Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now

tags:JWN,ISRG,BWLD,MED,TBI,

With Chinese trade war turmoil rocking Chinese stocks on American markets, many investors are wondering if they should still consider buying Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s (NYSE: BABA) stock.

If Wall Street is to be believed, investors should stay far away – between January and May, Alibaba's stock dropped 18% as the White House pushed for aggressive trade restrictions on Chinese firms.

But Wall Street is overreacting…

As the company's recent earnings report illustrated, Alibaba's growth potential has only gotten stronger over the last year. Earnings increased 44.4% year over year, while revenue increased 61% to $9.87 billion.

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  A lot has changed since then, however. J.C. Penney badly underperformed its own comparable sales target in the second half of 2016, as comparable sales fell instead of hitting the 3-4% mark the company had projected. Its peers continued to struggle -- Macy's�(NYSE:M),�Kohl's�(NYSE:KSS), and�Nordstrom�(NYSE:JWN) all reported declining comps in the fourth quarter, and Macy's said last year it would close 100 stores.

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) returned to earnings growth last quarter, as the reduced corporate tax rate helped the upscale retailer post a double-digit increase in earnings per share. Investors still dumped Nordstrom stock in after-hours trading on Thursday, punishing the company for weak comparable-store sales growth.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Nordstrom Inc.’s (NYSE: JWN) most recent quarterly release is anticipated late on Thursday. The consensus forecast is $0.44 in EPS on $3.46 billion in revenue. Shares ended the week at $48.80. The consensus target price is $51.19, and the 52-week range is $37.79 to $54.00.

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: Intuitive Surgical Inc.(ISRG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Stock No. 4: Let's go to the "I" stock from our April stocks a year ago. That's one of my favorite companies, a stock that I own, and have held for more than a decade, and that would be Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), the maker of the da Vinci robot, the surgical robot.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  In the healthcare world, one of those has to be the impressive quarterly report from Intuitive Surgical�(NASDAQ:ISRG). The company increased its revenue by 25%, and accelerated its sales of the da Vinci robotic surgical systems that made it famous. But it's not just the expensive hardware that is allowing it to prosper -- it's that every machine needs a steady supply of the disposable instruments and accessories used during its procedures. The Fools consider the recent numbers, the outlook, and the investment thesis for Intuitive Surgical stock. But in the, say, anti-healthcare space, cigarette slinger�Philip Morris International�(NYSE:PM) took a big hit as demand slackened in major foreign markets. Sales of its e-cig devices are also not growing the way management had hoped.

• [By ]

  As of the time of this article, home cleaning robot maker iRobot's (IRBT) shares are down over 6% on the news. And though it makes surgical robots rather than anything meant for homes, Intuitive Surgical  (ISRG) is down close to 2%. As usual, Wall Street immediately trembles on any sign that Amazon plans to further expand its reach.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  Earnings season is now in full swing, with today's key reports from�International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Intuitive Surgical Inc.�(Nasdaq: ISRG). Thanks to tax cuts, expectations are high. Analysts expect profit growth to top 18%, which would be the biggest jump in seven years. But there are a few bearish trends that are still lurking in the market. And if you're serious about making money, you need to know how to harness them and target individual stocks for life-changing gains.�Money Morning�Quantitative Specialist Chris Johnson explains.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  These are some of the news stories that may have effected Accern Sentiment Analysis’s scoring:

  Get Intuitive Surgical alerts: Global Commercial Robotics Market 2018 by Key Players �� INTUITIVE SURGICAL INC , YASKAWA ELECTRIC … (themobileherald.com) Bullish or Bearish Territory: Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) (nysestocks.review) Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) -Price to Earnings Ratio Evaluation (P/E) (nasdaqfortune.com) Stock in Featured List: Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) (stockquote.review) Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Gains on Strength in Robotics (finance.yahoo.com)

  A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ISRG. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $490.00 price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Friday, January 26th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Intuitive Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. ValuEngine lowered Intuitive Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 1st. Piper Jaffray Companies reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Vetr raised Intuitive Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $478.64 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Intuitive Surgical presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $457.59.

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steve Symington]

  That's not to say it was a quiet day for every stock on the market. With earnings season ramping up, brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) and restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) served as an exercise in contrast as investors reacted to their respective quarterly reports.

• [By Peter Graham]

  A long term performance chart shows Dave & Busters Entertainment�tripling in value�before falling back while�small cap upscale gentlemen's clubs and restaurant owner�RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: RICK) began taking off in 2016 and small cap�Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) is being acquired by Arby��s Restaurant Group:

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: MEDIFAST INC(MED)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $121.06 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $119 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

• [By Max Byerly]

  McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE: MKC) and Medifast (NYSE:MED) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $124.60 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  MediBloc (CURRENCY:MED) traded 6.8% lower against the dollar during the 1-day period ending at 15:00 PM Eastern on May 27th. MediBloc has a total market cap of $73.40 million and $743,880.00 worth of MediBloc was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One MediBloc token can currently be purchased for approximately $0.0247 or 0.00000339 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Bibox, Gate.io and Coinrail. During the last seven days, MediBloc has traded 8.3% higher against the dollar.

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSPM) shares rose 35.8 percent to $3.00. Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGI) shares surged 32 percent to $8.94 after reporting upbeat Q1 earnings. Carbon Black, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBLK) gained 29.6 percent to $24.62. Carbon Black priced its IPO at $19 per share. California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) shares rose 26.8 percent to $32.70 following upbeat Q1 earnings. Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE: P) gained 25 percent to $7.185 after reporting strong quarterly results. Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares climbed 23.7 percent to $122.87 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. (NYSE: NGVC) rose 23.2 percent to $8.4999 after reporting Q2 results. Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTLA) gained 22.2 percent to $41.27 after the FDA approved the company's Andexxa, the only antidote indicated for patients treated with rivaroxaban and apixaban. Shake Shack Inc (NYSE: SHAK) rose 22.2 percent to $57.955 after the company reported upbeat results for its first quarter and raised its FY18 guidance. Atomera Incorporated (NASDAQ: ATOM) jumped 19.7 percent to $6.12 after reporting Q1 results. Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) rose 16.4 percent to $21.00 after reporting strong preliminary results for the third quarter. Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) shares rose 16.4 percent to $12.21 following Q1 earnings. Integer Holdings Corporation (NYSE: ITGR) shares gained 14.9 percent to $63.75 following Q1 results. Control4 Corporation (NASDAQ: CTRL) shares climbed 14.5 percent to $23.98 folloiwng strong Q1 results. B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS) climbed 12.6 percent to $25.40 after reporting Q1 earnings. HMS Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: HMSY) shares gained 10 percent to $19.59 after reporting upbeat quarterly earnings. Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAV) rose 7 percent to $10.09 following Q3 r

Best Growth Stocks To Buy Right Now: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Trueblue (NYSE: TBI) is one of 23 public companies in the “Help supply services” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Trueblue to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk.

Top 5 Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2018

tags:AMGN,BIIB,ARQL,ALNY,

Owning the right biotech stocks now could generate massive long-term gains, as the biotech industry could grow 120% by 2025.

Analysts are projecting the biotech sector could be worth $727 billion by 2025, up from $330 billion in sales in 2015.

And we've uncovered the biotech stocks with potential to net the biggest returns…

Our propriety stock valuation tool – the Money Morning Stock VQScore�� – ranks stocks according to their growth potential. Stocks with scores over 4 have the most potential, and these biotech stocks popped up with a score of 4.15 or higher.

Top 5 Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2018: Amgen Inc.(AMGN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Lange]

  Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) saw its short interest rise to 10.46 million shares from the previous level of 9.49 million. Shares were last seen at $171.94, in a 52-week trading range of $152.16 to $201.23.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-seven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $193.19.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) saw its short interest fall to 9.62 million shares from the previous level of 9.79 million. Shares were last seen at $178.26, in a 52-week trading range of $153.56 to $201.23.

• [By ]

  In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on The Blackstone Group (BX) , Nvidia  (NVDA) , Amgen (AMGN) , Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) , Hasbro (HAS) and Waste Management (WM) .

• [By Chris Lange]

  And Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) will report its most recent quarterly results late Thursday. The consensus forecast is $3.24 in EPS and $5.43 billion in revenue. Shares closed on Friday at $171.56, in a 52-week range of $152.16 to $201.23. The consensus price target is $195.14.

• [By Cory Renauer]

  Sanofi took the assessment and started engaging end payers to see if any would offer easy reimbursement for a lower net price that reflects ICER's assessment, and the industry listened. As of July 1, the partners will cut the net price of Praluent in return for straightforward access for around 25 million Americans covered by the�Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) national formulary. The�pharmacy benefits manager, and will also remove formulary access for its main competitor, Amgen's (NASDAQ:AMGN) Repatha.

Top 5 Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2018: Biogen Idec Inc(BIIB)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Lange]

  The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Wednesday was Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) which traded down about 6% at 297.99. The stock��s 52-week range is $244.28 to $370.67. Volume was about 5 million compared to the daily average volume of roughly 1 million.

• [By Shannon Jones]

  In this week's episode of Industry Focus: Healthcare, host Michael Douglass and Motley Fool contributor Shannon Jones look at what went wrong with Incyte's Epacadostat, where the company can go from here, and what this unfortunately means for the immuno-oncology sector on the whole. Then, in more pleasant news, the hosts dive into Novartis' (NYSE:NVS) newest acquisition of gene therapy company AveXis. Find out what this means for Novartis, why Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB)�might be getting the stink eye from their investors right about now, whether or not Novartis overpaid to tuck this company under their belt, and more.

• [By Brian Orelli]

  Data source: Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

  What happened with Ionis Pharmaceuticals this quarter? Revenue increased thanks to $41 million in royalties from Biogen's (NASDAQ:BIIB) sales of Spinraza, up from just $5 million in the year-ago quarter. Because the tiered royalty rates reset each year, the royalties as a percentage of sales will end up being higher in the quarters to come this year. Despite the higher revenue, earnings turned negative on a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis: Ionis and Akcea Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKCA) increased spending in preparation for the launch of Tegsedi for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR), and Waylivra for familial chylomicronemia syndrome, a rare disease that causes the buildup of lipids. Ionis is still the majority owner of Akcea, so its financials are incorporated into Ionis' financials. The Food and Drug Administration pushed back its goal for making a decision on the marketing application for Tegsedi (the new brand name for inotersen) to Oct. 6, 2018. Ionis provided additional data analysis that the FDA needs additional time to review. In April, Ionis signed another deal with Biogen to develop antisense drugs for neurological disorders. In the deal, Ionis gets $1 billion up front, including an equity investment, in exchange for Biogen having first choice of neurology targets on which to exclusively collaborate with Ionis. Biogen is paying for everything beyond the initial discovery stage, with Ionis eligible for royalties and milestone payments as the drugs advance.

  Image source: Getty Images.

• [By Brian Feroldi]

  Data source: Alkermes. GAAP = generally accepted accounting principles.

  What happened with Alkermes this quarter? Sales of Alkermes'�opioid- and alcohol-abuse prevention drug Vivitrol grew 7% to $62.7 million. Sales of the company's�schizophrenia drug�Aristada�rose 62% to $29.2 million. Manufacturing and royalty revenue related to�Johnson & Johnson's schizophrenia drugs jumped 15% to $68.8 million. Manufacturing and royalty revenue related to�Acorda Therapeutics' multiple sclerosis drug�fell�3% to $28.3 million. Research and development revenue earned as part of its collaboration with�Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) for BIIB098 -- which used to be called ALKS 8700 -- was $17.5 million.

  Looking beyond the financials, here's an overview of the key events from the period:

Top 5 Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2018: ArQule Inc.(ARQL)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  ArQule (NASDAQ:ARQL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $6.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $5.00. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 134.38% from the company’s previous close.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on ArQule (ARQL)

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

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQL) Director Ronald M. Lindsay acquired 23,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.67 per share, for a total transaction of $63,813.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 43,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,213. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Shares of development-stage biopharma ArQule (NASDAQ:ARQL) rose nearly 17% today after the company announced two appointments to its management team in two newly created positions. Dr. Marc Schegerin will serve as senior vice president, corporate strategy, communication, and finance. Dr. Shirish Hirani will serve as senior vice president, program management and product planning.�

• [By Logan Wallace]

  BidaskClub upgraded shares of ArQule (NASDAQ:ARQL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

  A number of other research firms have also issued reports on ARQL. Roth Capital upped their price target on ArQule from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 17th. Leerink Swann upgraded ArQule from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 5th. Zacks Investment Research lowered ArQule from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 4th. ValuEngine upgraded ArQule from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd. Finally, B. Riley set a $4.00 price target on ArQule and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, The stock currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $4.69.

• [By Lisa Levin] Gainers Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) rose 15.3 percent to $53.50 in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter. Evofem Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVFM) rose 10.4 percent to $4.58 in pre-market trading. Evofem Biosciences reported closing of public offering of common stock and warrants. Resonant Inc. (NASDAQ: RESN) rose 7.3 percent to $4.88 in pre-market trading after declining 1.94 percent on Thursday. SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG) shares rose 5.7 percent to $59.65 in pre-market trading after falling 8.43 percent on Thursday. Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE: YRD) rose 5 percent to $30.00 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Deckers Outdoor Corp (NYSE: DECK) rose 4.9 percent to $108.75 in pre-market trading after reporteingd better-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter. Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: APRN) rose 4.2 percent to $3.21 in pre-market trading after gaining 3.70 percent on Thursday. Recro Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: REPH) rose 4 percent to $5.85 in pre-market trading after dropping 54.67 percent on Thursday. ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQL) rose 3.8 percent to $4.70 in pre-market trading after gaining 4.86 percent on Thursday. Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: BW) shares rose 2.9 percent to $2.85 in pre-market trading after climbing 7.78 percent on Thursday. Bilibili Inc. (NASDAQ: BILI) shares rose 2.5 percent to $14.20 in pre-market trading after surging 11.33 percent on Thursday.

  Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Top 5 Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2018: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ALNY)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Orelli]

  Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) released first-quarter results last week, but all eyes were looking forward as the company waits for a potential approval of its hereditary TTR amyloidosis (ATTR) drug, patisiran.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.41) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $21.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.23 million. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 36.81% and a negative net margin of 565.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.25) earnings per share. equities analysts anticipate that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

• [By Keith Speights]

  I wrote three months ago that I viewed Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) stock as a pretty good pick -- but with a couple of qualifications. First, I didn't think that the biotech would generate returns in 2018 nearly as great as it did last year. Second, I thought that there were even better stocks to buy than Alnylam.

• [By Brian Orelli]

  The delay in an FDA decision for Tegsedi puts it behind competitor Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY), which expects to hear from the FDA by Aug. 11 for its hATTR drug patisiran. But Sarah Boyce, the president at Akcea Therapeutics, doesn't think a few months will really matter: "We don't really feel that's going to have any impact and the drugs will be close enough together from a launch perspective. So not really [going] to make any adjustments, and we're very well prepared to be ready to launch following approval."

Redwood Investment Management LLC Takes $237,000 Position in Welltower (WELL)

Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower (NYSE:WELL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Synovus Financial Corp bought a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at $107,000. Motco acquired a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at $114,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. acquired a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at $118,000. Tiverton Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at $130,000. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at $146,000. 83.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Get Welltower alerts:

In related news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon purchased 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $53.63 per share, for a total transaction of $32,178.00. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Whitelaw purchased 925 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $54.18 per share, for a total transaction of $50,116.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 3,387 shares of company stock worth $182,116 over the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WELL shares. Hilliard Lyons upgraded shares of Welltower from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 27th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Welltower from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 18th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 28th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Welltower in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.85.

Welltower stock opened at $55.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $20.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.18. Welltower has a fifty-two week low of $49.58 and a fifty-two week high of $78.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 5.13%. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. research analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 7th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.25%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.66%.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:HCN), an S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. The company invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WELL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Welltower (NYSE:WELL).

Bitcoin Cash Tumbles As It Faces Multiple Headwinds

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-959188880&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/959188880/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Bitcoin Cash has lost value in the last few days. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Bitcoin Cash has suffered a notable decline over the last few days, losing more than 10% of its value as the digital currency struggles with numerous challenges.

The hard fork of the original Bitcoin has been&a;nbsp;falling in&a;nbsp;value during a time where the broader digital currency market is experiencing less severe price fluctuations.

&l;span&g;&l;/span&g;

Bitcoin Cash fell to as little as&a;nbsp;$1,167.68 at 08:54 UTC (roughly 5 a.m. EST)&a;nbsp;today, representing a 10.6% decrease from the price of&a;nbsp;$1,306.95 that it reached on Sunday, according to &l;a href=&q;https://coinmarketcap.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;CoinMarketCap&l;/a&g;.

&l;strong&g;Broader Market&s;s Modest Volatility&l;/strong&g;

In contrast, the broader digital currency market lost only 5.7% of its value over roughly the same time frame, dropping from&a;nbsp;$392.2 billion to&a;nbsp;$369.8 billion, additional CoinMarketCap figures show.

At the time of this writing, many cryptocurrencies were in the red, but they&a;nbsp;were down only slightly.

&q;I&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;t&s;s all standard noise,&q; said&a;nbsp;&l;span&g;Charles Hayter, co-founder and CEO of digital currency data platform&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.cryptocompare.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;nofollow noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;CryptoCompare&l;/a&g;, emphasizing&a;nbsp;this asset class&s;s characteristic volatility.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;

&l;!--donotpaginate--&g;

&l;span&g;Jeff Koyen, CEO of&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://www.360blockchaininc.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;nofollow noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;360 Blockchain USA&l;/a&g;, offered a similar perspective.

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&q;The crypto-wide headwinds feel typical to me,&q; he stated.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&q;There&s;s some news here, some news there &a;mdash; but nothing earth-shattering that I&s;ve noticed.&q;&l;/span&g;

&l;strong&g;&s;One Of The Most Controversial Coins&s;

&l;/strong&g;Bitcoin Cash is apparently having a different experience, and Koyen spoke to this, shedding some light on the digital currency&s;s&a;nbsp;price fluctuations:

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&q;Second perhaps to Ripple, Bitcoin Cash is one of the most controversial coins out there. For its fans and supporters, it&s;s not enough to see it trade at a higher price.&q;&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&q;They insist on calling BCH the &s;real bitcoin&s; &a;mdash; not just a hard fork. This sows confusion among crypto newcomers and really pisses off a lot of the veterans. As a result, &l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;it&s;s more volatile than most.&q;&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;

&l;strong&g;Recent Mining Proposal&l;/strong&g;

&l;span&g;Marshall Swatt, founder &a;amp; president of&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://www.swatt.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;nofollow noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Swatt Exchange&l;/a&g;, spoke to a different matter, noting a recent meeting where Bitcoin Cash miners went over a &l;a href=&q;https://news.bitcoin.com/bch-miners-discuss-funding-development-with-a-fraction-of-block-rewards/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;proposal&l;/a&g; that would provide developers with a fraction of block rewards to fund varying initiatives.

&q;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;Bitcoin cash&s;s miners met recently to discuss whether to reallocate some portion of mining rewards to developers,&q; he stated.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;

&l;!--donotpaginate--&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&q;That could be a sign that BCH is struggling to gain much traction or grow its engineering and compete among all the other offerings.&q;&l;/span&g;

&l;strong&g;Bitcoin Cash&s;s Success&l;/strong&g;

In spite of its challenges, Bitcoin Cash has succeeded where many other digital currencies have failed.

Developers have created several forks of the original Bitcoin, and many of them have either struggled to gain some traction or faded from relevance.

More than nine months after coming in to existence in August 2017, Bitcoin Cash is still a Top 10 digital currency by market value, currently holding the number four spot on CoinMarketCap.

&l;em&g;Disclosure: I own some Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ether.&l;/em&g;&l;/p&g;

Bought AT&T After Selling Verizon

5G technology is coming to limited locations in the back half of 2018 with hopefully a wider rollout in 2019 across most of the U.S. This technology is promising enough to disrupt and change many aspects of society including autonomous vehicles and virtual and augmented reality. Both AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Communications (VZ) are leading the charge in their areas for rapid expansion, and both should be focused on 5G in the back half of 2018, especially if AT&T's longstanding fight to acquire Time Warner Inc. (TWX) gets resolved on June 12th. With AT&T at markedly depressed levels from the uncertainty of the merger, it appears to be an especially attractive value at this time, compared to its main competitor Verizon, making it a potential better buy at this time, especially if you think the merger will go through for Time Warner.

As leaders in the move towards 5G, Verizon and AT&T are set to launch mobile 5G in over a dozen markets in 2018. This launch will be spurred on by the new radio standards from 3GPP, the international standards body regarding 5G. Setting up these standards was essential before the companies could build and deploy their technologies in key U.S. cities.

Hank Kafka, VP of Access Architecture and Analytics at AT&T said in a techblog article,

We��re proud to see the completion of this set of standards. Reaching this milestone enables the next phase of equipment availability and movement to interoperability testing and early 5G availability.

With new standards now set up for many aspects of 5G in place, AT&T believes it can be a first provider to almost a dozen markets later in 2018 after conducting 5G trials in Austin and Waco in Texas, Kalamazoo in Michigan, and South Bend, Indiana in 2017. 5G technology promises to bring much faster speeds and ultra-low latency while making future technology like virtual reality, autonomous cars, the IoT (Internet of Things), and immersive 4K video more mainstream options. Verizon also plans to launch in 3-5 key markets later this year after initial trials in 11 markets. Both AT&T and Verizon look to lead the charge towards 5G while the U.S.'s other big telecom companies, T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) and Sprint Corporation (S), focus on starting a complicated $26B merger process. Getting past regulators easily could take a year or two to complete, if it ever gets approved, while Sprint and T-Mobile try to consolidate their companies and build out 5G technology at the same time.

With 5G coming more into focus in the back half of 2018, AT&T is more than ready to end its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, which was first announced back in late 2016. This drawn out saga of AT&T versus regulators, even thought it is more of a vertical merger compared to a horizontal merger like the Sprint and T-Mobile looks to be, looks to finally be coming to a close on June 12th. The expected conclusion of the main antitrust trial, before potential verdict appeals, should help to clear up much of the uncertainty surrounding AT&T, as there will finally be an official ruling on the case, instead of the endless back and forth. Since the deal was announced in October of 2016, AT&T's stock has had a rough time getting any type of traction going while most of the rest of the market around it experienced a tremendous run.

T data by YCharts

I think now might potentially be a great time to get into AT&T stock as the uncertainty is officially about to end, and there is already quite a lot of downside built into the stock from an almost chronic underperformance over the past year and a half. Many of the fundamentals of AT&T are just as good as they were in 2016, but a long drawn out fight against regulators over what looked to be a done deal on paper has had its toll on the company. If the deal is approved in June, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 10%-15% jump in the near-term price of AT&T's stock whereas, if it fails, I would think the downside would be most likely limited to the single digits for a short time, before an eventual possible recovery as AT&T turns its attention to other issues such as a new possible acquisition target or rapid 5G expansion.

Here are some of the main comparisons between Verizon and AT&T, according to Charles Schwab, which have helped in my decision to drop Verizon's stock as a core sector holding in favor of AT&T's, after its remarkable drop in value.

Comparison	Verizon	AT&T
Market Cap	$197B	$196B
P/E	13.67	19.08
Forward P/E	10.4	9.42
PEG	2.81	1.63
Dividend	4.94%	6.24%

Table by Trent Welsh

Right now both Verizon and AT&T are of similar size, with AT&T making a marked jump in size if its $85 billion Time Warner acquisition gets approved next month. Verizon on the other hand, has had its focus on more bite sized acquisitions including the former AOL for $4.4B and Yahoo for $4.8B now labeled under the brand name Oath. AT&T's growth looks to outpace Verizon's in the future with the company's forward P/E ratio under Verizon's while sporting over a full point lower PEG ratio marking its growth as "cheaper" than Verizon's, which is a good thing. Finally, after AT&T's drop in share price over the past year and a half, there is a very attractive difference between the two companies dividend yield, which is one of the main reasons to hold these kinds of stocks in the first place in my opinion. I sure didn't complain owning Verizon's dividend at approximately 5%, but I will be more than happy to now have AT&T's 6% + dividend now as a core holding in this sector.

Both AT&T and Verizon are at the forefront of 5G rollout amongst U.S. telecom companies, which could be a game changer for many U.S. companies in the future. After AT&T's acquisition issues concerning Time Warner though, its value is too much to pass up, as its prospects going forward look to become far more clear in mid June. One of the main reasons for me to own a telecom company, besides diversification exposure to the sector, is an attractive dividend yield. This noticeable difference in yield is what ultimately helped me switch my long term core holding from Verizon over to AT&T moving forward. Best of luck to all.

Disclosure: I am/we are long T.

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.

M&T Bank Corp Decreases Holdings in VMware (VMW)

M&T Bank Corp lessened its holdings in VMware (NYSE:VMW) by 14.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,047 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock after selling 2,267 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in VMware were worth $1,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coatue Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of VMware during the fourth quarter valued at $156,584,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of VMware by 3,351.4% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 541,010 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock valued at $67,799,000 after acquiring an additional 525,335 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of VMware by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,656,100 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock valued at $332,862,000 after acquiring an additional 441,500 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of VMware by 4,589.8% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 415,050 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock valued at $52,014,000 after acquiring an additional 406,200 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of VMware by 54,509.5% during the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management Inc. now owns 356,054 shares of the virtualization software provider’s stock valued at $44,621,000 after acquiring an additional 355,402 shares during the period. 21.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Get VMware alerts:

Shares of VMware opened at $138.99 on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. VMware has a 52 week low of $85.45 and a 52 week high of $165.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.74.

VMware (NYSE:VMW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 1st. The virtualization software provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.06. VMware had a net margin of 7.18% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. VMware’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. analysts predict that VMware will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VMW shares. Deutsche Bank boosted their price target on shares of VMware from $145.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Nomura started coverage on shares of VMware in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set a “reduce” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Citigroup downgraded shares of VMware from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $124.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, February 5th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of VMware from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of VMware in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.42.

In other VMware news, COO Rajiv Ramaswami sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.85, for a total value of $1,328,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 307,763 shares in the company, valued at $40,886,314.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 34.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About VMware

VMware, Inc provides compute, cloud, mobility, networking, and security infrastructure software to businesses in the United States and internationally. The company offers compute products, including VMware vSphere, a data center platform, which enables users to deploy hypervisor, a layer of software that resides between the operating system and system hardware to enable compute virtualization; storage and availability products that provide data storage and protection options; network and security products; and cloud management and automation products to manage and automate overarching IT processes involved in provisioning IT services and resources to users from initial infrastructure deployment to retirement.

Investors Should Avoid Aurora Cannabis' Acquisition of MedReleaf Like the Plague

In roughly three weeks, the face of the global marijuana industry could change forever. Bill C-45 in Canada, better known as the Cannabis Act, is set for a vote in the Senate on June 7, with the strong likelihood that'll it swiftly be moved along and signed into law not long thereafter. In doing so, Canada will become the first developed country in the world to have legalized recreational marijuana.

Opening the door to adult-use pot is expected to be quite lucrative to the legal cannabis industry. Forecasts are calling for approximately $5 billion in added annual revenue, which comes atop existing medical marijuana sales and export revenue. As a result, marijuana growers have been expanding their capacity as quickly as their balance sheets will allow.

Image source: Getty Images.

No pot stock has expanded like Aurora Cannabis

Arguably the most aggressive of these expansion efforts has come from Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQOTH:ACBFF). Toward the end of 2017, Aurora was in the midst of constructing its flagship project, the highly automated, 800,000-square-foot Aurora Sky facility that was to be capable of producing 100,000 kilograms of dried cannabis a year. When added to existing, but considerably smaller facilities, Aurora Cannabis was expected to produce just above 100,000 kilograms a year.

However, 2018 has been a ridiculously active year for the company.

In January, Aurora partnered with tomato producer Alfred Petersen & Son in Denmark to retrofit a 1 million-square-foot facility to produce cannabis. When complete, the Aurora Nordic facility will be capable of 120,000 kilograms of cannabis a year. Aurora Nordic will primarily be responsible for supplying cannabis to Europe's medical-marijuana-legal countries.�

Recently, Aurora Cannabis completed its acquisition of Saskatchewan-based CanniMed Therapeutics, which added 20,000 active medical patients and 20,000 kilograms of production a year. When completed, it was the priciest marijuana acquisition in history.

And just last month, the company announced its intent to build a 1.2 million-square-foot facility, to be known as Aurora Sun, in Medicine Hat, Alberta. When complete, this facility will have the potential to produce 150,000 kilograms a year. Add this up, and we're looking at roughly 430,000 kilograms of production per year. �

Image source: Getty Images.

Aurora announces the largest marijuana acquisition in history

And Aurora isn't close to finished. On Monday, May 14, the company announced what has now become the largest marijuana acquisition in history, assuming it's completed. According to the company, it's acquiring Ontario-based MedReleaf (NASDAQOTH:MEDFF) for $2.5 billion in an all-stock deal. The 3.575 shares of Aurora for each MedReleaf share represent an approximate premium of 34%, based on the 20-day volume-weighted average prices for each company's common stock.�

Why is Aurora hell-bent on acquiring MedReleaf? For one, it would allow Aurora to become the world's leading cannabis producer.

MedReleaf has three core facilities. Its Markham facility and ramped-up Bradford facility can combine for about 35,000 kilograms at full capacity. Recently, though, MedReleaf announced the purchase of 164 acres of land in Ontario, which it plans to use to quadruple its production. On 69 of these acres sits the Exeter facility, which MedReleaf will be retrofitting to grow cannabis. Retrofitting an existing facility rather than building a new one from the ground up saves time and money. Exeter, when complete, is expected to yield 105,000 kilograms of cannabis. All told, MedReleaf will allow Aurora's fully funded capacity to rocket to 570,000 kilograms per year.�

Let's not forget that MedReleaf also has the 95 acres of land adjacent to Exeter that isn't being used. MedReleaf has suggested that it could construct a facility that's one-and-a-half times the size of Exeter, if demand warranted such an expansion. This would allow Aurora Cannabis to increase its production to beyond 700,000 kilograms a year.

Acquiring MedReleaf also gives Aurora Cannabis access to new product lines. MedReleaf's AltaVie cannabis line goes after users who desire a higher-quality (and pricier) weed strain. Meanwhile, MedReleaf has regularly emphasized the importance of cannabis oils. Based on its most recent quarterly report, MedReleaf generated 21% of total sales from oils, up from just 3% in the year-ago period.

Image source: Getty Images.

Avoid this merger like the plague

While the "bigger is better" ethos is seemingly engrained into the minds of pot stock investors, that's not always the case. In this instance, I'd dub this a terrible deal for both companies.

The biggest issue I've had with Aurora Cannabis -- and an issue that's only going to be magnified with this deal -- is its ongoing destruction of shareholder value via dilution.

Marijuana stocks usually don't have access to traditional banking services, since the banks themselves fear criminal and/or financial penalties for aiding cannabis companies. Instead, Canadian pot stocks almost always turn to bought-deal offerings to raise capital. With a bought-deal offering, common stock, convertible debentures, stock options, and/or warrants are sold in order to raise money that can be used to expand growing operations. The good news is that companies like Aurora Cannabis have had no trouble whatsoever raising capital. The bad news is that all forms of bought-deal offerings dilute existing shareholders by increasing the number of shares outstanding. It also makes it tougher for companies to turn a meaningful per-share profit, since there are more shares for net income to be divided into.

The deal to acquire MedReleaf is entirely share-based. To cover the 3.2 billion Canadian dollars, according to the exchange ratio implied in the press release, Aurora Cannabis is going to have to issue around 388 million shares in Canada. Of course, the exchange ratio is merely an implied ratio. Since the deal was announced, Aurora's share price has declined a bit more. As of May 14, some 405 million shares would need to be issued to cover the entirety of the deal.

Since the end of fiscal 2014, Aurora's share count has exploded higher from just north of 16 million shares to 564.8 million (based on its Canadian listing) as of the end of the third quarter. Taking into account its more than 26 million outstanding stock options, nearly 18 million convertible debentures, and over 8 million warrants, and adding in this acquisition, it's not out of the question that Aurora has more than 1 billion shares outstanding by this time next year. The impact of dilution on Aurora's shareholders, and that of MedReleaf's shareholders who are now tied to Aurora's share price, will be enormous.�

Image source: Getty Images.

One last thing

Should that not be enough to keep investors away from this merger, I'm also dumbfounded that Aurora would pay $2.5 billion for MedReleaf when it could get almost 100,000 kilograms more in annual capacity for a presumably similar buyout price by going after Aphria (NASDAQOTH:APHQF). Keep in mind that this is merely hypothetical, and I'm not suggesting that Aurora should be buying any company with its need to finance everything with share issuances, but Aphria would appear to offer far more bang for the buck than MedReleaf.

Like MedReleaf, Aphria has three core facilities. Its organic, four-phase project known as Aphria One is expected to yield around 100,000 kilograms of dried cannabis a year and be completed in January 2019. Similarly, its partnership with Double Diamond Farms, known as Aphria Diamond, should generate as much as 120,000 kilograms when complete. Lastly, the acquisition and expansion of West Coast Cannabis should yield 10,500 kilograms per year. That's roughly 230,000 kilograms of production for a current price tag of just below $2 billion.�

It's possible that Aphria simply isn't looking for a buyer, but I'm still scratching my head at Aurora Cannabis's actions all around. If you're a marijuana stock investor, my suggestion would be to stay far away from this merger.