Sunday, March 24, 2019

Activist Investors Are Piling into 3 of Our Favorite Stocks

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activist investorsIt's hard to make money as an ordinary investor when Wall Street has so much working against you.

Between complex algorithms, machine learning, and professionals who always smell blood in the water, the odds can sometimes be stacked against retail investors like us.

But there is a secret way to make money. Link up with "activist investors."

These are the Wall Street titans with huge war chests of capital. They can effect change on the boards of underperforming companies and drive stocks higher.

Now, you've probably heard of Bill Ackman, Carl Icahn, T. Boone Pickens, Paul Singer, and Daniel Loeb. These guys have made fortunes putting their money where their mouth is. They buy up stakes in companies and use their muscle to shake up board seats, demand the sale of assets, and sometimes call for the outright sale of the company.

Urgent: You can bank your share of $21 trillion in unclaimed U.S. wealth starting today.

Today, we want to combine the power of activist investors with our own secret weapon: the Money Morning Stock VQScore™ system. This system provides a rating for the 15,000 profitable companies on the markets and assigns them a score based on the probability of whether or not they are poised to break out.

This week, we scanned our list of companies in the "Buy Zone" and recognized something amazing. The three stocks listed below all have activist investors behind them.

And these activists are going to help turbocharge the returns already predicted by the VQScore system…

Activist Investor Stock to Buy, No. 3

The first stock on our list is Diamondback Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG).

Carl Icahn is one of the greatest activist investors in market history. Whenever Icahn gets involved with a firm, the phenomenon called the "Icahn lift" quickly brings its stock higher. The billionaire activist started his legend with a takeover win through a proxy battle of Tappan Company in 1979. When he joined the board and forced a sale, he doubled the value of the company.

He earned more than $100 million in a famous board room battle with RJR Nabisco, and recently he's led the charge in pressing Caesars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) to sell its assets. Rumors are swirling that the gambling giant will soon merge with Eldorado Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERI). He also has stakes in CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVI), Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. (NYSE: HLF), Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG), Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: NWL), and of course, his firm Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ: IEP).

Now, Icahn currently has his eyes on Permian oil producer Diamondback Energy. Diamondback Energy is an independent oil and gas producer that operates in the Permian Basin in West Texas. The firm performs activities in the Wolfcamp, Spraberry, Clearfork, Bone Spring, and Cline formations. The company just fell short of fourth-quarter earnings expectations due to a "drastic decline in commodity prices and one-time merger-related expenses."

According to an SEC filing released in February, Icahn purchased another large stake in the Texas-based oil producer. It's unclear what Icahn plans to do as he increases his stake in the firm.

Diamondback just acquired another Icahn-backed energy firm called Energen last August to bolster its acreage in the Permian Basin.

Breaking: I can only release 1,000 free copies of our exclusive new income book today.

One option: The firm will continue to increase its output – as it recently announced in its latest quarterly earnings report.

Or Icahn could be playing the long game, knowing that major oil producers are eyeing the Permian Basin as a long-term source of crude oil. It would be an ideal acquisition target for Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) or Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) in the future.

The company noted that the first quarter would be weaker for oil prices. But with those prices heating up heading into the second quarter, FANG is a stock poised for a breakout. The stock has our highest VQScore, and its balance sheet looks healthy.

According to TipRanks, Diamondback has an average price target of $148.70. That figure represents an upside of 44.12% from Tuesday's closing price.

All 10 analysts on TipRanks' platform have a "Buy" rating on the stock. And the highest target – from Barclays – is a whopping $189 per share. That would be an 83.3% jump in FANG stock.

Activist Investor Stock to Buy, No. 2

Second on our list today is Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG).

If you know the agricultural sector, you likely know Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM), private firm Cargill, and Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE). They are all members of the "ABCDs" of agribusiness. The forgotten child is the "B" – or Bunge. This agricultural giant is engaged in global food processing, fertilizer production, and the soybean export game.

Naturally, the ongoing trade battle between the United States and China has hurt domestic soybean prices. Bunge stock had dropped like a stone since February 2018, when trade worries began to accelerate. Shares are off more than 36% since that time. The trade war hammered its 2018 financial returns. The firm had bet against a long trade war and expected the battle to end in Q2 2018. They were wrong, and executives were on the hook.

Activist investors have been lining up left and right to shake up the organization.

Last December, the firm replaced both its CEO and chair. Two months prior, it agreed with activists D.E. Shaw and investment giant Continental Grain to add four new directors to its board. Finally, after the firm turned down a takeover deal from ADM and Glencore, it agreed to establish a committee to explore strategic options for its future.

Now, the firm may soon begin to sell assets to bolster its profits. New Chief Executive Greg Heckman told The Wall Street Journal on Feb. 21 that "everything's on the table to improve our returns."

That includes the sale of its crop-loading terminals, processing plants, and its global food brands. And with the United States and China on the verge of a trade deal, Bunge stock is poised to find a lot of success in the future. These trends complement our highest VQScore.

Bunge has a one-year price target of $67.20, a figure that represents 29% upside from Tuesday's closing price. But with quick action, activist demand for higher prices, a possible trade deal on the table, and a new board taking this company in a new direction, we could be looking at a stock trading in the high $80s by the end of the year.

Finally, here's the top stock on our list today…

Activist Investor Stock to Buy, No. 1

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

Saturday, March 16, 2019

Vista Outdoor (VSTO) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Investment Research

Vista Outdoor (NYSE:VSTO) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

According to Zacks, “Vista Outdoor Inc. develops, manufacture and distribute optics, accessories and eyewear. The Company operates in two segments: Shooting Sports and Outdoor Products. Its product consist of binoculars, laser rangefinders, riflescopes, trail cameras, archery accessories, blinds, decoys, game calls, gun care products, mounts, powder, reloading equipment, targets, target systems, safety and protective eyewear, fashion and sports eyewear. The company’s product portfolio include Bushnell(R), Primos(R), Bollè(R), Serengeti(R), Cèbè, RCBS(R), Hoppe’s(R), Uncle Mike’s(R), Gold Tip(R), Weaver(R) and Tasco(R). Vista Outdoor Inc. is headquartered in Utah. “

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VSTO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. B. Riley started coverage on Vista Outdoor in a research report on Thursday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Vista Outdoor in a research report on Friday, February 8th. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded Vista Outdoor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.88.

Shares of NYSE:VSTO opened at $8.11 on Wednesday. Vista Outdoor has a twelve month low of $8.05 and a twelve month high of $19.41. The company has a market cap of $482.61 million, a P/E ratio of 16.22 and a beta of 0.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 2.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Vista Outdoor (NYSE:VSTO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 7th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.04. Vista Outdoor had a negative return on equity of 0.44% and a negative net margin of 29.12%. The firm had revenue of $467.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $505.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vista Outdoor will post 0.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vista Outdoor by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Laurion Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Vista Outdoor in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $196,000. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of Vista Outdoor in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Vista Outdoor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $153,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Vista Outdoor by 62.6% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 16,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 6,352 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.27% of the company’s stock.

About Vista Outdoor

Vista Outdoor Inc designs, manufactures, and markets consumer products for outdoor sports and recreation markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Outdoor Products and Shooting Sports segments. The Outdoor Products segment offer sports products for action sports, including helmets, goggles, and accessories for cycling, snow, action, and power sports; archery/hunting accessories, such as hunting arrows, game calls, hunting blinds, game cameras, and waterfowl decoys; outdoor cooking solutions for camping; eyewear and sport protection products, including safety and protective eyewear, and fashion and sports eyewear; golf products, such as laser rangefinders; hydration products comprising hydration packs and water bottles; optical products, such as binoculars, riflescopes, and telescopes; shooting accessories, including reloading equipment, clay targets, and premium gun care products; tactical products, such as holsters, duty gear, bags, and packs; and water sports products, including stand up paddle boards.

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Thursday, March 14, 2019

Berman Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Position in SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE)

Berman Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA:KIE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,483 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KIE. Bruderman Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in SPDR S&P Insurance ETF in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kwmg LLC bought a new stake in shares of SPDR S&P Insurance ETF during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Fis Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SPDR S&P Insurance ETF during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $167,000. Bell Rock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of SPDR S&P Insurance ETF during the third quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Finally, Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SPDR S&P Insurance ETF by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Inc. now owns 9,429 shares of the exchange traded fund’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 591 shares during the last quarter.

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KIE opened at $31.22 on Wednesday. SPDR S&P Insurance ETF has a twelve month low of $26.49 and a twelve month high of $32.78.

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About SPDR S&P Insurance ETF

The SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (the Fund), formerly SPDR KBW Insurance ETF, seeks to closely match the returns and characteristics of the S&P Banks Select Industry Index. The Fund invests all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index. The Fund invests in all of the securities represented in the Index in approximately the same proportions as the Index.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding KIE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA:KIE).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA:KIE)

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Recent Analysts’ Ratings Changes for Zebra Technologies (ZBRA)

A number of research firms have changed their ratings and price targets for Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA):

3/7/2019 – Zebra Technologies had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC. They now have a $225.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $215.00. 3/7/2019 – Zebra Technologies is now covered by analysts at Berenberg Bank. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. 2/23/2019 – Zebra Technologies was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating. They now have a $230.00 price target on the stock. According to Zacks, “Zebra builds tracking technology and solutions that generate actionable information and insight, giving companies unprecedented visibility into their businesses by giving physical things a digital voice. Zebra’s extensive portfolio of solutions give real-time visibility into everything from products and physical assets to people, providing very precise operational data not only about where things are, but what condition they are in. This allows business leaders to use data to make better, more informed decisions, respond in real-time and ultimately, help businesses understand how they work, and how they could work better. “ 2/21/2019 – Zebra Technologies had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Imperial Capital. They now have a $225.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $195.00. 2/15/2019 – Zebra Technologies had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC. They now have a $215.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $192.00. They noted that the move was a valuation call. They noted that the move was a valuation call. 2/8/2019 – Zebra Technologies was upgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating. 2/7/2019 – Zebra Technologies was upgraded by analysts at ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating. 1/31/2019 – Zebra Technologies was downgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating. 1/28/2019 – Zebra Technologies was downgraded by analysts at Wellington Shields from a “buy” rating to a “gradually accumulate” rating. 1/17/2019 – Zebra Technologies was upgraded by analysts at BidaskClub from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating. 1/12/2019 – Zebra Technologies was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating. According to Zacks, “Zebra builds tracking technology and solutions that generate actionable information and insight, giving companies unprecedented visibility into their businesses by giving physical things a digital voice. Zebra’s extensive portfolio of solutions give real-time visibility into everything from products and physical assets to people, providing very precise operational data not only about where things are, but what condition they are in. This allows business leaders to use data to make better, more informed decisions, respond in real-time and ultimately, help businesses understand how they work, and how they could work better. “

ZBRA traded up $6.34 during trading on Monday, hitting $208.24. 13,015 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 495,742. Zebra Technologies has a twelve month low of $130.79 and a twelve month high of $207.88. The company has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

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Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ:ZBRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 14th. The industrial products company reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.26. Zebra Technologies had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 48.26%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Zebra Technologies will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other Zebra Technologies news, CEO Anders Gustafsson sold 13,073 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.71, for a total transaction of $2,623,881.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,903 shares in the company, valued at $74,845,361.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Olivier Leonetti sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.24, for a total transaction of $658,089.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,866,437. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 76,518 shares of company stock valued at $15,593,335. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ZBRA. Vanguard Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Zebra Technologies by 5.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc now owns 5,404,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $955,760,000 after buying an additional 263,478 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Zebra Technologies by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,851,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $772,479,000 after buying an additional 61,418 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Zebra Technologies by 246.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,418,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $385,057,000 after buying an additional 1,719,358 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Zebra Technologies by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,307,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $208,246,000 after buying an additional 45,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Zebra Technologies by 12.6% during the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management Ltd. now owns 818,181 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $144,679,000 after buying an additional 91,361 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.89% of the company’s stock.

With the unparalleled operational visibility Zebra provides, enterprises become as smart and connected as the world we live in. Real-time information – gleaned from visionary solutions including hardware, software and services – gives organizations the competitive edge they need to simplify operations, know more about their businesses and customers, and empower their mobile workers to succeed in today's data-centric world.

Further Reading: What is a Candlestick Chart?

Monday, March 11, 2019

Luna Stars (LSTR) Price Reaches $0.0001 on Top Exchanges

Luna Stars (CURRENCY:LSTR) traded up 1.2% against the US dollar during the one day period ending at 19:00 PM E.T. on March 9th. During the last seven days, Luna Stars has traded up 2.2% against the US dollar. Luna Stars has a market cap of $785,041.00 and $55.00 worth of Luna Stars was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Luna Stars token can now be purchased for $0.0001 or 0.00000001 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including Cobinhood and Coinrail.

Here is how related cryptocurrencies have performed during the last day:

Get Luna Stars alerts: XRP (XRP) traded 1.1% higher against the dollar and now trades at $0.31 or 0.00007930 BTC. Binance Coin (BNB) traded up 1.9% against the dollar and now trades at $14.47 or 0.00366411 BTC. Tether (USDT) traded down 0.2% against the dollar and now trades at $1.01 or 0.00025480 BTC. Stellar (XLM) traded 2.7% higher against the dollar and now trades at $0.0896 or 0.00002269 BTC. TRON (TRX) traded up 1.5% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0229 or 0.00000579 BTC. Bitcoin SV (BSV) traded up 2.6% against the dollar and now trades at $67.66 or 0.01712981 BTC. NEO (NEO) traded 1.6% higher against the dollar and now trades at $9.03 or 0.00228678 BTC. VeChain (VET) traded 9.3% higher against the dollar and now trades at $0.0048 or 0.00000123 BTC. Basic Attention Token (BAT) traded 4.8% higher against the dollar and now trades at $0.21 or 0.00005217 BTC. TrueUSD (TUSD) traded down 0.3% against the dollar and now trades at $1.01 or 0.00025588 BTC.

Luna Stars Profile

Luna Stars’ total supply is 38,000,000,000 tokens and its circulating supply is 13,260,867,323 tokens. Luna Stars’ official website is www.meetluna.com. The official message board for Luna Stars is medium.com/lunalabs. Luna Stars’ official Twitter account is @luna_dating and its Facebook page is accessible here.

Buying and Selling Luna Stars

Luna Stars can be bought or sold on these cryptocurrency exchanges: Coinrail and Cobinhood. It is usually not possible to purchase alternative cryptocurrencies such as Luna Stars directly using U.S. dollars. Investors seeking to acquire Luna Stars should first purchase Bitcoin or Ethereum using an exchange that deals in U.S. dollars such as Changelly, Coinbase or GDAX. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Bitcoin or Ethereum to purchase Luna Stars using one of the aforementioned exchanges.

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Saturday, March 9, 2019

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc (ALDX) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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Image source: The Motley Fool.

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc  (NASDAQ:ALDX)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallMarch 08, 2019, 8:00 a.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning and welcome to the Aldeyra Therapeutics' Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. (Operator Instructions) After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded

I'll now turn the call over to Joshua Reed. Please go ahead.

Joshua Reed -- Chief Financial Officer

Good morning, everyone. I'm Joshua Reed, Chief Financial Officer of Aldeyra Therapeutics, and welcome to the Aldeyra Therapeutics conference call to discuss our year end 2018 financial results. With me today is Dr. Todd Brady, Chief Executive Officer of Aldeyra Therapeutics.

This conference call contains forward looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of Aldeyra. Forward looking statements include statements regarding Aldeyra's possible or assumed future results of operations, expenses and financial position, business strategies and plans, research, development and commercial plans or expectations, trends, market sizing, competitive position, industry environment and potential growth opportunities among other things. These statements are based upon the information available to the Company today, and Aldeyra assumes no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the Company's forward looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause results to differ materially from our forward looking statements are described in greater detail in the Company's press release issued earlier this morning containing financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018, and the Company filings with the SEC.

Now, lad like to turn the call over to Dr. Todd Brady, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aldeyra. Dr. Brady?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Joshua, and thank you all for joining us today. As Joshua mentioned, this morning we issued a press release and our financial results and recent corporate highlights. As always, we encourage you to review the press release as it contains information that is important to consider in conjunction with today's call.

Over the past few years, we have purposefully expanded our pipeline in support of our corporate strategic initiatives and our mission to invent, develop and commercialize next generation medicines that treat immune-mediated diseases. As we speak this morning, our pipeline consists of six different compounds in development, representing three unique mechanisms of action targeting 10 potential clinical indications.

We're focused on ocular disease and select systemic conditions, and we now have five Phase 3 programs in progress or expected to be initiated this year. With the advancement of our pipeline and with the number of important late-stage programs, Aldeyra is rapidly evolving, and we enter 2019 with a number of important late-stage milestones, as we begin to transition to a commercial stage Company.

2018 was a remarkable year for Aldeyra, culminating in positive Phase 2b clinical results in dry eye disease. The Phase 2b dry eye disease results suggested that our lead product candidate reproxalap has the potential to improve dry eye disease symptoms faster and more broadly in standard of care. And market in dry eye disease is one of the largest in ophthalmology and current drugs used for the treatment of dry eye disease are generally regarded by patients and physicians as inadequate.

We've recently announced that in conjunction with regulatory authorities, we've established the co-primary endpoints for our planned Phase 3 dry eye disease clinical trial, which are ocular dryness symptom score and fluorescein nasal region staining, and in our Phase 2b clinical trial, those endpoints were achieved with p-values of 0.0048 and 0.0007, respectively.

Earlier this year, we were pleased to announce the closing of the acquisition of Helio Vision, a company based on the technology of Dr. Dean Eliott of Harvard's Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary. The acquisition adds another Phase 3 ready product candidate ADX-2191 to Aldeyra's late-stage pipeline. ADX-2191 is being developed for the prevention of proliferative vitreoretinopathy, or PVR, a rare but potentially blinding retinal disease, with no therapeutic options. ADX-2191 has received orphan drug designation from the FDA. We look forward to initiating Phase 3 development in PVR in the second half of this year.

Our first Phase 3 clinical trial to conclude is the ALLEVIATE trial in allergic conjunctivitis. We remain on track to announce results from ALLEVIATE in early 2019. The primary endpoint in ALLEVIATE will be met if drug (ph) is statistically lower than vehicle and area under the ocular itch score curve from 10 to 60 minutes post allergen-challenged. For the 0.5% concentration of reproxalap in the Phase 2b clinical trial, which enrolled approximately one third the number of patients enrolled in the Phase 3 trial, the p-value for this endpoint was 0.004.

As we mentioned at our Research & Development Day last week, in the second half of this year, we expect to announce Phase 3 results from the SOLACE trial in non-infectious anterior uveitis and Part 1 of the RESET trial in Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome. We look forward to updating you throughout this catalyst filled year as we continue to expand in our mission of providing novel therapeutic options for patients with unmet medical needs.

And with that, I'd like to turn the call back over to Joshua, to review the year end 2018 financial results. Joshua?

Joshua Reed -- Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Todd. For the year ended December 31, 2018, we reported a net loss of approximately $38.9 million compared to a net loss of approximately $22.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. Basic and diluted net loss per share was $1.79 for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to $1.40 per share for the same period last year. Losses have resulted from the cost of our clinical trials, research and development programs, as well as from our general and administrative expenses.

R&D expenses were $29.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to $16.3 million for the same period in 2017. The increase of $13.5 million is primarily related to the increase in research and development expenditures, including manufacturing, pre-clinical and clinical development costs, and an increase in personnel costs. General and administrative expenses were $9.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to $6.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase of $3.7 million is primarily related to an increase in legal and patent related costs, consulting costs and personnel costs.

In 2018, total operating expenses were approximately $39.7 million compared to $22.5 million in the prior year. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $93.6 million as of December 31, 2018, which includes $67.6 million in net proceeds raised in our underwritten public offering of common stock that closed in October of 2018. Based on our current operating plan, we expect our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities to fund the currently anticipated operating expenses through 2020.

This concludes my comments on our year ended 2018 financial results. Now, we'd like to turn the call back to Todd for summary comments.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Joshua. Before we open the call for questions, I would like to quickly recap our upcoming milestones for 2019. In allergic conjunctivitis, we expect results from the ALLEVIATE Phase 3 clinical trial in early 2019. In dry eye disease, we expect to begin enrolling the RENEW Phase 3 clinical trial in the first half of 2019.

In noninfectious anterior uveitis, we expect to report results from the SOLACE Phase 3 clinical trial in this second half of 2019. In Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome, we expect to have results from Part 1 of the RESET Phase 3 clinical trial in the second half of 2019. We expect to begin an adaptive Phase 3 clinical trial of ADX-2191 in proliferative vitreoretinopathy in the second half of 2019. And lastly, we expect to initiate clinical testing of ADX-629 and ADX-1612 and immune-mediated disease this year.

This concludes our prepared remarks for today. Operator, please open the call for questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Yes. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions) And the first question comes from (inaudible).

Unidentified Participant -- -- Analyst

Hi, guys. How are you? Thanks for taking the question. So in AC and DED, obviously, there's a lot of symptom overlap, but in the AC trial you're looking at p-doses 0.5%, in addition to the 0.25%. In the DED study, obviously, you're just looking at 0.25%. I guess I'm just trying to get a better sense as to the strategy there and wondering, what's the harm in also looking at 0.5% in the DED trial that would potentially just maximize your flexibility on the future product profile and keep everything parallel? Thank you.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks for the question, Yugol (ph). Good morning. Great questions around concentrations of reproxalap and they very much relate to commercial strategy. 0.25%, as you point out Yugol is the concentration that is moving forward in dry disease. There is potential to use reproxalap in both dry disease and allergic conjunctivitis. And we would at least like to maintain the option of using the same concentration in both diseases. This is why in the ALLEVIATE trial in allergic conjunctivitis, 0.5% and 0.25% were tested. Generally, I am a big fan of additional dose ranging in the first Phase 3 trial because I think it gives you more information about the safe and effective dose, that's the lowest dose and in the commercial markets, I also think that if 0.25% works in ALLEVIATE, there is, as you said, the optionality of using the same concentration across both diseases. So that's generally how we were thinking about it.

In dry eye disease, we've completed dose ranging, and the least tolerable and most effective dose that we've identified it 0.25%, and that is what we will advance to the RENEW Phase 3 trial that should begin in the first half of this year.

Unidentified Participant -- -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you. I guess what is your -- or do you have a base case for whether you're going to have one SKU, one product across AC and DED or is the base case, there are going to be different brands? Or is it just, you don't know yet until you see data?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. I think that's to be determined. And as you correctly point out, will be dependent on data. There is commercial precedents for either of those scenarios. In allergic conjunctivitis, there is at least one steroid that is high dose and for allergic conjunctivitis the low dose. There are other commercial precedents for the same from -- the concentration being used across multiple diseases. But I would prefer to see how the clinical data shake out. And then we can update you on those scenarios. I can tell you now that a business case can be made for either direction.

Unidentified Participant -- -- Analyst

Nice. And just one other one. I am not sure how much you've said about this, but since you are looking at the p-doses in AC, how are you handling that from that (ph) plan perspective?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

We have a pre-defined sequence hierarchy. So that (Technical Difficulty) 0.5% will be analyzed first and then subsequently 0.25% and I think that's fairly standard across the industry these days to avoid the alpha spent (ph).

Unidentified Participant -- -- Analyst

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you and the next question comes from Adam Walsh with Stifel.

Adam Walsh -- Stifel -- Analyst

Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Todd, on the ALLEVIATE trial, you're getting some data and then in your R&D Day and previously you've talked about, perhaps having a Type C meeting with FDA after that. I remember earlier when the original earlier trial data came out, the surprise was that your drug actually worked for longer duration and also at different time points than traditional allergic conjunctivitis drugs. Is this the purpose of the Type C meeting, and can you elaborate on what will be discussed or what you expect to discuss in the meeting?

And then also on 1612, if I recall correctly, that drug showed a positive effect on overall response rate in the investigator study in patients with pleural malignant mesothelioma. Any update on the discussion with the FDA or the timeline and design details for the Phase 2 that you can share with us? Thanks.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Adam. Good morning. Let me take your second one quickly. For ADX-1612, we'll complete our dialogue with the Agency. We will update the Street later on this year as to next steps.

The first question about meeting with the Agency after ALLEVIATE is a really good question. I'm also a big fan of frequent interactions with the Agency. And this is part of a deliberate strategy to meet with the Agency because reproxalap is a new chemical entity. It is not an antihistamine. It is not a steroid. So testing the drug in clinical trials in ways that are different from those two compounds and how those two compounds have been test in the past is very important, and getting Agency buy-in on that plan is very important.

So the current plan, as you point out, Adam, and as we disclosed at R&D Day last week, is to read out ALLEVIATE, examine opportunities for a second Phase 3 trial, which instead of direct allergen administration to the eye is environmental exposure, particularly for instance through a chamber administration and discuss that second Phase 3 on the back of ALLEVIATE with the Agency. So we would look forward to updating the Street likely I think in the second half of this year as to the subsequent Phase 3 plans for allergic conjunctivitis.

Adam Walsh -- Stifel -- Analyst

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from Esther Hong with Janney Montgomery Scott.

Esther Lannie Hong -- Janney Montgomery Scott LLC -- Analyst

Hi. Good morning. So my first question is on PVR, Can you discuss the different type of retinal detachment surgeries? And if the type of retinal detachment surgery as well as the skill of the surgeon has any impact on the development of PVR and the rate of success or failure with that surgery? And then my second question is on dry eye disease. So with dry eye disease and upcoming Phase 3 RENEW study, can you provide additional color on the reasons to evaluate QID to BID tapering, and what was previously observed to support this dosing regimen? Thanks.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Great. Actually, those are -- I can probably spend two hours on each of those questions, but I will spare you. PR (ph) it is a serious problem with any retinal detachment, right. Generally, the retina comes off of the back of the eye, it is surgically reattached usually with lasers to generate some sort of attachment. In almost all cases though, either oil or air is inserted into the vitreous. And what that does is, it allows the retina to remain attached to the back of the eye as long as the patient stays in a face down position for days, if not weeks. That's one of the major problems with the surgery is that post-operatively, the patients are required to face -- maintain a face down, sort of prone position for days or weeks, which as you can imagine is very difficult to do.

Your question about surgical quality and variability from surgeon to surgeon is a good one. I can tell you that we are thinking about this very carefully. The protocol -- the surgical protocol for reattaching the retina, I can assure you will be nailed down, and all those details are going to be systematically elucidated, so that there is less variability surgeon-to-surgeon, but of course, surgeons are different and that's maybe something that we have to deal in the Phase 3 trial.

The dry eye question on dosing, we were pleased in the Phase 2b clinical trial to see early onset of action, as soon as two weeks, and in fact, in Phase 3 -- as we mentioned it R&D day, in Phase 3 we'll have a one week assessment after dosing. That's important because the current therapy on the market today for dry disease takes weeks, if not months to generate even modest efficacy. I think one reason that reproxalap works quickly is that we administer the drug four times a day. This is a classic pharmacodynamic approach, where you give a loading dose and then taper the dose down subsequently for a maintenance dose, (inaudible) all the time has been used for decades and decades. One thing we don't want to do is abandon the initial four times a day dosing, because that early onset of activity is so important. However, it would be nice to taper dosing down, if patients don't need four times to day administration. As they feel better, there's no need to continue to administer the drug four times a day. That is the intent of the Adaptive Phase of the Phase 3 RENEW trial in the dry eye disease.

What gives us hope that the QID to BID taper will work? I think it's very evident in the Phase 2b results. Recall that we tested in Phase 2b, 0.5% and -- sorry, 0.25% and 0.1%. The low dose, 0.1%, is less than half of the high dose, which is 0.25%. And you can see from the data from the Phase 2b trial that the low dose worked pretty well. The other data point we have is that, commercially, when you ask patients in marketing studies how they treat themselves, a lot of the treatment is PRM. Patients will help taper, they will take the drug when they feel like they need it. And we saw a little bit of that in our own Phase 2b trial. As scopes got better, they took the drug a little bit less. So I think we have lots of reasons to believe that the QID to BID, that is four times a day to two times daily dosing, will be effective. But that is exactly the point of the Adaptive Phase of the RENEW Phase 3 trial.

Esther Lannie Hong -- Janney Montgomery Scott LLC -- Analyst

Okay. Great. Thanks. And then just a quick follow up. On Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome, so assuming there's positive data, what are your thoughts on expansion into derm space beyond Sjogren-Larsson? Thanks.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

That's a great question, Esther. We've thought about that for years. We see no reason why the activity of reproxalap administered as a dermatologic formulation should be just restricted to Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome. As you know, RASP are pro-inflammatory, they are promiscuous in terms of auto immune disease, especially those disease that affect the skin, for example atopic dermatitis, or psoriasis. It's certainly something we're thinking about long term. I think we'll be in a position to advise on that expansion of the dermatology franchise in terms of autoimmune disease after we finish that trial and Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome reads out, but it's a very good thought and one that we've been thinking about carefully for a long time.

Esther Lannie Hong -- Janney Montgomery Scott LLC -- Analyst

Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from I-Eh Jen with Laidlaw & Company.

I-Eh Jen -- Laidlaw & Company -- Analyst

Good morning. And congrats on the progress so far and going forward. A lot of questions have been answered, so there is two I'm interested in. First one is that, you mentioned -- I mean in the press release, you mentioned a number of systemic pipeline product will be getting into the clinical study in 2019. Could you elaborate a little bit more on that front?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Great question Jen. I feel like there is so much going on at Aldeyra, that the systemic program has taken a back seat, but I really do resonate with your question and Esther's comment previously. RASP inhibition as a platform has broad applicability. And we as a Company have made the decision to move from the eye to the rest of the body. We're so pleased to initiate clinical testing along those lines this year. I think if you look at Aldeyra five years from now, the systemic program will be a key part of our pipeline, maybe even sooner. Because RASP represents a new anti-inflammatory, immune-mediated mechanism of action, that it really does apply broadly, not only in diseases that I mentioned in response to Esther's question, but also other autoimmune diseases.

Rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, inflammatory bowel disease and there are many diseases that aren't classically thought of as immune-mediated diseases, but are. They do have an immune component, many CNF diseases, cardiovascular diseases, hepatic diseases like NASH and ASH that we're really interested in pursuing. So I think that aspect of our platform and portfolio while is a little bit behind the ocular franchise, but really represents a bright future for Aldeyra.

I-Eh Jen -- Laidlaw & Company -- Analyst

Okay. Great. That's very helpful. And maybe one follow up on the ADX-2191. You mentioned this is the adaptive design, so could you elaborate a little bit more on the sort of first stage, what to anticipate before you head in to the second stage?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Right. In PVR, as you can see from some of the slides at R&D Day last week, Dr. Eliott and his team under an investigator IND, tested the variety of patients with this new approach and the data looks fantastic. The point of the Adaptive Phase in the PVR Phase 3 program really is to confirm the kind of results that we saw earlier, to clarify the protocol -- back to Esther's question, to identify changes that we need to make for pivotal phase of the trial and we're hoping to get that Adaptive Phase started in the second half of this year with potential results sometime next year. So, we're very enthusiastic. Based on the data that Dr. Elliott has generated, it seems like the approach has tremendous potential in a disease that really has zero therapeutic option today.

I-Eh Jen -- Laidlaw & Company -- Analyst

Okay. Great. Thanks a lot. And again congrats on the quarter.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Jen.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) And the next question comes from Matthew Cross with Jones Trading.

Matthew Cross -- Jones Trading. -- Analyst

Hey, guys. Good morning and then thanks for taking a couple of questions for me here. So, you spent a good bit of time discussing your ocular programs at your R&D Day last week. So first off, refining a bit on Jen's line of questioning. You've now announced a Phase 1 trial for ADX-629 to begin in the second half of the year and given the exciting potential for systemic curve you are doing with RASP, I was hoping you could provide a bit more detail on this trial specifically? Do you expect this to comprise a basket of auto immune indications or have pre-clinical studies suggested RASP maybe more closely implicated any specific ones? And what ultimately do you hope to see from this trial by next year?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Right. So 629, which is our systemic RASP inhibitor will enter Phase 1 testing this year, Matt, we hope. And obviously the intent with Phase 1 trials is to assess safety and tolerability and pharmacokinetic. There's always the chance in Phase 1 trials to include a certain types of patients where you might measure pharmacodynamic signals. An example might be to include obese patients and look at dyslipidemia. There are other kinds of ways we might be able to do that, but for now, I think we're focused on confirming the safety of 629 and the tolerability and assessing the pharmacokinetics which of course, as you know, is different from ocular disease and different from dermatological disease. The systemic diseases is a different ball of wax, and that's something that we're looking forward to testing later that year.

The other program I haven't mentioned is ADX-1612, which is an HSP-90 inhibitor. We're planning to initiate Phase 2 this year in post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease. And I think that's also an exciting mechanism that has broad systemic implications not just with PTLD, but a variety of other conditions. And behind 1612 is a pro-drug 1615, which can be taken orally and we look forward to talking more about that next year.

Matthew Cross -- Jones Trading. -- Analyst

Got it. And agreed as far as PTLD and expanding that portion of the pipeline out as well. On the topic too, if I can get just a brief update on anything you're able to say regarding the collaboration with Janssen as well, just speaking to the kind of systemic part of that pipeline?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Right. So we announced a partnership last year with the Janssen, which is a J&J company on a systemic autoimmune diseases in RASP inhibition. Today, Janssen remains the only other company we know of that's working on a RASP as a platform and they're doing it in conjunction with Aldeyra. That partnership continues, we look forward to updating the Street subsequently this year in terms of next steps their.

Matthew Cross -- Jones Trading. -- Analyst

Okay. Great. Thanks for that. And then just one last one. Obviously, ALLEVIATE in the AC program is now front and center. And I wanted to touch on the feasibility studies that you're also conducting that as I understand, are expected to read out between ALLEVIATE and the beginning of the confirmatory Phase 3. So could you kind of recap when you anticipate reporting results from those studies and how these findings may inform the second Phase 3 in ways that are distinct from the conclusions we can draw from ALLEVIATE?

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Right, so the plan is to complete the methods development studies, that's with environmental exposure to allergen, and read out the ALLEVIATE trial, package those data to gather and aggregate visit with the FDA in Washington to discuss the next Phase 3 trial and then update the Street subsequently on next steps.

Matthew Cross -- Jones Trading. -- Analyst

Okay. Perfect.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

And the second part of your question was about what kinds of data do we expect, are different from the conjunctival challenge, I believe, Matt?

Matthew Cross -- Jones Trading. -- Analyst

Yes. That's correct.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Right. So there's two ways of testing patients with allergic conjunctivitis. The most controlled way is just to administer allergen directly to the eye and the more real-world way is either testing patients in the field during allergen season or exposing patients in aerosolized manner to allergen, that is the chamber study that I mentioned earlier in the call. We have a couple of good options there and we look forward to wrapping up those methods development studies and meeting with the agency and advising on next steps.

Matthew Cross -- Jones Trading. -- Analyst

Great. Okay. Thank you for the responses today, and congrats on the progress.

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Matt.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session as well as the conference call. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.

Duration: 38 minutes

Call participants:

Joshua Reed -- Chief Financial Officer

Todd Brady -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Unidentified Participant -- -- Analyst

Adam Walsh -- Stifel -- Analyst

Esther Lannie Hong -- Janney Montgomery Scott LLC -- Analyst

I-Eh Jen -- Laidlaw & Company -- Analyst

Matthew Cross -- Jones Trading. -- Analyst

More ALDX analysis

Transcript powered by AlphaStreet

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

Friday, March 8, 2019

Change Achieves Market Cap of $3.06 Million (CAG)

Change (CURRENCY:CAG) traded 0.1% higher against the US dollar during the 1 day period ending at 21:00 PM ET on March 7th. Over the last seven days, Change has traded up 2.9% against the US dollar. One Change token can now be purchased for $0.0824 or 0.00002107 BTC on cryptocurrency exchanges including Bibox, OKEx and Kucoin. Change has a market cap of $3.06 million and $16,873.00 worth of Change was traded on exchanges in the last day.

Here is how other cryptocurrencies have performed over the last day:

Get Change alerts: XRP (XRP) traded down 1% against the dollar and now trades at $0.31 or 0.00008043 BTC. Binance Coin (BNB) traded 1.4% higher against the dollar and now trades at $14.96 or 0.00382804 BTC. Tether (USDT) traded 0.1% higher against the dollar and now trades at $1.01 or 0.00025850 BTC. Stellar (XLM) traded 0% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0858 or 0.00002195 BTC. TRON (TRX) traded 1.7% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0231 or 0.00000592 BTC. Bitcoin SV (BSV) traded 2.5% higher against the dollar and now trades at $68.56 or 0.01753770 BTC. NEO (NEO) traded 3.7% higher against the dollar and now trades at $9.17 or 0.00234670 BTC. VeChain (VET) traded up 2.9% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0045 or 0.00000115 BTC. Basic Attention Token (BAT) traded 4.8% higher against the dollar and now trades at $0.18 or 0.00004668 BTC. TrueUSD (TUSD) traded up 0.1% against the dollar and now trades at $1.01 or 0.00025963 BTC.

About Change

Change’s launch date was October 14th, 2017. Change’s total supply is 79,184,116 tokens and its circulating supply is 37,109,987 tokens. The official website for Change is getchange.com. Change’s official message board is medium.com/@changebank. Change’s official Twitter account is @changefinance and its Facebook page is accessible here. The Reddit community for Change is /r/getchange and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here.

Change Token Trading

Change can be bought or sold on the following cryptocurrency exchanges: Kucoin, OKEx and Bibox. It is usually not possible to buy alternative cryptocurrencies such as Change directly using US dollars. Investors seeking to trade Change should first buy Bitcoin or Ethereum using an exchange that deals in US dollars such as GDAX, Gemini or Changelly. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Bitcoin or Ethereum to buy Change using one of the exchanges listed above.

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Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Turn This Company's Predictable Pattern into a Money-Doubling Return

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Selan Exploration gains 8% as oil ministry grants extension for Bakrol field

Share price of Selan Exploration Technology added 8 percent intraday Tuesday after company received approval from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The company has received a letter from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas stating they have approved the proposal for grant of extension of 10 years w.e.f. 13.03.2020 for the entire contract area measuring 36 Sq. Km of Bakrol field.

The letter further requests the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons to inform the company about the approval of extension of the PSC for the Bakrol field, as per extant policy for extension of PSC for small, medium and discovered field, 2016.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 277.50 and 52-week low Rs 158.80 on 10 May, 2018 and 15 February, 2019, respectively.

Currently, it is trading 33.84 percent below its 52-week high and 15.62 percent above its 52-week low.

At 13:33 hrs Selan Exploration Technology was quoting at Rs 184.00, up Rs 10.65, or 6.14 percent on the BSE.

For more market news, click here First Published on Mar 5, 2019 01:38 pm

Monday, March 4, 2019

Aegion Corp (AEGN) Expected to Announce Quarterly Sales of $311.00 Million

Brokerages expect Aegion Corp (NASDAQ:AEGN) to announce sales of $311.00 million for the current quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Two analysts have made estimates for Aegion’s earnings, with the lowest sales estimate coming in at $310.00 million and the highest estimate coming in at $312.00 million. Aegion posted sales of $337.50 million in the same quarter last year, which would indicate a negative year over year growth rate of 7.9%. The company is scheduled to issue its next quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 27th.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Aegion will report full-year sales of $1.31 billion for the current fiscal year. For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the business will report sales of $1.32 billion, with estimates ranging from $1.30 billion to $1.33 billion. Zacks Investment Research’s sales calculations are an average based on a survey of analysts that follow Aegion.

Get Aegion alerts:

Aegion (NASDAQ:AEGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 27th. The construction company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Aegion had a negative net margin of 0.55% and a positive return on equity of 7.42%.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AEGN. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Aegion from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 20th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Aegion from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 2nd. Finally, ValuEngine lowered shares of Aegion from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Aegion presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.75.

NASDAQ AEGN traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.76. 196,296 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 101,829. Aegion has a 1-year low of $15.12 and a 1-year high of $26.80. The firm has a market cap of $668.90 million, a P/E ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.17.

In related news, SVP Stephen P. Callahan sold 3,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $71,799.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AEGN. Simplex Trading LLC purchased a new position in Aegion during the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Aegion by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,432 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Aegion by 78.6% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,532 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875 shares during the period. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan purchased a new position in Aegion during the fourth quarter worth approximately $150,000. Finally, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY raised its stake in Aegion by 347.5% during the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 10,280 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 7,983 shares during the period. 94.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Aegion

Aegion Corporation provides technologies to maintain, rehabilitate, and strengthen infrastructure worldwide. It operates through three segments: Infrastructure Solutions, Corrosion Protection, and Energy Services. The company offers various solutions for rehabilitating and maintaining aging or deteriorating infrastructure; protecting new infrastructure from corrosion; and providing integrated professional services in engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, and turnaround services for oil companies.

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Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Aegion (AEGN)

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Earnings History and Estimates for Aegion (NASDAQ:AEGN)

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Spain Is Ready To Launch Its Contingency Plan For A No-Deal Brexit

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-152&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/anagarciavaldivia/files/2019/02/800px-Congreso_de_los_Diputados_Espa%C3%B1a_09.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;600&q; data-width=&q;800&q;&g; The Congress of deputies in Spain

Spain is one of the EU countries that maintain closer ties with the UK, so as time passed and all attempts to reach a withdrawal agreement were fading, the Spanish Government began preparing for the worst scenario: a no-deal Brexit. Now that the Labour Party&s;s plan to implement a &a;lsquo;soft&a;rsquo; Brexit has failed and the possibility of an extension of Article 50 and a second referendum have been brought to the table, uncertainty prevails again. This is why next Friday the Spanish council of ministers will approve a Contingency Plan to face a possible Brexit without agreement.

Last Wednesday the President of the Government, Pedro S&a;aacute;nchez, responded to the announcement of the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, about a possible extension of Article 50. Although S&a;aacute;nchez has always positioned himself in favor of a withdrawal agreement, in this case, the President pointed out that &l;strong&g;&q;prolonging the uncertainty by postponing deadlines is not a reasonable or desirable alternative.&q;&l;/strong&g; A few hours later, the British Parliament rejected the Brexit alternative plan presented by the Labour Party and, therefore, the opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, would support a second referendum as he announced&a;nbsp;earlier this week.

In this context of uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the Spanish Government has opted for the old saying, &a;lsquo;prevention is better than cure&s;. It was a few days before the British Parliament rejected the agreement reached between the EU and the UK that S&a;aacute;nchez confirmed that a contingency plan was being prepared. So, after Westminster&s; vote on January 15, the Government met with members of the opposition to establish a line of dialogue on the measures that should be taken after Brexit.

Ever since, the Spanish Executive has been working on a &l;strong&g;decree-law of contingency measures&l;/strong&g; that will finally be approved on Friday, March 1, in the council of ministers. During his appearance before the Congress last Wednesday, S&a;aacute;nchez stressed that this is a regulation to facilitate the &q;transition to a new situation&q; and, therefore, it will be temporary. The main objective of the contingency plan is, in the first place, preserving the rights of Spanish and British citizens living in both countries and, secondly, preserving the existing economic relations.

In addition, the Spanish Government pretends &l;strong&g;to provide citizens and companies with all the necessary information on the implications of &a;lsquo;Brexit&a;rsquo;&l;/strong&g;, for which a &l;a href=&q;http://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/brexit/Paginas/index.aspx&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;special website&l;/a&g;&a;nbsp;has been created. &a;ldquo;Given that an agreed withdrawal is the best option, the Government of Spain has been working from day one at both European and domestic levels in all areas to ensure the least possible impact from the withdrawal by the United Kingdom,&a;rdquo; is published in the website, which includes sections on &a;lsquo;what is Brexit&a;rsquo;, &a;lsquo;the current situation&a;rsquo;, &a;lsquo;how to get ready&a;rsquo;, and &a;lsquo;related news&a;rsquo;.

Regarding &l;strong&g;the citizenship rights&l;/strong&g;, the Government is working in establishing bilateral agreements with the UK to maintain the current protection in issues related with residence, social security, health care, and the recognition of academic and professional degrees.&l;strong&g; Spain is the country of residence of the largest community of British citizens in Europe&l;/strong&g;, &l;a href=&q;http://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t20/e245/p04/provi/l0/&a;amp;file=0ccaa002.px&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;240,000&l;/a&g;&a;nbsp;people according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE). Spain, for its part, has also a significant number of citizens living in the UK, &l;a href=&q;http://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t20/p85001/serie/&a;amp;file=01001.px&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;128,000&l;/a&g;&a;nbsp;people according to the same source, so it is only natural that both sides would reach an agreement when the time comes, if necessary.

As for &l;strong&g;economic relations&l;/strong&g;, the contingency plan aims to address regulations in the financial and customs area and creating agreements regarding the industry, commerce, and tourism. However, there is a sector that stands out concerning the economic ties with the UK, and that is &l;strong&g;the investment&l;/strong&g;. On February 26, the Chamber of Commerce of Spain in London published the &s;&l;a href=&q;http://www.spanishchamber.co.uk/barometer.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;I Barometer on the Climate and Outlook for Spanish Investment in the UK&l;/a&g;&s;, which indicates that the &l;strong&g;Spanish companies had &a;euro;77,000 million ( $87,54 billion) invested in the British market&l;/strong&g; at the end of 2016, the vast majority coming from &a;lsquo;Ibex 35 groups&a;rsquo; such as Banco Santander, Telef&a;oacute;nica, Iberdrola, Sabadell, Ferrovial, and IAG.

This figure situates the UK as the second largest destination for international investment, slightly behind the United States, but it may not remain this way after Brexit. The report shows that &l;strong&g;74% of the surveyed companies consider that the business environment in the UK has worsened in the last year&l;/strong&g;, especially due to the increase in political risk, and 68% of them believe that there is not enough institutional stability in the country. As a result, only one in four Spanish companies expects to increase their investment in the British market this year.

The Government is aware of the uncertainties that Brexit entails for the Spanish companies and some measures have already been adopted in this regard. For example, &l;strong&g;the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) has recently launched the &a;ldquo;&l;a href=&q;http://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/brexit/news/Paginas/20190214icex.aspx&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Brexit cheque&l;/a&g;&a;rdquo;&l;/strong&g;, which provides a discount for those companies whose business has been affected by Brexit of between 60% and 80% to use the Customised Services provided by the economic affairs and trade offices of Spain overseas. The aim is to support companies so they can better deal with the possible changes in terms of access to the UK or to facilitate their diversification to markets in other countries around the world.

Finally, it is important to note that, despite all the prevention measures announced, Spain has always been favorable to a &a;lsquo;friendly exit&a;rsquo; of the UK. Even on Wednesday, when S&a;aacute;nchez announced the Contingency Plan, the President admitted that &l;strong&g;Spain will not oppose to an eventual extension of Article 50 &l;/strong&g;if it entails a &q;certain perspective of resolution.&q;&l;/p&g;

Friday, March 1, 2019

Top Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:HBI,BAP,PMBC, &l;p&g;On Monday, &l;a href=&q;https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-18/wynn-resorts-sued-over-claim-it-rigged-boston-casino-bid&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Sterling Suffolk Racecourse, LLC&l;/a&g; filed a $3 billion (not a typo)&a;nbsp;Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization&a;nbsp;Act (RICO) claim &a;nbsp;against &l;a href=&q;http://lavertylohnesproperties.com/about-us/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Paul Lohnes&l;/a&g; (real estate developer/manager at Laverty and Lohnes), Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts and others. &a;nbsp;The basis for the claim? Suffolk believes they got railroaded by Wynn who rode into town and scooped&a;nbsp;up one of the most valuable gaming licenses in the country.

&l;img class=&q;dam-image ap size-large wp-image-d1135dd17c9d4d1da21a0f33b857c613&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/d1135dd17c9d4d1da21a0f33b857c613/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;612&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Casino mogul Steve Wynn gestures during a a news conference regarding his proposed $1.7 billion casino complex, tentatively named &q;Wynn Boston Harbor&q;, in Medford, Mass., Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The casino is planned to be built along the waterfront in Everett, Mass., at a polluted site that has been used in heavy industry since the 1880&s;s. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Top Stocks To Invest In 2019: Hanesbrands Inc.(HBI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Grimes & Company Inc. cut its stake in Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 344,253 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 7,700 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Hanesbrands were worth $7,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 93,861 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,729,000.

  • [By Chris Lange]

    The stock posting the largest daily percentage loss in the S&P 500 ahead of the close was Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) which fell about 19% to $17.97. The stock's 52-week range is $16.38 to $25.73. Volume was just about 27 million compared to the daily average volume of 6.4 million.

  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    Yet along with those gains has come continued volatility, and even among the biggest companies in the market, some have faced substantial setbacks that have caused their shares to fall 15% or more in August. As of today, Hanesbrands (NYSE:HBI), Dentsply Sirona (NASDAQ:XRAY), and Noble Energy (NYSE:NBL) have been the worst-performing members of the S&P 500 so far this month, and below, you'll learn more about how they got there and what's ahead for their respective businesses.

Top Stocks To Invest In 2019: Credicorp Ltd.(BAP)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Max Byerly]

    Shares of Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $253.00.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    ANZ (NYSE: BAP) and Credicorp (NYSE:BAP) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    CI Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP) by 85.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,420 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 136,150 shares during the quarter. CI Investments Inc.’s holdings in Credicorp were worth $5,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Credicorp (NYSE: BAP) and National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation and profitability.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Credicorp (BAP)

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  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP) by 14.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,192 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Credicorp were worth $493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Top Stocks To Invest In 2019: Pacific Mercantile Bancorp(PMBC)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Media stories about Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (NASDAQ:PMBC) have been trending somewhat positive on Thursday, according to Accern Sentiment. The research firm identifies positive and negative press coverage by analyzing more than twenty 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. Pacific Mercantile Bancorp earned a daily sentiment score of 0.14 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news articles about the bank an impact score of 47.2552381134184 out of 100, meaning that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the near term.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    PNC Financial Services (NYSE: PNC) and Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (NASDAQ:PMBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (NASDAQ:PMBC) and Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.