Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.
Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on PVH (NYSE: PVH ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 10 High Dividend Companies To Buy For 2015: Lenovo Group Ltd (LNVGF.PK)
Lenovo Group Limited is principally engaged in investment holding. It is a personal technology company serving customers in more than 160 countries. The Company is a personal computer (PC) vendor. The Company develops, manufactures and markets technology products and services. Its product lines include Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile Internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. It offers a range of commercial desktops and notebooks to businesses of all sizes that feature cutting-edge technology, customer-centric innovation and productivity features. It operates in three segments: China, Emerging Markets (excluding China) and Mature Markets. Lenovo has research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina, the United States. Advisors' Opinion:- [By Investometrica]
x86: With regards to the specific x86 server business, it seems that IBM is considering the possibility of fully divesting it. According to Morgan Stanley, the server business generated about $4.9 billion of the company's $15.4 billion in server sales last year. This enormous volume is due to the fact that IBM may be producing the overall market's highest volumes, at the lowest profit level; which suggests this segment is doomed. Finally, IBM has a history of aggressive shifts to areas with better growth prospects and margins. For example, the company agreed to sell off the PC business to Lenovo (LNVGF.PK) at a moment where the PC still seemed attractive.
Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Copart Inc. (CPRT)
Copart, Inc. provides online auctions and vehicle remarketing services in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company offers a range of services for processing and selling vehicles over the Internet through its Virtual Bidding Second Generation Internet auction-style sales technology, to vehicle sellers, primarily insurance companies, banks and financial institutions, charities, car dealerships, fleet operators, and vehicle rental companies. Its services include online seller access, salvage estimation services, estimating services, end-of-life vehicle processing, virtual insured exchange, transportation services, vehicle inspection stations, on-demand reporting, DMV processing, flexible vehicle processing programs, member network, sales process, dealer services, direct services, and u-pull-it services, as well as CoPartfinder, an Internet-based used vehicle parts locator that provides vehicle dismantlers with resale opportunities for their purchases. Th e company sells its products to licensed vehicle dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used vehicle dealers, and exporters, as well as the general public. Copart, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Fairfield, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Geoff Gannon] s thousands of acres of land around the U.S. Some of it is quite valuable. It�� carried on the balance sheet at $343 million. That number excludes buildings and improvements (which had an original cost of another $384 million).
Some of that land ��for example, some of the earliest properties they still own in California ��are worth much, much more than they are carried for.
But that fact actually isn�� that important. Why not?
Because Copart earns very high returns on its net tangible assets. We��e talking about probably 20% to 30% returns on tangible investment. You don�� normally earn 20% on land. So, the value of land is not very high outside of Copart�� operations relative to what it is worth inside Copart�� operations.
And, yes, the land is critical to Copart�� operations. They don�� necessarily have to own it ��a major competitor leases almost all of its land ��but they do have to control it.
Now, if something were ever to happen to Copart�� business where you had a long-term deterioration in the car salvage business that land might become very important to an analysis of Copart.
Let�� assume that tomorrow there is some high tech crash avoidance system. For example, cars are navigated remotely rather than being driven by someone inside the car.
Under those circumstances, Copart�� business would be forever changed. The volume of wrecks would decline. And Copart�� invested assets ��like its big salvage yards ��would become much less valuable inside Copart�� business.
That means the market value of the land would now be a lot higher relative to the value Copart could get from using the land to store cars. This would change the analysis entirely. And suddenly Copart�� balance sheet would be worth careful analysis.
While this sounds farfetched, it�� actually the kind of thing that happens at net-nets and other stocks that are valuable on a liquidation basis. They start
- [By Geoff Gannon]
The same rule applies here that I mentioned with Copart (CPRT) in an earlier article. Although Wal-Mart is an inferior business to Copart from a pure ROI standpoint, it�� still earning good returns on its investment.
Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Campus Crest Communities Inc (CCG)
Campus Crest Communities, Inc., incorporated on March 1, 2010, is a self-managed, self-administered and vertically-integrated developer, builder, owner and manager of purpose-built student housing properties in the United States. The Company operates in two segments: student housing operations and development, construction and management services. It owns the general partner interest and owns limited partner interests in Campus Crest Communities Operating Partnership, LP (the Operating Partnership). It holds substantially all of its assets and conducts substantially all of its business, through the Operating Partnership. As of December 31, 2010, it owned interests in 27 operating student housing properties containing approximately 5,048 apartment units and 13,580 beds. Twenty-one of its properties, containing approximately 3,920 apartment units and 10,528 beds, are wholly owned. On October 19, 2010, it acquired the remaining interest in Campus Crest at San Marcos, LLC, which owns The Grove at San Marcos, from HSRE. In January 2012, the Company acquired 50.1% interests in The Grove. On December 27, 2013, the Company closed its sale of four wholly owned student housing properties. In January 2014, Campus Crest Communities Inc and Beaumont Partners joint venture partnership acquired the 488-room, 22-story Holiday Inn Midtown in Montreal, Quebec.
As of December 31, 2010, the average occupancy for its 27 properties was approximately 88%. Its properties are primarily located in medium-sized college and university markets. As of December 31, 2010, the Company were party to one joint venture arrangement with HSRE, in which it owns a 49.9% interest.
Student Housing Operations
The Company�� student housing operations are consisted of rental and other service revenues, such as application fees, pet fees and late payment fees. In August 2010, the Company opened three additional properties that were owned by the same real estate venture.
Development, Construc! tion and Management Services
The Company provides development and construction services to unconsolidated joint ventures in which it has an ownership interest. The Company acts as a general contractor on all of its construction projects. In addition to its wholly owned properties, all of which are managed by the Company, it also provides management services to uncombined joint ventures in which, it has an ownership interest.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonas Elmerraji]
2013 is panning out to be a rough year for Campus Crest Communities (CCG) -- shares of the small-cap student housing REIT have slid 12.7% since the calendar flipped over to January. While that sounds bad enough as it is, it's actually 31% underperformance vs. the S&P 500. And a quick glance at the chart makes it pretty clear to see why.
CCG is stuck in a textbook downtrend right now, bouncing between trendline resisatnce to the upside and a parallel support level below. You don't have to be an expert technical analyst to figure out where CCG's high probability price action is from here; it's down. Trendline resistance has acted as a ceiling for shares on the last four tests in 2013 and with shares hitting their head on that resistance level this week, now's the optimal time to sell (or short) this REIT.
If you're looking for an opportunity to buy CCG, you could be in for a long wait. But the 50-day moving average has been a pretty good proxy for resistance since the start of the summer. I'd recommend waiting for that line to get broken before even thinking about doing anything but selling this stock. Until then, it's toxic.
Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Discovery Laboratories Inc.(DSCO)
Discovery Laboratories, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on developing products for the treatment of respiratory disease. The company?s product pipeline includes Surfaxin, a synthetic, peptide-containing surfactant that has completed Phase-III pivotal trial for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature infants; Surfaxin LS, a lyophilized dosage form of Surfaxin in Phase-III clinical trials, which enhances ease of use for healthcare practitioners; and AEROSURF, a drug-device combination product that has completed first pilot Phase II clinical study of aerosolized KL4 surfactant for the prevention of RDS in premature infants. It has license agreements with Philip Morris USA Inc.; Philip Morris Products S.A.; Johnson & Johnson; and Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation for its capillary aerosolization and KL4 surfactant technologies. The company also has a strategic alliance with Laboratorios del Dr. Esteve, S.A. for the development, marketing, and sale of a portfolio of potential KL4 surfactant products in Andorra, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Discovery Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Warrington, Pennsylvania.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
Discovery Laboratories (NASDAQ: DSCO ) is turning its focus to raising capital. The company will float 9.5 million shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. The price is $1.50 per share. Additionally, its underwriter has been granted a 30-day purchase option for up to an additional 1.425 million shares to cover overallotments, if any.
- [By Sue Chang and William L. Watts]
Shares of Discovery Laboratories Inc. (DSCO) �surged 39%. The company said the Food and Drug Administration had agreed to the company�� updated product specifications for its Surfaxin intratracheal suspension, which was approved for the prevention of respiratory distress in prematurely born infants.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Stocks on the Move: Potbelly Corp. (NASDAQ: PBPB) is up 119.1% at $30.68 after a blistering IPO at $14 a share. OCI Partners LP (NYSE: OCIP) is up 5.6% at $19.01 after an IPO at $18.00 a share. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corp. (NYSE: CHMI) is down 7.6% at $18.48 following its IPO on Friday morning. Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is up 37.1% at $2.70 following approval of updated specifications for a drug to prevent respiratory distress in premature infants. Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST) is down 9.7% at $5.74 following the sale of $1 billion worth of assets in the Texas panhandle.
- [By David Williamson]
In this video, Fool health-care analyst David Williamson discusses Discovery Labs (NASDAQ: DSCO ) , as it struggles with yet another delay to its drug Surfaxin. Shares are down 15% on news that the FDA has requested Surfaxin product specifications and a new analytical chemistry method. It took the company an unbelievable five attempts to finally get this drug approved a year ago. David tells investors when they might expect the delays to end, and what the key things to watch with Discovery Labs will be in the meantime, as the company continues to lose out on sales and burn cash.
Hot High Tech Stocks To Own For 2014: Stone Energy Corporation(SGY)
Stone Energy Corporation, an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation, development, and operation of oil and gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico and the Appalachia region. As of December 31, 2010, it had estimated proved oil and natural gas reserves of approximately 473.9 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana with additional offices in New Orleans, Louisiana; Houston, Texas; and Morgantown, West Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
While the Bakken formation is already on most investor radars,�few American investors may realize that the formation stretches North into the oil and gas rich Canadian province of Saskatchewan where�stocks like Surge Energy Inc (TSE: SGY), Questerre Energy Corp (TSE: QEC), Crescent Point Energy Corp (TSE: CPG), Keyera Corp (TSE: KEY) and Centor Energy Inc (OTCBB: CNTO) have been pumping out a good flow of newsworthy news in recent weeks. I should mention that Canada�� oil reserves are ranked #3 after to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia with over 95% of these reserves being the oil sands of Alberta while the neighboring province of Saskatchewan (which the Bakken formation stretches into from South Dakota and Montana) along with offshore areas of Newfoundland also contain substantial production and reserves (Note:�Excluding oil sands, Alberta would have 39% of Canada�� remaining conventional oil reserves,�followed by�offshore Newfoundland with�28% and Saskatchewan with 27%).
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