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Yahoo FinanceOil is set for 'a violent rebalancing:' Goldman Sachs
Investors should brace for volatile near-term price action in oil before a yawning supply and demand discrepancy comes into equilibrium, according to Goldman Sachs.
Investor's Business DailyDow Jones Futures Dive On Trump Tweet, Crashing Oil Prices; 4 Key Stocks Set To Report Earnings
Dow Jones futures were lower following Monday's losses after oil prices crashed. Netflix will report earnings after the close Tuesday.
Investor's Business DailyTop 10 Stocks That Millennial Investors Bought On Robinhood App As Market Crashed
Millennial investors saw tactical opportunity in hot stocks and beat-up names. These were their top 10 buys during the coronavirus crash.
BloombergGM, Ford Credit Arms May Lose Billions on Car-Price Plunge
(Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co.’s finance arms likely face multibillion-dollar losses linked to the dramatic drop in used-vehicle prices, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts said.Prices are falling faster and steeper than JPMorgan was expecting, lead analyst Ryan Brinkman wrote in a report Monday, citing mid-month data from Manheim. The auto-auction firm’s closely watched used vehicle value index plunged 11.8% in the first 15 days of April, a decline that will easily set a record if it holds for the full month.“The real losers of the development are likely the captive-finance subsidiaries of automakers like GM and Ford, and the rental-car companies,” Brinkman wrote. If prices finish the second quarter 10% lower than envisioned, he estimates losses could total $3 billion at GM Financial and $2.8 billion at Ford Credit.The spread of the coronavirus has caused a major dislocation in the $1.5 trillion used-car market. Physical auctions have been halted for weeks along with much of the rest of the economy. Once they resume, dealers and rental-car companies are expected to flood them with vehicles to raise cash as they brace for months of lower demand.“What we’re seeing right now is essentially the market is illiquid -- and that’s the physical auctions as well as the digital auctions,” Jennifer Laclair, the chief financial officer of Ally Financial Inc., said on an earnings call. The lender had been expecting a 5% to 7% drop in used-car values for the year.“We’re a bit in wait-and-see mode, and we think we’ll have a much clearer sense of used-car prices once shelter-in-place orders are lifted and auction activities can resume more normal levels,” Laclair said.Read more: 25% of Ally customers have asked for help with auto loansGM shares traded higher after declining as much as 4.6% in early intraday trading. Ford shares were down 0.6% and Ally was little changed as of 11:45 a.m. in New York.Vehicle prices are likely going to come under significant pressure in the coming months as rental-car firms including Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and Avis Budget Group Inc. offload far more vehicles than usual, Brinkman said. Hertz shares plunged as much 8.2%, while Avis fell as much as 6.3%.GM and Ford’s captive-finance companies and Ally are doing what they can to limit their contribution to the glut of used vehicles hitting auctions by offering extensions to lease customers. “That helps to manage the supply dynamics relative to demand and we think that overall positions the market to be stronger,” Laclair said.(Updates with Ally CFO’s comment in the fifth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
United lost $2.1 billion in the first quarter because of coronavirus, and it's a dark sign of just how bad things will get for the airline industryBusiness Insider
United Airlines reports more than $2 billion losses as air travel hits its lowest levels in decades amid coronavirus pandemicWLS – Chicago
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MarketWatchBoeing faces a crisis not of its own making in coronavirus, but no less serious
Boeing Co. faces the coronavirus-wrought economic destruction on the heels of a crisis of its own making, but being one of
BenzingaLas Vegas Room Rates Plummet As Casino Stocks Remain In Limbo
Casino stocks have been among the hardest-hit groups in the market due to the COVID-19 shutdown.\On Sunday, Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) CEO Matt Maddox called on the state of Nevada to begin reopening the Las Vegas strip resorts in mid-May, and Bank of America analyst Shaun Kelley said Tuesday hotel room rates in Vegas are dropping even into the month of June.Kelley said Las Vegas Strip room rates booked in the month of May are averaging just $106 per night, down 50% from a year ago. June room rates are averaging $136, a 22% decline."It's hard to speculate on an exact date that the Strip re-opens, and we think properties will open selectively and in phases, not all at once," Kelley wrote in a note.Among the large Vegas casino operators, MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) has taken the largest hit to May room rates, which are down 62%. So far Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR) has taken the biggest hit in June, with room rates down 31.2% from a year ago.Timetable In Question Bank of America is modeling for casinos to stay closed through June 1. Even when the casinos do start to open back up, Kelley said occupancy rates will initially remain low due to a lack of air travel. The good news for casino room rates is that they will likely open the Strip back up in phases, limiting initial supply.In an op-ed over the weekend, Maddox laid out his plan to begin reopening the Nevada economy in early May."The only way to cross this river is one stone at a time, and we need to put our feet in the water before it is too late," Maddox said.Ratings And Price Targets Bank of America has the following ratings and price targets for Las Vegas casino operators: * Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) * Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS), Buy rating, $61 target. * MGM Resorts, Neutral rating, $14 target. * Wynn Resorts, Buy rating, $85 target.Related Links:7 Media And Entertainment Stocks To Buy, Sell And Hold 9 Beaten-Down Travel Stocks To Buy, Sell And HoldLatest Ratings for WYNN DateFirmActionFromTo Apr 2020Deutsche BankMaintainsBuy Mar 2020Morgan StanleyMaintainsEqual-Weight Feb 2020Morgan StanleyMaintainsEqual-Weight View More Analyst Ratings for WYNN View the Latest Analyst RatingsSee more from Benzinga * Ross Gerber Says Tesla Is Pushing Ahead Of Competitors During COVID-19 Pandemic * 8 Dividends In Danger Of Being Cut * 7 Media And Entertainment Stocks To Buy, Sell And Hold(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
BloombergNowhere to Go But Up: ETF Investors Pile Into Bets on Oil Rally
(Bloomberg) -- For weeks, market watchers have wondered who, exactly, has been betting on oil’s rebound amid the worst price crash in history.The answer is sitting on a 3,000-acre farm in Macon, Missouri.Adam Masten, a freight broker who also grows corn and soybeans, has no formal training in trading oil. But when he started reading headlines this month about the market’s historic plunge, he figured a crash of that magnitude couldn’t last forever. So he pulled up his TD Ameritrade account and spent $2000 buying options on two bullish exchange-traded funds, betting that oil would go up.“I had never traded oil before and I don’t like to put my money to work until I read about it,” he said. “So I’ve been reading about how demand is so low and supply is so high. I’ve even read about how if there’s no storage capacity, producers would pay people to take it off their hands.” But he didn’t think oil could stay that low, he said.In fact, oil hadn’t found its bottom yet. Futures in New York came crashing down Monday, falling below $0 a barrel for the first time ever and closing at an unprecedented negative $37.63.Masten, along with other individual investors, represents just a small part of the recent spike in retail interest looking for that bottom. Whether Monday’s crash dampens their enthusiasm remains to be seen. But as of last week -- when U.S. oil prices tumbled to what was then an 18-year low -- more than $1 billion flowed into the United States Oil Fund LP, the biggest weekly inflow on record. The ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil exchange-traded fund saw its largest single-day increase ever, and net-long positions across a basket of oil ETFs are at the highest since at least 2016.“There’s been an explosion in the ETF space for oil. That, to me, is an indication of genuine interest for opportunities from the retail community,” said Don Casturo, chief investment officer of Quantix Commodities and a former commodities executive at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.On Monday, before oil futures in New York went negative, USO announced it would sell 4 billion new shares “as soon as practicable,” according to an exchange filing.Oil Rebound?The frenzy for oil ETFs has already made its mark on the futures market. Many traders have attributed sharp gyrations in oil futures to the USO’s monthly roll -- when the fund sells the nearest contract and buys second-month futures. The move deepened the market’s contango, a pricing structure where the contracts in the near-term are cheaper than those further out.“One way to put this into perspective is that, of the five biggest trading days ever in oil, four of them occurred in the last month or so,” said John Love, chief executive of United States Commodity Funds LLC, which runs the USO fund. “There are some people who think oil prices are low and won’t stay here forever. That’s driving it.”The $4.3 billion USO product, which accounted for about 25% of all outstanding contracts in the most-traded West Texas Intermediate crude futures, said on Thursday that it will alter some of its positions, citing market and regulatory conditions. The shift would mean that the ETF, which normally holds West Texas Intermediate crude futures in the nearest month, will now move 20% of its contracts to the second-traded month.The fund saw record daily inflows of a little over $552 million on Friday, taking its total for last week to more than $1.6 billion, more than double the previous weekly figure.While Love declined to specify the regulatory conditions that prompted the change, he said that the firm is “cognizant” of its responsibilities to markets, especially when it holds such significant positions. He said the shift came after discussions with various bodies including regulatory and exchanges.Roll PeriodTraders are quick to point out that buying an oil ETF, especially when the market is in deep contango, results in money being lost during a roll period. Love said that he gets a lot of questions about that, but it wasn’t a primary factor when considering the change. He added that he’s been surprised investors weren’t piling into its other product, the USL, which is an ETF tracking 12 months and would eliminate some of the pain from a steep contango.Meanwhile, over at ProShares, the firm has also seen strong inflows -- year to date up $1.76 billion -- into its UCO ETF, which is twice leveraged. Instead of rolling every month like USO, it rolls every other month into two months out. The next roll will be in June.According to Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares, the twice leverage product is a good way to find more leverage with less capital, an important part of constructing a portfolio. They’ve also seen more interest in its K-1 free, unlevered crude ETF, though its assets are much smaller.Up 9%As for Masten, the oil bets he made earlier this month were about 20% down last week. As of Monday, after the worst price crash in history, he was up more than 9% as his call options became more profitable. He estimates that if oil goes back to $40, he will have doubled his money. If it goes back to $50, he could triple it, depending on timing.In the meantime, he’s starting to behave more and more like an oil trader: diving into statistics and logging into the U.S. government’s weekly petroleum status report to evaluate at supply and demand changes.“I was probably a little early, but as demand comes back, so should USO,” he said.(Updates with oil market crash details throughout and adds Masten’s latest profits.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
BloombergU.S. Stock Futures Dip After News on Health of North Korea’s Kim
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock index futures dropped after conflicting reports about North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s health condition, after he underwent a medical procedure, and concerns over the energy market.Contracts on the S&P 500 slid as much as 1.2%, before paring their loss to 0.6% as of 9:02 a.m. in London. Futures dropped 0.3% on the Nasdaq 100 Index and 1% on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Europe’s Stoxx 600 traded 1.5% lower as oil and gas shares dragged on the benchmark.The U.S. is seeking details about Kim’s health after receiving information that he was in critical condition after undergoing cardiovascular surgery last week, U.S. officials said. Meanwhile the South Korea President Moon Jae-in’s office said Kim was conducting “normal acitivities” in a rural part of the country.With U.S. and South Korea giving differing accounts of the North Korean leader’s health condition, there’s a lingering mystery.North Korean “succession risk is causing global equity markets to buckle,” Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at AxiCorp, wrote in a research note. “But as we’ve seen countless times before a rise in geopolitical risk in the Korean Gulf is usually a faders paradise.”The underlying S&P 500 halted a two-day gain on Monday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2%. Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. led losses in the blue-chip index as West Texas oil futures expiring Tuesday turned negative for the first time, primarily because the end of the May contract forces physical receipt at a time when storage capacity is low. June prices fell below $22 a barrel.After the close of U.S. trading, International Business Machines Corp. reported a drop in first-quarter revenue and pulled its profit forecast for the year. Separately, President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the United States as the country tries to contain the spread of the coronavirus.(Updates prices throughout, adds South Korea’s statement,)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
BloombergWealthy Mortgage Borrowers Face Cold Shoulder From Lenders
(Bloomberg) -- The wealthiest, most-reliable mortgage borrowers in the U.S. are hearing an unfamiliar word from lenders: No.The global pandemic has flipped the mortgage market upside down, turning the industry’s most-valued customers into risky bets. When the rich lose income and stop paying, costs for lenders are magnified because the loans -- known as jumbos since they are bigger than most conventional mortgages -- don’t have the government to backstop losses.“Before this crisis hit us, jumbo loans were pretty attractive,” Tendayi Kapfidze, chief economist at LendingTree Inc., said. “But because they don’t have the government guarantee, a lot of those loans end up on the bank balance sheet.”Lenders are charging more for jumbos, relative to conventional mortgages, than at any time in almost seven years, according to Optimal Blue, a Plano, Texas-based company that tracks mortgage rates. They’ve also tightened lending standards, making it harder for households, even those with pristine credit, to qualify for new loans.No LogicDavid Adler, an aerospace executive in Irvine, California, thought it would be easy to lower the 3.7% rate on his $700,000 home loan. Adler, 60, has excellent credit and plenty of equity in the Spanish Mission-style house he bought new eight years ago.He had watched the Federal Reserve drop its benchmark rate to near zero, but when he called his lender, U.S. Bank, the company’s rates were too high to help.“I told the guy at the bank, ‘I’m trying to use logic here,’” Adler said in an interview. “And he said, ‘That’s your problem.’”The availability of jumbo mortgages plunged by 37% in March, more than double the drop in the overall home-loan market, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Jumbo loans exceed the limit for government-backed mortgages, which is $510,400 in most of the country, but can be as large as $765,500 in high-cost real estate markets, such as New York City and coastal California.Jumbo mortgage rates for 30-year fixed loans early last week were 3.68%, almost 30 basis points higher than the average conventional rate. The spread over the past month has been the highest since 2013, according to data from Optimal Blue.Before the pandemic, lenders were falling over each other to welcome jumbo borrowers, who generated fat profits even though they were the least likely to default. The borrowers -- with great credit, money in the bank, valuable collateral and solid income -- were also viewed as lucrative customers for other financial products. That’s why they got the best rates.Now, banks are concerned about home prices falling in markets that rely on jumbo mortgages to finance property purchases, such as New York, San Francisco and Seattle -- all of which have been hard hit by the coronavirus, said Vishal Garg, chief executive officer of Better.com, a home-lending startup backed by Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.Few banks better illustrate the souring appetite for jumbos than Wells Fargo & Co. The bank ranks among the biggest jumbo mortgage holders, making the loans itself and buying them from outside partners through what the mortgage industry refers to as correspondent lenders. Last year, the bank produced $70 billion of jumbo mortgages, more than any lender in the country, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.Wells RetreatsIn recent weeks, the lender, the nation’s fourth-largest bank by assets, has halted purchases from other mortgage banks and limited refinancings of jumbos to customers who currently have at least $250,000 parked at the bank, an executive said.Banks including Truist Financial Corp. and Flagstar Bancorp Inc. also have pulled back by limiting refinancings, suspending their purchases of new loans made by correspondent lenders or pulling short-term credit lines from smaller mortgage companies they fund that make jumbo loans.Much of this pullback is because investors who’d normally buy these loans no longer want them, said Stanley Middleman, chief executive officer of Freedom Mortgage Corp., one of the nation’s biggest home-lending companies.“Whether the assets are good or not good is irrelevant because there’s no liquidity to buy them,” he said.Investors have been spooked by the economic fallout from the pandemic, which is cascading from restaurant and retail workers to small business owners, lawyers and corporate executives.Wealthier buyers are proving to be just as likely to stop paying their mortgages. Approximately 5.5% of jumbo loans -- 131,000 borrowers -- have asked to postpone payments due to a loss of income, compared with 6% of all loans, according to Black Knight Inc.While lenders aren’t required to allow missed payments on loans that aren’t government-guaranteed, such as jumbos, they’re following the government’s lead. For one thing, they don’t want to alienate customers that they want to recruit back after the crisis. And foreclosing on Americans during a pandemic risks hurting lenders’ reputations, LendingTree’s Kapfidze said.‘A Lot of Loans’Jumbo financing hasn’t totally gone away. It was up at Better.com in March and it’s held steady south of San Francisco in wealthy San Mateo County, said Timothy Gilmartin, president of property firm Gilmartin Group.In Southern California, Damon Germanides, a broker at Beverly Hills-based Insignia Mortgage, said he is still closing a lot of loans. It’s just getting harder to get them across the finish line.A Los Angeles homebuyer he’s working with may fall short of qualifying for a mortgage, despite good credit and owning a business that’s doing well during the pandemic because it’s deemed “essential,” Germanides said. The borrower was ready to pony up 20% of the home’s value for the down payment, but he now probably needs to offer 30%.“A month ago, he was a no-brainer,” Germanides said. “Now he’s 50-50.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
TipRanks3 Big Dividend Stocks Yielding Over 11%; Oppenheimer Says ‘Buy’
Weighing in on the markets from investment firm Oppenheimer, John Stoltzfus of Asset Management believes that now is the time to “build shopping lists of what you may have missed and regretted missing just a few weeks ago when the market was moving up every day.” He added that certain sectors – technology, industrials, financials, and consumer products – would face heavier pressure, and offer greater opportunities.Stoltzfus notes that Oppenheimer is making these moves, in preparation for a bull market that may lie in the near future. “It’s not a huge list, but it’s a shopping list of companies that we would like to add to positions that we already hold. Some of them [we] opened new positions. Things that might have gotten away.”“The market foresees that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not a railroad train about to bear down on this. It’s light of day instead,” Stoltzfus added.So, let’s take a look at some of the stock picks that Oppenheimer analysts are tagging for Stoltzfus’ shopping list. The TipRanks database allows us to find their similarities: they show impressive dividend yields above 11% and offer an upside potential of at least 30%. It’s a combination of factors that make them attractive as defensive portfolio moves in a bearish market.WhiteHorse Finance (WHF)We’ll start with a financial stock, one of the sectors that Stoltzfus tapped as particularly strong opportunity. WhiteHorse specializes in business development financing, in the small-cap company market. WHF focuses its investments in the $10 million to $50 million range, on companies with market caps between $50 and $350 million, stable cash flows, low tech exposure risk, and strong direct customer relationships. WHF provides loans and capital access.A look at WHF’s quarterly earnings history shows the success of the company’s model. WhiteHorse has been consistently profitable, and frequently beats the forecast by a wide margin. WhiteHorse uses its sound earnings to fund a reliable dividend. The company has a long history of maintaining reliable payments – in recent years, it has kept the payment at 35.5 cents per share quarterly, with one dip to 20 cents during 2019 to adjust for the payout ratio. The annualized payment is $1.42, which gives a simply stellar yield of 18.8%. The average dividend yield among S&P listed stocks is only 2% - WhiteHorse beats that by well over 9x.5-star Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski saw fit to upgrade WhiteHorse from Neutral to Buy in his recent review of the stock, after the bear market slide had started. He noted that the company has largely avoided tapping into its own credit facilities, and that the combination of low leverage and a strong portfolio makes WHF a fine investment with solid return potential. He writes, “We view WHF as a high-quality BDC that has been able to generate assets with above-industry average yields but thus far minimal realized losses… the BDC has covered the base dividend out of core NII on a cumulative basis since 2015 and following recent portfolio growth trends, we see continued dividend coverage in coming quarters.”Kotowski sets a $13 price target on the stock, indicating his confidence in an impressive 72% upside potential (To watch Kotowski’s track record, click here)It appears consensus sentiment matches well with Kotowski's eager chip eyes, with TipRanks analytics showing WHF as a Buy. Based on 6 analysts polled by TipRanks in the last 3 months, 4 rate the stock a Buy, while 2 remain sidelined. The 12-month average price target stands at $12.90, marking a whopping 70% upside from where the stock is currently trading. (See WhiteHorse stock analysis on TipRanks)Monroe Capital (MRCC)The next stock on our list, Monroe Capital, is private equity firm that invests in the tech, health care, media, and retail sectors. The company focuses on businesses with employee stock ownership plans, as well as women and/or minority ownership; these are demographics that sometimes have difficulty accessing capital, and Monroe aims to fill that gap.That the business model works is clear from MRCC’s own financial footing. The company consistently reports profitable earnings; the most recent report, in Q4, was typical, with the 37 cents reported beating the 35-cent forecast. Revenue rose 21% year-over-year to reach $17.99 million. These results are in-line with forward guidance – the consensus on Monroe’s prospects this year is for $17.5 million in Q1 revenue with quarterly EPS of 35 cents, and $71.2 million in full-year revenue, and $1.40 EPS for CY2020.For stock investors, however, Monroe’s primary vehicle of returns is the dividend. The company pays out reliably, and earnings have covered the payment since 2H14. At 94%, the payout ratio is high – nearly maxed out – but also shows that the dividend is affordable with current earnings. The actual payment is 35 cents per quarter, or $1.40 annually, and gives a yield of 19.7%. Yields of this magnitude are among the best returns that investors are likely to find; now that the Fed has but interest rates to the bone in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Treasury bonds are yielding less than 1%.Oppenheimer's Chris Kotowski reviewed this stock, too, and came away impressed. In fact, in the very title of his note he cites Monroe’s 23 consecutive quarters of dividend coverage. In line with his upbeat view of the stock, Kotowski reiterates his Buy rating and sets a $10 price target that suggests a 42% upside potential. (To watch Kotowski’s track record, click here)Getting to specifics, Kotowski writes, “As we have said many times, over time the dividend accounts for the vast majority of a BDC's returns. Given MRCC's depressed stock price at 88% of NAV, the dividend amounts to a [19%] yield, outstanding given that we have a high degree of confidence that it will be maintained.”Overall, the analyst consensus rating on this stock is a Moderate Buy, and is based on 1 Buy rating and 2 Holds. Wall Street gives the stock an average price target of $9.33, for an upside potential of 33% in the coming year. (See Monroe Capital stock analysis on TipRanks)Outfront Media, Inc (OUT)Last on our list is a company with an interesting niche. Outfront Media specializes in billboard marketing and transit and advertisement posters. Even in today’s digital age, billboards and posters, strategically located, remain an important part of major marketing campaigns, while electronic and digital tech can update these traditional forms of marketing. Outfront operates as an REIT, owning the advertising properties and leasing them to the advertisers.The economic reversal of the first quarter has hit Outfront hard. With so many areas under lockdown, travel and business restricted, and many businesses unable to operation normally, outdoor advertising has been one of the first expenses to feel the axe. Outfront’s stock dropped over 50% by mid-March, badly underperforming the overall stock market. Since bottoming out on March 20, the stock has bounced back 66%.That rebound shows the company’s underlying resilience. OUT consistently beats its quarterly earnings expectations, and 2019 revenue reached $1.8 billion, growing 11% from the year before. While this first quarter was flat-out bad, the stock market’s bounce, the prospect of an effective treatment for COVID-19, and the beginning of discussions on how to reopen the economy all bode well for OUT in 2H20.Even with the difficult quarter now, Outfront Media has maintained its generous dividend. The yield comes in at 12.8%, and the annualized payout lands at $1.52.Ian Zaffino, covering OUT for Oppenheimer, noted, “Overall, OUT could see meaningful headwinds from the outbreak and a speedbump in its transit and digital initiatives. However, management is taking actions to reduce fixed costs and mitigate the impact to profitability. Further, the company maintains solid liquidity—e.g. ~$534M of cash-on-hand—and has cushion against its covenants. Additionally, the nearest debt maturity isn’t until 2024 ($500M senior notes)."In line with his cautiously positive outlook, Zaffino maintains the Buy rating on OUT shares. Even while lowering the price target in deference to the pandemic, Zaffino's new target, $20 per share, suggests a strong 68% upside potential. (To watch Zaffino’s track record, click here)The analyst consensus here agrees with Zaffino; Outfront gets a Moderate Buy rating, based on 4 Buys and 2 Holds set in recent weeks. Shares are priced at $11.93 after the recent growth noted by Zaffino, while the $20.83 average price target suggests a robust upside potential of 75%. (See Outfront Media stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
Yahoo MoneyCoronavirus stimulus checks: What to know about mail delivery
This week, the IRS starts sending paper checks on a weekly basis to individuals whose direct deposit information isn’t on file.
BloombergRichard Branson Doesn't Have a Drop to Drink
Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur and occasional poet, spends much of his time on his private island, Necker, indulging a passion for kite surfing. And he’s risked life and limb crossing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a hot-air balloon. But it’s only in the past few days that the above line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” will have begun to resonate as regards his financial affairs.On Monday he penned an extraordinary public letter appealing to the British government to provide an emergency loan to prevent the collapse of transatlantic carrier Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., which he owns jointly along with Delta Air Lines Inc. of the U.S.Travel restrictions to curb the new coronavirus have walloped Branson’s travel and leisure holdings. He’s already spent $250 million to support his various Virgin Group portfolio companies, but most of his $5.9 billion net worth isn’t “sitting as cash in a bank account ready to withdraw,” Branson said. That has forced him to consider the drastic step of mortgaging his beloved Caribbean island home, which doubles as an ultra-expensive retreat.On one level Branson’s predicament is simple, and pretty common for someone about to turn 70: He’s asset rich, and cash poor. But considering his pretty relaxed approach to business, Branson’s financial arrangements — spanning his British Virgin Islands tax residency and a portfolio of often debt-laden holdings — are as complicated as they come.This, alongside the unappealing politics of being seen to bail out a billionaire, makes governments wary of offering a helping hand. Another of his investments, Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd., collapsed into administration this week, having failed to secure a lifeline from Canberra. British regional airline Flybe, in which Virgin held a minority stake, went bust last month after Boris Johnson’s government declined to provide further assistance.Branson has plenty of financial capital but he appears to have very little of the political kind. Even now that he’s put the keys to the family home on the table, this probably won’t change. Helped by his gift for self-publicity, many Britons are as familiar with Branson’s business career as they are with their own personal finances. But the consequence of stamping the Virgin name on everything, often in return for no more than a licensing fee, is that the public thinks he owns half of the economy and is in no need of a handout.In reality, Branson has exited businesses such as the broadband provider Virgin Media (now owned by Liberty Global) and he owns only a small piece of high-profile companies like Virgin Money UK Plc, gym chain Virgin Active and Virgin Trains USA (operator of a high-speed Florida rail line). Branson’s talent has attracted wealthy partners, willing to invest alongside him in return for a share of the profits. One of the more unfortunately timed of these was a fleet of Virgin-branded cruise ships, co-funded by Bain Capital and the Singapore sovereign fund GIC Pte., due to start sailing this year. Because Branson doesn’t own many Virgin Group companies outright, he can’t easily switch cash between one investment and another. And having multiple owners complicates decisions on who should bail the business out when trouble strikes. Delta and the U.S. government haven’t offered publicly to help Virgin Atlantic, for example. At Virgin Australia the buck stopped with Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines and other foreign airline investors whose holdings were larger than Branson’s 10% stake. Some of Branson’s businesses were struggling before the coronavirus struck. Virgin Atlantic lost money in the last two years for which there are published accounts. It carries a lot of debt, rents many of its planes and funded its daily operations with cash from selling tickets in advance. Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are demanding refunds. Even the company’s valuable Heathrow takeoff slots have been used as collateral.Lately Branson has reinvested profits and dividends from his various ventures into the cruise ships venture, a chain of American hotels and, above all, his space-travel company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. But with millions of people fretting about how to make their next mortgage or car payment, even the jobs created by these new Virgin ventures are no guarantee of winning taxpayer support. His Virgin Galactic stake is worth almost $2 billion by my calculation.(1) Monetizing it might not be easy(2) but as collateral it’s worth much more than Necker.In making his case for a bailout, Branson cited the detrimental impact on competition if his airlines were allowed to fail. He’d be the first to admit, though, that failure is part of being an entrepreneur. If he can’t persuade commercial backers to provide loans, then governments too must drive a hard bargain in exchange for assistance.Unlike Coleridge’s sailor, the similarly gray-bearded Branson might have some drinkable financial water. For now, it happens to be tied up in spaceships.(1) Based on the current share price and adjusting for Aabar's ownership interest.(2) Details of the shareholder lockups are in this SEC filing.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies. He previously worked for the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
BenzingaPro On How To Play Oil: Buy The 'Biggest Players'
Oil prices for May delivery cratered to negative $37.63 on Monday, but one investment pro still thinks there's an opportunity in the sector.What Happened Value investors are facing an ideal opportunity as the energy sector once accounted for 70% of the entire S&P 500 index when oil was around $100 a barrel, BK Asset Management managing director of FX strategy Boris Schlossberg said on CNBC's "Trading Nation." Today, that representation amounts to just 3%.This "perfect mean reversion trade" would only work best by purchasing shares of the "biggest players," he said. Names like Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell plc ADR (NYSE: RDS-A) boast "the strongest" balance sheets in the industry.Why It's Important Companies like Exxon and Royal Dutch will be in the ideal position to leverage their balance sheets and acquire "assets incredibly cheap," Schlossberg said.The oil sector is "really far from bullish" and investors should consider selling any energy stocks on strength or avoid altogether moving forward, Oppenheimer head of technical analysis Ari Wald said on "Trading Nation."The entire energy sector is coming off its lowest level since 1931 versus the S&P 500, which implies there are "more attractive opportunities" elsewhere.Related Links:The Historic Trading Action In Oil, ExplainedPreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Chevron CorporationPhoto credit: Minale Tattersfield, FlickrSee more from Benzinga * Exxon's CEO On How Oil Giant Plans To Maintain Dividend, Focus On Balance Sheet(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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BloombergGold to Reach $3,000—50% Above Its Record, Bank of America Says
(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. raised its 18-month gold-price target to $3,000 an ounce -- more than 50% above the existing price record -- in a report titled “The Fed can’t print gold.”The bank increased its target from $2,000 previously, as policy makers across the globe unleash vast amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus to help shore up economies hurt by the coronavirus.“As economic output contracts sharply, fiscal outlays surge, and central bank balance sheets double, fiat currencies could come under pressure,” analysts including Michael Widmer and Francisco Blanch said in the report. “Investors will aim for gold.”BofA expects bullion to average $1,695 an ounce this year and $2,063 in 2021. The record of $1,921.17 was set in September 2011. Spot prices traded around $1,678 on Tuesday and are up 11% this year.To be sure, a strong dollar, reduced financial market volatility, and lower jewelry demand in India and China could remain headwinds for gold, BofA said.“But beyond traditional gold supply and demand fundamentals, financial repression is back on an extraordinary scale,” the report said.(Updates prices in fourth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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