Month: August 2017

Per Reuters , integrated oil and gas company , Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A is close to selling its gas station network in Argentina to Raizen Energia SA, an independently operated six-year old joint venture (“JV”) between Shell and Cosan SA. The value of the deal is expected to be more than $1 billion. […]

The grocery industry has been grappling with several challenges like stiff competition, and aggressive promotional environment of late. Traditional grocery rivals are strengthening their franchises and outside players are offering alternative outlets for food and other staples. Customers are becoming more inclined toward private label products as they are low-cost alternatives to national brands […]

Vornado Realty Trust VNO and SL Green Realty Corporation SLG recently closed a loan refinancing worth $1.2 billion for the Manhattan-based office building — 280 Park Avenue. Both companies hold a joint venture spanning 1,250,000 square feet at this property. The interest-only loan is slated to mature in September 2024, as extended, and carries a rate of LIBOR plus 1.73% […]

Solid top-line performance and upward estimate revisions make NVR, Inc. NVR an attractive investment option. The company is engaged in the construction and sale of single-family detached homes, townhomes and condominium buildings and has a solid business model to support its sales growth […]

In a low oil price environment, oil companies looking for options to reduce the cost of production and cope up with oil price volatility. For this reason, many of the U.S. […]

McDonald’s MCD last-reported results were encouraging with the company bettering our expectations on both top and bottom lines. Shares are also trending up as seen in the chart below: But to understand whether this was just a one-time thing or part of a broader recovery, let’s look for a moment at what was bothering the company in the first place. […]

Analog Devices, Inc. ADI is collaborating with The Cornucopia Project and ripe.io to aid crop quality, yield and profitability enhancement initiatives. The Cornucopia Project is a Peterborough, NH-based nonprofit organization that conducts agricultural and garden projects for students from elementary to high school […]

Imports of cheap steel continue to haunt the American steel industry. Steel imports have shot up roughly 22% year to date – according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), an association of North American steel makers. […]

Growth investors generally have high risk tolerance and are continuously on the lookout for above-average growth stocks that are expected to outperform the broader industry with respect to revenues, earnings or cash flow. However, this apparently simple growth investment technique has some drawbacks and lack of proper understanding of the strategy may often lead to short listing of growth stocks that are a misfit to the portfolio. […]

Tropical storm Harvey is intensifying in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and is predicted to become the biggest hurricane to hit Texas in the last 12 years. Energy companies are thus busy chalking out ways to counter the storm which is expected to result into a major landfall by tonight or tomorrow. Impact of Hurricane Harvey The U.S. […]

Ulta Beauty, Inc. ULTA , which has been delivering positive earnings and sales surprises consistently for over three years, kept its robust trend alive in second-quarter fiscal 2017 as well. […]

On Aug 25, we issued an updated research report on swimming pool and lifestyle product maker, Pool Corporation POOL . The company’s shares have gained 1.7% in the last year, outperforming the industry ’s decline of 2.9%. Notably, Pool’s earnings beat/met the Zacks Consensus Estimate in 11 of the trailing 12 quarters, with an average positive surprise of 6.32% in the last four quarters. […]

Altria Group, Inc. MO recently announced that its board of directors has approved an increase of 8.2% in its quarterly dividend, amounting 66 cents per share as compared with the previous rate of 61 cents. The newly hiked dividend is payable on Oct 10, 2017, to shareholders of record on Sep 15. […]

VMware Inc .’s VMW second-quarter fiscal 2018 non-GAAP earnings of $1.19 per share easily beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of$1.15 while increasing 72.5% from the year-ago quarter. Notably, VMware revised its fiscal calendar effective Jan 1, 2017. The company’s first fiscal year under its revised calendar began on Feb 4, 2017 and will end on Feb 2, 2018. […]

Education Realty Trust (EDR), commonly known as EdR, is making every effort to leverage on the soaring demand for on-campus development of universities. Recently, the company opened the first phase of its ONE Plan on-campus replacement housing at the Northern Michigan University (NMU). […]

The Toro Company TTC reported third-quarter fiscal 2017 (ended Aug 4, 2017) earnings of 61 cents per share, up 22% from 50 cents recorded in the year-ago quarter. Additionally, earnings comfortably beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 57 cents. […]

The Dow suffered a week of lackluster volumes as investors remained wary of placing large bets ahead of the annual Jackson Hole meeting. The index’s gains on Monday were curbed by a fall in energy shares. Encouraging news on tax reforms boosted stocks on Tuesday […]

On Aug 24, premium industrial equipment wholesaler Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. AIT was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) from a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Going by the Zacks model, companies holding a Zacks Rank #2 have strong chances of performing better than the broader market, moving ahead […]

The world’s third largest pizza delivery company, Papa John’s International, Inc. PZZA continues with the establishment and expansion of the brand into new countries. In this regard, the company’s franchisee in Russia and Belarus – PJ Western – has signed development agreements to mark its presence in the Central Asian counties of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and Poland […]