Trustmark Corp (TRMK) Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its position in Trustmark Corp (NASDAQ:TRMK) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 122,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,773 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.18% of Trustmark worth $3,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRMK. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Trustmark by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 439,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,019,000 after purchasing an additional 13,866 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Trustmark by 247.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 9,918 shares during the last quarter. Ballew Advisors Inc bought a new position in Trustmark in the fourth quarter valued at $396,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Trustmark by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 56,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 3,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV increased its stake in Trustmark by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 10,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,926 shares during the last quarter. 61.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Investment Research cut Trustmark from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 13th. BidaskClub raised Trustmark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. SunTrust Banks reduced their target price on Trustmark to $33.00 and set an “average” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Hovde Group set a $33.00 target price on Trustmark and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, ValuEngine cut Trustmark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

Trustmark opened at $32.55 on Monday, according to Marketbeat. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.95 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Trustmark Corp has a 52 week low of $28.16 and a 52 week high of $35.09.

Trustmark (NASDAQ:TRMK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. Trustmark had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 16.75%. The firm had revenue of $152.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.64 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. sell-side analysts anticipate that Trustmark Corp will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 31st. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Trustmark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.92%.

Trustmark Company Profile

Trustmark Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Trustmark National Bank that provides banking and other financial solutions to individuals and corporate institutions in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts; individual retirement accounts; certificates of deposits; financing for commercial and industrial projects, income producing commercial real estate, owner-occupied real estate, and construction and land development; and installment and real estate loans, and lines of credit.

Accumulate The Ramco Cements; target of Rs 890: Prabhudas Lilladher

Prabhudas Lilladher's research report on The Ramco Cements

The Ramco Cements (TRCL) reported Q4FY18 EBITDA above our expectation on the back of lower costs and higher volumes. However, PAT came in line with our expectation due to high tax rate.� Led by highly efficient operations, TRCL continued to perform better than market despite sharp increase in costs and pressure on prices. Street has apprehensions on company��s ongoing capacity addition in Eastern region that it would face headwinds on margins due to intense competition and large capacity addition from the peers in the region. However, we believe that these capacities would generate strong margins at par with existing operations backed by highly competitive logistics network and blending advantage.

Outlook

TRCL remains the best play on Southern region; stretched valuations limits material upside from current levels. Hence, we maintain Accumulate with a TP of Rs890, EV/EBITDA of 16x FY20E.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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The 3 Stocks on the MFM Team's Radar This Week

In this segment of the Motley Fool Money podcast, host Chris Hill asks Fool analysts Jason Moser, Matt Argersinger, and Ron Gross to tell us about the companies they have their eyes on this week and why: strip-mall focused REIT Retail Opportunity Investments�(NASDAQ:ROIC); virtual healthcare provider Teladoc�(NYSE:TDOC); and Arcos Dorados�(NYSE:ARCO), which is the exclusive franchise operator for McDonald's across most of Latin America.

A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on May 18, 2018.

Chris Hill: Let's get to the stocks on our radar. Our man behind the glass, Steve Broido, is going to hit you with a question. Ron Gross, you're up first. What are you looking at this week?

Ron Gross: I have Retail Opportunity Investments Corp, ROIC. They are a REIT focused on retail shopping centers, which, rightfully so, has some investors nervous. The stock has not been strong, we can say. But I think they have great properties in affluent areas, a really strong management team. They're grocery store-anchored, which I like. Great dividend, as most REITs typically do. They've increased that dividend each year for the past seven years. It now stands at a 4.5% yield. I think the stock itself has some nice upside.

Hill: Steve, question about Retail Opportunity Investments Corp?

Steve Broido: If I'm looking at companies like this, am I just looking at the yield? Is that all I'm looking at? Or am I looking at more?

Gross: No, you can look at cash flows, for sure. There are some certain metrics that REITs have, we won't get into the nitty-gritty, but you want to make sure the cash flow is strong. And, be aware of that because they distribute most of their cash in dividends, they constantly need to raise equity or debt to fund future acquisitions. So, you'll want to keep an eye on the balance sheet, as well.

Hill: Jason Moser, what are you looking at?

Jason Moser: Not a new name. Listeners are probably familiar with Teladoc, ticker TDOC. Little bit of a question I had going into this most recent quarter's earnings, they have a different part to the business here they've introduced for a fee-only member. Like, they have a membership model, but then they also have a fee-only model. And I wanted to know the incentive there. Why wouldn't you just try to make everybody a member of your plan? So, I contacted investor relations, they gave me a lot of great information. The bottom line, the fee-only model is really about attracting these big millions of users, bases, with health plans like Aetna or Blue Cross Blue Shield. So, the economics simply make more sense. It gives Teladoc a chance to really grow that base out. We're seeing this big move toward virtual healthcare and telehealth, and Teladoc is helping lead the way. So, continue to really love what these guys are doing.

Hill: Steve, question about Teladoc?

Broido: When is my primary care doc a virtual one?

Moser: Well, it could be right now, actually, Steve. If you go to Teladoc's app, you can enter all of that information in and boom, it's like magic.

Hill: I was really hoping Steve was just going to ask you a medical question.

Moser: I would come up with an answer. It might not be the right one, but I'd come up with an answer.

Hill: "Can you look at this thing on my shoulder?" Matt Argersinger, what are you looking at this week?

Matt Argersinger: Also one I've mentioned in the past, Arcos Dorados, ticker ARCO. Exclusive operator and franchiser of McDonald's restaurants in most of Latin America. It's off to a great start to 2017. Comparable-store sales -- excluding Venezuela --

Gross: [laughs] You can't do that.

Argersinger: Yeah, I know. That gained 9.8% in the quarter. Revenue up 5.5% to $800 million. Arcos' EBITDA margin, which reached a six-year high in 2017, expanded again in the first quarter. That brought in $68 million in adjusted earnings, up 12.5% over the last year. Argentina is facing some trouble right now, I see that. It's always volatile in Latin America. But this is one of the cheapest stocks I see.

Hill: Steve?

Broido: How old is too old for a Happy Meal?

Argersinger: Oh, man, I don't know. I think I could go for a Happy Meal right now.

Hill: Arcos Dorados, Teladoc, Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. Do you want to add one of those to your watchlist, Steve?

Broido: I'm going to take a look at Ron's REIT.

Gross: Nice.

Predicting The Markets Is Tough But Worthy Task

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-959623612&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/959623612/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;638&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images)

Trying to predict the markets is a near-impossible task and those who attempt to do so almost always fail. Many investors who persist in attempting to untangle the many conflicting events and investor opinions, including the sophisticated players who earn a living investing in the stock market, readily admit that trying to accurately forecast market behavior is mostly a fool&a;rsquo;s game.

The stock market is, indeed, very difficult to diagnose because it is a conglomeration of human behavior influenced by world and local events. To put it simply, investors trying to forecast or beat the markets have to be attuned to the consistencies and inconsistencies of human nature.

The stock market, for the most part, is driven by humans and human judgment, fraught with inconsistencies and conflicting thoughts. But that hasn&a;rsquo;t stopped hordes of investors from making big bets on what they believe the market will perform at any given time.

&a;ldquo;The trick is to learn from the hits and misses of the forecasting process .&a;hellip; and first and foremost, current analysis requires a thorough grounding in the economic and financial data,&a;rdquo; says Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, who recently published the book, &a;ldquo;Predicting The Markets, A Professional Autobiography.&a;rdquo; The research firm provides global investment strategy and asset allocation analyses and recommendations. It also publishes for clients a daily report on its observations on what&a;rsquo;s happening in the stock, bond and commodity markets, as well as what&a;rsquo;s currently significant in various currencies.

If there is a Wall Street pro who is supremely qualified to make sense of the markets and who is particularly prescient as a successful investor and prognosticator of where they are likely to be heading, it is Yardeni. His career has spanned an extraordinary secular bull market in stocks, punctuated by plenty of nasty corrections and severe, wicked bear markets along the way.

Take a look at where the Dow Jones industrial average has been since Yardeni started his Wall Street career in 1978 &a;mdash; and where he landed through January 2017 as a stock market analyst: When he started working at the brokerage firm E.F. Hutton in 1978, the Dow had been trading at around 1,000. Then on Oct. 11, 1982, the Dow industrials finally climbed above 1,000. And by Nov. 21, 1995, the Dow had jumped five-fold, to 5,000.

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By Aug. 25, 2017, the Dow had zoomed to 20,000 &a;mdash; a 20-fold climb since Yardeni started his career on the Street. And by Nov. 30, 2017, the Dow closed well above that level, to 24,000. Today (May 24, 2018), the Dow industrial average is trading at around 24,800.

Yardeni stayed bullish most of the time during all those 40 years. &a;ldquo;I remained bullish during all the corrections. And I was bearish when the tech and housing bubbles burst. However, I saw both selloffs as buying opportunities, as selloffs within a secular bull market,&a;rdquo; said Yardeni.

His career also blossomed during those years. Yardeni received a Ph.D in economics from Yale University in 1976, after completing his undergraduate studies in international relations (magna cum laude) from Cornell University in 1968. On Wall Street, Yardeni pursued an active and productive career, becoming Chief Economist at Oak Industries, Prudential Equity Group, and Prudential Bank&a;rsquo;s US equities division in New York City. He also served as Chief Economist at investment firms CJ Lawrence, Prudential-Bach Securities, and EF Hutton.

Yardeni also taught at Columbia Business School and became an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, s position that&a;rsquo;s much sought after. He also held enviable positions at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the US Treasury Department in Washington DC.

In his book, Yardeni shares his professional insight into predicting the economy and financial markets. Here&a;rsquo;s how he described the jigsaw puzzle that could be compared with the stock market: Instead of being able to change the pieces you need to solve a jigsaw puzzle, the stock market is a more dynamic game in that the &q;picture changes as new puzzle pieces are constantly thrown on the table.&a;rdquo; The puzzle pieces consists mostly of economic news, including current events and data releases, which surely is a live streaming series of activities.

&a;ldquo;The job of a Wall Street economist and investment strategist is always interesting because we, along with investors and traders, are constantly monitoring the news events that might be relevant to the financial markets,&q; notes Yardeni. All financial markets, he points out, are affected by the business cycle and inflation, and they are all affected by interest rates. So in predicting the markets, they necessarily have to be part of the process of deciphering the puzzle.

So where is the stock market headed next? There are only two variables to predict, argues Yardeni: Earnings and the price-earnings ratio. &a;ldquo;They are not so easy to get right, given the myriad of factors collectively determine them,&a;rdquo; he cautions. The tougher of the two to divine is valuation as it is more subjective. But the earnings variable is determined by such factors as economic growth, inflation, and interest rates.

Valuation is affected by those same factors, but it is also subject to hard-to-assess psychological influences that affect investor behavior, such as confidence, fear and greed. And there is also the problem of investors having to assess earnings expectations and how much they are willing to pay for them.

What makes market forecasting even much more difficult is that so many variables align and often compete with one another at certain times. Yardeni goes through these various variables and enlightens investors about how they are important to pay attention to.

He thinks the essential issues and sets of events to be mindful of are &a;ldquo;Globalization and Geopolitics, Demography and Growth, Technology, Inflation and Productivity, Central Banks and Cryptopcurrencies, and Science and Prosperity.&a;rdquo;

So what does Yardeni foresees ahead? His principal predictions: &q;I predict that prosperity will prevail in our interconnected global economy long into the future. If so, then so should the bull market in stocks, as it has over the past 40 years.

Yardeni&a;rsquo;s 595-page finely written book is an amazing read for its wide-ranging perspective and insightful analyses of one of the most convoluted financial subjects to understand, much less elucidate on how the capitalist world functions, and succeeds.

It is certainly a thoroughly informative must-read book not only for investors but for those potential Masters of the Universe looking to conquer the challenging world of money and finance.

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Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:ITG,BL,SIRI,IMGN,ETH,SIVB, Emissions-free RVs aren't wishful thinking any longer, but don't expect them to be popping up on any neighborhood driveways this summer.

Winnebago Industries has announced the launch of an all-electric chassis aimed at the market for commercial vehicles like bloodmobiles, mobile medical clinics and mobile classrooms. The zero-emissions vehicle will be available in 33-foot and 38-foot lengths and can weigh up to 26,000 pounds.

The vehicle isn't suited to use as a motorhome yet because of its limited range. But the future for alternative-energy RVs doesn't seem to be decades away, however. Alternative energy news site Electrek reported last fall on a German consumer RV prototype powered by solar panels and a battery pack that can travel at more than 100 miles per charge.

The cost for producing high-powered lithium-ion batteries is also plummeting. Just eight years ago, the cost of a battery for vehicular purposes was about $1,000 per kilowatt-hour of use, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report. In 2016, the cost was down to $273 per hour.�

Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Investment Technology Group, Inc.(ITG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Investment Technology Group (NYSE:ITG) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 30th will be given a dividend of 0.07 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 15th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%.

Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: BlackLine, Inc. (BL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

  For the details of Silver Lake Group, L.L.C.'s stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Silver+Lake+Group%2C+L.L.C.

  These are the top 5 holdings of Silver Lake Group, L.L.C.GoDaddy Inc (GDDY) - 15,868,908 shares, 21.3% of the total portfolio. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) - 3,587,218 shares, 16.52% of the total portfolio. Sabre Corp (SABR) - 30,019,094 shares, 16.43% of the total portfolio. Broadcom Ltd (AVGO) - 1,618,567 shares, 11.1% of the total portfolio. BlackLine Inc (BL) - 12,543,873 shares, 10.99% of the total portfolio. Share
• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on BlackLine (BL)

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

• [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

  For the details of Silver Lake Group, L.L.C.'s stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Silver+Lake+Group%2C+L.L.C.

  These are the top 5 holdings of Silver Lake Group, L.L.C.GoDaddy Inc (GDDY) - 15,868,908 shares, 21.3% of the total portfolio. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) - 3,587,218 shares, 16.52% of the total portfolio. Sabre Corp (SABR) - 30,019,094 shares, 16.43% of the total portfolio. Broadcom Ltd (AVGO) - 1,618,567 shares, 11.1% of the total portfolio. BlackLine Inc (BL) - 12,543,873 shares, 10.99% of the total portfolio. Share

Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Sirius XM Radio Inc.(SIRI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  Berkshire's biggest winners in the stock market so far this year are MasterCard Inc. (MA) , up 23%; Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI) , up 18%; Phillips 66 (PSX) , up 14%; Visa Inc. (V) , up 11%; and Moody's Corp. (MCO) , also up 11%, according to FactSet.

• [By ]

  However, several Buffett stocks chalked up nice gains during the first quarter. The three top performers in Berkshire's portfolio were Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI), Mastercard (NYSE:MA), and Moody's (NYSE:MCO). Here's what drove these stocks higher -- and what their prospects are for the rest of 2018.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI)�is gearing up for a big earnings announcement this week. The satellite radio provider reports first-quarter results before Wednesday's market open, and a lot is riding on its financial performance. Sirius XM has been one of the market's biggest winners since bottoming out at $0.05 -- yes, a nickel -- in 2009. The stock is now a 127-bagger, and it hit a new 12-year high just last month.

Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: ImmunoGen, Inc.(IMGN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By George Budwell]

  Shares of the clinical-stage biotech ImmunoGen (NASDAQ:IMGN) rose by as much as 13.8% on heavy volume in early-morning trading today. The catalyst?

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in shares of ImmunoGen (NASDAQ:IMGN) by 190.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 331,215 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 217,244 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.25% of ImmunoGen worth $3,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  ImmunoGen (NASDAQ:IMGN) was downgraded by BidaskClub from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Ethan Allen Interiors Inc.(ETH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATXI) rose 29.4 percent to $5.50 in pre-market trading after the company disclosed that its first pivotal Phase 3 trial of IV tramadol achieved the primary and key secondary endpoints. MB Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBFI) rose 16.8 percent to $51.00 in pre-market trading. Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) agreed to acquire MB Financial for $54.70 per share in cash and stock. LiveXLive Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIVX) rose 9.3 percent to $5.40 in pre-market trading after falling 28.92 percent on Friday. Celyad SA (NASDAQ: CYAD) shares rose 9 percent to $29.30 in pre-market trading after climbing 3.26 percent on Friday. Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE: ETH) rose 6.7 percent to $26.40 in pre-market trading after gaining 1.64 percent on Friday. Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) rose 5.4 percent to $3.90 in pre-market trading after gaining 3.06 percent on Friday. Acacia Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIA) rose 5.2 percent to $34.70 in pre-market trading after gaining 1.38 percent on Friday. Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (NYSE: WAB) rose 5.1 percent to $100 in pre-market trading. General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) agreed to merge its transportation unit with Wabtec. Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) shares rose 4.7 percent to $11.50 in pre-market trading. Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) shares rose 4.3 percent to $93.98 in the pre-market trading session. LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE: LHO) shares rose 4.2 percent to $33.25 in pre-market trading. Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) will buy LaSalle Hotel Properties in a $4.8 billion deal, Bloomberg reported. Monro, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNRO) shares rose 4 percent to $58.35 in pre-market trading as the company posted upbeat quarterly earnings and disclosed that it has acquired Free Service Tire. HUYA Inc. (NYSE: HUYA) rose 3.7 percent to $19.75 in pre-market trading after falling 4.80 percent on Friday.

  Find out what's going

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Ethan Allen Interiors (ETH)

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

Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: SVB Financial Group(SIVB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $301.12 following strong quarterly results.

  Equities Trading DOWN

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNPX) jumped 46.7 percent to $16.1331. The low-float small-cap clinical stage gene therapy company saw its stock rally nearly 150 percent from Monday through Thursday. Formal news hasn't been announced this week that would support a triple-digit percentage rally (including more than 200 percent at one point on Thursday) but the quiet period following its initial public offering will expire on May 8. Celyad SA (NASDAQ: CYAD) shares gained 24.7 percent to $36.17. Celyad reported the publication of THINK study case report of CYAD-01 Induced Complete Remission in relapsed/refractory AML patient in haematologica. DMC Global Inc. (NASDAQ: BOOM) shares jumped 23.2 percent to $39.00 after the company reported upbeat Q1 results and issued upbeat Q2 guidance. eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) gained 21.8 percent to $19.58 as the company posted upbeat Q1 results. Enova International, Inc. (NYSE: ENVA) climbed 20.4 percent to $27.20 following Q1 results. SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) shares jumped 18.2 percent to $304.135 following strong quarterly results. Knowles Corporation (NYSE: KN) gained 13.9 percent to $12.70 as the company reported Q1 results. Zymeworks Inc. (NYSE: ZYME) gained 13.8 percent to $17.36. Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: COCP) rose 11.8 percent to $2.336 after declining 25.09 percent on Thursday. ImmunoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) shares surged 11.7 percent to $11.75 after the company announced 'successful completion of interim analysis' for FORWARD I Phase 3 mirvetuximab soravtansine trial. Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELOX) gained 9.5 percent to $12.70. Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) shares rose 8.5 percent to $115.3801 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday. Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) shares rose 8.3 percent to $6.50. The stock moved higher after a Reuters report suggested ongoing merger talks with T-M
• [By Matthew Frankel]

  SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded expectations throughout the business. The holding company for Silicon Valley Bank, which specializes in providing banking services to entrepreneurs and private equity firms, beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. As of 10:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, the stock was up by nearly 18%.

Chatham Lodging (CLDT) Declares Monthly Dividend of $0.11

Chatham Lodging (NYSE:CLDT) announced a monthly dividend on Thursday, May 10th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.11 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 30th.

Chatham Lodging has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Chatham Lodging has a dividend payout ratio of 61.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Chatham Lodging to earn $1.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.0%.

Get Chatham Lodging alerts:

Shares of CLDT stock opened at $20.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $941.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 1.06. Chatham Lodging has a 12-month low of $17.90 and a 12-month high of $23.91.

Chatham Lodging (NYSE:CLDT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $74.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.78 million. Chatham Lodging had a return on equity of 3.69% and a net margin of 9.12%. sell-side analysts anticipate that Chatham Lodging will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, Chairman Jeffrey H. Fisher acquired 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.48 per share, with a total value of $101,640.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 691,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,779,751.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director C Gerald Goldsmith acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.32 per share, for a total transaction of $91,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 26,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $482,328.96. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 14,715 shares of company stock worth $270,485 over the last three months. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CLDT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Chatham Lodging from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Chatham Lodging from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Chatham Lodging in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Chatham Lodging from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $20.00 target price on shares of Chatham Lodging and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.83.

About Chatham Lodging

Chatham Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly-traded real estate investment trust focused primarily on investing in upscale, extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels. The company owns interests in 135 hotels totaling 18,516 rooms/suites, comprised of 40 properties it wholly owns with an aggregate of 6,018 rooms/suites in 15 states and the District of Columbia and a minority investment in two joint ventures that own 95 hotels with an aggregate of 12,498 rooms/suites.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Purchases 30,687 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (LKFN)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 878,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,687 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 3.48% of Lakeland Financial worth $40,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,899,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,823,000 after buying an additional 206,682 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,086,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,227,000 after buying an additional 92,780 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 668,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,919,000 after buying an additional 3,354 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 89.4% in the 4th quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 377,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,312,000 after buying an additional 178,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 330,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,301,000 after buying an additional 59,037 shares in the last quarter. 72.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Get Lakeland Financial alerts:

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Saturday, April 7th. BidaskClub upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 7th.

In other Lakeland Financial news, insider Kristin Pruitt sold 1,200 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $55,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $363,400. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 1,050 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.26, for a total value of $50,673.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 16,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $808,644.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,520 shares of company stock valued at $941,623. Corporate insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Shares of Lakeland Financial opened at $49.40 on Wednesday, according to MarketBeat. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $41.30 and a 52-week high of $52.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.86.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 28.94%. The firm had revenue of $46.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.57 million. equities research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 25th were given a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 43.51%.

Lakeland Financial Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in Indiana. The company offers various deposit products, including noninterest bearing deposits; interest-bearing checking, savings, and money market deposits; and NOW and demand deposits.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LKFN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN).

Buybacks: The New Magic Beans

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-596579459&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/596579459/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;638&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

Stock buybacks increase corporate leverage. Investors err if they apply the old P/E ratio to the new, now higher EPS, which is solely due to the reduction of outstanding shares. Because leverage has increased, the P/E ratio should fall, as the company is now riskier.

Theoretically, via the academic discipline of corporate finance, and used by most Wall Street analysts, management should prioritize its use of cash as follows:

&l;/p&g;&l;ol&g;&l;li&g;To balance its debt/equity ratio. If the company has too much debt, the cash should be used to reduce the debt and strengthen the debt/equity ratio;&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;Fund projects that will produce organic growth;&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;In the absence of organic projects, expand business by acquisition;&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;If none of the above are available, increase the dividend, as long as there is a reasonable expectation that the new dividend level is sustainable. If not sustainable, management can declare a special one-time dividend payment;&l;/li&g;

&l;li&g;As an alternative to a special dividend, management can distribute the cash via share repurchases.&l;a href=&q;#_edn1&q; name=&q;_ednref1&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g; &l;a href=&q;#_edn2&q; name=&q;_ednref2&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

From a theoretical corporate finance viewpoint, then, share buybacks should only occur when companies run out of ways to grow profits. In the chain of spending, share buybacks are at the bottom. Yet, in today&a;rsquo;s world, their usage appears to be near the top.

&l;strong&g;Determinants of Value&l;/strong&g;

Top and bottom line growth are important determinants of a corporation&a;rsquo;s share price. When earnings announcements are made, the first comparisons done are whether or not the company &a;ldquo;beat&a;rdquo; analyst top and bottom line projections because it is the analyst projections that were &a;ldquo;priced-in.&a;rdquo; Shares then adjust to the reported reality.

Today&a;rsquo;s reality is that potential economic growth in the world&a;rsquo;s major industrial economies is about half of what it was in the 1980s and 1990s and perhaps two-thirds of what it was pre-recession. That growth slowdown has two major components, demographics and attitudinal changes. Theoretically, then, slower economic growth should produce a much slower overall growth rate in equities, at least in the long-run, because the economic pie is not growing as fast. And that should show up in a slowdown in the growth of the major equity indexes.

&l;strong&g;Buybacks &a;ndash; The New Magic Beans&l;/strong&g;

Share buybacks, however, appear to have temporarily stayed this reality &a;ndash; like magic. Companies have jumped on the bandwagon. It appears that, with just a phone call to the company&a;rsquo;s investment banker, instructing them to buy the company&a;rsquo;s stock on the open market, the stock price magically rises. This phenomenon occurs because analysts and the public have continued to assign the pre-buyback Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio to the company&a;rsquo;s stock and the earnings per share (EPS) has just risen! The value of the stock increased just by making a phone call to the investment banker and providing the cash for the share repurchase. Wow! Everybody wins! Are buybacks the &a;ldquo;New Magic Beans?&a;rdquo;

&l;strong&g;Oops &a;ndash; Reality!&l;/strong&g;

Oops! Wait a minute. The company spent cash; it came out of company assets. What was the double-entry bookkeeping offset? Oh &a;ndash; that was a reduction in retained earnings, the capital account. On the balance sheet, the equity portion has fallen, but the company&a;rsquo;s liabilities have not. Therefore, the company is more leveraged than before, and therefore, riskier. Its Price/Book Value (P/BV) has risen. And, theoretically, its P/E ratio should fall, not stay the same. Investors today, err, when they assign the same P/E ratio post-buyback, as the company had pre-buyback.

The buyback phenomenon is well documented and has been occurring throughout the nine-year equity bull-run. The lead article of the Friday, May 11&l;sup&g;th&l;/sup&g; edition of the &l;em&g;Wall Street Journal &l;/em&g;headlined &a;ldquo;&l;a href=&q;https://www.wsj.com/articles/record-buybacks-help-steady-wobbly-market-1525950001&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Buybacks Surge, Steadying Market,&l;/a&g;&a;rdquo; (Eisen and Otani) indicating that investors today continue to assign the pre-buyback P/E ratio to the post-buyback shares. The article indicated that companies reporting Q1 earnings through May 10&l;sup&g;th&l;/sup&g; (85% of S&a;amp;P 500 companies) had repurchased $158 billion of their own stock in Q1, on pace for a record quarterly buyback amount. The article goes on&a;hellip;

&l;blockquote&g;Of the 20 S&a;amp;P 500 companies that spent the most on buybacks over the first quarter, nearly three-quarters have outperformed the index so far this year. The group has risen on average 5.2% in 2018, compared with the S&a;amp;P 500&a;rsquo;s 1.9% gain&a;hellip;&l;/blockquote&g;

The article suggests that buybacks have been supporting the index levels:

&l;blockquote&g;The S&a;amp;P 500 is up only modestly for the year. Yet many analysts believe major indexes would have suffered losses without buybacks.&l;/blockquote&g;

&l;strong&g;Buffett&a;rsquo;s View of Buybacks&l;/strong&g;

In his 1999 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, reiterated 12 years later in his 2011 communication, Warren Buffett discussed corporate stock buybacks:

&l;blockquote&g;There is only one combination of facts that makes it advisable for a company to repurchase its shares: First, the company has available funds &a;ndash; cash plus sensible borrowing capacity &a;ndash; beyond the near-term needs of the business and second, finds its stock selling in the market below its intrinsic value, conservatively calculated. &l;/blockquote&g;

Buffett has set his &a;ldquo;intrinsic value&a;rdquo; target at a P/BV of 1.2x. Whitney Tilson of T2 Partners LLC, following Buffett&a;rsquo;s advice, uses the following rule of thumb: if the stock is trading within 20% of fair value, then the company should use dividends; if it&a;rsquo;s trading at greater than a 20% discount, buybacks. If it&a;rsquo;s trading at a big premium to fair value, then the company should issue stock, via compensation to employees, a secondary offering, and/or as an acquisition currency.

But that isn&a;rsquo;t what is currently happening as is demonstrated by Q1&a;rsquo;s record breaking buybacks. Buybacks are occurring when prices are at or near cycle highs, not near lows as required by Mr. Buffett&a;rsquo;s sage advice.

&l;strong&g;The Apple Buybacks&l;/strong&g;

In the first week of May, Apple, in its earnings release, announced a $100 billion stock buyback, and also revealed that in Q1, it bought back $22.8 billion of its own stock, more than any other S&a;amp;P 500 company. On May 10&l;sup&g;th&l;/sup&g;, Apple&a;rsquo;s total market cap was $926 billion. The new $100 billion announced buyback represents 10.8% of the current value of its outstanding shares. The day after the announcement, the stock surged 4.4% and was up 13% for the full week. The stock closed at its all-time high of $190+ on May 10&l;sup&g;th &l;a href=&q;#_edn1&q; name=&q;_ednref1&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;/sup&g;.

This is the same stock that sold at $161+ on April 27&l;sup&g;th&l;/sup&g;, just two weeks earlier, because the analysts were worried about the company&a;rsquo;s ability to grow and found growth issues in Apple&a;rsquo;s major supply chain partners. Apple&a;rsquo;s reported revenue was $61.1 billion, just a hair higher than the expected $61.0 billion penciled in by the street. The $2.75 EPS did beat Wall Street&a;rsquo;s expectations of $2.69. But wait! If we take into account the $22.8 billion of Q1 buybacks, about 2.7% of capitalization, then the street&a;rsquo;s $2.69 EPS, when adjusted, becomes $2.76. The reality is that Apple &a;ldquo;met&a;rdquo; expectations; they did not &a;ldquo;beat.&a;rdquo; Perhaps the initial 4.4% spike up was a relief rally. But the next 9% can only be attributed to one thing, the announced buyback.

&l;strong&g;Potential Impact on Leverage&l;/strong&g;

So, let&a;rsquo;s look at Apple&a;rsquo;s leverage. At the end of Q1/17, Apple had $134.1 billion of balance sheet equity (book value) &a;ndash; a per share book value (5.206 billion shares outstanding) of $25.76. With a 3/31/17 closing share price of $143.66, its P/BV was 5.58x (market capitalization = $748 billion). As of 3/29/18, Apple&a;rsquo;s book value was $126.9 billion &a;ndash; a per share book value (4.943 shares outstanding) of $25.67. Apple&a;rsquo;s closing share price was $167.78. So, its P/BV rose to 6.53x (market capitalization = $829 billion). Apple generates about $55 billion of cash each year. So, $100 billion stock buyback would reduce its equity by about $45 billion if done over the next year. Using $190/share as the buyback price, Apple would repurchase 526 million shares. Doing all the math, it is very possible that Apple&a;rsquo;s P/BV could rise toward 10x from 6.5x. All of this is hypothetical and depends on when (and if) Apple repurchases, how much it repurchases, and at what price. The exercise, however, does show that significant repurchases impact the company&a;rsquo;s leverage ratios.

&l;strong&g;The Magic Beans Raise Market Capitalization&l;/strong&g;

While the immediate impact of a buyback is an increase in a company&a;rsquo;s EPS, that buyback also increases the company&a;rsquo;s leverage, and therefore, its risk. In reality, the company&a;rsquo;s business has not grown, so why should its total market cap rise? In Apple&a;rsquo;s case, market capitalization has risen to $926 billion, not because it &a;ldquo;beat&a;rdquo; market expectations or its business or business prospects improved, but, simply because it announced a large buyback. (Buybacks must be the New Magic Beans!) A good argument can be made that, given higher leverage, total market cap should fall, especially if the repurchases are significantly above &a;ldquo;intrinsic value.&a;rdquo; In addition, it is a reality that stock prices of more highly leveraged (riskier) companies always fall harder, faster and farther than similar less leveraged companies when they disappoint Wall Street. And, such disappointment is usually associated with slowing or disappearing growth.

&l;strong&g;The Global Corporate Debt Binge&l;/strong&g;

It is a fact that return on capital rises with share buybacks, but so does risk, as capital bases erode and debt/equity ratios rise. Given the buyback craze, it doesn&a;rsquo;t appear to be a coincidence that corporate leverage has increased and credit quality has decreased. Within the investment-grade universe, 48% of corporate bonds are now rated BBB, a record level (pre-recession, this number was 30%, and in the 1990s, it was 25%). The net leverage ratio for these BBBs is 2.9x, up from 1.7x in 2000. Globally, median corporate credit ratings have fallen to BBB-. Pre-recession, the median was BBB. It was BBB+ in the 1990s and A in the early 1980s. This global corporate debt binge appears to go hand in hand with the buyback craze.

&l;strong&g;Conclusions&l;/strong&g;

&l;ul&g;&l;li&g;Indexes are being pushed up by record stock buybacks. At first glance, using the pre-buyback P/E ratio would appear to justify this. But, unless the buyback is at a price below its book value (or its intrinsic value (about a P/BV of 1.2x) according to Buffett), the company is now more leveraged and is riskier, and the risk adjusted P/E ratio should be lower than the pre-buyback ratio. Investors err if they don&a;rsquo;t adjust the valuation metrics.&l;/li&g; &l;li&g;Buybacks generally make corporate balance sheets weaker, and data show that, on net, today&a;rsquo;s median corporation is less credit worthy than those of the recent past.&l;/li&g; &l;li&g;Markets are displaying increased volatility. Buybacks appear to be a significant contributing factor.&l;/li&g; &l;li&g;There is no doubt that buybacks will continue, as investors have taken the bait that they are better off because the EPS has risen. Because those companies are more leveraged and therefore riskier, when the correction comes, the fall in those share prices will be quicker and nastier than anyone currently expects. This lesson has yet to be learned. It certainly isn&a;rsquo;t priced into today&a;rsquo;s market.&l;/li&g; &l;/ul&g;

&a;nbsp;

&l;a href=&q;#_ednref1&q; name=&q;_edn1&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g; A special dividend is a one-time action that is irrevocable. That is, the company pays out the entirety of the cash. The authorization by the board for a share buyback is not irrevocable. It allows management to time the purchase or not do it at all, at management&a;rsquo;s discretion. In addition, there are tax benefits to share buybacks. Dividends are taxed twice, once at the corporate level as corporate income, and then as ordinary income to the shareholder. Assuming share buybacks increase the value of each share, then the tax is at the discretion of the shareholder which is paid only after the shareholder sells his/her shares. If held for over a year, the shares are taxed at the lower, long-term capital gain tax rate.

&l;a href=&q;#_ednref2&q; name=&q;_edn2&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g; As an aside, some companies use share buybacks as a means to transfer wealth to their management via the use of options. By using cash to buy their own shares, they artificially increase the EPS which may be part of an executive&a;rsquo;s incentive plan. The shares bought back in the open market match the options exercised by management, so that, on net, shares outstanding do not change. The regular shareholders do not &a;ldquo;see&a;rdquo; any dilution, as the number of outstanding shares has remained the same. But, in reality, corporate cash has been distributed to management instead of going to the regular shareholders.

&l;a href=&q;#_ednref1&q; name=&q;_edn1&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g; We also learned in early May that in Q1, Buffett&a;rsquo;s Berkshire Hathaway bought 75 million shares of Apple bringing the firm&a;rsquo;s total to 240.3 million shares. At $190/share, Buffett owns more than $45 billion worth of the company&a;rsquo;s $926 billion capitalization, or 4.9% of the company. During Berkshire&a;rsquo;s annual meeting, Buffett suggested that Berkshire would be looking to increase its stake in Apple. What could he really say about Apple&a;rsquo;s $100 billion buyback? It will clearly enhance his percentage ownership. But, at today&a;rsquo;s record high price and P/BV ratio, it is way above Buffett&a;rsquo;s &a;ldquo;intrinsic value&a;rdquo; concept! Has he, Buffett, bought into the &a;rdquo;Magic Beans&a;rdquo; concept?

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now

tags:JEC,BAYRY,CBG,PKX,CRY, &l;p&g;Imagine spending your day eating ice cream and drinking cherry Coke. Or hanging out with Bill Gates and LeBron James.

The next opportunity is coming up on May 5. But investors got a preview of what&a;rsquo;s to come over the weekend, when Warren Buffett released his&a;nbsp;&l;a href=&q;https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30905169/www.berkshirehathaway.com?p=eyJzIjoiWVp5Nm5jdW5HR1NqNkJMamhUZmZYeE9Fa0RjIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDkwNTE2OSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwOlxcXC9cXFwvd3d3LmJlcmtzaGlyZWhhdGhhd2F5LmNvbVxcXC9sZXR0ZXJzXFxcLzIwMTdsdHIucGRmXCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiY2VkZTJkZGYzNTgxNDU5NmEwZDQ2YTUzYTVhMzY5MzBcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCJkNzNmMmRiNzIxNTFmNTE1ZTRiMjQyMGU1MGNiMTRlZWFiNzcyZWFhXCJdfSJ9&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;latest shareholder letter&l;/a&g;.

Buffett&a;rsquo;s bottom line hasn&a;rsquo;t changed: Buy businesses for the longer term. Buy proven managers.

&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-849879518&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/849879518/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;652&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Philanthropist Warren Buffett (C) is joined onstage by 24 other philanthropist and influential business people featured on the Forbes list of 100 Greatest Business Minds during the Forbes Media Centennial Celebration at Pier 60 on September 19, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage)

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.(JEC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE:JEC) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 191,483 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,002 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.14% of Jacobs Engineering Group worth $11,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Dean Foods Company (NYSE: DF) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.11 per share on revenue of $1.85 billion. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.44 per share on revenue of $1.99 billion. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.89 per share on revenue of $3.63 billion. Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.92 per share on revenue of $3.17 billion. Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $926.18 million. The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.24 per share on revenue of $2.98 billion. Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPD) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.64 per share on revenue of $1.71 billion. US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE: USFD) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.32 per share on revenue of $5.98 billion. DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.7 per share on revenue of $3.50 billion. Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $2.06 per share on revenue of $936.98 million. Camping World Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CWH) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.42 per share on revenue of $1.06 billion. Perrigo Company plc (NYSE: PRGO) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.14 per share on revenue of $1.21 billion. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $23.80 billion. JD.com, Inc. (NYSE: JD) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.18 per share on revenue of $15.65 billion. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.6 per share o
• [By ]

  Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC) recently closed its $3.3 billion acquisition of CH2M, which gives the firm a scale advantage in environmental cleanup and increases its capabilities across infrastructure. Jacobs is particularly strong in the aerospace and technology segment, closing multi-year awards last year for NASA and the Missile Defense Agency.

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYRY)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  And why did Bayer (OTCPK:BAYRY) buy this drug, too?

  Unfortunately, in most cases, resistance is inevitable at some point, even if you attain a strong response that lasts a while. It is a near-truism that patients will eventually acquire resistance to kinase inhibitors, except in rare exceptional circumstances and treatment settings like chronic myeloid leukemia, where a lot of patients can have a persistent remission for years and years.

• [By ]

  Both companies reported that the phase 3 trial known as IMblaze370 had failed. This study recruited a total of 363 patients with locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer. One key thing to note first is that the patients that were recruited into the study, were those who had already been heavily pretreated with 2 or more prior regimens of chemotherapy. The trial was putting the combination of Tecentriq and Cotellic versus the control arm which was regorafenib (STIVARGA) from Bayer (OTCPK:BAYRY). Unfortunately, the treatment combination arm failed to improve overall survival versus the control arm. There was no actual results released yet. It was stated that full detailed results from this study will be released at an upcoming medical conference. The problem is that it doesn't matter what the results are, the bottom-line is that the primary endpoint was not met.

• [By Cory Renauer]

  It looks like the benefit-to-risk ratio is off the charts for larotrectinib as well as LOXO-292, but the number of patients with TRK fusion cancers that fail multiple existing treatments is somewhere between 1,500 and 5,000 each year in the U.S. Investors also need to understand that Loxo Oncology licensed its candidates from Array Biopharma (NASDAQ:ARRY) and owes its partner substantial milestone payments and mid-single-digit royalties on any sales they might generate. Loxo has partnered with�Bayer AG (NASDAQOTH:BAYRY), and if approved, the German giant will share U.S. profits with Loxo and pay double-digit royalties on sales abroad.

• [By ]

  The last week has been depressing for Exelixis' (EXEL) shareholders, as the stock dropped by around 13% and reached its 11-week low of $18.56 on May 10, 2018. The market was disappointed to see Exelixis' Cotellic and Roche Holdings' (OTCQX:RHHBY) Tecentriq failing to meet primary endpoint of improvement in overall survival as compared to Bayer's (OTCPK:BAYRY) Stivarga in 2/3 line locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer indication. This trial, if successful, would have been a major advancement for the cobimetinib franchise and would have also been a major advancement in improving the sensitivity of cold tumors to immunotherapy.

• [By ]

  Bayer AG (BAYRY) also rose 4.13% to ��97.29 on reports that its mega-merger with Monsanto Co. (MON) would likely be approved by the Department of Justice. The Wall Street Journal reported that the companies have agreed additional asset sales.

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: CBRE Group, Inc.(CBG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

  For the details of Jeff Ubben's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Jeff+Ubben

  These are the top 5 holdings of Jeff UbbenTwenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOX) - 53,326,334 shares, 18.41% of the total portfolio. Alliance Data Systems Corp (ADS) - 5,877,400 shares, 15.07% of the total portfolio. CBRE Group Inc (CBG) - 24,916,923 shares, 10.92% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 13.72%KKR & Co LP (KKR) - 47,750,000 shares, 10.18% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 4.82%Morgan Stanley (MS) - 17,959,620 shares,

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: POSCO(PKX)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Media coverage about POSCO (NYSE:PKX) has trended somewhat positive on Saturday, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research firm scores the sentiment of news coverage by analyzing more than twenty million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. POSCO earned a news sentiment score of 0.22 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news headlines about the basic materials company an impact score of 46.5366586800129 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near future.

Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy Right Now: CryoLife, Inc.(CRY)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  CryoLife (NYSE:CRY) issued an update on its FY18 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $0.29-0.32 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $0.31. The company issued revenue guidance of $250-256 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $252.86 million.