The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) (may be climbing past 19000, but the S&P 500 seems to be stalling. The S&P (SPX) is down 5 points at around 2,198.
Here are the S&P 500s biggest movers as of Wednesday morning.
Deere & Company (DE): The farm and construction equipment manufacturer is up nearly 10% to a recent $101. Deere reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue. Revenue came in at $6.5 billion versus expectations for $5.7 billion and earnings at 97 cents versus estimates of 90 cents.
Electronic Arts (EA) The videogame maker is making the leaderboards. Shares were up 2% to a recent $79. On November 1, the company posted an earnings loss of 13 cents per share for its second quarter, better than analyst expectations for a 14 cents per share deficit. However, EA raised its 2017 guidance to $4.78 billion in sales from $4.75 billion, and upped its earnings per share guidance to $2.69 from $2.56.
Capital One Financial (COF): Some say the financial companys stock is just benefitting from the Trump effect. Shares are up nearly 2% to a recent $84. Last week the company filed an 8-K with October metrics. U.S. card loans increased 10.7% year-over-year to $91.7 billion. Sandler ONeill and Partners Chris Donat has a 12-month target price of $95 from $82 on favorable credit cycle projections.
Top Stocks To Own For 2018: Microsoft Corporation(MSFT)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Benzinga News Desk]
Beware, mankind — machines are taking over. The fear has been voiced by tech titans such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Bill Gates and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA)'s Elon Musk: Link
- [By Vikram Nagarkar]
When you think of tech companies which rejected buyout offers, quite a few not so great stories come to mind. Starting with Yahoo (NSDQ:YHOO), whichrejectedMicrosoft’s (NSDQ:MSFT)$44.6 billion offer, to Groupon (NSDQ:GRPN), which shunned Google’s $6 billion buyout offer, many similar decisions have proven to be bad ones in hindsight. Snapchat is one of those few exceptions that have lived to tell the tale. At least for now. However, Facebookseems rather determined to leave no stone unturned in its fight against Snapchat.
- [By Michael A. Robinson]
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) recently invested in this airspace navigation software startup. Considering the might that Microsoft carries in the software space, that’s a pretty big vote of confidence for AirMap’s advanced drone platform, known as computational airspace.
- [By Paul Ausick]
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Thursday was Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) which traded down 1.39% at $68.35. The stock’s 52-week range is $48.04 to $69.71. Volume was nearly equal to the daily average of around 21.8 million shares. The company today announced its latest update to Windows 10.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) which traded up 1.85% at $63.45. The stock’s 52-week range is $48.04 to $63.77, a new high set this morning. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 28 million shares. The company had no specific news.
- [By Yasin Ebrahim]
The tech giant recently announced a $40 billion stock buyback as well as 2.7% dividend hike and having already captured LinkedIn earlier during the year, Microsoft could use its $100 billion cash pile to target further acquisitions in order drive further growth in its key growth markets, as economic growth and cheap credit are usually the perfect cocktail for M&A activity. (Also read: Can A Rejuvenated Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Take On Apple?)
Top Stocks To Own For 2018: Avid Technology Inc.(AVID)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $5.01 following Q3 results. Avid Technology reported Q3 earnings of $0.00 per share on revenue of $105.26 million.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) is estimated to post its quarterly earnings at $0.36 per share on revenue of $144.02 million.
Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: CWCO) is expected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.11 per share on revenue of $15.15 million.
- [By Anders Bylund]
Shares of Avid Technology(NASDAQ:AVID) rose 20.3% in April 2017, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
Last month’s share price surge rested on Avid’s release of a coherent cloud-based media production suite. The new version of Avid’s MediaCentral platform takes advantage of the cloud, central storage, and back-end data processing in a way older versions never attempted, modernizing the media production tool in a big way.
Top Stocks To Own For 2018: Phillips 66 Partners LP(PSXP)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.KIPLINGER.COM]
As PSX has grown as a refining outfit, it has added midstream assets pipelines, terminals, rail lines and storage farms. Owning pipelines and gathering systems is a great way to generate cash flows. Phillips enhanced that by placing them inside of its master limited partnership, Phillip 66 Partners LP (PSXP). That way, PSX is preparing to keep its profits even when oil does inevitably rise.
- [By Matthew DiLallo]
While the company continues to invest in midstream projects on its balance sheet, however, Garland reiterated that its MLP,Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE:PSXP), remains an important part of our midstream growth strategy.” Garland reaffirmed the expectation that Phillips 66 Partners will “reach its growth goal of $1.1 billion in run-rate EBITDA by the end of 2018.” That will require completing additional dropdown transactions between the two companies as well as the pursuit of new organic growth projects at the MLP.
- [By Dustin Parrett]
In 2016, PAA partnered with Phillips 66 Partners LP (NYSE: PSXP) to build a $15 million pipeline expansion between Oklahoma and Canada. The new pipeline adds capacity for 100,000 more barrels of oil a day.
- [By Matthew DiLallo]
The other highlight this quarter was the midstream business. That segment benefited from a full quarter of Phillips 66’s recently completed Freeport LPG Export Terminal as well as a turnaround in results at DCP Midstream (NYSE:DCP). After causing the company to record a loss on its investment last quarter, the DCP Midstream investment was back in the green this quarter, benefiting from hedging and lower costs. Meanwhile, the company’s other MLP investment, Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE:PSXP), delivered another steady quarter thanks to that entity’s focus on owning stable fee-based assets.
Top Stocks To Own For 2018: Helen of Troy Limited(HELE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Teresa Rivas]
Helen of Troy (HELE) is trading lower Friday, after reporting a mixed first quarter.
The personal care products company said it earned $1.27 a share on revenue that rose 0.8% to $347.9 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $356.1 million. Gross profit margin increased 2.3 percentage points to 43.8%, while cash flow from operations climbed from $37.8 million in the year ago period to $41.7 million.
For the full year, Helen of Troy expects to earn between $5.85 to $6.35 a share on revenue of $1.57 billion to $1.62 billion. Analysts are modeling for earnings of $6.12 a share on revenue of $1.6 billion. However the company also warned that it expects a decline in sales for its nutritional supplement division.
Jefferies Trevor Young reiterated a Buy rating and $114 price target on the stock today:
Despite the 1Q revenue miss and ~30bps (~$4m) expected incremental FX headwinds, management maintained its FY revenue and adjusted EPS guidance (GAAP EPS came down $0.23 on the high and low end due to $6.6m of after tax non-cash asset impairment and patent litigation charges). Embedded in this guidance is the assumption of beauty coming in at the low end of the previous -7% to -12% range, and nutritional declining MSD (vs. flat to LSD positive growth previously). We believe this implies that housewares (MSD positive growth guidance previously) and health & home (LSD positive growth previously) would have to perform incrementally better than prior expectations, which we view as a positive.
The shares are down 3.3% to $99.31 in recent trading.
Top Stocks To Own For 2018: Syngenta AG(SYT)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
Syngenta AG (SYT) CEO Erik Fyrwald said Wednesday that he was “entirely confident” the company’s $43 billion takeover by China National Chemical Corp. would close in the second quarter of this year and dismissed suggestions it would be disrupted by a third party.
- [By Shanthi Rexaline]
Agri-Input Companies — Seeds/ Fertilizers/Pesticides Manufacturers
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON): +68.82 percent since 2011. Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE: SYT): +56.26 percent since 2011. Mosaic Co (NYSE: MOS): -63.1 percent since 2011. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE: POT): -67.8 percent since 2011. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF): +5.04 percent since 2011. Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE: AGU): +1.10 percent since 2011.
Agri-Finance Companies
