KeyCorp Analysts Cut Earnings Estimates for Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM)

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) – Analysts at KeyCorp lowered their Q2 2018 earnings per share estimates for shares of Akamai Technologies in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, June 26th. KeyCorp analyst B. Nispel now forecasts that the technology infrastructure company will post earnings of $0.60 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.62. KeyCorp has a “Sector Weight” rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Akamai Technologies’ Q3 2018 earnings at $0.62 EPS, FY2018 earnings at $2.50 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $2.84 EPS.

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Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 30th. The technology infrastructure company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $669.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $654.37 million. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 7.46% and a return on equity of 10.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, May 1st. ValuEngine raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd. BidaskClub downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 18th. DA Davidson set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 1st. Finally, SunTrust Banks raised their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies to $78.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Akamai Technologies has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.91.

Shares of AKAM stock opened at $72.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.36 billion, a PE ratio of 38.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.64. Akamai Technologies has a 52 week low of $44.65 and a 52 week high of $83.08.

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 143.4% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,743 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $131,000. We Are One Seven LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $160,000. Delpha Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $177,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at $188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.44% of the company’s stock.

In other Akamai Technologies news, EVP Robert Blumofe sold 8,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.81, for a total transaction of $593,316.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Rick M. Mcconnell sold 7,382 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $536,228.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 25,052 shares in the company, valued at $1,819,777.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,879 shares of company stock worth $3,600,647. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Akamai Technologies declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $417.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology infrastructure company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Akamai Technologies

Akamai Technologies, Inc provides cloud services for delivering, optimizing, and securing content and business applications over the Internet in the United States and internationally. The company offers Web and mobile performance solutions, such as Ion, a situational performance solution; Dynamic Site Accelerator that helps in consistent Website performance; Image Manager that automatically optimizes online images; CloudTest to conduct load testing and other analysis of Websites in a pre-production environment; mPulse that provides real-time Website performance data to provide insight about end-user experiences on a Website; and Global Traffic Management, a fault-tolerant solution.

Whitestone REIT (WSR) Expected to Announce Quarterly Sales of $33.52 Million

Analysts expect that Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) will report sales of $33.52 million for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks reports. Two analysts have made estimates for Whitestone REIT’s earnings. The highest sales estimate is $33.64 million and the lowest is $33.40 million. Whitestone REIT reported sales of $30.21 million during the same quarter last year, which indicates a positive year-over-year growth rate of 11%. The firm is scheduled to announce its next earnings report on Wednesday, August 1st.

On average, analysts expect that Whitestone REIT will report full year sales of $134.87 million for the current fiscal year, with estimates ranging from $134.10 million to $135.64 million. For the next fiscal year, analysts anticipate that the business will post sales of $139.96 million per share, with estimates ranging from $139.20 million to $140.72 million. Zacks’ sales calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side research analysts that cover Whitestone REIT.

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WSR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Maxim Group dropped their price objective on Whitestone REIT from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 5th. B. Riley set a $13.00 price objective on Whitestone REIT and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 5th. ValuEngine raised Whitestone REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 9th. Zacks Investment Research raised Whitestone REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 5th. Finally, JMP Securities dropped their price objective on Whitestone REIT from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.20.

Shares of Whitestone REIT traded up $0.17, hitting $12.49, during trading on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. 411,028 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 338,839. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Whitestone REIT has a 1 year low of $10.06 and a 1 year high of $15.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $490.27 million, a PE ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 1.04.

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.095 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 2nd. Whitestone REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.20%.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Whitestone REIT in the fourth quarter worth about $108,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Whitestone REIT by 277.1% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 13,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 9,700 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Whitestone REIT in the fourth quarter worth about $193,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Whitestone REIT in the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Finally, We Are One Seven LLC bought a new position in shares of Whitestone REIT in the fourth quarter worth about $241,000. 51.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Whitestone REIT

Whitestone is a community-centered retail REIT that acquires, owns, manages, develops and redevelops high quality ?E-commerce resistant? neighborhood, community and lifestyle retail centers principally located in the largest, fastest-growing and most affluent markets in the Sunbelt. Whitestone's mix of national, regional and local tenants provides daily necessities, needed services and entertainment not typically readily available online to their respective communities.

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Northrop Grumman Just Became a Bona Fide "Space Stock"

Nine months in the making, Northrop Grumman's (NYSE:NOC) $9.2 billion acquisition of space company Orbital ATK is now a done deal.

Earlier this month, Northrop confirmed that having just received antimonopoly clearance from the Federal Trade Commission, it had immediately proceeded to close its purchase of smaller aerospace company Orbital ATK. Northrop wasted no time in stamping its mark on its new prize, renaming it Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) and designating it Northrop's "new, fourth business sector."

NGIS now supplements Northrop's existing specialties in aerospace systems (bombers and drones), mission systems (sensors and electronic warfare), and technology services (software and training). The company also confirmed that Orbital's former COO, Blake Larson, will head up the new division.

Orbital ATK owns the Antares rocket line -- and now Northrop Grumman owns Orbital ATK. Image source: Getty Images.

Why did Northrop buy Orbital?

Northrop CEO Wesley Bush tackled this question in his Q3 conference call with analysts last year: "If you look at the Northrop Grumman portfolio space capabilities, we tend to focus on the really big things. Think about us as observatories or in the national security domain, we tend to focus on the very large assets."

And yet, a lot of the growth in space lately has come not in the "really big things" -- such as large satellites and the larger rockets that put them into orbit -- but in�small satellites,�small rockets, and the industry that's rapidly becoming known as "new space." Over the next five years, space industry researcher StratSpace Intelligence predicts, more spacecraft will be launched into orbit than were launched in the last 50 years combined. StratSpace says about 3,500 space missions are currently planned through 2022, with the majority of these being "small missions and spacecraft."

Northrop Grumman's acquisition of Orbital ATK can be viewed in part as an effort to capture a piece of this growth market. "If you look at the portfolio at Orbital ATK, it's more the smaller, in many case, more-agile response capabilities that are going to be core to this future," Bush said.

Orbital ATK's fleet of Antares, Minotaur, and Pegasus launchers are smaller in capacity, and cheaper to purchase, than the large Delta IV and Atlas V rockets operated by its rival United Launch Alliance. Orbital is also engaged in cutting-edge projects like the development of a space "tow truck" service to repair orbiting spacecraft for its commercial satellite customers.

At the same time, though, acquiring Orbital ATK -- which is currently developing a heavy-lift rocket for the U.S. Air Force -- helps to lift Northrop into the realm of giant space stocks like Boeing�and Lockheed Martin�(the co-owners of United Launch Alliance), whose Delta IV (Boeing) and Atlas V (Lockheed) rockets have dominated the government space-launch business for years. Assuming Northrop brings Orbital's OmegA heavy-lift rocket to completion, it will itself become a contender in large space launches.

What does this deal mean in dollars and cents?

So Northrop Grumman is now a major player in both "big space" and "new space" with this acquisition. But is it a good investment? That's actually harder to answer than it seems.

Look up Northrop Grumman stock on Yahoo! Finance, for example, and you'll see little evidence that the Orbital deal has already closed. Northrop is still listed as having a $54.9 billion market capitalization, pulling down $26.1 billion in trailing 12 month sales, earning a 13.1% operating profit margin on those sales, and dropping nearly $12 per share to the bottom line.

But those numbers no longer reflect the real Northrop.

As detailed in its SEC filing made to confirm the merger's closing, Northrop now expects to end this year with sales of $30 billion -- 15% higher than its trailing sales figure and $3 billion above previous guidance, before Orbital. On the other hand, the company's operating profit margin, already retreating from record highs last year, is expected to erode further with the absorption of lower-earning Orbital -- falling into the upper 11% range. Still, adding Orbital's profits to its own, Northrop expects to end this year with per-share profits of between $16.20 and $16.45.

So is $54.9 billion a fair price for the new Northrop? Valued on this year's expected earnings, Northrop is selling for a P/E of 19.2. That doesn't sound too bad, given that the average P/E on the S&P 500 today is 25.1. Problem is, analysts are only projecting about 10% annualized long-term earnings growth for Northrop, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence -- and 19x earnings seems a bit much to pay for just 10% growth. On top of that, the stock's 1.8 price-to-sales ratio is about 80% above what aerospace companies have been averaging for most of this decade.

Long story short, even as Northrop's latest acquisition suggests it's setting its sights higher -- all the way to space -- the stock's valuation tells me there's more downside than up for Northrop Grumman stock.

Buy Coal India; target of Rs 375: Centrum

Centrum's research report on Coal India

We re-instate our coverage on Coal India (CIL) and rate it Buy with a new TP of Rs375. We are enthused by the progress made by CIL in last six months in successfully tackling multiple headwinds around employee wage costs and FSA realisations and we expect CIL to deliver strong earnings growth over FY18-20E led by i) better demand and volume CAGR of 6%, ii) robust FSA pricing on the back of recent price increases and better grade compliance and iii) strong share of e-auction volumes at 18% of total volumes coupled with higher realisations supported by favorable global coal prices. Stock trades at inexpensive valuations of 6x FY19E EV/EBITDA despite attractive return rations and we expect strong case of re-rating as earnings improve. Dividend yield of 7%+ is an added positive.

Outlook

We ascribe EV/EBITDA multiple of 7x to FY20E earnings to arrive at our TP of Rs375. Recommend Buy. Key downside risk is unfavorable use of high cash & lower volumes.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Read More First Published on Jun 8, 2018 02:59 pm

Nationwide Layoffs Modest in May

Layoffs were moderate nationwide in May, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which is known for tracking the trend. There were 31,517 layoffs this month.�That number is down from 36,081 in April. One month does not make a trend, but it is still part of a national surge in jobs, which has sent joblessness to a rate of 3.9%.

John Challenger, the chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said: “On average, job cuts are at their lowest in May and June. Companies typically make their staffing moves at the beginning of the year or in the fourth quarter.”

The trend so far this year is not as promising:

So far this year, employers have announced 207,977 job cuts, 6.2 percent more than the 195,895 announced through the first five months of 2017.

Retail leads all sectors in job cuts this year, with 69,316, 4,946 of which occurred in May. Retailers have announced 24 percent more cuts than through the same period last year, when 55,910 cuts were announced. So far this year, Challenger has tracked 2,565 store closures.

Health Care/Products companies announced the second highest number of job cuts in May, with 4,003, for a total of 21,453 this year. Companies in the Services sector announced 19,363 cuts, with 4,698 in May.

No one should be surprised by the retail number as the brick-and-mortar segment of retail continues to fall apart and traditional retailers continue to close stores. Certainly, earnings from some of the largest retailers were bleak last quarter.

As late spring and summer progress, the Challenger number should be expected to range between 30,000 and 40,000, with retail layoffs continuing to lead the way. If the numbers go higher, there is good reason to worry that the jobs market may have turned for the worse.