We’re one day from the election, and there are a number of marijuana initiatives on state ballots.
That’s why we’re featuring the top marijuana stocks to watch now. You see, this week is poised to be the biggest week of the year for marijuana stocks. In fact, this week could be historic for the legal and medical marijuana industry.
A record nine states have marijuana initiatives on the ballot this year.
Legal use of recreational marijuana is on the ballot in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada. If passed, those five states will join Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columba, where adults are free to use marijuana recreationally.
Medical marijuana initiatives are on the ballot in Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota.
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Panasonic Corporation (PCRFY)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By SEEKINGALPHA.COM]
A Unilever vs. Panasonic (OTCPK:PCRFY) showdown seems to be something out of an alternative, weird universe. But that’s exactly what has been happening in the Asia-Pacific region, where Unilever is now a major seller of air and water purification devices. The acquisitions of Qinyuan and Pureit water purifiers, as well as the acquisition of Sweden-based Blueair in 2016, reflects Unilever’s latest growth strategy of reducing exposure to low-growth brands in favor of greater investments in higher-growth products with strong social and environmental credentials.
- [By SEEKINGALPHA.COM]
SMMYY is a subsidiary of the Sumitomo Group. SMMYY is a major smelter and refiner of copper, nickel and gold in Japan, and has a 27.5% stake in the Ambatovy Nickel Project in Madagascar, along with Sherritt International and Korea Resources Corp. Feedstock for the refinery is nickel cobalt mixed sulphide from its Taganito and Coral Bay mines in the Philippines (noting the Philippines is a risky supply source at this time). Sumitomo supply Panasonic (OTCPK:PCRFY) who supply Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA); however, this can change. Generally, I like the stock; however, at this time, valuation looks full, trading on a 2017 PE of 32.8, and 2018 PE of 14.8. Good to buy after a pullback if that occurs.
- [By SEEKINGALPHA.COM]
Clean Technica reported on September 1 that “Sony is entering the EV battery manufacturing industry”. And “considering that electric vehicle batteries are going to be the main supply bottleneck for the upcoming auto market’s embrace of EVs, the entry of Sony into the field is very notable. Most of the other manufacturers (Panasonic (OTCPK:PCRFY), LG Chem (OTC:LGCLF), etc.) already have more or less all of their production capacity locked up for the coming years – meaning there’s not much left for the auto manufacturers that are running behind, thereby limiting potential EV sales for the firms in question. Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) entry into the field should open things up a bit more”. Certainly a good move by Sony and helpful for the EV companies that will find themselves in need of batteries, and limited availability, should EVs reach 10% by 2020.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
During the early stages of a new innovation, interdependent architectures and integrated companies best optimize performance and functionality. This trend has played out in computing and handsets, and we see the same trend playing out in EVs. We find Tesla and BYD1 , by far, the most vertically integrated players in EVs, with huge scale advantages. In addition, LG Chem, Panasonic (PCRFY), Samsung SDI, BYD, and CATL are clear scale leaders in batteries (CATL is not publicly traded. All but Samsung SDI and BYD are not covered by Bernstein.).
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Semtech Corporation(SMTC)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Monica Gerson]
Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ: SMTC) is projected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.27 per share on revenue of $128.38 million.
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: OLLI) is estimated to post its quarterly earnings at $0.17 per share on revenue of $190.44 million.
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Hostess Brands, Inc. (TWNK)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Paul Ausick]
There was an IPO of sorts last week when Gores Holdings II raised $375 million with an offer of 37.5 million units at $10 per unit. The shares are listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GSHTU. Gores Holdings I acquired Hostess Brands last year and completed an IPO in December for Hostess Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: TWNK).
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Staffing 360 Solutions, Inc.(STAF)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Bryan Murphy]
The staffing industry – and the IT staffing industry in particular – is poised for tremendous growth in the foreseeable future, and that rising tide bodes very well for Staffing 360 Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:STAF).
- [By Matthew Briar]
If there was any lingering doubt about Staffing 360 Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:STAF), it was wiped away today. The IT staffing firm’s second quarter numbers verify the long-standing growth trend is still well intact. Better still, even as the top line rises, expense-cuts supported by all the synergies of its recent acquisitions have allowed the bottom line to improve by even more.
Even before today’s official Q2 announcement we knew that last quarter’s revenue would roll in at $47.1 million and gross profits would end up at $8.1 million. Those figures were up 14% and 8.4%, respectively. What we didn’t know about STAF until today is that the net loss shrank from $3.4 million a year earlier to only $1.5 million now. EBITDA of $1.4 million was about the same as the EBITDA of $1.3 million generated in the second fiscal quarter of the prior year.
The progress march continues for Staffing 360 Solutions.
- [By James E. Brumley]
It’s almost time for the annual Staffing 360 Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:STAF) shareholder pow-wow. That is to say, the company’s annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for January 26th of the coming year, in New York City. Though nothing too dramatic is on the voting docket, a handful of items will be decided on by STAF owners.
Staffing 360 Solutions is a fast-growing staffing firm. Its focal point is IT staffing. This small company is smartly and cost-effectively acquiring its way into a size and scale by converting a fragmented and less-effective and less profitable group of similar staffing agencies into a cohesive, more profitable singular unit.
It’s paying off too – the proof has been in the rising revenue tally over the course of the past couple of years… a rise that’s been outpaced by the broad improvement of EBITDA and income (which is the point of a scale-up).
The specific numbers: . All told, Staffing 360 Solutions generated $47.8 million worth of revenue last quarter, turned $8.5 million of it into a gross profit, and turned $1.8 million of that into an EBITDA profit. Those were, respectively, improvements of 33%, 34%, and 184% compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Net income improved too. The net loss of $1.3 million was 27% smaller than the net loss of $1.7 million booked in Q1 of fiscal 2016. Profitability – real profitability – is within reach. STAF simply has to stay on the trajectory it’s on. A couple more acquisitions and a little more organic growth could do the trick.
Late next month, shareholders will have a chance to voice their thoughts on where the company should be going… metaphorically and literally. One of the matter being put to a vote is a change of domicile, from Nevada to Delaware; Delaware generally offers a more business-friendly set of operating and tax rules. Another more important matter to be voted on at the meeting is the authorization of more STAF shares, which have been used in lie
- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap staffing stock Staffing 360 Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: STAF), which is in the midst of a global buy-and-build strategy through the acquisition of domestic and international staffing organizations with operations in the US and UK, pre-announced its unaudited financial results for the fiscal second quarter ended November 30, 2016. Expected revenue rose 14% to$47 million and expected gross profit rose 8% to $8.1 million while for the first six months of the fiscal year, expected revenuerose 23% to$95 million and expected gross profit rose 20% to $16.6 million.
- [By Matthew Briar]
Staffing 360 Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:STAF) is on a roll. Just a couple of days after it pre-announced some impressive preliminary results for the most recently-completed quarter, the IT staffing agency told STAF shareholders today that $2.7 million worth of debt had essentially been refinanced. Now, no interest payments are due until October of this year, and no principal is due until October of next year. That may well be enough time for Staffing 360 Solutions to acquire more companies, beef up the top and bottom line, and pay the whole amount off before another refinancing or conversion to shares.
Staffing 360 Solutions’ story is a compelling one. Seeing the growing need for information technology workers in an increasingly digital and increasingly networked world — and a severe lack of those qualified workers — three years ago the company began to capitalize on the supply/demand imbalance. Its mission was to aggregate, or “roll up” several smaller IT staffing companies into one big one, create some synergies and thus widen margins, and develop enough muscle to become THE dominant name in the niche.
It’s working too. On Tuesday of this week, the company pre-announced its fiscal first quarter (ending in November) sales and gross profits. Revenue of $47 million and a gross profit of $8.1 million were up 14% and 8%, respectively, year-over-year, extending a long-term growth trend.
What we haven’t heard yet — and won’t until the official Q1 filing is submitted later this month — is the company’s net income and EBITDA figures for the quarter. But, those numbers are improving too. EBITDA has been positive in each of the five prior quarters, and is expected to continue growing through last quarter. Net income is within sight of turning positive too. And, with its debt-interest payments now going away for at least nine months, net income will move towards turning positive at an even faster rate… through lower expenses, as well as greater fin
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc.(USPH)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Thursday, healthcare shares fell 0.73 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE: USPH), down 7 percent, and Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ: FLDM), down 7 percent.
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Realogy Holdings Corp.(RLGY)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Chad Tracy]
Investments in Claire's retail stores, Realogy Holdings (NYSE: RLGY), and Harrah's Entertainment all came under pressure as the global credit crisis hit. Apollo was forced to shut off cash interest payments to investors and to issue more debt.
- [By Lisa Abramowicz]
Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) and residential property firm Realogy Corp. (RLGY) are two of the 283 junk-rated borrowers identified in March 2009 by Moodys Investors Service as being at the highest risk of default that have since sold bonds.
- [By Monica Wolfe]
Realogy Holdings (RLGY)
Paulsons third largest holding goes to Realogy Holdings. The guru holds on to 12,957,700 shares, representing 4.4% of his total portfolio and 8.87% of the companys shares outstanding.
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Edwards Lifesciences Corporation(EW)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Edwards Lifesciences (EW) soared to the top of the S&P 500 today after the medical-device company beat earnings and revenue forecasts, and raised its full-year guidance.
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Edwards Lifesciencesgained 11% to 109.33, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.1% to 2,387.45.
Mogran Stanley’s David Lewis andScott Wang contend that that Edwards Lifesciences is “back on track.” They explain:
US sequential acceleration returns to the prior curve and debunks the bear case. Sequential growth in US [transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR,] in 1Q17 was ~12%, more in line with the ~13.5% average growth rate seen in the five quarters leading up to 3Q16. It’s hard to pinpoint the drivers, but we see several dynamics, including: (i) underlying device utilization thus far in 1Q, (ii) faster ramp at new hospitals where one additional TAVR per center is worth $15mn (~65% of the US upside we saw this quarter), and (iii) less acute competitive pressure from Medtronic (MDT) on larger valve sizes. SURTAVI likely played a limited role but management did not rule it out. Guidance implies a more conservative q/q US growth of ~3% for the rest of the year vs the ~12% this quarter, but underlying strength in the quarter is a material shift in US growth and intermediate penetration. As we stated in our preview, we favored the risk reward into the quarter given achievable expectations and the >20 point lag vs Intuitive YTD and would expect significant recovery tomorrow. Momentum likely continues into 2Q17 as signs of improving intermediate risk penetration provide important offsets to increased competition from Boston in early-2018 before mitral takes hold.
Edwards Lifesciences’ market capitalization rose to $23.1 billion today from $20.9 billion yesterday.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Edwards Lifesciences (EW) jumped to the top of the S&P 500 today after the medical-device maker offered its 2017 guidance this morning at its investor day.
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Shares of Edwards Lifesciences gained 6.7% to $89.31 today, while the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 2,246.19.
Wells Fargo’sLarry Biegelsen offers his take on Edwards Lifesciences’ guidance:
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (EW-$83.73; Outperform) provided its 2017 outlook this morning (12/8) ahead of its investor meeting today. As expected, the company highlighted its robust pipeline which should drive strong growth for years to come. However, the company now expects Q4 16 revenue to come in at the low end of the guidance range due to currency and weakness in surgical heart valves. The 2017 guidance was generally strong on the top and bottom line, with both bracketing consensus.
For 2017, EW expects sales of $3.0-3.4B and 10-14% underlying growth. This compares to consensus of $3.3B and 12.3% underlying growth (were at 12.6%)… For 2017 EPS, EW expects $3.30-3.45 which includes $0.10 dilution from the Valtech deal (something we highlighted in our preview) and $0.08-0.10 benefit from the accounting change for stock based compensation. Backing these two items out implies guidance of about $3.30-3.45 which compares to consensus of $3.40 and our estimate of $3.41…
As expected, the pipeline updates were highly positive. While the initial reaction to the Q4 guidance will likely be negative, we are highly confident that the strong 2017 guidance and robust pipeline update will be the main takeaways from the meeting today.
No negativity here: Edwards Lifesciences’ market capitalization rose to $19.1 billion today from $17.9 billion yesterday. It reported net income of $495 million on sales of $2.5 billion in 2015.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Breaking news
Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE: EW) announced plans to buy Valtech Cardio for $340 million in cash and stock. The company also announced a $1 billion buyback plan.
Epizyme Inc (NASDAQ: EPZM) disclosed that it has received Fast Track designation for tazemetostat.
Athene Holding Ltd. (NYSE: ATH) reported that it has priced its 23.8 million share IPO between $38 per share and $42 per share.
Lannett Company, Inc. (NYSE: LCI) reported the approval for its Metaxalone Tablets USP, 800 mg. - [By Chris Lange]
The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Wednesday was Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) which jumped about 10% to $108.91. The stocks 52-week range is $81.12 to $1221.75. Volume was roughly 7.3million which is above the daily average of around 2.2 million shares.
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Teck Resources Ltd(TCK)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Benzinga News Desk]
Stephens (Equal-Weight) and Citi (Sell) both downgraded Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW).
Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls
Investec downgraded Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) to Hold.
Deutsche Bank downgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Hold.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Buy.
Barclays upgraded Teck Resources (NYSE: TCK) to Overweight.
BTIG started Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) at Neutral.
Deal TalkU.S. oil refiner Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) said it would buy Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) for $4.1 billion to add refineries in Texas, New Mexico and Minnesota. The combined company will have refining capacity of over 1.1 million barrels per day. Tesoro has refineries in California, Washington, Alaska, Utah and North Dakota.
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Dan Caplinger]
2017 has been a tumultuous year, with plenty going on in the political and financial realms. Yet the stock market has done quite well, and index funds that track popular stock benchmarks have given their investors solid returns. In particular, among the most popular exchange-traded funds, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEMKT:EEM), PowerShares QQQ (NASDAQ:QQQ), and iShares Core MSCI EAFE (NYSEMKT:IEFA) have delivered some of the best returns.
- [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]
For the details of RABOBANK NEDERLAND ‘s stock buys and sells, go to www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=RABOBANK+NEDERLAND+
These are the top 5 holdings of RABOBANK NEDERLAND Bank of America Corporation (BAC) – 250,000 shares, 100% of the total portfolio. New PositionBlackBerry Ltd (BBRY) – 0 shares, 0% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 10000%iShares MSCI Emerging Index Fund (EEM) – 0 shares, 0% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 10000%iShares MSCI Brazil Capped Index Fund (EWZ) – 0 shares, 0% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 10000%VanEck Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) – 0 shares, 0% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 10000%
- [By Craig Jones]
On CNBC's Trading Nation, Todd Gordon recommended a bearish options strategy in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) (NYSE: EEM). He said that the ETF is under pressure because of weak commodity prices and strong U.S. dollar. He explained that falling bond prices have caused a rally in the U.S. dollar.
- [By Craig Jones]
Speaking on Bloomberg Markets, Dan Deming of KKM Financial suggested a bullish options strategy in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) (NYSE: EEM).
Top 10 Medical Stocks To Buy For 2018: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
There seems to be no cure for the rise of e-commerce, Cramer admitted to viewers, as a vicious downgrade of Nordstrom (JWN) last week sent shares reeling by more than 9%.
- [By Chris Lange]
Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN) reported fiscal first-quarter financial results after markets closed Thursday. The company reported $0.43 in earnings per share (EPS) and $3.3 billion in revenue versus consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.27 in EPS and $3.34 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.26 in EPS and $3.25 billion in revenue.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
The retail industry has gone through tough times lately, and things have been especially difficult for high-end retailers like Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN). As shoppers become more comfortable with online shopping, department stores with substantial brick-and-mortar assets have had to adapt to changes in consumer behavior and meet them on their own terms, and that’s been a difficult proposition for a company that prides itself on one-on-one customer service in the store setting.
