Thursday, July 31, 2014

Jim Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: This, Too, Shall Pass

Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- This, too, shall pass, Jim Cramer said on Mad Money Thursday after a big down day on Wall Street. But the questions remain: When will it pass and how low will the markets be when it does? Cramer admitted that there's not much to like in the markets just yet because the best stocks still aren't down low enough to be attractive. Patience will be rewarded, he continued, as he offered viewers a peek into his thought process before buying for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS. Read More: 8 Stocks George Soros Is Buying in 2014 Cramer said he's looking for stocks that are down -- not down just a little, but stocks that are really down. The industrials fit that criteria, down 10%, he noted, but many of them have exposure to Russia and Europe, making them risky. One of the stocks that could be hurt most by Russia, however, is Germany's BASF, and that would be good news for the U.S.-based Dow Chemical . Cramer said Dow offers shareholders a 3% yield and has an activist investor to boot, which is why he's a buyer of Dow. What about the financials or technology? Cramer said the financials need higher interest rates so they're off the buy list, and many of the tech stocks, like Microsoft , just aren't down enough to be attractive. Many food and drug stocks are also off the list after both Kellogg and Kraft Foods reported horrible earnings. Cramer said the oil stocks may be hurt by downgrades with oil prices plummeting; meanwhile, the restaurant and retail names have just become too dangerous to own at the moment. Read More: Economic Growth Is Increasing but Don't Expect Stocks to Ride With It There are the conservative stocks, like Walt Disney , Cramer concluded, but even Disney is not down enough to be attractive. That leaves only Dow Chemical, which is why that's the only stock Cramer was buying for Action Alerts PLUS so far. To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here. -- Written by Scott Rutt in Washington, D.C. To email Scott about this article, click here: Scott Rutt Follow Scott on Twitter @ScottRutt or get updates on Facebook, ScottRuttDC


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Why Toyota's Move to Fuel Cells Won't Affect Electric Vehicle Sales

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Toyota is bowing out of the electric vehicle market. Come December, the Japanese car company will cease production and development of all plug-in electric cars. Is this a blow to the struggling EV market? No. Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks In place of Toyota's $30,000 plug-in Prius and its $50,000 all-electric Rav-4, Toyota will be slamming the gas pedal, or more accurately the hydrogen pedal, on its $69,000 fuel cell vehicle (FCV) Mirai, to be sold in Japan starting April and later in 2015 in California. This move comes as Toyota's Prius plug-in sales have skyrocketed 297% year over year as of May. While delving into new experimental technologies is understandable, abandoning EV at this time makes little sense. Toyota is assuming the markets are interchangeable and the people who are interested in EV will also be interested in FCV. This is doubtful. Consider the numbers. First, there is the cost of the car itself. The Mirai will be more than twice as expensive as the Prius plug-in. Second, there is the cost of fuel. At best, according to future estimates by California municipalities involved, it will only equal the price of gasoline, and that's only when the infrastructure matures. Compare that with current promotions like Nissan and CarCharging's No Charge to Charge program for EV and it certainly looks like Toyota has taken a step backward by abandoning EV. Third, there is the problem of manufacture. Mass-produced hydrogen comes from none other than oil and natural gas itself as a byproduct of processing. It's the same source as fossil fuels, solving none of the problems caused by those fuels. While hydrogen can be produced from the electrolysis of water, the cost is a whopping five times as expensive as producing gasoline. The cheapest way to produce hydrogen at present is to strip it from methane, about equivalent to the cost of gasoline. But why not just use the methane itself as energy, rather than spend extra energy removing the hydrogen and then using that? It doesn't make any sense, thermodynamically speaking. Read More: Why Tesla Needs the Gigafactory More Than Strong Model S Sales The EV market consists of environmentally conscious people who are also looking to save money on gasoline. While FCV could theoretically fit the bill if hydrogen could be cheaply produced from water, right now it cannot, and it is doubtful if it ever will because the amount of energy needed to break hydrogen away from oxygen -- a covalent bond -- will never change. Chemistry is chemistry. Breaking hydrogen away in methane is cheaper because for every molecule of methane, you get four hydrogens, whereas in water you only get two. But still, it will never be as cheap as just using the methane. There is also the issue of transport. One of the main advantages of EV is that electricity is easily transported through the power grid and does not have to be physically shipped to exact points of distribution. This is why charging an EV is so cheap. Hydrogen, though, does have to be physically transported, just like gasoline. While electric power for EVs can come from any source ultimately (including fossil fuels), hydrogen must come fossil fuels. The only other possible source is water, because nobody is going to figure out how to extract hydrogen from the upper atmosphere any time soon. There are companies that could benefit from Toyota leaving the EV space, because those customers are not going to move en masse to FCV. Maybe some will for novelty's sake, but not in great numbers and not long term. The first is Nissan, as the Leaf will pick up some Prius plug-in slack. The General Motors' Chevy Spark should also benefit somewhat as it is in a similar price range as the Prius. Tesla will probably remain unaffected as Tesla buyers are more high end and the new Toyota Fuel Cell is not selling to the same market, less novelty seekers. Also unaffected will be the charging company CarCharging Group, the largest EV charging provider in the US, which just made a move to include Tesla charging ports in its stations after Tesla's now famous patent sharing move. Read More: 8 Stocks George Soros Is Buying in 2014 At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned, although positions may change at any time. This article represents the opinion of a contributor and not necessarily that of TheStreet or its editorial staff.


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Stock Market Today: Stocks Are Now Negative for the Month

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock markets were plummeting on volatile trading Thursday as mixed earnings reports, concerns about the health of the European economy and financial sector, and the wait for Friday's big nonfarm payrolls report rocked the global markets. All the benchmark indices were down more than 1%, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking 1.11% to 16,693.48, the S&P 500 tumbling 1.32% to 1,944.14, and the Nasdaq surrendering 1.65% to 4,389.40. The VIX "fear gauge" was spiking nearly 20% to 15.93 in midday trades. While each index was still holding onto gains for the year, they've turned negative for the month. Read More: European Stocks Sag on Banco Espirito Santo Fears, Deflation Worries Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan says that a big, much-awaited pullback is coming after numerous false starts. Greenspan told Bloomberg Television's Betty Liu on Wednesday that equity markets will see a decline at some point, after surging for the past several years. "The stock market has recovered so sharply for so long, you have to assume somewhere along the line we will get a significant correction," said Greenspan. Oil major ExxonMobil was giving up 2.22% to $100.96 after its better-than-expected second-quarter earnings were tainted by a 5.7% drop in oil-equivalent production. Whole Foods was another loser, with shares falling 5.4% to $36.99 after the Austin, Texas-based grocer reported disappointing quarterly same-store sales numbers and lowered its sales outlook yet again. Time Warner Cable was shedding 2.6% to $147.58 after falling short of Wall Street targets with earnings of $1.89 a share on revenue of $5.73 billion. Tesla is expected to report earnings of 4 cents a share on revenue of $810.61 million after the market close. Yum! Brands was losing 5.14% to $69.25 after the restaurant operator said the scare over improper food handling practices by supplier Shanghai Husi resulted in a "significant, negative impact" to both KFC and Pizza Hut's same-store sales in China. Samsung and Sony both suffered from a shrinking smartphone market. Sony's mobile devices unit said demand is expected to shrink by 14%, meaning that this year the company won't make money on smartphones. Samsung saw its share of the world smartphone market drop to 25.2%, a decline of 7 percentage points. European stock indices fell on Thursday amid a plethora of earnings reports, as eurozone consumer price figures suggested aggressive central bank tactics haven't shaken off the specter of deflation. In Lisbon, Banco Espirito Santo shares plunged more than 40% as trading resumed after it reported a bigger-than-expected loss of €3.6 billion ($4.8 billion) and fired the starting gun on an emergency capital raising after a key measure of the bank's financial strength fell below the regulatory minimum. Banco Espirito Santo said it might sell its international businesses. BNP Paribas investors revealed a record €4.32 billion ($5.8 billion) quarterly loss because of the French bank's mammoth $9 billion fine for breaking U.S. sanctions. Read More: July 31 Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know U.S. stocks were mixed on Wednesday -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average down, the S&P 500 flat, and the Nasdaq up -- as the Federal Reserve maintained its federal funds rate and cut monthly bond buying by $10 billion to $25 billion, both moves largely anticipated by Wall Street. Earlier upbeat sentiment regarding above-consensus rebound GDP figures quickly turned sour as it spurred anxiety that this would encourage the Fed to expedite its rate-tightening schedule. This cautiousness was dissipated by the subsequent FOMC statement, which implied that even though the Fed acknowledges the improvement in the economy and job market, rate hikes will remain a ways off and are not likely begin before the second quarter of 2015, noted Sam Stovall, managing director of U.S. equity strategy at S&P Capital IQ. Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks Before the opening bell, the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims rose by 23,000 to 302,000 in the week of July 26. But the broader indicator of joblessness trends, the four-week claims average, fell to 297,250, the lowest level for this average since April 15, 2006. In addition, the prior weekly data point was revised lower to 279,000, the lowest reading since 2000. -- By Andrea Tse in New York TheStreet Ratings team rates EXXON MOBIL CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate EXXON MOBIL CORP (XOM) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, increase in stock price during the past year and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: Net operating cash flow has increased to $15,103.00 million or 11.11% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite an increase in cash flow, EXXON MOBIL CORP's average is still marginally south of the industry average growth rate of 16.72%. Compared to where it was 12 months ago, the stock is up, but it has so far lagged the appreciation in the S&P 500. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year. XOM's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.12 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Despite the fact that XOM's debt-to-equity ratio is low, the quick ratio, which is currently 0.55, displays a potential problem in covering short-term cash needs. Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 3.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 2.1%. The declining revenue appears to have seeped down to the company's bottom line, decreasing earnings per share. You can view the full analysis from the report here: XOM Ratings Report TheStreet Ratings team rates TESLA MOTORS INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate TESLA MOTORS INC (TSLA) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed ? some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, revenue growth and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: This stock has managed to rise its share value by 83.68% over the past twelve months. Regarding the stock's future course, our hold rating indicates that we do not recommend additional investment in this stock despite its gains in the past year. TSLA's revenue growth trails the industry average of 21.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 10.4%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share. TESLA MOTORS INC's earnings have gone downhill when comparing its most recently reported quarter with the same quarter a year earlier. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, TESLA MOTORS INC continued to lose money by earning -$0.71 versus -$3.70 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.20 versus -$0.71). Net operating cash flow has declined marginally to $60.64 million or 5.36% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing the cash generation rate to the industry average, the firm's growth is significantly lower. The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Automobiles industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 542.7% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $11.25 million to -$49.80 million. You can view the full analysis from the report here: TSLA Ratings Report


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How to Spot the Bear Lurking in This Current Bull Market

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Since March 9, 2009, when it hit bottom, the U.S. stock market is up 191%. I have been fully invested the entire time. But I also recognize that, like every bull market, this one will also come to an end. Another bear market is lurking out there somewhere. Read More: 8 Stocks George Soros Is Buying in 2014 The last bear market took 53% out of the market over a 15-month period. It was brought on by a real estate bubble, risky mortgage lending practices and easy money. Nobody knows what will cause the next bear market, but we need to ask ourselves some basic questions to help us identify a possible approaching bear. #1 - Is the economy growing, or is it beginning to contract? For now the economy continues to grow despite the negative GDP print in the first quarter of this year. We just got the latest GDP number of 4%. This exceeded the consensus estimate of 3%. But we need to keep our eyes on the economy going forward. We get economic reports every week and all of these reports are important because they give us the temperature of the economy at any point in time. Economies are either expanding or contracting. It is very important to know what phase we are in the economic cycle. This current cycle is getting a bit long in the tooth. Read More: The Curious Job of the Fed: Create Employment or Curb Inflation? #2 - Is earnings growth slowing down for a broad range of individual companies? We are currently in the middle of earnings season. We get great information from "boots on the ground" companies that are operating in this economy as opposed to the macro-economic strategists. So it is important to track earnings season. This quarter, some companies are reporting great earnings, while others are not doing as well. There are patterns being developed. I would give this current earnings season a grade of "B" so far. Some sectors of the economy, like health care and energy are flourishing right now, while there are other sectors like consumer discretionary that are clearly struggling. Of course, the health care sector is currently receiving stimulus in the form of subsidized health insurance. It is a good thing to follow stimulus around. By keeping an eye on corporate earnings we can gain important information about the overall health of the economy. #3 - Is this market getting expensive? Back in 2000, the market was trading at a multiple of 30 times forward earnings. Where are we today? The market multiple is only 17.29 on an average forward PE basis using the 3,800+ stocks in my Best Stocks Now database. We began the year at a multiple of 18.58. So the market is not "cheap" but it is not expensive either. #4 - Are the technicals of the market beginning to roll over or are they still in an uptrend? By carefully analyzing the price trends in the market, the overall health picture of the market becomes much clearer. As you can see from the chart of the S&P 500 above, you can see that the primary trend of the market is still up. This is another name for a bull market. #5 - Which asset classes and sectors are leading the market? It is also important to track the different asset classes in the market. As we look at the leading asset classes currently (I track 34), equities still dominate the top spots. Data from Best Stocks Now App Read More: headline We can also get a clue from the sectors leading the market. Is it the defensive sectors leading the market or is it the offensive sectors? As we look at the leading sectors right now (I track 60), it is still growth sectors leading the way. Data from Best Stocks Now App I also consider the inverse funds as an asset class and sector indicator. Are they starting to rise in rank or staying down at the bottom? In a bear market they will rise to the top of the rankings as they did in 2000 and 2009. The ProShares Short S&P 500 is still at the bottom of the pile. It has remained there all though out this current bull. It is still at the bottom. Data from Best Stocks Now App So far this year, the market has been consolidating the huge gains it had last year. The question is: Is it consolidating or topping out? Right now, it is almost like we have two markets. Most consumer-related stocks continue to look horrible. On the other hand, there are many areas of the market that continue to perform well. Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks Is the bear starting to wake up from its 64-month hibernation? Keep asking yourself these questions and you should be able to spot the bear before it eats your returns. I remain a bull for now. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned, although positions may change at any time. Follow @billgunderson // This article represents the opinion of a contributor and not necessarily that of TheStreet or its editorial staff.


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Dicker/Link: Oil Prices are Ridiculously Low, Opportunity Still Abounds in E+P

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I was talking to Stephanie Link today about the oil markets and the earnings of some of the junior exploration and production oil companies that have rolled in over the last few days. I mentioned to Stephanie that I had rarely seen an oil market so shrouded in turmoil in my entire career. There are relatively few global producers of oil that don’t have their production at risk today. Russia is seeing sanctions from the U.S. threaten its oil production growth. Iraq is struggling on the precipice of a civil war. Syria still is smoldering. Iran cannot find a suitable agreement for its nuclear program and is again at risk for a further tightening of sanctions. The U.S. embassy in Libya's capital had to be evacuated because of nearby fighting. Israel has troops in Gaza. The list is staggering. Yet, oil continues to muddle along at little more than $100 a barrel. I told Stephanie in other times of conflict as widespread as today we’d see oil prices that were closer to $125 a barrel. It seems to me that far too many investors are taking the oil market for granted and most of the committed investors in oil are already long. With summer in full swing, there is a lack of interest in the oil markets and very quiet price action. But I told Stephanie I didn’t think that would last. Geopolitical pressures may not have immediate effect on oil prices, but the cumulative effect of so many barrels at risk would impact prices sooner or later. But while prices are low it is a good time to look critically at some of the junior exploration and production companies that are increasing production. Anadarko recently reported spectacularly, with increased production blowing out all expectations in the Wattenberg shale, earnings almost 20 cents a share higher than any analyst predicted and a huge eight million acres of Colorado mineral rights that are ready to be spun out. I reiterated my $130 target on this company. Noble is equally strong in the Wattenberg, but guided negatively based upon new regulations proposed in Colorado increasing the fracking setback to 2,000 feet. This comes for a vote in November and will likely pass. Still, I see value in buying these shares as prices retreat. Finally, Hess is continuing its restructuring and increasing production in its Bakken holdings. Company officials spoke during the conference call of a new master limited partnership spinoff of infrastructure in the Bakken that will unleash even more value. If you believe as I do that oil prices will inevitably rise, these companies still have much more to deliver to shareholders in the coming year and need to be bought. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned, although positions may change at any time. Follow @dan_dicker // This article represents the opinion of a contributor and not necessarily that of TheStreet or its editorial staff.


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Calling 'BS' on Iliad’s Bid for T-Mobile

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Wall Street Journal has a great scoop on French telecom Iliad's bid to buy U.S. carrier T-Mobile . The only problem is they don't know how the company would pay for what would likely be about a $30 billion takeover. T-Mobile's balance sheet is roughly 10 times the size of Iliad's; its customer base is five times larger and its market capitalization is about double the French telecom. Iliad had 3.7 billion euros ($4.95 million) in 2013 revenue and 1.2 billion euros in EBITDA on 14.3 million total subscribers, split between landline and wireless. It's balance sheet contains 4.7 billion euros in assets and just 1.3 billion euros in liabilities. By contrast, T-Mobile earned $7.1 billion in revenue in the first quarter alone and adjusted EBITDA of $1.45 billion. T-Mobile's customer base now stands at over 50 million total wireless customers. Its balance contains $51 billion in assets and nearly $37 billion in liabilities, including over $14 billion in long-term debt. The Wall Street Journal reports that Iliad is raising financing for a bid. Perhaps they can lever up a little, but, its hard to see such a small company raising more than a few billion dollars. The rest would have to come in stock, with T-Mobile deciding to take a majority consideration of stock from a small, down-market French telecom that operates in challenged regions like Greece and Algeria. T-Mobile operates in a better market, the U.S., and the company is the fastest-growing and most competitively priced carrier of high-end smartphones. Iliad appears to offer bottom-of-the market wireless and broadband subscriptions. So how on earth is it plausible that Iliad's bid is credible? The Wall Street Journal's report doesn't say, nor does it give indication of any cash or stock consideration. It would have been a good question to ask or get an answer on. T-Mobile declined a request for comment for this story. This looks like a fairytale bid. -- Written by Antoine Gara in New York Follow @AntoineGara


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WWE's Wrestling Network on Shaky Ground, Triggering Drastic Changes

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- World Wrestling Entertainment's plans to get its transformational WWE Network to 1.4 million subscribers has caused the company to cut 7% of its staff and change how it rolls out the network. At the end of the second quarter, the WWE Network had 700,000 subscribers, a net add of just 33,000 since Wrestlemania 30 in April. The company announced a plan to make the network a pay-per-view a-la-carte channel in Canada with Rogers Communications , starting Aug. 12 and running for 10 years. In addition, the deal renews Rogers' license of WWE's Raw and SmackDown shows, and grants Rogers distribution rights to the company's pay-per-views. WWE has said previously that 1.4 million subscribers gets the network to a breakeven point. Read More: Here's Why the WWE Network Is a 'Groundbreaking Event' WWE said it expects the network will be live in the U.K. by October, but plans "for the network in Italy, UAE, Germany, Japan, India, China, Thailand and Malaysia will be communicated at a later date." WWE also plans to make the U.S. version of the network available on an over-the-top Internet basis starting Aug. 12 in over 170 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Spain, the Nordic countries and others. "We are very pleased with the performance of the WWE Network," CFO George Barrios said on the conference call. WWE announced a new pricing structure for the network, which had previously been $9.99 a month with a six-month commitment. Starting in August, it will cost $19.99 a month with no commitment, and an upfront one-time payment option for its existing $9.99-per-month offering, which still requires users to subscribe for six months. On the conference call, CEO Vince McMahon said the new pricing options will help evolve the network, as will its marketing and awareness. Shares were soaring in Thursday trading, gaining 6.9% to $12.92 as of noon. Read More: WWE Gets Smacked Down: What Wall Street's Saying During the second quarter, the Stamford, CT.-based WWE lost 19 cents a share on $156.3 million in sales, led by its media division, which saw a 7% year-over-year increase in revenue to $97.7 million, thanks to the WWE Network and increased television licensing fees. Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ were expecting a loss of 20 cents a share on $154.7 million in sales. The company updated its 2015 OIBDA outlook, saying it has improved by $30 million, due in large part to a 7% staff reduction, helping the company cut costs. WWE will tax a one-time charge of $4.5 million in the third-quarter of 2014 to reflect the reductions. --Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York >Contact by Email. Follow @Chris_Ciaccia // 0;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); // ]]> TheStreet Ratings team rates WORLD WRESTLING ENTMT INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate WORLD WRESTLING ENTMT INC (WWE) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed ? some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and increase in stock price during the past year. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including feeble growth in the company's earnings per share, deteriorating net income and disappointing return on equity."Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 12.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 4.1%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share. WWE's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.12 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. To add to this, WWE has a quick ratio of 1.51, which demonstrates the ability of the company to cover short-term liquidity needs. Compared to where it was a year ago today, the stock is now trading at a higher level, regardless of the company's weak earnings results. Looking ahead, our view is that this company's fundamentals will not have much impact in either direction, allowing the stock to generally move up or down based on the push and pull of the broad market. The gross profit margin for WORLD WRESTLING ENTMT INC is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 32.22%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -6.39% is significantly below that of the industry average. Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to -$9.37 million or 58.94% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower. You can view the full analysis from the report here: WWE Ratings Report


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Arista Networks and GoPro Are Among This Week's 4 Breakout Stocks to Watch

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A lot of stocks we follow broke out on Wednesday, and here are four to watch that appear to have more room to run. Arista Networks had a good day on Wednesday, up $3.94, or 6%, to $67.79 on 608,100 shares. The stock, which had held lateral support for three days, broke out of its declining channel on Wednesday's move. The next target is lateral resistance at recent highs in the $72-$73 range, and beyond that $77. Shares are now at $66, up nearly 20% for the year to date. Read More: 8 Stocks George Soros Is Buying in 2014 Arris Enterprises broke out of a rising triangle pattern on Wednesday, up another 1.06, or 3%, to $35.26 on 2.5 million shares. That's the highest level reached in 14 years. The stock is positioned toward the bottom of its long-term up-channel, and the mid-channel target is up around $39. Shares, at $35, are up 44% YTD. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday broke out of a micro, inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, with a move up 61 cents to $12.86. A move above triple-top resistance at $13.20 could lead to our next target at the top of the channel in the $15.50 to $16 zone. Shares, at $12.55, are up 65% YTD. GoPro had a nice pop on Wednesday, up 2.25, or 5.1%, to $46.32 on 6.4 million shares. That's still not the volume I'm looking for, but it has good momentum, up five points in the last few sessions. At some point the stock may start to spike, with the next target at the recent highs at $48-$49. Right now shares are near $46 and are up 46% YTD. Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks See Harry's video chart analysis on these stocks. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned, although positions may change at any time. This article represents the opinion of a contributor and not necessarily that of TheStreet or its editorial staff.


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Shaw Communications Expands in U.S. With $1.2B ViaWest Deal

NEW YORK (The Dea) -- Canadian media group Shaw Communications is expanding into the U.S. data center market with the $1.2 billion purchase of private equity-backed ViaWest Inc. Chief executive Brad Shaw told investors during a Thursday conference call that following the purchase, Shaw would be "immediately positioned at the forefront" of the market for outsourced cloud computing and outsourced server management among mid-market companies. The deal provides a benchmark for privately held data centers, following the sale of Peak 10 Inc. to GI Partners LP earlier this year. Shaw is paying Oak Hill Capital Partners 13 times annualized Ebitda for ViaWest, which operates 27 data centers in Denver, Dallas, Austin, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Portland, Minneapolis and Phoenix. The price includes $830 million in cash and $370 million in assumed debt. ViaWest co-founder and CEO Nancy Phillips said that the data center market is "very fragmented." The company might look to expand in the Eastern US within the next 18 months. "That's an area we are taking a look at very aggressively," Phillips said. The acquisition follows Shaw's $220 million purchase of business telecom Enmax Envision Inc. last year. Combined, Shaw said its business telecom unit and ViaWest will produce $550 million in revenues and $280 million in Ebitda. Oak Hill bought the Denver data center operator in 2010 from Trinity Equity Investors, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Quilvest SA. The Oak Hill executive who led the purchase, Robert Morse, left the firm recently to form Strattam Capital LLC. The sale of Charlotte, N.C., data center operator Peak 10 to GI Partners earlier this year drew attention to ViaWest and to Latisys Corp., which has backing from Great Hill Partners LLC and Catalyst Investors LP. Peak 10 operates data centers in markets such as Atlanta, Cincinnati, Nashville and Tampa, and would be an East Coast-complement to ViaWest's holdings. Latisys, which tested the market last year, has a broader portfolio, with data centers in markets from Irvine, Calif., to Englewood, Colo., and Ashburn, Va. TD Securities Inc. is Shaw's financial adviser on the ViaWest purchase. The buyer retained Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP lawyers including Atif Azher, Tristan Brown and Katharine Moir. RBC Capital Markets LLC advised ViaWest, which received counsel from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.


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