Month: February 2017

Meritage Homes Corp. Finishes 2016 Strong, but a Few Things Bear Watching

Yet following the company’s earnings release and conference call with investors, shares were trading down 5%, because of a couple of things that have created some uncertainty around the company’s ability to continue growing sales and profits. Let’s take a closer look at Meritage Homes’ results, and what management had to say about those results, as well as what to expect going forward.

Indiana reworking bill that critics say would bar Tesla

Indiana lawmakers are reworking a bill after critics charged that it would sound the death knell of auto manufacturer Tesla’s ability to sell cars in the state. After nearly two hours of testimony Wednesday, House transportation committee Chairman Ed Solidary called a recess and said he would hammer out a compromise between conventional auto manufacturers, their dealership franchises and Tesla.

TheStreet Guest Contributor

With tensions between the Trump Administration and the media already high, a vigorous press is more critical than ever. That’s where the Institute for Journalism in New Media comes in.

Sears’ sorrows

The 130-year-old company operates one of America’s best-known department store brands, Sears, Roebuck & Company, along with the ubiquitous Kmart chain, and was America’s largest retail company until 1989. But the firm has recently found itself in a crisis as it struggles to turn a profit as Americans increasingly shop online rather than in shopping centres.

‘Legal, but immoral’

Katie Kendrick says she was originally told her home’s freehold would cost between A 2,000 and A 4,000 When putting pen to paper to buy a new home, most people expect to know how much they will need to pay to own it outright. But thousands of families in England and Wales are discovering the houses they bought are not all they seemed.

Biz Break: Apple investors buy what the company is selling

The new iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7. Strong iPhone sales in the last three months of 2016 helped give investors enthusiasm for Apple’s stock on Wednesday. Well, for Apple, it was part of the reason why investors on Wednesday sent the company’s shares up to as much as $130.49, or their highest point since 2015.

Trump Team Reconsiders Scaramuccia s White House Role

Senior White House officials are moving to deny Wall Street hedge fund impresario Anthony Scaramucci a much coveted advisory post to President Donald Trump amid a continued lengthy review of his business dealings, the FOX Business network has learned. Officials with direct knowledge of the matter, who could only speak on the condition of anonymity, say the likely denial is not the result of finding improprieties related to Scaramucci’s past life as a hedge fund executive and the recent sale of his firm, SkyBridge Capital, to a privately held Chinese conglomerate.

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Quarterly revenue fell 15% year over year, to $462.1 million, with strong customer pick-up driving higher-than-expected trailer shipments of 60,950. That translated to a 29.1% decline in adjusted net income, to $24.2 million.

Why Seaspan Corporation Stock Is Down Nearly 13%

In contrast, the analyst initiated coverage of Seaspan but with a much less bullish view. According to Morgan Stanley, Seaspan is likely to experience declining earnings over the course of this year as “weak global trade and prolonged oversupply of containerships” put the hurt on its income statement.

Why Arconic Stock Just Popped 10%

Analysts had been expecting the Alcoa spinoff to report $0.23 per share in pro forma profit on $3 billion in revenue in its fiscal fourth-quarter 2016 report last night.Management hit that revenue total on the head, reporting $3 billion in Q4 sales. As for the profit, though, well, Arconic actually reported a $2.88-per-share loss for the quarter.

The Toyota Camry is Getting a Facelift.

CEO Akio Toyoda unveiled the company’s plans to soup up the Camry. Listen to this segment from Industry Focus: Industrials to hear what will change with the midsize sedan and why Toyota seems to be focusing so much effort on this model.

Fed Holds Interest Rates Steady, Remains Upbeat on Economy

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday in its first meeting since President Donald Trump took office, but painted a relatively upbeat picture of the U.S. economy that suggested it was on track to tighten monetary policy this year. The central bank said job gains remained solid, inflation had increased and economic confidence was rising, although it gave no firm signal on the timing of its next rate move.

AMD Shows Progress as Ryzen Launch Looms

The company beat analyst estimates across the board when it reported its fourth-quarter results, driven mostly by its Polaris graphics cards. The PC CPU market also treated AMD a little better, with client processor sales improving compared to the third quarter.

How Blacks Took Banking Into Their Own Hands

Many folks try to make a dollar out of 15 cents, but African Americans don’t always take those nickels and dimes to a bank. More than 18% of African Americans don’t have traditional bank accounts, compared with 7% of all Americans, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. But where banks don’t fill the bill, communities have created their own solutions, including grassroots traditions and minority-owned banks and credit unions.

Retailers, trade groups increase fight against tax proposal

More than 100 retailers including Wal-Mart and Target as well as key trade associations are launching a new coalition aimed at fighting a Republican proposal on how imports get taxed, which they believe would harm their businesses. The National Retail Federation, along with the American International Automobile Dealers Association, the National Grocers Association and others are joining forces to form Americans for Affordable Products, which will run a campaign to educate consumers and show lawmakers that the so-called Border Adjusted Tax plan would lead to higher prices of as much as 20 percent on everyday items including clothing, food and even gas.

Russell Simmonsa RushCard fined $13 million for 2015 outage

Federal regulators ordered hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons’ company RushCard to pay $13 million in fines and restitution related to a 2015 outage that cut off tens of thousands of its customers from their money. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that it has ordered RushCard and MasterCard to pay $10 million in restitution to customers as well as a $3 million fine.

Facebook Carries ‘One Long-Term Concern,’ RBC’s Mahaney Says

Facebook, the social media giant that if it were a country would be the most populous in the world, will report its fourth quarter earnings results after the market close on Wednesday. “We like the setup with Facebook going into this print tonight,” RBC tech analyst Mark Mahaney said on CNBC’s “Halftime Report” Wednesday afternoon.

Target Slims Down After Less Than Festive Holiday Season

It looks like Target will join the growing list of retailers opting to slim down a bit after a tepid holiday shopping season. Target has canceled Goldfish, an e-commerce start-up launched a year ago, and has killed a prototype for a robot infested store of the future that was scheduled to soon be constructed in Silicon Valley, according to report Wednesday afternoon by Star Tribune .

Where Will Northern Dynasty Minerals Be in 10 Years?

There is one minor detail, though: It hasn’t done much mining. That’s because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nixed the company’s plans to develop the Pebble Project in Alaska in 2014 after ruling that it could threaten the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.

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U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, in a bright start to the month, as Apple powered a rally in technology stocks, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 82.17 points, or 0.41 percent, at 19,946.26, the S&P 500 was up 8.3 points, or 0.364216 percent, at 2,287.17 and the Nasdaq composite was up 39.94 points, or 0.71 percent, at 5,654.73.