Top 5 Performing Stocks To Watch For 2018

Can The “Tech Summit” Cause A Short Squeeze In TSLA Stock?

Tesla (NSDQ:TSLA) stock has declined by 20% YTD, massively underperforming the market. But while investors are reluctant to invest in the stock, Tesla has been one of the favorite stocks of short traders for some time now. In the latest fortnight, the short interest in TSLA stock jumped by 13% to35.68 million, a massive 32% of the float, with days to cover increasing from 6 days to 8 days. Since August, short interest has jumped by almost 35%. With days to cover rising to 8 days, a strong positive news may lead to a short squeeze. But is there any positive news around the corner for Tesla stock? One source could be tomorrow’s “tech summit” with the President-Elect to which Mr. Musk has been invited.

Top 5 Performing Stocks To Watch For 2018: Lennar Corp.(LEN)

Advisors’ Opinion:

[By Lisa Levin] Related LOV Match Group And Spark Networks: A Valentine's Day Case Study 20 Biggest Mid-Day Losers For Thursday
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Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is expected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.32 per share on revenue of $690.27 million.
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) is projected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.71 per share on revenue of $3.84 billion.
Coca-Cola European Partners Plc (NYSE: CCE) is estimated to report its quarterly earnings at $0.45 per share on revenue of $2.72 billion.
Lands' End, Inc. (NASDAQ: LE) is expected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.35 per share on revenue of $459.43 million.
Francesca's Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: FRAN) is estimated to report its quarterly earnings at $0.37 per share on revenue of $145.91 million.
Cheetah Mobile Inc (ADR) (NYSE: CMCM) is projected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.06 per share on revenue of $178.04 million.
Neogen Corporation (NASDAQ: NEOG) is estimated to report its quarterly earnings at $0.27 per share on revenue of $90.05 million.
Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) is projected to post earnings for its first quarter.
Fifth Street Asset Management Inc (NASDAQ: FSAM) is expected to report its quarterly earnings at $0.14 per share on revenue of $25.12 million.
[By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]
The index NAIL tries to deliver triple the daily returns of is top heavy. D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI), Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN), NVR Inc. (NYSE: NVR), Pulte Group Inc. (NYSE: PHM), Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) and Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) account for a significant portion of the benchmark's weight.
[By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]
We initiated Lennar (NYSE:LEN) in October, and thus wrote up our comments in our prior shareholder letter, but due to the shift in our letter cadence, we are republishing our thoughts from our initial purchase.

Marty Whitman said in October 1996: “Given Third Avenue’s investment criteria, it is more accurate to view the situation as the industry selecting the Fund, rather than Third Avenue choosing the industries in which to invest’ We think this quote superbly describes the opportunity the Value Fund saw in establishing a position in Lennar Corporation common in the quarter, as the shares sold off somewhat inexplicably from nearly $50 per share at their recent peak and allowed us to establish a position at just over $41.

We have followed Lennar for years as the Real Estate team reviewed the position at our weekly research meetings, and think the investment case has only improved on a fundamental level despite the widening valuation discount in the shares. Lennar meets every tenant of our investment philosophy.

The balance sheet is strong and improving. Homebuilding net debt to total capital has fallen to 33% as of FY4Q16. Much of this improvement is the result of management’s soft pivot land strategy, which is reducing the duration of its owned land bank and converting its undervalued balance sheet assets into cash.

From a compounding point of view, Lennar continues to build value through developing its land bank into saleable housing units, and by monetizing further transaction values through its mortgage origination and title insurance offerings to its home buyers. Notably, we are pleased and supportive of Lennar’s offer to acquire WCIC Communities (WCIC), a top holding of the Third Avenue Small-Cap Value Fund, as Miami-based Lennar knows WCIC’s 100% based Florida assets intimately. Lennar not only sees compelling opportunities to monetize WCIC’s over 14,000 homesites, but also synergy opportunities from management and supplier over
[By Lisa Levin]

Breaking news

Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) reported better-than-expected profit for its first quarter on Tuesday.
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) reported upbeat earnings for its fiscal third quarter, while sales missed estimates.
Genesis Energy, L.P. (NYSE: GEL) disclosed that it has priced its public offering of 4 million common units for gross proceeds of $124 million.
South State Corporation (NASDAQ: SSB) reported that it has increased its buyback plan from 250,000 shares to 1 million shares.
[By The Ticker Tape]

In addition to a tightening labor market and accelerating wage growth, the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index is close to 10-year highs and expectations that mortgage rates will continue to rise could motivate some potential homebuyers that may have been holding off. When it comes to existing homes the prices are high and the inventory is low. The combination of these factors could create a favorable environment for new homebuilders and the broader housing sector.

Will Homebuilders Benefit?
Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) reported Q1 earnings of $0.56 per share on March 21—slightly beating analyst expectations of $0.55 per share. New home orders were up 12% year-over-year on a unit basis. Lennar’s CEO, Stewart Miller, said “our homebuilding operations have gone from slow and steady to a faster than expected sales pace throughout our first quarter,” thanks to a combination of economic optimism, wage and job growth, and increasing consumer confidence.

D.R. Horton and PulteGroup (PHM) are expected to report Q2 earnings on April 20th. Both companies beat analyst’s revenue and earnings expectations last quarter. Looking at Figure 1 below, all three of the major U.S. homebuilders have outperformed the S&P 500 year-to-date.
[By Teresa Rivas]
Lennar (LEN) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Monday.

Courtesy of Toll Brothers

The homebuilder said it earned $.134 a share, on revenue that climbed 14.6% year over year, to $3.38 billion. Analysts were looking for the company to earn $1.27 a share on revenue of $3.31 billion.

Deliveries of new homes were up 7% to 8,228, while new orders climbed 9% to 6,598. The dollar value of new orders was $.24 billion, up 12%.

Its backlog of homes climbed 15% in the quarter to 7 while its backlog dollar value gained 17% to $2.9 billion.

MKM Partners Megan McGrath liked the quarter, although shes still on the sidelines with regard to the stock:

Lennarreported an earnings beat yesterday, meeting or beating almost all key metric estimates. The stock traded flat vs. a flat S&P 500. Although in-line with our estimates, we believe that the gross margin guidance (down 50-100 bps next year) may have disappointed some investors. Homebuilding guidance was generally in-line with our estimates while guidance for the company’s ancillary businesses was better than our forecast.As a result, we are raising our FY17 EPS estimate to $4.13 from $4.01 and we are now more in-line with consensus. We maintain our Neutral ratingon the company given medium and longer-term concerns over rising mortgage rates and uncertainty over policy issues that could impact major financial decisions for potential buyers next year.

Lennar is down 1.2% at recent check, and has lost 12% this year.