Tuesday, May 29, 2018

American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 732 Shares of AveXis (AVXS)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AveXis (NASDAQ:AVXS) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,534 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of AveXis worth $2,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AveXis by 123.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 354,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,274,000 after purchasing an additional 195,626 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of AveXis by 42.7% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 303,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,630,000 after purchasing an additional 90,934 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AveXis by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 220,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,433,000 after acquiring an additional 3,204 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AveXis by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 219,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,335,000 after acquiring an additional 14,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carillon Tower Advisers Inc. purchased a new position in AveXis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,033,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.14% of the company’s stock.

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In other news, VP James J. Litalien sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.44, for a total transaction of $597,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,051,072. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sukumar Nagendran sold 1,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.19, for a total transaction of $224,618.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,780 shares of company stock valued at $5,801,268. Company insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Shares of AVXS opened at $217.83 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.92 and a beta of 1.55. AveXis has a 1-year low of $65.54 and a 1-year high of $217.94.

AveXis (NASDAQ:AVXS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 9th. The company reported ($6.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.32) by ($2.88). equities research analysts predict that AveXis will post -9.69 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of AveXis from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 7th. Jefferies Group lowered shares of AveXis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 18th. Chardan Capital lowered shares of AveXis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 13th. Barclays lowered shares of AveXis from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $152.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 12th. Finally, UBS lowered shares of AveXis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. AveXis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.90.

AveXis Company Profile

AveXis, Inc, a clinical-stage gene therapy company, engages in developing and commercializing treatments for patients suffering from rare and life-threatening neurological genetic diseases. Its initial product candidate is AVXS-101, a gene therapy product candidate that has completed Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy Type 1.

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for AveXis (NASDAQ:AVXS)

Monday, May 28, 2018

Top 5 China Stocks For 2019

tags:SCS,HOMB,CPK,WST,BLDP,

India, the largest importer of Chinese solar equipment, proposed a 70 percent safeguard duty on cells and modules shipped from China and Malaysia, citing “threat of serious injury” to the domestic industry.

Acting on an application by five local cell and module makers, the Directorate General of Safeguards, Customs and Central Excise made the proposal in a document dated Jan. 5. It recommended the levy remain in effect for 200 days.

Lion's Share

India imported a third of China's solar shipments from January to September last year

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

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“Existing critical circumstances justify the immediate imposition of a provisional safeguard duty in order to save the domestic industry from further serious injury, which would be difficult to repair,” the Finance Ministry said in the document, also citing the potential for job losses.

Top 5 China Stocks For 2019: Steelcase Inc.(SCS)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Max Byerly]

    SpeedCash (SCS) is a coin. SpeedCash’s total supply is 476,918 coins and its circulating supply is 467,791 coins. The Reddit community for SpeedCash is /r/SpeedCash and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here. SpeedCash’s official Twitter account is @SpeedCashMedia. SpeedCash’s official website is www.scash.ml.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    SpeedCash (CURRENCY:SCS) traded 13.6% lower against the dollar during the 1 day period ending at 10:00 AM ET on May 4th. One SpeedCash coin can now be purchased for approximately $2.71 or 0.00028080 BTC on major exchanges including YoBit, Cryptohub, Trade Satoshi and Crex24. During the last seven days, SpeedCash has traded 201.8% higher against the dollar. SpeedCash has a total market capitalization of $1.26 million and $26,755.00 worth of SpeedCash was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Here are some of the media stories that may have impacted Accern’s rankings:

    Get Steelcase alerts: Vida Health Expands Platform to Tackle Comorbidities (prweb.com) Zacks: Brokerages Expect Steelcase (SCS) Will Announce Quarterly Sales of $756.45 Million (americanbankingnews.com) Knoll: Q1 Earnings Enough To Stay Long (seekingalpha.com) ValuEngine Downgrades Steelcase (SCS) to Sell (americanbankingnews.com) Should Stem Cells Spin SA.��s (WSE:SCS) Recent Earnings Decline Worry You? (finance.yahoo.com)

    Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. ValuEngine lowered Steelcase from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd. Seaport Global Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Steelcase in a research report on Monday, March 26th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised Steelcase from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.00.

Top 5 China Stocks For 2019: Home BancShares, Inc.(HOMB)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Zeke Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Home BancShares (NASDAQ:HOMB) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Headlines about Home BancShares (NASDAQ:HOMB) have trended somewhat positive this week, according to Accern. Accern ranks the sentiment of news coverage by monitoring more than 20 million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Home BancShares earned a media sentiment score of 0.11 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media headlines about the financial services provider an impact score of 45.7100995172055 out of 100, meaning that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the stock’s share price in the next several days.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Home BancShares (NASDAQ:HOMB) was downgraded by ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.

Top 5 China Stocks For 2019: Chesapeake Utilities Corporation(CPK)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE: BUD) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.89 per share on revenue of $13.06 billion. SINA Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.42 per share on revenue of $433.32 million. Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ: WB) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.47 per share on revenue of $342.39 million. Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $1.55 billion. Mylan N.V. (NASDAQ: MYL) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.98 per share on revenue of $2.75 billion. Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.31 per share on revenue of $1.51 billion. ADT Inc. (NYSE: ADT) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.24 per share on revenue of $1.11 billion. Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.13 per share on revenue of $2.18 billion. Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: PNK) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.31 per share on revenue of $644.94 million. Conduent Incorporated (NYSE: CNDT) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.21 per share on revenue of $1.44 billion. Delphi Technologies PLC (NYSE: DLPH) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.16 per share on revenue of $1.25 billion. Office Depot, Inc. (NASDAQ: ODP) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.08 per share on revenue of $2.72 billion. Global Partners LP (NYSE: GLP) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $0.13 per share on revenue of $2.33 billion. Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.37 per share on revenue of $530.99 million. Performance Food Group Company (NYSE: PFGC) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.32 per share on revenue of $4.46 billion. Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is projected to report

Top 5 China Stocks For 2019: West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.(WST)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE: WST) and Carlisle Companies (NYSE:CSL) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Top 5 China Stocks For 2019: Ballard Power Systems, Inc.(BLDP)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Ballard Power Systems (BLDP)

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

  • [By Maxx Chatsko]

    That much becomes clear after taking a look at fuel cell stocks Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) and Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP). The companies generated just $235 million in revenue combined last year. While that would seem to indicate that the technology has a ways to go, a closer look shows both companies are on an upward trajectory as they position to exploit decarbonization trends. It also reveals two different growth strategies.

  • [By Maxx Chatsko]

    Fuel cell stocks tend to be more volatile than the average equity, owing at least in part to the ever-changing business models of the industry. But even that makes it difficult to explain the wild ride Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP) shareholders have been on in the last year.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

OPEC+ Reaches Goal of Wiping Out Oil-Stock Surplus

OPEC and allied oil producers including Russia concluded that the crude market re-balanced in April, when their collective production cuts achieved a key goal of draining the surplus in global stockpiles.

The excess in oil inventories, which has weighed on prices for three years, plunged in April to less than the five-year average for stockpiles in developed nations, according to people with knowledge of the data assessed at the meeting of the Joint Technical Committee of OPEC and other producers last week in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The committee, known as JTC, determined that stockpiles held by developed nations dropped to about 20 million barrels below their five-year average, for a total decrease of about 360 million barrels since the start of 2017, three of the people said, asking not to be identified because the JTC discussions were private. The decline was due to producers’ greater adherence to their pledged output cuts -- their compliance rate reached 152 percent in April -- and to summer demand for crude and refined products, according to the people.

The JTC meeting precedes the producers’ main gathering next month in Vienna, where they will evaluate the results of output cuts they’ve been making since January 2017. With supplies from Iran and Venezuela now at risk, speculation abounds that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies may ease the cutbacks. Top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia said last week that OPEC and other suppliers may boost output in the second half of the year, prompting a slide in prices which had reached $80 a barrel for the first time since 2014.

The producers have so far relied on measuring stockpiles in countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development by looking at the moving 5-year average. At last week’s meeting in Jeddah, the JTC reviewed other ways to assess oil inventories. One option is to look at a longer-range, a 10-year average from 2004 to 2014, while another is to use the five-year average but exclude data from 2015 and 2016 because those were years of abnormally large stockpiles, the people said.

The International Energy Agency said on May 16 that OPEC and its allies have finally succeeded in clearing a glut, with inventories falling below their five-year average for the first time since 2014. However, Saudi Arabia and Russia have both said the five-year average is flawed. Years of excessive supplies mean that measure is itself higher than normal, while the patchy nature of data outside the OECD makes it difficult to make an accurate assessment of the entire world market.

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Saturday, May 26, 2018

Tree Island Steel (TSL) Reaches New 52-Week Low at $3.40

Shares of Tree Island Steel Ltd. (TSE:TSL) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as C$3.40 and last traded at C$3.47, with a volume of 7100 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$3.49.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TSL. Raymond James upgraded shares of Tree Island Steel from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$3.00 to C$4.00 in a research note on Friday, May 4th. Pi Financial boosted their price target on shares of Tree Island Steel from C$3.25 to C$3.50 in a research note on Friday, May 4th.

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Tree Island Steel (TSE:TSL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The company reported C$0.04 earnings per share for the quarter. Tree Island Steel had a negative net margin of 3.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.03%. The firm had revenue of C$66.49 million for the quarter.

In other news, insider Amar Doman bought 30,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$3.40 per share, for a total transaction of C$102,680.00. Insiders have purchased 49,550 shares of company stock worth $156,634 over the last 90 days.

Tree Island Steel Company Profile

Tree Island Steel Ltd. manufactures and sells steel wire and wire products for industrial, construction, agricultural, and specialty applications in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It offers industrial products, such as pulp and unitizing, waste, chain link, upholstery, low carbon, and shaped wires, as well as bar/straight and cut bars; and wirelines for use in the oil industry.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

CBS, in new filing, calls Shari Redstone a 'substantial threat' to the company

The legal war over the future of CBS Corporation is beginning to take shape.

Five CBS board members fired the first shot last week. Now the board members have updated their complaint against National Amusements, Shari Redstone's holding company, and asked the judge to bless last week's jailbreak attempt.

This back and forth is likely to continue for weeks and possibly months to come. It is being fought in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which specializes in business disputes.

At stake: Effective control over CBS, one of America's most powerful and prestigious media companies.

Most of the CBS board -- 11 of the 14 members -- want to issue a dividend that would dilute Redstone's controlling stake in the company. Redstone serves as vice-chair of CBS Corporation, which is controlled by National Amusements.

They say Redstone has breached her fiduciary duties. But Redstone and her two allies on the board say it's the other way around.

"The actions of CBS and its special committee amount to a grievous breach of fiduciary duties and show no regard for the significant risk posed to CBS and its investors," National Amusements said last week.

Redstone has most of the voting stake in both CBS and its sister company Viacom. She has been pushing the two companies to explore a merger. But CBS chief executive Les Moonves and others in his camp are merger-averse.

The board members who were charged with exploring the merger possibility said in last week's filing that they have concluded it "is not in the best interests of CBS and its stockholders."

That initial filing outlined disputes with Redstone and expressed concern that she would force through a merger by using her power over the board. A special board meeting was held last Thursday to vote on the dividend proposal.

Redstone threw a wrench in the vote by changing the CBS bylaws in order to require a supermajority of votes to approve the proposal.

A judge declined the CBS board's request for a temporary restraining order against her.

The board meeting went ahead, and the 11-3 vote showed that most of the board members are siding with Moonves, not Redstone.

The dilution of Redstone's control, however, was contingent on the Delaware court's approval.

So now this issue is going back before the judge. In Wednesday's amended filing, CBS sought a declaration from the judge that the board's recent vote "was effective and permissible."

The initial filing was 42 pages. The amended filing is 67 pages, full of new allegations against Redstone.

"In sum, Ms. Redstone, both through her own words and those of her agents, has made clear that she will not abide by the prior public commitments to operate CBS as if it were an independent public company," Wednesday's filing stated. "Instead, by her actions in pushing for a deleterious merger, interfering with the management andf Board of the Company, blocking important information from even being considered by the Board and other steps harmful to the interests of all stockholders �� and her position in this matter that as controller she may do so �� Ms. Redstone has made clear that she poses a substantial threat to the best interests and welfare of the Company and its stockholders, and that her control is detrimental to the Company's long-term effectiveness."

Redstone's camp had no immediate response on Wednesday, but more filings will be forthcoming.

In a statement to CNNMoney, National Amusements said on Wednesday that it "exercised its legal right to amend CBS' bylaws and this change was effective immediately. We are confident the court will uphold NAI's action."

Last week, National Amusements said "CBS management and the special committee cannot wish away the reality that CBS has a controlling shareholder."

Meanwhile, the merger talks and the legal dispute have been a drag on CBS Corp stock. Shares were hovering around $60 this time last year, and are now around $50, approaching a 52-week low. The stock dropped 1.3% in Monday morning trading.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Ambow Education IPO: The ADSs Are Cheap, But Be Careful

Ambow Education (AMBO), which used to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, will sell 1.5 million ADSs at $3.50 to $4.50 per ADS in the American markets. While it may seem that the offer price is too low, taking into account the previous accounting scandals of Ambow, I don��t believe so.

Source: Prospectus

Business, Facilities And Employees

The company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in 2007, and is currently headquartered in Beijing, China. The business activities are described with the following words in the prospectus:

��Our business addresses three critical demands in China��s education market: the desire for students to be admitted into top secondary and post-secondary schools, the desire for graduates of those schools to obtain more attractive jobs, and the need for schools and corporate clients to optimizing their teaching and operating environment.�� Source: Prospectus

The company is not small. As of December 31, 2017, Ambow had 39 learning centers and schools. The list of units includes 3 directly operated schools, 9 tutoring centers, 18 training offices, 8 career enhancement centers, and one career enhancement campus. A priori, the business seems to be 100% based in China:


Source: Prospectus

Additionally, the company owns approximately 75,200 meters for schools and leases certain properties for tutoring centers and career enhancement centers.

With regards to the number of employees, as of December 31, 2017, Ambow had 1694 full-time employees and 963 part-time employees.

Source: Prospectus

There are 1,043 teachers, 230 employees selling the company��s courses and services, and 391 people in general and administrative functions. Let me make a quick statement on the amount of people working on each role. More than 50% of the full-time personnel are not teachers. With this in mind, I believe that Ambow needs to invest quite a lot of money to sell the courses. Students don��t seem to contact the company to get education. The company contacts them.

Doesn��t look like the courses are not of high quality? Additionally, I am not part of the education industry, but I remember well that universities, high schools and tutoring centers used to be full of teachers. Sales and Marketing were not that important. I don��t think that Chinese education companies can be such an exception.

To sum up, I don��t appreciate the ratio between the number of teachers and sales and marketing professionals. I believe that sales work very well if you offer valuable courses. In any other case, in my opinion, the business can��t be sustainable.

Who are the clients?

I could not read about any remarkable client in the prospectus. With that in mind, it is relevant to mention that Fortune 500 enterprises are said to collaborate with Ambow. Have a look at the following paragraph:

Source: Prospectus

The previous decline in the stock

As usual, the decline of Ambow Education did not happen as a result of only one reason. Having said that, I want to note two very important events that showed the financial state of the company four years ago.


Source: Seeking Alpha Article ��The Ambow Massacre: Baring Private Equity Fails In Its Take Private Plan��

The first event happened in 2012. The company was not able to file its 2011 10-K on the due date. It also communicated that the management needed to modify previous quarterly results. That was not all. A previous employee of Ambow released that the company��s accounting was fraudulent. As a result, the pressure of the shareholders was so large that the company had to go into provisional liquidation by a court in the Cayman Islands. You need to know the following information:

Reuters

The second event happened in June 2013. Baring Private Equity, also a stakeholder of Ambow, launched a bid to acquire the company. I have to admit that I thought that the move was brilliant. The company was trading at about 1.5x trailing EBITDA and one time its cash per share:


Seeking Alpha

What happened?

Well, we were all wrong; Baring Private Equity lost tons of millions. The reaction of the Board of Directors was completely unexpected. Instead of welcoming the offer, four independent directors and auditors resigned, which ultimately caused the ADSs to be suspended from trading on the NYSE.

Read the reaction of the ��smart�� people from Baring:

Seeking Alpha

What��s my take? I believe that insiders of Ambow did not want anybody new inside the firm. Are they hiding fraudulent accounting books? Nobody can really know it. However, this worst-case scenario will affect the company and its share price in the future. While $3.50-$4.50 seems, a priori, too low, it makes sense when we check the previous background of Ambow.

How did The Board Of Directors React? - The Audit Committee Investigation

In my opinion, the Board of Directors reacted very well after the scandal. They hired Deloitte and DLA to conduct an Audit Committee investigation. The results were received in 2014. DLA ��concluded that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations as to questionable or inappropriate conduct.�� Regarding this matter, the prospectus reads as follows:

Source: Prospectus

Valuation

Having said so about the accounting of Ambow, let��s see now what we have in the books.

The most interesting asset is the cash. As of December 31, 2017, there were $30.0 million in cash and cash equivalents. Taking into account 40.8 million weighted average shares outstanding, I obtained $0.73 in cash per share. Ambow is trying to sell shares at $1.75 (1 ADS = 2 shares), so approximately 40% of the share price is cash. If you don��t revise the previous history of the company, the shares look quite interesting.

Source: Prospectus

While the company shows $150 million in assets and $124 million in total liabilities, there is very little debt outstanding; approximately 6 million in long-term borrowings. I appreciate this feature. The financial risk on this name is quite low.

Source: Prospectus

Regarding the income statement, in 2017, the company reported revenues of $68.2 million, or $1.67 per share. That��s another interesting ratio showing the undervaluation of Ambow. On top of it, the company is also reporting gross income of $28.8 million and positive operating income of $0.3 million.

Source: Prospectus

Sale Of Assets

While the company had no financial debt, it did have a large amount of accounts payable a few years ago, which had to be reduced. In order to do so, in 2017, Ambow sold subsidiaries Ambow Online and 21st Training Center for nil consideration and 1 yuan respectively. Additionally, it had to sell its interests in Jinghan Group receiving approximately $0.075 million (RMB 500,000 x $0.15/RMB). In this regard, this is the information given in the prospectus:

What��s my take? I wanted to mention these sales to show that the company seemed to be getting into some financial trouble before the NYSE delisted the stock. Perhaps, the financial situation was not that great, which forced the management to ��modify�� the financial statements to look good in front of shareholders. It may explain why the auditors and the independent directors resigned when the private equity firm tried to acquire the company.

Who Are The Shareholders? - Low Float

Directors of the company control 62.96% of the total outstanding shares. Among the directors, Jin Huang, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, owns a stake of 58.74%. This amount of shares includes the stock owned by the New Flourish Holdings Limited, and Spin Rich Ltd., which are the entities controlled by this director:

Source: Prospectus

John Porter also owns a large percentage of the company as he is sole director of CEIHL Partners (I) Limited, and CEIHL Partners (II) Limited. These two entities own stakes equal to 4.22% and 13.74% respectively.

In the table above, there are only two shareholders without a clear relationship with directors. These are Baring Private Equity and New Summit Global Limited controlling 4.04% and 3.43% of the total outstanding shares respectively.

What��s my take on this information? I don��t appreciate the fact that the amount of shares owned by the public is low. This means that the float is very low, which could increase the volatility in the share price. This is another very important risk to factor in.

Conclusion

If we check the revenues and the cash on hand, Ambow Education is selling ADSs at a low price. Traders only looking at these variables will be very interested in the company. Having said so, the previous scandals of the company and the fact that directors resigned when Baring tried to acquire it are bad features. With this in mind, I can understand why underwriters decided to sell the ADSs so low.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

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

Monday, May 21, 2018

Findlay Park Partners LLP Invests $77.52 Million in Commerce Bancshares (CBSH) Stock

Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new position in Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,293,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $77,519,000. Findlay Park Partners LLP owned about 1.21% of Commerce Bancshares at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CBSH. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,170,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 21,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 600,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,972,000 after acquiring an additional 36,081 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Equity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 190.5% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Equity Partners LLC now owns 11,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 7,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetherby Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at about $201,000. Institutional investors own 64.95% of the company’s stock.

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In other Commerce Bancshares news, SVP Michael J. Petrie sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.95, for a total value of $36,372.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $614,671.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Jonathan M. Kemper sold 33,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.04, for a total transaction of $2,040,200.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,059,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,647,586.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,536 shares of company stock valued at $3,175,008. Insiders own 4.00% of the company’s stock.

CBSH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 9th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 23rd. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Commerce Bancshares from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 11th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Commerce Bancshares from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.70.

Commerce Bancshares opened at $64.59 on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.69. Commerce Bancshares has a 12 month low of $51.90 and a 12 month high of $65.77.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.12. Commerce Bancshares had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 13.21%. The firm had revenue of $312.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $310.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. equities research analysts predict that Commerce Bancshares will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 8th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 7th. Commerce Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.94%.

Commerce Bancshares Profile

Commerce Bancshares, Inc operates as the holding company for Commerce Bank that provides retail, mortgage banking, corporate, investment, trust, and asset management products and services to individuals and businesses. It operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Wealth. The Consumer segment offers various banking products and services, including consumer deposits; consumer loans, such as automobile, motorcycle, marine, tractor/trailer, recreational vehicle, fixed rate and revolving home equity, and other consumer loans; patient health care financing; real estate loans; indirect and other consumer financing; personal mortgage banking; consumer installment lending; and consumer debit and credit bank cards, as well as provides online, mobile, and telephone banking services.

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH)

Sunday, May 20, 2018

There Are More Millennial Caregivers Than You Think: This Is What They Are Like

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-1091040452&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1091040452/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;556&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

When we think about &l;a href=&q;https://howardgleckman.com/2015/07/27/we-need-to-do-a-better-job-caring-for-40-million-family-caregivers/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;family caregivers&l;/a&g;, we usually picture spouses or 50-something adult children. &a;nbsp;But, it turns out, about one-third of Americans have helped care for an older loved one by age 40.

In some respects, those millennials resemble older caregivers: They are as likely to underestimate the need for long-term supports and services in old age and they misunderstand who pays for it. At the same time, they are very different: &a;nbsp;While they spend, on average, less time caring for loved ones and say they have more family support, they are less resilient and &l;a href=&q;https://howardgleckman.com/2009/09/07/family_caregivers_need_to_care/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;feel more stress&l;/a&g;.

This picture is courtesy of &l;a href=&q;https://www.longtermcarepoll.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/APNORC_LTC_2018_brief.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;a new survey by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago&a;rsquo;s NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.&l;/a&g; Funded by the SCAN Foundation, the survey is the sixth in a series that looks at caregiving.

&l;strong&g;The same...but different&l;/strong&g;

While millennial caregivers acknowledge they are unprepared to care for their loved ones, they are less likely than older caregivers to support most policy changes aimed at supporting older adults, younger people with disabilities, and those helping them. For example, while about six in ten favor a &l;a href=&q;https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/81216/2000804-Can-Catastrophic-Insurance-Improve-Financing-for-Long-Term-Services-and-Supports.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;public insurance program&l;/a&g; or tax subsidies to help buy private long-term care insurance, that&a;rsquo;s about 10-15 percentage points lower than older caregivers.

Yet, when asked who they think should pay for long-term care, they describe a system that is completely at odds with &l;a href=&q;https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/long-term-services-and-supports-older-americans-risks-and-financing-research-brief&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;the current structure&l;/a&g;. For example, 53 percent of younger caregivers think private insurance should bear a large share of the responsibility, yet private long-term care insurance pays only about 10 percent of these costs and health insurance pays none. Forty percent think Medicare should be a major payer, yet Medicare effectively pays little or nothing towards the costs of long-term care. They are more realistic about Medicaid: One-third say the program should bear much of the responsibility for financing long-term care. And, in reality, it does. The program pays about one-third of all costs, second only to families themselves.

&l;strong&g;More than you think&l;/strong&g;

The most surprising result is how many young adults are now, or have been caregivers.&a;nbsp; About one-third say they have already helped care for an older loved one at some time in their lives and about one in six were caring for an older family member at the time of the survey. About half the younger &l;a href=&q;https://howardgleckman.com/2017/04/12/men-family-caregivers/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;family caregivers are men&l;/a&g;, which is higher than the 40 percent of older caregivers among the older group.

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Among those millennials who are not providing care, nearly two-thirds expect to do so sometime over the next five years. More than half say they are unprepared, compared with about one-third of those older than 40.

&l;strong&g;Limited online support&l;/strong&g;

Millennial caregivers report spending much less time helping loved ones than caregivers over 40. For example, only about one-quarter say they spend 10 or more hours a week providing personal assistance, while nearly two-thirds of older caregivers do so. One big difference: relatively few younger people are providing care alone, a stark contrast with older caregivers who frequently assist parents or spouses with little or no help from others.

Six in 10 say they receive all the social and emotional support they need&a;mdash;mostly from family. Nearly half say they get some support from online communities, almost twice the rate as older caregivers. But only about 8 percent of millennials say they get most of their support that way. Twice as many say &l;a href=&q;https://howardgleckman.com/2016/12/07/faith-communities-hospitals-can-work-together-help-older-adults/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;faith communities&l;/a&g; are their biggest source of social and emotional support.

Fifty-something adult daughters remain the backbone of family caregiving. But, as this survey reminds us, family members caring for aging loved one are a widely diverse group. It is worth remembering as we think about how to help them, either personally or through policy changes.

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