When Costco Wholesale (COST) announced its fiscal first-quarter earnings in December, its shares rose 1.3%, despite initial disappointment. And next month, Costco will release its December sales, which should show whether that reaction was justified. Baird’s Peter Benedict and team offer a preview:
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Modeling December “core” comps (ex-gas/FX) of 2%-3% (reported comps also 2%-3% vs. Street’s initial 1.8%E), with the slight uptick from November’s 2% core supported by easier compares, stronger trends exiting/entering November/December, and more seasonable weather. Looking ahead to CY17, prospects for further improvement in underlying comp trends appear good as compares continue to ease and tobacco-related headwinds are cycled (in the spring). When combined with a potential U.S./Canadian fee increase (and perhaps even another special dividend), we reiterate our Outperform rating/$175 price target.
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Encana Corporation(ECA)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Money Morning News Team]
Canada-based Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) was the eighth top oil company stock in 2016, with a 131% gain over the year. ECA and its subsidiaries focus on developing, exploring, producing, and marketing natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and oil in North America.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) is rated Buy with an unchanged price target of $16. The EPS estimate for 2017 was lowered from $0.42 to $0.34, and the 2018 estimate was also lowered, from $1.47 to $1.28. The shares ended the weekat $11.44, in a 52-week range of $4.90 to $13.85. The consensus 12-month price target is $14.95.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Vodafone Group (VOD) , Schlumberger (SLB) , Encana (ECA) , Arconic (ARNC) and AdvanSix (ASIX) .
Cramer was bearish on U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) .
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Nu Skin Enterprises Inc.(NUS)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Citigroup’s Beth Kite calls Nu Skin Enterprises’ (NUS) earnings and guidance “awfully disappointing.” She explains why:
“Frustrating” Describes 4Q15 & 2016 Guidance:Nu Skin (i) reported 4Q15 EPS of $0.62, 11 cents below consensus and us, and (ii) lowered 2016 EPS guidance, from $3.25-$3.40 to $2.40-$2.60.Nu Skin had three LTO’s in 4Q152 succeeded and 1 failed. The failure had far less to do with the product than with the sales strategy…
Is Guidance Too Conservative or Is It Really This Bad? We get that Me failed to sell well in South Korea with the 12-month cartridge commitment. But given the strength in reps globally, the strength of Youth from its two LTOs in 2H15, and good results from Me when sold in Japan without the 12-month commitment, we wonder if guidance is aggressive to the downside. Indeed, the word “conservative” was said a lot by mgmt on the brief earnings call when describing guidance revisions.
Maintaining Buy: While we now have less confidence in mgmt, from an external perspective, to forecast its results accurately, and from an internal perspective, to course correct quicklyi.e., why didn’t they drop the 12-month plan for Me in South Korea when it so obviously wasn’t workingwe are still confident in Youth & Me. The rep growth in South Asia/Pacific from Youth in 3Q led to better 4Q sales than we’d expected, Youth’s Americas LTO in 4Q drove lc sales up 26% YoY, and Me not only sold through in Japan in 4Q but also drove reps higher. We imagine that investors may have little patience or confidence in Nu Skin for a while, understandably. But the bar seems set fairly low now, so we are cautiously optimistic that Nu Skin can dig itself out of this hole as we go through 2016 and Me & Youth roll out more fully.
Shares of Nu Skin have tumbled 13% to $27.31 at 2:11 p.m. today.
- [By Scott Rubin]
Stock gainers included Mercadolibre Inc (NASDAQ: MELI), up almost 14 percent, and Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS), which added 12 percent. The positive gains in both stocks were due to strong earnings reports. Shares of Liberty Interactive Group (NASDAQ: QVCA) plunged almost 22 percent on Friday due to disappointing sales growth in its fiscal second quarter. Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY) lost 16 percent after a disappointing study involving its Opdivo drug.
- [By Craig Jones]
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS) is trading sharply higher on Friday, but options traders are buying puts in the name, said Jon Najarian. Traders were buying the June 50 puts and they paid around 6 percent for them, so they don't see much upside in Nu Skin Enterprises, explained Najarian. He followed the trade and he is planning to hold the position for a month.
- [By Roberto Pedone]
Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS) is a direct selling company, which develops and distributes personal care products and nutritional supplements that are sold under the Nu Skin and Pharmanex brands. This stock closed up 5.4% at $92.96 in Monday’s trading session.
Monday’s Volume: 2 million
Three-Month Average Volume: 900,802
Volume % Change: 85%
From a technical perspective, NUS ripped higher here right above some near-term support at $85 with heavy upside volume. This move pushed shares of NUS into breakout and new 52-week-high territory, since the stock took out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $88.20 to $89.69. This move also pushed shares of NUS above the upper-end of its recent range that saw the stock trend between $82 to just above $89.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in NUS as long as it’s trending above support at $85 and then once it sustains a move or close above Monday’s high of $93.33 with volume that this near or above 900,802 shares. If we get that move soon, then NUS will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $100 to $105.
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Talisman Energy Inc.(TLM)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Jayson Derrick]
On the other hand, the analysts are Underweight on Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE: E), Repsol Oil & Gas Canada Inc (USA) (NYSE: TLM) and OMV AG given their asset bases, which offer an inferior risk to reward profile and limited differentiation in cost reductions.
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Thor Industries Inc.(THO)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Recreational vehicles have hit a stretch of popularity that the industry hasn’t seen since the 1970s, and Thor Industries (NYSE:THO) has found itself in the right place at the right time. The RV specialist has made every effort it can to boost its growth to take advantage of favorable conditions, both by ramping up its existing internal operations and by looking for strategic combinations like its recent acquisition of industry peer Jayco. Coming into Monday’s fiscal second-quarter financial report, Thor investors were looking for very strong growth, and even though the company largely delivered on that front, some concerns about the pace of further gains throughout the rest of the fiscal year weighed on Thor stock after the report.
- [By Peter Graham]
A long term performance chart shows shares of Winnebago Industriesalong withmid cap peers Thor Industries, Inc (NYSE: THO) and LCI Industries (NYSE: LCII) all giving a very similar performance:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Shares of Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE: THO) got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $102.70 as the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Monday.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
In his second “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer spoke with Bob Martin, president and CEO of Thor Industries (THO) , a stock that was crushed today, down 9.8%, on a penny-a-share earnings beat with tempered guidance.
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc(VRX)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Paul Ausick]
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) dropped about 1.8% Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $8.86 after closing Wednesday at $9.02. The stock’s 52-week high is $38.50. Volume of around 10.5 million shares was about 40% below the daily average of around 18.6 million. The company had no specific news.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
Bond prices were much lower early in the day, with yields up by nearly 10 basis points. But fixed income has rallied back (reducing the drop by half on the day). Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) , more weakness. Large pharma lower, led by Eli Lilly (LLY) . Old tech lags, with International Business Machines (IBM) , Intel (INTC) , Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Microsoft (MSFT) all lower. Media roughed up a bit (CBS (CBS) and Comcast (CMCSA) ). The Ugly
Gold down another $23 to $1,188 (SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) down $2.25). Urban Outfitters (URBN) down $5. NOTE: There will be no “Takeaways” today! Happy Thanksgiving. Position: Long GLD small, SDS large, JCP large; short SPY, CSCO, CAT small, IWM, TLT small. - [By Benzinga News Desk]
Just days after Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE: VRX) shares took a steep tumble below the $11 level, the stock is almost back to an important level at $12: Link
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
The conference continues on Tuesday with presentations from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) , Pfizer (PFE) , Alkermes (ALKS) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) . Cramer said he’ll be watching for news from all four companies.
