JMP Group LLC (JMP) Plans $0.03 Monthly Dividend

JMP Group LLC (NYSE:JMP) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, July 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.03 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, September 14th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 30th.

JMP Group has raised its dividend by an average of 17.0% per year over the last three years. JMP Group has a payout ratio of 163.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect JMP Group to earn $0.30 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 120.0%.

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NYSE JMP traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $5.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,509. The company has a quick ratio of 4.05, a current ratio of 4.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.90. JMP Group has a 52 week low of $4.92 and a 52 week high of $5.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.13 million, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.68.

JMP Group (NYSE:JMP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.08). JMP Group had a positive return on equity of 4.26% and a negative net margin of 10.16%. The business had revenue of $27.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.60 million. equities research analysts expect that JMP Group will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

In other JMP Group news, CEO Joseph A. Jolson purchased 5,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.05 per share, with a total value of $27,396.25. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Joseph A. Jolson purchased 16,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.05 per share, for a total transaction of $83,325.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 77,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,981.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 36,925 shares of company stock worth $186,471. Corporate insiders own 52.75% of the company’s stock.

JMP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. ValuEngine cut shares of JMP Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 2nd. TheStreet raised shares of JMP Group from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Friday, July 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $5.50 target price on shares of JMP Group in a report on Friday, April 6th. Barrington Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of JMP Group in a report on Wednesday, May 2nd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of JMP Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.50.

About JMP Group

JMP Group LLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment banking, sales and trading, equity research, and asset management products and services in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Broker-Dealer, Asset Management, and Corporate. The Broker-Dealer segment offers various services, such as underwriting and acting as a placement agent for public and private capital markets raising transactions; and financial advisory services in mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, and other strategic transactions.

Featured Story: How do investors use RSI to grade stocks?

Better Buy: Lam Research vs. Applied Materials

As the world becomes more technological, demand for semiconductors and memory -- the building blocks of all our ultracool gadgets -- is likely to soar. One way to play this trend is semiconductor equipment stocks, which sell the "picks and shovels" to chip manufacturers worldwide.

Like the semiconductor and memory industries, the semiconductor equipment industry has consolidated, to a handful of key global players. Two of the largest are U.S. companies Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT).

So which of these two companies is the better buy today?

Let's start with a look at what they do. While Lam and Applied Materials don't sell the exact same products, there's a large product overlap between the two in the deposition and etching equipment markets. Deposition is when a machine "deposits" a material on a silicon wafer -- whether copper, tungsten, or another substance. Etching machines then remove portions of the material from the wafer, leaving the deposit in the shape of the chip design. The process is repeated over and over again across a variety of materials and shapes until a complex circuit is completed.

Image source: Getty Images.

End market diversification

For equipment makers, having a diversified base of customers can be an advantage. The less the dependence upon a single industry or customer, the better the ability to weather downturns in any one business. Here's how end market exposure shakes out for Lam and Applied.

Market Lam Research (% of system shipments) Applied Materials (% of net sales)

NVM	57%	37%
DRAM	27%	31%
Foundry	10%	21%
Logic and other	6%	11%

Data sources: Lam Research and Applied Materials company filings.

As you can see, Applied Materials' end markets are more evenly dispersed among non-volatile memory (NVM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), semiconductor foundry, and logic manufacturers, while Lam is mostly exposed to NVM and DRAM memory markets. While it's likely that an economic downturn could take down all four of these categories, Applied Materials' customers are more evenly dispersed, so it has a slight advantage here.

In addition, Applied Materials only had two customers that accounted for more than 10% of its sales in 2017. In contrast, Lam Research had four 10% or more� customers, so Applied Materials is more diversified by individual customers as well.

Winner: Applied Materials.

Growth

Lam and Applied Materials have both been posting pretty stellar numbers during this current semiconductor boom. As you can see, Lam has posted slightly better growth during the recent period. That could be due to both its smaller size and its high exposure to memory products, which have recently been booming even more than the semiconductor industry as a whole.

AMAT Market Cap data by YCharts.

While a shift away from memory could flip the scales, right now Lam both has better growth and is smaller, leaving a larger potential runway.

Winner: Lam Research.

Margins and R&D spending

While revenue growth is prized among investors, profitability also matters. For instance, if a company is consistently able to earn outsized profits, it could be a sign that it has competitive advantages over others in the industry.

As it turns out, Applied Materials and Lam Research have very similar operating margins, in the high 20s. Still, Applied Materials seems to have been able to maintain a slightly higher margin fairly consistently over the past couple of years. In the chart below you can see the companies' EBIT margin and R&D to revenue ratio.

AMAT EBIT Margin (TTM) data by YCharts. EBIT = earnings before interest and taxes.

Not only has Applied Materials maintained better operating margins, but it's also been spending slightly more on research and development -- both overall (due to its larger size) and as a percentage of revenue -- than Lam. Being more profitable while also investing more today could give Applied an advantage in the future.

Clearly, Applied is slightly more efficient than Lam on several fronts, despite the lower growth.

Winner: Applied Materials.

Valuation

Since both companies have fairly similar profiles, they also have similar valuations, especially their price-to-earnings ratios. Where the two companies part ways a bit is on a comparison of enterprise value to EBITDA, with Applied Materials garnering an 8.36 EV-to-EBITDA ratio compared with Lam Research at 7.02.

AMAT P/E Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

The difference is likely due to Lam's better balance sheet, which has a much higher net cash position than Applied Materials', as you can see in the chart below; negative net debt equals net cash. (Net debt reveals a business's ability to pay off all its debts. It's calculated by subtracting cash from debt, so a negative number is good.)

AMAT Net Total Long Term Debt (Quarterly) data by YCharts.

Winner: Lam Research.

Take your pick

With each company winning in two categories, it's really up to individual investors as to how they want to play this space. While Applied Materials seems to be more diversified, larger, and more profitable, Lam Research is growing faster and has a slightly better valuation.

Clearly, the market is paying up for the perceived "safety" of Applied Materials. But if you're looking to get more aggressive, Lam is the stock for you. Truthfully, buying both companies might give you the diversification you need. Both are performing quite well and trade at reasonable valuations.

Hot Gold Stocks For 2019

tags:WLH,FISI,RNR,SIRI,

Gold futures dropped Thursday from the roughly 2 1/2-month high they settled at a day earlier, as minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve��s March meeting hinted at a faster pace of interest-rate hikes.

President Donald Trump also appeared to walk back the immediacy of the U.S. response to a suspected chemical-weapons attack in Syria, dulling the metal��s haven appeal.

June gold GCM8, -1.39% fell $17.80, or 1.3%, at $1,342.20 an ounce. The contract had jumped over 1% Wednesday to settle at $1,360��the highest finish since Jan. 25.

Hot Gold Stocks For 2019: Lyon William Homes(WLH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) had its price objective cut by Citigroup from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning. They currently have a neutral rating on the construction company’s stock.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Shares of William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.33.

• [By Max Byerly]

  William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) traded down 7.4% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $24.95 and last traded at $25.04. 774,270 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 81% from the average session volume of 426,618 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.05.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on William Lyon Homes (WLH)

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

Hot Gold Stocks For 2019: Financial Institutions Inc.(FISI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Financial Institutions (FISI)

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

• [By Max Byerly]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Financial Institutions (FISI)

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

Hot Gold Stocks For 2019: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd.(RNR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Logan Wallace]

  RenaissanceRe (NYSE: RNR) is one of 73 publicly-traded companies in the “Fire, marine, & casualty insurance” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare RenaissanceRe to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 307,192 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,389 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in RenaissanceRe were worth $42,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Hot Gold Stocks For 2019: Sirius XM Radio Inc.(SIRI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is a company that thrives on of new car sales. If you have had satellite radio and are not solely reliant on what you get for music in streaming or your library, then chances are pretty good that you won’t want to go back to just having old-fashioned FM/AM radio.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Shares of Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI)�hit another 12-year high on Monday. The country's lone satellite radio provider would go on to improve its fundamentals, announcing that it's laying to rest a pending legal matter by settling with SoundExchange.

• [By Daniel B. Kline]

  SiriusXM (NASDAQ:SIRI) has quietly become a sort of default option for many car owners. Since the service is built into many new vehicles, people get to sample it, and it's very easy to keep the service beyond the initial trial.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  The market didn't exactly jump for joy with Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI)�following its first-quarter results on Wednesday. Revenue rose 6.3% to hit $1.375 billion, in line with analyst expectations but the satellite radio provider's weakest top-line growth since 2011.�Free cash flow, operating cash flow, and earnings grew even faster, up 31%, 34%, and 40%, respectively. Sirius XM's profit of $0.06 a share did beat Wall Street's bottom-line target.��

• [By Daniel B. Kline]

  When Sirius and XM merged in 2008 to become Sirius XM Holdings Inc.�(NASDAQ:SIRI), the combined company still filled a need. It offered depth and niche choices in music that conventional radio did not. In addition, the service had talk offerings led by Howard Stern that were unlike anything found on terrestrial radio, and an impressive array of sports broadcasting rights.

Wipro Q1 PAT seen up 2.6% QoQ to Rs. 1,849 cr: Edelweiss

Edelweiss has come out with its first quarter (April-June�� 18) earnings estimates for the Technology sector. The brokerage house expects Wipro to report net profit at Rs. 1,849 crore up 2.6% quarter-on-quarter (down 11% year-on-year).

Net Sales are expected to increase by 1.6 percent Q-o-Q (up 2.7 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs. 13,989.4 crore, according to Edelweiss.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are likely to rise by 1.6 percent Q-o-Q (down 6.6 percent Y-o-Y) to Rs. 2491.3 crore.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Read More First Published on Jul 12, 2018 06:45 pm

How to Make Up for Your Financial Dark Years�� and Then Some

Have you hit midlife and realize that the amount you��ve put away for retirement over the past 20-30 years of working is a mere pittance of what you��ll actually need?

You have tons of company��

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the median savings for households between ages 50 and 55 is only $8,000. And for those 56-61 it��s not much better �� $17,000.

A mortgage, raising kids, student loans, and financial setbacks such as the Great Recession have caused many Americans to experience years, even decades, when they had little money for retirement savings.

For some�� it��s just plain old procrastination.

And if you��re in your 50s, your earnings may have peaked and you should be squirreling away the most.

Simply put, this is a wakeup call that you have a lot of catching up to do.

But don��t panic or dwell on the past, because it��s not too late to start funding your retirement. But it is time to get serious, assuming you want to quit the grind in the next decade or so.

Start by ��

Doing some belt-tightening

The first step is figuring out where your money is going each month and where you��re overspending.

Apps like Mint, Wela and Personal Capital — deeply discussed yesterday — will let you create a budget and track spending so you can cut expenses and use that money for your retirement savings. You can also set reminders on these apps to plan ahead, pay on time, and avoid late fees.

Meanwhile, get those credit cards paid off. Servicing that debt is costly.

Consider revising your retirement objective

If you��re willing to work a bit longer, you��ll have a few more years to boost your savings and postpone taking withdrawals from retirement funds.

In addition, working longer will allow you to delay Social Security benefits and build up additional earnings credits. For instance, the difference between collecting at age 66 vs. age 68 could mean a 16% bigger check each month for the rest of your life.

Working longer could also be good for your health, as discussed in a recent article. There is a big correlation between working and health, and if you cut out that huge part of your daily routine too early, it will be more detrimental than you anticipate.

Another idea is to start a part-time business such as becoming an Airbnb host now while you��re still working, a prospect whose benefits were discussed in this article. This would also give you extra income not only for retirement, but instantly.

Make the most of IRS rules

The IRS allows employees to put away up to $18,500 each year into 401(k) plans. And if you��re now 50 or older, you can make an additional $6,000 in catch-up contributions.

That��s a total of $24,500.

Do that on a monthly basis for 10 years and you��d have $336,315 assuming a 6% average annual before-tax return. Stick with it another three, and you��re looking at $483,187.

Plus your employer might match some of your contributions, fattening up your account balance even more!

Suppose though, that you don��t have a 401(k) or you want to sock away more money.

You can put $5,500 into an IRA. Catch-up contributions of $1,000 for anyone 50 and older will help. Moreover, contributions might be tax deductible.

$6,500 each year with a 6% annual return will give you another $89,267 in 10 years … $128,251 in 13.

As you see, in your 401(k) and IRA alone you could accumulate a whopping $611,438 in 13 years!

And after you fund those accounts, you can still put money into a savings or brokerage account each month.

Where would that money come from?

One idea is to��

Downsize before retiring

Many people wait until they retire before downsizing to a smaller, less expensive home.

But if you plan to stay in the area after retiring or can telecommute to work, why wait?

Any cash you have left over after buying a new home could go into your retirement savings or pay off credit cards. And assuming monthly household expenses will drop you��ll have even more money to put away.

It��s easy to look over your shoulder and get stuck by saying, ��I wish I would have started earlier.�� But rather than dwelling on the past, get started on your post-50 retirement saving plan.

And the best time to get started�� is today.

To a richer life,

Nilus Mattive
Editor, The Rich Life Roadmap

Hodges Small Cap Fund Is Back on Track

At last check, the team at Hodges Small Cap (HDPSX) had found only 48 stocks they liked well enough to own��but not for lack of looking. Because small-capitalization stocks (by the fund��s definition, those with market values of about $4 billion or less) don��t get as much coverage by Wall Street analysts as their large-cap cousins, finding gems requires a lot of legwork, says comanager Eric Marshall.

See Also: The 20 Best Small-Cap Dividend Stocks to Buy

A true ��blend�� fund, the portfolio includes both fast-growing and undervalued companies. For the growers, the managers look for businesses they think can robustly boost earnings and cash flow over the next 12 to 18 months. Value picks are often under-the-radar firms whose stocks trade at a discount because the market misunderstands their business, says Marshall. Beyond growth or value themes, the managers favor firms able to boost prices for their products and services, and those in industries with little potential for new competitors to arise.

The fund opened for business just after the bear market commenced in 2007. Hodges surrendered 40.6% in 2008��seven percentage points worse than the Russell 2000, a small-cap benchmark. Amid the bludgeoning, the managers pared the portfolio from 50 to 35 stocks, and those that remained paid off. The fund��s 49% return in 2009 clobbered the Russell 2000 by 22 percentage points. Hodges beat at least 70% of small-cap blend funds in each of the next five years, as the fund gradually added more stocks to the portfolio.

The fund hit a rough patch from 2015 through 2017, when Hodges languished in the bottom 20% of funds in its category. Partly to blame, says Marshall, was the fund��s aversion to red-hot biotechnology stocks. They soared over that period but did not have enough earnings to qualify for the portfolio.

Hodges looks to be back on track. The managers bolstered top positions when the market pulled back earlier this year, adding to stakes in Eagle Materials along with cloud computing firm Nutanix, which has returned more than 75% this year through June 15. Over the past decade, the fund��s 10.6% annualized return beat the Russell 2000 by 0.4 percentage point per year. Hodges has beaten the index in six of the past 10 calendar years.

See Also: 25 Blue-Chip Stocks That Mutual Fund Managers Love Most Show comments

Microsoft Reportedly Bringing Movies & TV to iOS and Android

Despite Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) hugely successful emphasis on the enterprise lately under CEO Satya Nadella, the software giant still isn't ready to concede the consumer services space to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) quite yet. For example, the company announced last month that it was revamping its news offerings, leveraging its decades of experience in that industry. That news news�came just as Apple is expanding its own news operations, bringing Apple News to more of its apps and operating systems.

With Apple undoubtedly building its own video-streaming service, it sounds like Microsoft wants to retain relevance there now, too.

Image source: Getty Images.

Embracing other platforms

Windows Central reports that Microsoft is working to bring its existing�Movies & TV app to other platforms beyond Windows. Movies & TV has thus far only been available on Windows platforms but may soon come to iOS and Android. Microsoft hopes to appeal to more consumers by giving them greater flexibility in accessing purchased content, which could encourage more transactions.

However, Microsoft still relies heavily on the a la carte purchase model�when it comes to entertainment content, at a time when subscription-based streaming is the way to go. That broader trend is likely the impetus for Apple moving toward subscription-based streaming, as the Mac maker has also been losing share in the market for purchased downloads. For what it's worth, Apple says that in absolute terms, purchases and rentals are at the highest level in over a decade.

Given Microsoft's nonexistent presence in mobile these days, it's a no-brainer to bring Movies & TV to iOS and Android. With Microsoft bailing on music streaming altogether last year, perhaps the company is trying to salvage its video download business.�It's worth noting that embracing cross-platform strategies has been a hallmark of Nadella's tenure as CEO.

Microsoft will still probably lose relevance in mobile video

The bigger challenges will be brand perception and consumer behavior. Mobile users are accustomed to buying pretty much all digital content from Google Play, iTunes, and the App Store, as those repositories are one-stop shops. Why would they only buy video content from Microsoft but apps and other content from Apple and�Alphabet subsidiary Google, when they can get everything they need from the primary platform storefront?

Ultimately, this could prove to be a futile last-ditch effort by Microsoft to save what it has left of its video download business. There's virtually no chance that Microsoft would build a subscription-based video-streaming service, as it would require billions of dollars to invest in original content, which is the primary differentiator of such services.

To be clear, Microsoft undoubtedly has that kind of money, but probably recognizes the risk that those dollars would be wasted, given its poor track record with consumer services.

ALIS Trading Down 15.3% Over Last Week (ALIS)

ALIS (CURRENCY:ALIS) traded 14.5% lower against the U.S. dollar during the one day period ending at 20:00 PM Eastern on July 3rd. One ALIS token can now be bought for $0.0848 or 0.00001309 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including YoBit, CoinExchange and Cryptopia. During the last week, ALIS has traded down 15.3% against the U.S. dollar. ALIS has a total market capitalization of $3.29 million and $3,348.00 worth of ALIS was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

Here’s how other cryptocurrencies have performed during the last 24 hours:

Get ALIS alerts: XRP (XRP) traded 0.7% lower against the dollar and now trades at $0.48 or 0.00007458 BTC. Ripple (XRP) traded down 4.6% against the dollar and now trades at $0.45 or 0.00007633 BTC. Stellar (XLM) traded down 3.1% against the dollar and now trades at $0.21 or 0.00003171 BTC. IOTA (MIOTA) traded down 2.2% against the dollar and now trades at $1.13 or 0.00017508 BTC. Tether (USDT) traded 0.1% higher against the dollar and now trades at $1.00 or 0.00015429 BTC. TRON (TRX) traded down 2.5% against the dollar and now trades at $0.0385 or 0.00000594 BTC. NEO (NEO) traded 0.3% higher against the dollar and now trades at $36.03 or 0.00556224 BTC. Binance Coin (BNB) traded down 2.8% against the dollar and now trades at $14.10 or 0.00217686 BTC. VeChain (VET) traded 4.1% lower against the dollar and now trades at $2.63 or 0.00040616 BTC. Ontology (ONT) traded down 4.6% against the dollar and now trades at $5.05 or 0.00077946 BTC.

About ALIS

ALIS was first traded on August 25th, 2017. ALIS’s total supply is 75,209,200 tokens and its circulating supply is 38,805,314 tokens. ALIS’s official Twitter account is @ALIS_media. ALIS’s official website is alismedia.jp. The Reddit community for ALIS is /r/alis and the currency’s Github account can be viewed here.

ALIS Token Trading

ALIS can be purchased on these cryptocurrency exchanges: YoBit, Cryptopia and CoinExchange. It is usually not presently possible to purchase alternative cryptocurrencies such as ALIS directly using US dollars. Investors seeking to acquire ALIS should first purchase Bitcoin or Ethereum using an exchange that deals in US dollars such as GDAX, Coinbase or Changelly. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Bitcoin or Ethereum to purchase ALIS using one of the aforementioned exchanges.

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