies and practices;the impact of extreme and unpredictable weather conditions, including hurricanes, heat waves and other natural disasters;federal, state and local regulations, including the industry's ability to address or adapt to potentially restrictive new regulations that may be enacted by public utility commissions;our ability to borrow funds and access credit markets;restrictions and covenants in our debt agreements and collateral requirements;credit risk with respect to suppliers and customers;our ability to acquire customers and actual attrition rates;changes in costs to acquire customers;accuracy of billing systems;our ability to successfully identify, complete, and efficiently integrate acquisitions into our operations;significant changes in, or new changes by, the independent system operators ("ISOs") in the regions we operate;competition; andthe "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and other public filings and press releases.Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,2023202220232022Revenues:Retail revenues$92,621$98,347$227,746$226,405Net asset optimization expense(1,359)(1,248)(4,632)(2,152)Other revenue137-137-Total Revenues91,39997,099223,251224,253Operating Expenses:Retail cost of revenues45,92661,702163,367130,409General and administrative16,71313,58333,93828,518Depreciation and amortization1,9944,9365,33010,120Total Operating Expenses64,63380,221202,635169,047Operating income26,76616,87820,61655,206Other (expense) income:Interest expense(2,447)(1,820)(5,144)(3,127)Interest and other income720687255Total other expenses(2,440)(1,614)(5,057)(2,872)Income before income tax expense24,32615,26415,55952,334Income tax expense5,2402,7303,2448,774Net income$19,086$12,534$12,315$43,560Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests11,1057,9164,52125,968Net income attributable to Via Renewables, Inc. stockholders$7,981$4,618$7,794$17,592Less: Dividend on Series A Preferred Stock2,6401,7005,1843,651Net income attributable to stockholders of Class A common stock$5,341$2,918$2,610$13,941Net income attributable to Via Renewables, Inc. per share of Class A common stockBasic$1.67$0.93$0.82$4.44Diluted$1.67$0.92$0.82$4.41Weighted average shares of Class A common stock outstandingBasic3,2053,1493,1893,140Diluted3,2053,1553,1893,158Selected Balance Sheet Data(in thousands)June 30, 2023December 31, 2022Cash and cash equivalents$47,059$33,658Working capital80,40986,759Total assets294,783330,950Total debt110,000120,000Total liabilities177,339214,901Total stockholders' equity43,41242,570Selected Cash Flow DataSix Months Ended June 30,(in thousands)20232022Cash flows provided by operating activities$34,696$12,944Cash flows used in investing activities(775)(5,160)Cash flows used in financing activities(22,213)(37,581)Operating Segment Results(in thousands, except volume and per unit operating data)Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,2023202220232022Retail Electricity SegmentTotal Revenues$74,765$82,290$157,592$170,331Retail Cost of Revenues37,61250,116118,44296,276Less: Net gain (loss) on non-trading derivatives, net of cash settlements14,1595,898(4,313)30,593Non-recurring event - Winter Storm Uri-9,565-9,565Retail Gross Margin (1) - Electricity$22,994$16,711$43,463$33,897Volumes - Electricity (MWhs)457,054603,497913,3311,288,649Retail Gross Margin (2) - Electricity per MWh$50.31$27.69$47.59$26.30Retail Natural Gas SegmentTotal Revenues$17,856$16,057$70,154$56,074Retail Cost of Revenues8,26311,58644,87434,133Less: Net gain (loss) on non-trading derivatives, net of cash settlements1,947(2,510)(2,227)3,391Retail Gross Margin (1) - Gas$7,646$6,981$27,507$18,550Volumes - Gas (MMBtus)2,064,7851,943,4946,612,6116,600,612Retail Gross Margin (2) - Gas per MMBtu$3.70$3.59$4.16$2.81our operating performance as compared to other publicly traded companies in the retail energy industry, without regard to financing methods, capital structure, historical cost basis and specific items not reflective of ongoing operations;the ability of our assets to generate earnings sufficient to support our proposed cash dividends;our ability to fund capital expenditures (including customer acquisition costs) and incur and service debt; andour compliance with financial debt covenants in our Senior Credit Facility.Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income:Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,(in thousands)2023202220232022Net income$19,086$12,534$12,315$43,560Depreciation and amortization1,9944,9365,33010,120Interest expense2,4471,8205,1443,127Income tax expense5,2402,7303,2448,774EBITDA28,76722,02026,03365,581Less:Net, (loss) gain on derivative instruments(667)12,397(43,437)57,460Net cash settlements on derivative instruments16,530(8,708)36,667(21,844)Customer acquisition costs1,4901,3943,2632,590Plus:Non-cash compensation expense5991,5711,2841,922Non-recurring event - Winter Storm Uri-(5,162)-(5,162)Adjusted EBITDA$12,013$13,346$30,824$24,135Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net cash provided by operating activities:Three Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,(in thousands)2023202220232022Net cash provided by operating activities$21,636$8,361$34,696$12,944Amortization of deferred financing costs(207)(468)(413)(713)Bad debt expense(933)(809)(1,888)(1,833)Interest expense2,4471,8205,1443,127Income tax expense5,2402,7303,2448,774Non-recurring event - Winter Storm Uri-(5,162)-(5,162)Changes in operating working capitalAccounts receivable, prepaids, current assets(23,788)(9,928)(37,863)(9,373)Inventory1,3672,283(2,482)409Accounts payable and accrued liabilities10,64615,22132,23320,798Other(4,395)(702)(1,847)(4,836)Adjusted EBITDA$12,013$13,346$30,824$24,135Cash Flow Data:Net cash provided by operating activities$21,636$8,361$34,696$12,944Net cash used in investing activities$(401)$(1,562)$(775)$(5,160)Net cash used in financing activities$(19,338)$(15,056)$(22,213)$(37,581)Reconciliation of Retail Gross Margin to Gross ProfitThree Months Ended June 30,Six Months Ended June 30,(in thousands)2023202220232022Total Revenue$91,399$97,099$223,251$224,253Less:Retail cost of revenues45,92661,702163,367130,409Gross Profit45,47335,39759,88493,844Less:Net asset optimization expense(1,359)(1,248)(4,632)(2,152)(Loss) gain on non-trading derivative instruments(40)12,067(42,809)55,983Cash settlements on non-trading derivative instruments16,146(8,679)36,269(21,999)Non-recurring event - Winter Storm Uri-9,565-9,565Retail Gross Margin$30,726$23,692$71,056$52,447Retail Gross Margin - Retail Electricity Segment (1)$22,994$16,711$43,463$33,897Retail Gross Margin - Retail Natural Gas Segment$7,646$6,981$27,507$18,550Retail Gross Margin - Other$86$-$86$-View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/771904/via-renewables-inc-reports-second-quarter-2023-financial-results

ACCESSWIRE

Via Renewables, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/via-renewables-inc-reports-second-210000539.html

bf8910d4-c048-3e09-a64e-28435e366113

VICI

– Represents Sixth Consecutive Annual Dividend Increase Since Formation –NEW YORK, September 07, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VICI Properties Inc. (NYSE: VICI) ("VICI Properties") announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.415 per share of common stock for the period from July 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023, representing an annualized amount of $1.66 per share and a 6.4% increase from the current dividend rate. The dividend will be payable on October 5, 2023 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 21, 2023.About VICI PropertiesVICI Properties Inc. is an S&P 500® experiential real estate investment trust that owns one of the largest portfolios of market-leading gaming, hospitality and entertainment destinations, including Caesars Palace Las Vegas, MGM Grand and the Venetian Resort Las Vegas, three of the most iconic entertainment facilities on the Las Vegas Strip. VICI Properties’ geographically diverse portfolio consists of 54 gaming facilities across the United States and Canada comprising approximately 124 million square feet and features approximately 60,300 hotel rooms and more than 450 restaurants, bars, nightclubs and sportsbooks. Its properties are occupied by industry leading gaming and hospitality operators under long-term, triple-net lease agreements. VICI Properties has a growing array of investing and financing partnerships with leading non-gaming experiential operators, including Great Wolf Resorts, Cabot, Canyon Ranch and Chelsea Piers. VICI Properties also owns four championship golf courses and 33 acres of undeveloped and underdeveloped land adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip. VICI Properties’ goal is to create the highest quality and most productive experiential real estate portfolio through a strategy of partnering with the highest quality experiential place makers and operators. For additional information, please visit www.viciproperties.com.Story continuesForward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. You can identify these statements by our use of the words "assumes," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "guidance," "intends," "plans," "projects," "will," and similar expressions that do not relate to historical matters. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond VICI’s control and could materially affect actual results, performance, or achievements. Important risk factors that may affect VICI’s business, results of operations and financial position are detailed from time to time in VICI’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. VICI does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230907863320/en/ContactsInvestor Contacts:[email protected] (646) 949-4631OrDavid KieskeEVP, Chief Financial [email protected] McCloskeySVP, Capital [email protected]

Business Wire

VICI Properties Inc. Increases Regular Quarterly Dividend

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vici-properties-inc-increases-regular-201500143.html

1da80921-cfd6-3cf5-9b49-48777d280d7b

VICI

In the latest trading session, VICI Properties Inc. (VICI) closed at $31.22, marking a +0.68% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.32% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.17%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.89%.Coming into today, shares of the company had lost 1.15% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 2.72%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.12%.Investors will be hoping for strength from VICI Properties Inc. as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.53, up 8.16% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $897.34 million, up 19.4% from the year-ago period.For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.13 per share and revenue of $3.58 billion, which would represent changes of +10.36% and +37.73%, respectively, from the prior year.Any recent changes to analyst estimates for VICI Properties Inc. should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% higher. VICI Properties Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).Valuation is also important, so investors should note that VICI Properties Inc. has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.55 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 10.87, so we one might conclude that VICI Properties Inc. is trading at a premium comparatively.Story continuesInvestors should also note that VICI has a PEG ratio of 2.3 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.45 as of yesterday's close.The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 189, which puts it in the bottom 25% of all 250+ industries.The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportVICI Properties Inc. (VICI) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

Zacks

VICI Properties Inc. (VICI) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vici-properties-inc-vici-gains-221520754.html

63bb47fd-20cf-3a95-82ad-a24a4ee1f004

VIRC

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So when we looked at Virco Mfg (NASDAQ:VIRC) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Virco Mfg:Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)0.14 = US$13m ÷ (US$166m - US$67m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2023).Thus, Virco Mfg has an ROCE of 14%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 8.5% generated by the Commercial Services industry. See our latest analysis for Virco Mfg roceIn the above chart we have measured Virco Mfg's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Virco Mfg here for free.How Are Returns Trending?Virco Mfg is showing promise given that its ROCE is trending up and to the right. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 356% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. Basically the business is generating higher returns from the same amount of capital and that is proof that there are improvements in the company's efficiencies. It's worth looking deeper into this though because while it's great that the business is more efficient, it might also mean that going forward the areas to invest internally for the organic growth are lacking.Story continuesOn a side note, Virco Mfg's current liabilities are still rather high at 40% of total assets. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.In Conclusion...To bring it all together, Virco Mfg has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. Since the total return from the stock has been almost flat over the last five years, there might be an opportunity here if the valuation looks good. That being the case, research into the company's current valuation metrics and future prospects seems fitting.Virco Mfg does have some risks, we noticed 4 warning signs (and 3 which don't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Simply Wall St.

Virco Mfg (NASDAQ:VIRC) Shareholders Will Want The ROCE Trajectory To Continue

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/virco-mfg-nasdaq-virc-shareholders-135937953.html

1412f403-49df-327d-9c97-455dccb1beee

VIRC

Toro (TTC) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.95 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.23 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.19 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -22.76%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this landscaping, maintenance and irrigation equipment maker would post earnings of $1.50 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.58, delivering a surprise of 5.33%.Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times.Toro , which belongs to the Zacks Tools - Handheld industry, posted revenues of $1.08 billion for the quarter ended July 2023, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.36%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.16 billion. The company has not been able to beat consensus revenue estimates over the last four quarters.The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.Toro shares have lost about 11.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 16.3%.What's Next for Toro?While Toro has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.Story continuesAhead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Toro: favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.02 on $1.15 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.80 on $4.86 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Tools - Handheld is currently in the top 13% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.Virco Manufacturing Corporation (VIRC), another stock in the broader Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector, has yet to report results for the quarter ended July 2023.This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.64 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +6.7%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.Virco Manufacturing Corporation's revenues are expected to be $95.2 million, up 15% from the year-ago quarter.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportToro Company (The) (TTC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportVirco Manufacturing Corporation (VIRC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

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Toro (TTC) Q3 Earnings and Revenues Lag Estimates

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toro-ttc-q3-earnings-revenues-134003176.html

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