Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Xencor Inc (XNCR) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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Xencor Inc  (NASDAQ:XNCR)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 25, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Xencor Fourth Quarter Full Year 2018 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session.

(Operator Instructions)

Please be advised that this call is being recorded at the Company's request.

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Charles Liles, Associate Director and Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at Xencor. Please proceed.

Charles Liles -- Associate Director and Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

Thank you operator. Good afternoon, a few minutes ago, we issued a press release which outlines the topics we plan to discuss today. The release is available at xencor.com.

Today on our call, Bassil Dahiyat, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer will discuss the Company's business highlights; Paul Foster, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer will provide an update on Xencor's clinical programs; and John Kuch, Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer will review the financial results from the fourth quarter and full year. Then we will open up the call to your questions.

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that during the course of this conference call, Xencor management may make forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company's future financial and operating results, future market conditions, plans and objectives of management for future operations, partnering efforts, capital requirements, future product offerings, the timing and success of clinical trials, and research and development programs.

These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on Xencor's current expectations and beliefs and are based on information currently available to us. The outcomes of the events described in these forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to material (ph) differently from the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those factors contained in the risk factors sections of Xencor's most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q.

With that, let me pass the call over to Bassil.

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Thanks, Charles, and good afternoon everybody. At Xencor,m we engineer monoclonal antibodies with dramatically enhanced biological functionality and performance versus their natural counterparts. Our proprietary XmAb technology focuses on the constant of an antibody, its Fc domain or the bottom half of the Y-shaped antibody structure. We modify Fc domains with just a few amino acid changes to produce antibodies and now cytokines with improved activity, a longer half-life, or bispecific structure. These XmAb Fc domains can be readily substituted for natural Fc domains and over the last 16 years, we've created a large intellectual property estate around these novel domains, which has enabled us to build a broad and diverse portfolio with 12 XmAb-based candidates currently being evaluated in the clinic, both internally and by our partners.

Now, in December, 2018, we were delighted to hear that one of these 12 candidates Alexion's Ultomiris, also known as ALXN1210 was approved by the FDA for marketing in the United States. This is the first XmAb technology containing approved antibody. Ultomiris is a complement inhibitor indicated for the treatment of adult patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria or PNH, and it incorporates our Xtend Fc technology, which allows for a longer duration of action and less frequent dosing regimens compared to Soliris, the first generation complement inhibitor at Alexion. We congratulate Alexion and their achievement and look forward to subsequent approvals in other geographies and their progress toward expanding the label.

Now beyond the Xtend Fc technology used in Ultomiris suite, we have additional XmAb Fc technologies and drug candidates that we have partnered with other companies and we seek to continue to license and partner to maximize their potential. These technologies include our immune inhibitor Fc domain, which provides for us selective immune inhibition and rapid clearance and our cytotoxic Fc domain, which provides for more potent antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity, ADCC.

Now, the bulk of our R&D focus over the last few years, however, has been the expansion and use of our XmAb bispecific Fc platform. Our plug and play approach to engineering enables the rapid design and simplified development of antibodies and other proteins structures that bind two or more different targets simultaneously.

Bispecifics are rapidly emerging area of biotherapeutic development, particularly in oncology and we're using our XmAb bispecific Fc domains as a robust scaffold to develop a pipeline of bispecific antibody and cytokine drug candidates.

To date, we've created seven drug candidates in oncology using XmAb bispecific Fc domain, which can be grouped into three distinct classes; our CD3 bispecifics, our tumor microenvironment activators, which target two different T-cell checkpoint or agonist receptors and lastly, our cytokines. Now, as you know, XmAb14045 is the lead CD3 bispecific candidate from our oncology pipeline.

I'll turn the call over to our Chief Medical Officer, Paul Foster to review our recent clinical developments in the XmAb14045 program.

Paul Foster -- Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer

Thanks, Bassil. XmAb14045 is our CD123 x CD3 bispecific antibody that's being developed in collaboration with our partners, Novartis. It's being evaluated in an open label, Phase 1 multiple-dose, dose escalation study to assess its safety, tolerability and preliminary anti-tumor activity in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia or AML and other CD123-expressing hematologic malignancies.

Last week, we announced that the FDA placed a partial clinical hold on the study and while patients currently on treatment and benefiting from treatment may continue treatment on this study, no new patients will be allowed to enroll until the partial clinical hold is lifted by the FDA.

The partial hold is related to our recent reports to the FDA of two patient deaths that were considered at least possibly related to treatment. One patient experienced cytokine release syndrome or CRS after their first dose, the treatment of which was complicated by the patient's decision to withdraw care prior to full implementation of standard CRS management.

This patient received an infusion of 1.3 micrograms per kilogram. As our ASH presentation with the data cutoff by October 19, 2018, 25 patients were treated at this initial dose or higher. Since then, multiple additional patients have been treated at this initial dose and for subsequent doses at higher levels.

Second patient received several doses of XmAb14045. Within a week of their last infusion, the patient developed chest tightness and worsening shortness of breath during a platelet transfusion for the management of thrombocytopenia related to AML. The patient subsequently developed acute pulmonary edema and then died several days later.

The partial clinical hold will remain in place pending the FDA's review of additional details regarding these events, safety and efficacy information across the study and satisfactory review of amendments to the study protocol and related documents. We continue to work closely with study investigators and the FDA to resolve the partial clinical hold and will provide an update when information on resuming enrollment can be shared.

This past December, we presented initial results from this Phase 1 study at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. As we previously announced, these early data show encouraging signs of efficacy in a heavily pre-treated population for weekly administered XmAb14045. As of the data cutoff, 66 patients with relapsed or refractory AML were enrolled. These patients had a median age of 61 years and have experienced a median with three prior therapies and 30% had a history of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. A maximum tolerated dose has not been determined.

As expected, CRS was the most common adverse event occurring in 55% of patients and was generally managed with pre-medication.

Four patients or 6% experienced Grade 3 or Grade 4 CRS. CRS is generally more severe on the initial dose, accounting for most Grade 3 or higher episodes. Additional adverse events within 24 hours of infusion that were consistent with component system to CRS, but not reported as CRS by the investigators, we're seeing an additional 29% of patients. Regarding efficacy, 28% of valuable patients at the two highest doses study that is 1.3 and 2.3 micrograms per kilogram achieved either a complete remission or a complete remission with incomplete hematologic recovery. There remains an urgent need for effective new therapies in AML. Based on these encouraging early data, we believe 14045 may have meaningful potential in this area.

And now I'll turn it back to Bassil to review updates on the remainder of our pipeline.

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Thanks, Paul. Now before moving onto a review developments in the remainder of our oncology pipeline, I'll speak about obexelimab, which is XmAb5871 and our first-in-class monoclonal antibody that targets CD19 with its variable domain and uses our XmAb immune inhibitor Fc domain to target Fc gamma receptor 2B, a receptor that inhibits B-cell function.

B-cell inhibition is a proven strategy for many autoimmune diseases, and we believe obexelimab offers patients and physicians a potentially differentiated therapeutic option, because of its subcutaneous delivery format and it's highly potent and broad blockade of B-cell activation occurs without depleting or destroying B-cells. This means that the natural immune system is able to function normally once treatment is no longer needed. To date, we've conducted Phase II clinical trials in several autoimmune diseases, we've demonstrated the potential disease modifying ability of obexelimab in systemic lupus erythematosus, which we presented last October at the ACR Annual Meeting and in IgG4-related disease.

Data from these studies support further development in these indications and show the potential of obexelimab in other autoimmune disorders. Now given obexelimab's potential disease modifying activity observed across multiple diseases, the scale of potential registrational studies and the opportunities provided to us by our novel bispecific Fc technologies, we believe that further development, including potentially pivotal Phase III studies, should be conducted with a development partner that has the infrastructure and resources to maximize the potential of this drug candidate in the broadest set of patient populations. To ensure alignment with potential collaborators, without a partner, we will not start the Phase III study in IgG4-related disease that we have been planning.

I'll shift now to our rapidly growing bispecific oncology pipeline. About six years ago, we began work to create bispecific antibodies that contain Fc domains. We engineered Fc domains that spontaneously form bispecific structures and can be decorated with nearly any antigen binding domain in a variety of formats. They can be made using standard antibody production techniques and they have antibody like half-lives.

Our plug and play approach has enabled the rapid and simultaneous development of a wide range of bispecific drug candidates, addressing a wide range of targets. We strive to be at what we think is going to be the forefront of the next wave of antibody engineering, which has the potential to deliver new treatments in oncology and other areas. Now at the ASH Annual Meeting this past December in addition to us, we saw multiple data readouts from a variety of bispecific antibody platforms in several hematologic malignancies. We believe this held (ph) the future of bispecific antibodies are major part of the field of antibody therapeutics.

Now I'll speak about our CD3 bispecific class. Now, earlier we mentioned that we currently have three categories of drug candidates built on this bispecific Fc domain. The first and most advanced is the CD3 class. These include XmAb's 14045, 13676 and 18087. These are tumor targeted antibodies that contain both a tumor antigen binding domain and a cytotoxic T-cell binding domain, which is the CD3 binding domain. They activate T-cells at the side of the tumor in order to potently kill malignant cells. All three of these CD3 bispecifics are in Phase 1 development. After 14045, which Paul discussed, XmAb13676 is our CD20 x CD3 bispecific antibody currently being evaluated in open label, Phase 1, multi-dose, dose escalation study to set the safety, tolerability and preliminary anti-tumor activity in patients with B-cell malignancies.

In early January, we announced that as part of a strategic pipeline reprioritization, our partner Novartis decided to return its rights to develop and commercialize XmAb13676. We intend to continue development as planned and initial data from the study are expected in the second half of this year. In addition, additional data from the Phase 1 study of XmAb18087, our somatostatin reception 2 by CD3 bispecific antibody for neuroendocrine tumors and gastrointestinal stromal tumors are also expected late this year.

Our second group of bispecific antibodies are our tumor microenvironment activators, rather than directly bridging a T-cell to a tumor cell, our TME activators seek to more effectively reactivate tumor reactive T-cells in existing therapies by engaging multiple T-cell targets simultaneously, such as checkpoints or agonists. That this approach not only eliminates the need for the multiple antibodies usually used for combination therapy, but allows for more selective targeting of T-cells with high checkpoint expression, which are typically over represented in the tumor microenvironment.

We currently have three TME activators in development, each testing a distinct mechanism of TME activation. First XmAb20717, a PD-1 x CTLA-4 bispecific antibody that's being currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 study for patients with advanced solid tumors. We dosed the first patient of the study, which we call DUET-2 in July 2018 and we expect to report initial data on the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, immunogenicity and preliminary anti-tumor activity in the second half of 2019.

Additionally, both investigational new drug applications for XmAb23104, our PD-1 x ICOS bispecific antibody and XmAb22841, our CTLA-4 x LAG-3 bispecific antibody were allowed to open by the FDA. We expect to initiate Phase 1 studies for each in patients with select advanced solid tumors in the second half of this year -- sorry in the second quarter of this year. XmAb22841 will be studied as a monotherapy and also in combination with pembrolizumab to evaluate triple checkpoint blockade of CTLA-4 and LAG-3 on top of PD-1 inhibition.

Finally, we're developing a suite of cytokines built on an XmAb bispecific Fc domain. They contain both cytokine and cytokine receptor domains to selectively expand and activate immune cells that can be recruited against tumors. The first of these programs is XmAb24306, an IL-15 cytokine which we designed specifically to create sustained T-cell and natural killer cell expansion via modulated potency.

Our IL-15 is differentiated from its cousin IL-2 due to its natural inability to bind CD-25, an important receptor for regulatory T-cell activation. Our IL-15 bispecific cytokine platform of which 24306 is the first candidate, provides a more druggable version of the cytokine with potentially superior tolerability, slower receptor mediated clearance and prolonged half-life and is intended for development with a wide range of combination agents, which brings us to the collaboration we announced with Genentech earlier this month. And for which we expect HSR clearance for soon.

We will co-develop XmAb24306 and other potential IL-15 programs, and we will share 45% development costs and profits. While Genentech will commercialize medicines worldwide, we have the option to co-promote in the United States. We're also engaging in a two-year research program to discover new IL-15 drug candidates including the one -- including ones targeted to specific immune cell populations, a feature enabled by the bispecific Fc domain.

For Genentech's exclusive worldwide license to XmAb24306 and for the -- and for new IL-15 drug candidates, we will receive $120 million upfront and we'll be eligible to receive up to $160 million in development milestones for the 24306 program and of up to $280 million in development milestones for each new IL-15 drug candidate. This pays the share of our development costs up to those amounts, and what we plan to be a very extensive clinical program explaining numerous combination agents. We expect to support Genentech's IND application for XmAb24306 in multiple oncology indications in the second half of 2019. Importantly, we confirm our own clinical trials with both our own pipeline assets and non-Genentech agents, subject to some conditions and we look forward to planning a number of such studies pending completion of the initial dose escalation study for 24306.

Now stepping back, we believe our broad pipeline in oncology drug candidates built on our bispecific Fc domain provides us multiple, distinct opportunities to impact the treatment of patients with cancer. We're committed to exploiting the full potential of this platform, both internally and through potential collaborations that preserve a long-term value that we have in our proprietary programs. Additionally, licensing transactions provide us with multiple revenue streams that help fund the development of our most promising wholly owned product candidates, while requiring limited resources from our internal team and providing external validation of our XmAb technology.

Eight pharmaceutical companies and the National Institutes of Health are advancing novel drug candidates that were either discovered to Xencor or that rely on our XmAb technology for bispecific structure, higher cytotoxicity, longer half-life or improved stability. Several programs are currently in clinical development, including Alexion's Ultomiris, which I mentioned earlier. We remain eligible for up to $8 million in regulatory milestone payments and $30 million in sales milestone payments. In addition to low-single-digit royalties on sales, regardless of geography, indication or route of administration. The next program MOR208 is a compound that we discovered and initially developed internally at Xencor, which MorphoSys is evaluating in multiple pivotal trials for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Beyond that, Amgen's AMG 424, a CD38 x CD3 bispecific antibody is being evaluated in a Phase 1 study for patients with multiple myeloma and Amgen has also announced AMG 509 a bispecific antibody built with our XmAb bispecific Fc technology is in preclinical development for patients with prostate cancer.

Now with that, I'll turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, John Kuch to review our fourth quarter and full year 2018 financial results.

John J. Kuch -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Bassil. I'd like to briefly touch based on our fourth quarter year-end results for 2018. Our total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2018 totaled $530.5 million compared to $363.3 million on December 31, 2017. The increase reflects net proceeds of $245.5 million from our follow-on public offering in March 2018, partially offset by cash used to fund operating activities in 2018.

Before turning to our fourth quarter P&L, I'd like to once again remind everyone that our financial statements reflect the adoption of Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606. The Financial Accounting Standard Boards revised accounting rules on revenue recognition, which went into effect this year. As such, we adapted ASC 606 effective January 1st, this year and have revised revenue reported for the prior period ended December 31, 2017 reflect this new standard. Revenues for our three month ended December 31st, 2018 were $11.6 million compared to $30.1 million for the three months ended December 31st, 2017.

Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018 was primarily milestone revenue received from Alexion, where revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017 included $10 million milestone revenue from Amgen and $20 million of revenue earned from our Novartis collaboration. Total revenues for 2018 were $40.6 million compared to $46 million for 2017.

Total 2018 revenue included $20 million of milestone revenue received from Alexion and $20 million of revenue earned from our Novartis collaboration, while 2017 revenues consisted of milestones received from Amgen, MorphoSys and CSL, which totaled $26 million in addition to $20 million earned from our Novartis collaboration.

Research and development expenditures for the three months ended December 31st, 2018 were $27.1 million compared to $20.4 million for the same period in 2017. R&D expenditures for the full 12 months in 2018 were $97.5 million compared to $71.8 million for 2017. The increase -- the increased R&D spending in the three and 12 months ended December 31st, 2018 of our R&D spending in the same period in 2017 is primarily due to additional spending in our bispecific Fc technologies and expanding pipeline of bispecific oncology candidates, particularly tumor microenvironment activator candidates and our initial cytokine candidate, XmAb24306.

General administrative expense for the three months ended December 31st, 2018 were $5.5 million compared to $4.4 million for the same period in 2017. Total G&A expenses for the full 12 months of 2018 were $22.5 million compared to $17.5 million for 2017. Increased G&A spending in 2018 periods will report over 2017 spending for the same periods reflects additional compensation costs, including increased stock-based compensation charges.

Non-cash share-based compensation expense for 2018 was $20.5 million compared to $13.7 million for 2017. The net loss for the three months ended December 31st, 2018 was $18.2 million, excuse me, compared to net income of $7.4 million for the same period in 2017. Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2018 was $70.4 million compared to a net loss of $38.5 million in 2017. The increased loss in 2018 reported periods over the same periods in 2017 is primarily due to increased R&D spending in 2018. As we look forward to 2019 and considering the net impact of R&D reimbursements, upfront payments, milestones and royalty revenue on our gross spending for the year, we expect to end 2019 with between $575 million and $600 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable Securities.

Based on our current operating plans, we expect to be able to fund research and development programs and operations beyond 2024.

With that, we'd now like to open up the call for questions, operator?

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) And our first question is from Ted Tenthoff from Piper Jaffray. Your line is now open.

Edward Tenthoff -- Piper Jaffray & Co. -- Analyst

Great, thank you very much and congratulations on an exciting year of lot of progress coming and I'll let if you can update on the clinical. One quick question, if I may. With respect to Ultomiris, how will you be recognizing those royalties? Is it a light period, you will be breaking out the line or maybe you can just tell us in terms of that. Thank you.

John J. Kuch -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. And is most likely the reporting under the agreement is going to be after the period. So we're not going to know until later. And as far as breaking it out, we'll have to see how the numbers -- come down the pike, really before we start making that kind of decision and we'll have to see how they specifically break it out because they haven't given much guidance at what point they're going to separate the Ultomiris from the Soliris sales.

So I think that's going to play out over the next two to three quarters we ask with you Ted.

Edward Tenthoff -- Piper Jaffray & Co. -- Analyst

Okay, cool. We'll keep our eyes open for that. And then just with respect to the data readouts, when do you think it's most likely -- which medical meetings, could we get some updates from the bispecific that are advancing to Phase I. Thanks very much.

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

So I would say, without having core (ph) knowledge of medical meetings, schedules and abstract submission deadline, I would just say late in the year. I don't want to commit to any specific conferences before we make those decisions on what submissions to make, but late in the year.

Edward Tenthoff -- Piper Jaffray & Co. -- Analyst

Fair enough. Thanks, Bassil. Thanks, John.

John J. Kuch -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Alethia Young from Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is now open.

Alethia Young -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Just two of them, if I may. I just want you to talk a little bit more about the partial hold and maybe the second case where I know that you've mentioned the couple, seemed like the persons who had AML was getting platelets and was the edema, like how related to drug was it I guess is the question. It seems like there were a lot of things kind of going on in this patient. So just a little bit more color there.

And on the second question, I mean obviously you're going to have posted probably $600 million potentially in cash, and I just wanted to talk a little bit about how you -- that starts to frame and change the Company's strategy as far as like kind of being able to commercialize assets. It seems like it would be in oncology. Are there any kind of particular areas where you really think you can grow and build a commercial operation there. Thanks.

John J. Kuch -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, so I'll just -- the second one first. So the cash balance gives us the optionality to pursue multiple different programs and that's the strategy we've been laying out for the last few years to access multiple different biologies using our Fc technology, particularly the bispecific technology to go down -- to go down different avenues because biology risk is inherently the largest risk in drug development, we don't know biology until we try things in the clinic.

So with that, we do have ambitions one day to hopefully be a fully integrated company. I think we're a ways off from being able to give specific guidance on that, because we need to progress multiple programs forward, see which ones have the data that supports their advancement, see which ones have the characteristics that support go it alone for Xencor or at least go it alone in the US, like for example with our Novartis partner program. So I think you're right about where we want our ultimate trajectory to be. I think it's too early to commit to anything, I think it is very important to have a strong balance sheet to be able to carry forward a broad platform sort of driven strategy of making a number of different biological bets in the clinic.

Now with that, I'll turn the -- to your first question regarding, I guess you were asking about causality vis-a-vis the patient that had the pulmonary edema.

Paul Foster -- Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer

Yeah, so the sequence of events. As we've reported, that's about the extent that we want to share at this point, we continue to work with the investigators and with the agency to gather more data and do analysis and hopefully get to more information about causality in this particular case the investigator considered it possibly related, and as such, it's our requirement to report this event.

Alethia Young -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

And just a follow-up to that, do you guys have any kind of thought on potential timeline around revolution of the partial hold?

John J. Kuch -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Well, we're going to be submitting responses in the small number of weeks as we gather data together. And then there is a 30-day window for the FDA to respond, but that respond can be -- response can be anything. If you mean more questions, and so I think that what we plan on doing is, when we resolve the hold, we'll certainly -- we'll certainly immediately announce that, but we're working very hard and very quickly with our investigators and staying close to the FDA.

Alethia Young -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Great, thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Arlinda Lee from CG. Your line is now open.

Arlinda Lee -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Hi guys, thanks for taking my questions. I guess I had a couple of questions on 24306 and when we might hear more about your extensive combination trials that you've planned and what kind of the data flow timelines for hearing about when you might start, when the Phase 1s might read out sufficiently that you can start the combinations. And then secondly, on 509, have you disclosed what the target in prostate cancer is 'or Amgen?

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

So to your first question on XmAb24306 or IL-15 program, the first lead asset with our Genentech collaboration, we expect to support Genentech's filing of the IND, because we've already obviously done and almost all of the preclinical work manufacturing et cetera. We support that filing in the second half of this year and try to get patients on as soon as possible, and that could be very late this year, early next year. After initial monotherapy dose escalation as is customary with combination agents you would then go into combinations. I wouldn't expect any of that to happen until the second half of 2020. And then readouts from that I think again it's starting to get far enough out that it's impossible to say, it is a very extensive strategy across different indications, different combination agents, we of course have our own trials that we would like to pursue. But with our own combination agents, but that's partnering off of that, we'll have ample chances to guide you on that as we go forward.

Now regarding AMG 509, the newly announced agent for prostate cancer that's a bispecific antibody, they have not released any details on the targets for that agent. And so we can't say.

Arlinda Lee -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Okay, and then I guess lastly on Ultomiris, can you talk about, you mentioned that $8 million in regulatory milestones remain, are those fairly near-term, are they on additional approvals and maybe a little bit further out. And then can you...

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

I would say, it's fair to say they're relatively near term.

Arlinda Lee -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

And then on the sales milestones, are those set up to be fairly near-term? Are those also...

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

I think that's one we're going to have to get a feel for the launch trajectory before we can comment on that.

Arlinda Lee -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Okay, thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Jonathan Chang from CVB Leerink. Your line is now open.

Jonathan Chang -- SVB Leerink -- Analyst

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Jonathan Chang from SVB Leerink. First question, can you provide more color on the decision to not start late-stage development for obexelimab until securing a partnership, what triggered this change from past guidance? And how should we be thinking about the type of partnership that you're looking for?

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Yeah, I think what's really the change is, as we've been looking at our various partnering opportunities, as we're looking at the kind of trial that we can start in particular the inherent uncertainty in a brand new disease where we're making sure you can build enough data to show the clinically meaningful benefit that is how patient feels functions or survives, how that ties to the readily measurable endpoints. I think that -- with that uncertainty, and how you would best go about doing that it seems, putting the cart before the horse to initiate before understanding exactly what the potential partner you might end up with would want to do.

I think the kind of partnership that we would like to pursue is one first and foremost with a partner that can aggressively pursue the development of the asset broadly because we've shown disease modifying activity now and in three indications RA, lupus, IgG4-related disease, it's clearly an agent that has good tolerability and we've got a subcu format. And I think that for us now, it's the best way to maximize the value in autoimmune disease, where clinical development is long and arduous and expensive, it's is to focus solely on partnerings, that really emerged over the last, really few weeks as we've narrowed down what our thinking is on how to proceed with both the trial and is our thinking about partnering has matured.

And what kind of partnership would be structure wise beyond what I just said, I think there's a variety of opportunities, we would like some opportunity to participate -- potentially participate commercially, I don't necessarily know if that's an absolute for this program, because as we shift to our oncology focus, the kind of deal structures that we've been able to achieve with regard to US commercial rights to partial US promotion rights, I think are attractive, I don't think -- I think we've got more flexibility around this program, because again it's not feeling the same gravitational pull as the rest of our portfolio is in the oncology area.

Jonathan Chang -- SVB Leerink -- Analyst

Got it. Just one other question from me, a broader question. How should investors be thinking about the risk of cytokine release syndrome, seamless (ph) CD3 bispecific antibodies development both at Xencore and other companies.

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Well, I think cytokine release syndrome is a consequence of the inherent activity of turning T-cells onto kill tumors. I think it's ultimately not separable, I think that it's a question of manageability and severity and incidence and we've seen this progression from the very first generation CD3 bispecific like blinatumomab where they are profoundly potent hundreds of times more potent than the kinds of molecules that are Fc structure based like ours or like some of our competitors. And I think that dropping in potency inherently built based on this Fc structure that -- sorry that inherently occurs based on the flexibility that happens from attaching bind domain on an Fc structure. I think that's helpful and allowing now people to do short infusion administration, get a bunch of drug on board as opposed to having a dribble then solely with infusion pumps and so I think the field has progressed to give tools to make the whole situation a lot more manageable.

And I think this is important is the maturing of how people manage CRS early on is happening. We've all learned a lot from the CAR-T therapeutic efforts and are now learning a lot from the bispecific, But I think it's not separable, I think it's a question of how much more manageable we make it with further refinements in design, things like adjusting the potencies of your molecule with other levers like affinity and further refinements of how we do dosing schedules, want to all the things planned, but it's not going to be separable. It's a question of who figured out how to make it the most manageable.

Jonathan Chang -- SVB Leerink -- Analyst

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Christopher Marai from Nomura. Your line is now open.

Jackson Harvey -- Nomura -- Analyst

Hello, this is Jackson Harvey on for Christopher Marai. Thank you for taking my question. For the SSTR CD3 bispecific antibody, what kind of toxicity are you expecting given expression of SSTR 2 on pancreatic islet cells perhaps there is some insight from your prior studies in monkeys that may have read through the humans?

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Sure, so I guess the sort of question you asked is sort of a salient one for generally speaking going after solid tumor targets with a CD3 bispecific, or really with any kind of cytotoxic modality, where with solid tumors in particular it's very unusual, I don't know if I can think of an example, where your tumor target is really, really restricted to the tumor. I mean it's not a logic malignancies, it's a much simpler situation, where even if you have healthy tissue expression usually like in the case of the CD-20 antibody that healthy tissues expression is on a cell population that a patient can survive without. With regard to SSTR2, so that's an example yeah you do have healthy tissue expression of somatostatin receptor 2 in a variety of tissues like in islet cells. I think it's a question again of the balancing act of the potency against your tumor cell versus potency against your healthy tissues. And we've certainly seen and I think there's reports of it, if you hit SSTR2 you can induce -- you can induce various effects like glucose intolerance if you hit too hard, you'll get all sorts of -- any kind of tissue that expresses that you're going to expect to have damage to. And I think it's a question of tuning that effect, so that you mostly hit the tumor cells.

But it's a general question that the whole field is looking at as we go into solid tumors new approaches using Fc containing bispecific such as going to higher valences of buying, and we can use avidity effects to steer your agent toward cells that have more higher density advantage and all these kinds of things are starting to be tried. So that gives us a feel for the kind of toxicities to look for, obviously.

Jackson Harvey -- Nomura -- Analyst

Great. And then I just have one follow-up on the CD-123 bispecific, were you able to look for PDL-1 up regulation in the patients or is it too early for that kind of data?

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

It's too early just yet,. It's a very interesting thing to look for, I agree

.

Jackson Harvey -- Nomura -- Analyst

Great, thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) And our next question is from David Nierengarten from Wedbush Securities. Your line is now open.

David Nierengarten -- Wedbush Pac Grow Life Sciences -- Analyst

Hey, thanks for taking my question and -- might be a little, I'm after 2.5 years, but I recall a discussion around your Analyst Day about tuning CD3 binding domain, down tuning it to avoid CRS or other side effects. As I recall that 123 by CD3 that you have. I don't think the CD3 domain was different or down tuned down -- how you want to term it, are there any other clinical candidates of reflection memory modified in anyway on the CD3 domain. Are they all the same? Thanks.

Paul Foster -- Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer

So of the three clinical candidates, we have for CD3 -- the CD3 category, the 14045, CD123, CD20 and SSTR2, they all have what I would call them moderately high sort of single-digit nano model (ph) affinity for CD3 so not -- very high like many antibodies can be, so they all shared the same one. I will point out though that for our CD20, CD3 we went to -- and I think that the Analyst Day that you're talking about, we went through a fairly detailed exercise of looking at both CD3, but more importantly, it turns out in the case that the CD20 molecule looking at CD20 affinities that are lower, see how that impacts cytokine release and half-life of the molecule and tolerability versus depletion of the target cell and we didn't exercise in our non-human primate preclinical models that showed that in the case of the CD20, CD3 bispecific tuning the CD20 side seemed to have the most, the best effect in balancing the reduction of cytokine release with maintaining activity against the target cell. So we're always looking at tuning for the first three programs, you're correct about the CD3 affinities we reported those. I think there -- there's often more toward than that. And I would say the Amgen program AMG 424, the CD38 x CD3 they published very nice data about a year ago, showing that using our tool kit of differing affinities against CD3 and CD38 in that instance, trying a lot of different combinations of reduced affinity to thread the needle in a very challenging target CD38, which is expressed broadly off of tumor.

So there is a definite point and you're right. Yeah, the first three had shared that I would moderately high affinity-single-digit nano model CD3. Definitely a lot of activity yield looking at those parameters.

David Nierengarten -- Wedbush Pac Grow Life Sciences -- Analyst

Thank you.

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Thanks, Dave.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, I'm showing no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Bassil Dahiyat, CEO for closing remarks.

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Thanks very much, operator. We expect a very busy year pursuing and expanding our pipeline and feel that we have a platform, partners and balance sheet to really help facilitate that.

With that, I would like to thank you all for joining today's call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference, this concludes the program. You may now disconnect.

Duration: 42 minutes

Call participants:

Charles Liles -- Associate Director and Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

Bassil I. Dahiyat -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Paul Foster -- Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer

John J. Kuch -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Edward Tenthoff -- Piper Jaffray & Co. -- Analyst

Alethia Young -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Arlinda Lee -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Jonathan Chang -- SVB Leerink -- Analyst

Jackson Harvey -- Nomura -- Analyst

David Nierengarten -- Wedbush Pac Grow Life Sciences -- Analyst

More XNCR analysis

Transcript powered by AlphaStreet

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

Saturday, February 23, 2019

The European Banking System Is A System Of Perpetual Motion

&l;p&g;Several European bank shares have enjoyed a revival this year as even the much-maligned German lender, Deutsche Bank has booked a gain. Consider the following list of returns for 2019 year-to-date:

Lloyds Bank Group&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; +19.39%

UniCredit&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; +18.69%

Commerzbank&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; +15.00%

BNP Paribas&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; +&a;nbsp; 9.58%

Deutsche Bank &a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; +&a;nbsp; 8.31%

Barclays &a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp;&a;nbsp; +&a;nbsp; 7.07%

Santander&a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp;+&a;nbsp; 3.24%

UBS&a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp;-&a;nbsp; &a;nbsp;0.95%

Societe Generale&a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; &a;nbsp; -&a;nbsp; 7.73%

This table of share price returns on a year-to-date basis reveal that shares in France&a;rsquo;s third-largest bank by market capitalisation have been the worst performer of all major European banks in 2019 and have fallen by 50% since a peak level booked in May 2019. Following the UK start up, Metro Bank Soc Gen is the second-worst performer on the Stoxx 600 Banks Index.

Now one can point out key balance sheet facts about Soc Gen, i.e. its capital ratio fell to 11.2% in Q4 2008 from 11.4% 12-months ago. This made it the second-lowest among Europe&a;rsquo;s largest banks that have reported year-end numbers.

However, this issue which haunts the French lender is a challenge that has cast a shadow across the entire European banking sector for several years now and which the European Central Bank (ECB) sitting at its centre.

The ECB may have announced an end to its asset purchase programme prematurely as its growth forecast for the Eurozone are looking shabby and it has recognised a pressing need to keep government finances and bank balance sheets afloat by continuously flooding the system with cash.

It will be interesting to read between the lines from the comments of Peter Praet, member of the Executive Board of the ECB when he speaks today as his speeches often contain pointed indications on the future possible direction of monetary policy.

I take an interest in such comments as I have argued for many years that the finances of the Eurozone are unsustainable. We know all too well the tragic story of the Greek economy was squeezed and now the region faces mounting pressures in Italy for increased spending, at a time when Italy is in recession. That effectively is another nail in the coffin of the discredited Stability and Growth Pact.

The sad truth is not for those who have less than a strong constitution as the ECB has been guilty of organising a form of banking union by means of smoke and mirrors.

When the European banking crisis hit hard in 2009 the ECB found a solution by not subjecting the regions banks to too rigorous a stress test. In comparison to the aggressive stress testing conducted by the Fed, the Europeans were virtually sent off to have relaxing spa weekend.

The next step was to flood the banking system with incredible volumes of ultra-cheap cash. &a;nbsp;These were known as Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO&a;rsquo;s) and were described as a non-standard monetary policy tool used by the ECB. Through TLTROs we provide long-term loans to banks and offer them an incentive to increase their lending to businesses and consumers in the euro area.

However, instead of lending these funds out to the real economy they used it to buy increasing amounts of Eurozone sovereign debt This allowed yields to stay far lower than a natural market would have dictated. In effect beginning the great Eurozone distortion.

One may argue that I am being ungrateful as the actions of the ECB has created an opportunity to enjoy a decade of apparent tranquillity within the Eurozone banking sector and the huge compression of debt spreads over the benchmark issues of Germany at all maturities of the yield curve.

This is, nothing more than a Financial Faustian Pact. There is now, as the respected financial markets commentator and deal arranger Bill Blain of Shard Capital has said a situation where:

&l;/p&g;&l;blockquote&g;&l;em&g;&a;ldquo;...Europe and its banks are now caught in such a co-dependency cycle, the only realistic choice for the ECB is to keep doing it and for investors to keep arbitraging it. Buy European banks and buy Sovereign debt &a;ndash; Why? They might be locked in a deadly embrace&a;hellip; but its&a;rsquo; highly unlikely the ECB will ever let it unwind. ...&a;rdquo;&l;/em&g;&l;/blockquote&g;

It is a system of perfect perpetual motion as cash and debt is cycled and recycled around and around. When one old government Bill or Bond is due to mature, new cash s raised to pay of the old obligation which become due. No wonder the mountain of sovereign debt keeps rising. No wonder the banks all creak when the integrity of a Eurozone sovereign is questioned.

Eurozone banks are awash with Euro denominated sovereign debt. If a sovereign were to default, many banks would be struggling. They cannot even trade their way out the mess as so many banks are finding the money to be made from trading plain vanilla sovereign debt is miniscule.

This really is a collision of real and fantasy world economics. The Eurozone banking system is supported by &l;em&g;&a;ldquo;funny money&a;rdquo;&l;/em&g; except not many are laughing. Eventually the perpetual motion machine will be seen for what it is...a fake and a fraud...then down will come the pillars and walls.

As it stands there are now &a;euro;722 Billion ($816 Billion) of outstanding TLTRO&a;rsquo;s issued by the ECB to banks across the Eurozone. I will leave you to consider what happen if the music stops, if the tide rushes out or any other clich&a;eacute; one cares for.

The money is so interconnected, that if the lending lunacy stops, so will the Eurozone and wider Europe at both a sovereign debt and bank balance sheet level.

That is when the game will be up, maybe by 2021. Then the European project will be confined to the history books.

No... of course it won&a;rsquo;t...as some other crazy scheme will be created.

Stephen Pope ~ MarketMind

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Zacks: Brokerages Anticipate Cara Therapeutics Inc (CARA) Will Announce Earnings of -$0.59 Per Share

Equities analysts expect Cara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CARA) to report earnings of ($0.59) per share for the current quarter, according to Zacks. Five analysts have made estimates for Cara Therapeutics’ earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is ($0.74) and the highest is ($0.49). Cara Therapeutics reported earnings of ($0.43) per share in the same quarter last year, which indicates a negative year-over-year growth rate of 37.2%. The firm is scheduled to announce its next quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st.

On average, analysts expect that Cara Therapeutics will report full year earnings of ($2.14) per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from ($2.28) to ($2.02). For the next year, analysts expect that the business will post earnings of ($2.26) per share, with EPS estimates ranging from ($2.84) to ($1.82). Zacks’ EPS averages are an average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that that provide coverage for Cara Therapeutics.

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A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Cara Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $13.36 price objective on the stock. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Cara Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 21st. HC Wainwright set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Cara Therapeutics and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 20th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Cara Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, January 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BidaskClub downgraded shares of Cara Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $24.03.

In other Cara Therapeutics news, SVP Frederique Ph.D. Menzaghi sold 4,300 shares of Cara Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total transaction of $53,879.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Terrillion sold 3,100 shares of Cara Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.51, for a total transaction of $38,781.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,450 shares of company stock worth $1,266,845. 6.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Cara Therapeutics by 17.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 56,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in Cara Therapeutics by 78.5% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 19,316 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 8,496 shares during the period. Sphera Funds Management LTD. bought a new position in Cara Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $6,130,000. First Manhattan Co. boosted its position in Cara Therapeutics by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 836,642 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,876,000 after purchasing an additional 279,642 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Cara Therapeutics by 24.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,551,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $37,155,000 after purchasing an additional 305,020 shares during the period. 62.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NASDAQ CARA opened at $16.90 on Friday. Cara Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $11.46 and a 12-month high of $24.30. The company has a market capitalization of $669.90 million, a PE ratio of -9.09 and a beta of 2.87.

Cara Therapeutics Company Profile

Cara Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing chemical entities designed to alleviate pruritus and pain by selectively targeting kappa opioid receptors in the United States. The company is developing product candidates that target the body's peripheral nervous system and immune cells.

See Also: Catch-Up Contributions

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Earnings History and Estimates for Cara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CARA)

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Interface Has a Lot to Prove in 2019

Growth continues to take big steps at Interface (NASDAQ:TILE), but once again it's a recent acquisition doing most of the heavy lifting. Net sales rose 27% to hit $337.1 million during the fourth quarter -- its headiest top-line burst in more than 20 years, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. But most of that gain was the handiwork of the nora systems acquisition, which added rubber flooring to its flagship lines of modular carpeting and luxury vinyl tile. 

The deal for nora closed in August of last year, making the fourth quarter the first full period with the rubber flooring products on Interface's books. Naturally the nora results will continue to inflate revenue growth until it laps the transaction closing in the middle of the third quarter of 2019. Organic sales -- the better gauge of Interface's sustainable growth -- rose at a more modest 2% clip for the period.

Carpet tile set in herringbone.

Image source: Interface.  

Interface fourth-quarter results: The key numbers

Growth didn't take a breather working its way down the income statement. Interface's reported net income and adjusted earnings rose 50% and 28%, respectively, over the prior year's fourth quarter. Adjusted margins widened at Interface, a welcome sight after back-to-back quarters of contraction. 

Interface is initiating guidance for 2019, and it sees continuing growth into the new year. The forecast calls for 16% to 18% in net sales growth this year including nora's business. Organic sales growth from its carpet and luxury vinyl tile businesses will rise at a 2% to 4% clip. The company sees adjusted gross profit margin of 40% to 40.5% in 2019, improving from the 38.7% it scored for all of last year.  

There will be lumpiness in the numbers. Interface warns that adjusted earnings will fall sharply in the first quarter, recovering with double-digit adjusted earnings growth through the next three periods of 2019. 

The quarter was ultimately a success. The shares didn't sell off the way they did last time out, recovering into positive territory after initially moving lower at the open. This is a cyclical business, but Interface has now rattled off seven consecutive quarters of organic net sales growth. Its push into rubber flooring will open new markets -- think hospitals, schools, and transportation terminals that need more durable flooring than the aesthetics-catering corporate stronghold of Interface's flagship modular carpet tiles -- and that's the kind of diversification that should help smooth out the cyclical hiccups. 

Interface also declared its regular quarterly dividend of $0.065 a share this week. The stock's 1.5% yield isn't exactly a magnet for income investors, but the steady trickle of distributions is there for investors that crave quarterly reminders of the merits of stock ownership. The shares continue to trade closer to their 52-week low than last February's 52-week high, but growth awaits investors once it gets past what should be a mixed first quarter.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019

tags:FCF,HSBA,WFC,AP,CM,

Even as the Indian currency has been hitting fresh record lows, experts at Reliance Securities feel that rupee could find some resistance around 72 per US dollar. The currency has seen some erosion on the back of high crude prices along with dollar strengthening.

"On the higher side, crude should face resistance near USD 80.5 per barrel that was tested in May 2018. Any breakout above USD 82 per barrel levels, the crude oil price would surge to USD 91 per barrel," Rajeev Srivastava, Head-Retail Broking, Reliance Securities told Moneyconrol's Uttaresh Venkateshwaran.

For the market, he expects earnings to set the tone going ahead, the pace of this recovery is likely to be a gradual one though. "Our December 2018 target for Nifty is at 12,000," he further added. Edited excerpts:

What are the key levels to watch out for the rupee as well as oil? What are the major risks for the same?

related news Bharat Forge rises over 3% as Credit Suisse maintains outperform rating, sees target at Rs 750 RBL Bank, Prabhat Dairy among top 10 stocks that could return up to 60% Accumulate YES Bank, target Rs 388: Rupak De

Technically, the rupee has been weak since the start of the year from the lows of 63.20 against the US dollar to an all-time high of Rs 71.97 against the US dollar. We believe the Indian rupee will find some resistance around the 72-levels against the US dollar.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation(FCF)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) was upgraded by investment analysts at ValuEngine from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Barclays PLC increased its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) by 24.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,717 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 6,593 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in First Commonwealth Financial were worth $476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Morgan Stanley set a GBX 855 ($10.91) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 768.33 ($9.80).

  • [By Max Byerly]

    HSBC (LON:HSBA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Credit Suisse Group to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. The firm presently has a GBX 720 ($9.38) target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of GBX 680 ($8.86). Credit Suisse Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 5.82% from the company’s previous close.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Credit Suisse Group set a GBX 720 ($9.32) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    HSBC (LON:HSBA) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Citigroup from GBX 810 ($10.78) to GBX 800 ($10.65) in a report released on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 9.59% from the stock’s previous close.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    HSBC (LON:HSBA) had its target price lowered by equities research analysts at Shore Capital from GBX 721 ($9.60) to GBX 625 ($8.32) in a report issued on Tuesday. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Shore Capital’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 14.71% from the company’s previous close.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Matthew Frankel, CFP]

    Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) experienced massive system failures beginning midday on Thursday, which left many of its customers unable to access their bank accounts. The bank's data centers and other internal systems were out as well, according to reports by bank employees. The cause wasn't a data breach -- rather, the outages were a result of a shutdown at one of the bank's facilities.

  • [By Motley Fool Staff]

    Wells Fargo and Company (NYSE:WFC)Q1 2018 Earnings Conference CallApril 13, 2018, 10:00 a.m. ET

    Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

    Operator

  • [By ]

    2. Low Debt Levels
    By looking through his previous success stories like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), American Express (NYSE: AXP), and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), it is clear that Buffett carefully examines a company's balance sheet, and prefers to invest in those with relatively modest debt burdens.

  • [By ]

    Wells Fargo (WFC) likely won't get a lot of attention this weekend, but Cramer said the worst is likely behind this company. Buffett's other bank, Bank of America (BAC)  , is a big winner though, especially with rising interest rates.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation(AP)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By ]

    ORG XMIT: MASR201 In this Feb. 22, 2012 photo, shoppers enter a Sears department store location in Dedham, Mass. Sears Holdings is expanding its partnership with Amazon, enabling tire buyers to have them installed at a local Sears Auto Center. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Photo: AP)

  • [By ]

    New York (AP) -- Jay-Z has spent a long afternoon at the New York offices of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    The rapper and entrepreneur was scheduled to spend much of the day Tuesday answering questions from SEC investigators as part of their probe of the Iconix Brand Group.

  • [By ]

    Despite claims by President Donald Trump saying the U.S. stock market would crash if he was impeached, money managers stress that the stock market's longer-term direction and health are less about political drama and more about the overall strength of the economy. (Photo: AP)

  • [By ]

    This undated photo provided by Hyundai shows the 2018 Hyundai Ioniq Electric, an affordable electric car that gets 124 miles of range on a charge. (Hyundai North America via AP) (Photo: AP)

Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2019: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce(CM)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Motley Fool Staff]

    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM)Q2 2018 Earnings Conference CallMay 23, 2018, 8:00 a.m. ET

    Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

    Operator

  • [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.38 per share on revenue of $16.50 billion. Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.83 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion. Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.25 per share on revenue of $17.63 billion. Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.83 per share on revenue of $957.49 million. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $2.23 per share on revenue of $3.40 billion. Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.9 per share on revenue of $210.70 million. Qiwi plc (NASDAQ: QIWI) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.25 per share on revenue of $60.19 million. iClick Interactive Asia Group Limited (NASDAQ: ICLK) is projected to report quarterly loss at $0.06 per share on revenue of $34.87 million.

     

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM) (NYSE:CM) – Analysts at Desjardins reduced their Q2 2018 earnings per share estimates for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, May 2nd. Desjardins analyst D. Young now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $2.85 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $2.86.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Fortinet Is Taking Off Just As My Top Quant Predicted

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image bloomberg size-large wp-image-34295608&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/34295608/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Ken Xie, president, and chief executive officer of Fortinet Inc.

After the best January in 32 years, the S&a;amp;P 500 rally continues. Since the world&s;s economic problems clearly have not been solved,&a;nbsp;I&s;ve&a;nbsp;asked my managers to name a stock that won&s;t lose money if the&a;nbsp;market fades. Last month, Wayne Himelsein told us why he thought Fortinet can move up even in a down market. Now, it looks like Fortinet is taking off, just as&a;nbsp;my top quant manager predicted.&l;span class=&q;tweet_icon&q;&g;&l;/span&g;

&l;strong&g;Ken Kam&l;/strong&g;: Wayne, the market has been incredible since the turn of the year, and Fortinet has performed even better.

&l;strong&g;Wayne Himelsein&l;/strong&g;: I actually recommended Fortinet twice in January, once &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkam/2019/01/13/buy-fortinet-to-make-money-in-topsy-turvy-market/&q;&g;on the 13th&l;/a&g; and again &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkam/2019/01/27/fortinet-top-fund-manager-picks-it-again/&q;&g;on the 27th&l;/a&g;. At both times,&a;nbsp;it was trading around $72.

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: It closed above $83 on Friday, up over 15% from two weeks ago, and about 20% on the year, just about double the S&a;amp;P500, which has gained just under 11% on the year. A lot of investors would be thinking of taking some profits on such a fast gain. Are you?

&l;strong&g;Himelsein&l;/strong&g;: One of the most powerful tools I have in achieving outperformance is one of the simplest and most profound rules of money management; cut your losers and ride your winners. Fortinet is a winner. I am not at all close to selling it.&l;/p&g;

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: Having watched your portfolio&a;nbsp;for over&a;nbsp;18 years, I very much see you apply these rules in your process, and your outperformance shows they&a;rsquo;re clearly working. Would you buy Fortinet at $83?

&l;strong&g;Himelsein&l;/strong&g;: Fortinet happens to be a great stock to own, right here and right now! It also highlights another one of&a;nbsp;my rules -- patience.

When I think of investing, I think of surfing, which as fun as the sport sounds, has the majority of its time in waiting for the perfect wave, as compared to the quick ride once that perfect wave arrives. A surfer exerts tremendous energy watching for the right conditions at the right location, and then paddling out to get past the break. This is analogous to all our hours spent in research and analysis.

But once out, knowing that they&a;rsquo;re in the right spot, they just wait. I knew I was in the right spot with Fortinet on the 13th, and while waiting, I got concerned that others might start paddling back in, so I re-iterated the name on the 27th when I literally professed my love for it. Soon after, it exploded to the upside.

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: I now understand why you brought up the name again two weeks later. You were confident, and you didn&a;rsquo;t want others to move on. But that&a;rsquo;s not always the case, sometimes patience doesn&a;rsquo;t pay, right?

&l;strong&g;Himelsein&l;/strong&g;: Of course. Patience is essential when confidence is high. But being patient can often look like doing nothing. I am here to say, doing nothing is often very much doing something. Waiting is part of the game, and oftentimes the most important part.

That said, only for a reasonable amount of time! Personally, I have soft coded a rule of roughly a month&a;rsquo;s wait. There&a;rsquo;s no magic to a month, other than from my experience, it&a;rsquo;s long enough to assess thoroughly, and not short enough to be shaken out by volatility. If my expectations don&a;rsquo;t pan out within a month, I accept that something is amiss, and move on.

And on the other side of the coin, there is just too much &a;ldquo;noise&a;rdquo; within the short term movement of the market and stocks to surrender after a few days, or even a few weeks. I, therefore, feel like a solid month is a good balance for a bird&a;rsquo;s eye view of meeting expectations. Albeit, this is all in the case that it stays within an acceptable range, as the rules of time windows change if the stock changes character or starts dropping profusely!

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: I like the one month window, makes great sense. Getting back to Fortinet, now that it&a;rsquo;s jumped as much as it has, why not sell and take some profits?

&l;strong&g;Himelsein&l;/strong&g;: The temptation to sell is certainly high. The little voice mumbles to us on our pillow &a;ldquo;I&a;rsquo;m up so much, I have to take my profits.&a;rdquo; And do what with them? Put them in something inferior? Ironically, if you chose a stock and it did not only what you hoped it would, but even better, it means you were spot on. You chose well! So why start to doubt yourself after being right and in a profit zone?

Usually, this doubt comes from the fear that it will fall back down, that&a;rsquo;ll you lose those gains. Perhaps. But the more likely scenario is that the stock that has demonstrated its strength continues to behave as strongly, or at the very least, behaves better than a weaker one you might replace it with. Of course, if there is an equally good selection waiting around the corner, that&a;rsquo;s a different story, but another equal caliber or superior pick is usually not the driver for taking profits, it&a;rsquo;s the taking of profit that is the generally the motivating force, and following that, the need to put that freed up cash to work. Hence, a general downgrade.

&l;strong&g;Kam&l;/strong&g;: That makes a lot of sense. When we sell to take profits, we are forced to find another great pick even if we&a;rsquo;re not ready; so why not stay with the quality you&a;rsquo;re already in! So is Fortinet as good for those who followed your prior article vs. newcomers who buy in today?

&l;strong&g;Himelsein&l;/strong&g;: For those already in, I&a;rsquo;ve said my piece, stay where you are, and continue to enjoy the ride.

For those considering Fortinet for the first time, I am equally excited about its place at this very moment. Both because it did as I anticipated, and because my anticipation was for it to move far more than it&a;rsquo;s already done; and for far longer.

I shared all my reasons when I talked about it on the 13th and 27th, and nothing much has changed, except for one simple thing -- it has just begun!

&l;strong&g;My Take&l;/strong&g;: 2019 has opened with an impressive rally. But without supportive monetary or fiscal policy, I think we need to pay more attention to the downside. However, even in a bad market, some companies will do well. We have to be more selective now.

If you worry about the macro risks to the market -- interest rates, Brexit, trade war to name just a few -- use this rally to get out of stocks that can only move up if the whole market rises and invest in stocks that can move up even in a down market.

I like the thought process Wayne has been using to reorient his portfolio. A lot of investors ask the same questions as Wayne. But Wayne has answered these questions better than anyone for years and has the track record to prove it.

Wayne Himelsein&s;s Logica Focus Fund (LFF) has an 18+ year track record that extends through two market crashes, numerous corrections, and sector rotations. Over that period, Wayne&s;s model averaged 11.65% a year which compares well to the S&a;amp;P 500&s;s 5.71% return for the same period.

To be notified when Wayne updates his views, &l;a href=&q;https://paths.marketocracy.com/lists/?p=subscribe&a;amp;id=24&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;click here&l;/a&g;. To be notified when I write about specific stocks such as Fortinet that my top managers cover &l;a href=&q;https://paths.marketocracy.com/lists/?p=subscribe&a;amp;id=1&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;click here&l;/a&g;.&l;/p&g;

Sunday, February 17, 2019

NorthWestern (NWE) Price Target Cut to $56.00 by Analysts at Credit Suisse Group

NorthWestern (NYSE:NWE) had its target price lowered by Credit Suisse Group from $60.00 to $56.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays set a $62.00 price objective on shares of NorthWestern and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Saturday, November 17th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of NorthWestern from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 25th. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded shares of NorthWestern from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, November 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. NorthWestern presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.60.

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NYSE:NWE opened at $65.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.02 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.80. NorthWestern has a 12 month low of $50.46 and a 12 month high of $67.80.

NorthWestern (NYSE:NWE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $308.82 million for the quarter. NorthWestern had a return on equity of 9.80% and a net margin of 16.52%. Analysts predict that NorthWestern will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from NorthWestern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. NorthWestern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.90%.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,504,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,411,000 after buying an additional 91,298 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 279,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,602,000 after buying an additional 14,954 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 204,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,178,000 after buying an additional 128,742 shares during the period. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan acquired a new stake in shares of NorthWestern during the fourth quarter worth about $710,000. Finally, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY boosted its stake in shares of NorthWestern by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 28,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,720,000 after buying an additional 12,114 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.11% of the company’s stock.

NorthWestern Company Profile

NorthWestern Corporation, doing business as NorthWestern Energy, provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company operates through Electric Operations and Natural Gas Operations segments. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities.

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Saturday, February 16, 2019

Texas Instruments (TXN) Upgraded to Buy by ValuEngine

ValuEngine upgraded shares of Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

TXN has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America downgraded Texas Instruments from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $89.50 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Texas Instruments from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Texas Instruments from $115.00 to $97.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 24th. B. Riley decreased their price target on Texas Instruments from $123.00 to $110.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 22nd. Finally, BidaskClub upgraded Texas Instruments from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $108.74.

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Shares of NASDAQ TXN opened at $107.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.85, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.17. Texas Instruments has a one year low of $87.70 and a one year high of $118.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. Texas Instruments had a return on equity of 53.05% and a net margin of 35.35%. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Texas Instruments will post 5.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 30th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Texas Instruments’s payout ratio is 56.83%.

In other Texas Instruments news, insider Hagop H. Kozanian sold 9,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.60, for a total value of $929,658.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,120,826.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard K. Templeton sold 90,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.14, for a total value of $9,187,759.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 186,737 shares of company stock valued at $19,101,214. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TXN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Texas Instruments by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,524,906 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,175,968,000 after buying an additional 807,808 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Texas Instruments by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc now owns 85,524,906 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,175,968,000 after buying an additional 807,808 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Texas Instruments by 6,709.2% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 24,191,906 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 23,836,621 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Texas Instruments by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 23,763,599 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,549,597,000 after buying an additional 811,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Texas Instruments by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,525,393 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,773,009,000 after buying an additional 5,240,065 shares in the last quarter. 86.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Texas Instruments Company Profile

Texas Instruments Incorporated designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Analog and Embedded Processing. The Analog segment offers power products to manage power requirements in various levels using battery management solutions, portable components, power supply controls, point-of-load products, switches and interfaces, integrated protection devices, high-voltage products, and mobile lighting and display products.

Further Reading: How can you know how many shares are floating?

To view ValuEngine’s full report, visit ValuEngine’s official website.

Analyst Recommendations for Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN)

Friday, February 15, 2019

Citrix Systems Inc (CTXS) Files 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended on December 31, 2018

Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CTXS) files its latest 10-K with SEC for the fiscal year ended on December 31, 2018. Citrix Systems Inc provides virtualization, networking and cloud infrastructure solutions. It provides a complete and integrated portfolio of application delivery, virtualization, mobility, network delivery and file sharing solutions. Citrix Systems Inc has a market cap of $14.3 billion; its shares were traded at around $106.12 with a P/E ratio of 26.88 and P/S ratio of 5.20. The dividend yield of Citrix Systems Inc stocks is 0.33%. Citrix Systems Inc had annual average EBITDA growth of 12.50% over the past ten years. GuruFocus rated Citrix Systems Inc the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.

For the last quarter Citrix Systems Inc reported a revenue of $801.9 million, compared with the revenue of $777.9 million during the same period a year ago. For the latest fiscal year the company reported a revenue of $3 billion, an increase of 5.3% from last year. For the last five years Citrix Systems Inc had an average revenue decline of 0.6% a year.

The reported diluted earnings per share was $3.94 for the year, an increase of -3130.8% from previous year. The Citrix Systems Inc enjoyed an operating margin of 23.36%, compared with the operating margin of 22.87% a year before. The 10-year historical median operating margin of Citrix Systems Inc is 16.14%. The profitability rank of the company is 9 (out of 10).

At the end of the fiscal year, Citrix Systems Inc has the cash and cash equivalents of $618.8 million, compared with $1.1 billion in the previous year. The long term debt was $741.8 million, compared with $2.1 billion in the previous year. The interest coverage to the debt is 8.7. Citrix Systems Inc has a financial strength rank of 6 (out of 10).

At the current stock price of $106.12, Citrix Systems Inc is traded at 30.5% premium to its historical median P/S valuation band of $81.34. The P/S ratio of the stock is 5.20, while the historical median P/S ratio is 3.99. The intrinsic value of the stock is $42.27 a share, according to GuruFocus DCF Calculator. The stock gained 19.13% during the past 12 months.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

EVP, Chief Revenue Officer Mark J Ferrer sold 1,388 shares of CTXS stock on 01/28/2019 at the average price of $101.95. The price of the stock has increased by 4.09% since.

For the complete 20-year historical financial data of CTXS, click here.

Thursday, February 14, 2019

TG Therapeutics Inc (TGTX) Receives $16.33 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TGTX) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.30.

TGTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BidaskClub cut shares of TG Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 17th. B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of TG Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $10.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of TG Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, February 6th. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of TG Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 30th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of TG Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, January 22nd.

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In other TG Therapeutics news, CFO Sean A. Power sold 37,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.13, for a total value of $153,945.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 15.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of TG Therapeutics by 1,891.9% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 17,500 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of TG Therapeutics by 60.5% during the 3rd quarter. Highland Capital Management LP now owns 753,151 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,218,000 after acquiring an additional 283,910 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of TG Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $642,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of TG Therapeutics by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 751,725 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,885,000 after acquiring an additional 121,424 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of TG Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth $1,974,000. Institutional investors own 57.47% of the company’s stock.

TG Therapeutics stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $4.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,580,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,428,787. TG Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $3.32 and a 1-year high of $17.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $375.25 million, a P/E ratio of -2.37 and a beta of 2.07.

TG Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TGTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 9th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by $0.12. TG Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 99,001.33% and a negative return on equity of 185.20%. The firm had revenue of $0.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.04 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that TG Therapeutics will post -2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About TG Therapeutics

TG Therapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the acquisition, development, and commercialization of novel treatments for B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases in the United States. It develops TG-1101 (ublituximab), a chimeric, glycoengineered monoclonal antibody that targets an epitope on the CD20 antigen found on the surface of B-lymphocytes developed to aid in the depletion of circulating B-cells; and TG-1101 in combination with TGR-1202 for relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Featured Article: Compound Interest

Analyst Recommendations for TG Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TGTX)

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019

tags:ACHN,FCEL,ATAI,PQ,MOBI,

Today, our Under the Radar Movers newsletter suggested small cap advanced materials stock Intermolecular Inc (NASDAQ: IMI) as a buy for our short-term trading portfolio:

"Intermolecular has had a rather rough 2016, but things started to change last month, and things took a decided turn for the best today in the form of a push up and off the 50-day moving average line (purple) and above the 100-day moving average line (gray). Today's surge has also pushed IMI above what had been a minor resistance level around $1.06. With little else to hold it back, we can get into the budding uptrend."

"…a big piece of the bullish argument for IMI is the fact that we're starting to see an increase in the amount of buying volume flow in."

Our Under the Radar Movers newsletter has a more detailed discussion about Intermolecular Inc's technical chart along with a potential short-term trading strategy:  

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ACHN)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Achillion Pharmaceuticals (ACHN)

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

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    BidaskClub lowered shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACHN) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACHN) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.20.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    News articles about Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACHN) have trended somewhat positive this week, Accern Sentiment reports. The research firm ranks the sentiment of press coverage by analyzing more than twenty million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Achillion Pharmaceuticals earned a media sentiment score of 0.16 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news articles about the biopharmaceutical company an impact score of 46.941587509483 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near term.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: FuelCell Energy Inc.(FCEL)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on FuelCell Energy (FCEL)

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

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) shares traded up 5.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $1.49 and last traded at $1.45. 12,581,855 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 983% from the average session volume of 1,161,380 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.37.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Electro Scientific Industries (NASDAQ: ESIO) and FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) 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 analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and earnings.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) is one of 25 public companies in the “Miscellaneous electrical machinery, equipment, & supplies” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare FuelCell Energy to related companies based on the strength of its risk, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

  • [By Scott Levine]

    Beyond that, there are numerous stocks, like IAMGOLD (NYSE: IAG) and FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL), which I'm certain will not only remain absent from my portfolio but from my watchlist as well. Here's why:

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $3.80.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: ATA Inc.(ATAI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Paul Ausick]

    ATA Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAI) traded down about 14% Monday to set a new 52-week low of $0.82, based on revalued shares that closed at $0.72 on Friday but traded up about 250% on Monday at $2.53. Volume was more than 200 times the daily average of around 42,000. You’re on your own here to figure this one out.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: Petroquest Energy Inc(PQ)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    News headlines about Petroquest Energy (NYSE:PQ) have been trending somewhat positive recently, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. Accern identifies negative and positive news coverage by reviewing more than 20 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. Petroquest Energy earned a coverage optimism score of 0.05 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news stories about the energy company an impact score of 47.638327846877 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near future.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Buy For 2019: Sky-mobi Limited(MOBI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Mobius (CURRENCY:MOBI) traded up 0.1% against the dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 18:00 PM ET on February 11th. In the last week, Mobius has traded 3.1% lower against the dollar. One Mobius token can now be bought for approximately $0.0095 or 0.00000260 BTC on exchanges including OTCBTC, Gate.io, Stellar Decentralized Exchange and BitMart. Mobius has a total market capitalization of $4.89 million and approximately $19,445.00 worth of Mobius was traded on exchanges in the last day.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Mobius (CURRENCY:MOBI) traded 1.2% lower against the dollar during the 1-day period ending at 14:00 PM E.T. on August 21st. In the last week, Mobius has traded down 1.1% against the dollar. One Mobius token can now be bought for about $0.0291 or 0.00000452 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including GOPAX, BitMart, Gate.io and Stellar Decentralized Exchange. Mobius has a total market capitalization of $11.23 million and approximately $78,528.00 worth of Mobius was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Media coverage about Sky-mobi (NASDAQ:MOBI) has trended somewhat positive this week, according to Accern Sentiment. The research group ranks the sentiment of media coverage by analyzing more than twenty million news and blog sources. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Sky-mobi earned a news impact score of 0.06 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news stories about the software maker an impact score of 45.6853785900783 out of 100, meaning that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near term.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Mobius (CURRENCY:MOBI) traded 12.4% lower against the US dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 17:00 PM E.T. on September 25th. One Mobius token can now be bought for approximately $0.0265 or 0.00000414 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Gate.io, Kucoin, BitMart and GOPAX. Over the last week, Mobius has traded up 8.8% against the US dollar. Mobius has a market cap of $10.22 million and approximately $69,762.00 worth of Mobius was traded on exchanges in the last day.