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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