Why Blue Apron Suffered Hunger Pains in Q2

Blue Apron Holdings Inc. (NYSE: APRN) released its second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. The company said that it had a net loss of $0.17 per share on $179.6 million in revenue. That compares to consensus estimates of a net loss of $0.18 per share and $188.47 million in revenue, as well as the�net loss of $0.47 per share and $238.06 million in revenue posted in the same period of last year.

During the most recent quarter, the number of customers decreased 24% year over year and decreased 9% quarter over quarter, as the firm progresses through what it is calling a ��transition period.��

Average revenue per customer was $250 in the second quarter of 2018, compared to $251 in the second quarter of 2017 and $250 in the first quarter of 2018.

The company did not offer any guidance for the third quarter. However, the consensus estimates call for a net loss of $0.19 per share and $204.86 million in revenue for the quarter.

On the books, Blue Apron’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $180.82 million at the end of the quarter, compared with $228.51 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Brad Dickerson, CEO of Blue Apron, commented:

As we previously articulated, 2018 is a year of transition and building for the future. With fulfillment center operations strengthening, we are increasing focus on the priorities we expect will propel revenue performance and return the business to a growth trajectory, including evolving and expanding our product portfolio, enhancing our overall customer experience, and launching our retail and on-demand offerings.

Shares of Blue Apron closed Wednesday at $2.42, with a consensus analyst price target of $3.90 and a 52-week trading range of $1.72 to $6.55. Following the announcement, the stock was down about 9% at $2.20 in early trading indications Thursday.

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Huge Apple Earnings Look Very Positive for 5 Top Chip Companies

Is market's bull run ending? Some warning signs

NEW YORK �� The current bull market in stocks is a month or so away from becoming the longest in history. If it happens, then what?

Many along Wall Street expect the rally that began in March 2009 to eclipse the 1990-2000 run that ended with the dot-com crash. But a growing number of experts are questioning whether the stock market's run will keep going through 2019 and beyond.

The big threat now is the potential for a punishing trade war, as the United States squabbles with allies and rivals alike on tariffs. That could squeeze earnings and economic growth around the world.

Beyond that, several firmer warning signals for the market are flashing yellow. Here's a look at some of them:

The yield curve

This is a somewhat inscrutable signal, hidden in the recesses of the bond market, but it's been an accurate one.

When yields for long-term bonds drop lower than yields for short-term bonds, it's what economists call an "inverted yield curve." It indicates that investors are forecasting a weaker economy and inflation in coming years. An inverted yield curve has also preceded each recession of the last 60 years, though sometimes by more than a year.

The yield curve isn't inverted now, but it's the closest it's gotten since before the Great Recession.

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Inflation

Prices are picking up across the economy, particularly for businesses, after years of ultralow inflation. Prices for businesses rose 3.4 percent last month from a year earlier, the biggest jump since 2011.

For companies, higher inflation erodes profits unless they're able to raise prices. For consumers, it saps their buying power.

The Federal Reserve has already indicated it may raise interest rates two more times this year, and an acceleration of inflation would push it to pick up the pace.

Higher interest rates have historically hurt stocks and other risky investments. Record-low interest rates helped prop up stock markets for most of the past decade.

Debt

Companies are famously hoarding great piles of cash, but they're also sitting on ever-growing piles of debt.

Total debt among non-financial U.S. companies is at a record high, relative to the size of the U.S. economy. As the Great Recession demonstrated, high debt levels can leave companies, families and anyone else particularly vulnerable when an economic shock arrives.

If interest rates do continue to climb, so too do borrowing costs for companies.

Growth outperformance

Investors are pouring money into stocks of companies that are growing quickly, such as big technology companies. These growth stocks are trouncing what are called "value stocks," which are companies that look cheap or have big dividends.

Investors have switched allegiance back and forth between growth and value stocks, and each time, the outperformance has peaked just before or after a market top for the S&P 500, such as in 2000 and 2007.

M&A and IPOs

Companies around the world are buying each other as they hunt for growth, and this year is on pace to be the highest for mergers and acquisitions since 2007. Companies are also going public in hopes of cashing in on the hot stock market, and this past quarter was the busiest for IPOs in three years, according to Renaissance Capital.

Activity for both buyouts and IPOs tends to peak around market tops.

But for now�...

Of course, this bull market has run through all kinds of warning signs and proven its skeptics wrong time and again. Rising from the ashes of the financial crisis, it's famously been one of the most unloved bull markets in history.

Surging corporate earnings due to lower tax rates and a strengthening economy should give the market more fuel this year. Plus, one important ingredient for a market top is still missing �� the wave of buying that comes as investors succumb to the fear of missing out, said Matthew Miskin, market strategist with John Hancock Investments.

"The yield curve is not inverted yet, and earnings are still good," Miskin said. "It's not there yet, but you want to have a plan of attack for when all these dominos do fall."

Coca-Cola CEO says company sees cost pressures from Trump's tariffs

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey told CNBC on Wednesday the company is seeing cost pressures in part due to President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum.

"We had to take with our bottling partners an increase [in prices] in our sparkling beverage industry in the middle of the year, which is relatively uncommon," Quincey said on "Squawk on the Street" after Coke reported earnings. "That's the metal steel and aluminum going up. The labor going up."

The Trump administration has enacted steel and aluminum tariffs on numerous nations including allies Canada, Mexico and the European Union, which have launched retaliatory measures. That means higher prices, including on cans of soda.

Quincey told CNBC's Sara Eisen that Coke and its partners are working on ways to grow the business in the new environment.

"The tariffs on the metals, it's one of many factors [that] cost us to go out in the middle of the year and announce price increase," he said.

Despite the impact, Quincey said Coke may have a slight advantage over other companies because is its products are made locally.

"We're very focused on creating local businesses, with local factories, with local jobs, with local blue collar," he said. "Less trade and more tariffs will mean less economic growth in the end and that will affect us."

Coke reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue Wednesday, bolstered by its efforts to bring its diet drinks around the world.

During the quarter, the company launched its dairy-free smoothie brand AdeZ in Europe and debuted Coca-Cola Stevia No Sugar in New Zealand. It also brought its revamped Diet Coke campaign to Britain, following its previous launch in the U.S.

��CNBC's Lauren Hirsch contributed to this report.

Correction: An earlier version misstated the products Coke launched during the second quarter.

How to Keep 2nd-Place Candidates Interested in Your Company

Every once in a lucky while, you'll reach the end of the interview process with two candidates who would both make a great addition to your company. While you might have a hard time deciding between them, ultimately something will tip the scales in one candidate's favor -- perhaps one has more experience under their belt, or possesses hard-to-find skills. It can be tough to let that other candidate know that you've chosen someone else for the job -- but the good news is, you don't need to let them go entirely.

It's always beneficial to nurture relationships with second-place candidates, says Gene Brady, Director at SCN �� Search Consulting Network. "'Second-place' candidates have many times been the one to receive the offer, for a wide variety of reasons -- the first-place candidate withdraws [...] or the first-place candidate doesn't pass the drug or background check. Also, the next assignment that comes in may fit the second-place candidate so nicely they become the first-place candidate for the role!

Image source: Getty Images.

But how exactly can you keep a second-place candidate interested if you don't have an opportunity for them at the moment? Here are a few of the top tips.

Let them down gently

An interested candidate never wants to hear that they didn't get the job, but if you message it correctly, you can leave them feeling good about themselves and open to future opportunities. It shouldn't feel artificially cheery or phony, though -- make sure you're authentic in your response.

"If we think the person is a good fit, we make that known," says Marc Prosser, co-founder of FitSmallBusiness.com. "Often, we, or our recruiter, will have a phone conversation with them that goes like this: 'We had lots of great candidates who applied for the position. We think you would be a great addition to our company, however, [we] have chosen to offer the position to another candidate. Would you be open to hearing from us in the future?'"

You may even want to share specific feedback on why they weren't selected for the role, says Paul Freed, co-founder of Herd Freed Hartz.

"Explain the decision to go with another candidate[...] Offer any interview feedback if needed, but also say it was a tough decision on the team and [we] would love to hire both but just don't have the budget right now and that you'd [like] to stay close for future opportunities," Freed says.

If you know a timeline of when that budget might come in, or when a role fitting their experience and skills may open, make sure to share that with them.

Establish ongoing communication

HR experts agree that the best way to keep a strong candidate interested in your company is to proactively engage with them.

"Emails where you check in are great for nurturing candidates. You can also call or text, asking how everything is going -- maybe asking something about what you discussed during interviews (pursuit of a degree, certification, or other topics)," says hiring and onboarding consultant Jen Teague. "Everyone wants to be memorable for the right reasons, and these modes of contact are a great way to do that. You don't have to become a buddy, just a reference or point of contact for the company. That way, you are fresh in the candidate's mind and he or she will be more likely to apply again the future."

Make sure that this outreach isn't just a one-time thing, though, cautions HR consultant and author Joshua M. Evans.

"Follow up with them every few weeks. This is often overlooked because it is cumbersome, but following up with a potential candidate every few weeks can not only keep [them] interested, it can also build their appreciation for your organization," Evans says.

Other creative ideas for staying in touch with a candidate include sending a monthly update, inviting them to a company open house or even sending them a small gift, Freed says. If you have the budget for it, you may even want to "consider adding this person for an advisory role or consultant for a special project."

And of course, keep candidates in the loop regarding new opportunities.

Message, "email or call the candidates periodically when new jobs are available, and encourage them to apply for jobs on a short-list if they meet qualifications. When there's news about an upcoming hiring phase, notify them and recommend applying if they are interested," says Tes Akhtar, recruiting and HR development consultant for Potent Pages.

Be honest on timing

It's understandable to want to keep a candidate on deck, but if you're interacting with them for months on end and have no idea when a relevant position will open, you need to let them know.

"One important caveat is to NOT lead [candidates] on. Do not give them false hope as your backup plan," Evans says. "Remember that if they were a good fit for your organization then they would probably be a good fit for someone else's. Don't hold them back from progressing their careers because you want them waiting in the wings."

For example, "if a position isn't going to be open for three months, we tell the person up front and let them know we will periodically check in with them," Freed says.

That being said, as long as you're open about what the candidate can expect, there's nothing wrong with engaging them as long as they're still interested.

"There are always future opportunities," Freed adds. "We value relationships, and look to maintain the good ones. Many times we've presented people with multiple opportunities through the years, and then bam -- one lines up well for them, they receive an offer, and it was our sustained relationship that kept the door wide open."

So the next time you have to choose between two stellar candidates, don't lament having to let one of them go -- see it as a valuable opportunity to grow your talent pool.

This article originally appeared on Glassdoor.com.

Don’t Be Fooled by Pedevco’s 700% Rally: PED Stock Will Plummet

Pedevco (NYSEAMERICAN:PED) — and PED stock — looked like another casualty of the changing oil and gas landscape. But Pedevco aka Pacific Energy Development, looks to have saved itself… for now. Thanks to a debt restructuring agreement at the end of June, Pedevco has avoided immediate insolvency. As a result, PED stock has gone on a tear, rising as much as 1,000% in recent weeks. So what now? Well, the PED stock forecast is far from sunny.

The past few years has been a terrible time for American oil and gas companies. The plunge in oil prices from ~$100/barrel to as low as $27 in 2016 wiped out many exploration and production companies’ balance sheets. The persistently low price of natural gas hasn’t helped matters. As a result, small oil and gas companies like Pedevco have been going bust at a rapid pace in recent times.

And Pedevco hasn’t escaped that fate. As PED stock owners are likely to discover in coming months, merely avoiding bankruptcy doesn’t mean the common stock is suddenly a bargain. Due to the terms of the debt restructuring, Pedevco is likely to see its stock diluted to a massive degree. This will put inexorable downward pressure on PED stock going forward.

Ped Stock Was in Critical Condition

Prior to the June 26th debt exchange, Pedevco appeared to be heading for insolvency. PED stock was trading around 30 cents. In its most recent quarter, the company reported just $644,000 in revenues. That was insufficient to even cover the company’s overhead, let alone other costs.

Once you added in the company’s interest costs of more than $3 million per quarter, it was clear that a revenue run rate well under $1 million per quarter wasn’t even close to workable for Pedevco’s finances. The company had just $1.3 million in cash and other current assets, as opposed to $77 million in liabilities. In theory, its oil assets were valued at $34 million, but without any cash with which to develop said assets, Pedevco’s situation was dire.

A Debt Swap Gives Pedevco New Life

On June 26th, Pedevco announced that it had managed to restructure its balance sheet. Its creditors, likely seeing that they were never going to get paid given the status quo, agreed to accept far less compensation for their claims against the company.

As a result, Pedevco was able to satisfy its more than $75 million in existing liabilities and replace them with a new $7.7 million loan from SK Energy at an interest rate of 8%. As Pedevco put it in their press release, this debt exchange adds more than $64 million in new shareholder equity to the company’s balance sheet.

Not surprisingly, traders assumed that much of this value would trickle down to the common PED stock. Pedevco was sporting a book value of -$5.66/share heading into this debt swap. Given that the company had 7.2 million shares of stock outstanding, in theory, this debt exchange added almost $9/share of value to Pedevco’s balance sheet. Add that to book value, and perhaps traders thought that Pedevco was worth more than $3/share now. The market valued PED stock at just 30 cents prior to the debt swap. So, it makes sense that the stock has jumped so far since then, right?

PED Stock Faces Massive Dilution

Unfortunately for PED stock owners, it isn’t so simple. In finance, if you own stock in a nearly insolvent company, creditors are rarely going to give you a massive gift. Remember that the debtholders have priority. If they force a company into bankruptcy, they get the underlying assets. It’s worth considering why the creditors here would give up their ~$75 million in claims against the company for pennies. Given that PED stock would be worth essentially zero in a bankruptcy, the debtholders had no reason to make this sort of swap unless it was good for them too.

So, what are the debtholders getting? Answer: a bunch of PED stock. SK Energy, for one, got 600,000 shares of PED stock merely for giving the company the loan. At today’s $2.50 stock price, that’s $1.5 million in value received on a $7.7 million loan simply for closing the transaction, which amounts to a gigantic implied interest rate. Pedevco is also granting warrants for more than 1.4 million shares of PED stock at 33 cents per share to existing debtholders. That will effectively swell Pedevco’s share count again while diluting the stock at a far lower price than today’s $2.50 quote.

As it is, the company’s share count has already almost doubled. As part of the loan agreement, SK Energy bought the company’s outstanding preferred stock for a nominal sum and converted it into 6,662,500 shares of PED stock, giving it nearly half of the company.

There Is A Bull Case For PED Stock

In theory, Pedevco has a fresh opportunity to succeed. Its new controlling shareholder, SK Energy, is solely owned by Dr. Simon Kukes. Kukes is famous for his involvement in several multi-billion dollar oil and gas enterprises. He headed the Russian oil company Yukos, and led another, Tyumen, until he partnered that firm with British Petroleum (NYSE:BP). He also held top management positions at Amoco and Phillips.

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Needless to say, Kukes is a top-notch industry player. As he put it, Pedevco just needed a better balance sheet to be able to realize the value from its oil and gas properties. Kukes recently said:

“I am excited to make this investment in PEDEVCO whose assets were only hindered in their development by its strangling debt situation. I believe the Company is now well-positioned to develop its assets, grow production, and seek accretive acquisitions.”

That said, Dr. Kukes and Pedevco will still have a challenging road ahead. Given that the company is only generating ~$3 million/year in revenues, it will need to expand quickly — with limited funds — to be able to service its SK Energy debt.

PED Stock Is Dramatically Overvalued

Dr. Kukes has put himself in a great position. He owns a large portion of PED stock, at a price below today’s quote, from this deal. So if the new and improved Pedevco succeeds, his PED stock should rally. And if it doesn’t, he owns the company’s debt, ensuring that his SK Energy still has the claim on Pedevco’s assets.

For other PED stock owners, the situation is significantly less promising. With the newly enlarged 14.5 million share count, the market is valuing Pedevco at $36 million for a company with about $27 million in book value (its oil assets minus the SK Energy debt). This is likely much too high, given that Pedevco will remain unprofitable unless it dramatically increases its revenues.

Additionally, between the warrants and the option to pay SK Energy’s interest payments in PED stock, expect the share count to keep rising in coming quarters. Given ongoing losses, a small asset base, and ongoing new share creation, the forecast for PED stock is rather cloudy. Once the hype wears off, shares are likely to sink back toward $1.

At the time of this writing, the author owned BP stock.

Legendary Investor Louis Navellier’s #1 Stock to Buy NOW

Louis Navellier — the investor the New York Times called an “icon” — just helped investors make 487% in the booming Chinese stock market … 408% in the medical device sector … 150% in Netflix … all in less than 2 years! Now, Louis is urging investors to get in on what may be the opportunity of a lifetime. By using a unique investment strategy called “The Master Key,” you could make hundreds of percent returns over the next few years. Click here to learn about the #1 stock recommendation from one of America

Top 5 Safest Stocks To Invest In Right Now

tags:NMR,ICBK,SIX,LGEAF,BRT,

Safestore Holdings Plc (LON:SAFE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as GBX 554 ($7.43) and last traded at GBX 554 ($7.43), with a volume of 525524 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 554 ($7.43).

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Peel Hunt restated a “hold” rating on shares of Safestore in a research note on Thursday, April 5th. Numis Securities restated an “add” rating and set a GBX 570 ($7.65) price target on shares of Safestore in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Liberum Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 560 ($7.51) price target on shares of Safestore in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Safestore presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 515.83 ($6.92).

Top 5 Safest Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Nomura Holdings Inc ADR(NMR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Nomura (NYSE: NMR) and Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  News articles about Nomura (NYSE:NMR) have trended somewhat positive on Thursday, according to Accern Sentiment. The research group rates the sentiment of news coverage by monitoring more than 20 million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Nomura earned a news impact score of 0.09 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave press coverage about the financial services provider an impact score of 47.0788180252447 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near term.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Virtu Financial (NASDAQ: VIRT) and Nomura (NYSE:NMR) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) and Nomura (NYSE:NMR) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends and risk.

• [By Max Byerly]

  Numeraire (CURRENCY:NMR) traded up 0.2% against the U.S. dollar during the 1-day period ending at 19:00 PM E.T. on May 26th. Numeraire has a total market capitalization of $13.61 million and approximately $33,240.00 worth of Numeraire was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. During the last week, Numeraire has traded 17.6% lower against the U.S. dollar. One Numeraire token can now be bought for approximately $10.09 or 0.00137627 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including DDEX, Bittrex and Upbit.

• [By Money Morning News Team]

  Nomura Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NMR) is a Japanese financial services company that provides a variety of financial services to corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals around the world.

Top 5 Safest Stocks To Invest In Right Now: County Bancorp, Inc.(ICBK)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  County Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:ICBK) President Timothy J. Schneider sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.55, for a total value of $27,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 113,882 shares in the company, valued at $3,137,449.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  County Bancorp (NASDAQ:ICBK) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.75.

Top 5 Safest Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Six Flags Entertainment Corporation New(SIX)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Mason Street Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Six Flags (NYSE:SIX) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,495 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares during the quarter. Mason Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Six Flags were worth $2,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX) shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $64.54 as the company posted a narrower-than-expected loss for its first quarter.

• [By ]

  Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE: SIX) is the world's largest regional theme park with 20 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada, serving more than 31 million guests annually. Revenue growth slowed last year to 3% from a pace of 5% over the last three years but lower operating expenses helped the company deliver a 46% increase in operating earnings. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of 2017 attendance was from season pass holders, up from 30% in 2009.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Six Flags (SIX)

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

Top 5 Safest Stocks To Invest In Right Now: (LGEAF)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By SEEKINGALPHA.COM]

  Coherent's ELA deposition technology for LTPS backplane isn't used in OLED TVs, where LG (OTC:LGEAF) uses metal oxide backpanes. There was some worry by analysts whether that technology could migrate to the smartphone panel market which CEO Ambroseo could not dispel entirely, but he argued that it has not been demonstrated suitable for handsets or battery-powered devices at this point.

Top 5 Safest Stocks To Invest In Right Now: BRT Realty Trust(BRT)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on BRT Apartments (BRT)

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

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  BRT Apartments Corp (NYSE:BRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 12th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 25th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, July 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 22nd.

Cypress Energy Partners (CELP) and NCS Multistage (NCSM) Financial Analysis

Cypress Energy Partners (NYSE: CELP) and NCS Multistage (NASDAQ:NCSM) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Dividends

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Cypress Energy Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.7%. NCS Multistage does not pay a dividend. Cypress Energy Partners pays out 168.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility and Risk

Cypress Energy Partners has a beta of 1.59, suggesting that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NCS Multistage has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Cypress Energy Partners and NCS Multistage, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cypress Energy Partners	0	2	0	0	2.00
NCS Multistage	0	1	6	1	3.00

Cypress Energy Partners currently has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.10%. NCS Multistage has a consensus target price of $24.57, suggesting a potential upside of 72.19%. Given NCS Multistage’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe NCS Multistage is more favorable than Cypress Energy Partners.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.0% of Cypress Energy Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.1% of NCS Multistage shares are held by institutional investors. 11.7% of NCS Multistage shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cypress Energy Partners and NCS Multistage’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cypress Energy Partners	$286.34 million	0.30	-$810,000.00	$0.50	14.30
NCS Multistage	$201.63 million	3.18	$2.10 million	$0.20	71.35

NCS Multistage has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cypress Energy Partners. Cypress Energy Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NCS Multistage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Cypress Energy Partners and NCS Multistage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cypress Energy Partners	2.37%	71.49%	4.18%
NCS Multistage	3.06%	2.90%	2.36%

Summary

NCS Multistage beats Cypress Energy Partners on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cypress Energy Partners

Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. provides pipeline inspection and integrity, and environmental services in North America. It operates in three segments: Pipeline Inspection Services (PIS), Integrity Services (IS), and Water and Environmental Services (W&ES). The PIS segment offers independent inspection services for various facilities and equipment, such as transmission pipelines, oil and natural gas gathering systems, pump and compressor stations, storage facilities and terminals, and gas distribution systems. It offers project coordination, staking, pig tracking, maintenance and construction inspection, ultrasonic nondestructive examination, and related data management services. The IS segment provides hydrostatic testing and related services, including filling, pressure testing, and dewatering to natural gas, petroleum, and pipeline construction companies. It performs various integrity services on newly constructed and existing oil and natural gas pipelines. The W&ES segment provides saltwater disposal (SWD) services; and owns and operates eight commercial SWD facilities in the Bakken Shale region of the Williston Basin in North Dakota, as well as one SWD facilities in the Permian Basin in Texas. This segment also provides flowback water management services by disposing flowback water produced from hydraulic fracturing operations during the completion of oil and natural gas wells; offers water management services by disposing naturally occurring water that is extracted during the oil and natural gas production process; separates residual oil from the saltwater stream and sells it to third-parties; and manages existing SWD facilities. It serves oil and natural gas producers, pipeline owners and operators, public utility or local distribution companies, trucking companies, and third-party purchasers of residual oil. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. is a subsidiary of Cypress Energy Holdings, LLC.

About NCS Multistage

NCS Multistage Holdings, Inc. provides engineered products and support services for oil and natural gas well completions and field development strategies in the United States and internationally. The company's products include casing-installed sliding sleeves, downhole frac isolation assemblies, sand jet perforating products, spotfrac systems, ballshift sliding sleeves, airlock casing buoyancy systems, liner hanger systems, and spectrum tracer services. It also provides advisory services to customers on completion designs and field development strategies. NCS Multistage Holdings, Inc. offers its products and services primarily to exploration and production companies for use in onshore wells through technically-trained direct sales force, and operating partners or sales representatives. The company was formerly known as Pioneer Super Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to NCS Multistage Holdings, Inc. in December 2016. NCS Multistage Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Financial Comparison: NetGear (NTGR) vs. Fabrinet (FN)

NetGear (NASDAQ: NTGR) and Fabrinet (NYSE:FN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

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97.5% of NetGear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Fabrinet shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of NetGear shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Fabrinet shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

NetGear has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its stock price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fabrinet has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for NetGear and Fabrinet, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NetGear	0	0	3	0	3.00
Fabrinet	0	2	3	1	2.83

NetGear currently has a consensus price target of $71.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.65%. Fabrinet has a consensus price target of $40.67, suggesting a potential upside of 12.28%. Given Fabrinet’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fabrinet is more favorable than NetGear.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares NetGear and Fabrinet’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NetGear	$1.41 billion	1.47	$19.43 million	$2.32	28.17
Fabrinet	$1.42 billion	0.94	$97.11 million	$2.57	14.09

Fabrinet has higher revenue and earnings than NetGear. Fabrinet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NetGear, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares NetGear and Fabrinet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NetGear	0.63%	9.63%	6.23%
Fabrinet	6.36%	12.48%	8.52%

Summary

Fabrinet beats NetGear on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NetGear

NETGEAR, Inc. designs, develops, and markets networking and Internet connected products for consumers, businesses, and service providers. The company operates in three segments: Arlo, Connected Home, and Small and Medium Business. It offers smart home/connected home/broadband access products, such as remote video security systems, broadband modems, WiFi gateways, WiFi hotspots, WiFi routers and home WiFi systems, WiFi range extenders, Powerline adapters and bridges, and WiFi network adapters. The company also provides Ethernet switches, wireless controllers and access points, unified storage products, and Internet security appliances for small and medium-sized businesses. It markets and sells its products through traditional retailers, online retailers, wholesale distributors, direct market resellers, value-added resellers, and broadband service providers in the Americas, Europe, the Middle-East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. NETGEAR, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Fabrinet

Fabrinet provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical, and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers of optical communication components, modules and sub-systems, industrial lasers, medical devices, and sensors. It offers a range of optical and electro-mechanical capabilities across the manufacturing process, including process design and engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, printed circuit board assembly, packaging, integration, final assembly, and test. The company's products comprise switching products, such as reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers, optical amplifiers, modulators, and other optical components and modules that enable network managers to route voice, video, and data communications traffic through fiber optic cables at various wavelengths and speeds, and over various distances; tunable lasers, transceivers, and transponders; and active optical cables, which provide high-speed interconnect capabilities for data centers and computing clusters, as well as for Infiniband, Ethernet, fiber channel, and optical backplane connectivity. It also offers solid state, diode-pumped, gas, and fiber lasers used across semiconductor processing, biotechnology and medical device, metrology, and material processing industries; and sensors, such as differential pressure, micro-gyro, fuel, and other sensors used in automobiles, as well as non-contact temperature measurement sensors for the medical industry. In addition, the company designs and fabricates application-specific crystals, lenses, prisms, mirrors, and laser components and substrates, as well as other custom and standard borosilicate, clear fused quartz, and synthetic fused silica glass products. It has operations in North America, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in George Town, the Cayman Islands.

Zacks Investment Research Lowers Mplx (MPLX) to Hold

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

According to Zacks, “MPLX LP is a fee-based limited partnership formed to own, operate, develop and acquire crude oil, refined product and other hydrocarbon-based product pipelines and other midstream assets. The Company’s assets consist of a network of common carrier crude oil and product pipeline systems and associated storage assets in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions of the United States. MPLX LP is based in Findlay, Ohio. “

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Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Mplx from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 16th. Mizuho set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Mplx and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 11th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Mplx from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Mplx and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on shares of Mplx in a research note on Thursday, April 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.08.

Mplx opened at $33.98 on Thursday, according to Marketbeat.com. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market cap of $26.98 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.28. Mplx has a 52-week low of $31.60 and a 52-week high of $39.38.

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.19. Mplx had a net margin of 21.88% and a return on equity of 10.43%. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. Mplx’s quarterly revenue was up 60.3% compared to the same quarter last year. equities research analysts expect that Mplx will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SWS Partners acquired a new position in shares of Mplx in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $149,000. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $179,000. Pitcairn Co. bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Advisor Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mplx by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Inc. now owns 7,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koch Industries Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mplx during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Institutional investors own 31.19% of the company’s stock.

About Mplx

MPLX LP owns, operates, develops, and acquires midstream energy infrastructure assets. It operates in two segments, Logistics and Storage, and Gathering and Processing segments. The company is involved in the gathering, processing, and transportation of natural gas; gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage, and marketing of natural gas liquids (NGLs); and gathering, transportation, and storage of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

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

Stocks in the news: Ashoka Buildcon, Dena Bank, Fortis, Vedanta, Tech Mahindra

Here are the stocks that are in news today:

Ashoka Buildcon: The firm received Rs 22.4 crore in a settlement agreement with NHAI.

Shipping Corporation: Vijay Jadhao appointed as non-official, part-time (Independent) Director on the Board of SCI.

Fortis Healthcare:��The binding bids will be evaluated by the Board of Directors of the Company in consultation with its advisors

related news Stocks in the news: Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy��s Labs, Nestle, Tata Power, NCC Stocks in the news: IDBI Bank, Tata Motors, MOIL, TCS, Tata Steel, Cadila, Eicher Motors Stocks in the news: ICICI Bank, PNB, JSPL, Insecticides India, RBL Bank, SBI, Fortis

ISGEC Heavy Engineering:�The firm has emerged as L-1 bidder for an order worth Rs 700 crore.

GE Power India has been awarded twin boiler equipment orders by BHEL worth approximately Rs 467.9 crore

ICICI Prudential: Board approves appointment and remuneration of NS Kannan as MD and CEO

ISGEC Heavy Engineering emerged L-1 in reverse auction in order for Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD). The value ofthe expected order is about Rs 700 crore

Tata Coffee: Company gets shareholder nod to reappoint Sanjiv Sarin as MD and CEO and Chacko Purackal Thomas as Deputy CEO

ICRA:�Downgrades Aspire Housing to A+ From AA-. It is�the housing finance arm of�Motilal Oswal Securities

United Bank of India hiked MCLR by 10 basis points across all tenors from July 5

Kwality board concluded to defer the decision on buyback/bonus and payment of interim dividend issue for the time being

Vedanta to raise up to Rs 1,500 cr through NCDs

VST Tiller sold 2948 power tiller and 871 tractors in June 2018

Dena Bank to sell 60.5 lakh shares in 3 entities

Sadbhav Infra achieves financial closure of Sadbhav Jodhpur Ring Road, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company

No plans to close operations at Brady House branch in Mumbai: PNB

Tech Mahindra signs IT pact with UK university

APL Apollo board meeting on July 6 to consider and approve the allotment of NCD's on private placement basis

Cholamandalam Investment board meeting on July 27 to consider issue of NCD and Q1 results

M&M Financial Services approved allotment of NCDs worth Rs 643cr

International Finance Corporation invests USD 100 million in Mahindra Finance

Punj Lloyd to consider stock split of preference shares on July 30

Shree Cements incorporates two investment firms in Dubai

Electrosteel Casting board meeting� on July 12 to consider the proposal for raising of funds by issuance of equity shares on preferential basis First Published on Jul 4, 2018 07:44 am

Gaia (GAIA) PT Raised to $25.00

Gaia (NASDAQ:GAIA) had its price objective increased by Roth Capital from $22.00 to $25.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on GAIA. B. Riley increased their target price on Gaia to $26.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 7th. BidaskClub raised Gaia from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Saturday, March 17th. Dougherty & Co began coverage on Gaia in a research note on Wednesday, March 28th. They set a buy rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. ValuEngine raised Gaia from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 2nd. Finally, Lake Street Capital reissued a buy rating and set a $20.00 target price (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Gaia in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $23.25.

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Shares of Gaia stock opened at $21.65 on Friday. Gaia has a 52 week low of $10.35 and a 52 week high of $22.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $378.23 million, a PE ratio of -13.79 and a beta of 0.82.

Gaia (NASDAQ:GAIA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.39) EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.14. Gaia had a negative return on equity of 26.84% and a negative net margin of 72.00%. The business had revenue of $9.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.41 million. sell-side analysts expect that Gaia will post -1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GAIA. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Gaia during the 1st quarter worth about $3,004,000. Unterberg Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Gaia during the 1st quarter worth about $2,635,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Gaia during the 1st quarter worth about $1,710,000. EAM Global Investors LLC purchased a new stake in Gaia during the 1st quarter worth about $1,098,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Gaia by 2,519.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 49,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $770,000 after purchasing an additional 47,762 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

Gaia Company Profile

Gaia, Inc operates a digital video subscription service and online community that caters underserved subscribers worldwide. The company has a digital content library of approximately 8,000 titles available to its subscribers on Internet-connected devices. Its subscribers have access to a library of films, documentaries, interviews, yoga classes, transformation related content, and others for digital streaming.

Oceaneering International (OII) Expected to Announce Earnings of -$0.27 Per Share

Equities research analysts expect Oceaneering International (NYSE:OII) to report ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the current quarter, Zacks reports. Eight analysts have provided estimates for Oceaneering International’s earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is ($0.29) and the highest is ($0.24). Oceaneering International reported earnings of $0.02 per share during the same quarter last year, which would suggest a negative year over year growth rate of 1,450%. The business is expected to report its next earnings results on Wednesday, July 25th.

On average, analysts expect that Oceaneering International will report full-year earnings of ($0.93) per share for the current financial year, with EPS estimates ranging from ($1.29) to ($0.39). For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the firm will post earnings of ($0.37) per share, with EPS estimates ranging from ($0.94) to $0.15. Zacks Investment Research’s earnings per share averages are a mean average based on a survey of research firms that cover Oceaneering International.

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Oceaneering International (NYSE:OII) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $416.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $426.79 million. Oceaneering International had a net margin of 6.60% and a negative return on equity of 2.77%. Oceaneering International’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS.

A number of research firms have issued reports on OII. Wells Fargo & Co raised Oceaneering International from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Goldman Sachs Group raised Oceaneering International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 14th. Zacks Investment Research raised Oceaneering International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 3rd. Barclays set a $20.00 price target on Oceaneering International and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Oceaneering International to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.93.

OII stock traded down $1.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $22.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,245,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,436,772. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -327.29 and a beta of 1.36. Oceaneering International has a fifty-two week low of $17.11 and a fifty-two week high of $26.95.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Oceaneering International during the 4th quarter worth about $112,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in Oceaneering International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $120,000. LPL Financial LLC purchased a new position in Oceaneering International during the 1st quarter worth approximately $186,000. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Oceaneering International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $224,000. Finally, Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Oceaneering International by 869.7% during the 4th quarter. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 11,918 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 10,689 shares during the last quarter. 99.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Oceaneering International

Oceaneering International, Inc provides engineered services and products to the offshore oil and gas, defense, aerospace, and commercial theme park industries worldwide. The company's Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) segment offers submersible vehicles for drill support, vessel-based inspection, maintenance and repair, installation and construction support, pipeline inspection and surveys, and subsea production facility operation and maintenance services.

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Is Flexibility the Key to Retaining Older Workers?

These days, a growing number of Americans are planning to work longer. For some, it's a matter of needing the income. For others, it's a means of occupying their time and avoiding the boredom and restlessness associated with retirement.

But not all seniors who expect to work into their late 60s or 70s intend to stay at their desk jobs. Instead, many are taking the entrepreneurial route so they can enjoy the benefits of self-employment. In fact, seniors 65 and older are more likely to be self-employed than any other age group, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And while that's a positive trend for older workers, it also means that many companies are losing out on the opportunity to capitalize on the knowledge and expertise of seasoned employees who still have a lot of value to add to their businesses.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

How can you, as a business owner or manager, retain more of your senior workforce rather than lose those key players to retirement or self-employment? The answer might lie in being more flexible.

Older workers want on-the-job leeway

While workers of all ages appreciate flexible work arrangements, older employees clearly seek out that leeway. According to the American Working Conditions Survey, 17% of older workers set their own hours and schedules on the job compared to just 14% of younger workers. Not only that, but older workers are less likely than their younger counterparts to place a major emphasis on benefits such as insurance or paid time off. What matters most to them is having the ability to control their work schedules.

The value of retaining older talent

There's an inherent benefit to retaining older workers that many companies don't recognize. But one thing you should realize as a business owner or manager is that all of the education and tech savviness in the world generally can't replace years of knowledge acquisition and hands-on experience. In other words, if you're not particularly motivated to retain your senior workers because there's a stream of eager 20- and 30-somethings out there looking to take their places, remember that when you let those older workers go, they take their industry knowledge with them. And that's not something you should be so willing to give up.

Something else to consider is that older workers make great mentors�and often are eager to impart their knowledge to younger generations. In fact, having senior staff members on hand could end up saving you a large chunk of money on training and ramp-up programs over time.

Finally, remember that many older workers stay at their jobs because they want to keep working, not because they have to. Of course, this isn't always the case, but many would-be retirees continue plugging away because they derive satisfaction from their work. And it's that level of motivation that could produce some serious output for your business -- output you may not get out of younger workers who are simply there for their paychecks.

It pays to be flexible

Though it generally is good to be flexible with your staff, if you want your senior employees to stay put you may need to hop aboard the flexible-scheduling bandwagon. This could mean allowing workers who have proven themselves to set their own hours, work fewer hours, or telecommute, as needed.

If the concept of flexible scheduling is foreign to you, start slowly and let employees work their way up. If you see a decline in productivity, step in and address it. As a business owner or manager, that's your right. The key, however, is to be open to flexible work arrangements so you don't lose out on key players who have been with the business for decades and still have a ton of insight and drive.

Financial Comparison: Energy Recovery (ERII) & Veeco Instruments (VECO)

Energy Recovery (NASDAQ: ERII) and Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

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This table compares Energy Recovery and Veeco Instruments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Energy Recovery	22.35%	6.13%	3.08%
Veeco Instruments	-11.24%	0.51%	0.31%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

38.6% of Energy Recovery shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.5% of Veeco Instruments shares are held by institutional investors. 23.6% of Energy Recovery shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Veeco Instruments shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Energy Recovery and Veeco Instruments, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Energy Recovery	0	0	6	0	3.00
Veeco Instruments	0	2	5	0	2.71

Energy Recovery presently has a consensus price target of $15.83, indicating a potential upside of 88.94%. Veeco Instruments has a consensus price target of $28.67, indicating a potential upside of 73.21%. Given Energy Recovery’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Energy Recovery is more favorable than Veeco Instruments.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Energy Recovery and Veeco Instruments’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Energy Recovery	$63.16 million	7.10	$12.35 million	$0.07	119.71
Veeco Instruments	$484.76 million	1.66	-$44.79 million	($0.02)	-827.50

Energy Recovery has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Veeco Instruments. Veeco Instruments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Energy Recovery, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Energy Recovery has a beta of 5.33, indicating that its share price is 433% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Veeco Instruments has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Energy Recovery beats Veeco Instruments on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

Energy Recovery Company Profile

Energy Recovery, Inc. provides energy solutions to industrial fluid flow markets under the ERI, PX, Pressure Exchanger, PX Pressure Exchanger, AT, AquaBold, VorTeq, MTeq, IsoBoost, and IsoGen names worldwide. The company operates through Water and Oil & Gas segments. It offers pressure exchanger energy recovery devices for water desalination plants; hydraulic turbochargers for low-pressure brackish, high-pressure seawater reverse osmosis systems, and other water treatment applications; and high-pressure and circulation pumps for low and high-pressure reverse osmosis systems. The company also provides VorTeq solutions for hydraulic fracturing applications; MTeq solutions for mud pumping applications; IsoBoost systems, such as hydraulic turbo chargers, and related controls and automation systems; and IsoGen systems, including hydraulic turbines, and related controls and automation systems. It serves engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms that design and build large desalination plants; original equipment manufacturers; oil companies; exploration and production companies; oilfield service companies; and EPC firms, which design and build oil and gas processing plants. The company markets its products through its direct sales channels and independent sales agents. Energy Recovery, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in San Leandro, California.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

Veeco Instruments Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor process equipment worldwide. It offers metal organic chemical vapor deposition systems; packaging lithography equipment; precision surface processing systems; laser annealing systems; ion beam etch and deposition systems; molecular beam epitaxy systems; 3D wafer inspection systems; and atomic layer deposition and other deposition systems. The company sells its products to light emitting diode, micro-electro mechanical system, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test, HDD, and semiconductor manufacturers, as well as research centers and universities. Veeco Instruments Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Plainview, New York.

Top 5 Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2018

tags:VREX,OAK,GCAP,TDG,GPS,

President Donald Trump retreated from imposing tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods because of White House discord over trade strategy and concern about harming negotiations with North Korea, according to people briefed on the administration’s deliberations.

Trump also succumbed to pressure from farm-state Republicans, who heavily lobbied the White House to resolve its trade differences with China, which had especially targeted U.S. agricultural products with planned retaliatory tariffs.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that the administration’s plan to impose tariffs had been suspended, and Trump said on Twitter on Monday that the Chinese had agreed to purchase unspecified amounts of American farm products. Some of his loyalists led by former chief strategist Steven Bannon criticized the deal as a capitulation.

The agreement at least delays a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, a prospect that has rattled financial markets for months. But many U.S. concerns about China’s economic practices remain unresolved: its acquisition of American technologies; the country’s plans to subsidize the growth of advanced domestic industries such as artificial intelligence and clean energy; and U.S. companies’ access to China’s markets.

Top 5 Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2018: Varex Imaging Corporation (VREX)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Check out these big penny stock gainers and losers

  Losers Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) fell 13.4 percent to $51.10 in pre-market trading after the company reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter and lowered its profit outlook for the year. Integrated Media Technology Limited (NASDAQ: IMTE) fell 9.8 percent to $28.97 in pre-market trading after surging 46.29 percent on Thursday. Gogo Inc. (NASDAQ: GOGO) shares fell 8.2 percent to $8.81 in pre-market trading after the company reported Q1 results and disclosed that it is withdrawing its FY18 outlook for adjusted EBITDA, airborne cash capex, airborne equipment inventory purchases and free cash flow. Sharing Economy International Inc. (NASDAQ: SEII) shares fell 7.5 percent to $3.98 in pre-market trading after climbing 22.16 percent on Thursday. Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE: ANET) fell 7.4 percent to $248.00 in pre-market trading following first-quarter earnings. Web.com Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WEB) fell 6.7 percent to $18.00 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Varex Imaging Corporation (NASDAQ: VREX) fell 5.2 percent to $34 in pre-market trading after reporting Q2 results. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE: TKC) shares fell 5.2 percent to $7.60 in pre-market trading after dropping 3.02 percent on Thursday. AMN Healthcare Services, Inc (NYSE: AMN) shares fell 4.7 percent to $61.70 in pre-market trading following Q1 earnings. HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HSEA) fell 4.6 percent to $25.15 in pre-market trading after reporting Q1 results. Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) shares fell 4 percent to $16.66 in pre-market trading after dropping 2.86 percent on Thursday. Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: MLCO) fell 4 percent to $30.65 in pre-market trading. Century Aluminum Co (NASDAQ: CENX) fell 4 percent to $15.76 in pre-market trading following Q1 results. HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HSBC) shares fell 3.5 percent to $48.10 in pre-market tr

Top 5 Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2018: Oaktree Capital Group, LLC(OAK)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Asset management companies like Oaktree Capital Group (NYSE:OAK) have to deal with market volatility in two very different ways. On one hand, they have to produce the exceptional returns that keep them ahead of their peers even when conditions make it difficult. Yet even when they are able to outperform, asset managers also have to address the fears of their clients, many of whom start to flee in down markets even when their funds are holding up quite well.

• [By Benzinga News Desk]

  President Donald Trump hinted he may intervene in the Justice Department’s Russia investigation, as a Senate panel advanced a measure to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller: Link

  ECONOMIC DATA USA GDP (QoQ) for Q1 2.30% vs 2.00% Est; Prior 2.90% The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index for April is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET. Data on farm prices for the recent week will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. ANALYST RATINGS Stifel upgraded Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) from Hold to Buy Morgan Stanley upgraded Acacia Communications (NASDAQ: ACIA) from Underweight to Equal-Weight Jefferies downgraded Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) from Hold to Underperform KBW downgraded Oaktree Capital (NYSE: OAK) from Outperform to Market Perform

  This is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here.

Top 5 Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2018: GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc.(GCAP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  GAIN Capital (NYSE:GCAP) General Counsel Diego Rotsztain sold 3,184 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.23, for a total value of $26,204.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 98,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $811,996.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  LSV Asset Management decreased its position in GAIN Capital (NYSE:GCAP) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 410,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,200 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in GAIN Capital were worth $2,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  These are some of the news articles that may have impacted Accern’s scoring:

  Get GAIN Capital alerts: eToro Announces U.S. Crypto Trading (finance.yahoo.com) Strength: Opportunity zones should spur new growth (savannahnow.com) How Has the New US Tax Law Affected Deductions for Foreign Property Ownership? (mansionglobal.com) How to properly give the cottage to your kids (theglobeandmail.com) GAIN Capital (GCAP) Presents At Needham Emerging Technology Conference – Slideshow (seekingalpha.com)

  GAIN Capital opened at $8.15 on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. GAIN Capital has a fifty-two week low of $5.63 and a fifty-two week high of $13.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $364.74 million, a PE ratio of -40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.01.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  GAIN Capital (NYSE:GCAP) insider Samantha Roady sold 4,826 shares of GAIN Capital stock in a transaction on Monday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.23, for a total transaction of $39,717.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 221,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,820,401.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Top 5 Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2018: Transdigm Group Incorporated(TDG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  TransDigm Group (NYSE:TDG) insider Roger Jones sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.78, for a total value of $1,618,900.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Astronics (NASDAQ: ATRO) and TransDigm Group (NYSE:TDG) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Top 5 Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2018: Gap, Inc. (GPS)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

   

  Companies Reporting After The Bell Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $1.07 per share on revenue of $3.54 billion. Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.03 per share on revenue of $557.65 million. Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.46 per share on revenue of $3.60 billion. Quality Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $0.13 per share on revenue of $131.95 million. Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) is expected to post quarterly loss at $0.09 per share on revenue of $297.67 million. Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCVL) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.71 per share on revenue of $262.02 million. Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE: DECK) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $0.19 per share on revenue of $375.41 million. Zoe's Kitchen, Inc. (NYSE: ZOES) is estimated to post quarterly loss at $0.01 per share on revenue of $105.30 million. DXC Technology Company (NYSE: DXC) is expected to post quarterly earnings at $2.23 per share on revenue of $6.12 billion. 8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) is estimated to post quarterly loss at $0.05 per share on revenue of $76.93 million. Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) is projected to post quarterly loss at $0.45 per share on revenue of $424.46 million. ePlus inc. (NASDAQ: PLUS) is estimated to post quarterly earnings at $1.01 per share on revenue of $1.60 billion. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF.A) is expected to post quarterly loss at $0.04 per share on revenue of $1.04 billion. Agilysys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGYS) is estimated to post quarterly loss at $0.08 per share on revenue of $32.58 million. Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX) is estimated to post quarterly loss at $0.19 per share on revenue of $278.98 million. Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV) is projected to post quarterly earnings at $0.31 per share on revenue
• [By JJ Kinahan]

  Over on earnings row, Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) posted Q1 earnings of 82 cents a share, above Wall Street analysts’ estimates of 74 cents. Revenue also beat estimates, and same-store sales jumped 7.1 percent. This continued what has generally been a positive earnings season for most of the major retailers. However, shares of BBY slid 5 percent early in the session. Another retailer, Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), is scheduled to report after the close today.

• [By ]

  For his "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer sat down with Art Peck, president and CEO of Gap Inc.  (GPS) , the bricks-and-mortar retailer that saw its shares rise over 50% last year, only to slip this year, down 9%.

• [By Taylor Cox]

  Notable Earnings

  Best Buy Co., Inc (NYSE: BBY) Q1 premarket Splunk Inc (NASDAQ: SPLK) Q1 after hours Ross Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: ROST) Q1 after hours The Gap, Inc (NYSE: GPS) Q1 after hours Nutanix, Inc (NASDAQ: NTNX) Q3 after hours

  IPOs

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM) Q2 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM)Q2 2018 Earnings Conference CallMay 23, 2018, 8:00 a.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

All participants please stay online your conference is ready to begin. Good morning, welcome to the CIBC quarterly financial results call. Please be advised that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Amy South, Senior Vice President, CFO, Functional Groups, and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Amy.

Amy South -- Senior Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to CIBC's 2018 second quarter results conference call. My name is Amy South and I am the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. This morning's agenda will include opening remarks from Victor Dodig, CIBC's president and Chief Executive Officer. Kevin Glass, our Chief Financial Officer will follow with a financial review, and Laura Dottori-Attanasio, our Chief Risk Officer will provide a risk management update. With us for the question and answer period following the formal remarks are CIBC's business leaders, including Harry Cohen, Jon Hountalas, Christina Kramer, and Larry Richman, as well as other senior officers.

Before we begin, let me remind you of the caution regarding forward-looking statements on slide two of our investor presentation. Our comments may contain forward-looking statements, which involve applying assumptions, which have inherent risk and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. With that, let me now turn the meeting over to Victor.

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Amy. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us. With our financial results released this morning, we continue to demonstrate strong and sustainable earnings performance that is aligned to the targets we set out at our investor day, late last year. Our team is making good progress in executing against our client focus strategy, which is transforming our bank and delivering results and we expect this to continue. Our adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.3 billion. On a per share basis, this quarter's adjusted earnings of $2.95 is our 15th consecutive quarter of year-over-year EPS growth. All of our strategic business units are performing well, underscoring the strength of our franchise as we work together as one team to earn the trust and confidence of our clients. In Canada, our personal small business banking and commercial on wealth management businesses delivered strong and diversified earnings with disciplined expense management. Our results reflect our ability to deepen relationships and grow market share across a range of client needs and segments.

South of the border, our U.S. commercial banking and wealth management businesses are exceeding our expectations as our team continues to expand relationships with our clients and build out cross porter flows. And in our global capital markets franchise, we continue to drive growth in all key-operating markets by working closely with our clients to give them access to the full strength of our CIBC platform.

Our focus on strengthening our U.S. business is also evident in yesterday's announcement of several products aimed at better serving our clients. We launched CIBC Agility, a new digital high-interest savings account for our U.S. clients. It offers a competitive rate to attract deposits and is the first step in building out our retail offering for clients in the U.S. We have also enhanced our suite of products for Canadian clients who frequently travel to or work in the United States. We launched a new transactional U.S. dollar smart account as well as enhancing our existing U.S. dollar solutions to better enable our clients to shop, pay bills, transfer money, and withdraw U.S. funds on either side of the border.

Turning to our capital, our common equity TON capital ratio increased to a strong 11.2% compared to 10.8% last quarter. Capital deployment remains important. We are confident in our ability to continue to deliver solid earnings growth and build on our capital strength. With that view, today we announced a normal course a shore bid to purchase approximately 2% of our outstanding shares for cancellation over the next 12 months. We plan to commence share purchases imminently. Our results also continue to reflect the strength and focus of our team in improving operational efficiency and investing prudently in initiatives that drive growth. This quarter, our adjusted efficiency ratio of 56% was a 300 basis point improvement over the same period last year. We're pleased with this progress as we continue to drive toward our medium trig target of 52%.

At this time, I would like to turn over the call to my colleague Kevin Glass to review our results in greater detail and I'll come back to you after the Q&A with some final comments.

Kevin Glass -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Victor. My presentation will refer to the slide that I've posted on our website starting with slide five. CIBC reported net income of $1.3 billion and earnings per share of $2.89 for the second quarter of 2018. Adjusting for items of note detailed in the appendix to this presentation, our net income was $1.3 billion and EPS was $2.95, up 12% from a year ago. We generated revenue of $4.4 billion for the quarter, which is up 18% year-over-year. Revenue growth and prudent expense management resulted in positive uprating leverage of 5.9% and an efficiency ratio of 55.9%. All of our businesses generated strong results as we executed on our client-focused strategy. We also continue to track well against our medium turn targets.

Turning to capital on slide six, our CET1 ratio is 11.2% of the [inaudible] [00:10:56] up 40 basis points from the prior quarter. Followed organic capital generation was partially offset by the impact of RWA growth. We also benefited from the change in [inaudible]'s floor methodology in the quarter. While the one-floor adjustment that was included in our RWA last quarter was eliminated this quarter contributing 16 basis points to our CET1 ratio. We continue to strengthen our capital position and as Victor noted, today we announce a normal cause issue that will permit us to purchase for cancellation up to 9 million or approximately 2% of our selling common shares over the next 12 months. Our leverage and liquidity ratios remain strong. The balance of my presentation will be focused on adjusted results, which exclude items of note.

Dipping out to enter the performance of our business segments. Slide seven reflects the results of our Canadian personal and small business-banking segment. Net income for the quarter was 586 million, up 16% from last year. Revenue for the quarter was $2.1 billion, up 8% from last year, primarily driven by strong and balanced volume growth as well as favorable rates. Net interest margin was up 3 basis points from last quarter, helped by favorable rates and the run-off of deposit promotions. Non-interest expenses were 1.1 billion, up 3% from the prior year, primarily due to investments we continue to make to generate growth and to support our transformation into a modern convenience and relationship-oriented bank. Expense discipline, along with strong revenue growth, generated pre-provision earnings growth of 14%, operating leverage of 5% and a 250 basis point year-over-year improvement in our next ratio. Our reason for credit losses of 203 million was up 12 million from the percent period last year. Underlying credit quality remains stable with a provision increase due primarily to an increase in loss for non-impaired loans.

Slide eight is extra information we're providing this quarter to show our continued progress in deepening relationships with our personal and small business clients. A year ago, two-thirds of our revenue growth was generated from my real estate secured lending business as we completed to build out of our mobile advisor team and approach full productivity of the sales force. This past quarter, real estate secured lending represented less than a third of our year-over-year revenue growth with over two-thirds driven by higher volume growth, margin expansion, and higher non-interest income growth across other lines of business. The bottom charts on the slideshow our recent market share trend in money-out and money-in relative to a year ago. Over the past six months, we anticipated, money-out growth converged toward industry levels and our market share remains steady. Over the same period, we have gained share in money-in with balanced contribution from deposits in mutual funds. We have included a market share slide in the appendix to this presentation.

Operating leverage is particularly high this quarter in Canadian personal small business banking largely as a result of the timing of investments spent in the prior year. We are highly on track to achieve fully operating leverage above our 1% to 2% target range.

Slide nine shows the results of our Canadian commercial banking and wealth management segment. Net income for the quarter was 310 million, up 9% from last year. Commercial banking revenue was up 12% driven by strong deposits and lending volume growth and higher credit-related fees. Deposit balances were up 12% and lending balances were up 8% from the same period last year. Wealth management revenue was up 2% driven by higher AUM reflecting market appreciation and positive net sales. Lower commission revenue in our full-service brokers business negatively impacted revenue growth this quarter. Non-interest expenses were up 3% primarily due to higher performance-based and employee-related compensation. The followed top line growth and expense discipline [inaudible] [00:15:02] to positive operating leverage of 2.5% and resulted in our 150 basis point year-over-year improvement in our efficiency ratio.

Slide 10 shows the results of our U.S. commercial banking and wealth management segment, which includes results of CIBC Bank U.S.A., Atlantic Trust, and the real estate finance business. Net income for the quarter was 142 million compared with $27 million a year ago. Revenue for the quarter reflected solid business performance aided by a stronger U.S. dollar. Higher loan volume and the benefit of a higher rate environment helped to offset the impact of feeless days and higher syndication fees reverting to more normalized levels this quarter. In addition, beginning this quarter, trading revenue was included in the capital market segment where all global markets business is now managed. Average loans grew $1 billion, or 4% from the prior quarter driven by organic growth and a stronger U.S. dollar. Notwithstanding seasonal outflows, averaged deposit balances grew 300 million or 1% from the prior quarter. We continue to capitalize on our thorough opportunities to do more for our combined U.S. client base. Overall, credit quality remains stable.

On slide 11; we share the contribution of CIBC Bank U.S.A. in U.S. dollars. Adjusted net income was 73 million compared with 58 million for private bank in the first calendar quarter of 2017, an increase of 26%. As I mentioned in the U.S. commercial banking wealth management segment, contribution from CIBC Bank U.S.A. was also impacted by lower syndication fees and the repointing of trading revenue to the capital markets segment. These two items reduced year-over-year revenue by approximately 10 million and quarter-over-quarter revenue by approximately $15 million. Net interest margin for CIBC Bank U.S.A. increased 18 basis points from a prior quarter, reflecting repricing of the largely very [inaudible] book in a higher rate environment. Deposit activity for the quarter reflected some seasonal outflows offset by referrals from our large corporate a [inaudible] border clients. Deposits forced from referrals drive a $450 million increase and averaged deposit from 2118. Turning to capital markets on slide 12, net income for the quarter was $249 million, down 7% from a year ago. Revenue this quarter was 710 million, up 18 million or 3% from a year ago. Core revenue, which excludes synthetic equity arrangements and [inaudible] changes were up north of 15% year-over-year reflecting higher foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity trading revenue, and higher corporate banking revenue partially offset by lower underwriting revenue. Non-interest expenses were up 29 million or 8% from a year ago. We remain disciplined around our expenses and our investing in areas of future growth. The increase reflects investments in technology and talent as we continue to borrow recurring revenue streams growing the U.S. and enhance connectivity with the rest of the bank.

Slide 13 reflects the results of the corporate and other segment. Net income for the quarter was 58 million compared with a net loss of 14 million in the prior year, reflecting improved results from treasury activities and higher revenue in CIBC First Caribbean. Expenses were lower due to certain non-recurring recoveries and the current quarter also benefited from tax credits, which are not expected to repeat. It's difficult to predict a run rate for this segment since revenue, particularly in trade rate, can be volatile, and it impacted by a number of market variables. As noted in prior quarters, going forward we expect to report break-even results plus minus $20 million for the segment. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Laura.

Laura Dottori-Attanasio -- Chief Risk Officer

Thanks, Kevin, and good morning everyone. I will be speaking on the risk review covered on slide 15 to 18 of the investor presentation. While our overall loan losses are up quarter-over-quarter, we focus on our stage three losses, which continued to perform well at a 24 basis points loss rate up marginally from the first quarter and consistent with prior quarters. The increase of 15 million in stage three losses from last quarter was largely driven by seasonally higher right-offs in the cards portfolio and a small number of new impairments in our CIBC Bank U.S.A. portfolio that was partially offset by lower losses in CIBC First Caribbean. As we discussed last quarter, our stage one and two buckets could be more volatile quarter-to-quarter, which is why we tend to focus on stage three.

As a result of mostly stable quarterly updates to our forward-looking macroeconomics factors and some slight portfolio migration within these buckets, there was a $5 million net reversal in stage one and two buckets as compared to a $49 million release last quarter. Overall, we are pleased with our credit performance. Slide 16 provides an overview of our gross impaired loans. Overall, gross impaired loans were made stable quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year with one basis point increase to 41 basis points. We do show a small increase from 23 to 25 basis points in our mortgage portfolio. This is mainly a result of seasoning of the portfolio as it matures and as you'll see on our next slide, write-offs remain flat at one basis point, which is consistent with the strong credit quality of our mortgage portfolio.

Slide 17 provides a more granular view of our net write-off rates by portfolio. Overall, our net write-off ratio was 26 basis points, up 6 basis points quarter-over-quarter, but stable on a year-over-year basis. Net write-offs of our mortgage portfolio continued to remain flat while cards and personal lending were up this quarter mainly due to seasonality reflecting higher delinquencies after the holiday season, they continue to trend lower on a year-over-year basis. Business and government loans were up due to a write-off of an account in the pre-acquisition U.S. real estate finance portfolio with no PCL impact in the current quarter. CIBC Bank U.S.A. continued to remain stable. As for FCIB, we did experience an increase write-off rate both last quarter and this quarter mainly due to a recovery initiative in our consumer portfolios that results in higher write-offs, although no impact to losses as we had previously taken a full allowance.

On slide 18, we highlighted our Canadian credit card and unsecured personal lending portfolios. As expected, the late stage delinquency rate of our Canadian credit cards portfolio peaked in the first quarter after the holiday season and has reverted to a lower level in the second quarter. On a year-over-year basis, the delinquency rate was up primarily due to the adoption of IFRS9, which you will recall I discussed in a lot of detail last quarter. The late-stage delinquency rate of our Canadian unsecured personal lending portfolio continues to remain stable in the second quarter. And so overall, we continue to be very pleased with our credit performance in the quality of our credit portfolios. And with that, I'll turn things back to Amy.

Amy South -- Senior Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Laura. That concludes our prepared remarks. We're not going to move to the question and answer section of the call. As a reminder, can you please try to keep your question to one question? Operator, can we please have the first question, please?

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you and please press *1 at this time if you have a question. There will be a brief pause for the participants [inaudible] [00:23:49] questions. Thank you for your patience.

Our first question is from Ebrahim Poonawala with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead.

Ebrahim Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Good morning. I was wondering if you could just touch-up on the outlook for the U.S. private bank margin expansion this quarter in light of the negative deposit growth. I know Victor you mentioned about some of the new promotion and the CIBC Agility, which I assume are higher rate products. Would love to get your thoughts in terms of how sustainable the margin expansion is going forward or how we should think about that and how you expect deposit growth to play out from here on?

Larry Richman -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, U.S. Region

Good morning. Let me begin by saying the NIM really rose to 3.24% principally driven by rates and in a stable portfolio. We actually feel good about the variable rate loan portfolio that will rise if interest rates continue to rise. We are seeing deposit pressures as all you U.S. banks are, but again we also have a roughly 30% to 32% non-interest bearing DDA balance, which buffers that to some degree as well. Deposit growth relative to other U.S. banks and also relative to our same period last year was up because this is usually seasonal to February through April timeframe typically sees deposit outflows for taxes, bonuses, and also distributions. We see good deposit growth. We're going to remain competitive from a pricing perspective. Deposit pressures continue. But at the same time, we feel good that our rates -- given the variable nature of our loan book -- that we will benefit from increasing rates.

Ebrahim Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Can you quantify that in terms of if the fed again moves in June what [inaudible] [00:26:11] to think about the benefit of the margin from every additional fed rate height?

Larry Richman -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, U.S. Region

Roughly 90%+ of our loan book is variably priced. The majority of it is tied to 30 day LIEBOR so you can see the impact that that could have.

Ebrahim Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Understood. Just to add to that, any thought from the acquisition announcement we saw in your market on Monday with FITB buying MBFI? Does that create opportunities? Make it more competitive that you have a larger additional bank more aggressively competing in Chicago?

Larry Richman -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, U.S. Region

That was a very interesting announcement. First and foremost, I want to congratulate both companies for making that deal. I know the leadership and I want to congratulate them particularly Mitch on that acquisition. I think in my view reflects a real strong market in Chicago and this is really further validation of the interest in Chicago. We have a very strong and a very growing position client-based and very experienced leadership in that market. We also believe that disruption and change sometimes create opportunity. We've made a living so to speak on seizing those opportunities over time. We're very optimistic that it'll continue.

Ebrahim Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Thanks for taking my question.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from John Aiken with Barclays. Please go ahead.

John Aiken -- Barclays -- Analyst

Good morning. Now that we've seen the residential mortgage growth moderate, and as you say come back to the market, how much of this is actually being predicated by CIBC's strategic shift and how much of that is related to the disruption that's been going on in terms of the policy, in terms of the outlook? And as we look forward, how are we going to offset this growth on the platform, at least on a loan basis?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

John, thank you for the question. It's Christina speaking. Specific to the mortgage growth, across the industry we've seen the slowdown occur as you mentioned. And that started as we had communicated several quarters ago, started about a year ago at this time. We've started to converge toward the market as also indicated that we would do. When we take a look at our growth today, the good news is when you take a look at that quarter's results and as Kevin covered in his prepared remarks, it is well diversified. We have balance growth today across all of our businesses. Very much a reflection of the strategy and the performance that we had indicated and guided that we would be focusing on. Our relationship focus strategy, our investments in our team and our digital capabilities, and our transformation are in fact driving the results. In terms of our outlook, we consider it to be a strong revenue year for the rest of the balance of the year.

John Aiken -- Barclays -- Analyst

Great, thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Meny Grauman with Cormark Securities. Please go ahead.

Meny Grauman -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst

Hi, good morning, just following up on John's question. Just trying to understand better the dynamics between how much of the slowdown is coming from B20 versus what you've communicated just in terms of your own specific circumstances in your mortgage book. I guess one question, in particular, is: you talked about renewals as being a potential offset for some of the impacts of B20. Could you comment on what you're seeing in terms of renewals? Are you seeing increased renewals and any of the other offsets to B20 that you talked about? What are you seeing in terms of amortization trends and other things like that?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

While it's still a bit early to actually pull apart exactly what change impacted what in the trend line, I would suggest that most of the slowdown that we've seen in the last few months is likely due to the B20 regulation changes. Only time will tell. We've actually seen a very soft start to the spring market. We don't know whether that's a bit of a pause in the market or consumers changing behavior or waiting to see what happens in the market. We still do see activity in the market particularly in the condo space overall. Still mortgage market, but it is slowing down in terms of overall performance. Does that answer your question?

Meny Grauman -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst

Well, I was wondering if you could just talk about renewal specifically and the trend there?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

On the retention front, we're just seeing a pretty consistent retention rate. We haven't at this point yet seen any marked changes to retention. It also might be particularly early given the timing of the regulatory changes to actually see the outcome of that.

Meny Grauman -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst

And then just a follow-up: If you're saying sort of the slowdown that we're seeing is related to B20 -- so would you expect an even bigger slowdown as you're sort of lapping the big comps that you had before? You talked before about the ramp up in the mobile mortgage sales force and the impact on that going forward.

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

We expect loan growth to moderate in the back half of the year. So at this point in terms of outlook, we're seeing the mortgage market will by the end of the year go to low single digits based on our current understanding of the market and what we're seeing so far. Again, I'd point to the overall performance of the business. It's very much in line with our strategy. And that was about focusing on depths of relationship with our clients. You see growth across all aspects of our business. We're quite pleased with what we're seeing. The growth that is coming from rate increases, volume increases, as well as mixed changes so it is very balanced across the portfolio.

Meny Grauman -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Steve Theriault with Eight Capital. Please go ahead.

Steve Theriault -- Eight Capital -- Analyst

Good morning. I wanted to ask a question on cards but if I could just sneak one in for Kevin first on the treasury gains. Usually, I think of elevated treasury in the context of a steeper yield curve in particular. We didn't see that this quarter. Sometimes securities gains, but securities gains looked pretty normal to me. Can you flesh out a little what drove the higher treasury contribution this quarter?

Kevin Glass -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Steve. Actually, we did benefit from some rebalancing on our portfolios where we did actually have higher than usual bond gains. So that combined with just in our hedges is sometimes some volatility on that and with rising rates [inaudible] just some of our commitment hedges and the way that that played out also led to gains. If you take the volatility of the bond gains and some of the portfolio rebalancing that was about 25 odd million dollars. That's what drove treasury in the current quarter.

Steve Theriault -- Eight Capital -- Analyst

If I look at the non-interest revenue section, the AFS gains look pretty normal. Was it the mix of those gains that were more pushed toward the corporate line? Or can we just not see it through that line at them directly?

Kevin Glass -- Chief Financial Officer

I think what you would've seen is partly in our capital markets area. AFS would've been down on a year-over-year basis, but certainly from a trading perspective it [inaudible].

Steve Theriault -- Eight Capital -- Analyst

Okay, that makes sense. And if I could for Victor, Christina. Victor, we talked about the bank wanting to do a bit better on the cards side and the growth imbalances -- was a pretty modest 2% year-on-year I see this quarter. Can you or Christina talk a little bit about any initiatives under way and cards that might help improve the growth outlook maybe later this year or into next year?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

I'll take that question if that's OK Victor. So we're performing around the rate of the market, it's low single digits in terms of growth year-over-year. What you'll see is the improvement over the quarter from Q1 -- I see some pick-up from us in this space. We're out in the market right now marketing our Aventura product. We're pleased to see the early results of that marketing campaign. So on travel, we continue to grow our active accounts and purchase of volumes. We're feeling really good about that space. And over time you will see picked up performance and more meaningful revenue contribution from this business.

Steve Theriault -- Eight Capital -- Analyst

Have there been in any change in the rewards grid for Aventura? Or is it more just a straight pick up than marketing?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

What you're actually seeing is a growth as a result of marketing but also as a result of our teams out in the market with an increased focus on the space. You will see this pick up. We anticipate it to pick up.

Steve Theriault -- Eight Capital -- Analyst

Thanks for that.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Gabriel Dechaine with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

Gabriel Dechaine -- National Bank Financial -- Analyst

Good morning. I got a couple of questions on the real estate book -- both the retail business and the wholesale business. On retail, so we saw originations down nearly 40% year-over-year. As I look over the next two quarters and what your originations were last year, 16 billion in Q3 and 12 billion in Q4. I'm just wondering how we possibly get close to guidance that the originations could be down 10% or so this year. Granted, that's for the whole book and not just the uninsured portfolio but maybe you can walk me through how you're seeing things today? And then, on the wholesale part of the business in the supplement there I see a real estate and construction portfolio of 29.6 billion. That's a 5% quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year's got noise because you didn't have private bank corp there. Just wondering what's in that portfolio? What's driving that growth because that's phenomenal? And how that might be linked to the overall housing market in Canada?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

I'll start with the beginning of that to Gabriel. It's Christina speaking. The original 10% was related to what we thought or anticipated the B20 impact would be. So that was on that part of the business. When we take a look at the second half, we continue to see that there will be origination decline probably around a 50% range relative to the same period last year. That's on the overall market as well. When we take a look again our performance, it is very much diversified. Kevin talked about it in his prepared remarks. A year ago, two-thirds of our revenue would be directly related to our mortgage performance and our mortgage business. Today that's about a quarter. We've seen good growth in all other aspects of our business. That's related to the clients that we've acquired through our mortgage business but also that's the relationship and making sure we're advising clients on the balance of their needs both on the money-in side and the money-out side. When we do see a moderation in loan growth occurring over the back half of the year, we do see it more than offset by the growth in the revenue line through margins, through mix, and through volumes. So we're feeling pretty confident around the overall topline growth.

Gabriel Dechaine -- National Bank Financial -- Analyst

Fair enough. I see that too. The revenue growth overall is quite solid year-over-year. I'm just wondering how we get to the 10 to 50 there or whatever number. I'm just -- you see 20 and then market softness overall, is that?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

The 10 was originally related to B20 and that was an estimate at the time. The 50 is more related to what we're actually seeing in the market. It is a slower market.

Gabriel Dechaine -- National Bank Financial -- Analyst

At those levels, we might see mortgage balances actually decline or flatten?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

No. We're still seeing growth year-over-year it's just not what it was last year.

Gabriel Dechaine -- National Bank Financial -- Analyst

Alright. Thanks for the wholesale business there.

Jon Hountalas -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, Canada

It's Jon and I'll speak to the Canadian piece, which is a big part of it. Year-over-year -- I know there's noise at the top of the house -- but just on Canadian banking real estate has not grown any faster than the rest of the book. In fact, it's grown slower. Quarter-over-quarter it was a quarter but overall going in line or slower than the rest of our book. We've taken a good look at the correlation between kind of residential slowdown and impact on the commercial business. We don't think its material. About the residential piece of the commercial real estate book is growing in line with the rest of the bank. So again, no overshooting in the residential commercial mortgage space -- nothing major on that front.

Gabriel Dechaine -- National Bank Financial -- Analyst

It'd be helpful to know what's actually in there. It's by far your biggest wholesale export and you're not unique there. All the other banks are like that. Anyway, just a request. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Sumit Malhotra with Scotia Capital. Please go ahead.

Sumit Malhotra -- Scotia Capital -- Analyst

Thanks, good morning. Victor, I wanted to ask about your filing for your normal-course issuer bid. The share request is for 2%. Is that a comp that the bank is limited to in terms of the NCAB request? Or was that the level that you and the management team felt comfortable with?

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

Sumit, thanks for your question. On capital deployment, let me remind everybody our strategy on capital deployment. We said that our CET1 target of range is in the 10.4 to 10.7 area. We said that once we get comfortably above 10.7 and we got regulatory clarity, we'll be more definitive in terms of buybacks. In terms of capital deployment overall, primarily organic: organic growth and over-indexing on the U.S. and Canadian commercial wealth management businesses. Staying well within our dividend target payout range of 40% to 50% and really being toward the midpoint of that, and to execute on buybacks. As the leadership team got together and looked at our capital levels at 11.2%, we felt that the right level to be at was 2% over the next 12 months. And we will be executing on that imminently. That is the number that we feel comfortable with given the horizon that we're dealing with currently. We're gonna start executing it.

Sumit Malhotra -- Scotia Capital -- Analyst

I ran some quick numbers and you'll correct me if I'm wrong please. If you bought the entire 9 million shares not just imminently but immediately, the impact on your CET1 would be around 50 basis points. So you'd still be at the high-end of your target range. Obviously, this bank with your high return on risk weight out since those generate a lot of capital organically. And to your point, it seems like we have more regulatory clarity. If you were to finish that 9 million shares well before the 12-month timeframe, is there any restriction to the bank going back and requesting an increase? Or is that something that the regulatory allows?

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

I think it's 54 basis points actually. So good, quick math from you Sumit, expected that.

Sumit Malhotra -- Scotia Capital -- Analyst

I've still got the one trick to fall back on.

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

I think the one thing to take away from our buyback is a great confidence in our earnings trajectory. One of the things that we highlighted in our investor days; we're gonna be in the 5% to 10% range of earnings growth on a year-over-year basis. We are well within that range and we feel comfortable that we can deliver against that across all our business lines, both in terms of topline growth as well as our ability to continue to repurpose our cost base. As we continue to deliver against that -- as we go further and deeper into that strategy -- there will obviously be more opportunity to buy back stock. But for now, very clearly, we're gonna go and focus on the 2% on the 9 million shares and we'll come back to you every three months as we always do with updates in terms of how we're executing against that.

Sumit Malhotra -- Scotia Capital -- Analyst

Certainly, we'll keep an eye on that. I only bring this up in the context of somebody mentioned the deal in the Midwest footprint and we saw evaluations on that from that purchase price at close to 17 times forward earnings. I'm sure the management teams were very happy with the results you've delivered in the first half. Yet, you see the stock trading at a sometimes 10 times multiple. It certainly seems, mathematically anyway, that from an allocation perspective the better investment would not necessarily be in the U.S. right now, but in your own business.

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

Well, clearly there's an opportunity to buy back stock. We look at our earnings trajectory. We look at our valuation and we think that there's a gap there, which is why we plan on executing on this imminently. As opportunities arise for acquisitions, what we really are focused on are smaller tuck-ins that would complement our existing footprint. But really, the primary focus of the CIBC team is to deliver results, to invest organically, and to start buying back our stock.

Sumit Malhotra -- Scotia Capital -- Analyst

One last one from me and it's probably for you again, Victor. It wasn't really discussed today but obviously since we last spoke, the bank made the decision not to go ahead with the partial listing of the First Caribbean in the U.S. Just wanted to get an update from you. I know this was -- this is my words -- more testing the water than anything else in terms of a partial listing and maybe getting more price discovery on that asset. What happens from here as far as business is concerned? Does the listing have any kind of an impact on the business itself? How will you pursue any partial monetization of that business going forward?

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

So Sumit, in terms of the listing; the company is already partially listed as you know in thinly traded markets and we thought it was just the natural step to list it in a deep capital pool where it's very liquid. We did that for long-term capital planning purposes. The bottom line is the business is performing well. Revenues are growing. Credit conditions remain benign. The management team's doing a really great job of engaging with our clients. We thought that this provided some long-term strategic flexibility. If the market didn't see the value, we saw no reason in freeing up any capital because we have plenty of capital and we just said, you know what, let's just continue to run our business as we're running it. It's part of our CIBC franchise and it's performing very well.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Nigel D'Souza with Veritas Investment. Please go ahead.

Nigel D'Souza -- Veritas Investment -- Analyst

Thank you. Good morning. I actually have two quick questions for you. The first on your HELOC book.

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

Nigel, you want to speak up a little bit. You got a weak microphone there at Veritas. No, it's worse. Nigel, we cannot hear you. Why don't we come back to you once you figure out the technical difficulties? We'd like to answer your question.

Operator

I do apologize, Mr. D'Souza, we barely hear you at this time. We'll go to our next question from Doug Young with Desjardins Bank Capital. Please go ahead.

Doug Young -- Desjardins Bank Capital -- Analyst

Hi, good morning, just I guess two quick ones. One, on the U.S. side, credit is obviously within the private bank corp book has been relatively benign. But I think there has been a little deterioration in the U.S. healthcare book. Just hoping you can elaborate a little bit on that and how we should think about the outlook for PCL's on that U.S. private bank corp book. And then second, just Christina I guess following up on your deepening client relationship. You've given us stats of how real estate has become less of a driver of growth. Can you talk a bit about penetration stats that kind of point us to how those relationships have been deepening over the last year? Anything on that front would be helpful. Thank you.

Laura Dottori-Attanasio -- Chief Risk Officer

Hi Doug, it's Laura. I'll kick it off on your question of that migration in the U.S. portfolio. We do see some continued downward migration and that's really in the healthcare portfolio, which continues to exhibit weakness. So that sector's trending down somewhat. It's really a function of the system adapting to a new managed care payment structure from various levels of government. There are heightened labor costs. All that to say that our teams are proactively staying close to that segment of the business. It's a small part of the overall business. We expected to see some of this. We might see some impairs as we go forward. But from an overall portfolio perspective, there's really nothing of concern. We continue to be pleased with the credit performance of the portfolio, notwithstanding some of this migration we're seeing in the healthcare space.

Larry Richman -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, U.S. Region

It's Larry. Let me just add a couple of points. One, we really believe it's very well managed. And two, we have a very experienced team that has been in this industry segment for 10, 20 plus years. It's a very good client base.

Doug Young -- Desjardins Bank Capital -- Analyst

So it doesn't feel like you're expecting any large amounts of noise on the credit side within the U.S. book. There have been some normal bumps within the healthcare side of it, but there's nothing else from an outlook perspective that concerns you? Is that a fair characterization?

Laura Dottori-Attanasio -- Chief Risk Officer

I think Larry and I certainly agree that that's a fair characterization. Again, the only thing I would point out and it's sort of standard -- when you're in commercial banking you would expect occasional losses. It can be lumpy in terms of how they come. With that caveat, I would say, yes, Larry and I are comfortable. And to the question of our own penetration rates: While we don't publish product youth count rates, I can talk to a few points that I think are very relevant to our strategy and good proof points. We know more clients are choosing to bank with CIBC. Our net client position is up year-over-year. We've previously talked about the transformation of the mortgage to client, clients acquired via the non-banking center teams, previously was largely through our first lien business and now through our mortgage advisor team. Previously it in 2012 would've been largely single product clients and now as deeper relationship clients. So we've covered that previously. We're deepening existing client relationships through focus on advice and planning across our network. So we are seeing that pen rate improve. We're also seeing particular success with newcomers to Canada. It's a key growth market in the industry and we're experiencing significant funds managed increased across that portfolio. Lots of different aspects to how we're seeing the growth come to life and very much in line with our relationship focused strategy.

Operator

Our next question is from Nigel D'Souza with Veritas Investment. Please go ahead.

Nigel D'Souza -- Veritas Investment -- Analyst

Thank you. I hope you can hear me now, hope that's better, apologies for that. I had two quick questions, first on your HELOC balances. Across the industry, we're seeing HELOC growth take up in the last few months. In terms of your HELOC book, it appears to be flat right now, but do you expect that to accelerate in kind of the back half of 2018 and to offset some of that slowdown you're seeing in the res book? The res mortgage book?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

We've seen about 4% year-over-year growth in the HELOC part of our business. We're growing in line with our position in the market and we don't see any significant pick up on this pace. Some banks record some of their -- what we have a home power plan product, so that's the secured line as well as mortgage product in the mortgage business and some counted in the HELOC business. When you look at the overall business, we take a look at total resal performance and that'll be a better indication of how we're performing relative to the market.

Nigel D'Souza -- Veritas Investment -- Analyst

Great, thank you. And the last question I had was on your card book and the write off rates. I took a look at F17 and the write off rate was essentially flat Q1 to Q2. Is the uptake in seasonality this year in Q2; is that just from Q1 being kind of a suppressed blip in your write off read in your 3%? Do you expect that write off rate to kind of trend lower as go further into 2018?

Laura Dottori-Attanasio -- Chief Risk Officer

Hi, Nigel, it's Laura. I'll take that. So that would be 'yes' to both of your questions.

Nigel D'Souza -- Veritas Investment -- Analyst

So there's no reason that the seasonality shown in Q1 is just a blip that happened this year but shouldn't expect that going forward?

Laura Dottori-Attanasio -- Chief Risk Officer

Seasonality we would expect to see a similar pattern, if you will, sort of next year around the same quarters. But no, we wouldn't expect to see increase write-offs if you will next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Scott Chan with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Scott Chan -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

Good morning. Perhaps for Larry, if I look at the Atlantic trust real estate finance and other, I saw good sequentials and income growth and double if you look at year-over-year. But if I look at Atlantic trust it's kind of flattish in AUM growth. We have less days in the quarter. Maybe you can just piece out what kind of drove the sequential increase and kind of how to think about that going forward?

Larry Richman -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, U.S. Region

The Atlantic trust business, which I'll define as our wealth management business, I'm very optimistic and very encouraged. By not only the quality of the client focus but also the momentum that we have in that business. It's both AUM but it's also now private banking, deposits, and connections throughout the U.S. operation. Very strong leadership I expect that we'll have continued growth and opportunities in that business, as well as deepening client relationships that our advisory clients that if they have a need, can do private banking and deposit-taking with us now that we have a U.S. bank.

Scott Chan -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

And maybe just a quick one for Kevin: I notice the tax rate was a bit lower at 20% this quarter. I think two quarters ago you guided 20% to 22%, does that hold true still?

Kevin Glass -- Chief Financial Officer

I think longer term that does hold true. One of the factors that reduced the tax rate this quarter was the recovery that we mentioned in our corporate another segment. So that would've reduced the tax by just over 1% in the current quarter. I think that kind of range is probably appropriate moving forward.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Sohrab Movahedi with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Sohrab Movahedi -- with BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Thank you, just a couple of Canadian commercial banking type questions for Jon maybe. Jon, if you could maybe tell us where the long growth is coming from, maybe by industry or by type of activity? And talk just to the commercial banking segments NIM, which by my math, I think is up about 10 basis points. Is that on the asset side? Or is that a combination of better yields and lower funding costs?

Jon Hountalas -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, Canada

Let's start with where's the growth coming from. In terms of industries, it's pretty broad-based. In terms of geography, they vary year by year, but I'd say in the last year-over-year the strongest areas have been here in the GTA and in Quebec. It's really a function of quality of teams. I think we've talked a fair bit about adding relationship managers over the last few years. We've had a kind of strategy of growing our own talent. We've been on this for five or six years. The combination of adding relationship managers, the relationship managers getting experience, a higher sales management culture, I think it's all those things. There's nothing specific. There's no specific industry that we've seen outside growth in.

Sohrab Movahedi -- with BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

And on the NIM?

Jon Hountalas -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, Canada

The NIM -- I think we've been -- our 8% loan growth. We've been actually higher in the past. We're pretty disciplined on loan pricing. I think we've been public on our kind of moves to get out of commercial mortgages that had loan NIMs. So we're quite disciplined on the lending side. So that's going to help. Rates generally have been a help. The deposit growth rate is materially higher than loan growth rate this quarter. So that's been a help. But all in all, there's a strong pricing discipline in the business that, again, I don't think you'll see that type of improvement quarter-over-quarter too often. But we're focused on pricing.

Sohrab Movahedi -- with BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

And just to stick with it again by my quick math, it looks like the expense to revenue ratio in the commercial banking segment by itself in Canada is now closer to maybe 30%, 31%. How much better can it get from there?

Jon Hountalas -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, Canada

I think we can get better. High 20's? Couple of points? We continue to grow. It's a low mix business. It has capital attached to it. It's a low mix business. We still have plans to add about 150 RM's -- relationship managers -- over the next three years. But again, growth is good. So I still see improvements to the mix ratio.

Sohrab Movahedi -- with BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

So, Jon, you think that you can maintain NIM's because you're disciplined on origination and you've had higher than 8% loan growth in this particular segment? So 8% is a repeatable number?

Jon Hountalas -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, Canada

The 8% loan growth we think is repeatable. I think we've guided to kind of that range. The deposit number at 12 is very strong this quarter. We'll try to keep that up. That's helpful to NIM's as well.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Mario Mendonca with TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Mario Mendonca -- TD Securities -- Analyst

Good morning. Victor, this question I would normally wait until Q3 or Q4 to start asking but the topic is becoming more timely. Part of the sentiment being expressed by investors is certainly, as I meet with them, is that the slowdown in mortgage growth. While manageable in the near term, becomes more and more challenging as it persists. When you think about 2019, if we're going through a prolonged period of much slower mortgage growth -- call it 2% a year -- what is your confidence level about being able to generate this type of running stride? To be clear, I'm not suggesting that 12% is normal for any bank. But something in the neighborhood of 5% to 7% to 10% in an environment where mortgage growth is this slow?

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

If the macroeconomic environment conditions are benign, relatively positive, even if mortgage growth slows, Mario, I believe that we can continue to deliver in that 5% to 7% range or better. We look at the opportunities ahead of us in terms of deepening client relationships. Christina speaks about it a lot, but it's actually happening, which is why we telegraphed to our investor base. Some time ago, we continued to execute against that. We believe that there's still significant opportunity to go deeper with our personal small business clients. I think Jon's been pretty clear in terms of growing the commercial bank and getting positive operating leverage as we do that. Harry's business and Harry's been silent on this call but he hasn't had any questions. Our capital market's business is working very, very closely with the rest of our bank, which has been a real hallmark in terms of how we manage our bank going forward. We manage it from a broad, horizontal client relationship standpoint. And clearly, the performance that Larry and his team are delivering on the U.S. is something that we will continue to expect. That is all top line. We also continue to stay focused on the $10 billion in expenses that we have. And we believe that there are continued opportunities to get those into better shape. Our confidence level of delivering that earnings growth in excess of the 5% target is quite high.

Mario Mendonca -- TD Securities -- Analyst

Just philosophically then because I suspect that your peers, the other banks, might offer a similar outlook for 2019, and I'll certainly check on that as the calls go by. Maybe you could just describe then, philosophically, why would the Canadian banking sector be able to generate earnings growth of say two times nominal GDP when in fact the industry is simply just a reflection of the economy? Philosophically, why would you believe that to be true?

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

Well, Mario, it's a good question but it'd be awfully presumptuous of me to be a spokesperson for the industry. What I can do is speak for our bank. You look over the last decade and we've had missed opportunities for growth. What the leadership team has done over the last less than a half-decade, is really a rally around a strategy where we're trying to take back that part of the market that we've lost. We said to you quite some time ago that we're looking to put the commerce back into CIBC. We're doing that in the Canadian market. We're doing that now in the U.S. market. We're doing that with the capital markets business. It's highly aligned with the rest of the bank. We're simply trying to recapture some of the ground that we had lost in the first half of that decade. While the industry and every one of our competitive peers will have their views on their performance, I can tell you what we're going to deliver as a leadership team, assuming the macroeconomic conditions remain constructive.

Operator

Thank you. Our last question is from Mike Rizvanovic. Please go ahead.

Mike Rizvanovic -- Macquarie Capital -- Analyst

Good morning. I just wanted to go back to Christina briefly. When originations are falling as much as we've seen in the last few months, it makes me wonder about your fee-based revenue around mortgage origination. Can you quantify that for us? I'm assuming that'll be largely around the fees around refinancing and perhaps mortgage breakage. How important is that as far as a revenue stream for your PNC banking segment?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

We are seeing pressure on fee-based revenue. When again, I go back to that overall performance that you've seen in the first and second quarters around the diversification of our business and that top line revenue growth. To the former question around the outlook for mortgages and its contribution: We still feel that given unemployment continues to remain low and GDP continues to grow as expected, we're gonna have strong revenue growth over the remainder of the year. And our outlook as it relates to all of the key metrics that we've positioned at investor day has not changed.

Mike Rizvanovic -- Macquarie Capital -- Analyst

So that revenue stream around origination that's not related to NII, is that diminimous?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

Yes.

Mike Rizvanovic -- Macquarie Capital -- Analyst

Okay. And then just a quick follow-up. If you do see a mortgage market that's slowing materially in the next year or two, do you see any potential impact on other personal lending at all? Does that impact your credit card growth, your indirect auto lending, personal loans?

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

It could have somewhat of an impact but again, if you step back and take a look at what our strategy is, it's really about conversations with our clients to provide them advice, financial planning, and advice around their entire portfolio of needs, both on money-in and money-out. We have lots of opportunity to do more with our clients well beyond mortgage business. I think you're seeing that reflected in our numbers.

Mike Rizvanovic -- Macquarie Capital -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. That's all the time we have for questions today. I would like to turn the meeting back over to Victor.

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks very much, operator. Let me just close with a few remarks. Our strong results this quarter reflect the continuing success of our client-focused strategy and our ability to generate sustainable, organic growth. I want to emphasize that. We're gonna build on this momentum going forward with our overwriting focus on putting our clients at the center of all that we do as we continue to transform CIBC into the relationship-oriented bank for a modern world. We'll continue to execute against the commitments we made to you, and those commitments are first to instill a strong client-focused culture, whether those relationships are high touch and focused on ideas and advice, or whether they're primary digital and high tech, we're getting the balance right at CIBC and we're always doing the right thing for our clients. Second, we're continuing to diversify our platform for growth. We will continue to bring the strength of our broader franchise to bear in our growing presence in the United States. The third is, we're going to remain really disciplined around our approach to capital deployment. We went through the mass on the buyback, we went through our comments on executing on it imminently and we're primarily focused on organic growth with only complementary tuck-in acquisitions as those appear in the near term. And finally on efficiency, and this is an important point, we're taking a very disciplined view to managing our cost base and the bottom line as we drive to our next efficiency target of 52% in 2022. I want to close with a note of thanks to our CIBC team, our ongoing success as the result of our unrelenting focus on our clients in all the markets and where we serve them. Together, our team is ensuring that CIBC is a leading North American bank that delivers high quality and sustainable earnings growth. And I'd like to thank our entire team for their continued leadership and contributions to our bank. And finally, to you, our shareholders and our investors: Thank you for your continued support and confidence in your investment in CIBC. Have a great day.

Operator

Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your line at this time and we thank you for your participation.

Duration: 65 minutes

Call participants:

Amy South -- Senior Vice President of Investor Relations

Victor Dodig -- Chief Executive Officer

Kevin Glass -- Chief Financial Officer

Laura Dottori-Attanasio -- Chief Risk Officer

Ebrahim Poonawala -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Larry Richman -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, U.S. Region

John Aiken -- Barclays -- Analyst

Christina Kramer -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Personal and Small Business Banking

Meny Grauman -- Cormark Securities -- Analyst

Steve Theriault -- Eight Capital -- Analyst

Gabriel Dechaine -- National Bank Financial -- Analyst

Jon Hountalas -- Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, Canada

Sumit Malhotra -- Scotia Capital -- Analyst

Nigel D'Souza -- Veritas Investment -- Analyst

Doug Young -- Desjardins Bank Capital -- Analyst

Scott Chan -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst

Sohrab Movahedi -- with BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Mario Mendonca -- TD Securities -- Analyst

Mike Rizvanovic -- Macquarie Capital -- Analyst

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