Top Medical Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:FR,KHC,HUM,

Stocks will try to rebound from yesterday’s Fed-Ryan double whammy this morning after jobless claims fell more than expected.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

S&P 500 futures have advanced 0.1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have ticked up 0.1%. Nasdaq Composite futures have risen 0.1%.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) has climbed 3% to $38.95 after beating earnings forecasts.

Medtronic (MDT) has risen 1.9% to $81.75 on reports that Cardinal Health (CAH) will buy its medical supplies business.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) has jumped 6.3% to $149.45 after settling a patent dispute.

CarMax (KMX) gained 2.4% to $58 after beating earnings and sales forecasts.

Constellation Brands (STZ) has rallied 4.7% to $169 after beating earnings forecasts and offering optimistic guidance.

Top Medical Stocks To Invest In 2019: First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc.(FR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Industrial Realty Trust (FR)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Media stories about First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE:FR) have trended somewhat positive this week, Accern reports. Accern identifies positive and negative news coverage by monitoring more than twenty million news and blog sources. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. First Industrial Realty Trust earned a media sentiment score of 0.16 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news coverage about the real estate investment trust an impact score of 47.0893315038895 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the next few days.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  News coverage about First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) has trended somewhat positive on Sunday, Accern reports. The research firm rates the sentiment of media coverage by analyzing more than twenty million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. First Majestic Silver earned a daily sentiment score of 0.14 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news coverage about the mining company an impact score of 45.3766769837037 out of 100, meaning that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the next few days.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Brokerages expect that First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) will report sales of $63.79 million for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks. Two analysts have made estimates for First Majestic Silver’s earnings, with the lowest sales estimate coming in at $61.00 million and the highest estimate coming in at $66.57 million. First Majestic Silver posted sales of $69.11 million in the same quarter last year, which suggests a negative year-over-year growth rate of 7.7%. The company is scheduled to announce its next quarterly earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, May 9th.

Top Medical Stocks To Invest In 2019: The Kraft Heinz Company(KHC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Mining for cryptocurrency is getting tastier and paying off with a lot less electricity use. Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ: KHC) last week launched a promotion that gives consumers an instant chance to win a “bacoin” currently valued at three slices of the company’s Oscar Mayer bacon.

• [By ]

  He practices what he preaches. While Berkshire Hathaway has ownership interests in about 45 companies, the lion's share of the portfolio (nearly two-thirds) is invested in just six names. The biggest is Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), followed by Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Kraft Heinz (Nasdaq: KHC), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), and American Express (NYSE: AXP).Buffett isn't afraid to make colossal investments in a small handful of positions. And with few exceptions, these big bets usually work out brilliantly. Of course, we're also talking about the most astute stock picker of all time. For those without his legendary skills, this strategy might be far less productive -- possibly even dangerous.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Hill: -- that bears further investigation. As a reminder, it was back in May that Campbell Soup said that it was undergoing a strategic review. And, yes, of course, any time you hear, "We're undertaking a strategic review," one of the questions on the table is, "Should we be putting ourselves up for sale?" That's when CEO Denise Morrison said, "Check, please," and she left. Now, we're getting reports that Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) might be looking to buy Campbell Soup, and shares are up 10%.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ: KHC) fell about 7% Friday to post a new 52-week low of $67.65 after closing at $72.71 on Thursday. The 52-week high is $97.77. Volume of about 12.8 million was more than three times the daily average. The food processing company reported poor earnings this morning and suggested that sales could get worse as competition increases. https://247wallst.com/consumer-products/2018/02/16/how-kraft-heinz-earnings-fell-short/

• [By ]

  Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow slashed his rating on packaged food giant Kraft Heinz (KHC) to under-perform on Monday. In addition to doubting the 3G Capital-backed company's ability to innovate (3G Capital is known in the industry for its cost-cutting efforts), Moskow slams the company's culture and cites it as a key risk.

• [By ]

  Wednesday brings earnings from Clorox (CLX) , MasterCard (MA) and Kraft Heinz (KHC) . Cramer would buy Clorox into weakness and MasterCard ahead of when they report. Kraft Heinz is a tough one, however, as the company grows through acquisition and there's not a lot to buy right now.

Top Medical Stocks To Invest In 2019: Humana Inc.(HUM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Media headlines about Humana (NYSE:HUM) have been trending somewhat positive on Saturday, Accern Sentiment reports. Accern identifies positive and negative press coverage by monitoring more than 20 million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Humana earned a daily sentiment score of 0.14 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media coverage about the insurance provider an impact score of 47.3369901462853 out of 100, meaning that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near term.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Late Thursday, reports began to trickle in that retail behemoth Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was in preliminary negotiations to acquire health insurer Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM). Humana’s market cap of around $37 billion makes this a very big deal, even if the talks result in some sort of partnership between the two firms.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) insider William Kevin Fleming sold 15,637 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.08, for a total transaction of $4,582,891.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,586,702. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Hot Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:PNTR,CARB,ANSS,BLIN ,MSFT,FTNT,

L-3 Technologies (NYSE:LLL) missed out on much of the rally enjoyed by other defense contractors over the last year. The reason for the lagging performance was because the company was in the middle of a transformation plan aimed at propelling it into the ranks of those larger rivals. Judging by its first-quarter results, the efforts are already beginning to show results.

L-3, a maker of defense communications, electronics, hardware, and software, on May 1 reported quarterly earnings per share of $2.54, or $2.34 adjusted to account for discounted operations, easily beating the $2.01 per share consensus. The company reported a 10% year-over-year increase in orders and a 3% increase in funded backlog, and increased its full-year guidance for earnings per share to $9.40 to $9.60, from $9.30 to $9.50.

L-3 Technologies hopes to position itself as one of the Pentagon's preferred prime contractors. Image source: Getty Images.

Hot Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: Pointer Telocation Ltd.(PNTR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Pointer Telocation Ltd. (NASDAQ: PNTR) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.22 per share on revenue of $20.22 million.

  Tecogen Inc. (NASDAQ: TGEN) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.01 per share on revenue of $9.43 million.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Pointer Telocation Ltd (NASDAQ:PNTR) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.33.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Pointer Telocation (NASDAQ: PNTR) and Mitel Networks (NASDAQ:MITL) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Hot Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: Carbonite, Inc.(CARB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  BidaskClub lowered shares of Carbonite (NASDAQ:CARB) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

  Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Carbonite from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 20th. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Carbonite from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $27.00 target price (up from $25.00) on shares of Carbonite in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Carbonite from a c+ rating to a d rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, JMP Securities raised shares of Carbonite to an outperform rating in a research note on Sunday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $33.63.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Mackay Shields LLC bought a new position in shares of Carbonite Inc (NASDAQ:CARB) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 49,600 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,000.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Carbonite Inc (NASDAQ:CARB) CFO Anthony Folger sold 8,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $331,002.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Hot Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: ANSYS, Inc.(ANSS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Ansys (NASDAQ:ANSS) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a buy rating to a hold rating. According to Zacks, “ANSYS delivered strong results for first-quarter 2018, wherein both the top and bottom lines fared better than the respective Zacks Consensus Estimates. Increasing demand for simulation particularly from industries like energy bodes well for ANSYS. We believe that robust product portfolio, expanding total addressable market improving enterprise penetration, collaborations with leading vendors, and strong balance sheet are the catalysts. Acquisitions like 3DSIM and OPTIS are not only enabling ANSYS to bring innovative solutions to the market but are also aiding it to enhance foothold in the competitive simulations market. However, its margin is expected to remain under pressure as ANSYS continues to invest on product development. Furthermore, adverse foreign currency exchange rates are expected to impede revenue growth in the near term as it generates significant revenues from international market.”

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) hit a new 52-week high and low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $178.06 and last traded at $176.96, with a volume of 7894 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $175.41.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Ansys (ANSS)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

• [By Shane Hupp]

  GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ansys (NASDAQ:ANSS) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,126 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,664 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC owned about 0.27% of Ansys worth $34,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Hot Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: Bridgeline Digital, Inc.(BLIN )

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Bridgeline Digital (BLIN)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

• [By Alexander Bird]

  Here are the top performers from last week…

  Penny Stock Current Share Price Last Week's Gain Staffing 360 Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: STAF) $2.58 96.35% IZEA Inc. (Nasdaq: IZEA) $1.65 85.19% ShiftPixy Inc. (Nasdaq: PIXY) $3.35 78.38% MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. (Nasdaq: MTSL) $3.31 41.07% IsoRay Inc. (NYSE: ISR) $0.60 38.64% TransGlobe Energy Corp. (Nasdaq: TGA) $3.74 37.76% Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCMKTS: ATNM) $0.27 26.31% Blonder Tongue Labs Inc. (NYSE: BDR) $1.56 24.58% Bridgeline Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: BLIN) $1.51 24.51% Cel-Sci Corp. (NYSE: CVM) $0.91 24.03%

  While these penny stocks generated strong returns last week, they're unlikely to produce the same level of profit again anytime soon.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Headlines about Bridgeline Digital (NASDAQ:BLIN) have trended somewhat positive on Sunday, Accern Sentiment reports. The research firm ranks the sentiment of news coverage by analyzing more than twenty million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Bridgeline Digital earned a daily sentiment score of 0.17 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media coverage about the software maker an impact score of 46.3358005969314 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the immediate future.

Hot Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: Microsoft Corporation(MSFT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By JJ Kinahan]

  The tech sector really comes into the spotlight as the week continues with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) due after the market close Thursday, followed by a word from the energy sector Friday morning as Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) step forward. In a world where oil prices keep climbing, the energy stocks might draw more attention than usual.

• [By Leo Sun]

  Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) HoloLens, which projects digital objects onto real world surfaces, is often considered the next big platform for the augmented reality (AR) market. However, the developer version of HoloLens still costs $3,000, and Microsoft still hasn't set a timeline for its consumer release.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Traders sold shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) on strength during trading on Thursday. $307.24 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $376.46 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $69.22 million out of the stock. Of all stocks tracked, Microsoft had the 0th highest net out-flow for the day. Microsoft traded up $1.09 for the day and closed at $98.63

Hot Tech Stocks To Invest In 2019: Fortinet, Inc.(FTNT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  Cybersecurity remains red hot, after another three high-profile attacks, at Under Armour (UAA) , Boeing (BA) and Hudson's Bay, the parent of Saks. But while many investors know of the big boys like Palo Alto Networks (PANW) , Fortinet (FTNT) and Proofpoint (PFPT) , Cramer dove into three smaller cybersecurity names to see if they're worth investing in.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Fortinet Inc.��s (NASDAQ: FTNT) short interest increased to 5.96 million shares from the previous 4.97 million. Shares were trading at $60.64. The 52-week range is $35.44 to $60.82.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Shares of Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) reached a new 52-week high and low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $61.16 and last traded at $60.96, with a volume of 30805 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $60.35.

Why Wage Growth Is Slow: Employers Don't Need To Or Want To Pay More

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-1113158591&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1113158591/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

The main question economists in the US seem to love debating these days is why wage growth is so slow &a;mdash; barely above inflation, which means, in real purchasing power, next to nothing.

Working people would like to know, too. The &l;a href=&q;https://news.gallup.com/poll/237389/immigration-surges-top-important-problem-list.aspx&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;latest Gallup survey&l;/a&g; on what people think is the most important problem facing the company should be the &q;situation with Russia,&q; if you gauge by media coverage. That topic doesn&s;t even get a 1% share of attention.

Instead, the main issues are dissatisfaction with government and poor leadership (25%), immigration (8%), race relations (7%), and healthcare (6%).

Economic problems are mentioned by 20% of the population, and I suspect that healthcare and leadership both tie back, at least in part, to money issues. The &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2018/07/06/parsing-the-crazy-unemployment-numbers-college-class-and-color/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q;&g;unemployment numbers&l;/a&g;, while they look good, ignore the bifurcation of society. Those with skills that are in both shortage and high demand are doing well. People less skilled are the ones helping to keep that median wage from rising too quickly.

That still leaves the question of why so many fail to benefit from a supposedly improving economy. &l;a href=&q;https://blogs.imf.org/2018/07/10/chart-of-the-week-an-answer-to-the-u-s-wage-puzzle/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;International Monetary Fund economist Yasser Abdih this week said he had an answer&l;/a&g;, and one summed up in a single graphic and paragraph:

&l;/p&g;&l;blockquote&g;The Chart of the Week, based on our new study, offers a plausible answer: slower growth in labor productivity&a;mdash;the amount of goods or services produced in an hour of work&a;mdash;and a decline in the share of income that goes to workers. Both have held wages down, overcoming the positive impact of a declining unemployment rate.&l;/blockquote&g;

University of Massachusetts at Amherst Professor of Economics Gerald Friedman saw a tweet about the IMF blog post and thought it a tad &a;hellip; circular:

&l;blockquote class=&q;twitter-tweet&q;&g; &l;p dir=&q;ltr&q; lang=&q;en&q;&g;Seriously? The IMF explains slower wage growth by citing the decline in the labor share? A little circular! Chart of the Week: An Answer to the U.S. Wage Puzzle &l;a href=&q;https://t.co/J8FW2aPGzn&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;https://t.co/J8FW2aPGzn&l;/a&g;&l;/p&g; &a;mdash; Gerald Friedman (@gfriedma) &l;a href=&q;https://twitter.com/gfriedma/status/1019542572887404544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;July 18, 2018&l;/a&g;&l;/blockquote&g;

He&s;s certainly right as a fast take. If labor gets a declining share of corporate income, it means pay isn&s;t going up as quickly. This is like saying if people don&s;t get enough sleep at night, they will be tired in the morning.

There was also a second important part: the slowing of productivity. Although companies do get more out of workers, it isn&s;t growing at the rates it once did. And yet, profit growth continues to roll along, as this graph from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows. (The data includes adjustments to account for changes in inventory value and the need to repair, update, or replace capital investments for a more accurate picture of what is actually profit.)

&l;img class=&q;size-full wp-image-2205&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/eriksherman/files/2018/07/corporate-profits-after-capital-consumption-and-inventory-valuation-adjustment.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;470&q; data-width=&q;1168&q;&g; Corporate profits after capital consumption and inventory valuation adjustment

Productivity increases are a long-standing source of profit growth. Companies do more with what they have. If you can&s;t get the productivity growth in a world of investors who expect ever expanding value, the company will have to look elsewhere. As Abdih wrote:

&l;blockquote&g;How productive workers are is a key factor for employers when making compensation decisions. If workers aren&a;rsquo;t producing as much, employers need to restrain pay growth to sustain profitability.&l;/blockquote&g;

However, this sounds backward. Management typically controls productivity by providing tools to make workers more productive. It&s;s not as though the entire labor force collectively strolled off to the water cooler.

The production process is the combination of labor, on one hand, and capital devoted to production on the other. The result is output value.

If you want to increase the output value, you can hire more people or invest more capital &a;mdash; resources of various types &a;mdash; to let those workers get more done per hour. You &l;em&g;invest&l;/em&g; and improve productivity. The economic concept is &l;a href=&q;https://www.thoughtco.com/capital-deepening-economics-definition-1146048&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;capital deepening&l;/a&g;, the increased capital investment per worker to improve the business.

To do so, you have to redirect money to investment and away from immediately enriching shareholders, directors, and top management.

&l;a href=&q;https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2018/april/capital-deepening-affects-labor-productivity&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;According to the St. Louis Fed&l;/a&g;, if you express capital deepening in terms of capital per hour and look at the year-over-year growth, the typical pattern is that capital per hour spikes during a recession because labor hours drop, then it rapidly falls. During a recovery phase, capital deepening again increases as business investment picks up.

After the Great Recession, it didn&s;t.

Maybe part of a drop in productivity owes to baby boomers retiring, with less-experienced younger people taking their place. But it&s;s not as though we&s;ve never seen generational shifts before. Companies aren&s;t investing. That was supposed to be the whole point of the big tax cut passed at the end of last year.

Instead of all the extra profits going into capital investment and hiring &a;mdash; the sorts of things that might help increase productivity &a;mdash; there&s;s a &l;a href=&q;https://money.cnn.com/2018/06/05/investing/stock-buybacks/index.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;boom in stock buybacks&l;/a&g;, which is money directed to enrich shareholders.

If capital deepening is a major factor in increased productivity and if companies decide to plow money into buybacks and holding all costs down, including labor to historically unusual levels, to boost profits, then, yes, wages won&s;t rise all that quickly and labor&s;s share of income will drop.

Now it&s;s back to the question of why employees put up with this. Combine years of being frozen out and loosing practice in getting more with a systematic attack on union labor that helped improve the lot of working people, add in the shift of money away from workers, and you have a formula for many people getting stuck in a pay rut. Companies look at recent pay histories to set their compensation, and it becomes a self-perpetuating mechanism to prevent workers from getting too much.

Top Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now

tags:ON,VECO,DCT,

Brooklyn, OH, based Investment company Victory Capital Management Inc buys Black Knight Inc, Darden Restaurants Inc, Packaging Corp of America, Eastman Chemical Co, Hasbro Inc, Nuance Communications Inc, Cinemark Holdings Inc, Archer-Daniels Midland Co, Hormel Foods Corp, Perrigo Co PLC, sells Treehouse Foods Inc, Rockwell Automation Inc, Pinnacle Foods Inc, Superior Energy Services Inc, Skyworks Solutions Inc during the 3-months ended 2017-12-31, according to the most recent filings of the investment company, Victory Capital Management Inc. As of 2017-12-31, Victory Capital Management Inc owns 1754 stocks with a total value of $46.4 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells.

New Purchases: WFCPL, APTV, WOR, KMT, VC, BOH, VVV, AAT, INVH, GDI, Added Positions: BKI, DRI, PKG, EMN, HAS, NUAN, CNK, ADM, HRL, PRGO, Reduced Positions: ROK, PF, SWKS, PKI, NVR, ODFL, TGNA, ATO, CHD, NWL, Sold Out: THS, SPN, BCR, BGC, CIEN, TROX, ALEX, EE, CLH, SJI,

For the details of VICTORY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=VICTORY+CAPITAL+MANAGEMENT+INC

Top Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now: ON Semiconductor Corporation(ON)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Asit Sharma]

  Stock in semiconductor manufacturer ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ:ON) rose 13.8% in May, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

• [By Max Byerly]

  ON Semiconductor Corp (NASDAQ:ON) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.11.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Aggressive accounts may want to look at this smaller cap play. ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ON) is a vendor of analog power management, analog signal conditioning, standard logic integrated circuits and discrete chips into the automotive, communications, computing, consumer, industrial and medical applications. The company is in the midst of a transformation from a seller of commodity discrete chips into higher value added analog integrated circuits, both through organic growth and acquisitions.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  ValuEngine lowered shares of ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ:ON) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

  A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ON. Craig Hallum increased their price objective on ON Semiconductor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 5th. BidaskClub downgraded ON Semiconductor from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 8th. Zacks Investment Research raised ON Semiconductor from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on ON Semiconductor from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $25.10.

Top Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now: Veeco Instruments Inc.(VECO)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:

  Wall Street expects Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) to report quarterly earnings at $0.44 per share on revenue of $1.99 billion before the opening bell. Discovery shares rose 0.47 percent to $23.50 in pre-market trading. Analysts expect Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) to post quarterly earnings at $1.22 per share on revenue of $5.72 billion after the closing bell. Marriott shares gained 0.08 percent to $136.75 in pre-market trading. Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter. Veeco Instruments shares surged 14.04 percent to $19.50 in the after-hours trading session. Before the markets open, DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.7 per share on revenue of $3.50 billion. DISH shares gained 1.53 percent to close at $33.90 on Monday. Analysts are expecting US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE: USFD) to have earned $0.32 per share on revenue of $5.98 billion in the latest quarter. US Foods will release earnings before the markets open. US Foods shares rose 0.57 percent to close at $33.72 on Monday. Snap Inc (NYSE: SNAP) disclosed that its CFO Andrew Vollero will leave the company and Amazon.com's VP Of Finance Tim Sloan will assume the role. Snap shares gained 1.3 percent to $10.88 in pre-market trading.

  Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.20.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Veeco (VECO)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now: DCT Industrial Trust Inc(DCT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in DCT Industrial Trust Inc (NYSE:DCT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,379 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

• [By ]

  For an "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer spoke with Hamid Moghadam, chairman and CEO of the logistics REIT, Prologis Inc.  (PLD) , which recently announced the acquisition of DCT Industrial Trust (DCT) .

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in DCT Industrial Trust Inc (NYSE:DCT) by 25.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in DCT Industrial Trust were worth $1,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of DCT Industrial Trust Inc (NYSE:DCT) by 7.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in DCT Industrial Trust were worth $821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on DCT Industrial Trust (DCT)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top China Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:NTES,SOL,FMCN,CDTI,TISA,

President Donald Trump changes his mind often enough that the closest U.S. allies and some adversaries hope he’ll do just that on tariffs in the next few days. If not, an all-out trade war may become unavoidable.

Trump is headed for a showdown with America’s allies at a Group of Seven summit this week in Quebec, with the European Union and Canada threatening retaliatory measures unless he reverses course on new steel and aluminum levies. China meanwhile is warning it will withdraw commitments it made on trade if the president carries out a separate threat to impose tariffs on the Asian country.

The White House appeared unfazed by the threats. Top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was “overreacting” in response to the tariffs, and said the blame for any escalation lies with the U.S.’s trading partners. He said Trump is simply responding to decades of trade abuse.

#lazy-img-328283782:before{padding-top:66.66666666666666%;}

Larry Kudlow

Top China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Netease.com Inc.(NTES)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Leo Sun]

  But PUBG doesn't plan to give up. It recently sued NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) over its two new battle royale titles, Rules of Survival and Knives Out. NetEase isn't shy about promoting these games as PUBG clones -- the promotional art for�Knives Out�even features a man wearing the same battle helmet, white shirt, and tie as the man in PUBG's promos.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Thursday was a relatively quiet day on Wall Street, and action in different parts of the market showed mixed signals for investors. On one hand, small-cap stocks moved higher, with key benchmarks in that area hitting record highs. Yet the better-known large-cap stock indexes like the S&P 500 gave up early gains. Looking more closely at individual stocks, some companies suffered from bad news that sent their shares falling. J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP), NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES), and Jounce Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JNCE) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  These are some of the media stories that may have impacted Accern Sentiment’s analysis:

  Get NetEase alerts: Top 50 most innovative Chinese companies (ecns.cn) Keep an eye on Active stock of Yesterday�� NetEase, Inc. (NTES) (stockmarketstop.com) Varying Stocks: DowDuPont Inc., (NYSE: DWDP), NetEase, Inc., (NASDAQ: NTES) (globalexportlines.com) Be Ready for Active Stock: NetEase, Inc. (NTES) (bitcoinpriceupdate.review) Tossing Stocks: NetEase, Inc., (NYSE: NTES), SCANA Corporation, (NYSE: SCG) (nysetradingnews.com)

  Shares of NTES opened at $267.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.80. NetEase has a fifty-two week low of $222.32 and a fifty-two week high of $377.64.

• [By Max Byerly]

  KAMES CAPITAL plc decreased its holdings in shares of NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) by 68.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,800 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 39,277 shares during the period. KAMES CAPITAL plc’s holdings in NetEase were worth $4,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

  Losers Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNCE) fell 32.5 percent to $11.92 in pre-market trading. Jounce Therapeutics reported that data from ongoing ICONIC trial of JTX-2011 will be presented at the ASCO. Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ: ACXM) fell 10.7 percent to $24.60 in pre-market trading. Acxiom reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak FY19 guidance. American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) shares fell 10.7 percent to $35 in pre-market trading. Enduro Royalty Trust (NYSE: NDRO) shares fell 8.5 percent to $3.25 in pre-market trading after tumbling 10.76 percent on Wednesday. NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) fell 8.3 percent to $244.00 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) fell 7.2 percent to $21.30 in pre-market trading after announcing 7.9 million secondary offering of common shares. Boxlight Corporation (NASDAQ: BOXL) shares fell 5.6 percent to $9.29 in pre-market trading after rising 2.29percent on Wednesday. Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BCLI) shares fell 5.3 percent to $3.93 in pre-market trading after rising 5.60 percent on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) fell 4 percent to $43.40 in pre-market trading. Cisco reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter. The company sees fourth quarter earnings in the range of 68 cents-70 cents with sales growth of 4-6 percent. Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK) fell 3.2 percent to $88.45 in pre-market trading after the company reported downbeat results for its second quarter. Comps were down 0.1 percent in the quarter. The company sees third-quarter comps coming in flat to up 1 percent. Children's Place, Inc. (
• [By ]

  NetEase Inc (NYSE: NTES) is the largest online services provider in China with revenue from its e-commerce platform and online gaming. Sales on its e-commerce platform surged 157% last year to support slower growth in gaming which accounts for about 75% of total revenue. The company is also starting to monetize its gaming segment with movies and mini-series based on the characters in the games.

Top China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Renesola Ltd.(SOL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  These are some of the media headlines that may have impacted Accern’s scoring:

  Get ReneSola alerts: ReneSola Sells North Carolina Solar Project To Greenbacker (solarindustrymag.com) ReneSola (SOL) Rating Increased to Neutral at Roth Capital (americanbankingnews.com) ReneSola (SOL) Q1 Earnings in Line, Revenues Top Estimates (zacks.com) ReneSola’s (SOL) CEO Xianshou Li on Q1 2018 Results – Earnings Call Transcript (seekingalpha.com) ReneSola (SOL) Releases Earnings Results (americanbankingnews.com)

  Shares of ReneSola traded up $0.08, hitting $2.76, during trading on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The stock had a trading volume of 124,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,565. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.11 million, a PE ratio of 21.23 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ReneSola has a 12 month low of $2.12 and a 12 month high of $3.79.

Top China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Focus Media Holding Limited(FMCN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  An issue of Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ:FMCN) debt fell 1.1% against its face value during trading on Tuesday. The debt issue has a 7.5% coupon and is set to mature on April 1, 2025. The debt is now trading at $97.63 and was trading at $98.50 last week. Price changes in a company’s debt in credit markets sometimes anticipate parallel changes in its stock price.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  An issue of Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ:FMCN) bonds fell 0.9% against their face value during trading on Monday. The high-yield debt issue has a 7.25% coupon and will mature on April 1, 2023. The bonds in the issue are now trading at $99.13 and were trading at $98.13 last week. Price moves in a company’s bonds in credit markets sometimes anticipate parallel moves in its share price.

Top China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Clean Diesel Technologies Inc.(CDTI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Here are some of the media stories that may have impacted Accern Sentiment’s analysis:

  Get Molecular Templates alerts: Trading Center: Watching the Levels for Molecular Templates, Inc. (:MTEM): Move of 0.02 Since the Open (stocknewscaller.com) Molecular Templates (MTEM) Announces Clinical Data at 2018 ASCO Meeting (streetinsider.com) Gallbladder Cancer Treatment Sales Market Size by Players, Regions, Type, Application and Forecast to 2025 (exclusivereportage.com) ATR in spotlight EnSync, Inc. (NYSE:ESNC), CDTi Advanced Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTI), Molecular Templates, Inc … (stocksnewspoint.com)

  MTEM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. ValuEngine lowered shares of Molecular Templates from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 1st. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Molecular Templates from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.20.

Top China Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Top Image Systems Ltd.(TISA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Top Image Systems (TISA)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Brexit turmoil sends British pound on roller-coaster ride

Britain��s pound was in focus on Monday, first rallying after the resignation of U.K. Brexit Secretary David Davis, but then falling after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also quit.

While Davis��s comments on May being a good leader and his replacement with leave campaigner and former housing minister Dominic Raab was seen as supportive of the pound, Johnson��s resignation was perceived as another sign of the fragility of Prime Minister Theresa May��s government and thus negative. The move is seen raising the chances May will face a formal leadership challenge.

��Initially, the news of Mr. Davis��s departure caused a selloff in cable on fears of a euroskeptic revolt against the PM that could lead to a no-confidence vote and a snap election,�� said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of foreign-exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, in a note Monday.

��However, Mr. Davis noted that he would not stand to challenge PM May, and the market quickly realized that the exit of hard-line Brexiteers could actually strengthen Ms. May��s ��soft-Brexit�� strategy.��

Softness in the U.S. dollar also allowed sterling to trade higher, market participants said, stressing that political risk in the U.K. was definitely present.

Read: Pound jumps after Brexit secretary quits, but the next few days look critical

And see: FTSE 100 advances after Brexit minister quits

Davis on Sunday night stepped down from his post as head Brexit negotiator for the U.K. On Friday, Prime Minister Theresa May had appeared to unite warring factions of her cabinet behind a new Brexit plan, which calls for a U.K.-EU free-trade area for goods but British autonomy over regulation for many services.

The pound GBPUSD, -0.0377% fell to $1.3247 from $1.3287 late Monday in New York, having earlier touched $1.3363, its highest level in about two weeks, according to FactSet.

Similarly, the euro-sterling cross EURGBP, +0.0338% �spent much of the day in the red, before the pound weakened against the shared eurozone. The euro last bought 拢0.8868, up 0.3%.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar lost ground against its main rivals Monday.

The ICE U.S. Dollar index DXY, +0.11% which measures the buck against six other currencies, slipped on Monday, albeit reclaiming some of its lost ground after the pound��s reversal. The gauge, which had already fallen on Friday, was last up 0.1% at 94.097.

On Friday, as investors assessed a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report, as well as moves by the Trump administration and China to officially impose import tariffs. The index has weakened 0.6% in July, cutting its year-to-date gain to 2.1%.

Read Opinion: Trump��s protectionism won��t displace dollar as the reserve currency

Elsewhere in emerging markets, Turkey��s lira registered a sharp selloff against its main rivals after newly reelected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed his son-in-law as finance minister and made a host of other appointments. In the new presidential term Erdogan commenced on Monday, he will have the power to appoint ministers without parliamentary approval, thanks to a referendum last year.

The dollar USDTRY, -0.0486% �soared 3.7% against the lira to buy 4.7411, according to FactSet, while the euro EURTRY, -0.0413% �fetched 5.5726 lira, up 3.8% from Friday.

Earlier Monday, Turkey scrapped a renewable five-year term for the central bank governor. No alternative has been proposed yet.

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Skrumble Network (SKM) Market Capitalization Tops $0.00

Skrumble Network (CURRENCY:SKM) traded down 8.6% against the US dollar during the one day period ending at 7:00 AM ET on July 6th. Skrumble Network has a market capitalization of $0.00 and $3.44 million worth of Skrumble Network was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. In the last week, Skrumble Network has traded 10.6% lower against the US dollar. One Skrumble Network token can now be purchased for approximately $0.0249 or 0.00000382 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including EtherDelta (ForkDelta), Gate.io, DDEX and IDEX.

Here is how other cryptocurrencies have performed in the last 24 hours:

Get Skrumble Network alerts: XRP (XRP) traded 2.6% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.48 or 0.00007324 BTC. Stellar (XLM) traded 3.5% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.20 or 0.00003121 BTC. IOTA (MIOTA) traded down 9.2% against the dollar and now trades at $1.08 or 0.00016596 BTC. Tether (USDT) traded down 0.3% against the dollar and now trades at $1.01 or 0.00015399 BTC. NEO (NEO) traded 9.5% lower against the dollar and now trades at $38.25 or 0.00585848 BTC. TRON (TRX) traded down 6.5% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0365 or 0.00000559 BTC. Binance Coin (BNB) traded down 4.4% against the dollar and now trades at $13.44 or 0.00205870 BTC. VeChain (VET) traded down 8.5% against the dollar and now trades at $2.43 or 0.00037239 BTC. Ontology (ONT) traded 9.7% lower against the dollar and now trades at $4.68 or 0.00071662 BTC. Zilliqa (ZIL) traded 8.7% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0813 or 0.00001246 BTC.

About Skrumble Network

Skrumble Network’s total supply is 1,500,000,000 tokens. Skrumble Network’s official Twitter account is @skrumblehq and its Facebook page is accessible here.

Buying and Selling Skrumble Network

Skrumble Network can be traded on these cryptocurrency exchanges: DDEX, EtherDelta (ForkDelta), Gate.io, Hotbit and IDEX. It is usually not presently possible to buy alternative cryptocurrencies such as Skrumble Network directly using U.S. dollars. Investors seeking to acquire Skrumble Network should first buy Ethereum or Bitcoin using an exchange that deals in U.S. dollars such as GDAX, Changelly or Coinbase. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Ethereum or Bitcoin to buy Skrumble Network using one of the aforementioned exchanges.

Hot Oil Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:WPZ,RIG,MMP,RRC,

The broader indices are trading�on a negative note�this�Tuesday afternoon with the Nifty�down 24 points at 10,604 and the Sensex trading lower by 45 points at 34,966.

The Nifty midcap index was down close to 1 percent dragged by IFCI, IGL, JP Associates, India Cements, Just Dial, Siemens, Strides Shasun, Unitech and Voltas.

Nifty Realty was trading weak as HDIL plunged 10 percent followed by Indiabulls Real Estate and Phoenix Mills.

However, oil & gas stocks were trading in the green as Reliance Industries added over 1 percent while HPCL was the other gainer.

related news Sunteck Realty gains 2% on raising RFPIs investment limit to 49% Market Update: FMCG stocks outperform while 273 stocks hit new 52-week low in NSE; PC Jeweller jumps 6%

Nifty FMCG outperforms led by Tata Global Beverage, Colgate Palmolive, Marico, Britannia Industries and Godrej Consumer Products.

Hot Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: Williams Partners L.P.(WPZ)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Loxo Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOXO) rose 17.1 percent to $163.30 in pre-market trading as the company disclosed that LOXO-292 Phase 1 trial abstract was selected for 'Best of ASCO'. CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTMX) rose 11.5 percent to $27.15 in pre-market trading after the company announced presentations at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting. Check-Cap Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHEK) rose 12.3 percent to $5.47 in pre-market trading after reporting narrower-than-expected Q1 loss. Flotek Industries, Inc. (NYSE: FTK) shares rose 7.1 percent to $3.62 in the pre-market trading session. Baozun Inc. (NASDAQ: BZUN) shares rose 5.8 percent to $47.65 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) rose 5.5 percent to $46.00 in pre-market trading. Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) rose 5.3 percent to $40.50 in pre-market trading after The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB) announced agreement to acquire all public equity of Williams Partners in a $10.5 billion deal. Koss Corporation (NASDAQ: KOSS) shares rose 4.6 percent to $2.72 in pre-market trading after surging 12.55 percent on Wednesday. Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) rose 4.5 percent to $5.85 in pre-market trading after gaining 5.66 percent on Wednesday. Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ: FARM) rose 4.1 percent to $27 in pre-market trading after climbing 7.90 percent on Wednesday. Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE: KOS) rose 4 percent to $7.70 in pre-market trading.

   

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  Natural gas pipeline giant Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) announced today that it agreed to acquire the rest of its master limited partnership (MLP) Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) that it didn't already own in a $10.5 billion deal. Not to be outdone, Canadian energy infrastructure giant Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) made an offer to acquire its namesake MLP Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE:EEP), along with the rest of its publicly traded entities, including Spectra Energy Partners (NYSE:SEP). These transactions have big implications not only for investors in these entities but for those who own other pipeline companies, too.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Williams Partners (WPZ)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Hot Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: Transocean Inc.(RIG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jason Hall]

  So what's an investor to do? Owning the companies best-positioned to profit is a great place to start. Consider two of Big Oil's finest in�Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR)�(NYSE:RDS-A)(NYSE:RDS-B)�and�Total SA (ADR)�(NYSE:TOT), offshore driller�Transocean LTD�(NYSE:RIG) and natural gas for transportation specialist�Clean Energy Fuels Corp�(NASDAQ:CLNE).

• [By Max Byerly]

  ValuEngine upgraded shares of Transocean (NYSE:RIG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

  Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on RIG. Bank of America increased their price objective on Transocean from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Transocean from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 30th. Susquehanna Bancshares set a $11.00 price objective on Transocean and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Cowen set a $11.00 price objective on Transocean and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Piper Jaffray set a $11.00 price objective on Transocean and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $11.79.

• [By Jason Hall]

  On June 27, shares of Seadrill Ltd�(NYSE:SDRL),�Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (NYSE:DO), and�Ensco PLC�(NYSE:ESV) traded up more than 10% at various points. And while they've cooled off a bit -- up 9.9%, 10.3%, and 8.9%, respectively, at recent prices -- they continue to march toward today's close with big gains. And while not quite as much as the three aforementioned companies, shares of�Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG)�and Noble Corporation PLC�(NYSE:NE) are showing big days as well, up 6.4% and 7.2% in late-afternoon trading.�

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

  Losers Aceto Corporation (NASDAQ: ACET) fell 41.9 percent to $4.30 in pre-market trading. ACETO board disclosed that it is taking proactive steps to address business and financial challenges. Canaccord Genuity downgraded Aceto from Buy to Sell. Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. (NASDAQ: HMNY) fell 25.3 percent to $2.86 in pre-market trading after reporting an ATM offering of $150 million. Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR) fell 17.4 percent to $2.86 in pre-market trading after reporting a fourth quarter sales miss. Comps were down 7.5 percent in the quarter. Sleep Number Corporation (NASDAQ: SNBR) fell 12.4 percent to $32.00 in pre-market trading following a first quarter earnings miss. Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRTK) fell 10.2 percent to $11.90 in pre-market trading on news of $125 million convertible debt offering. Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACK) shares fell 8 percent to $8.02 in pre-market trading after dropping 2.02 percent on Wednesday. Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPO) shares fell 5.6 percent to $80 in pre-market trading. Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LITE) shares fell 4.8 percent to $60.00 in pre-market trading after rising 1.78 percent on Wednesday. vTv Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VTVT) fell 4.6 percent to $2.10 in pre-market trading after surging 84.87 percent on Wednesday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE: TSM) shares fell 4.5 percent to $40.07 in pre-market trading after the company reported Q1 results. Align Technology, Inc.. (NASDAQ: ALGN) fell 3.5 percent to $267.40 in pre-market trading after rising 1.61 percent on Wednesday. Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) shares fell 3.5 percent to $12 in pre-market trading after the company issued quarterly fleet status report. GoPro, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) fell 3.2 percent to $4.90 in pre-market trading. Unilever PLC (NYSE: UL) fell 2.6 percent to $54.73 in pre-market

Hot Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: Magellan Midstream Partners L.P.(MMP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tyler Crowe, Matthew DiLallo, and Reuben Gregg Brewer]

  Fortunately for those looking at these attractive valuations, oil's end-of-days scenario is likely a ways down the road. So we asked three Fool.com contributors to highlight a stock they see in the oil industry right now that looks attractive. Here's why they picked Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC), and Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE:MMP).�

• [By John Bromels, Jeremy Bowman, and Daniel Miller]

  We asked three Motley Fool investors to highlight a top dividend-paying stock with a yield above 2% that is supported by a solid business underneath. They came back with�Magellan Midstream Partners�(NYSE:MMP),�Home Depot�(NYSE:HD), and�Ford Motor Company�(NYSE:F). Here's why they chose the way they did.�

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Fayez Sarofim & Co boosted its stake in Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:MMP) by 14.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,372 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,644 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co’s holdings in Magellan Midstream Partners were worth $780,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP) and Noble Midstream Partners (NYSE:NBLX) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

• [By Danny Vena, Timothy Green, and Reuben Gregg Brewer]

  With that in mind, we asked three Motley Fool investors to choose companies they believed would help baby boomers reach their goals. They offered convincing arguments for Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:MMP), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

• [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]

  Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) is one of the largest midstream companies in North America, and it has major dividend plans between 2018 and 2020. By the end of that period, it expects to increase its dividend from $0.50 per share per year (in 2017) to $1.25. That's huge dividend growth in a short period of time. But don't get too enamored by that news; the dividend will still be lower than it was before the midstream oil and gas company's 75% dividend cut in 2016. If you're looking for dividend income in the midstream space, take a look at longtime dividend payers ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) and Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:MMP) instead.� �

Hot Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: Range Resources Corporation(RRC)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) fell about 4.4% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $14.43 after closing at $15.09 on Monday. The 52-week high is $34.93. Volume of about 15 million was nearly double the daily average of around 7.7 million shares traded. The company had no specific news.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) – Equities research analysts at Seaport Global Securities raised their Q4 2018 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Range Resources in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 23rd. Seaport Global Securities analyst M. Kelly now anticipates that the oil and gas exploration company will post earnings per share of $0.12 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $0.11. Seaport Global Securities has a “Neutral” rating on the stock. Seaport Global Securities also issued estimates for Range Resources’ Q1 2019 earnings at $0.36 EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at $0.18 EPS, Q4 2019 earnings at $0.26 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $0.98 EPS.

• [By Tyler Crowe, Matthew DiLallo, and Reuben Gregg Brewer]

  So we asked three of our investing contributors to each highlight a company they think has a compelling investment case right now in the oil and gas industry. Here's why they selected Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), Range Resources (NYSE:RRC), and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM).

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Media headlines about Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) have been trending somewhat positive on Saturday, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. The research group identifies positive and negative press coverage by monitoring more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Range Resources earned a daily sentiment score of 0.07 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media headlines about the oil and gas exploration company an impact score of 46.3371462950661 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near future.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  OppenheimerFunds Inc. lowered its holdings in Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) by 68.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,532 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 65,576 shares during the quarter. OppenheimerFunds Inc.’s holdings in Range Resources were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Why Tesla, Facebook, and Micron Technology Slumped Today

Major market benchmarks fell in Tuesday's shortened session ahead of the July 4 holiday, giving back earlier gains as investors weighed the impact of new tariffs set to be imposed on Chinese goods at the end of the week.

But several individual stocks had outsize declines. Read on to learn why Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) slumped today.

Image source: Getty Images.

Is Tesla's Model 3 success sustainable?

Shares of Tesla skidded 7.2% as investors doubted whether the electric vehicle maker's recent Model 3 production milestone is sustainable.

The market initially cheered yesterday when Tesla revealed it had finally met its goal of producing over 5,000 Model 3 sedans in a week. Furthermore, CEO Elon Musk stated the company is on pace to produce 6,000 Model 3s per week by the end of next month.�

This morning, however, Reuters reported that Tesla's Model 3 success may be coming at the expense of its larger Model S and X production targets. According to employees, Tesla borrowed employees from its other departments late in the week, made weekend shifts mandatory, and even set up a new Model 3 line in recent weeks under a massive tent outside the main factory.�

A separate report from Business Insider�also indicated that Musk ordered employees to remove a standard brake test that Model 3 vehicles must normally complete to move through production -- though BI also noted that it's not clear why or for how long the test was stopped.

Tesla has responded to insist each vehicle undergoes "rigorous quality checks," including brake checks, before production is complete.

Facebook is under the government's microscope

Facebook stock fell 2.4% in the wake of a�Washington Post report�that a federal probe into its sharing of user information has expanded to include not only the Federal Trade Commission, but also the FBI, the SEC, and the U.S. Justice Department.�

The probe is focusing on what Facebook knew when it learned in 2015 that data-analysis firm Cambridge Analytica had improperly accessed Facebook users' data, and why it didn't disclose the issue publicly until earlier this year.

This doesn't mean Facebook has done anything wrong. The company has, after all, confirmed it is cooperating with each government agency. But it's hardly surprising to see the stock pulling back on news of the widened probe.

Micron's patent-case setback

Finally, shares of Micron fell 5.5% after a Chinese court ruled in favor of rival United Microelectronics Corporation�in ongoing patent infringement lawsuits filed against the Idaho-based memory chip specialist earlier this year.

As such, according to UMC this morning, a preliminary injunction has been issued against Micron covering DRAM and NAND-related products in China, including certain solid-state hard drives and memory sticks.�

"UMC is pleased with today's decision," stated UMC Co-President Jason Wang. "UMC invests heavily in its intellectual property and aggressively pursues any company that infringes UMC's patents."

Micron, for its part, is preparing its response to the ruling. But investors are understandably concerned considering Micron generated more than half its total sales in the Middle Kingdom last year.

The Carlyle Group (CG) Raised to “Buy” at Zacks Investment Research

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The firm presently has a $24.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.38% from the company’s previous close.

According to Zacks, “The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager. The Company invests across four segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Fund of Funds Solutions in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Its Corporate Private Equity segment advises the Company’s buyout and growth capital funds. The Real Assets segment advises the Company’s United States and internationally-focused real estate and infrastructure funds, energy and renewable resources funds. Its Global Market Strategies segment advises a group of funds that pursue investment opportunities across various types of credit, equities and alternative instruments and currencies, commodities and interest rate products and their derivatives. Its Fund of Funds Solutions segment advises a global private equity fund of funds program and related co-investment and secondary activities. The Carlyle Group is based in Washington, District of Columbia. “

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Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BidaskClub lowered The Carlyle Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on The Carlyle Group from $28.50 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 2nd. TheStreet lowered The Carlyle Group from a “b” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on The Carlyle Group from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 10th. Finally, ValuEngine lowered The Carlyle Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $28.10.

The Carlyle Group traded up $0.60, reaching $22.35, on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. 651,928 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 457,757. The Carlyle Group has a twelve month low of $18.85 and a twelve month high of $25.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.16. The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 41.26% and a net margin of 6.16%. The firm had revenue of $702.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. The Carlyle Group’s quarterly revenue was down 37.3% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts expect that The Carlyle Group will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, CAO Pamela L. Bentley sold 9,396 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.10, for a total transaction of $188,859.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 150,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,030,356.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in The Carlyle Group by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,106,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,237,000 after buying an additional 617,512 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in The Carlyle Group by 165.3% during the first quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,006,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,833,000 after buying an additional 1,250,000 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in The Carlyle Group by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,576,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,108,000 after buying an additional 402,475 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in The Carlyle Group by 108.5% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,504,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,124,000 after buying an additional 782,961 shares during the period. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG lifted its position in The Carlyle Group by 31.3% during the first quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,312,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,025,000 after buying an additional 312,596 shares during the period. 41.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Carlyle Group Company Profile

The Carlyle Group LP is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments in Fintech sector. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led/ Leveraged buyouts, privatizations, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, structured credit, global distressed and corporate opportunities, small and middle market, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, senior debt, mezzanine and leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings, seed/startup, early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, PIPES.

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on The Carlyle Group (CG)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top 3 Energy Stocks to Buy Now As Oil Hits Recent Highs

&l;p&g;&a;nbsp;

&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-943813452&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/943813452/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;684&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; MIAMI, FL - APRIL 09: A gas pump nozzle is seen at a gas station as reports indicate that the price of gas continues to rise on April 9, 2018 in Miami, Florida. AAA forecasts the national gas price average will be as much as $2.70/gallon this spring and summer. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;With the holiday weekend quickly approaching, rising gas prices will impact each and every one of us. Oil prices spiked on the news of the OPEC deal, rising by more than 3% on Tuesday, June 26th with WTI being back above $70 per barrel for the first time in over a month. &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;This&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g; does not bode well for the Trump administration or everyday consumers of gasoline.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;The U.S. Energy Information Administration stated that, &a;ldquo;historically, retail gasoline prices tend to gradually rise in the spring and peak in late summer when people drive more frequently&a;rdquo;. Increased demand with the same amount of supply drives up prices and with the demand for gasoline reaching highs in summer months, the prices have followed suit. A change had to be made to stop the rising prices of oil globally, and OPEC seemed to have an answer.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;On Friday, June 22, OPEC tried to offset the rise in price and agreed to increase production to pump 1 million extra barrels of crude oil per day. This move should have helped contain the recent rise in global energy prices but instead had the unanticipated effect of a price increase. The production increase ended up being 600,000 barrels instead of the anticipated 1 million, which was shy of how much the market was expecting. According to the Wall Street Journal, this difference is an outcome of some OPEC members being unable to sufficiently boost crude oil production such as Venezuela, Iran and Iraq.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;The OPEC deal is on investors minds, but they must not forget the impact of&a;nbsp;the U.S. opting out of the Iran deal in early May. On May 23, Democratic senate leader Chuck Schumer stated that President Trump&a;rsquo;s decision to pull out of the Iran deal has led to higher oil prices and have directly hurt middle and lower class consumers. On Tuesday June 26th, &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;the U.S. State Department urged companies to cut Iranian crude oil imports to zero by November 4th backed by the threat of U.S. sanctions. The combination of the OPEC deal and Iran &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;sanctions have driven oil to recent highs.&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;

&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;On the back of oil hitting new levels, we have listed some of our top energy stocks. We believe these three stocks have strong fundamentals. Two of the stocks, Penn Virginia and Carrizo, have the potential to benefit from rising energy prices. Delek, as a refiner, can make a profit regardless of the volatility in the oil industry and is a good hedge if the price of oil retreats going into the fall months. &l;/span&g;

&l;span&g;The foundation of our recommendations is to identify companies that perform best and worst on the collective basis of value, growth, EPS revisions, profitability, and LT momentum. The CressCap systematic trading model gathers data daily on 6,500 companies globally and assigns academic grades (A - F) for each financial metric. These grades are scored relative to its region/sector.&l;/span&g;

&l;img class=&q;size-large wp-image-289&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/stevencress/files/2018/06/Screen-Shot-2018-06-28-at-6.03.21-AM-1200x533.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;533&q; data-width=&q;1200&q;&g; Expand to see how our directional recommendations are computed: CressCap uses a multi-factor model to select the best-performing stocks. Our data is updated daily and the academic grades (A - F) for each financial metric are scored and ranked on a regional/sector relative basis. The foundation of our recommendations is to identify companies that possess the collective investment style of Value, Growth, EPS Revisions, Profitability and LT Momentum. Academic grades of C or better indicate that each metric scores well compared to the peer sector

&l;!--donotpaginate--&g;

&l;b&g;Carrizo Oil &a;amp; Gas, Inc. &l;/b&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;(CRZO-US):&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;Carrizo Oil &a;amp; Gas, Inc. is a Houston-based energy company actively engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas from resource plays located in the United States. This company is a buy based on its financial metrics, backed by strong fundamentals&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;. The strengths of this stock include its impressive EPS revisions grade of A-, along with its strong performance in growth with the 2 year forward EPS growth rate crushing sector performance at 281.78% compared to sector 1.86%. The momentum is a given a CressCap grade of A, with a notable performance in its long term momentum far outperforming the sector at 70.24% to 18.14%. In a recent interview with CNBC, Carrizo CEO Chip Johnson stated that in the past year, as of June 2018, Carrizo has brought down its leverage to 2.6x and predicts that it will be down to 2x in early 2019. He also emphasized that the Chinese ramping up sanctions about trading with the United States does not worry him, because the world always needs oil, and if he doesn&a;rsquo;t sell it to China, it will sell in Europe. By moving the company to Texas, it faces less trouble with regulations as it previously had because it is not in populated area. The outlook on the stock is favorable, with a YTD performance up 30.87%. We view this stock as a good opportunity in the energy sector.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&l;b&g;Delek US Holdings, Inc.&l;/b&g;&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&a;nbsp;(DK-US)&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;Delek US Holdings, Inc. is a Tennessee based downstream energy company with assets in petroleum refining, logistics, convenience store retailing, asphalt and renewables. The value of this company is favorable with an A- ranking. The P/Sales ratio suggests that the stock is trading cheaply at .50 compared to the sector at 2.56. Financial analysts have a promising outlook on this company, with EPS revisions grade of A-, with a conclusion that the EPS revisions are increasing favorably. The poor profitability score of this stock is due to its less than exciting performance in both EBIT and operating margin, but in our eyes, this is offset by its impressive performance in both ROI and ROE, both producing CressCap grades of A-. This company has as great value, accompanied by strong fundamentals, and should be viewed as a great opportunity in the energy sector to investors.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&l;b&g;Penn Virginia Corporation&l;/b&g;&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&a;nbsp;(PVAC-US):&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;The Penn &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;Virginia Corporation is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the onshore exploration, development and production of oil, NGLs and natural gas. The company is in the 94% sector percentile and its EPS revisions continue to be revised higher for FY1 and FY2. CressCap currently has a buy recommendation on this stock, accompanied by an A+ grade and impressive financial metrics. Profitability for this stock looks strong, with both the operating and EBIT margin outperforming the sector at 64.38 to 44.85 and 34.64 to 12.36 respectively. The momentum of this stock looks promising, with the short-term, mid-term and long-term price momentum all outperforming the sector, receiving a CressCap grade of A or higher. The current P/E FY1 ratio for this stock is 9.18 compared to the sector at 16.71, which suggests that the stock is very undervalued. The 2 year forward sales growth rate is given a CressCap grade of A+, reflecting the company&a;rsquo;s impressive growth, outperforming the sector, 256.67% to 34.29% respectively.&a;nbsp;&l;span&g;The CressCap grade of A+ for momentum is also notable with the price increase of the stock at 134.81% over the past 52 weeks.&l;/span&g;&a;nbsp;The company&a;rsquo;s strong financial metrics, coupled with its continued increase in price, make this stock a good buy in the eyes of financial analysts.&l;/span&g;

&l;b&g;Written By: Steven Cress (&l;/b&g;&l;a href=&q;mailto:steven.cress@cresscap.com&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;nofollow noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;b&g;steven.cress@cresscap.com&l;/b&g;&l;/a&g;&l;b&g;) &l;/b&g;

&l;span&g;For additional information, feel free to send questions to&a;nbsp;&l;a href=&q;mailto:info@cresscap.com&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;nofollow noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;info@cresscap.com&l;/a&g;&a;nbsp;or view our website&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://www.cresscap.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;nofollow noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;www.cresscap.com&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span&g;. Please&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://cresscap.com/disclaimer/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;nofollow noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;click here&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span&g;&a;nbsp;to view CressCap Investment Research&a;rsquo;s full disclaimer.&l;/span&g;&l;/p&g;

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:PHH,SLCA,CERS,BG,PTNR,YUM,ATRI,COT,OSUR,KOSS,

Kellogg, the food manufacturer that owns Pringles and Pop-Tarts, confirmed Tuesday that it will discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com, the far-right news and commentary site that was formerly run by a top aide of President-elect�Donald Trump, Steve Bannon.

The site has come under fire on social media in recent days as consumers, angered at what they say is its racist, sexist and anti-Semitic content, publicly name its advertisers. Bannon worked as executive chairman of Breitbart News�until he left to run Trump's campaign. He was scheduled to return to Breitbart, but earlier this month, Trump named Bannon his chief strategist, stirring more of the site's critics to call out its content and appeal to its advertisers.

"We regularly work with our media buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren't aligned with our values as a company,"�Kellogg spokesperson�Kris Charles in a statement. "This involves reviewing websites where ads could potentially be placed using filtering technology to assess site content. As you can imagine, there is a very large volume of websites, so occasionally something is inadvertently missed. In this case, we learned from consumers that ads were placed on Breitbart.com and decided to discontinue advertising there."

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: PHH Corp(PHH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Orix (NYSE: IX) and PHH (NYSE:PHH) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

• [By Max Byerly]

  PHH (NYSE:PHH) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results after the market closes on Tuesday, May 8th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of ($0.94) per share for the quarter.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Media headlines about PHH (NYSE:PHH) have been trending somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment reports. Accern rates the sentiment of media coverage by monitoring more than twenty million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. PHH earned a news impact score of 0.17 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news coverage about the credit services provider an impact score of 45.9794154743809 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the next few days.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  PHH (NYSE: PHH) and Orix (NYSE:IX) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.(SLCA)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  U.S. Silica Holdings (NYSE:SLCA) has long been the standout company in the frack sand business. Its size and financial strength allowed it to weather the drop in oil prices better than its peers and positioned it well for the recent growth phase. This past quarter, the company expanded its universe by acquiring another mineral mining business, but it is taking some risk in doing this. Thankfully, demand for frack sand remains high, as evidenced by the company's most recent earnings results.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  U.S. Silica (NYSE: SLCA) and Fairmount Santrol (NYSE:FMSA) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.51 per share on revenue of $14.62 billion. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.46 per share on revenue of $7.31 billion. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $2.07 per share on revenue of $11.93 billion. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.11 per share on revenue of $31.22 billion. Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $3.42 per share on revenue of $11.28 billion. The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $3.15 per share on revenue of $3.94 billion. Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $5.92 per share on revenue of $3.15 billion. 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $2.52 per share on revenue of $8.26 billion. JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.2 per share on revenue of $1.75 billion. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.13 per share on revenue of $5.49 billion. Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.88 per share on revenue of $1.25 billion. Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.3 per share on revenue of $2.50 billion. Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.88 per share on revenue of $13.28 billion. The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $2.77 per share on revenue of $6.75 billion. Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.07 per share on revenue of $2.16 billion. PACCAR Inc (NASDAQ: PCAR) is projected to
• [By Max Byerly]

  Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of U.S. Silica Holdings Inc (NYSE:SLCA) by 78.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,339 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,045 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in U.S. Silica were worth $698,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Cerus Corporation(CERS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Cerus Co. (NASDAQ:CERS) SVP Carol Moore sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.72, for a total value of $504,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,559.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRPA) shares jumped 31.6 percent to $12.18 following TripAdvisor Q1 earnings beat. ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ: ZAGG) rose 26.5 percent to $14.55 after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings. OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK) shares gained 25 percent to $4.0234 following Q1 beat. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAXN) jumped 23.5 percent to $55.12 following a big Q1 beat. The company raised its fiscal 2018 sales growth guidance from 16-18 percent to 18-20 percent. Penn Virginia Corporation (NASDAQ: PVAC) gained 23.3 percent to $59.00 after reporting Q1 results. TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) rose 22.5 percent to $47.51 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Tuesday. Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) shares surged 21.7 percent to $3.36. Amazon.com's partnership with Sears started in 2017 with an agreement to sell Kenmore-branded appliances online. On Wednesday, the companies announced an extension of their relationship to now include tire delivery and installations. EP Energy Corporation (NYSE: EPE) jumped 21.3 percent to $2.68 following Q1 results. LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC) surged 20.4 percent to $3.395 following better-than-expected Q1 earnings. Superior Industries International, Inc. (NYSE: SUP) gained 19 percent to $15.82 after reporting Q1 results. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLCM) shares rose 18.5 percent to $8.13 following Q1 results. Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) rose 18.3 percent to $52.47 after the company posted strong quarterly results. Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) shares jumped 18.3 percent to $6.47 following quarterly results. IEC Electronics Corp. (NYSE: IEC) shares climbed 17 percent to $4.68 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings. New Relic, Inc. (NYSE: NEWR) rose 16.8 percent to $90.10 following Q4 results. Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: GPOR)
• [By Cory Renauer]

  Shares of Cerus Corporation�(NASDAQ:CERS),�a biomedical products company, are on the move following a healthy first-quarter earnings report. Strong demand for its platelet kits encouraged the company to boost forward guidance. Investors liked what they heard and pushed the stock 16.5% higher as of 12:47 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Bunge Limited(BG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

  For the details of Burren Capital Advisors Ltd's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Burren+Capital+Advisors+Ltd

  These are the top 5 holdings of Burren Capital Advisors LtdMonsanto Co (MON) - 77,300 shares, 36.53% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 26.41%NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) - 49,500 shares, 23.46% of the total portfolio. New PositionDell-VMWare Tracking Stock (DVMT) - 57,930 shares, 17.17% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 5.52%Time Warner Inc (TWX) - 30,800 shares, 11.8% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 3.77%Bunge Ltd (BG) - 25,050 shares, 7.5% of
• [By Zacks]

  It goes without saying that companies that export huge amounts of farm products to China stand to be the winners. Shares of The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) jumped 1.6%, while Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) increased 0.4% on Monday.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Bunge Ltd (NYSE:BG) insider Jerry Matthews Simmons, Jr. sold 4,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.30, for a total value of $289,776.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $707,780.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Partner Communications Company Ltd.(PTNR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Partner Communications (NASDAQ: PTNR) and Deutsche Telekom (OTCMKTS:DTEGY) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk and dividends.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Thursday afternoon, the health care shares rose 1.79 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Partner Communications Company Ltd. (NASDAQ: PTNR), up 8 percent, and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE: CEL) up 7 percent.

• [By Money Morning News Team]

  Partner Communications Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR) is an Israeli-based mobile network operator, as well as an Internet and telephone provider. Founded in 1999, Partner was formerly operating under the umbrella of the French telecommunications company "Orange" until 2016.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Partner Communications (NASDAQ: PTNR) and Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong (OTCMKTS:HTHKY) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Thursday morning, the telecommunication services shares rose 1.06 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Globalstar, Inc. (NYSE: GSAT), up 5 percent, and Partner Communications Company Ltd. (NASDAQ: PTNR) up 4 percent.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Deutsche Telekom (OTCMKTS: DTEGY) and Partner Communications (NASDAQ:PTNR) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Yum! Brands, Inc.(YUM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,869 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 3,827 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $5,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Max Byerly]

  In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 2,294 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.90, for a total value of $194,760.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,584. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 945 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total value of $75,505.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $861,721.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

  COPYRIGHT VIOLATION NOTICE: “Yum! Brands (YUM) Given News Sentiment Rating of 0.13” was posted by Ticker Report and is the sole property of of Ticker Report. If you are accessing this report on another site, it was illegally stolen and reposted in violation of international trademark & copyright law. The legal version of this report can be read at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/3377799/yum-brands-yum-given-news-sentiment-rating-of-0-13.html.

  About Yum! Brands

• [By ]

  These figures should be a relief for Niccol, who joined the company from Yum! Brands' (YUM) Taco Bell in February. While he was largely welcomed by investors and received industry affirmation, some critics were skeptical of his franchising background, operational savvy and the disparity in ethos between Chipotle and Taco Bell.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Burney Co. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) by 475.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,278 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,582 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $3,769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By ]

  However, Cramer did have some positive advice about dealing with China. "The one thing I tell people is that if you want surefire China trades: you go long Yum Brands (YUM) and short Yum China (YUMC) , as they have similar growth rates and similar price to earnings multiples, but only one can be brought low by the [People's Republic of China]."

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Stifel Financial Corp lessened its holdings in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) by 9.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 595,695 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 62,381 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Yum! Brands were worth $50,723,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: ATRION Corporation(ATRI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  ATRION (NASDAQ: ATRI) and Obalon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:OBLN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  BidaskClub upgraded shares of Atrion (NASDAQ:ATRI) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

  Shares of ATRI stock opened at $604.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94 and a beta of 0.63. Atrion has a 52 week low of $516.85 and a 52 week high of $694.00.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Cott Corporation(COT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Cott (NYSE:COT) (TSE:BCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.02). Cott had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 1.79%. The firm had revenue of $560.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.07) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. sell-side analysts anticipate that Cott will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Cott (NYSE:COT) (TSE:BCB) was upgraded by analysts at Jefferies Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 6.25% from the stock’s previous close. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for Cott’s Q2 2018 earnings at $0.06 EPS, Q3 2018 earnings at $0.14 EPS, Q4 2018 earnings at $0.01 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $0.38 EPS.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: OraSure Technologies, Inc.(OSUR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on OraSure Technologies (OSUR)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

• [By Lisa Levin]

   

  Losers Heat Biologics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTBX) shares tumbled 48.59 percent to close at $1.275 on Thursday after the company priced its $18,000,000 public offering. InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: NVIV) fell 38.77 percent to close at $8.26 on Thursday. Check-Cap Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHEK) shares tumbled 27.43 percent to close at $8.81. Achaogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAO) dropped 24.76 percent to close at $11.06 in reaction to a disappointing update from an FDA AdCom panel. The FDA panel voted favorably for the company's Plazcomicin for treatment of adults with complicated urinary tract infections, but also voted against the therapy to be used as a treatment for bloodstream infections. Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIK) shares declined 24.68 percent to close at $34.80 after the company posted downbeat quarterly results. LSC Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LKSD) shares fell 24.22 percent to close at $12.64 following wider-than-expected Q1 loss. Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) fell 21.42 percent to close at $50.80 following downbeat quarterly profit. Horizon Global Corporation (NYSE: HZN) dropped 20.42 percent to close at $6.00 following downbeat quarterly earnings. Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE: HOS) slipped 20.11 percent to close at $2.90 following wider-than-expected Q1 loss. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESPR) fell 19.28 percent to close at $36.93. Esperion Therapeutics stock lost roughly a third of its value Wednesday after the company reported mixed Phase III results for its leading drug candidate, bempedoic acid. JP Morgan downgraded Esperion Therapeutics from Neutral to Underweight. Laredo Petroleum, Inc. (NYSE: LPI) declined 17.77 percent to close at $8.98 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q1 earnings. The Habit Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ: HABT) dipped 16.1 percent to close at $8.60 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results. Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (N
• [By Joseph Griffin]

  OraSure Technologies (NASDAQ:OSUR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.00.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Koss Corporation(KOSS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Loxo Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOXO) rose 17.1 percent to $163.30 in pre-market trading as the company disclosed that LOXO-292 Phase 1 trial abstract was selected for 'Best of ASCO'. CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTMX) rose 11.5 percent to $27.15 in pre-market trading after the company announced presentations at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting. Check-Cap Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHEK) rose 12.3 percent to $5.47 in pre-market trading after reporting narrower-than-expected Q1 loss. Flotek Industries, Inc. (NYSE: FTK) shares rose 7.1 percent to $3.62 in the pre-market trading session. Baozun Inc. (NASDAQ: BZUN) shares rose 5.8 percent to $47.65 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) rose 5.5 percent to $46.00 in pre-market trading. Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) rose 5.3 percent to $40.50 in pre-market trading after The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB) announced agreement to acquire all public equity of Williams Partners in a $10.5 billion deal. Koss Corporation (NASDAQ: KOSS) shares rose 4.6 percent to $2.72 in pre-market trading after surging 12.55 percent on Wednesday. Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) rose 4.5 percent to $5.85 in pre-market trading after gaining 5.66 percent on Wednesday. Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ: FARM) rose 4.1 percent to $27 in pre-market trading after climbing 7.90 percent on Wednesday. Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE: KOS) rose 4 percent to $7.70 in pre-market trading.

   

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBOT) rose 32 percent to $2.89 in pre-market trading after the company disclosed that it achieved robust viral clearance for its manufacturing process. Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: BW) rose 17.7 percent to $3.03 in pre-market trading after an amended 13D filing from Steel Partners Holdings shows a raised stake in the company from 6.99 million shares to 29.98 million shares, or a 17.8 percent stake. AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACRX) shares rose 12.7 percent to $3.55 in pre-market trading after the company announced the FDA acceptance of NDA for DSUVIA. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM) shares rose 11.7 percent to $54.95 in pre-market trading. after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter. The company also raised its FY18 earnings and sales guidance. Bilibili Inc. (NASDAQ: BILI) shares rose 9.3 percent to $13.59 in pre-market trading after announcing Q1 results. Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT) rose 8.1 percent to $3.46 in pre-market trading after reporting strong Q1 earnings. Universal Corporation (NYSE: UVV) rose 8.1 percent to $52.35 in pre-market trading after reporting fiscal Q4 results. Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNS) rose 8.1 percent to $5.65 in pre-market trading after gaining 6.30 percent on Wednesday. CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE: CVM) rose 6.1 percent to $3.30 in pre-market trading after climbing 9.51 percent on Wednesday. TransEnterix, Inc. (NYSE: TRXC) rose 6 percent to $3.10 in pre-market trading after reporting a loan deal for $40 million in term loans with Hercules Capital. Stage Stores, Inc. (NYSE: SSI) rose 5.6 percent to $3.40 in pre-market trading following Q1 results. Koss Corporation (NASDAQ: KOSS) shares rose 5.2 percent to $2.42 in the pre-market trading session after falling 2.54 percent on Wednesday.