Sunday, March 31, 2019

Olive Garden-parent Darden is not warning of a recession, Jim Cramer says

Darden Restaurants' "stellar quarter" of strong sales growth is one of the signs that the U.S. economy is far from a recession, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Monday.

Cramer praised CEO Gene Lee, saying he "has a terrific grasp of what's going on in the restaurant industry" to bring more guests into its thousands of its eateries across the country. The restaurant operator, which owns casual dining chains such as Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, and Bahama Breeze, bested Wall Street expectations in its Thursday earnings report and raised its forecast for 2019.

Darden did not attribute the higher sales and outlook to last year's tax cuts, Cramer pointed out.

"Sometimes the big picture stuff is irrelevant and it all comes down to a better bowl of pasta," said the "Mad Money" host. He said commentators love discussing macroeconomics and generalizing individual stocks, but "rather than focusing on these aggregate data points, I prefer following the largest companies and just listening to what they have to say."

Lee told stockholders that same-store sales at Olive Garden, which has 2,100 restaurants in all 50 states, was up 4.3 percent thanks to the franchise's decision to add 50 percent more meat to its Chicken Alfredo and strong consumer spending. He said the 2018 tax breaks did not play a large factor in sales growth.

"Confidence remains strong, wages are growing across all the different parts of the population ... I'm not really worried about year-over-year changes, based on 'was there a little bit more tax money with the consumer,'" he said on the conference call. "We're going to continue to be able to grow share in that environment."

On top of strong sales, Darden mitigated its year-over-year labor costs and turnover, with the backdrop of 4 percent wage inflation, Cramer noted. He emphasized that investors should study companies' fundamentals to find and buy stocks that are being dragged down by the sell-off tsunami without warrant.

"Every time I see the futures get knocked down by Japanese selling or European weakness or Chinese things, I've gotta remind myself that America has a robust economy that's nowhere near going into a recession," he said. "Believe me, if we were really in trouble, you would hear about it from the likes of Darden or Chipotle, and not to mention Walmart, Costco and Target. They said nothing about that sort.

"If they say business is good because taxes are lower, O.K. great. If they say it's something else then it's something else," he added.

Despite the positive information, there's a lot of selling going on the S&P 500, Cramer said. Darden and Chipotle are two stocks worth filling up on, he said.

Dardens' shares are up about 18 percent in 2019 and 40 percent in the past year.

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Friday, March 29, 2019

Centene CEO: 'The time was right' to buy WellCare for $15 billion

Centene CEO Michael Neidorff on Wednesday told CNBC his company's $15 billion acquisition of WellCare Health Plans "made more sense than I've seen in a long time."

"What I've always found [is] when there's a certain amount of uncertainty, there's a challenging environment, that's the time to act," he told "Mad Money's" Jim Cramer in a one-on-one interview. "That's when it's the best opportunity: Nobody's watching, nobody's expecting it. You take a play that makes sense."

The host noted that investors have begun selling off health care stocks, along with a range of other securities. Health insurer shares also tumbled on Tuesday after the Trump administration began making moves that seek to get rid of the remaining parts of the Affordable Care Act.

WellCare is a government-sponsored managed care company, while Centene services government-sponsored health care programs for uninsured people.

Since early February, shares of WellCare had shed more than $40 before the start of the week, though the stock shot up more than 12 percent during Wednesday's session. Centene's stock is down about 10 percent this year and lost nearly 5 percent on the day.

Cramer asked Neidorff why not wait to make a deal.

"We did wait," the chief responded. "There was a time this stock was a lot higher ... The time was right and some things don't come back around."

Neidorff ran through the number of reasons he likes the deal. Wellcare bolsters Centene's Medicare product, while Centene's technology platform bolsters WellCare's operations, he said. Centene is using preventative technology to reduce costs and "get ahead of the curve," he said.

Neidorff also gave a nod to Apple and its health-focused wearable technologies, which he said is "heading in the right direction."

The merger expands Centene to three new states and strengthens its business in Michigan, he continued. Furthermore, the company now has a presence in all 50 states in one form or another, he said.

"Short-term, I don't think about it. We have a lot of time and patience for our long-term investors and we have a lot of them," Neidorff said. "And I'm willing to bet a year from now we sit down and talk you're going to say to me: 'You did it at the right time.'"

Neidorff also gave his thoughts about the President Donald Trump's declaration that the GOP would be known as "the party of health care."

"Let's wait and see what they try to do first. There are lots of ideas, they have no ideas," he said, highlighting Republicans past plans to "repeal and replace" ACA, also known as Obamacare. "Well they've tried that. I believe that it's gonna hurt them politically if they keep doing that. The last election, I believe people were worried about their health care."

Centene's board officially extended the CEO's contract to 2024, Neidorff said.

WATCH: Cramer interviews Centene CEO Michael Neidorff coming off its acquisition of WellCare Health Plans show chapters Centene CEO: 'The time was right' to buy WellCare for $15 billion Centene CEO: 'The time was right' to buy WellCare for $15 billion    3 Hours Ago | 07:36

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Sunday, March 24, 2019

This Internet Stock Is Tearing Up a $300 Billion Market

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Michael A. RobinsonMichael A. Robinson

This month marks the 30th anniversary of one of the more important tech platforms ever invented.

It's become so vital to the world that standard buzz words like "cutting-edge, "next-gen" or "game changer" just don't do it justice.

I believe calling it revolutionary comes closest.

After all, we're talking about technology that literally has impacted almost every facet of our daily lives. This is where billions of us go to get news and information, do our shopping, watch movies, play games, and even find love.

Of course, I'm talking about the World Wide Web, now just called the web for short.

Here's the thing. The web has been so pivotal for modern society that it boasts one of the fastest adoption rates in human history.

We're talking 1.8 billion websites and nearly that many people as online users.

And today, I'm going to reveal a great hidden play on the unstoppable force that the web represents.

It's an internet stock with huge upside ahead…

Check it out…

The Big Picture

Let me be clear on one thing. The inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, has recently been critical of the system he is credited with creating in late March of 1989.

Don't get me wrong. I agree with Berners-Lee that the web has problems. We have lots of cyber thieves out there, and hate speech can be quickly spread.

But that critique misses the big picture. The internet spread faster around the world than the adoption of electricity in the 1900s precisely because it does so much good for so many people.

Consider that half the world's population of 7 billion people today is already online. That figure includes folks connected by desktop, laptop and mobile device access.

5G Could Mint a New Wave of Millionaires: The greatest tech shift in generations could be about to create untold wealth for investors. To find out how you could capture a life-changing SIX-figure windfall, go here now.

The full economic impact likely measures well into the trillions. Here's a data point to prove that: just the e-commerce portions of web usage will be worth $735.4 billion by 2023, according to data compiled by Statista.

And that's creating unprecedented investing opportunities.

Everyone Needs a Website

Now, when most investors think of internet stocks today, it's usually the FANGs – Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq:FB), Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN), Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX) and Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOGL).

Yes, those firms have combined market caps of nearly $2.3 trillion. But that barely scratches the surface of what's happening with web technology today.

Fact is, nearly every business or organization in the advanced world now has or is going to launch a website. We're talking nearly every company, government agency, political group, college and university, not to mention millions of self-employed professionals.

There's just one problem here. Designing and launching a website sophisticated enough to meet today's exacting standards is not for the faint of heart.

I speak from deep experience. In the early 2000s, my wife and I launched a website designed to combat online music piracy.

We had two important takeaways:

It was a very effective political tool that garnered quite a bit of press for our cause. Stopnapster.com was ugly and rudimentary – but still consumed countless hours of our time.

Magnify that by 1,000 fold, and you get a sense of the complexity of modern web design.

There can be thousands of lines of code that can cause problems. Plus, you have the potential for dozens of broken links that will drive clients away so frustrated they never come back.

And let's not forget the simple fact that most folks just don't have the time or the artistic ability to make their websites not just functional, but pleasing to the eye as well.

That's why a firm that develops and maintains websites for their clients could be so lucrative in today's environment.

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

Michael A. RobinsonMichael A. Robinson

About the Author

Browse Michael's articles | View Michael's research services

Michael A. Robinson is one of the top financial analysts working today. His book "Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings" was a prescient look at the anatomy of the nation's S&L crisis, long before the word "bailout" became part of our daily lexicon. He's a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter, lauded by the Columbia Journalism Review for his aggressive style. His 30-year track record as a leading tech analyst has garnered him rave reviews, too. Today he is the editor of the monthly tech investing newsletter Nova-X Report as well as Radical Technology Profits, where he covers truly radical technologies – ones that have the power to sweep across the globe and change the very fabric of our lives – and profit opportunities they give rise to. He also explores "what's next" in the tech investing world at Strategic Tech Investor.

… Read full bio

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Here are the biggest analyst calls of the day: Domino's, Yum Brands, Booking Holdings, & more

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Tuesday:

J.P. Morgan downgrading Yum Brands to 'neutral' from 'overweight'

J.P. Morgan believes the recent run-up in Yum shares leaves little upside to their estimates.

"While we do believe in YUM's long-term earnings algorithm of mid- to high-single-digit system-wide sales growth driven by ~4% unit growth and 2-3% worldwide comps, the 9% YTD run in the share price—and the corresponding multiple increase to 23.3x C20E P/E—leaves little upside to our estimates...":

J.P. Morgan upgrading Domino's Pizza to 'overweight' from 'neutral'

J.P. Morgan is bullish on Domino's sales growth.

"We believe DPZ's algorithm to achieve 8-12% system-wide sales growth remains intact... We are focused on its lowest-cost delivery platform and believe recent multiple compression to slower growing peers presents an opportunity...Our DPZ price target remains $270, or 25x C20E EPS, while our YUM price target is $94 or 21.7x C20E EPS with DPZ implying a 3.6% FCF yield at this multiple and YUM a 4.5% yield... We agree with company guidance that DPZ is an 8-12% system-wide sales growth company driven by 6-8% unit growth, 3-6% US comps, and 3-6% international comps... Dunkin', McDonalds, and Wendy's growth metrics are much lower, but DPZ offers the best comparison to YUM in our coverage today..."

Telsey downgrading Booking Holdings to 'market perform' from 'outperform'

Telsey believes Europe and growing competition provide challenges for Booking Holdings.

"With 4Q earnings season over, we have re-evaluated our outlook on the OTA sector and for BKNG in particular... We are lowering our PT to $1,800 and downgrading the stock to MP due to: (1) a weaker European economic outlook; and (2) growing threats from Airbnb and Google, which are now encroaching on BKNG's core hotel offering... While BKNG's valuation is not overly stretched, we believe these incremental challenges warrant a move to the sidelines..."

Argus downgrading Boeing to 'hold' from 'buy'

Argus is bullish long-term on Boeing but believes management needs to be more pro-active in its response to 737 Max groundings.

"We have been long-time bulls on the BA shares, raising our rating to BUY in May 2012, when the share price was $69... Since our upgrade, the shares have appreciated almost 540%, not including dividends... However, the shares have fallen almost 17% from their highs in the wake of the second fatal crash of a Boeing airplane.... We think the long-term outlook for Boeing is bright and are maintaining our five-year BUY rating... If the cause of the crashes turns out to be a mechanical or an engineering issue, Boeing can correct the problem and the industry, which is heavily dependent on the plane, the 737 Max jet, can move on...."

Read more about this here,

Sandler O'Neill & Partners downgrading MetLife to 'hold' from 'buy'

Sandler O'Neill believes management changes create uncertainty for MetLife.

"1) The company will have a new chief executive officer beginning with 1Q19 earnings... We believe this increases the possibility of execution risk after replacing a long-time, well-known executive at the company... 2) With a new CEO coming in along with the company increasingly talking about building up a sizeable asset management operation in recent years, we believe this increases the potential for an asset management acquisition the investment community does not greet with enthusiasm.... 3) We believe shares are currently appropriately valued trading at 7.7x 2020 and 92% book value ex-AOCI as compared to the peer group average of 7.6x and 124% considering we anticipate MET's operating ROE ex- AOCI in 2020 of 10.7% to be well below the peer group average of 14.6% and median of 12.8%... And especially so given our expectation for earnings to grow in 2019 vs. 2018 by 0.2%... 4) More specifically, we believe shares of PRU at 7.1x 2020 and 111% book value ex-AOCI with an operating ROE ex-AOCI of 13.7% are currently more attractively valued than MET..."

Saturday, March 16, 2019

High-paying jobs you can get without a degree

Though a postsecondary education improves one's chances of finding a high-paying job, college enrollment has been declining in the United States in recent years, likely due to rising tuition costs. However, though a bachelor's degree greatly increases an individual's earnings potential, there are still many high-paying jobs that do not require higher education but instead value experience, training, and skill.

While the median income of a typical American adult with at least a bachelor's degree is $52,782, the median income of those with a high school diploma is just $31,600 per year. Some jobs that do not require a college education, however, pay well more than the median across all education levels.

24/7 Wall Street reviewed Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation data to find the 50 highest paying jobs that do not require a college education.

Some of these jobs are in management roles and higher-ranking positions, accessible to those who worked their way up from low-level positions at jobs that do not require a degree, such as law enforcement or sales. Many of these jobs require years of on-the-job experience or training, and some require specific credentials or licenses.

None of these 50 jobs requires a bachelor's degree, and yet they all make thousands more than the typical American worker's wage of $37,360. The median income of 10 jobs on this list is more than double the national median.

More:What are the worst companies to work for? New report analyzes employee reviews

50. Railroad brake, signal, and switch operators

Median annual wage: $57,260

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 19,300Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -1.6%

49. Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators<br />Median annual wage: $57,260<br />Typical on-the-job training needed: None<br />Total employment: 106,700<br />Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -16.5% (Photo: U.S. Air Force photo / Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo / Wikimedia Commons)

49. Postal service mail sorters, processors and processing machine operators

Median annual wage: $57,260

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 106,700Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -16.5%48. Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistant

Median annual wage: $57,410

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 685,300Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -17.4%47. Rail car repairers

Median annual wage: $57,460

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 22,300Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +5.2%46. Pile-driver operator

Median annual wage: $57,650

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 3,700Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +14.6%

More:Are these the worst cities to live in? Study looks at quality of life across the U.S.

45. Roof bolters, mining

Median annual wage: $58,450

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 3,700Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -5.2%44. Postal service clerks

Median annual wage: $58,550

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 79,000Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -12.1%43. Property, real estate and community association managers

Median annual wage: $58,670

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 317,300Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +10.3%

42. First-line supervisors of production and operating workersMedian annual wage: $58,870<br />Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 621,400Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -0.3% (Photo: Thinkstock)

42. First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

Median annual wage: $58,870

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 621,400Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -0.3%41. Construction and building inspectors

Median annual wage: $59,090

Typical on-the-job training needed: 5 years or moreTotal employment: 105,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +10.0%

More:Which countries are the richest? A look at the Top 25 based on average income

40. Fire inspectors and investigators

Median annual wage: $59,260

Typical on-the-job training needed: 5 years or moreTotal employment: 12,300Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +7.3%

39. Makeup artists, theatrical and performance Median annual wage: $59,300<br /> Typical on-the-job training needed: None<br /> Total employment: 4,800<br /> Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +12.5% <br />  (Photo: Thinkstock)

39. Makeup artists, theatrical and performance

Median annual wage: $59,300

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 4,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +12.5%38. Stationary engineers and boiler operators

Median annual wage: $59,890

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 35,700Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +4.8%37. Railroad conductors and yardmasters

Median annual wage: $60,300

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 41,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -2.1%36. Locomotive firers

Median annual wage: $60,360

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 1,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -78.6%

35. Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipmentMedian annual wage: $60,840Typical on-the-job training needed: None<br />Total employment: 13,900Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +2.9% (Photo: Thinkstock)

35. Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment

Median annual wage: $60,840

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 13,900Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +2.9%34. Locomotive engineers

Median annual wage: $60,990

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 38,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -2.8%

More:How much did a personal computer cost the year you were born?

33. Aircraft mechanics and service technicians

Median annual wage: $61,020

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 132,000Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +4.9%32. Police and sheriff's patrol officers

Median annual wage: $61,050

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 684,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +7.0%31. Insurance appraisers, auto damage

Median annual wage: $62,100

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 17,600Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +4.9%30. Chemical plant and system operators

Median annual wage: $62,170

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 33,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -9.2%

29. BoilermakersMedian annual wage: $62,260Typical on-the-job training needed: None<br />Total employment: 17,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +9.0% (Photo: Thinkstock)

29. Boilermakers

Median annual wage: $62,260

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 17,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +9.0%28. First-line supervisors of correctional officers

Median annual wage: $62,500

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 45,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -7.8%27. Gas compressor and gas pumping station operators

Median annual wage: $62,810

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 3,900Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +3.4%

More:Who is getting paid more? 16 states where personal incomes are booming

26. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers

Median annual wage: $64,070

Typical on-the-job training needed: 5 years or moreTotal employment: 602,500Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +12.6%

25. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairersMedian annual wage: $64,780Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 462,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +7.1% (Photo: kali9 / Getty Images)

25. First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers

Median annual wage: $64,780

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 462,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +7.1%24. Claims adjusters, examiners and investigators

Median annual wage: $64,900

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 311,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -1.4%23. Subway and streetcar operators

Median annual wage: $66,420

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 12,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +4.1%22. Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators and gaugers

Median annual wage: $67,770

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 41,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +2.8%

More:Public sector jobs: States where the most people work for the government

21. Signal and track switch repairers

Median annual wage: $68,400

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 10,000Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +1.3%

20. Gas plant operatorsMedian annual wage: $69,030<br />Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 17,300Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +0.0% (Photo: curraheeshutter / Getty Images)

20. Gas plant operators

Median annual wage: $69,030

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 17,300Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +0.0%19. Electrical power-line installers and repairers

Median annual wage: $69,380

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 120,900Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +13.9%18. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers

Median annual wage: $69,620

Typical on-the-job training needed: 5 years or moreTotal employment: 1,028,700Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -0.8%17. Transit and railroad police

Median annual wage: $70,280

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 4,900Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +6.3%

16. Captains, mates and pilots of water vesselsMedian annual wage: $70,920Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 38,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +8.8% (Photo: Thinkstock)

16. Captains, mates and pilots of water vessels

Median annual wage: $70,920

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 38,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +8.8%15. First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers

Median annual wage: $71,650

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 405,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +4.9%

More:What's the richest town in every state?

14. Transportation inspectors

Median annual wage: $72,140

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 28,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +5.9%13. Gaming managers

Median annual wage: $72,930

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 4,500Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +2.5%

12. Ship engineersMedian annual wage: $73,110<br />Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 10,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +6.5% (Photo: Thinkstock)

12. Ship engineers

Median annual wage: $73,110

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 10,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +6.5%11. Postmasters and mail superintendents

Median annual wage: $74,840

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 14,200Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -20.9%10. First-line supervisors of fire fighting and prevention workers

Median annual wage: $76,170

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 59,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +7.2%

More:Can you afford that new vehicle? 25 most expensive car models to insure

9. Power plant operators

Median annual wage: $77,180

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 36,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +1.3%8. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation and relay

Median annual wage: $78,410

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 23,400Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +3.7%7. Commercial pilots

Median annual wage: $78,740

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 40,800Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +3.8%

6. Elevator installers and repairersMedian annual wage: $79,480<br />Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 22,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +12.1% (Photo: Thinkstock)

6. Elevator installers and repairers

Median annual wage: $79,480

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 22,100Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +12.1%5. Detectives and criminal investigators

Median annual wage: $79,970

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 110,900Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +4.5%4. Power distributors and dispatcher

Median annual wage: $82,510

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 11,600Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -2.5%

More:Teacher pay: States where educators are paid the most and least

3. First-line supervisors of police and detectives

Median annual wage: $87,910

Typical on-the-job training needed: Less than 5 yearsTotal employment: 104,700Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +6.6%2. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers

Median annual wage: $92,460

Typical on-the-job training needed: 5 years or moreTotal employment: 115,500Employment growth projection (2016-2026): +6.7%

1. Nuclear power reactor operators Median annual wage: $93,370 <br /> Typical on-the-job training needed: None Total employment: 7,000 Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -10.2% (Photo: Thinkstock)

1. Nuclear power reactor operators

Median annual wage: $93,370

Typical on-the-job training needed: NoneTotal employment: 7,000Employment growth projection (2016-2026): -10.2%Detailed findings

Many of the positions on this list require a body of knowledge not covered in the typical college curriculum. A textbook on how to carry out the duties and responsibilities of a police or fire chief, for example, would be a poor substitute for real-world experience gained on the job. In lieu of a bachelor's degree, most police chief positions and other high-paying jobs in such non-academic fields require years of experience, training, and advancement through the ranks.

In high-paying professions for which there are no degree-granting programs associated with the discipline — gaming manager and commercial airline pilot, for example — there often is a professional association that offers an alternative form of credentialing. To work as a captain, mate, or pilot of a water vessel, candidates must have a license administered by the U.S. Coast Guard.

In some cases, the duration of the certification process is nearly as long as the four-year college experience. To apply for a nuclear power plant operator's license, for example, candidates must have at least three years experience working in a power plant, and they must have spent at least six months at the plant in which they seek employment.

While not a formal requirement, employers in some fields may prefer candidates with some college experience. For example, college-level courses in electronics and electrical engineering may provide a beneficial foundation for on-the-job training in electrical repair positions. Approximately 41% of all police detectives and criminal investigators have taken some college courses without graduating.

While these higher-paying jobs do not require a college degree, like a great deal of blue-collar work, these jobs appear to be disappearing. Of the 50 jobs on this list, 16 are projected to shrink between 2016 and 2026. All but nine of the 50 will either decrease in total employment or increase less than the national 7.4% growth rate over that period.

NEWSLETTERSGet the Managing Your Money newsletter delivered to your inboxWe're sorry, but something went wrongA collection of articles to help you manage your finances like a pro.Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-872-0001.Delivery: FriInvalid email addressThank you! You're almost signed up for Managing Your MoneyKeep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration.More newsletters

Methodology

To identify the highest paying jobs that do not require a college degree, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed annual median wage estimates for all occupations from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor. Wage data are from the May 2017 survey. The typical education needed to enter the 50 occupations listed -- high school diploma or equivalent, no formal education credential, postsecondary nondegree award, and some college but no degree -- came from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2014 Employment Projections program. The share of workers 25 and older that completed each major tier of education -- no formal education through a doctoral or professional degree -- also came from the BLS Employment Projection Program. Full- and part-time occupations are counted across all employment types, including federal, state, and local governments, as well as all private establishments. The Employment Projections program includes self-employed workers. The OES excludes self-employed workers.

24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

The Best Stocks to Buy Now: All-Star Edition

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We'll always keep you up to date on the best stocks to buy now. But sometimes the stocks we recommend are the best stocks to buy and hold forever – or at least hold for a very long time.

best stocks to buy now

With that in mind, we're bringing you our Money Morning all-stars: picks we've brought you in the past that have already performed well and still have a lot of gains on the way.

Here's a peek:

A company that brings technology to fleet management has delivered 100% gains for our readers, but is still making savvy moves to deliver more profits. Perhaps our experts' favorite tech giant isn't the one you'd expect, but it has jumped in front of the pack and is still growing its biggest business at a staggering rate. One of our experts called for our next pick to double in a year. It's halfway there now, so you can still grab it for the rest of the ride. We've also got a pick that is far from glamorous, but absolutely essential. Plus, it's been consistently trouncing the S&P 500 for half a decade. We'll close with a cannabis pick of ours that has soared – and then offer not one, not two, but three that are positioned to repeat the feat.

And now our latest list of best stocks to buy now…

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 5: This Company Brings Cutting-Edge Technology to Our Highways and 100% Profits to Your Portfolio

Our first pick is a Money Morning all-star going all the way back to April 2014, when Defense and Tech Specialist Michael Robinson first recommended it to readers.

Since then, the share price has more than doubled. But not before Michael doubled down on his recommendation in December 2017, handing newer readers a 20% gain in a little over a year.

We're talking about FleetCor Technologies Inc. (NYSE: FLT), an enterprise that proves every company is a tech company.

FleetCor has become one of the leading providers of fleet and fuel management for the trucking industry, as well as for all kinds of vehicles used in business and government agencies.

Those drivers spend millions of dollars on gas every day. Thanks to FleetCor, all those transactions are monitored efficiently, and the drivers can leave their wallets in the cab.

Whether it's filling up the tank or getting brakes fixed, FleetCor offers a virtual card service that will take care of the payments automatically.

That service is the result of the 2014 acquisition of Comdata for $3.45 billion, which brought in 20,000 new customers for FleetCor. Since then, the company has landed big contracts with Uber Technologies Inc. and BP Plc. (NYSE: BP). And it made a key acquisition in 2017 to enable business-to-business cross-border payments.

More recently, the company just acquired Oregon-based Nvoicepay for an undisclosed sum. That deal gives FleetCor a platform to automate accounts payable processing for its clients. Given its favorable cash flow – free cash flow was up 35% in 2018 – it's likely that we'll see more strategic acquisitions like this from FleetCor in the near future as it builds its competitive edge.

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Speaking of that edge, FleetCor beat earnings estimates in its most recent quarter, finishing the year with 23% growth in earnings per share (EPS).

The bottom line: This has already been a top performer for a lot of our readers. But there's still lots of room to run if you get in now.

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 4: Surprise! This Unheralded Tech Giant Is a Top Performer and the Leader of the Pack

Here's another that has proven a winner for Money Morning readers over and over again. It's been a favorite not just of Michael Robinson's, but of Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald and Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani.

We're talking about a tech conglomerate that's benefiting from some of the biggest investing trends in recent history, from cloud computing to legal cannabis.

In March of last year, Keith came out and said this pick could be the first American tech giant to be worth $1 trillion.

Well, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reached that mark last summer – but it didn't last long. So it still remains to be seen which company can reach the trillion-dollar mark and stay there.

And don't look now, but Keith's pick has taken over the lead…

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

Monday, March 11, 2019

Amphenol Co. (APH) Expected to Post Quarterly Sales of $1.94 Billion

Wall Street analysts predict that Amphenol Co. (NYSE:APH) will post sales of $1.94 billion for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks. Three analysts have issued estimates for Amphenol’s earnings. The highest sales estimate is $1.96 billion and the lowest is $1.93 billion. Amphenol posted sales of $1.87 billion in the same quarter last year, which suggests a positive year-over-year growth rate of 3.7%. The business is scheduled to report its next quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Amphenol will report full year sales of $8.33 billion for the current financial year, with estimates ranging from $8.27 billion to $8.44 billion. For the next fiscal year, analysts forecast that the company will post sales of $8.72 billion, with estimates ranging from $8.58 billion to $8.78 billion. Zacks’ sales averages are an average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that that provide coverage for Amphenol.

Get Amphenol alerts:

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 23rd. The electronics maker reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Amphenol had a return on equity of 29.82% and a net margin of 14.69%. Amphenol’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 EPS.

Several research firms recently commented on APH. ValuEngine downgraded Amphenol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Amphenol from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Amphenol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $107.00 price objective (up previously from $103.00) on shares of Amphenol in a research report on Thursday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.00.

Shares of Amphenol stock traded up $1.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $93.97. 595,980 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,265,268. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.87. Amphenol has a 52 week low of $74.95 and a 52 week high of $97.56.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Amphenol’s payout ratio is 24.40%.

In other news, VP Jean-Luc Gavelle sold 31,000 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.00, for a total value of $2,914,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 31,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,914,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Martin H. Loeffler sold 11,000 shares of Amphenol stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.30, for a total value of $1,048,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 249,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,820,330.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,916,500. Corporate insiders own 2.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Amphenol by 189.4% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 547 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. Bremer Trust National Association acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Athena Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amphenol in the 4th quarter valued at $67,000. 94.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amphenol Company Profile

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors worldwide. It operates through two segments, Interconnect Products and Assemblies, and Cable Products and Solutions. The Interconnect Products and Assemblies segment offers connector and connector systems, including fiber optic, harsh environment, high-speed, and radio frequency interconnect products, as well as antennas; power interconnect products, bus bars, and distribution systems; and other connectors.

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Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Amphenol (APH)

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

Earnings History and Estimates for Amphenol (NYSE:APH)

D-Street Buzz: Nifty Metal underperforms dragged by Tata Steel, JSPL; Tata Motors falls 3%

The Indian stock market continues to trade in the red in this Friday afternoon session with Nifty50 down 22 points, trading at 11036 while the Sensex shed 44 points and was trading at 36,680 mark.

Nifty Metal was underperforming all other sectors dragged by Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel & Power which shed over 2 percent each followed by MOIL, JSW Steel, Vedanta and Coal India.

From the Nifty midcap space, the top losers were Dish TV, Glenmark Pharma, Ajanta Pharma, M&M Financial, MRPL, Power Finance Corporation, NBCC, Rural Electrification Corporation and Tata Global Beverage.

Selective auto stocks were trading in the negative territory with loses from Tata Motors and Tata Motors DVR which were down over 3 percent each followed by Hero MotoCorp, Bharat Forge and Ashok Leyland.

related news Market Live: Sensex dips 100 pts, Nifty holds 11,000; Tata Motors, Wipro drag Jubilant Life Sciences dips 5% after USFDA issues warning letter for Roorkee facility

Indian Oil Corporation, ONGC and Reliance Industries from the oil & gas space were trading in the red.

From the BSE midcap space, the top gainers were Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management which jumped 6 percent followed by Reliance Capital, RBL Bank, 3M India and ICICI Securities while on the other hand, the top losers were NBCC, Sun TV, Ajanta Pharma and SAIL.

From the BSE smallcap space, Future Market Networks zoomed 16 percent followed by Advanced Enzyme, Jai Corp, Federal Mogul and Reliance Industrial Infra. The top losers were Arihant Superstructures, Hotel Leela, JP Power and A2Z Infra.

The top gainers from NSE included NTPC, Eicher Motors, Titan Company, Bajaj Auto and GAIL India while the top losers included Wipro, Tata Motors, IOC, Hindalco and Tata Steel.

The most active stocks were Reliance Industries, Wipro, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Axis Bank and Larsen & Toubro.

Stocks to have hit new 52-week high on NSE included Allahabad Bank, HeidelbergCement India, IPCA Laboratories, Muthoot Finance, Refex Industries, The Anup Engineering, Bil Energy Systems and Cantabil Retail India.

The breadth of the market favoured the declines with 714 stocks advancing and 964 declining while 395 remained unchanged. On the BSE, 1050 stocks advanced, 1288 declined and 132 remained unchanged.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. First Published on Mar 8, 2019 12:59 pm

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Elastic Price Hits $0.0793 on Exchanges (XEL)

Elastic (CURRENCY:XEL) traded 2.1% lower against the US dollar during the 1 day period ending at 22:00 PM Eastern on March 9th. In the last seven days, Elastic has traded up 15.1% against the US dollar. Elastic has a market capitalization of $7.27 million and approximately $33,450.00 worth of Elastic was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Elastic coin can now be purchased for $0.0793 or 0.00001240 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including Bittrex, Stellar Decentralized Exchange and Upbit.

Here’s how other cryptocurrencies have performed in the last day:

Get Elastic alerts: MOAC (MOAC) traded down 0.4% against the dollar and now trades at $0.80 or 0.00020127 BTC. Grin (GRIN) traded 1.6% lower against the dollar and now trades at $3.19 or 0.00080624 BTC. Ripio Credit Network (RCN) traded up 0% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0238 or 0.00000603 BTC. APIS (APIS) traded 3.1% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0021 or 0.00000053 BTC. MARK.SPACE (MRK) traded up 3.7% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0051 or 0.00000128 BTC. Bismuth (BIS) traded flat against the dollar and now trades at $0.21 or 0.00005760 BTC. XEL (XEL) traded down 0.7% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0300 or 0.00000760 BTC. MIB Coin (MIB) traded 9.8% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.0197 or 0.00000500 BTC. Golos (GOLOS) traded up 2.6% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0090 or 0.00000229 BTC. Banyan Network (BBN) traded up 49.3% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0015 or 0.00000037 BTC.

Elastic Coin Profile

XEL uses the hashing algorithm. It was first traded on June 8th, 2017. Elastic’s total supply is 100,000,000 coins and its circulating supply is 91,676,277 coins. Elastic’s official website is www.elastic.pw. The official message board for Elastic is talk.elasticexplorer.org. The Reddit community for Elastic is /r/XEL and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here. Elastic’s official Twitter account is @elastic_coin.

Elastic Coin Trading

Elastic can be purchased on these cryptocurrency exchanges: Stellar Decentralized Exchange, Upbit and Bittrex. It is usually not currently possible to purchase alternative cryptocurrencies such as Elastic directly using U.S. dollars. Investors seeking to trade Elastic should first purchase Ethereum or Bitcoin using an exchange that deals in U.S. dollars such as GDAX, Changelly or Gemini. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Ethereum or Bitcoin to purchase Elastic using one of the aforementioned exchanges.

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Saturday, March 9, 2019

Best Low Price Stocks To Own Right Now

tags:ARCW,VCSH,DDD,

It's not so easy to size up Walmart (NYSE:WMT) these days. For decades, the retailer's strategy was as reliable as the sunrise: Open up hundreds of supercenters every year, keep costs low, and offer customers "everyday low prices."

For a long time, that strategy drove consistent profit growth and propelled the big-box chain to retail dominance, but like many things in business, it worked until it didn't. The rise of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and e-commerce disrupted Walmart's leadership and undermined the strength of both its pricing strategy and brick-and-mortar expansion.

Under CEO Doug McMillon, who took the helm in 2014, Walmart has reinvented itself. The retailer has essentially stopped opening new stores, instead investing that capital into paying employees better, providing more training, cleaning up stores, and eliminating out-of-stockages -- all in an effort to improve the in-store experience. The company has also aggressively pivoted to e-commerce, quickly adding grocery pickup stations at its stores, expecting to have more than 2,000 of them by the end of this year. It boosted its exposure to e-commerce by acquiring Jet.com for $3.3 billion and followed that up with smaller e-commerce acquisitions like Bonobos and Modcloth.

Best Low Price Stocks To Own Right Now: Arc Wireless Solutions Inc.(ARCW)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Watts Water Technologies (NYSE: WTS) and ARC Group WorldWide (NASDAQ:ARCW) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Barnes Group (NYSE: B) and ARC Group WorldWide (NASDAQ:ARCW) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    News articles about ARC Group WorldWide (NASDAQ:ARCW) have been trending somewhat positive this week, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. Accern identifies negative and positive media coverage by analyzing more than 20 million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. ARC Group WorldWide earned a news sentiment score of 0.08 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media coverage about the technology company an impact score of 45.8235732272447 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near term.

Best Low Price Stocks To Own Right Now: Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF(VCSH)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Polaris Greystone Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vanguard Short-Term Crprte Bnd Idx Fd (BMV:VCSH) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 7,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

  • [By Luke Kawa]

    The three-month moving average of weekly flows into the iShares Short Maturity Bond exchange-traded fund (NEAR), Floating Rate Bond ETF (FLOT), SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Short Term High-Yield Bond ETF (SJNK), PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (BKLN) and Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH) sank to a record low outflow of $18 million after the first week of 2018.

  • [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

    For the details of Allianz Investment Management LLC's stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=Allianz+Investment+Management+LLC

    These are the top 5 holdings of Allianz Investment Management LLCiShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond (LQD) - 3,271,938 shares, 72.31% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 54.10%SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Corporate Bond (SPIB) - 2,000,000 shares, 12.63% of the total portfolio. New PositioniShares Intermediate Credit Bond ETF (CIU) - 618,046 shares, 12.48% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 757.25%Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH) - 88,000 shares, 1.3% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 35.38%iShares 1-3 Year Credit Bond ETF (CSJ) - 65,470 shares, 1.28% of the total portfolio. New Purchase: SPDR
  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Quantitative Advantage LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vanguard Short-Term Crprte Bnd Idx Fd (BMV:VCSH) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,837 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,031 shares during the quarter. Quantitative Advantage LLC’s holdings in Vanguard Short-Term Crprte Bnd Idx Fd were worth $3,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: “2,702 Shares in VANGUARD SCOTTS/VANGUARD SHORT-TERM (VCSH) Acquired by Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC” was originally published by Ticker Report and is owned by of Ticker Report. If you are accessing this article on another domain, it was stolen and republished in violation of US & international copyright law. The correct version of this article can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4151990/2702-shares-in-vanguard-scotts-vanguard-short-term-vcsh-acquired-by-exencial-wealth-advisors-llc.html.

Best Low Price Stocks To Own Right Now: 3D Systems Corporation(DDD)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Scry.info (CURRENCY:DDD) traded 8.6% lower against the U.S. dollar during the twenty-four hour period ending at 8:00 AM E.T. on September 1st. In the last week, Scry.info has traded 16.9% higher against the U.S. dollar. Scry.info has a market capitalization of $38.25 million and $607,777.00 worth of Scry.info was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Scry.info token can now be purchased for about $0.0869 or 0.00001236 BTC on popular exchanges including Gate.io and LBank.

  • [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

    Let's see what we can expect from the companies set to release some of the most anticipated earnings reports: Lowe's (NYSE:LOW), 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD), and TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX). 

  • [By Beth McKenna]

    Shares of 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) plummeted 14% on Friday, following the 3D printing company's release of fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 results after the market closed on Thursday. After this haircut, the stock is up 19.4% in 2019, versus the S&P 500's 12.3% return. 

  • [By Beth McKenna]

    In January, shares of Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) and 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD), the two largest pure-play 3D printing stocks by market cap, soared 41.8% and 25.5%, respectively, while shares of Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB), which offers 3D printing and other manufacturing services, gained 10.1%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

  • [By Beth McKenna]

    Today we're going to compare the second-quarter 2018 results of the two leading 3D printing companies, 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) and Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS). (You can read my earnings recaps on 3D Systems here and Stratasys here.)

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Short interest in 3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) fell by 2.7% to 32.44 million shares. Some 29.6% of the company’s float was short. Days to cover fell from 22 to 14. In the two-week short interest period, the share price fell by 3.4%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $7.92 to $19.06, and shares closed at $14.90 on Wednesday, up about 1.2% on the day.

Friday, March 8, 2019

Hot Safest Stocks For 2019

tags:VALE,WTI,LINC,

If history is any guide, the stock market is due for a major crash soon. Nothing goes up forever, after all. There's no way to predict what the market's going to do on any given day, but we asked three of our Motley Fool contributors which stocks they think are worth buying as part of a broader capital preservation strategy.

Here's why they picked Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), and General Motors (NYSE:GM).  

Image source: Getty Images.

Built to last

George Budwell (Johnson & Johnson): If there's any publicly traded company that knows how to weather a storm, it's healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson. Incorporated in 1887, J&J has gone on to build a bonanza of world-class brands, including Band-Aid, Benadryl, Listerine, and Tylenol, among many, many others. And that's just the company's consumer healthcare segment. J&J also sports one of the most productive pharmaceutical pipelines in the world, as well as a top-notch medical device segment. The point is that J&J is an essential part of the global healthcare landscape, making it one of the safest stocks you can own.

Hot Safest Stocks For 2019: VALE S.A.(VALE)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    ValuEngine downgraded shares of Vale (NYSE:VALE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Tuesday.

    A number of other analysts have also issued reports on VALE. Deutsche Bank set a $15.00 price target on shares of Vale and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 2nd. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Vale from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $17.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 15th. Citigroup lowered shares of Vale from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 29th. UBS Group raised shares of Vale from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays set a $16.00 price target on shares of Vale and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, December 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $14.88.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Brookfield Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 40,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $515,000.

  • [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]

    Shares of Brazilian mining powerhouse Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) rose 11.6% in September, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company's stock has experienced a series of sharp price advances and declines in 2018, but at the end of nine months, it was up roughly 21% for the year.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Vale (NYSE:VALE) and Quaterra Resources (OTCMKTS:QTRRF) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Rational Advisors LLC grew its position in Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) by 49.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,951 shares during the period. Rational Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vale were worth $191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Hot Safest Stocks For 2019: W&T Offshore Inc.(WTI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $5.69, but opened at $5.94. W&T Offshore shares last traded at $5.76, with a volume of 103016 shares trading hands.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Shares of W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI) rose 8.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $7.48 and last traded at $7.47. Approximately 3,521,727 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 3,143,397 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.90.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) was upgraded by stock analysts at ValuEngine from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) in a research report issued on Thursday, The Fly reports. The firm set a “buy” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

  • [By Jason Hall]

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Thursday, March 7, 2019

AeroVironment, Inc (AVAV) Q3 2019 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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AeroVironment, Inc.  (NASDAQ:AVAV) Q3 2019-Earnings Conference Call March. 05, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET

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

Steven A. Gitlin -- Vice President, Investor Relations

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to AeroVironment's Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Earnings Call. This is Steven Gitlin, Vice President of Investor Relations for AeroVironment. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will conduct a question-and-answer session after management's remarks. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. Joining me today from AeroVironment are President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nahid Nawabi; and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Teresa Covington.

Please note that on today's call, certain information presented contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words such as believe, anticipate, expect, estimate, intend, project, plan or words or phrases with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors outside of our control, that may cause our business, strategy or actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

For further information on these risks, we encourage you to review the risk factors discussed in AeroVironment's periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the SEC and the Form 8-K filed today with the SEC along with the associated earnings release and the Safe Harbor statement contained therein. The content of this conference call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of today, March 5, 2019. The company undertakes no obligation to make any revision to any forward-looking statements contained in our remarks today or to update them to reflect the events or circumstances occurring after this conference.

We will now begin with remarks from Wahid Nawabi. Wahid?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Steve, and welcome to our third quarter fiscal year 2019 earnings conference call. On today's call, we will focus on three key messages. First, we're delivering outstanding results. Second, we're positioned very well to achieve our increased fiscal year 2019 financial goals, and third, we continue to make progress on our key growth initiatives that drive long-term value. I will begin by reviewing our third quarter fiscal year 2019 financial and operating performance and then provide an overview of some notable developments during the quarter. Next, Teresa Covington will provide a detailed review of the third quarter and year-to-date financials. Then I will discuss our increased guidance for the fiscal year 2019 which reflects our continued strong momentum. Teresa, Steve, and I will then take your questions.

We are successfully executing our fiscal year 2019 plan and continue to deliver strong results as evidenced by the following year-over-year comparisons. Third-quarter revenue of more than $75 million increase by 38%. Gross margin of 40% increase by seven percentage points from 33%. Earnings per diluted share from continuing operations of $0.35 increase significantly from a loss of $0.02 and funded backlog of $133 million increased by 17%. We've continued to maintain high funded backlog contributing to evenly distributed quarterly revenue this year.

Year to date, her performance reflects strong improvement over last year. Revenue of $226 million for the first three quarters increased by 46%. Gross margin of 40% increase by three percentage points from 37% and earnings per diluted share from continuing operations of $1.49, including a $0.26 one-time gain on a litigation settlement increase by $1.37. Given our strong results in the quarter and year to date along with the continued progress we're making to strengthen our financial and operating performance, we have raised our full-year guidance which I will discuss after Teresa's comments.

Now, let's review highlights that contributed to our success in the quarter and year to date performance. In our core defense business, are market-leading small UAS, and tactical missile systems represented 78% of third-quarter revenue, or $59 million. International end customers for small UAS represented about 36% of third-quarter revenue, or $27 million. This data point is available by subtracting HAPS revenue from international revenue in our 10-Q. Note that in our 10-Q filing we provide information on the distribution of revenue by customer category and geographic location. The US government category in this presentation includes foreign military sales or FMS which has grown this year as compared to direct commercial sales or DCS.

We have more than 45 international customers for small UAS. We believe there is strong international demand for our Switchblade Tactical Missile Systems and continue to work with international customers who are interested in this solution. However, we have yet to receive US government approval to export this game-changing capability. We remain confident in the international potential for Switchblade among the US DoD's strongest allies.

Each and every one of our target market segments has been highly competitive beginning with the initial US Marine Corps program of record competition in 2003 for Dragon Eye which we won. We proceeded to win the next three sole source US DoD competitions. The Army in 2005, the Air Force in 2006, and the USSOCOM in of the Army program 2008. We were selected as one of multiple awardees of the Army program recompete in 2012 and one more than 90% of the task order dollars under that contract until it's recompete in 2017. We are now one of the awardees competing for task orders on that contract.

In the international markets, we continue to compete across the globe and maintain our high win rate. While we have not one every small UAS opportunity, including the U.S. Army's most recent Soldier Borne Sensor order, we remain focused on competing effectively with our solutions today in developing the capabilities that will drive customer success in shareholder value tomorrow.

In our tactical missile systems product line, strong US government funding is in place to fund procurement of Switchblade Systems. As Teresa reported in prior quarters, due to new accounting standards revenue from tactical missile systems contracts is now recognized over time which generally accelerates the timing of when revenue is recognized in results and an increase to unbilled receivables. This effect contributed to our unbilled receivables balance of $52 million at the end of our third-quarter. Another reason for this additional buildup in unbilled receivables is ongoing test and evaluation of our Switchblade Systems which is part of our customer's lot acceptance process. We believe this unbilled receivables balance will decline over the coming months.

As a technology innovator, we're developing future-defining capabilities that will make tomorrow's solutions even more compelling than those we offer today. For example, our solutions already benefit from basic levels of economy such as GPS waypoint navigation, follow-me modes of operation, sensor-driven flight controls, visual tracking, autonomous mission planning, and other capabilities. Our Quantix system delivers a high level of automation, including flight planning, takeoff and landing, data transmission, georectified image stitching and more.

During the quarter, we deployed Quantix to help the National Park Service rapidly survey extensions damage caused by devastating wildfires across the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. With a different solution, AeroVironment recently demonstrated a completely automated sense launch target identification and strike capability for our military customers. This is an important and innovative capability that we're investing in unbelievable play a vital role in protecting our troops, reducing the cognitive load they must deal with in combat neutralizing threats and helping defense and commercial customers proceed with certainty.

We continue to make progress on our $76.6 million customer funded HAPS development demonstration program. Please be aware that the HAPS design and development agreement provides significant flexibility for additional program funding as it progresses through its current phase. At the beginning of our fourth quarter, we determined that we would exercise our one time option to increase our investments in the HAPS Mobile Inc. joint venture, doubling or ownership from 5% to 10%. This will require an additional investment of approximately $5.7 million in the fourth quarter. We have the option to increase our ownership from 5% to up to 19% of the joint venture and selected 10% based on several factors.

First, we chose to increase our ownership because we strongly believe in the long-term value creation potential of this business. Developing, demonstrating, certifying, and deploying this capability will support the success of the JV. Our partner is an expert in the global telecommunications industry, and we believe that together we have the potential to create significant value. Second, for the HAPS business, we're presented with a portfolio of potential investment opportunities requiring our capital. These include participating in additional rounds of funding for the JV, establishing a large-scale manufacturing capability, building a global operations and maintenance capability, adapting HAPS and applying it to defense markets and incrementally investing in R&D to secure critical intellectual property.

All of the above have the potential to consume significant capital, and we must balance these investment opportunities against one another on a continuous basis. Third, we balanced the portfolio potential HAPS related investments with other business opportunities including small UAS, tactical missile systems, and commercial information solutions. We continuously evaluate relative investment requirements, timing and risk to optimize our returns. For all of the above reasons, we decided to double our ownership position in the HAPS joint venture .

In summary, we're in a strong position to all the stakeholders. With a strong core business and progress in our growth initiatives, we're delivering value now and remain well-positioned to build on to our successes and drive even greater value over the long term. Now, I will turn the call over to Teresa Covington for a summary of the quarter and year to date financials. Teresa?

Teresa Covington -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Wahid, and good afternoon everyone. AeroVironment's fiscal 2019 third-quarter results are as follows. Revenue from continuing operations for the third quarter fiscal 2019 was $75.3 million, an increase of $20.7 million or 38% of the third quarter fiscal 2018 revenue of $54.6 million. The increase was due to an increase in product deliveries of $10.6 million as well as an increase in service revenue of $10.1 million. Third-quarter fiscal 2019 revenue by major price product line/program is as follows. Small UASs of $47.7 million, tactical missile systems was $11.3 million, HAPS was $13.6 million, and other was $2.8 million.

Gross margin from continuing operations for the third quarter fiscal 2019 was $30.4 million or 40% of revenue compared to $18.3 million or 33% of revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. The increase in gross margin was primarily due to an increase in product sales margin of $8.7 million and an increase in service margin of $3.5 million. Gross margin as a percentage of revenue increase from 33% to 40% primarily due to the increased sales volume which resulted in a decrease in the per unit fixed manufacturing and engineering overhead support costs as well as favorable product mix.

Looking at the rest of the income statement, SG&A expense from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was $14.5 million or 19% of revenue compared to SG&A expense of $11.5 million or 21% of revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. R&D expense from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was $8.1 million or 11% of revenue compared R&D expense of $6.6 million or 12% of revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. Income from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was $7,800,000.10 percent of revenue compared to $0.2 million for fiscal 2018. The increase in income from operations was primarily due to an increase in gross margins of $12.1 million partially offset by an increase in SG&A expense of $3 million and an increase in R&D expense of $1.5 million.

Net other income for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was $2.2 million compared to net other income of $0.4 million third quarter fiscal 2018. The increase in net other income was due to income from the transition services agreement with the buyer of the Efficient Energy systems business and higher interest income on our investments. The effect income tax rate from continuing operations was 9.4% for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to an effective income tax rate of 139.9% for the third quarter of fiscal 2018 which included the impact of a one-time deferred tax expense resulting from the remeasurement of our existing deferred tax assets and liabilities of $3.1 million. The decrease in our effective tax rate for the third quarter fiscal 2019 was also due to the reduction in the fiscal 2019 federal statutory rate from 30.4% to 21%.

Equity method investment activity net of tax for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was a loss of $0.7 million or $0.03 per diluted share compared to a loss of a $0.4 million net of tax for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. Net income from continuing operations attributable to AeroVironment for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was $8.4 million or $0.35 per diluted share compared to a net loss from continuing operations attributable to AeroVironment of $0.6 million or $0.02 per diluted share for the third quarter of fiscal 2018. The net loss from discontinued operations net of tax for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 $62,000 compared to a loss from discontinued operations net of tax of $129,000 for the third quarter of fiscal 2018.

Now moving through to our results for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019. Revenue for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was $226.3 million, an increase of $71.5 million as compared to $154.8 million for the nine months ended January 27, 2018. The increase in revenue was due to an increase in product deliveries of $45.7 million and an increase in contract service revenue of $25.8 million. The first three quarters of fiscal 2019 revenue by major product line/programs is as follows. Small UAS was $131.1 million, tactical missile systems was $49.1 million, HAPS was $38 million, and other was $8.2 million.

Gross margin for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was $91.4 million or 40% of revenue as compared to $57.1 million or 37% for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018. The increase was due to an increase in product margins of $28.6 million in an increase in service margins of $5.7 million. Gross margin as a percentage of revenue increased from 37% to 40% primarily due to the increase in sales volume which resulted in a decrease in the per unit fixed manufacturing and engineering overhead support costs.

SG&A expense for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was $40.1 million or 18% of revenue compared to SG&A's expense of $35.5 million or 23% of revenue for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018. R&D expense for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was $22.6 million or 10% of revenue compared to R&D expense of $19 million or 12% of revenue for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018. Net other income for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was $13.9 million compared to the prior year net other income of $1.3 million. The net other income increase was primarily due to a litigation settlement, income earned under a transition services agreement from the buyer of the Efficient Energy Systems Business and an increase in interest income resulting from higher short-term interest rate and higher cash balances in fiscal 2019.

The effective income tax rate from continuing operations was 11.1% for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 as compared to an effective income tax rate of 25% for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018. The effective income tax rate for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018 included the impact of a one-time deferred tax expense resulting from the remeasurement of our existing deferred tax assets and liabilities of $3.1 million. The decrease in the effective income tax rate was also due to the reduction in the fiscal 2019 federal statutory rate of 30.4% to 21%.

Equity method investment activity net of tax for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was a loss of $2.1 million or nine cents per diluted share compared to a loss of $0.4 million net of tax for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018. Net income from continuing operations attributable to AeroVironment for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was $35.8 million or $1.49 per diluted share compared to $2.7 million or $0.12 per diluted share for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018. Net income from discontinued operations net of tax for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 was $5.9 million or $0.25 per diluted share compared to a loss from discontinued operations net of tax of $1.7 million for the first three quarters of fiscal 2018 or a $0.07 loss per share.

The first three quarters of fiscal 2019 included in an $8.5 million gain net of tax on the sale of EES business and a $2.5 million loss net of tax from discontinued operations. Our funded backlog as of January 26, 2019, was $132.5 million an increase of $19.2 million or 17% from the third quarter of fiscal 2018 and a decrease of $31.4 million or 19% from the second quarter of fiscal 2019.

Turning to our balance sheet, cash, cash equivalents and investments at the end of the third quarter fiscal 2019 totaled $322.1 million an increase of $24.3 million from the end of fiscal 2018 cash, cash equivalents and investments of $297.8 million. Net Accounts Receivable including unbilled receivables and retention at the end of the third quarter fiscal 2019 totaled $85.7 million. The unbilled receivables and retention balance was $51.6 million inclusive of $13.6 million related party amounts. The unbilled receivables and retention balances arise due to timing difference between revenue recognition and billing.

Total day sales outstanding from continuing operations for the third quarter fiscal year 2019 was approximately 99 days compared to 48 days for the fourth quarter fiscal year 2018. Net inventory at the end of the third quarter fiscal year 2019 was $50.4 million compared to $37.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter fiscal year 2018. Days in inventory outstanding for third quarter fiscal year 2019 was approximately 97 days compared to 62 days for the fourth quarter fiscal year 2018. Accounts Payable at the end of the third quarter fiscal year 2019 was $11.6 million compared to $21.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter fiscal year 2018. Total days payable outstanding for the third quarter fiscal year 2019 was approximately 26 days compared to 23 days for the fourth quarter fiscal year 2018.

Turning to capital expenditures, in the third quarter fiscal year 2019 we invested approximately $2.7 million in property improvements and capital equipment for continuing operations and recognized $1.9 million of depreciation and amortization and expense.

Now an update to our fiscal 2019 visibility. As of today, we have year to date revenue in fiscal 2019 of $226 million. Third quarter ending backlog that we expect to execute in fiscal 2019 $74 million. Q4 quarter to date bookings that we anticipate to execute in fiscal 2019 a $4.3 million. Unfunded backlog from incrementally funded contracts that we anticipate recognize revenue during the balance of the year of $0.5 million. This adds up to $305 million or 100% at the midpoint of revenue guidance. We anticipate a full year effective tax rate for continuing operations in the range of 11% to 13%. Now I'd like to turn things back to Wahid to discuss AV's expectations for the fiscal year 2019.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Teresa. AeroVironment as a system solution provider at the intersection of robotics, sensor software analytics, and conductivity. We have achieved leading market positions in US government small UAS and tactical missile systems. We see continued strong demand for our small UAS across the globe. We are making solid progress in our customer funded program to design and develop the next generation of solar-powered high-altitude pseudo-satellites for global conductivity. We are getting additional insight on customer demand as we expand awareness of our innovative commercial information solutions to the agricultural market.

We are also transforming our company through initiatives focused on enhancing our operations, attracting top talent, and developing our people to accelerate our progress. We remain focused on effective execution in the fourth quarter to deliver on our commitments. With a continued strong performance this year, we now have 100% visibility to the midpoint of our revenue guidance range of $300 million-$310 million. However, the recent extended federal government shutdown did introduce some risk on schedule. As a result, we're maintaining our revenue guidance of between $300 million and $310 million. Year to date, we have generated earnings-per-share from continuing operations of $1.49. Due to our strong performance, we're now raising our expectations for diluted earnings-per-share from continuing operations to between $1.60 and $1.80.

We expect higher research and development investments in the fourth quarter with annual R&D investment to approach 11% of full-year revenue. Additionally, as a result of strong domestic and international demand for our solutions, we're investing more in SG&A to pursue and capture those opportunities.

In summary, to reiterate our main points for today's call. First, we're delivering outstanding results. Second, we're positioned very well to achieve our increase fiscal year 2019 financial goals, and third, we continue to make progress on our key growth initiatives that drive long-term value. Thank you to AeroVironment's team members for your relentless drive to serve our customers and stockholders. Thank you to our customers who place their trust in AeroVironment just support their critical missions and thank you to our stockholders for recognizing the value creation potential of our people and our company. Teresa, Steve, and I will now take your questions.

Questions and Answers:

Steven Gitlin -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Wahid. If you have a question, we invite you to press *1 on your touchtone phone. If you wish to be removed from the question queue, you may push # or the hash key. If you're using a speakerphone, you may need to pick up your handset first before pressing the numbers. Please limit your questions to and then reenter the queue for any follow-up questions. Once again, to ask a question, please press *1 on your touchtone phone.

Our first question comes from Peter Arment at Baird. Hello Peter.

Peter Arment -- Robert W. Baird & Co. -- Analyst

Hey, good afternoon Steve, Wahid, Teresa, thanks for your time.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Hi Peter.

Peter Arment -- Robert W. Baird & Co. -- Analyst

Just a first question I guess on HAPS Mobile. It seems like, obviously, we'll get some additional details with the Q, but you've been -- it looks like you're on pace to generate probably close to over $40 million in revenue in fiscal 2019. I guess thinking, I'm really thinking more about just how that trend is going forward. Any color you could give us on what progress you're making on the prototype vehicles, etc.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure, so, Peter, as I said on my remarks that we're making very good progress with our design and development program phase of this project with our joint venture partner in this case. AeroVironment has a very strong history and track record of success and achievements in this space. We continue to believe that this is a very large long-term global opportunity for AeroVironment. Also keep in mind that there are significant flexibility in the current cost-plus contract, the design and development contracts that we have with HAPS Mobile joint venture that allows us to further our progress and continue to execute our objectives under this contract. We are not in a position to detail more specifics on the actual program due to competitive reasons. However, we remain very bullish on this opportunity and value creation opportunity that this represents for us long-term.

Peter Arment -- Robert W. Baird & Co. -- Analyst

Okay, and just as a following question, if I could just ask about you gave us some details around the Soldier Borne loss, maybe you could just talk to about whether opportunities there are for the Snipe product. Thanks.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. So, as you know, our position in the small UAS, the defense small UAS market is very, very significant, both domestically as well as internationally. We pride ourselves for being able to compete over decades very successfully; not only with domestic large players, very large conglomerates, as well as with international large players and domestic small and large players internationally as well. And we have a very high win rate. We were very much aware of the Soldier Borne Sensor opportunity from the get-go. As you recall, on the first tranche of that we received a small amount of funding, we fielded some products, we did not win the subsequent award.

However, we remain ready to be able to compete on that opportunity or several years of that, and we expect more opportunities to arise from that. We believe that there were opportunities in this space for us both domestically and internationally and we continue to work on those opportunities as we progress through our business. And as we -- as our customers are ready to publicly disclose more about them, we'll be glad to share that with you as well.

Steven Gitlin -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Our next question comes from Ken Herbert at Canaccord. Hi Ken.

Ken Herbert -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Hi Steve, hi Wahid and Teresa, how are you?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Hi Ken, pretty good, how are you?

Ken Herbert -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Very good. I just wanted to first ask about the sequentially; the TMS revenues have been sort of trending down each quarter. Can you talk about maybe visibility on any particular programs you can highlight within the TMS portfolio and may be any color on sort of what you're implying in the fourth quarter for this business and any sort of visibility into fiscal 2020? I know you're not giving guidance there yet, but sorta what's happening in the TMS product line and how should we think about this moving forward?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure can. So, first and foremost, as you know, we have built a very strong business with our tactical missile systems category with our Switchblade we continue to be the solution of choice for our customer, US military needs for this for this capability and we have delivered and grown this business very significantly over the years. Any given day or quarter year, we will naturally have fluctuations between our different portfolio products and contracts in terms of the amounts of revenue which we recognize and ship.

One of the things that's changed on the tactical missile systems business and Switchblade specifically is that due to the new accounting 606 rules we now recognize the revenue for TMS over time instead of a point in time. So, that is an optic that has changed this year. However, in general, as you see from government fiscal year 2018 budget dollars which we're in the process of executing that, there was significant funding there and additionally there was close to hundred million dollars' worth of additional funding on government fiscal year 2019 budget, most of which is not yet in our backlog.

So, we have a significant, what I consider, demand signals in demand potential for Switchblade and we continue to execute on that as we progress throughout the year and the remainder of this calendar year.

Ken Herbert -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Great, that's very helpful. And if you could, I apologize if I missed it, but how much of the small UAS revenues in the quarter were international versus for US customers?

Teresa Covington -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So, Ken, this is Teresa. So, in the third quarter, we had small UAS revenue was at $47.7 million for the quarter. Of that amount, $27.3 million of it was international.

Ken Herbert -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Great, thank you very much.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

You're welcome, Ken.

Steven Gitlin -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Our next question comes from Joe DeNardi at Stifel. Hi Joe.

Joseph DeNardi -- Stifel Financial Corp, -- Analyst

Yeah, hey Steve. I like the new format. Good afternoon to you guys. Wahid, I know you'll provide guidance for FY 2020 next quarter, but could you maybe talk directionally about what you are expecting on the top line? You mentioned the Army budget pretty supportive of LMAMMs, what sounds like a tailwind for Switchblade from an accounting standpoint. Can you just talk about your expectations? Any significant items we should be considering positively or negatively for next year on the top line?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. So, first of all, I'm very pleased with our team's ability to execute this quarter and year to date so far. We have built a very strong foundation for achieving our goals for this year. We still have some time left, or fourth quarter to execute and complete that successfully. That's why we provided the guidance for this year. In terms of the following year, as I mentioned in my remark, we feel very strongly about the general overall demand drivers for solutions across the board. We see strong demand domestically for our small UAS; we see strong demand for small UAS internationally, we continue to win more and more countries as well as larger order sizes that you've seen in our recent announcements that we have done in the last several quarters.

We also see potential, strong demands for the HAPS opportunity that we have globally. As you've seen, there's lots of news out there in terms of the potential prospects that. And given on top of all that, there are strong budget dollars already allocated into the government fiscal 2019, the majority of which is not yet reflected in our backlog currently. So, while we don't provide specific guidelines for fiscal 2020 until our next quarterly earnings call, I believe that we have built a very strong foundation to not only even out our revenue for this year, but also position ourselves for a strong fiscal 2020.

Joseph DeNardi -- Stifel Financial Corp, -- Analyst

Can you quantify, you are Teresa, can you quantify the revenue impact from the new accounting treatment on Switchblade? The next year?

Teresa Covington -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

No, I think what we have is we have reported under the new 606. We have not gone back and said what that would've looked like under the old standard.

Joseph DeNardi -- Stifel Financial Corp, -- Analyst

Okay. If I could just sneak a quick one in, Wahid, when the budget comes out shortly is the first thing, you're gonna look at Army funding associated with LMAMMs and maybe what's your expectation for what that funding is and what are some of the other things that you kind of look at first when that comes out? Thank you.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. So, Joe, on government fiscal year 2019, those budgets have been already published publicly. In fact, I believe on the last conference call I detailed out the specific funding dollars that are allocated for our products specifically. There are funding dollars for LMAMMs , close to about $100 million. There is close to plus $13 million for our Puma systems for the Air Force, and there is also a considerable amount of funding, over $40 million for Ravens for the US Army. And there are also additional future long-term opportunities for new potential programs, Soldier Borne Sensor being one of those particular opportunities, but there are more than just the SBS program.

So, overall, in government fiscal year 2019 budget that was just announced and published, there is historically speaking, very strongly robust funding for our products and solutions. We have not seen the details of the proposed government fiscal year 2020 budgets, but that's due to come out sometime in the near future, and as it does, we will absolutely keep you informed.

Steven Gitlin -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Once again, to ask a question, please press *1 on your touchtone phone. We will now take a question from Louie Dipalma with William Blair. Welcome, Louie.

Louie DiPalma -- William Blair -- Analyst

Thank you for having me, Steve, and good afternoon Wahid and Teresa.

Teresa Covington -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Good afternoon.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Good afternoon.

Louie DiPalma -- William Blair -- Analyst

Wahid, in your scripted remarks today and previously, you indicated that AeroVironment some time ago began the process for that Switchblade to be approved for foreign sales. Investors view this as a potentially large catalyst, but the details behind the State Department approved process are somewhat murky. Can you describe the steps involved, such as whether it involves the Tri-Services Committee and EXCOMM? And I was wondering if you could explain what milestones have yet to be achieved for the approval?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure, Louie. So, overall, we're in full agreement with you that Switchblade has a significant potential value proposition and opportunity internationally with many of our strongest allies across the globe. We have been a believer of that in the past, we continue to be a believer in that today, and we're also very aggressively working that with both our international potential interested customers, as well as with the US Department of State and other agencies that influence this process and make that come to a reality.

So far, we have not been able to receive the final approval to export this, as I mentioned on my remarks, but that does not mean that it's not achievable. We still feel very strongly that it's a matter of when versus if and we continue to work with that. The process is pretty long and knowing that this is a very differentiated innovative capability, obviously, our US government rightfully so is being very careful in assessing it and granting the export license. But as with all of our other defense products, we have a strong track record of being able to achieve that, and we understand the process, we work very closely with our US government, and we feel optimistic that we will be able to achieve that sometime in the near future.

Louie DiPalma -- William Blair -- Analyst

Okay, sounds good. And I was wondering does AeroVironment have plans to expand its vertical takeoff and landing UAS portfolio beyond the Snipe and your commercial Quantix UAS?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. So, Louie, that's a very good observation. As you know, we've been at the forefront of innovation in our category for decades. We have set the standard in the space, we've been one of the first companies that have achieved many of the industry first and a lot of the categories of our solutions. And today, we offer a family of systems portfolio, a system solution that has a family of systems of products and end products. At any given time, we're in constant search and assessment of what type of platforms and what type of features that will build those platforms are the best solution set for our customers' needs.

And certainly, Quantix and our Snipe II, as you saw examples of that, the recent announcement that we made a few months ago with General Dynamics land systems where we have actually incorporated our multipack Switchblade launchers and our hybrid VTOL, I refer to it as hybrid VTOL fixed-wing airplane, next-generation small UAS, with one of their armored vehicles for a proposed competition to the other Boeing II, are specific examples of exactly what you're referring to. So, we have been in the forefront, we continue to be, and our portfolio of family of systems will continue to expand over the horizon as we move forward.

Steven Gitlin -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Let's take a follow-up question from Joe DeNardi at Stifel, go ahead Joe.

Joseph DeNardi -- Stifel Financial Corp, -- Analyst

Yeah, thanks. Wahid, or Teresa, can you just remind us how much of the HAPS development contract you guys have fulfilled to this point? And then Wahid, should we take your comments around flexibility on the contract as meaning that you can generate revenue in excess of what the development contract was for?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. First, Teresa will give you the numbers, Teresa?

Teresa Covington -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. So, Joe, as Wahid mentioned, we have in our DDA contract of the total amount of $76.6 million. Our inception to date revenue against that contract is $60.1 million, and so the current to go under that agreement is $16.5 million.

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, and Joe, to your point related to should we assume that, I would say that we intentionally, both ourselves and our strategic partner, structured this contract such that provides for flexibility as this program progresses through its execution. And as you can see from inception to the end performance that we have already generated more revenue in backlog than the original DDA's dollar amount which was roughly around $65 million. So, we expect this contract to continue, we feel good about this opportunity and the long-term, and our partner and I are very excited about the long-term prospects of value creation here.

Joseph DeNardi -- Stifel Financial Corp, -- Analyst

Okay. And then, Wahid, 12 months into, roughly 12 months I think, into selling Quantix, thrilled, content, disappointed, how are you feeling about progress on that part of the business so far?

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Well, Joe, as you know the entire commercial drone industry has been in general not as pleased with the outcomes and the pace of adoption in the speed of adoption in that market. I must also add that from the inception if you go back and remember some of my personal comments, I've always thought -- we have always believed that this is not an overnight sprint, it's a long term marathon and as such, large opportunities and adoption cycles take considerable time and effort. We believe that our solution is extremely differentiated and highly, highly valuable and our customers are telling us in adoption so far that we've received informs us of that and supports that belief that we've had so far.

So, I'm personally not surprised. It always could be better of course, but we remain focused on executing. We are learning more and more on how we can improve our value proposition and expand our reach within this market. However, we're still in a very early stages of the adoption. And keep in mind, when we launch this product in the North American market, we were toward the end of the seasonal growing cycle, and really our Quantix and AVDSS has not had a full growing season under its belt yet. This upcoming season is going to be the first one where we're actually shipping product in time to take advantage of that opportunity and will keep you posted as we progress through this process in the near future, Joe.

Steven Gitlin -- Vice President of Investor Relations

We have no more questions at this time, so this will conclude today's call. Thank you for your engagement and your interest in AeroVironment. An archived version of this call, all SEC filings and relevant company and industry news can be found on our website www.avinc.com. We look forward to speaking with you again following next quarter's results. On behalf of every member of the AeroVironment team, we wish you a good evening. Thank you.

Duration: 48 minutes

Call participants:

Steven Gitlin -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Wahid Nawabi -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Teresa Covington -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Peter Arment -- Robert W. Baird & Co. -- Analyst

Ken Herbert -- Canaccord Genuity Inc. -- Analyst

Joseph DeNardi -- Stifel Financial Corp, -- Analyst

Louie DiPalma -- William Blair -- Analyst

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