Best Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:ALNY,ARQL,AMGN,BIIB,

The IPO market came back full force this week following the July 4th pause. Nine deals raised a combined $931 million, averaging a gain of 29%.

Five biotechs went public, including top performer Allakos, which finished the week up 95%. Tilray grabbed headlines as the first marijuana seller to IPO in the US, and excitement in the space drove a 75% gain. High-growth breast implant maker Establishment Labs turned heads with a 47% gain. Two small regional banks also completed offerings. Eight of the nine IPOs finished positive; the sole exception was Constellation Pharmaceuticals, which plummeted 23%.

9 IPOs During the Week of July 16th, 2018

Issuer
Business

Deal
Size

Market Cap
at IPO

Price vs.
Midpoint

First Day
Return

Return
at 07/20

Allakos (NASDAQ:ALLK)

$128M

Best Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ALNY)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Orelli]

  The delay in an FDA decision for Tegsedi puts it behind competitor Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY), which expects to hear from the FDA by Aug. 11 for its hATTR drug patisiran. But Sarah Boyce, the president at Akcea Therapeutics, doesn't think a few months will really matter: "We don't really feel that's going to have any impact and the drugs will be close enough together from a launch perspective. So not really [going] to make any adjustments, and we're very well prepared to be ready to launch following approval."

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY)

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  BidaskClub lowered shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday.

Best Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: ArQule Inc.(ARQL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) rose 15.3 percent to $53.50 in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter. Evofem Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVFM) rose 10.4 percent to $4.58 in pre-market trading. Evofem Biosciences reported closing of public offering of common stock and warrants. Resonant Inc. (NASDAQ: RESN) rose 7.3 percent to $4.88 in pre-market trading after declining 1.94 percent on Thursday. SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG) shares rose 5.7 percent to $59.65 in pre-market trading after falling 8.43 percent on Thursday. Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE: YRD) rose 5 percent to $30.00 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Deckers Outdoor Corp (NYSE: DECK) rose 4.9 percent to $108.75 in pre-market trading after reporteingd better-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter. Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: APRN) rose 4.2 percent to $3.21 in pre-market trading after gaining 3.70 percent on Thursday. Recro Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: REPH) rose 4 percent to $5.85 in pre-market trading after dropping 54.67 percent on Thursday. ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQL) rose 3.8 percent to $4.70 in pre-market trading after gaining 4.86 percent on Thursday. Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: BW) shares rose 2.9 percent to $2.85 in pre-market trading after climbing 7.78 percent on Thursday. Bilibili Inc. (NASDAQ: BILI) shares rose 2.5 percent to $14.20 in pre-market trading after surging 11.33 percent on Thursday.

  Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Melinta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLNT) shares surged 20.6 percent to $6.39. WBB Securities upgraded Melinta Therapeutics from Hold to Speculative Buy. Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCVL) shares climbed 17.2 percent to $30.87 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings. Acorn International, Inc. (NYSE: ATV) shares rose 15.2 percent to $28.804 after the company declared a special one-time cash dividend of $14.97 per ADS. Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) gained 15 percent to $53.35 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOS) surged 14.2 percent to $2.625. ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQL) rose 13 percent to $5.12 after gaining 4.86 percent on Thursday. Quality Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII) gained 12.8 percent to $16.97 after the company posted better-than-expected FQ4 results. Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (NYSE: LOMA) shares rose 12 percent to $12.94. ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQL) shares rose 12 percent to $5.07. Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX) climbed 11.4 percent to $43.50. Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ: ZLAB) gained 11.3 percent to $24.7000. Zymeworks Inc. (NASDAQ: ZYME) rose 9.7 percent to $19.64. Park City Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYG) climbed 9 percent to $7.90. Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) gained 7.9 percent to $38.82 after Citron reversed previously bearish position on the stock. Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) shares jumped 7.3 percent to $3.55. Deckers Outdoor Corp (NYSE: DECK) rose 3.5 percent to $107.27 after reporting better-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter.

  Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

• [By Logan Wallace]

  BidaskClub upgraded shares of ArQule (NASDAQ:ARQL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

  A number of other research firms have also issued reports on ARQL. Roth Capital upped their price target on ArQule from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 17th. Leerink Swann upgraded ArQule from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 5th. Zacks Investment Research lowered ArQule from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 4th. ValuEngine upgraded ArQule from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd. Finally, B. Riley set a $4.00 price target on ArQule and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, The stock currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $4.69.

Best Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Amgen Inc.(AMGN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Speights]

  Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) actually have quite a bit in common. They co-market one of the world's best-selling drugs, Enbrel. They both face some headwinds with declining sales of older drugs. Each company has promising new drugs. And both stocks are up by nearly the same percentage over the last 12 months.

• [By Keith Speights]

  It's not too hard to find biotech stocks that are bargains right now. Two of the most attractively priced biotech stocks on the market are Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD). Both stocks also provide nice dividend yields for income-seeking investors.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Private Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 1,703.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,362 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,231 shares during the period. Private Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Best Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Biogen Idec Inc(BIIB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Campbell]

  Unfortunately for investors, June's discovery wasn't exciting enough for Sangamo partners Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) and Shire (NASDAQ:SHPG). In 2015, Biogen announced a delay to its beta-thalassemia and sickle-cell disease treatment program with Sangamo. And then Shire, a Sangamo collaboration partner since 2012, walked away from Sangamo's hemophilia program.

• [By Keith Speights]

  Three biotech stocks that achieved this feat this week are�Nightstar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NITE),�Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS), and�Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB). What caused these stocks to soar, and are they smart picks to buy now? Here's what you need to know.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]
  Shares of Ford Motor Co.�(NYSE: F) were flat despite dismal news out of China. This morning, the company reported a 38% slump in Chinese sales during the month of June. It was a terrible first six months for the iconic vehicle manufacturer. The company said that its Chinese operations saw a 25% slide in sales over the first half of the year. That was the largest six-month decline since launching its Chinese operations in 2001. Shares of Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) are off more than 1% after California regulators announced a new probe into the company. The probe was announced following a safety complaint filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The agency has not provided any details on the case. Shares of Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) popped more than 14% after the company announced positive results from a trial for an Alzheimer's drug. The phase 2 study examined BAN2401, an anti-amyloid beta protofibril antibody. It was tested on 856 patients with early stages of Alzheimer's disease. In a research note, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) announced that the results would be positive for Biogen's drug pipeline. Look for an earnings report Friday from InnerWorkings Inc. (Nasdaq: INWK). Wall Street projects that the company will report earnings per share of $0.09 on top of $284.9 million in revenue.

  Follow Money Morning��on��Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Here are some of the news stories that may have effected Accern’s analysis:

  Get Biogen alerts: Biogen (BIIB) Expected to Post Quarterly Sales of $3.24 Billion (americanbankingnews.com) Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB): Does The Earnings Decline Make It An Underperformer? (finance.yahoo.com) 5 Trade Ideas For Monday: AMTD, BIIB, DEO, FITB, TECK (investing.com) $5.29 EPS Expected for Biogen (BIIB) This Quarter (americanbankingnews.com) Biogen (BIIB) Upgraded by ValuEngine to “Hold” (americanbankingnews.com)

  Shares of Biogen traded up $5.45, reaching $281.51, during midday trading on Wednesday, according to MarketBeat Ratings. 1,514,169 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,729,786. Biogen has a 52-week low of $276.94 and a 52-week high of $281.57. The firm has a market cap of $59.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 2.95 and a current ratio of 3.23.

• [By Brian Feroldi]

  Data source: Alkermes. GAAP = generally accepted accounting principles.

  What happened with Alkermes this quarter? Sales of Alkermes'�opioid- and alcohol-abuse prevention drug Vivitrol grew 7% to $62.7 million. Sales of the company's�schizophrenia drug�Aristada�rose 62% to $29.2 million. Manufacturing and royalty revenue related to�Johnson & Johnson's schizophrenia drugs jumped 15% to $68.8 million. Manufacturing and royalty revenue related to�Acorda Therapeutics' multiple sclerosis drug�fell�3% to $28.3 million. Research and development revenue earned as part of its collaboration with�Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) for BIIB098 -- which used to be called ALKS 8700 -- was $17.5 million.

  Looking beyond the financials, here's an overview of the key events from the period:

• [By Todd Campbell]

  Drugmakers' dustbins are filled with failed attempts to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, yet drug developers, including�Biogen�(NASDAQ:BIIB), remain undaunted in their pursuit of new treatments. Recently, Biogen reported data from a midstage trial that suggests it could be rewarded for its perseverance. In hundreds of patients, the company's BAN2401 successfully slowed disease progression as measured by the Alzheimer's Disease Composite Score (ADCOMS). Is this the breakthrough patients have been waiting for?

Microsoft (MSFT) Slips 0.78% Ahead of Earnings: What To Watch

Microsoft (MSFT ) saw its stock price dip 0.78% to hit $105.12 per share Wednesday, just one day before the tech power is set to report its Q4 fiscal 2018 financial results. So let’s take a look at what investors should expect from Microsoft after the closing bell Thursday.

Microsoft has jumped into new areas in order to adapt and grow, with a big push into artificial intelligence and IoT. The firm also competes against Amazon (AMZN ) , Oracle (ORCL ) , and Google (GOOGL ) in the cloud computing industry. Microsoft’s continued success in some of its more traditional businesses, coupled with its new-age ventures has helped its stock price climb roughly 98% over the last two years and 42% during the last 12 months.

Looking to MSFT’s Q4, our latest Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for Microsoft’s revenues to climb by 18.24% to reach $29.21 billion. Meanwhile, the firm’s adjusted Q4 ESP figure is expected to hit $1.07 per share, which would mark over a 9% climb.

Investors should also note that Microsoft’s quarterly earnings revisions activity has been mixed recently. The company has received one downward earnings estimate revisions for Q4 within the last 30 days, along with one full-year upward change within the last seven days, which has helped contribute to its Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

With all that said, we still need to gauge how likely the firm is to outperform estimates Thursday, and we can turn to our exclusive Earnings ESP figure to do so.

Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter. The Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change.

This is done because, generally speaking, when an analyst posts an estimate right before an earnings release, it means that they have fresh information which could potentially be more accurate than what analysts thought about a company two or three months ago.

A positive Earnings ESP paired with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better ranking helps us feel confident about the potential for an earnings beat. In fact, our 10-year backtest has revealed that this methodology has accurately produced a positive surprise 70% of the time.

Microsoft’s Most Accurate Estimate—the representation of the most recent analyst sentiment—is calling for earnings of $1.08 per share, which is one cent better than our current consensus estimate. Furthermore, Microsoft currently sports an Earnings ESP of 0.37% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which means investors can reasonably expect that MSFT has a good chance to beat earnings estimates after the bell Thursday.

It is also worth noting that Microsoft has topped our bottom line estimates in 14 out of the last 15 quarters, including the trailing eight periods.

Make sure to check back here for our full analysis after Microsoft reports!

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Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019

tags:CS,RNO,PTI,PPL,ECA,WFC,ST,THO,ARG,NRG,

In an all-stock deal valued at C$3.2 billion�(about US$2.5 billion), Canadian marijuana grower Aurora Cannabis will acquire MedReLeaf. Both are major Canadian cultivators of cannabis for the medical market, along with related products, and Aurora has opened a facility in Edmonton that will produce�more than 100,000 kg of cannabis annually when it is fully operational.

Aurora trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ACB and MedReLeaf trades on the TSX under the ticker symbol LEAF. Among North American companies in marijuana-related businesses, Aurora is the second-largest by market cap, with a value of $4.53 billion and MedReLeaf is sixth-largest with a market cap of $2.52 billion.

The transaction requires the approval of two-thirds of MedReLeaf shareholders, while the issuance of new Aurora stock requires the approval of a simple majority of the company’s stockholders. Holders of more than half (56%) of MedReLeaf’s already have agreed to vote to support the deal.

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Credit Suisse Group(CS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dustin Parrett]

  Just look at what happened to traders who got involved in the now-defunct VelocityShares Daily Inverse ETN (XIV), a particularly nasty piece of financial engineering created by Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS).

• [By Garrett Baldwin]
  FAANG stocks are attempting to rebound today after a brutal sell-off hit the Nasdaq components Tuesday. The social media giant Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) will report earnings after the bell, but it's likely that analysts are more interested in the company's ongoing response to a data scandal that rocked investor sentiment and spurred privacy fears during the first quarter. Wall Street forecasts EPS of $1.36 on top of $11.45 billion in revenue. Right now, the 10-year interest rate is sitting on the border of 3%. And this news has many investors jittery about the impact on the stock market and the broader economy. Of course, many people forget that interest rates remain historically low for this stage of an economic expansion. And inflation targets remain stubbornly elusive for members of the U.S. Federal Reserve. The truth is that investors have little to worry about regarding interest rates. Instead, they should listen to Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald, who offered his insight to Fox Business Network earlier this week. Here's what Keith had to say. Three Stocks to Watch Today: TWTR, CS, GE General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is under pressure to fire its auditor of 109 years, KPMG (for perspective, GE began its longtime relationship with KPMG a year after the first Model-T was built). Shareholder rights firms Glass-Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services are spearheading the change and will push for adjustments during the firm's annual shareholder meeting. The move comes after a calamitous year for GE, which saw the company become the worst-performing Dow component of 2017. Twitter Inc. (NYSE TWTR) will lead a very busy day of earnings reports. The social media giant is expected to report EPS of $0.12 on top of $609.8 million in revenue. Shares in�Credit Suisse�(ADR) (NYSE: CS) rallied more than 4% today after the Swiss financial giant beat earnings expectations before the bell. This was a significant milestone for Cr
• [By Max Byerly]

  AXA (EPA:CS) has been given a €27.50 ($32.74) target price by research analysts at Kepler Capital Markets in a report released on Thursday. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets’ price target indicates a potential upside of 20.61% from the company’s current price.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Shares of AXA (EPA:CS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is €27.18 ($32.35).

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Rhino Resource Partners LP(RNO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

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

• [By Ethan Ryder]

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

• [By Ethan Ryder]

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

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Patni Computer Systems Limited(PTI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Lange]

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

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: PPL Corporation(PPL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) dropped about 4.3% Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $25.73. Shares closed at $26.88 on Tuesday and the stock’s 52-week high is $39.90. The company goes ex-dividend tomorrow.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Maple Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,754 shares during the quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $4,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Investors bought shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) on weakness during trading on Tuesday. $85.45 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $30.50 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $54.95 million into the stock. Of all companies tracked, PPL had the 26th highest net in-flow for the day. PPL traded down ($0.42) for the day and closed at $27.23

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Pembina Pipeline (TSE:PPL) (NYSE:PBA) had its target price lowered by CIBC from C$53.00 to C$51.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

• [By Max Byerly]

  PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 16th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.41 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.07%.

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Encana Corporation(ECA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  Already, shale companies such as Encana (ECA) , Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) , among others, are reporting higher cash flows and earnings on higher oil prices. As a result, they are paying down debt, increasing dividends and engaging in buybacks. This is a dramatic improvement in shareholder yield for the group.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Electra (CURRENCY:ECA) traded down 5.1% against the U.S. dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 15:00 PM E.T. on June 12th. Over the last seven days, Electra has traded down 25.7% against the U.S. dollar. Electra has a market cap of $34.53 million and approximately $134,011.00 worth of Electra was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One Electra coin can currently be bought for $0.0013 or 0.00000020 BTC on exchanges including CryptoBridge, Fatbtc, CoinFalcon and Coinhouse.

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  Today, however, many drillers are setting a high bar for new wells. EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) has been one of the leaders in disrupting the former way of thinking by establishing a high return hurdle rate for new wells of 30% after-tax at $40 oil. Others followed with similar return-focused approaches, including Encana (NYSE:ECA), which needs locations to achieve a 35% after-tax return at $50 oil to meet its premium hurdle rate.�

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Electra (CURRENCY:ECA) traded 3.4% lower against the dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 18:00 PM Eastern on June 4th. Electra has a total market capitalization of $45.83 million and approximately $326,372.00 worth of Electra was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One Electra coin can currently be bought for $0.0018 or 0.00000024 BTC on cryptocurrency exchanges including Novaexchange, Octaex, Fatbtc and Cryptopia. In the last seven days, Electra has traded 12.8% higher against the dollar.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  These are some of the media stories that may have effected Accern’s scoring:

  Get Encana alerts: Should You Listen to This Stock? Encana Corporation (ECA) moves 51.44% away from One Year Low (nasdaqchronicle.com) Hot Mover of the Day �� Encana Corporation (NYSE:ECA) (thestockgem.com) Enrapturing Stocks: Encana Corporation, (NYSE: ECA), AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., (NASDAQ: AFSI) (globalexportlines.com) Analysts, Options Traders Love This Lesser-Known Energy Stock (schaeffersresearch.com) Encana Corp (ECA) Expected to Announce Quarterly Sales of $1.12 Billion (americanbankingnews.com)

  ECA traded up $0.27 on Thursday, hitting $12.47. 9,071,326 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,380,907. Encana has a 12 month low of $8.01 and a 12 month high of $14.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.00.

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) has been under more than its historical scrutiny after multiple scandals and self-inflicted management blunders. In fact, the company is even now advertising that Wells Fargo is being reintroduced in 2018 after over 150 years of operations. After many wrist slaps and many fines and settlements, Wells Fargo announced that the Federal Reserve Board did not object to the company��s 2018 Capital Plan under the recently concluded Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR).

• [By Max Byerly]

  Blueport Capital L.P. lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) by 94.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,513 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Co accounts for approximately 8.3% of Blueport Capital L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Blueport Capital L.P.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Co were worth $810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  In this segment of the Motley Fool Money podcast, host Chris Hill is joined by Million Dollar Portfolio's Jason Moser, Hidden Gems Canada's David Kretzmann, and Total Income's Ron Gross to reflect on last week's business and economic news, and one of the big stories was that once-admired bank Wells Fargo�(NYSE:WFC) was taking yet another mea culpa for yet more ways it was abusing its customers' trust.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Wells Fargo & Co (WFC)

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

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Sensata Technologies Holding N.V.(ST)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  News coverage about Sensata Technologies (NYSE:ST) has trended somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. The research firm ranks the sentiment of media coverage by monitoring more than 20 million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Sensata Technologies earned a news sentiment score of 0.15 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media headlines about the scientific and technical instruments company an impact score of 47.3141406855551 out of 100, meaning that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the next few days.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Sensata Technologies Ltd (NYSE:ST) by 15.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,199 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,012 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Sensata Technologies were worth $1,625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.51 per share on revenue of $14.62 billion. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.46 per share on revenue of $7.31 billion. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $2.07 per share on revenue of $11.93 billion. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.11 per share on revenue of $31.22 billion. Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $3.42 per share on revenue of $11.28 billion. The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $3.15 per share on revenue of $3.94 billion. Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $5.92 per share on revenue of $3.15 billion. 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $2.52 per share on revenue of $8.26 billion. JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.2 per share on revenue of $1.75 billion. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.13 per share on revenue of $5.49 billion. Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.88 per share on revenue of $1.25 billion. Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.3 per share on revenue of $2.50 billion. Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.88 per share on revenue of $13.28 billion. The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $2.77 per share on revenue of $6.75 billion. Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.07 per share on revenue of $2.16 billion. PACCAR Inc (NASDAQ: PCAR) is projected to
• [By Max Byerly]

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

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

• [By Logan Wallace]

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

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

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Thor Industries Inc.(THO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Asit Sharma]

  Thor Industries' (NYSE:THO)�fiscal 2018 third-quarter earnings, released on June 6, helped stem some of the company's recent share price decline: After surging nearly 51% in 2017, Thor's shares have lost one-third of their value year to date. As my colleague Dan Caplinger recently pointed out, the recreational vehicle, or RV, market remains strong, but investors are concerned about Thor's near-term prospects, given that it's coming off a period of phenomenal revenue growth. Below, I'll analyze five points made in Thor's earnings release and most recent quarterly "questions and answers" document, which provide context around its current earnings and outlook.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]
  Markets are cheering a major development in efforts to fix the ongoing trade conflict between the United States and China. According to Reuters, Chinese telecom giant ZTE has signed an agreement to get back into business with its American partners. The agreement will lift a ban by the U.S. Commerce Department that prevented China's No. 2 telecommunications equipment from buying from U.S. suppliers. This is a major development, and one that signals progress among trade officials from both nations. There are now more job openings in the United States than available workers. This is the first time that the Department of Labor has documented this phenomenon. There are 6.7 million openings compared to the 6.4 million workers available to fill those positions. As a result, U.S. companies have been forced to increase compensation in order to attract talent. All of the positive economic development could come to a screeching halt should the U.S. experience the largest labor strike in a decade. Reports indicate that the Teamsters and the United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) are on a collision course that could result in a general strike. The union has announced that 260,000 UPS employees have authorized a strike should both sides fail to reach a labor deal by August 1. UPS is responsible for the transport of 6% of the nation's gross domestic product. Three Stocks to Watch Today: TSLA, NOG, WFC Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) investors remain committed to giving Chairman Elon Musk more of their money. On Tuesday, shareholders struck down proposals that would have removed Musk from the chairman role and shaken up the board of directors. Both proposals failed. At the same shareholder event, Musk announced plans for Tesla to open a production facility in Shanghai and projected that his firm will likely produce 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of June. In deal news, defense contractor Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOG) has won U.S. antitrust approval to purchase rocket moto
• [By ]

  Cramer was bearish on Thor Industries (THO) and Hain Celestial Group (HAIN) .

  Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.

• [By ]

  LCI Industries (LCII) fell 5% on the day. Patrick Industries Inc. (PATK) dropped 4.24%. Thor Industries Inc. (THO) tanked 9.83%. Winnebago Industries Inc. (WGO) fell 8.85%. 

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Tahoe Resources (TSE:THO) (NASDAQ:TAHO) – Equities research analysts at National Bank Financial reduced their FY2018 earnings estimates for shares of Tahoe Resources in a research report issued on Monday, April 9th. National Bank Financial analyst M. Parkin now forecasts that the company will earn $0.29 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $0.35. National Bank Financial currently has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock.

• [By Daniel Miller]

  Another metric that bodes well for Winnebago is its total backlog; this increased by a healthy 36% compared to the prior year, to $193.1 million. That 36% increase looks even better when you consider that competitor Thor Industries (NYSE:THO) reported an 18% decline in its backlog during its recent quarterly conference call -- although Thor Industries offered an explanation for the reduction.

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: Airgas Inc.(ARG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Argentum (CURRENCY:ARG) traded 3.6% lower against the US dollar during the one day period ending at 19:00 PM ET on May 27th. In the last week, Argentum has traded 2.8% lower against the US dollar. Argentum has a total market capitalization of $1.66 million and approximately $610.00 worth of Argentum was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Argentum coin can currently be purchased for about $0.17 or 0.00002374 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including Cryptopia and CoinExchange.

Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2019: NRG Energy Inc.(NRG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) was started with a Buy rating and�assigned a $37 price objective (versus a $33.15 close) at Merrill Lynch.

  Oasis Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OAS) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $17 from $13 at Morgan Stanley.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE) and NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

This Chart Shows Exactly Why AT&T Is Pushing Into Advertising

AT&T (NYSE:T) is jumping in feet first with its advertising plans after closing its acquisition of Time Warner. It had an ad tech unit that's mostly laid dormant while awaiting the acquisition, but now it's quickly ramping up operations. AT&T bolted onto its advertising business with the acquisition of AppNexus, which specializes in artificial intelligence (AI) for advertising and video.

As people spend less time watching television and more time streaming digital media, AT&T and the rest of the television industry face a significant challenge in maximizing the value of the ads people actually watch on television. The industry is at a huge disadvantage compared to digital advertising players like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet subsidiary�(NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google.

And marketers have noticed. Take a look at this chart that shows historical and projected U.S. ad spend on television and digital channels.

Data source: eMarketer. Chart by author.

As the largest pay-TV distributor and one of the largest cable television networks, AT&T has a lot at stake. That growing gap between digital and television is both a challenge and an opportunity for AT&T. In solving its own problem, it could find itself taking a piece of every distributor and network's advertising business.

Taking TV into the digital age

Digital advertisers have something most television advertisers don't: data. The best digital advertisers, like Facebook and Google, have both lots of data and lots of ad inventory. Furthermore, with intimate knowledge of the targeting data and ad inventory, Facebook and Google are able to produce very high returns on marketers' ad spending.

AT&T wants to combine its data from its 170 million customer relationships with Turner's ad inventory to create a new kind of platform for buying television ads. Instead of using a sales team to sell ads directly, AT&T will enable marketers to buy ads in a similar way to how they buy ads on Facebook or Google.

Image source: Getty Images.

That should lead to an improved return on investment (ROI) for advertisements bought on AT&T's forthcoming ad platform. A better ROI for marketers ought to lead to an increase in ad spend. It should also increase the profits AT&T sees from advertising since it will have less overhead.

There's a massive opportunity for AT&T. TV marketing budgets have fallen flat in recent years, but that's not entirely due to cord-cutting. It's because television ads are often an inferior product to digital advertising. They're harder to measure and test, and there's a significant barrier to entry. As a result, digital is accounting for all of the growth in global ad spend.

But marketers will spend money wherever they get the best return on investment. And with total advertising spend still growing rapidly, they've shown a willingness to spend on the right product.

It works better when everyone's on board

Google's AdWords product is excellent tool for reaching consumers all over the web. Last quarter, Google's Network Members�brought in a total of $4.6 billion in revenue. The company paid out a hefty revenue share to the owners of the websites it advertised on, but it still netted over $1 billion after paying out to its Network Members.�

The reason AdWords is so popular is because of the network. Google is acting as the middleman bringing to together web publishers and web marketers. AT&T wants to eventually play a similar role, but for television networks and distributors. A network that reaches beyond AT&T's properties could produce even better pricing as marketers flock to the platform to buy ads in a single place. Facebook, for example, was able to quickly grow active advertisers and total ad revenue on Instagram thanks to using a single tool to buy both Facebook and Instagram ads. If AT&T can provide a single tool to buy ads across the entire spectrum of television networks, it won't take long for it to reach a critical mass.

Of course, getting media companies on board is easier said than done. AT&T must negotiate with those companies for affiliate fees all the time. Those companies are already tying a large part of their company to AT&T -- why would they want to partner with AT&T on the rest of their business?

AT&T is now also a competitor in the space. Other networks and distributors aren't likely to support AT&T's products.

While getting other companies on board will be a major challenge, it's by no means a roadblock. There's still a massive opportunity to make television advertising become more like digital, and AT&T is in the best position to do just that.

Teranga Gold (TGZ) Hits New 1-Year Low at $4.64

Shares of Teranga Gold Corp (TSE:TGZ) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as C$4.64 and last traded at C$4.66, with a volume of 91021 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$4.75.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity restated a “buy” rating and set a C$8.50 target price on shares of Teranga Gold in a report on Monday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Teranga Gold from C$4.50 to C$6.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Teranga Gold from C$4.50 to C$5.50 in a research report on Wednesday, March 28th.

Teranga Gold (TSE:TGZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The company reported C$0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of C$0.14 by C($0.01). The firm had revenue of C$109.02 million during the quarter. Teranga Gold had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 6.64%.

Teranga Gold Company Profile

Teranga Gold Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and sale of gold in West Africa. Its projects comprising Sabodala gold mine located in the Republic of Senegal and Wahgnion gold project located in Burkina Faso. The company also develops and explores various projects in Burkina Faso, C么te d'Ivoire, and Senegal.

Trump��s Devastating Trade War Weapons

The news last week was dominated by breathless headlines about the new trade war between the U.S. and China. But this trade war has been brewing for years and came as no surprise to readers of my newsletter, Project Prophesy. In fact, the new trade war is simply a continuation of the currency wars that began in 2010.

I��ve warned for over a year that President Trump��s threats of tariffs should be taken seriously, while most of Wall Street discounted Trump��s talk as mere bluster. Now the trade wars are here as we expected, and they will get much worse before they are resolved.

The most powerful analytic frame today for understanding political and macroeconomic developments is the sequence from currency wars to trade wars and then ultimately shooting wars.

Currency wars arise in a condition of too much debt and too little growth. Economic powers try to steal growth from their trading partners by devaluing their currencies to promote exports and import inflation.

This can work in the short run, but the benefits are strictly temporary because trading partners retaliate by devaluing their own currencies. The tit-for-tat devaluations leave everyone worse off because of the uncertainty and transaction costs imposed.

Once it becomes clear that currency wars are a failure, nations resort to trade wars. These begin with tariffs imposed by one nation on another to protect domestic industry and reduce trade deficits. As with currency wars, the problem is retaliation. Victims of tariffs impose their own tariffs and the world is worse off.

We��ve seen this pattern before in the 1920s and 1930s. It began with currency wars (1921��-1936), then trade wars (1930��-1939) and finally a shooting war in the Second World War that began in Asia in 1936, spread to Europe in 1939 and subsumed the U.S. in 1941.

The present currency war began in 2010. The new trade war began in 2018. Let��s hope a new shooting war or even a third world war does not follow in sequence.

Trump is like a five-star general in the currency and trade wars. It��s important to understand his weapons and tactics. Trump likes to threaten to get results but often does not follow through on his threats.

Recently he threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the primary multilateral body for settling trade disputes and a successor to one of the original Bretton Woods institutions (along with the IMF and World Bank) established in 1944.

But Trump��s threat to withdraw from the WTO will not be carried out. It��s in the bluff category, strictly for show.

The fact is Trump is turning trade policy upside down without withdrawing from WTO by using other tools at his disposal.

There has always been an exemption from the application of WTO rules where national security is involved. It’s just that past presidents have never used the authority because they are globalists (Republicans and Democrats).

Trump��s method is to weaponize national security considerations in the context of trade disputes. The U.S. has always had ways to stop trade flows and restrict direct foreign investment based on national security considerations.

Trump��s three main “weapons,” mostly unknown to everyday Americans, are IEEPA, CFIUS and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

IEEPA stands for the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Enacted in 1977, it allows the President to regulate commerce after declaring a national emergency. He can declare this emergency ��to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.��

CFIUS stands for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. It began under President Ford in 1975. CFIUS gives the Executive Branch power to monitor the impact of foreign investment in the United States, and determine if it jeopardizes national security. It can block acquisitions of U.S. firms by Chinese companies, for example.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 is the ��nuclear option�� when it comes to trade wars. I don��t want to get too deeply in the weeds here, but Section 301 gives the president broad authority to impose sanctions and penalties. It gives the president a free hand to impose billions of dollars of damages if not more on China.

So Trump has the best of both worlds. He can threaten the WTO, but doesn’t actually have to withdraw because he can get everything he wants anyway using IEEPA, CFIUS and Section 301. The globalists are freaking out but can’t stop him.

Unlike previous globalist presidents, Trump is a nationalist. And he’s using these powers like crazy to push his agenda. The Congress can’t stop him because all of these weapons are statutory; they were already passed by Congress in the 1970s and 1980s. These statutes delegate expansive powers to the president.

What’s new is not the law but the way the law is being used.

During the Weimar Republic hyperinflation in 1922��23, paper money became worthless and was swept down sewers (left, below) or fed into furnaces as fuel (right, below). The currency wars continued with French devaluation (1925), U.K. devaluation (1931) and U.S. devaluation (1933). When the currency wars failed to produce growth, the trade wars erupted with the Smoot-Hawley tariffs (1930) and similar tariffs from U.S. trading partners. After currency wars and trade wars failed came shooting wars in Asia (1936) and Europe (1939). The same pattern is repeating today with a new currency war (2010) and trade war (2018).

There is legislation pending in Congress right now to amend CFIUS. The name of the bill is the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, or FIRRMA. This amendment to CFIUS will give CFIUS greatly expanded powers to stop Chinese takeovers of U.S. crown jewels in technology, telecommunications and the defense sector.

This new law shuts the Chinese (and anyone else Trump doesn’t like) out of the market to acquire U.S. tech and defense stocks. Once you remove the biggest buyers from the market, prices will plunge to “re-price” to the new reality.

With the trade wars and pending legislation in mind, what are my predictive analytic models telling us about the prospects for a stock market crash in the tech and defense sectors?

Right now my analytical tools are telling me that FIRRMA is close to a sure thing to become law, but Wall Street is underestimating the impact of this on takeover activity and stock prices to tech and defense companies.

FIRRMA has been attached to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2019 (starting Oct. 1, 2018). However, Congress will be in recess most of the time after July 26 for vacations and midterm election campaigning.

NDAA is “must pass” legislation. This means Congress has to pass this before the end of September unless they enact a continuing resolution. I estimate two possible outside dates for this to become law and go to the president for signature: Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018 (with no continuing resolution), or Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018 (end of this session of Congress).

Of course, markets won��t wait until then to react. Sooner than later, Wall Street will see this coming and start to discount the impact. FIRRMA has bipartisan support from liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. It’s as close to a “sure thing” in D.C. legislation as you can get.

China will not take this lying down. They are fighting back in the trade wars using currency war weapons as shown in the chart below. They will also retaliate directly by restricting U.S. investment in China��s technology, another blow to global tech stock prices.

China is fighting back in the trade wars by returning to the currency wars. When Trump imposes a 25% tariff on Chinese imports, this increases the costs of Chinese goods to U.S. consumers. But China can retaliate by cheapening its currency (CNY) against the U.S. dollar (USD), which reduces the costs of Chinese imports to U.S. consumers. That��s exactly what China has done the past few weeks with a bigger yuan devaluation than the August 2015 ��shock�� devaluation, as shown in the chart below. The CNY/USD devaluation offsets the tariffs. The trade and currency wars continue and will get worse.

The trade and currency wars are like a hurricane aimed directly at tech and defense stocks. Wall Street does not see this coming, so there��s an excellent opportunity to profit by positioning in advance.

Regards,

Jim Rickards
for The Daily Reckoning

One Big Retirement Lie... And What You Need To Know About It

&l;p&g;Over the last few decades, retirement planning, and even the very essence of what it means to be &a;ldquo;retired,&a;rdquo; has dramatically changed. And while some of the &a;ldquo;old&a;rdquo; rules of retirement still apply, those looking to enjoy a comfortable retirement in today&a;rsquo;s world often need to buck old trends .

Case in point... in the past, the old adage was that, in general, during your working years you should put as much money as possible into your 401(k) and tax-deductible IRA to save for retirement and lower your tax bill. The idea was to get a deduction during your working years, when your tax rate was higher, and to later take that money out of your tax-deferred accounts in retirement, when your tax rate was lower. For some, that&a;rsquo;s certainly still true today, but for many others, the reality is that retirement will bring with it a &l;em&g;higher &l;/em&g;tax rate. In such situations, old-school tax-deferral strategies are less effective, and may even be detrimental to your long-term retirement success.

There are a number of reasons your tax rate might be higher in retirement than it is today. Take, for instance, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed last December, which temporarily lowers taxes for most Americans through 2025. If no changes occur before then, however, we&a;rsquo;ll see a reversal of that trend, and many Americans will see higher taxes in 2026, even if their income remains the same.

Another reason you might see your taxes increase in retirement is that there are certain &a;ldquo;taxes&a;rdquo; in retirement that don&a;rsquo;t exist earlier in life. The word &a;ldquo;taxes&a;rdquo; is in quotations there, because not all of the income-related costs you might incur in retirement are technically &a;ldquo;taxes&a;rdquo;. But who cares what it&a;rsquo;s called? If the cost goes up as your income does, it goes down as a tax in my book!

One example of this is the Medicare Part B (and D) premiums you typically begin paying at 65. If your income is high enough, you&a;rsquo;ll be assessed with something called an income-related monthly adjustment amount, or IRMAA for short. This is just a complicated way of saying you pay a higher premium because of your income. In 2018, married couples filing a joint return begin to be impacted by the IRMAA at $170,000 of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and single filers are impacted with MAGI half that amount. The top IRMAA level for 2018 takes effect at $320,000 of MAGI for joint filers (half that amount for single filers), and can increase a married couple&s;s combined Medicare costs by nearly a whopping $9,000!

Other income-related costs (taxes) that you might be subject to in retirement, and aren&a;rsquo;t applicable earlier, include taxes on Social Security benefits, which generally can&a;rsquo;t be claimed until as early as 62. The formula to determine the taxation of Social Security benefits is particularly complex and failing to understand those complexities could be costly. For instance, thanks to an oddity that&a;rsquo;s been nicknamed the &a;ldquo;tax torpedo&a;rdquo; by some, it&a;rsquo;s often &l;em&g;less&l;/em&g; tax efficient to pay tax on IRA distributions at a 10% rate &l;em&g;after&l;/em&g; beginning to receive Social Security benefits than it is to pay tax on IRA distributions at the higher 12% rate &l;em&g;before&l;/em&g; beginning to receive Social Security benefits. If that doesn&a;rsquo;t make any sense, don&a;rsquo;t worry. It&a;rsquo;s not supposed to. We&a;rsquo;re talking taxes here, after all.

There are plenty of other reasons to believe that both your &a;ldquo;taxes&a;rdquo; and your taxes might be higher in retirement too. Consider the potential cost of losing out on lower property tax rates that are sometimes available to seniors with more modest incomes in some jurisdictions. And remember that at 70 &a;frac12; you must generally begin to take distributions from your pre-tax retirement accounts &a;ndash; whether you want to or not - which can quickly drive up your taxable income. And what tax rate will you pay then? Who knows?! It could depend on which way the political winds are blowing at the time.

All of this, again, is to make the point that just because you&a;rsquo;ve always been told you&a;rsquo;ll be in a lower tax bracket in retirement doesn&a;rsquo;t necessarily make it so . This trap has caught many off-guard over the years, leading to needless taxation. Don&a;rsquo;t let it happen to you. By looking ahead and planning now, you can take proactive steps to maximize the efficiency of your income in retirement, such adjusting deferrals to 401(k) and similar plans to utilize (at least in part) the Roth options, when available, exploring Roth IRA conversions, considering the built-in tax efficiency of Social Security benefits relative to most other income streams, and re-evaluating asset location plans.&l;/p&g;

Mercury Price Reaches $0.13 (MER)

Mercury (CURRENCY:MER) traded 7.3% lower against the US dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 12:00 PM E.T. on July 5th. One Mercury token can now be bought for approximately $0.13 or 0.00002012 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Waves Decentralized Exchange, Tidex, Upbit and Bittrex. Over the last week, Mercury has traded up 8.7% against the US dollar. Mercury has a market cap of $13.31 million and approximately $916,589.00 worth of Mercury was traded on exchanges in the last day.

Here’s how other cryptocurrencies have performed over the last day:

Get Mercury alerts: XRP (XRP) traded down 1.8% against the dollar and now trades at $0.49 or 0.00007339 BTC. Stellar (XLM) traded 2.7% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.21 or 0.00003134 BTC. IOTA (MIOTA) traded 3.8% lower against the dollar and now trades at $1.18 or 0.00017757 BTC. NEO (NEO) traded up 8.6% against the dollar and now trades at $42.07 or 0.00635734 BTC. Tether (USDT) traded up 0.7% against the dollar and now trades at $1.01 or 0.00015224 BTC. TRON (TRX) traded 2.6% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0386 or 0.00000583 BTC. Binance Coin (BNB) traded down 1.3% against the dollar and now trades at $13.92 or 0.00210269 BTC. VeChain (VET) traded 4.1% lower against the dollar and now trades at $2.63 or 0.00039772 BTC. Ontology (ONT) traded 2.6% lower against the dollar and now trades at $5.05 or 0.00076245 BTC. Zilliqa (ZIL) traded 0.4% higher against the dollar and now trades at $0.0866 or 0.00001308 BTC.

Mercury Token Profile

Mercury’s launch date was March 15th, 2017. Mercury’s total supply is 100,000,000 tokens. Mercury’s official Twitter account is @darcrus and its Facebook page is accessible here. Mercury’s official website is www.darcr.us.

Mercury Token Trading

Mercury can be bought or sold on these cryptocurrency exchanges: Bittrex, Waves Decentralized Exchange, Upbit and Tidex. It is usually not currently possible to purchase alternative cryptocurrencies such as Mercury directly using U.S. dollars. Investors seeking to trade Mercury should first purchase Ethereum or Bitcoin using an exchange that deals in U.S. dollars such as Coinbase, Changelly or Gemini. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Ethereum or Bitcoin to purchase Mercury using one of the exchanges listed above.

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$38.66 Million in Sales Expected for Preferred Bank (PFBC) This Quarter

Equities research analysts expect Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) to report sales of $38.66 million for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks. Four analysts have provided estimates for Preferred Bank’s earnings, with the highest sales estimate coming in at $39.00 million and the lowest estimate coming in at $38.46 million. Preferred Bank posted sales of $32.55 million in the same quarter last year, which suggests a positive year-over-year growth rate of 18.8%. The business is expected to announce its next earnings results on Tuesday, July 17th.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Preferred Bank will report full year sales of $158.49 million for the current year, with estimates ranging from $156.00 million to $160.28 million. For the next financial year, analysts expect that the company will post sales of $180.06 million per share, with estimates ranging from $172.30 million to $185.43 million. Zacks Investment Research’s sales averages are an average based on a survey of research firms that cover Preferred Bank.

Get Preferred Bank alerts:

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 19th. The bank reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $37.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.29 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 28.88%.

Separately, BidaskClub raised Preferred Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.60.

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 84.2% during the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 72,494 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,655,000 after purchasing an additional 33,134 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 30,178 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,774,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134 shares during the period. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 100,739 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,922,000 after purchasing an additional 4,425 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 795,647 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,768,000 after purchasing an additional 35,989 shares during the period. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 184,640 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,853,000 after purchasing an additional 48,632 shares during the period. 86.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shares of PFBC stock traded up $1.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $67.85. The stock had a trading volume of 443,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,181. The company has a market capitalization of $871.73 million, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.00. Preferred Bank has a twelve month low of $49.84 and a twelve month high of $68.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 6th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 5th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.73%.

About Preferred Bank

Preferred Bank provides various commercial banking products and services to small and mid-sized businesses and their owners, entrepreneurs, real estate developers and investors, professionals, and high net worth individuals in the United States. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, negotiable order of withdrawal, and money market deposit accounts; fixed-rate and fixed maturity retail, and non-retail certificates of deposit; and individual retirement accounts.

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