Luxoft (LXFT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Luxoft (NYSE:LXFT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning. They currently have $48.00 target price on the software maker’s stock.

According to Zacks, “Luxoft Holding, Inc. offers software development services and information technology solutions. Its software development services consist of software development and support, product engineering and testing and technology consulting. The Company focuses on six industry verticals: financial services, travel and aviation, technology, telecom, automotive and transport and energy. It operates primarily in Western Europe and North America. Luxoft Holding, Inc. is based in Tortola, Virgin Islands. “

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Several other equities analysts also recently commented on LXFT. Cowen downgraded shares of Luxoft from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price target for the company from $63.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Luxoft from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Luxoft from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 22nd. William Blair downgraded shares of Luxoft from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Luxoft from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $54.91.

Luxoft opened at $33.00 on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. Luxoft has a twelve month low of $31.50 and a twelve month high of $66.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79 and a beta of 1.65.

Luxoft (NYSE:LXFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 24th. The software maker reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Luxoft had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 6.29%. The business had revenue of $232.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $228.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. research analysts anticipate that Luxoft will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GCA Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Luxoft in the 4th quarter worth about $217,000. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Luxoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $446,000. Redmond Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Luxoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $518,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Luxoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $529,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Luxoft by 185.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 9,797 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 6,365 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.86% of the company’s stock.

About Luxoft

Luxoft Holding, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides software development services and IT solutions to multinational corporations primarily in Europe and the United States. It offers application software development, software architecture design, performance engineering, optimization and testing, process consulting, and software quality assurance services; functional specification and mock-up, product design, engineering, automated testing, maintenance, support, and performance engineering services; and IT strategy, software engineering process, and data security consulting services.

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Jacobs Engineering: CH2M Is Starting To Pay Margin Dividends

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) has finished up some of the final details of its latest $2.85 billion CH2M deal, which will help the company refocus itself on higher margin projects moving forward. The recent surge in energy prices should help reignite Jacob's lagging businesses which have consistently underperformed the past few years. The successful CH2M integration, higher margins, and oil's recovery all should help propel the company forward in the back half of 2018, as long as the company can meaningfully reduce its new debt load back towards its historically low levels that investors are used to.

Jacobs's second quarter results included a $250 million final deal consideration payment for its CH2M acquisition, putting the finishing touches on a deal that is already producing results for the company. The growth the company is experiencing can be seen by the fact that the combined company's net head count has grown by 3,000 since the acquisition. This might lead investors to incorrectly think that this might be a drain on margins for the company. This is because the CH2M acquisition is orientating the combined company more towards higher value projects including new Tier 1 nuclear opportunities and possibly a significant water infrastructure investment cycle. A recent EPA survey cited $473 billion of infrastructure needs over the next 20 years to improve U.S. drinking water, which Jacobs could be a major player in after its CH2M acquisition.

Here's a look at how the company's revenues and margins have grown from the acquisition, even as the company is still in the early stages of taking advantage of synergies and cost savings.

Slide from Jacobs's Q2 Presentation

These results are pretty impressive as gross margins rose 140 basis points over last year's numbers even with all the acquisition costs for CH2M. Backlog is also up 9% from last year to $26.5B, not bad for a $9B market cap company, especially means they have completely reorganized their traditional lines of business down into three.

Slide from Jacobs Q2 Presentation

The oil recovery should also continue to help the company's new Energy, Chemicals, and Resources line of business, which has had a rough few years after oil's crash in 2014 from over $100 a barrel for WTI.

WTI Crude Oil Spot Price data by YCharts

Revenue for this line of business was up 17% in the second quarter as oil continues to rally from its 2016 lows. The last few years have resulted in a lot of the costs and inefficiencies being driven out of this business line as production is now cheaper and more efficient then it was after the major oil rally preceding 2014. With $80 WTI oil possibly on the near horizon, a jump in spending in infrastructure, pipelines, and mining projects might be right around the corner.

Finally, one of the main issues to watch for in the back half of 2018 is whether Jacobs can accelerate its deleveraging now that its CH2M acquisition is complete. The $2.85B CH2M acquisition means that now Jacobs sits with approximately $800 in cash, after the second quarter, with gross debt now at approximately $2.5B. The company's historical track record of maintaining a strong investment grade credit profile was one of the reasons I initially took a position in this company years ago. With Jacobs currently paying a very modest ~1% dividend for shareholders, there should be plenty of free cash flow in the combined company for debt reduction, especially if margins continue to hold or improve from here. With its current gross debt leverage ratio around 2.2 times adjusted EBITDA at the end of Q2, I would look for the stock to start heading back towards its 52-week highs if the company can quickly start to remove this debt from its balance sheet.

JEC data by YCharts

Jacobs Engineering is having success fully integrating its CH2M acquisition with margins and revenues both showing great signs of growth. With oil continuing to rally to new highs not seen since 2014, the company's poorest performing line of business should show renewed growth and profitability. This could easily get the company back on track for some new 52-week highs if it can show sustained and meaningful deleveraging over the back half of 2018. Best of luck to all.

Disclosure: I am/we are long JEC.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy Right Now

tags:CX,VGT,RMP, Technical Charts indicate a bullish�trend for�Advanced Micro Devices, Inc stock. Analysts are also bullish on AMD stock.
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Shares of silicon chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc�(NASDAQ:AMD) didn't have a good month (March 2017) compared to their usual standards. AMD stock was down more than 8% before recovering in the last two days and closing the month at $14.55, down 2.7% for the month of March. For the year, AMD stock is up almost 30%, compared to a 9.5% gain in Nasdaq Composite (INDX:COMPX). AMD stock had fallen more than 12% in the two days following the Ryzen disappointment. The fall in the stock price had broken an important support level for AMD stock. As can be seen in the AMD technical analysis chart, AMD stock had closed below the 20-day simple moving average support line on higher volumes. The bearish crossover over the 20-day moving average was accompanied by a bearish crossover in the Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) oscillator.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy Right Now: Cemex S.A.B. de C.V.(CX)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  CEMEX SAB de C.V. (NYSE: CX) has had a rough year, with much of the ongoing trade war risks putting Mexico at risk due to NAFTA being renegotiated by the White House. There are even risks that NAFTA could be canceled. That would be bad news for a company like Cemex, with its large cement operations. Cemex is the third largest cement company in the world, based on its installed capacity, and it is considered to be the largest concrete company in the world.

• [By ]

  Cemex (NYSE: CX) is a global building materials company that produces, distributes and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and related building materials in more than 50 countries. Cemex's U.S. network includes 11 cement plants, 43 strategically located distribution terminals, 57 aggregate quarries and more than 270 ready-mix concrete plants. Its products are used in bridges, roads, structures, dams and more.�

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Cemex SAB de CV (NYSE: CX) traded down about 2.4% Wednesday and posted a new 52-week low of $7.03 after closing Tuesday at $7.20. The stock’s 52-week high is $10.37. Volume was around 9 million, about 10% below the daily average. The company had no specific news.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy Right Now: Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, George Budwell, and Dan Caplinger]

  With those attractive characteristics in mind, we asked Motley Fool investors to highlight a few of the most attractive index funds. Read on to find out why Vanguard Information Technology (NYSEMKT:VGT), Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (NYSEMKT:VTI), and Vanguard Health Care Fund (NASDAQMUTFUND:VGHCX)�all made the list.

Top Tech Stocks To Buy Right Now: Rice Midstream Partners LP(RMP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

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

  Get Rice Midstream Partners alerts: Investor Expectations to Drive Momentum within Balchem, Beacon Roofing Supply, Rice Midstream Partners LP, LTC Properties, Ubiquiti Networks, and 1st Source �� Discovering Underlying Factors of Influence (finance.yahoo.com) Rice Midstream Partners (RMP) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at ValuEngine (americanbankingnews.com) Zacks: Brokerages Expect Rice Midstream Partners (RMP) to Announce $0.40 EPS (americanbankingnews.com) Rice Midstream: 1Q Earnings Snapshot (finance.yahoo.com) Rice Midstream Partners (RMP) Announces $0.30 Dividend (americanbankingnews.com)

  RMP stock opened at $17.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1,871.10, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.17. Rice Midstream Partners has a 52 week low of $16.87 and a 52 week high of $26.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 2.91 and a quick ratio of 2.91.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) and Rice Midstream Partners (NYSE:RMP) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

US Automakers Offer Few ‘Cool’ Cheap Cars — for Now

Given the popularity of pickups and sport utility vehicles in the United States since the price of gasoline dropped sharply, along with the price of oil, a few years ago, it is little wonder that U.S. automakers are not well represented on Kelley Blue Book��s latest list of the 10 coolest cars under $20,000 for 2018.

Those that made the list are the cars that the firm considers the most fun to drive and fun to own among the most affordable options, and again the Mazda 3 takes the top spot. The only ones on this year��s list from U.S. automakers are the Jeep Renegade from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) and the Chevrolet Sonic from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM).

Below are the latest Kelley Blue Book picks for the 10 coolest new cars under $20,000, along with what the firm had to say about each one.

Mazda 3: “Available in both sedan and hatchback form, the Mazda3 offers practicality that appeals to compact car buyers, with sportiness that makes even daily chores more fun.” Honda Civic: “Kelley Blue Book’s Small Car Best Buy of 2018, the Civic is a well-rounded car offered as a sedan or coupe that’s comfortable, roomy, practical, efficient, packed with cool tech, and a blast to drive.” Hyundai Kona: “The Kona was given a healthy dose of modern style, and the clean, crisp cabin is filled with a bevy of connectivity and advanced safety features.” Volkswagen Golf: “Euro-tuned handling and a sporty attitude are only part of what makes the Golf such an appealing car.” Kia Soul: “Few vehicles match the Kia Soul’s alluring combination of bold style, SUV-like versatility, and practicality, with a roster of standard and available features that add to the Soul’s value.” Jeep Renegade: “Of all the vehicles on this list, the Renegade is the one that can get you the furthest beyond where the pavement ends.” Subaru Impreza: “Already earning extra credit for its standard all-wheel drive, a recent redesign gives the Impreza sedan and hatchback sharper looks, more refinement and a larger palette of tech and convenience features, all while retaining the strong value proposition and reliability for which Subaru is known.” Honda Fit: “This diminutive hatchback has a feature called the Magic Seat that gives the interior space and versatility that rivals that of a small SUV. The combination of practicality and pep at an affordable price makes the Fit a hard car to resist.” Hyundai Elantra: “The all-new Elantra GT hatchback expands the Elantra lineup, adding a dose of likable style and five-door versatility to the mix.” Chevrolet Sonic: “The Sonic’s starting price of $16,170 makes it the most affordable car on this list. But what keeps Chevrolet’s subcompact sedan and hatch on our list of coolest cars is its compelling combination of tech, comfort and a fun attitude, all wrapped in redesigned sheet metal.”

For quite a while, the best-selling vehicle sold in the United States has been the Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) F-150 pickup, with its 2018 base price of well over $27,000. Fully loaded, they can top out at more than $70,000.

Pickups and SUVs are so popular in America that Ford recently decided to stop production of its Taurus, Fusion, C-Max and Fiesta sedans. But as oil prices creep up, taking gasoline prices with them, will American consumer tastes shift again, forcing U.S. carmakers to come up with more of their own ��cool�� but affordable cars?

24/7 Wall St.
10 Vehicles With the Highest (and Lowest) Recall Rates

Sony's New CEO Sets Steady-as-She-Goes Mid-Term Targets

Sony Corp., once known for pushing the boundaries of technology, is starting to look a little bit boring under Kenichiro Yoshida.

The new chief executive officer’s reputation as a stoic numbers guy was demonstrated on Tuesday when he unveiled mid-term targets for the first time as chief executive officer, predicting conservative profit growth across most divisions over the next three years as the company focuses more on content and services.

The strategy announcement echoed results issued less than a month ago, when Yoshida gave an outlook for the current year that set a low bar and jolted investors. The shares fell as much as 3.7 percent on Tuesday, the biggest intraday decline since May 1, the day after the earnings report. While the former chief financial officer said the goal is to generate “high profitability” in electronics, entertainment and financial services, the biggest news of the day was Sony’s agreement to buy EMI’s music catalog for about $2 billion.

“As a former finance executive, Yoshida isn’t the type to make unrealistic predictions, and this mid-term plan plays it safe,” said Hiroshi Kato, general manager at Chibagin Asset Management. “Most investors didn’t have their hopes up — it’s clear that there wasn’t a positive surprise.”

Sony even predicted a decline in the game and networks business, forecasting operating profit of 130 billion to 170 billion yen ($1.2 billion-$1.5 billion) by March 2021, compared with the current year’s outlook for 190 billion yen. Music profits will be 110 billion to 130 billion yen, up from 112 billion yen, while movies will bring in 58 billion to 68 billion yen, compared with 42 billion yen.

“I’m not putting much of my color on this mid-term plan,” Yoshida said in a speech in Tokyo. “Our vision of moving people’s emotions is unchanged. Our message this time is to pursue that further.”

The measured outlook comes as Yoshida seeks to push Sony toward more-predictable and stable profit streams from gaming subscriptions, online content and intellectual property licensing. Simultaneously, he expects to sell fewer hardware products — televisions, digital cameras, smartphones and PlayStation consoles — as the rise of Chinese manufacturing has made gadgets a business with razor-thin profit margins.

“It’s quite disappointing,” said David Dai, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in Hong Kong. “He’s really set a low bar, too low for investors.”

Sony is targeting operating cash flow of at least 2 trillion yen over the next three years. 1 trillion yen will be spent on capital investments, while the rest is earmarked for strategic investments, bolstering the balance sheet and shareholder returns, the company said. Yoshida said he made a deliberate choice not to set an overall operating profit target, which would have included Sony’s finance division.

“We didn’t want to be controlled by having to deliver that profit in three years time,” Yoshida said. “That’s why we’re focusing more on the cash flow. We will continue discussions with our shareholders and investors on whether we need to show the three-year operating profit going forward.”

The brightest spot was Sony’s semiconductors business, which supplies camera chips for the iPhone and other high-end smartphones. Annual operating profit for the division will be 160 billion to 200 billion yen, up from 100 billion yen, the company said.

Sony’s unveiling of its mid-term plan has drawn increasing attention from investors in recent years and has been marked by conservative outlooks. Investors have applauded the transformation toward content and services that’s been under way since Kazuo Hirai took over as CEO in 2012, with the shares climbing more than five-fold amid a turnaround.

In May 2015, Hirai first hinted the company was turning a corner in its years-long restructuring effort and predicted that operating profit could reach 500 billion yen by March 2018. Shares have climbed 60 percent since then as Sony ultimately surpassed that outlook.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sony announced the purchase of EMI Music Publishing, getting its hands on a catalog of 2.1 million songs from Beyonce, Carole King and other artists. The deal helps to solidify Sony’s position as the largest music publisher amid a boom in streaming services that has fueled valuations for music copyrights.

“This investment is precisely what we need to boost our content intellectual property,” Yoshida said of the deal. “Music is a recurring business and is on an important trajectory.”

Sony will buy about 60 percent equity interest from a consortium led by Mubadala Investment Co. for about $2 billion, it said in a statement. The company already owns almost 40 percent of EMI, operates the business and had been in talks to buy the library for the past few months.

— With assistance by Hideki Sagiike

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Nearly Half of U.S. Adults Lack Basic Social Security Knowledge

Millions of retirees depend on Social Security to pay the bills, so much so that 62% of seniors count on it to provide half of their income or more. Unfortunately, nearly half of the U.S. adult population is missing key knowledge needed to make the most of those benefits.

In recent quiz rolled out by Mass Mutual, a frightening 47% of Americans could not answer basic questions about full retirement age and spousal benefits -- two key components of Social Security. Specifically, respondents didn't know that their benefits would be reduced if they were to file at age 65, nor did they know that spouses of eligible recipients can collect benefits even without a work history of their own.

Image source: Getty Images.

If you're planning to have Social Security pick up a large chunk of your retirement tab, you'd be wise to get the scoop on the aforementioned topics. This way, you can devise a filing strategy that best serves your needs in the future.

Full retirement age: It pays to wait to claim benefits

Your Social Security benefits themselves are calculated based on how much you earned during your top 35 working years, but the age at which you first file for them could change your ultimate monthly payout. If you claim benefits at full retirement age (FRA), you'll get the full monthly benefit your earnings record entitles you to. FRA is a function of your year of birth, as follows:

Year of Birth

Full Retirement Age

1943-1954	66
1955	66 and 2 months
1956	66 and 4 months
1957	66 and 6 months
1958	66 and 8 months
1959	66 and 10 months
1960	67

Data source: Social Security Administration.

That said, you can actually start taking benefits as early as 62, which happens to be the most popular age for filing. In doing so, however, you'll slash your benefits significantly, so if you're relying on Social Security to provide a large portion of your retirement income, you may want to hold off until FRA or even beyond. In fact, for each year you delay benefits past FRA, you'll snag an 8% boost that will remain in effect for the rest of your life. This incentive, however, runs out at age 70, which is why 70 is generally considered the latest age to file for benefits, even though you're technically not forced to sign up at that time.

Furthermore, many people assume that they're eligible for their full monthly benefits at age 65 because that's when Medicare kicks in. But that's not true. You can enroll in Medicare and get health coverage the moment you turn 65, but if you sign up for Social Security simultaneously, you'll lose a portion of your benefits by enrolling early.

To give you a sense of how much you'd lose by filing ahead of schedule, imagine you're looking at an FRA of 67 and a full monthly benefit of $1,500. Filing at 62 will reduce each payment to $1,050. Waiting until 70, by contrast, will leave you with $1,860 a month in Social Security income.

Spousal benefits: You don't need to work to collect Social Security

We just learned that Social Security benefits are earnings-based, but if you're married without a work history of your own, you're in luck. That's because you're eligible to collect up to 50% of your spouse's benefit at your full retirement age. Going back to the point above, if your spouse files for benefits ahead of FRA and reduces them, you'll also collect less. Similarly, if you, as the recipient of spousal benefits, decide to file early, you'll lose a percentage of the monthly payment you'd otherwise be entitled to.

Another thing you should know about spousal benefits is that you can collect them even if you have a work record of your own. If your monthly benefit based on your earnings history is $800 and your spouse is entitled to $1,800 per month, your benefit will automatically get bumped up to $900, or 50% of your spouse's benefit. Finally, whereas holding off past FRA can boost your personal benefit, you can't increase your spousal benefit by waiting.

Understanding the nuances of Social Security can help you maximize your benefits when it's time to collect them, so do your best to get educated about the program while you're still working. A little bit of basic knowledge could help you make the best filing decision, and that's something you'll no doubt appreciate as a retiree.

Why some retailers are winning and some are losing

Nordstrom is the latest big American retailer to report sluggish sales growth.

Its stock tanked -- just like several other retailers this week.

JCPenney's (JCP) results were dreadful and shares are now down more than 40% in the past year. Walmart (WMT) reported an uptick in online sales, but investors are worried about its profit margins. Walmart's stock, already one of the worst performers in the Dow so far in 2018, fell again after its earnings report.

But not all big retailers are struggling. The weak sales from Nordstrom (JWN) and JCPenney are in stark contrast to healthier results released this week by department store chains Macy's (M) and Dillard's (DDS).

People are clearly still shopping at some brick and mortar retailers. Government figures for retail sales in April showed a healthy uptick in spending overall.

The fact that some traditional chains are doing well while others are foundering proves Amazon (AMZN) isn't killing everyone. It's not true.

Nordstrom, for example, is a much different company than JCPenney. It is more of a higher-end, luxury retailer -- one that presumably is more immune to price pressures from discounters like Amazon and Walmart.

Nordstrom's men's store offers 24-hour curbside pickup

To that end, Nordstrom executives said in an earnings call Thursday evening that the core Nordstrom stores were stabilizing. But they aren't improving quickly enough. Sales of Nordstrom stores that were open a year ago grew just 0.6%, and the stock fell nearly 10% Friday.

Home Depot (HD) has faced very little pressure from Amazon and other online stores. Yet its latest results and outlook were also lackluster, largely because of bad weather (a legitimate excuse for a company that sells to professionals building homes outdoors) and concerns that rising interest rates could dampen home sales.

So it just goes to show that there is a lot more to retailing than Amazon. And we're not done with the parade of earnings from big chains just yet.

We'll get more clues next week about what consumers are buying and where they are shopping when more retailers report their latest results and provide outlooks as well.

Among the bigger store chains on tap: TJ Maxx parent TJX (TJX), Kohl's (KSS), Home Depot competitor Lowe's (LOW), Tiffany (TIF), Target (TGT), Victoria's Secret owner L Brands (LB), Best Buy (BBY), Williams-Sonoma (WSM) and Gap (GPS).