Tag Archives: Stifel Nicolaus

Why Niska Gas Storage Partners' Shares Jumped Today

By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

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Although we don’t believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes — just in case they’re material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Niska Gas Storage Partners jumped 13% today after the company completed a restructuring.

So what: The company converted subordinate units and distribution rights into new incentive distribution rights. The company couldn’t increase its distribution to common unitholders without paying minimum distributions owed to these unitholders, which would have been about $12 million per quarter, and they would take a high percentage of added payouts.  

Now what: This reduces the risk Niska will have to reduce its distribution to pay back these incentive distribution rights holders and gives upside potential for investors. Both Goldman Sachs and Stifel Nicolaus liked the move because they upgraded the stock. The new structure gives common unit holders more upside, which should boost the stock long-term if fundamentals improve.

Interested in more info on Niska Gas Storage Partners? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

The article Why Niska Gas Storage Partners’ Shares Jumped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Travis Hoium and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Why NII Holdings Shares Skyrocketed

By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Although we don’t believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes — just in case they’re material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of NII Holdings have skyrocketed today by as much as 25% on reports that the company may sell a business unit.

So what: Chilean phone company Entel is reportedly interesting in paying $500 million to purchase NII‘s Peru business unit. Local media outlet El Comercio reported the negotiations yesterday, sparking today’s rally.

Now what: NII has been interested in selling businesses in different regions such as Peru, Chile, and Argentina, along with other assets, in order to turn its attention to core markets in Mexico and Brazil. Intense competition in Peru has led to declines in service revenue. In a Bloomberg report, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King was quoted as estimating total gross proceeds from the three markets NII is considering selling at close to $1 billion.

Interested in more info on NII Holdings? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

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The article Why NII Holdings Shares Skyrocketed originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

12.1 Million Reasons for Baidu to Bounce Back

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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The bears keep piling up on Baidu .

Nasdaq’s bi-monthly update shows that a record 12.1 million shares were sold short as of mid-March. To place those negative wagers in perspective, China‘s leading search engine only had 8.7 million shares sold short when 2013 began. The number of naysayers has actually more than doubled over the past year.

Is Baidu broken? Can it bounce back?

The bullish counter is that Baidu has never been cheaper. As earnings continue to grow and the share price shrinks, the fallen dot-com darling’s valuation contracts. Baidu is now trading at just 16 times this year’s projected profitability and less than 13 times next year’s target.

Just to put this in context, Russia’s Yandex is going for more than 17 times next year’s profit forecast and slower-growing Google is fetching more than 15 times next year’s projected earnings.

This wouldn’t seem like such a bargain if Baidu’s financials were in a state of decline, but clearly they’re not.

The long road back for Baidu
Chinese stocks had a rough earnings season earlier this year.

Results for the fourth quarter were generally mixed, but most of China‘s bustling Internet companies disappointed investors with their guidance for the current quarter. There’s a natural seasonal slowdown this time of year, but the sequential weakness was made worse by a late start to the Chinese New Year this time around.

Baidu’s guidance — calling for a 4% to 7% sequential dip in revenue — wasn’t welcome, but many of China‘s once shining dot-com stars checked in with outlooks calling for double-digit percentage declines.

Qihoo 360 was one of the rare exceptions. The company behind the leading Internet browser and security software suite that has become a thorn in Baidu’s side since rolling out a search engine of its own bucked the trend.

To be fair, Qihoo 360 is also growing a lot faster than most of its online peers. However, Qihoo 360 is also trading at 19 times next year’s earnings.

Waiting on good news
Baidu hit a two-year low last week, so for now those 12.1 million shorts are in the black.

What would shake them out? What would make the bears scramble for the exits?

A no-brainer catalyst would be an improving perspective, and that’s actually starting to happen. After months of seeing Wall Street pros whittle down their profit targets on Baidu, the pros are starting to turn.

It’s not much.

The same analysts that thought Baidu would earn $5.39 a share this year and $6.77 a share next year just a month ago are now perched on $5.40 a share and $6.78 a share, respectively. It’s a baby step, but it’s a step in the right direction.

The next step would be Wall Street warming up to Baidu with upgrades. The last major analyst move was a downgrade by Stifel Nicolaus last month after the company’s disappointing quarterly report.

Baidu can naturally make its own luck here. It reports first-quarter results in four weeks, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Mattress Firm Earnings: An Early Look

By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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Earnings season is just about over, with almost all companies already having reported their quarterly results. But there are still a few companies left to report, and Mattress Firm is about to release its quarterly earnings report.

The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarter reports is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you’ll be less likely to make an uninformed, knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Few businesses sound simpler than selling mattresses, but Mattress Firm burst onto the scene in late 2011 to plenty of hoopla and immediate share-price gains. Since then, though, the business has cooled off. Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with Mattress Firm over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report on Tuesday.

Stats on Mattress Firm

 

 

Analyst EPS Estimate

$0.32

Change From Year-Ago EPS

(49%)

Revenue Estimate

$261.5 million

Change From Year-Ago Revenue

39%

Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters

4

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Mattress Firm stay solid this quarter?
Over the past few months, analysts haven’t budged on their calls for Mattress Firm‘s earnings, either for the just-ended quarter or for the fiscal 2014 year. The stock, though, has moved sharply higher, rising nearly 30% since mid-December.

Mattress Firm came public during a time of huge growth for the mattress industry. But after timing its IPO to perfection, Mattress Firm and its industry peers ran into tough times. Rival Tempur-Pedic lost nearly half its value in a single day last June after slashing its earnings guidance by nearly a third. Select Comfort followed suit shortly thereafter with its own troubles, although its stock didn’t fall as much as Tempur-Pedic’s did because its business held up somewhat better. Even as recently as December, Mattress Firm cited weak conditions in cutting back on its outlook for the full 2013 fiscal year.

Since then, though, improving conditions in the economy could spell relief for Mattress Firm and its peers. Tempur-Pedic decided last September to gain exposure to the lower end of the mattress market by buying Sealy. From a macroeconomic perspective, an improving housing market traditionally has boded well for furniture and mattress companies that cater to new homeowners seeking to furnish their homes, and housing has definitely been on the upswing lately.

Just yesterday, Mattress Firm got an upgrade from analyst Stifel Nicolaus, which cited the weak conditions from early 2012 as providing easy comparisons that the mattress seller can use to show accelerating growth. At the same time, by keeping expectations relatively low, Mattress Firm‘s management could be setting itself up for positive news and an earnings beat that’s consistent with its past quarters.

In its quarterly report, watch for …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Thursday's Top Upgrades and Downgrades

By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, as well as which ones investors should act on. Today, it’s “good” news all around as analysts upgrade shares of Avon Products and VMware , while even downgraded Progressive gets a higher price target.

Say what?
Let’s go ahead and tackle that last one right away, because it’s a bit of a puzzler. This morning, analysts at RBC Capital Markets cut their rating on Progressive by one notch, dropping the property and casualty insurer to a “sector perform” rating. However, RBC also raised its price target on the stock, predicting the shares will hit $25 within a year. What’s up with that?

Actually, the answer is pretty simple. Previously, RBC had a $24 price target on Progressive and was encouraging investors to buy the stock. But Progressive shares crossed the $24 line back in mid-February and haven’t looked back since. With Progressive having achieved its target price, it’s only logical that RBC would now cool its enthusiasm on the stock — hence the downgrade. However, with the stock trading north of $25, Progressive had to at least raise its target price to match — or else consider making a sell recommendation. So what to do?

Personally, I probably would have gone ahead and recommended selling the stock. Priced at 17 times earnings yet having a growth rate of less than 9%, the stock looks expensive. Progressive costs more than its peers: The average property and casualty insurer today sells for a P/E of eight. And although Progressive pays a dividend, its 1.1% yield is hardly big enough to make it worth sticking around and owning an overpriced stock.

Avon calling
But after selling Progressive, where do you put the cash? Stifel Nicolaus this morning put a “buy” rating on Avon Products — but honestly, I disagree with this call as well.

Don’t get me wrong; despite being unprofitable today, Avon isn’t quite as bad as it looks. Free cash flow at the firm was a respectable $327 million last year, and Avon’s a pretty consistent cash-producer. The problem is that Avon doesn’t generate enough cash to be worth the $8.9 billion market cap it currently costs (or the whopping $10.5 billion enterprise value it carries, once you factor in debt).

At the more generous price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (let alone the less generous EV/FCF ratio) of 27, Avon’s 20% long-term growth rate fails to measure up. The firm’s dividend, at 1.2% today following a recent cut, isn’t enough to make up the difference. Long story short, the stock is almost as overpriced as Progressive — and unworthy of a buy rating.

A smarter choice: VMware
Fortunately, an investor today has better options, and as it turns out, one of them got recommended this morning by none other than RBC Capital. At the same time RBC was downgrading Progressive, you see, it was upping its rating …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Strong IPO Debut for Silver Spring Networks

By 24/7 Wall St.

Hand plugging ethernet cable into wall socket

Filed under: ,

Silver Spring Networks Inc. (NYSE: SSNI) is another strong debut for initial public offerings in 2013. Shares opened up 29% at $21.15, versus the price of $17.00 per share. Silver Spring sold only 4.75 million shares in the offering, and the price range was $16 to $18 per share. Even the number of shares was about 1 million more than expected.

This IPO was important because it has been on the books for about eight months. Silver Spring operates a hardware and software network platform that is designed to help utilities create and operate a smarter grid that allows for more remote monitoring of meters and allows consumers to see their power consumption.

Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse were the joint book-running managers, and co-managers were listed as Piper Jaffray, Stifel Nicolaus, Robert W. Baird, Canaccord Genuity, Evercore Group and Pacific Crest Securities. The underwriters have a 30-day overallotment option to purchase up to an additional 712,500 shares at the same terms as the IPO. It is a safe assumption that the underwriting syndicate exercised its overallotment option.

Silver Spring has traded some 2.8 million shares, and the stock is trading at $21.00 as of 10:25 a.m. EST.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Infrastructure, IPOs & Secondaries Tagged: SSNI

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

5 Big Analyst Upgrades &amp; Downgrades for Wednesday (BA, WAG, WMT, YUM, ZTS)

By 24/7 Wall St.

Filed under:

24/7 Wall St. has seen many analyst upgrades and downgrades this Wednesday, but there are several calls which really stand out in key companies.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was reiterated with a “Buy” rating and with a $100 price target at BofA Merrill Lynch based partly upon Dreamliner tests resuming. It was also upgraded to Hold from Underweight at BB&T and Stifel Nicolaus maintained a “Buy” rating and raised its target to $100 from $85 this morning.

Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was reiterated as “Buy” but what stood out here was the firm’s $85 price target at BofA Merrill Lynch.

Yum! Brands INc. (NYSE: YUM) was also maintained as Outperform and its target price was raised by $3 to $70 at Credit SUisse based upon the bleeding in China finally letting up.

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE: ZTS) was started in coverage by the major brokerage firms now that the quiet period has ended: started as Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch; started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; started as Buy at Jefferies; started as Overweight at JPMorgan; started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

by Jon C. Ogg at 247wallst.com

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Douglas J. Swirsky Joins Fibrocell Board

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Douglas J. Swirsky Joins Fibrocell Board

Brings Extensive Experience with Capital Markets

EXTON, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Fibrocell Science, Inc. (OTC: FCSC) announced today that Douglas J. Swirsky, CPA, CFA, joined its Board of Directors. Since 2006, Mr. Swirsky has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Corporate Secretary of GenVec, Inc. Mr. Swirsky previously held investment banking positions at UBS, PaineWebber, Morgan Stanley, and Legg Mason. Prior to joining GenVec, Mr. Swirsky was with Stifel Nicolaus where he served as a Managing Director and the Head of Life Sciences Investment Banking. His experience also includes positions in public accounting and consulting.

“Doug brings extensive and wide-ranging financial expertise to our Board,” said David Pernock, CEO and Board Chair, Fibrocell Science. “His experience in life sciences and his relationship with the capital markets is an excellent fit with our strategic direction. We’re delighted to welcome him as a new Board member.”

GenVec, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that uses differentiated, proprietary technologies to create superior therapeutics and vaccines. In his current position, Mr. Swirsky oversees all financial aspects of GenVec’s operations and works closely with the CEO and executive team on business strategy. He received his B.S. in Business Administration from Boston University and his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Swirsky is a member of the Board of Directors of PolyMedix, Inc.

About Fibrocell Science, Inc.

Fibrocell Science, Inc. (FCSC) is an autologous cellular therapeutic company focused on the development of innovative products for aesthetic, medical and scientific applications. Fibrocell Science is committed to advancing the scientific, medical and commercial potential of autologous skin and tissue, as well as its innovative cellular processing technology and manufacturing excellence. For additional information, please visit www.fibrocellscience.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release that are not based on historical fact are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. While management has based any forward-looking statements contained herein on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Friday's Top Upgrades (and Downgrades)

By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include higher price targets for each of boot maker Deckers and clothier Gap . But it’s not all good news, so let’s start off with a quick look at how…

Con-Way ended up in a ditch
The week’s ending on a bleak note for Con-Way shareholders, as investment banker Stifel Nicolaus withdraws its endorsement from the shares, and downgrades to “hold.”

Con-Way, you see, presented at a transportation industry investors conference that Stifel hosted in Florida a couple of weeks back. While we don’t know exactly what Con-Way told the attendees, whatever it was, it apparently failed to impress Stifel. And so, after waiting a polite two weeks for Con-Way to get out of earshot, Stifel began warning investors away from the stock today.

And rightly so.

Oh, sure, at first glance I admit that Con-Way shares look attractive. The near-19% annualized earnings growth projections of Wall Street analysts appear to justify a high price — maybe even the 18.7 P/E these shares bear. But look a little deeper, and you’ll find some serious issues with Con-Way’s stock.

For example, the company’s carrying about $750 million in debt. Added to the market cap, that would push the stock‘s P/E up past 26, a price too high for the growth rate to justify. Even worse, the earnings that Con-Way boasts are of exceedingly low quality. Free cash flow at the firm amounted to just $18.3 million last year — a far cry from the reported $104 million GAAP earnings figure. Valued on free cash, the stock sells for an enterprise value-to-FCF ratio of 147, meaning it’s vastly overpriced for its prospects… and deserving of an even stronger rebuke than a mere downgrade to “hold.”

Gap-ing up 
Better news greeted Gap shareholders today, as analysts at Canaccord Genuity responded to Thursday’s earnings beat by upping their price target to $39 a share. Gap reported earning $0.73 a share on 5% comps growth, beating analyst estimates for both earnings and revenues, and dropping the P/E down to 14.3.

Even better, and in contrast to Con-Way, when valued on its superior free cash flow of $1.3 billion annually, Gap shares are actually a bit cheaper than they appear on the surface. Priced at 11.6 times free cash flow, with a 1.6% dividend yield and a 9.4% projected growth rate, Gap shares look close to fairly valued to me — and to Canaccord, too, apparently, because despite raising its target price, the analyst maintained a hold rating on the stock.

Granted, that doesn’t argue particularly strongly in favor of Canaccord’s prediction that the stock will gain another 15%. But at least it suggests the stock has little downside from today’s share price.

Deckers clicks
 Last but not least, we come to Uggs boot maker Deckers, recipient of a similar hike …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Baidu Slides; Stifel, Raymond James Cut Ratings After Q4

By Eric Savitz, Forbes Staff Baidu shares are trading sharply lower Tuesday morning following the company’s Q4 financial results, as analysts at both Raymond James and Stifel Nicolaus reduced ratings on the China-based Internet search company. While results and guidance were largely in line, there are new concerns this morning about the company’s margin performance.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BIDU, BBVA, BBBY, CIT, CLWR, DHI, HMY, HGG, KBH, M, MRVL, PHM, RYL, SD, SWC, TGT, TOL, UNH, WSM, ZNGA)

By 24/7 Wall St.

Bull and BearThese are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) cut to Market Perform at Raymond James and cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) raised to Neutral at UBS.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) raised to Buy at Citigroup.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) cut to Neutral at Nomura.

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) cut to Underperform at D.A. Davidson.

D.R. Horton…

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BIDU, BBVA, BBBY, CIT, CLWR, DHI, HMY, HGG, KBH, M, MRVL, PHM, RYL, SD, SWC, TGT, TOL, UNH, WSM, ZNGA) originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2013-02-05T08:25:00Z.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

More Valuation Caution Seen in Facebook Reality Check

By 24/7 Wall St.

Filed under: , ,

Facebook-F-logoFacebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) may have seen its peak at the initial public offering. That is what Barron’s wants you to believe. While some concerns that were brought up were minimal and others were concerning, Barron’s did opine that it may have been far too bearish before.

A report this weekend in Barron’s changed its prior $15 price target on Facebook shares. While that may sound good, the reality is that the publication known as the “Financial Bible” for many years still says that the stock should be trading at $25 or less. One concern is that investors are overlooking lofty evaluations in hopes that its billion or so users will pay off in the years ahead. It also pointed out that the stock trades at a bit over 50 times this year’s earnings. If you back out its stock options and other items, that estimate is actually 75 times expected earnings. Another key concern is that Facebook’s expenses will rise at faster rates than its advertising, and its mobile use will start actually to pay off in real dollars.

Investors should take notice that Facebook shares have fallen roughly 6% since the company’s earnings report just last week, and that is not including the 3% drop so far on Monday. As far as how $25 compares to elsewhere, the Thomson Reuters consensus that includes some recent downgrades is still just above $34 on Facebook.

Since Facebook’s earnings were reported, we have seen multiple analyst downgrades. Citigroup cut the rating to Neutral from Buy. Another downgrade was seen by Jeffrey’s, to Hold from Buy, as well as BMO Capital Market cut the writing to Market Perform from Outperform. Stifel Nicolaus also downgraded shares to Hold from Buy. There was one upgrade — to show both sides of the coin — and that was from a boutique firm called Pivotal Research Group, which raised its rating to Buy from Hold.

Facebook shares are currently under $29 and the post-IPO range has been $17.55 to $45.00. Investors might want to pay attention to that fact that Facebook is still worth some $69 billion or so when the Thomson Reuters consensus target for 2013 is $6.66 billion in sales.

If Facebook is expensive, we also have to go back to the grown-up rival LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD). It was late in 2012 in a Forbes edition of “Get Rich from Obama” that James O’Shaughnessy of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management said to sell LinkedIn due to valuation. He has a disciplined value/growth quantitative approach, and he said that LinkedIn is just overvalued no matter what metric he uses to evaluate the company. LinkedIn shares are at $123.25 and have hardly budged off their 52-week highs, as the 52-week trading range is $74.32 to $127.45. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $136 on the professional social networking company.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Internet, Media, Technology, Technology Companies Tagged: FB, LNKD

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance