The Samadhi Partners Equity Research team recently picked Zendesk (NYSE:ZEN) as one of its Top 10 M&A picks for 2017. Zendesk is one of the more mature SaaS-based service and help-desk offerings on the market today, offering a great client base and technical infrastructure that has helped it drive solid growth in the enterprise market. But it’s not a perfect play, with a bit of turbulence in its stock price and a knack for increasing losses to offset revenue gains.
While Zendesk has established itself solidly within the enterprise, its implementation approach (which requires more “hands-on” effort than we typically like to see from SaaS companies) has left it vulnerable to competitors at the lower-end of the market (think fast-growing rival Freshdesk).
best stocks to invest in today: Tableau Software, Inc.(DATA)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Monica Gerson]
Benzinga's newsdesk monitors options activity to notice unusual patterns. These large volume (and often out of the money) trades were initially published intraday in Benzinga Professional . These trades were placed during Monday’s regular session.
Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE: PIR) Dec16 5.0 Puts Sweep: 1191 @ ASK $0.80: 1354 traded vs 102 OI: $5.32 Ref
Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA) Jul16 9.5 Puts Sweep: 1494 @ ASK $0.13: 14k traded vs 6682 OI: $10.09 Ref
Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SRPT) Jul16 10.0 Puts: 3536 @ ASK $0.50: 5506 traded vs 54k OI: Earnings 8/4 $22.50 Ref
Tableau Software Inc (NYSE: DATA) Jul16 47.5 Puts Sweep: 837 @ ASK $0.30: 995 traded vs 37 OI: Earnings 8/3 $50.60 Ref
Yandex NV (NASDAQ: YNDX) Aug16 18.0 Puts Sweep: 532 @ ASK $0.30: 2143 traded vs 78 OI: Earnings 7/28 Before Open $22.02 Ref
Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) Aug16 22.5 Puts: 719 @ ASK $1.35: 1032 traded vs 0 OI: Earnings 7/19 $22.22 Ref
Conn's Inc (NASDAQ: CONN) Jan17 5.0 Puts Sweep: 605 @ ASK $0.85: 1355 traded vs 3132 OI: $7.16 Ref
Posted-In: Huge Put PurchasesNews Options Markets
best stocks to invest in today: CA Inc.(CA)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Chris Lange]
The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Thursday was CA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CA) which traded down over 10% at $31.09. The stocks 52-week range is $30.01 to $36.54. Volume was about 11 million versus the daily average of 3.2 million shares.
- [By Laurie Kulikowski]
The gross profit margin for CA INC is currently very high, coming in at 85.27%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the strong results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 17.31% trails the industry average.
- [By Laurie Kulikowski]
Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 15.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 6.8%. Weakness in the company’s revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
Net operating cash flow has decreased to $45.00 million or 31.81% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing the cash generation rate to the industry average, the firm’s growth is significantly lower.
- [By Laurie Kulikowski]
We rate CA INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed – some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its attractive valuation levels, expanding profit margins and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, weak operating cash flow and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.
- [By ]
Last but not least, the conversion and consolidation of the American healthcare colossus will be a bonanza for tech companies engaged in networking, software, and the cloud. Those best suited to handle the task are the usual suspects: Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), IBM (NYSE: IBM), CA Technologies (Nasdaq: CA), Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPE).
- [By Laurie Kulikowski]
The current dividend yield for CA is 3.55%, well above the 2.07% for the S&P 500. We believe the dividend is safe as improvements in marketing and sales should help return the top line to growth in the middle of calendar 2016, while still seeing modest margin expansion.
best stocks to invest in today: Olympic Steel Inc.(ZEUS)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Shares of Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZEUS) got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $22.55. Olympic Steel reported a Q1 net income of $7.7 million, after posting a loss in the year-ago period.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Basic materials sector was the top gainer in the US market on Monday. Top gainers in the sector included Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAYN), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE: CLF), and Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZEUS).
- [By Lisa Levin]
Basic materials shares gained around 1.89 percent in trading on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZEUS), and Mechel PAO (ADR) (NYSE: MTL).
- [By Lisa Levin]
Wednesday afternoon, the basic materials shares climbed by 1.09 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZEUS), up 7 percent, and Aluminum Corp. of China Limited (ADR) (NYSE: ACH), up 7 percent.
best stocks to invest in today: Franco-Nevada Corporation(FNV)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Deutsche Bank’s Jorge Beristain and Chris Terry released their earnings preview for the gold miners–including Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG), Franco-Nevada (FNV), and Coeur Mining (CDE)–and conclude that only one gold miner deserves a Buy rating: Newmont Mining (NEM). They explain why:
- [By Alex McGuire]
This list ranks gold dividend stocks in the mining sector by dividend yield. And it also includes one of our top gold stock recommendations of 2017…
Gold Dividend Stock Share Price Year-to-Date Performance Dividend Yield (as of June 30)
DRDGOLD Ltd. (NYSE ADR: DRD) $3.19 -39.7% 10.24%
Sibanye Gold Ltd. (NYSE ADR: SBGL) $4.70 -33.4% 5.98%
Harmony Gold Mining Co. (NYSE ADR: HMY) $1.62 -26.7% 4.56%
Gold Fields Limited (NYSE ADR: GFI) $3.41 +13.3% 2.73%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (Nasdaq ADR: GOLD) $87.68 +14.9% 1.89%
Franco Nevada Corp. (NYSE: FNV) $72.39 +21.1% 1.27%
Royal Gold Inc. (Nasdaq: RGLD) $76.85 +21.3% 1.25%
Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO) $2.58 -19.9% 1.16%
Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) $15.90 -0.5% 0.75%
Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) $13.02 -4.4% 0.62%
Six of the 10 gold stocks listed above have posted negative returns so far in 2017. The main reason behind their losses has to do with gold price volatility.
- [By Alex McGuire]
This list shows the top-performing gold stocks this month, which we’ll be watching in September 2017. While these stocks posted gains in August, we still aren’t recommending them. Instead, we’re going to show you Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth’s pick for the best gold stock to buy this year…
Top Gold Stock Share Price August 2017 Gain
Sibanye Gold Ltd. (NYSE ADR: SBGL) $6.35 +22.9%
Iamgold Corp. (NYSE: IAG) $6.49 +20%
Alamos Gold Inc. (NYSE: AGI) $8.17 +15.1%
Franco Nevada Corp. (NYSE: FNV) $81.20 +11.6%
Hudbay Minerals Inc. (NYSE: HBM) $8.70 +11.5%
Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE ADR: GFI) $4.42 +10.9%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (Nasdaq ADR: GOLD) $101.90 +9.6%
Harmony Gold Mining Co. (NYSE ADR: HMY) $1.97 +8.8%
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) $50.60 +8.4%
Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY) $2.81 +7.9%
Life-Changing Profits: This investing strategy has racked up 30 triple-digit wins so far this year – and 46 in the last 12 months. To learn how to get in position for the next one, click here now…
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Given revised commodity deck forecasts (particularly for Steel and Gold) and improved Balance Sheet health (Steels, Precious and Industrials Metals) we are upgrading our ratings on several stocks in our coverage. We generally favor companies that have already initiated specific self-help, have low-cost assets and are less exposed to China supply and demand dynamics. In Steels, we have increased our rating from Hold to Buy on Nucor (NUE) and from Sell to Hold on US Steel. We have also upgraded Kinross Gold (KGC) to a Hold on valuation…On higher-than-peer valuations, we reiterate Sell-rated Coeur Mining (CDE), Franco-Nevada (FNV), Goldcorp (GG), Teck Resources (TCK) and highly leveraged AK Steel given preference to issue further equity if possible.
