It’s nice to have the right estimate. It’s nicer to have it for the right reasons. Most military campaigns these days undergo an “after action analysis.” On Thursday March 2, Micron Technology’s (NASDAQ:MU) CFO went into battle at a Morgan Stanley conference. We need an after action analysis after yesterday’s pre-release, as this article’s title implies. What are the lessons learned? Where were we right? Where were we wrong? What new information can we employ next time around? Not only did the sell side analysts do an abysmally poor job with their consensus estimates of 66 cents, vs. the 86 cents now guided. But they haven’t told us where their analysis went off the rails or given us confidence they’re going to do a better job next time around.
For my part, I’m delighted to average my 77-cent base case estimate and my 95-cent high side estimate and announce that I was spot on. But it would be better to have the right estimate for the right reasons. Here’s a little synopsis:
Revenue GM% eps EP Base Case $4.746 Billion 35.8% 77 cents EP High Case $4.93 Billion 38.3% 95 cents 3/2 re-guide $4.65 Billion 37.5% 86 cents
As with most of the analysts cited below, my revenue forecast was off significantly. In my case it is almost certainly bits for both NAND and DRAM, but it is also almost certainly price. This will be a key detail to look at after the formal earnings call on March 23. If the ASP increase was significantly below the 15%/1% I used for DRAM/NAND, I will be looking to see if this will then bleed over to the next quarter, with a lagged positive ASP effect from this February quarter. What has the company done to so significantly increase their gross margins? Rather than some of the inane and unanswerable questions analysts ask on the earnings call, this is the sort of thing the analysts should be drilling in on. If Micron has been able to carve out a sustainable margin improvement, god forbid, this might entitle the company to a healthier price earnings ratio than our maximum 10x.
what is the stock market: CBRE Group, Inc.(CBG)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
In his second “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer also checked back in with Bob Sulentic, president and CEO of the real estate investment trust CBRE (CBG) , which has seen its stock rise 19% since Cramer last spoke with Sulentic just three months ago.
- [By Lee Jackson]
CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBG) had a top hedge fund step in again last week and buy a huge block of shares. Value Act bought a total of 1,200,000 sharesat between $26.85 and $27.15. That cost the fund a gigantic $32 million.The companyoperates as a commercial real estate services and investment company worldwide, and its shares traded onFriday at $27.80.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
In his final “Executive Decision” segment, Cramer again welcomed Bob Sulentic, president and CEO of CBRE Group (CBG) , the real estate services company which reported a nine-cents-a-share earnings beat two weeks ago.
what is the stock market: China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd.(CHL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By David Goodboy]
Rumors are that Apple will use this opportunity to announce the long-awaited deal with China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), which is the world's largest cellphone carrier with more than 700 million active users. Clearly, there are impediments in the way, but the potential for a lower-priced iPhone for this market means strong possibilities remain. This deal would be a major upside catalyst for Apple shares.
- [By Motif Investing]
The most heavily weighted names in the motif are China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE: CHL), Aibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA), Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU), India's HDFC Bank (NYSE: HDB) and Russia's Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (NYSE: MBT).
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.12 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE: CHL), down 3 percent, and Partner Communications Company Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ: PTNR), down 1.5 percent.
what is the stock market: Apollo Education Group, Inc.(APOL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Peter Graham]
The Q1 2017 earnings report for small cap for-profit education stock Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ: APOL) is scheduled for after the market closes on Monday (January 9th). Last February, Apollo Education Groupannounced a definitive agreement to be acquired by a consortium of investors including The Vistria Group, LLC, funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO), and Najafi Companies for $9.50 per share in cash for both Class A and B shares. However, the for-profit education sector along with certain aspects of the Apollo deal have been targeted by the Obama administration and it remains to be seen how the Trump administration will treat the sector and the deal.
what is the stock market: Endologix, Inc.(ELGX)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELGX) shares dropped 23 percent to $7.59 as the company issued an update on Nellix PMA process. Endologix disclosed that the FDA has requested the company to provide a two-year patient follow-up data from the EVAS-FORWARD IDE study of Nellix System.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Endologix Inc. (NASDAQ: ELGX) dropped about 9.3% on Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $4.78 against a 52-week high of $14.50 and a Tuesday close of $5.27. Volume of about 6 million was more than 3 times the daily average of around 1.7 million. The company on Tuesday announced a temporary shipping hold on its best-selling heart device, saying there was a manufacturing issue.
