Lendingtree (TREE) Raised to Hold at Zacks Investment Research

Lendingtree (NASDAQ:TREE) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

According to Zacks, “LendingTree is the nation’s leading online loan marketplace, empowering consumers as they comparison-shop across a full suite of loan and credit-based offerings. LendingTree provides an online marketplace which connects consumers with multiple lenders that compete for their business, as well as an array of online tools and information to help consumers find the best loan. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 55 million loan requests. LendingTree provides free monthly credit scores through My LendingTree and access to its network of over 350 lenders offering home loans, personal loans, credit cards, student loans, business loans, home equity loans/lines of credit, auto loans and more. LendingTree, LLC is a subsidiary of LendingTree, Inc. “

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Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Lendingtree from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 19th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Susquehanna Bancshares initiated coverage on shares of Lendingtree in a research report on Wednesday, March 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $325.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on shares of Lendingtree in a research report on Wednesday, May 30th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. BidaskClub lowered shares of Lendingtree from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on shares of Lendingtree in a research report on Wednesday, May 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $343.07.

NASDAQ:TREE traded up $1.60 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $212.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,460. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 70.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.80. Lendingtree has a one year low of $166.85 and a one year high of $404.40. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Lendingtree (NASDAQ:TREE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $181.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $174.13 million. Lendingtree had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 6.04%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. sell-side analysts forecast that Lendingtree will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other news, CEO Douglas R. Lebda sold 14,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.22, for a total transaction of $4,767,495.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 517,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,332,933.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robin Henderson sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.00, for a total transaction of $72,630.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,345. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 370,039 shares of company stock valued at $103,405,571 in the last ninety days. 20.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in Lendingtree by 81.1% in the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,266,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,673,000 after acquiring an additional 567,195 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Lendingtree by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 880,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $299,851,000 after acquiring an additional 15,596 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Lendingtree by 38.1% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 301,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,893,000 after acquiring an additional 83,215 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Lendingtree by 18.1% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 273,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,617,000 after acquiring an additional 41,798 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Lendingtree by 57.4% in the first quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 226,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,295,000 after acquiring an additional 82,557 shares during the period. 78.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lendingtree

LendingTree, Inc, through its subsidiary, LendingTree, LLC, operates an online loan marketplace for consumers seeking loans and other credit-based offerings in the United States. Its mortgage products comprise purchase and refinance products. The company also provides information, tools, and access to various conditional loan offers for non-mortgage products, including auto loans, credit cards, home equity loans, personal loans, reverse mortgages, small business loans, and student loans.

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Sodastream International Ltd (SODA) Receives $99.20 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $99.20.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Investment Research raised Sodastream International from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Saturday, May 5th. Susquehanna Bancshares set a $118.00 price objective on Sodastream International and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 15th. BidaskClub downgraded Sodastream International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 1st. B. Riley assumed coverage on Sodastream International in a research report on Tuesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Sodastream International in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd.

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Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sodastream International in the fourth quarter valued at $122,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Sodastream International by 52.8% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Sodastream International by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sodastream International in the fourth quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, First Allied Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Sodastream International in the first quarter valued at $216,000. 58.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sodastream International stock traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $86.08. 136,431 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 201,637. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.95. Sodastream International has a 12-month low of $49.72 and a 12-month high of $98.26.

Sodastream International (NASDAQ:SODA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $143.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.70 million. Sodastream International had a return on equity of 16.11% and a net margin of 13.68%. Sodastream International’s revenue was up 24.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. research analysts anticipate that Sodastream International will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sodastream International Company Profile

SodaStream International Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells home beverage carbonation systems. Its home beverage carbonation systems enable consumers to transform ordinary tap water into sparkling water and flavored sparkling water. The company offers sparkling water makers and exchangeable carbon-dioxide (CO2) cylinders, as well as consumables, including CO2 refills, reusable carbonation bottles, and flavors; and accessories for its products that are manufactured by third parties.

Somewhat Positive News Coverage Somewhat Unlikely to Impact Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (CRT) Stock

News stories about Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (NYSE:CRT) have been trending somewhat positive recently, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research firm ranks the sentiment of press coverage by reviewing more than 20 million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Cross Timbers Royalty Trust earned a media sentiment score of 0.23 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned headlines about the oil and gas company an impact score of 47.0297657024049 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the near term.

Cross Timbers Royalty Trust traded down $0.06, hitting $14.25, during trading hours on Friday, MarketBeat reports. 7,717 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,439. Cross Timbers Royalty Trust has a one year low of $12.99 and a one year high of $15.72. The stock has a market cap of $85.86 million, a PE ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.51.

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Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (NYSE:CRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 10th. The oil and gas company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter. Cross Timbers Royalty Trust had a return on equity of 71.13% and a net margin of 92.01%. The business had revenue of $2.28 million for the quarter.

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 28th.

Cross Timbers Royalty Trust Company Profile

Cross Timbers Royalty Trust operates as an express trust in the United States. It holds 90% net profits interests in certain producing and nonproducing royalty and overriding royalty interest properties in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico; and 75% net profits interests in certain working interest properties in Texas and Oklahoma.

How to Trade a U.S.-China Trade War? Investors Map Out Tactics

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A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money, as one American politician once said. Now that the U.S.-China trade spat is encompassing potentially hundreds of billions of dollars, investors are under pressure to figure out how to respond.

The initial reaction to President Donald Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports was to bail out of U.S. stock futures and pile into the yen, the trusty safe-haven currency thanks to Japan’s record net-creditor status. Contracts on the S&P 500 Index were down 0.9 percent and the yen up 0.6 percent against the dollar as of 12:47 p.m. in Tokyo. Equities also tumbled from Tokyo to Hong Kong, and Treasuries rose as China threatened retaliation.

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But how about beyond Tuesday? If the world’s top two economies are now in a trade war, how should investors position themselves? The following are some thoughts from fund managers and strategists.

Blackrock Inc. Australia

“Will it escalate from here? We’d certainly hope not, but it’s certainly a risk,” Craig Vardy, head of fixed income in Australia for BlackRock, said in an interview in Sydney. “If you’ve been running a lot of risks in this market, then chances are you’d be almost under water.”

Taking positions based on the outcome of trade negotiations is difficult because the results are so unknown, so the strategy has been to run low risk in an active bond fund, Vardy said. Also avoid “volatility around tweets” and keep riskier positions for short term bets, he said.

AMP Capital

Central banks remain the key driver for the possible end of the current bull market cycle, said Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic markets at AMP in Sydney.

“This is what I call a Shakespearean market, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” he said. “Politics doesn’t end cycles, it’s central banks. But at some point trade skirmishes and increasing tariffs will add to U.S. and global inflation and if that happens and forces the Fed into the corner, then we will have a problem.”

In the meantime, Naeimi is using the currency market for protection. He likes hedging with yen against the Australian dollar, Korean won and Canadian dollar.

“There will be a tragedy somewhere, so we can’t totally dismiss the risk,” he said.

Oanda

While the rhetoric is flying hot and fast between the U.S. and China, it’s more difficult to actually quantify what qualifies as an official trade war, said Stephen Innes, head of trading at Oanda Corp. in Singapore.

“Right now it is tit-for-tat with little economic impact,” he said. “A full-blown war will involve” much greater tariff amounts and goods, which would hurt corporate earnings. “China has the upper hand here. It’s cheap right now so hedging risk now is prudent before it’s too late.”

Innes recommends buying the yen versus the dollar while shorting the Canadian dollar on NAFTA woes and oil price risks. He also likes shorting the Australian dollar as it will “crater” due to its role in the global supply chain and vulnerability to commodities prices.

“U.S. bonds will be a safety umbrella that a lot of investors will seek out.”

Principal Global Investors

Investors who can stomach the risk can find opportunities to buy in the Chinese stock market, said Binay Chandgothia, a fund manager at Principal Global, which manages about $445 billion globally.

“Expectations for everything from earnings to growth to returns will get to the stage where they’ve factored in all the bad news,” Chandgothia said. “Valuations by themselves aren’t triggers in the short run, but there will be opportunities there.”

Potential winners include China’s technology giants Tencent Holdings Ltd., Baidu Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., he said. “They’re all primarily domestic focused and you could find some opportunities in those names if you believe the export environment will suffer.”

Shinkin Asset Management

“Yen buying on risk aversion will dominate markets,” said Jun Kato, chief market strategist at Shinkin in Tokyo. Emerging markets are unlikely to recover in the current environment, he said.

While the dollar has been underpinned by monetary policy divergence between the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan, sentiment may change if the pair drops below the 109.90 to 109.85 level this week, Kato said. The yen was testing those levels Tuesday morning in Tokyo.

K2 Asset Management

Currencies are the most likely assets to price in a trade war, and investors need to be aware of the foreign-exchange impact on their equity holdings, said James Soutter, head of global equities at K2 in Melbourne. It may be tough to calculate the impact, however.

“Estimating the financial impact versus understanding the risks are two different things,” he said. “It was very difficult for anyone to price in the Asian currency crises of the 1990s -- as extreme events are rare by their nature.”

— With assistance by Ruth Carson, Adam Haigh, and Chikako Mogi