Tuesday, March 26, 2019

This Backdoor Cannabis Play Could Climb Over 100%, and It's the Perfect Time to Strike

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Greg MillerGreg Miller

At the National Institute for Cannabis Investors, we talk a lot about cannabis banking. That's because accessing loans and depositing money are still huge hurdles facing cannabis companies.

But the progressive financial firms that realize how much money there is to be made working with legal cannabis companies will be handsomely rewarded.

And I've found the perfect play…

Just like when we talked about Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (NYSE: IIPR) – which is now up almost 100% since we launched the American Cannabis Summit on Oct. 23, 2018 – we wanted to add another way for you to try and capture an additional potential triple-digit return.

Of course, timing is everything, so you may have not seen when we first mentioned Innovative Industrial Properties and bought it at a higher price, or you may have simply chose not to buy its shares.

But if you missed out, that's okay. I wanted to share another play with you today that could offer a similar profit opportunity, and the timing is perfect.

I talked to my friend and banking expert, Money Morning Special Situation Strategist Tim Melvin, and he tells me that as of right now, there is only ONE publicly traded bank taking on cannabis customers – the rest are credit unions or privately held banks.

I've held off talking about this company too much before because it faced some significant challenges outside of its cannabis business. However, those challenges seem to be behind it, and we could soon see a quick jump in the stock price thanks to some positive headwinds.

So right now, I'm going to share with you hopefully another big winner to add to your growing list of cannabis investments…

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

Greg MillerGreg Miller

About the Author

Browse Greg's articles | View Greg's research services

Greg Miller started working on Wall Street in September, 1987, just a month before the "Black Monday" stock market crash.

During his career there, he became an expert in just about every kind of publicly traded security - from blue-chip and small-cap stocks to municipals, junk bonds, and derivatives. As a portfolio manager, Greg was responsible for over $500 million of assets in mutual funds and insurance company accounts.

After leaving the Street, he designed a successful options trading strategy and made lucrative tech investments for a financial publication. He has also helped develop new products and worked with other editors to hone their strategies.  He's always been dedicated to deep, fundamental research - and he always will be - because he believes buying the very best companies at the right price is the best way to amass wealth in the stock market.

… Read full bio

Monday, March 18, 2019

3 Ways To Adopt The Right Retirement Savings Behavior

&l;p&g;When it comes to retirement, we often don&s;t &l;em&g;behave&l;/em&g; right.

It&s;s not that we throw a tantrum when we see percentage signs or big numbers. The big problem is that we rarely have an emotional connection to them, so we don&s;t behave wisely.

I know. It&s;s hard to get attached to things like compound interest or expense ratios. They sound really dull, although they&s;re always important. Yet there is a way to better see numbers and save more for retirement.

&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-1132238755&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1132238755/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;659&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Getty

The National Foundation for Employee Benefit Plans &l;a href=&q;https://www.ifebp.org/pdf/ten-ways-behavioral-finance.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;recently published&l;/a&g; a mini-white paper on behavioral finance and retirement security. Although the paper was for 401(k) sponsors, there were some useful nuggets on improving savings behavior:

&l;strong&g;-- Frame how you will &l;em&g;gain&l;/em&g;, rather than lose by saving for retirement.&l;/strong&g; Not surprisingly, many see their monthly 401(k) contribution as &l;em&g;lost&l;/em&g; money instead of an investment in their future. Behavioral finance research suggests that we can &q;re-frame&q; how we see that contribution.

&q;Stress what could be gained or lost. A chief tenet of behavioral finance is that people are loss-averse. People are highly motivated to avoid what they consider a loss. In fact, losing hurts worse than winning feels good.&q;

How much will you gain at retirement by saving more upfront or when you get a raise? What will it mean in total dollars at the end of 30 years?

&l;strong&g;-- Ask About Success Stories.&l;/strong&g; Ask those who are comfortable in retirement how they got there. How much did they save every year? If we can model our savings strategy on those who did well, that makes a difference.

&q;When making choices, people tend to do what they think most other people are doing because they believe there is less chance they will make a wrong choice. They are also influenced by what they think is expected or socially acceptable.&q;

&l;strong&g;-- Envision Your Retirement.&l;/strong&g; Where do you want to be? What do you want to be doing? Have a picture of your lifestyle.&a;nbsp; If you have a distinct idea of your preferred retirement lifestyle, it will motivate you to save.

&q;Having a personal retirement picture helps people avoid temptations to spend today, which can derail their retirement.&q;

Still stymied on what to do? You can always work with a &l;a href=&q;https://www.napfa.org/find-an-advisor&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;fee-only financial planner &l;/a&g;if you need help. Even better, if your employer offers access to financial planners, you can start there.

&a;nbsp;&l;/p&g;

Saturday, March 16, 2019

The Best Stocks to Buy Now: All-Star Edition

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We'll always keep you up to date on the best stocks to buy now. But sometimes the stocks we recommend are the best stocks to buy and hold forever – or at least hold for a very long time.

best stocks to buy now

With that in mind, we're bringing you our Money Morning all-stars: picks we've brought you in the past that have already performed well and still have a lot of gains on the way.

Here's a peek:

A company that brings technology to fleet management has delivered 100% gains for our readers, but is still making savvy moves to deliver more profits. Perhaps our experts' favorite tech giant isn't the one you'd expect, but it has jumped in front of the pack and is still growing its biggest business at a staggering rate. One of our experts called for our next pick to double in a year. It's halfway there now, so you can still grab it for the rest of the ride. We've also got a pick that is far from glamorous, but absolutely essential. Plus, it's been consistently trouncing the S&P 500 for half a decade. We'll close with a cannabis pick of ours that has soared – and then offer not one, not two, but three that are positioned to repeat the feat.

And now our latest list of best stocks to buy now…

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 5: This Company Brings Cutting-Edge Technology to Our Highways and 100% Profits to Your Portfolio

Our first pick is a Money Morning all-star going all the way back to April 2014, when Defense and Tech Specialist Michael Robinson first recommended it to readers.

Since then, the share price has more than doubled. But not before Michael doubled down on his recommendation in December 2017, handing newer readers a 20% gain in a little over a year.

We're talking about FleetCor Technologies Inc. (NYSE: FLT), an enterprise that proves every company is a tech company.

FleetCor has become one of the leading providers of fleet and fuel management for the trucking industry, as well as for all kinds of vehicles used in business and government agencies.

Those drivers spend millions of dollars on gas every day. Thanks to FleetCor, all those transactions are monitored efficiently, and the drivers can leave their wallets in the cab.

Whether it's filling up the tank or getting brakes fixed, FleetCor offers a virtual card service that will take care of the payments automatically.

That service is the result of the 2014 acquisition of Comdata for $3.45 billion, which brought in 20,000 new customers for FleetCor. Since then, the company has landed big contracts with Uber Technologies Inc. and BP Plc. (NYSE: BP). And it made a key acquisition in 2017 to enable business-to-business cross-border payments.

More recently, the company just acquired Oregon-based Nvoicepay for an undisclosed sum. That deal gives FleetCor a platform to automate accounts payable processing for its clients. Given its favorable cash flow – free cash flow was up 35% in 2018 – it's likely that we'll see more strategic acquisitions like this from FleetCor in the near future as it builds its competitive edge.

This Could Be the Most Profitable Dollar You Ever Spend: Tom Gentile's Cash Course covers all the essential trading ideas you need to know to potentially make thousands in extra income every week. Get access for $1…

Speaking of that edge, FleetCor beat earnings estimates in its most recent quarter, finishing the year with 23% growth in earnings per share (EPS).

The bottom line: This has already been a top performer for a lot of our readers. But there's still lots of room to run if you get in now.

Best Stocks to Buy Now, No. 4: Surprise! This Unheralded Tech Giant Is a Top Performer and the Leader of the Pack

Here's another that has proven a winner for Money Morning readers over and over again. It's been a favorite not just of Michael Robinson's, but of Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald and Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani.

We're talking about a tech conglomerate that's benefiting from some of the biggest investing trends in recent history, from cloud computing to legal cannabis.

In March of last year, Keith came out and said this pick could be the first American tech giant to be worth $1 trillion.

Well, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reached that mark last summer – but it didn't last long. So it still remains to be seen which company can reach the trillion-dollar mark and stay there.

And don't look now, but Keith's pick has taken over the lead…

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

Thursday, March 14, 2019

USA Technologies (USAT) Shares Up 17.6%

Shares of USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAT) shot up 17.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $4.14 and last traded at $4.01. 2,905,691 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 26% from the average session volume of 2,305,500 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.41.

Several research firms have commented on USAT. Craig Hallum decreased their target price on shares of USA Technologies from $16.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 15th. BidaskClub downgraded shares of USA Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 13th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of USA Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.25 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 1st. ValuEngine raised shares of USA Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 27th. Finally, Lake Street Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of USA Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, January 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.44.

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The company has a market capitalization of $247.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.86 and a beta of 1.82.

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of USA Technologies by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 645,659 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 89,177 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of USA Technologies by 285.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 295,595 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 218,891 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of USA Technologies by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 67,807 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 28,716 shares during the last quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY grew its holdings in shares of USA Technologies by 290.8% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 17,299 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 12,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of USA Technologies by 375.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 49,612 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 39,185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.12% of the company’s stock.

TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: “USA Technologies (USAT) Shares Up 17.6%” was originally posted by Ticker Report and is owned by of Ticker Report. If you are reading this report on another site, it was illegally copied and reposted in violation of United States & international copyright laws. The original version of this report can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4219274/usa-technologies-usat-shares-up-17-6.html.

USA Technologies Company Profile (NASDAQ:USAT)

USA Technologies, Inc provides wireless networking, cashless transactions, asset monitoring, and other value-added services in the United States and internationally. It designs and markets systems and solutions that facilitate electronic payment options, as well as telemetry and machine-to-machine (M2M) services.

Featured Story: Book Value Of Equity Per Share – BVPS Explained

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Costco Keeps Rolling in the Second Quarter

Back in December, Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) reported an impressive 7.5% increase in adjusted comp sales for the first quarter of its 2019 fiscal year. But the stock plummeted because Costco's gross margin declined significantly in the quarter.

Not surprisingly, the pressure on Costco's gross margin didn't last long. Last week, the warehouse club giant posted stellar earnings growth for the second quarter of fiscal 2019, even though its sales growth moderated. Investors should expect more of the same in the future: Gross margin will be unpredictable from quarter to quarter, but relatively stable over the long term, while sales growth will continue to outpace the broader economy by a wide margin.

A strong quarter for Costco

Comps rose 5.4% at Costco last quarter, or 6.7% after adjusting for the impact of gasoline price deflation, foreign currency fluctuations, and new revenue-recognition rules. Net sales rose 7.3% to $34.6 billion for the quarter. Membership fee revenue also increased 7.3%, reaching $768 million.

Meanwhile, gross margin improved to 11.3% from 11% a year earlier. This -- combined with Costco's solid revenue growth -- caused operating income to surge 18% to $1.2 billion. Costco also benefited from an improvement in net interest expense and a slightly lower tax rate, mainly due to foreign tax credits. The net result is that Costco's earnings per share skyrocketed 26% to $2.01. This dramatically exceeded the average analyst estimate of $1.69.

The entrance to a Costco warehouse

Costco's earnings per share smashed analysts' estimates last quarter. Image source: Costco Wholesale.

It's (almost) all about gas prices

Costco's gross margin expansion last quarter was driven by strength in what the company calls its ancillary businesses. These businesses boosted gross margin for Costco as a whole by 33 basis points (with 100 basis points equaling 1 percentage point).

Richard Galanti, Costco's long-serving CFO, noted that most of the margin improvement in the ancillary businesses came from Costco's gas stations. Costco gets about 10% of its revenue from gasoline sales, and margins depend heavily on price trends. Price declines (like the big plunge seen last fall) tend to temporarily boost Costco's gross margin on gasoline sales. Of course, rising gasoline prices have a corresponding negative impact on gross margin.

The growth of Costco's e-commerce business made a smaller contribution to the company's gross margin improvement, but Galanti did not quantify the amount, other than to say that it was much smaller than the tailwind from higher gasoline margins.

Comparing each of Costco's main merchandise categories to itself a year earlier, core gross margin improved by 8 basis points last quarter. On the same basis, core gross margin declined by 6 basis points in the first quarter. But while there was some underlying improvement sequentially, Galanti said there was no big trend change -- just the normal small fluctuations you would expect from quarter to quarter.

Looking ahead

There are two big takeaways from Costco's second-quarter earnings report. The first is that the company's 26% surge in EPS was basically a fluke. Declining gas prices, a small uptick in core gross margin, some foreign tax credits, and elevated membership fee growth related to Costco's 2017 price increase all combined to boost EPS growth last quarter.

The second big takeaway is that Costco's subpar first-quarter earnings results were equally a fluke. (Operating income actually declined slightly in that quarter.) Investors had no reason to panic three months ago.

The reality for Costco is somewhere between its apparently dismal first quarter and its apparently stellar second quarter. As a company with about $150 billion of annual revenue that operates on narrow margins, very small changes in Costco's margin structure can have an outsize impact on its earnings growth.

The good news for investors is that Costco largely controls its own destiny. The company is constantly working to lower prices for customers, something that has driven strong sales growth and fostered enormous loyalty over the years. By tweaking pricing from time to time, Costco can ensure that its profit margin stays roughly constant. As long as the top line keeps surging, investors shouldn't worry too much about Costco's performance.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Why VirnetX Holding Stock Gained 19.4% in February

What happened

VirnetX Holding (NYSEMKT:VHC) stock gained 19.4% in February, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The software and intellectual-property company scored a big legal win against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in January, as an appeals court shut down the tech giant's challenge to a previous ruling that found it had infringed on patents held by VirnetX. The decision sent VirnetX shares skyrocketing, and the positive momentum continued last month.

VHC Chart

VHC data by YCharts.

The appellate court judge presiding over the matter reaffirmed the district judge's initial ruling finding Apple liable for $439.8 million in damages stemming from patent infringement. VirnetX stock gained 112.5% in January, with most of the stock's movement related to the case, and the gains rolled into February and March.

Cloud icons connecting a network of messaging and media icons.

Image source: Getty Images.

So what

The initial intellectual-property case actually kicked off back in 2010 and alleged that Apple had used communications security technologies and other software in apps including FaceTime and iMessage without the proper license. The overall situation regarding these issues and the legal battle between the two companies over the general matter has actually been going on for more than nine years. January's appeals court ruling upheld the previous judgment finding that Apple had infringed on patents held by VirnetX -- and this set the smaller company up to receive a substantial payday.

Now what

VirnetX stock has continued to gain ground in March, with shares trading up roughly 14.9% in the month so far.

VHC Chart

VHC data by YCharts.

VirnetX stock has now nearly tripled year to date and sports a market capitalization of $467 million as of this writing -- roughly $30 million more than the judgment in the Apple case. Of course, the court battle does not appear to be over, with both companies appealing different judgments related to the issue, so it's still too early to fully bake that money into VirnetX's valuation.

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Armada Hoffler Properties Inc (AHH) President, CEO Louis S Haddad Bought $229,650 of Shares

President, CEO of Armada Hoffler Properties Inc (NYSE:AHH) Louis S Haddad bought 15,000 shares of AHH on 03/05/2019 at an average price of $15.31 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $229,650.

Armada Hoffler Properties Inc is a full service real estate company that develops, constructs & owns institutional grade office, retail & multifamily properties in the Mid-Atlantic United States. It also offers general contracting & development services. Armada Hoffler Properties Inc has a market cap of $760.580 million; its shares were traded at around $15.11 with a P/E ratio of 41.95 and P/S ratio of 3.73. The dividend yield of Armada Hoffler Properties Inc stocks is 5.28%. Armada Hoffler Properties Inc had annual average EBITDA growth of 1.70% over the past five years.

CEO Recent Trades:

President, CEO Louis S Haddad bought 15,000 shares of AHH stock on 03/05/2019 at the average price of $15.31. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.31% since.

For the complete insider trading history of AHH, click here

.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

istar (STAR) Sets New 1-Year Low at $8.37

istar Inc (NYSE:STAR) shares hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $8.37 and last traded at $8.39, with a volume of 979239 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.44.

Several brokerages have weighed in on STAR. JMP Securities raised shares of istar from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $11.50 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 31st. ValuEngine raised shares of istar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 4th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of istar from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.75.

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The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 7.34 and a current ratio of 7.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $570.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.83 and a beta of 1.03.

istar (NYSE:STAR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.22. istar had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 11.04%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that istar Inc will post -0.7 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th will be given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 1st. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. istar’s payout ratio is currently -37.89%.

In other istar news, major shareholder Istar Inc. purchased 2,341 shares of istar stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.37 per share, for a total transaction of $45,345.17. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,726,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,671,467.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 89,601 shares of company stock worth $1,719,373. Insiders own 5.01% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of STAR. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in istar by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 706,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,477,000 after purchasing an additional 30,935 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in istar in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,982,000. HRT Financial LLC bought a new stake in istar in the 4th quarter valued at about $135,000. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan bought a new stake in istar in the 4th quarter valued at about $180,000. Finally, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY lifted its position in istar by 322.3% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 20,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 15,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.41% of the company’s stock.

WARNING: This report was first posted by Ticker Report and is the property of of Ticker Report. If you are reading this report on another website, it was stolen and reposted in violation of United States and international copyright & trademark law. The original version of this report can be viewed at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4209934/istar-star-sets-new-1-year-low-at-8-37.html.

About istar (NYSE:STAR)

iStar (NYSE: STAR) finances, invests in and develops real estate and real estate related projects as part of its fully-integrated investment platform. Building on over two decades of experience and $40 billion of transactions, iStar brings uncommon capabilities and new ways of thinking to commercial real estate and adapts its investment strategy to changing market conditions.

Recommended Story: Preferred Stock

Dow: Why are stocks dropping today?

Stock slipped in early trading on Friday after a disappointing February jobs report underscored concerns about a global economic slowdown.

Employers added just 20,000 jobs in February, far below the 180,000 Bloomberg consensus and the fewest gains since September 2017 when employment was hindered by major hurricanes.

The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 162 points, or 0.64 percent, to 25,311 in early trading Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index also declined 21 points, or 0.75 percent, to 2,728. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.75 percent to 7,366.

Stocks have been on a losing streak all week.

"I think the federal shutdown and the weather are playing games with the numbers. Month to month numbers can be noisy," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance in Charlotte, North Carolina. "But the overall picture is that the economy is slowing and that's why the market is taking it so negatively."

The top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday included Abercombie & Fitch, Exxon Mobil, Etsy, GameStop, Kraft Heinz, Netflix, Tilray and Vodafone. (Photo: zoom-zoom / Getty Images)

Mild weather in January helped to boost gains in that month, while above-average snowfall when the Labor Department conducted its survey in February was predicted to cut total hiring estimates by 40,000, according to Goldman Sachs.

Jobs report: Economy added just 20,000 jobs in February amid slowing growth, snowy weather

Market predictions: Stocks: The record bull market is 10 years old. Is it about to flame out or surge higher?

The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent from 4 percent in February, according to the government, as federal workers who identified as unemployed or on temporary leave in January returned to work.

Adding to worries

The markets were poised for a lower open even before the jobs report came in. A report from The New York Times on Thursday revealed that a broad trade agreement between the U.S. and China is still missing key details, suggesting a final deal is still a ways off.

NEWSLETTERSGet the Managing Your Money newsletter delivered to your inboxWe're sorry, but something went wrongA collection of articles to help you manage your finances like a pro.Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-872-0001.Delivery: FriInvalid email addressThank you! You're almost signed up for Managing Your MoneyKeep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration.More newsletters

Other reports this week had revived fears of a weakening global economy.

Earlier this week, the European Central Bank reduced its estimates for economic expansion in the eurozone and decided on more stimulus. In China, that country's exports dropped by 20.7 percent year over year in February, far more than the estimated 4.8-percent decline.

"We saw the ECB come out more dovish than it had been, which was a surprise," said Zaccarelli. "Since it made such an about-face really underscores the weakness there."

CLOSE

John Bogle, who founded the Vanguard Group in 1974 and later was dubbed the "father of index investing," has died at 89. USA TODAY

 

Friday, March 8, 2019

Should P&G take Gillette name off Patriots'…

Should Procter & Gamble consider stripping its razor brand name off Gillette Stadium in Boston in the wake of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's legal troubles?

That's what more than 13,000 signers of an online petition are urging the Cincinnati-based consumer products giant to do. The appeal is circulating on Change2, a petition-oriented social media site.

Kraft was charged in February with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution following a police investigation of a Jupiter, Florida, spa. The team has denied its owner did anything illegal.

Kraft's charges came weeks after P&G's latest venture into "woke" advertising that urged men to stand up against "toxic masculinity."

The polarizing ad calls out sexual harassment and bullying by men and twists Gillette's classic slogan "The Best A Man Can Get" into urging them to be "the best they can be."

Florida spa investigation: Ex-Citigroup President charged in Florida spa investigation allegedly tied to Robert Kraft

Robert Kraft investigation: What's next for the Patriots owner

The new campaign, called 'We Believe,' is P&G's latest foray into brand messaging that incorporates a social message to reach consumers in a more meaningful way. 

P&G has a contract through the 2031 season to keep the Gillette name on the Boston stadium.

Company officials declined to comment on the petition or the Kraft controversy.

CLOSE

SportsPulse: Will Robert Kraft face actual jail time? Will the video inside the spa ever be released? A.J. Perez breaks down what's next for the Patriots owner legally. USA TODAY

Follow Alex Coolidge on Twitter: @alexcoolidge.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Bellevue Group AG Boosts Stake in Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (OXFD)

Bellevue Group AG raised its stake in Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD) by 38.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 306,606 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,769 shares during the quarter. Bellevue Group AG’s holdings in Oxford Immunotec Global were worth $3,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of OXFD. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in shares of Oxford Immunotec Global in the third quarter worth about $188,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oxford Immunotec Global by 84.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 21,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 9,658 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Oxford Immunotec Global in the third quarter worth about $279,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Oxford Immunotec Global by 50.7% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 32,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 11,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in shares of Oxford Immunotec Global in the third quarter worth about $445,000. 91.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Get Oxford Immunotec Global alerts:

In other news, CEO Peter Wrighton-Smith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.99, for a total value of $169,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 413,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,024,838.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Richard A. Sandberg sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.25, for a total value of $42,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,000 shares of company stock valued at $361,750 in the last ninety days. 6.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

OXFD stock opened at $16.70 on Wednesday. Oxford Immunotec Global PLC has a 12 month low of $10.94 and a 12 month high of $19.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $435.73 million, a PE ratio of -12.28 and a beta of 0.33.

A number of research firms have recently commented on OXFD. Piper Jaffray Companies reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Oxford Immunotec Global in a report on Sunday, November 11th. BidaskClub cut shares of Oxford Immunotec Global from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 5th. ValuEngine cut shares of Oxford Immunotec Global from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 1st. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Oxford Immunotec Global from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Oxford Immunotec Global currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.50.

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Oxford Immunotec Global Company Profile

Oxford Immunotec Global PLC, a diagnostics company, focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary tests for underserved immune-regulated conditions. Its development activities principally focus on the areas of infectious diseases, transplantation, autoimmune and inflammatory disease, and immune-oncology.

Further Reading: What is a Lock-Up Period?

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding OXFD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Oxford Immunotec Global PLC (NASDAQ:OXFD).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Oxford Immunotec Global (NASDAQ:OXFD)

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

James River Group (JRVR) Upgraded to Buy by ValuEngine

James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR) was upgraded by analysts at ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. BidaskClub raised James River Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 20th. Compass Point assumed coverage on James River Group in a report on Tuesday, January 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded James River Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 9th. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of James River Group in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “mkt perform” rating on shares of James River Group in a report on Monday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. James River Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.00.

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Shares of JRVR opened at $41.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 0.57. James River Group has a one year low of $32.64 and a one year high of $43.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 21st. The insurance provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $214.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.20 million. James River Group had a net margin of 7.21% and a return on equity of 10.22%. On average, research analysts anticipate that James River Group will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in James River Group by 88.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 752 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in James River Group by 1,221.7% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 912 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in James River Group by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 972 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Quantamental Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in James River Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in James River Group by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 5,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.92% of the company’s stock.

James River Group Company Profile

James River Group Holdings, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance and reinsurance services in the United States. Its Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites property and liability insurance on an excess and surplus commercial lines basis in all states and the District of Columbia.

Read More: What is Depreciation?

To view ValuEngine’s full report, visit ValuEngine’s official website.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Here's 1 Valuable Tax Credit You Don't Want to Miss Out On

Taxes are a burden for working Americans across a wide range of incomes. But lower earners more so than anyone tend to struggle to keep up.

Thankfully, the IRS offers a bit of relief in the form of the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. For the 2018 tax year, the EITC could be worth up to $6,431, so it pays to see whether you qualify for it.

How tax credits work

Unlike a tax deduction, which simply exempts a portion of your income from taxes, a tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of your tax liability. This means that if you qualify for a $2,000 tax credit, $2,000 automatically gets subtracted from your tax bill.

Man reading a document while woman sits next to him with young girl on her lap

Image source: Getty Images.

Now many tax credits are nonrefundable, which means the most they can do is knock your tax liability down to $0. For example, if you owe the IRS $500 in taxes but qualify for a $1,000 tax credit, you won't get that $500 difference if the credit in question in nonrefundable. The EITC, however, is one of the few tax credits that is refundable, which means that if it lowers your tax burden below $0, the IRS will send you the difference.

Qualifying for the EITC

The EITC is designed to help lower earners, and to qualify for the credit, you will need earned income from a job or business that you own. Also, your tax filing status must be one of the following:

Single Married filing jointly Head of household Qualifying widow

Additionally, you can't have investment income in excess of $3,500 if you want to claim the EITC.

If you meet the above criteria, you can claim the EITC if you have the following number of qualifying children in your household and your earnings don't exceed the following limits:

Tax Filing Status

No Qualifying Children

1 Qualifying Child

2 Qualifying Children

3 or More Qualifying Children

Single, head of household, or widowed

$15,270

$40,320

$45,802

$49,194

Married filing jointly

$20,950

$46,010

$51,492

$54,884

Data source: IRS.

Keep in mind that if you have children, there are other tax credits you might be eligible for, like the Child Tax Credit or the Child and Dependent Care Credit (if you pay for child care in order to work). You're allowed to claim multiple credits on your taxes, so it pays to explore your options.

As far as the EITC's value goes, it'll depend on the number of children in your household, as follows:

Number of Qualifying Children

Maximum Value of EITC

0

$519

1

$3,461

2

$5,716

3

$6,431

Data source: IRS.

Now remember how we talked about the fact that the EITC is a refundable tax credit? If your tax liability is $0 and you qualify for the EITC's maximum value, the IRS will send you $6,431. To get that money, however, you'll need to file a tax return and actually claim the credit -- something an astounding 20% of eligible filers fail to do every year.

One final thing: The above earning limits and credit values apply to the 2018 tax year -- meaning, the tax return you'll be filing this year. In 2019, you can earn slightly more and still claim the credit if you otherwise qualify. The maximum value of the EITC has also gone up to $6,557 for the 2019 tax year, so if you claim it on your 2018 taxes, be sure to keep it on your radar for the following year as well.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Lyft Set to Beat Uber in IPO Timing

Lyft has just made an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This is the document that signals its formal intent to conduct and initial public offering (IPO). The offering only shows an equity sale of up to $100 million in class A common shares, but that number can (and likely will) change as the IPO date gets closer. The company will trade under the LYFT ticker on Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Lyft has a massive IPO underwriting syndicate. JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, Jefferies, UBS, Stifel, RBC and KeyBanc are all prominently listed. Another 13 underwriters were also named on the document.

The company has listed several key figures in its filing. Bookings were $8.1 billion in 2018, and that generated $2.2 billion in company revenues for the year. That revenue growth compares with $1.1 billion in 2017 and just $343.3 million in 2016. Bookings were $4.6 billion in 2017 and $1.9 billion in 2016.

The growth metrics are quite impressive, as long as you ignore the profitability metrics, as Lyft is still losing its shirt when it comes to profits versus losses. The IPO filing showed that its results from operations (not even the net losses) were $977.7 million in 2018, $708.2 million in 2017 and $692.6 million in 2016. That’s an operating loss buildup of almost $2.4 billion in just the past three years combined.

Lyft now claims to have more than a billion in cumulative rides over time from more than 300 markets it operates in the United States and Canada. It also claims to have some 18.6 million active riders and over 1.1 million drivers as of the end of 2018. Its network of active riders also increased 47% in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to the same period in 2017.

Note that both Lyft and larger rival Uber were listed as the top 15 IPOs to watch for in 2019.

Lyft launched its peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in 2012. The company showed in its IPO filing that consumers spend over $1.2 trillion annually on personal transportation, or more than $9,500 on average, and the substantial majority is spent on car ownership and operation. Lyft showed that the average car is utilized only 5% of the time.

The “Risk Factors” of any IPO is a long list of issues, but some of the key ones mentioned up front are that Lyft’s limited operating history and evolving business make it difficult to evaluate future prospects, and there are no real earnings here, with a history of net losses, and it may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

Lyft also has a dual-class structure of common stock, which effectively concentrates its voting power with co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer. New shareholders buying into the IPO will have a limited ability to influence corporate matters. This includes electing directors, amending organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of the company’s assets or other major corporate transactions.

Lyft also named its shareholder entities that currently own more than 5% of the outstanding shares from venture backing: Rakuten Europe (13.05%), General Motors (7.76%), Fidelity (7.71%), Andreessen Horowitz (6.25%) and Alphabet (5.33%).

There are many issues to consider here, but the Lyft IPO is now formally afoot. It also looks as though Lyft will beat its rival Uber in the IPO timeline.

24/7 Wall St.
10 Companies That Have Raised Their Dividends for 50 Consecutive Years

Sunday, March 3, 2019

What Lexicon Pharma Could Mean for the Future of Diabetes

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: LXRX) shares jumped on Friday after the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion on the Marketing Authorization of Zynquista (sotagliflozin).

Ultimately, CHMP recommended approval of sotagliflozin in the European Union in both a 200-mg and 400-mg dose for use as an adjunct to insulin therapy to improve blood sugar (glycemic) control in adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus, who have failed to achieve adequate glycemic control despite optimal insulin therapy.

For some quick background: sotagliflozin is an investigational oral dual inhibitor of two proteins responsible for glucose regulation known as sodium-dependent glucose co-transporter types 1 and 2 (SGLT1 and SGLT2). SGLT1 is responsible for glucose absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, and SGLT2 is responsible for glucose reabsorption by the kidney.

The opinion is based on evidence including data from the inTandem clinical trial program, which included three Phase 3 clinical trials assessing the safety and efficacy of sotagliflozin.

Separately, sotagliflozin is also currently being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has the potential to be the first oral antidiabetic drug approved in the United States for use together with insulin therapy to improve glycemic control in adults living with type 1 diabetes.

Shares of Lexicon were last seen up about 21% at $6.43 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $4.26 to $13.97. The consensus price target is $21.33.

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5 Safe Merrill Lynch US 1 List Stocks to Buy That Pay Big Dividends

Friday, March 1, 2019

Top Bank Stocks To Invest In 2019

tags:AP,WFC,FCF,CM,HSBA, &l;p&g;Paul Lipari is a co-founder of Hudson Capital Advisors, a small merchant bank. Before his current job at Hudson Capital, Lipari worked between 2006 and 2015 at Columbus Nova, which Lipari describes as &a;ldquo;a family office,&a;rdquo; &l;a href=&q;http://www.hudsoncap.net/paul-f-lipari.html&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;on Hudson Capital&a;rsquo;s web site&l;/a&g;.

Columbus Nova has been in the headlines this week because of &l;a href=&q;https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/us/politics/michael-cohen-shell-company-payments.html?hp&a;amp;action=click&a;amp;pgtype=Homepage&a;amp;clickSource=story-heading&a;amp;module=first-column-region&a;amp;region=top-news&a;amp;WT.nav=top-news&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;revelations&l;/a&g; that the New York-based investment firm made $500,000 in payments last year to a shell company, Essential Consultants, controlled by Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump&a;rsquo;s personal lawyer.

&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-916330890&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/916330890/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;647&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Russian businessman and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

Top Bank Stocks To Invest In 2019: Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation(AP)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By ]

    San Juan, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Puerto Rico is now estimating that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people, far more than the official death toll of 64, in a report to Congress seeking billions to help the island recover from the devastating storm.

  • [By ]

    Despite claims by President Donald Trump saying the U.S. stock market would crash if he was impeached, money managers stress that the stock market's longer-term direction and health are less about political drama and more about the overall strength of the economy. (Photo: AP)

  • [By ]

    New York (AP) -- Four more deaths have been linked to a national food poisoning outbreak blamed on tainted lettuce, bringing the total to five.

    Health officials have tied the E. coli outbreak to romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona. The growing season there ended six weeks ago, and it's unlikely any tainted lettuce is still in stores or people's homes, given its short shelf life. But there can be a lag in reporting, and reports of illnesses have continued to come in.

  • [By ]

    New York (AP) -- The bitter cold that followed a massive East Coast snowstorm should begin to lessen as temperatures inch up and climb past freezing next week, weather forecasters said.

  • [By ]

    This undated photo provided by Honda shows the 2019 Honda Insight, which returns to the U.S. after a five-year absence. It now more closely resembles Honda's Civic and Accord models. (Courtesy of American Honda Motor Co. via AP) (Photo: AP)

  • [By ]

    The 2018 Infiniti Q50, a luxury sedan that has a significant discount going into Memorial Day weekend. Though it's not as polished as some rivals, the Q50 is stylish and desirable all the same. (Photo: AP)

Top Bank Stocks To Invest In 2019: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jordan Wathen]

    Buffett and Munger have held up Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) as one of the greatest banks in the country ever since Berkshire took a stake back in 1989. Berkshire owns about 10% of the bank often described as "America's largest community bank," making it the second-largest holding in the holding company's stock portfolio.

  • [By Benzinga News Desk]

    Wells Fargo & Co.’s (NYSE: WFC) struggle to shore up money-laundering controls in its division serving companies may prove awkward for Chief Executive Officer Tim Sloan as he faces shareholders Tuesday: Link

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) by 11.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,940,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,281,633 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Co accounts for approximately 0.8% of Prudential Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Co were worth $520,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Top Bank Stocks To Invest In 2019: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation(FCF)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

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

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Barclays PLC increased its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) by 24.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,717 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 6,593 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in First Commonwealth Financial were worth $476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Top Bank Stocks To Invest In 2019: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce(CM)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM)

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

  • [By Motley Fool Transcribers]

    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM)Q3 2018 Earnings Conference CallAug. 23, 2018, 8:00 a.m. ET

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

    Operator

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE: CM) recently:

    6/6/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup Inc from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a C$130.00 price target on the stock, up previously from C$125.00. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was downgraded by analysts at National Bank Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating. They now have a C$124.00 price target on the stock, down previously from C$136.00. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target lowered by analysts at Scotiabank from C$131.00 to C$127.00. They now have a “sector perform” rating on the stock. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$141.00 to C$135.00. They now have a “sector perform” rating on the stock. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was given a new C$140.00 price target on by analysts at Eight Capital. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from C$133.00 to C$138.00.

    CM traded up C$0.59 on Wednesday, reaching C$115.86. 987,570 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,290,708. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has a fifty-two week low of C$103.84 and a fifty-two week high of C$124.37.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM) (NYSE:CM) – Analysts at Desjardins reduced their Q2 2018 earnings per share estimates for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, May 2nd. Desjardins analyst D. Young now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $2.85 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $2.86.

Top Bank Stocks To Invest In 2019: HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Morgan Stanley set a GBX 855 ($10.91) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 768.33 ($9.80).

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Credit Suisse Group set a GBX 720 ($9.32) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    HSBC (LON:HSBA) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Citigroup from GBX 810 ($10.78) to GBX 800 ($10.65) in a report released on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 9.59% from the stock’s previous close.

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Why HP Stock Tumbled Today

What happened

Shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ) slumped on Thursday after the PC and printer company reported its fiscal first-quarter results. HP missed analyst estimates for revenue, with the company blaming unexpected weakness in its high-margin printing supplies business. The stock was down about 16.3% at 12:15 p.m. EST.

So what

HP reported first-quarter revenue of $14.7 billion, up 1.3% year over year but $150 million below the average analyst estimate. Personal systems revenue was up 2.3% to $9.66 billion, while printing revenue was down 0.4% to $5.06 billion.

An HP printer.

Image source: HP Inc.

HP CEO Dion Weisler said that "our supplies performance did not meet our expectations this quarter" during the earnings call. A decline in market share and lower pricing were driven by customers increasingly purchasing supplies online. HP has a lower market share online compared to other channels.

Supplies revenue was down 3% year over year in the first quarter, and HP no longer expects supplies revenue to be flat to slightly up in 2019. The company now expects a 3% decline for the year.

Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.52 in the first quarter, up from $0.48 in the prior-year period and in line with analyst expectations.

Now what

HP expects second-quarter non-GAAP EPS between $0.50 and $0.53 and full-year non-GAAP EPS between $2.12 and $2.22. That represents earnings growth of 5% to 10% for the full year.

Printing supplies is a lucrative business for HP, and the company being caught off guard by weaker-than-expected demand no doubt has investors concerned. The printing segment, which includes supplies as well as hardware, generated twice as much earnings before taxes as the personal systems segment in the first quarter on a bit more than half the revenue.

With the most profitable part of HP struggling, it's not surprising that the market punished the stock on Thursday.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Trump Continues to Flip-Flop on Medical Marijuana

The North American marijuana industry has had an incredible run over the past couple of years. In 2017, Mexico wound up legalizing medical marijuana, while in October 2018, Canada ended nine decades of adult-use prohibition and became only the second country worldwide to have given the green light to recreational weed. Within the U.S., two-thirds of all states have also legalized cannabis in some capacity, with 10 allowing adult consumption.

We've also witnessed a major shift in how the public views pot. Back in 1995, the year before California became the first U.S. state to wave the green flag on medical marijuana, a mere 25% of respondents in Gallup's survey favored nationwide legalization. Comparatively, an all-time record two out of three Americans polled favored legalization in Gallup's October 2018 survey.

It would seem that the tide has shifted for cannabis throughout North America, but that's not necessarily the case for President Donald Trump.

President Trump on a video conference from behind his desk in the Oval Office.

President Trump on a video conference from the Oval Office. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead.

President Trump keeps flip-flopping on medical pot

For those who may not recall, Trump was in full support of medical cannabis when questioned about the topic during 2016 presidential debates. He was quoted as saying that he was "100 percent" in favor of medical marijuana in the U.S. but opined that he'd need to see additional data before considering recreational weed for broad-based reform. However, this view from the president has undergone multiple transformations since 2016.

For instance, not long after being elected president, Trump appointed Jeff Sessions to become his attorney general (Sessions resigned in November 2018). Trump was fully aware of Sessions' leanings, which included an ardent stance against the proliferation of cannabis in any form. In fact, Sessions attempted to persuade a few of his congressional colleagues to repeal the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment in 2017. This rider (also known as Rohrabacher-Blumenauer) has been attached to all federal spending bills since 2014, and it's designed to disallow the Justice Department from utilizing federal money to prosecute medical pot businesses operating in legal states. Needless to say, Sessions' attempts to repeal this rider failed.

Sessions was also responsible for rescinding the Cole memo on Jan. 4, 2018. The Cole memo, written by former Deputy Attorney General James Cole under the Obama administration, outlined a series of "rules" that legalized-weed states would need to follow in order to keep the federal government off their backs, so to speak. This included keeping marijuana away from children, as well as keeping cannabis grown in a legal state within that state's borders. At no point did President Trump intervene or speak out against Sessions' attempts to subvert the legal weed industry.

Also in 2017, Israel had revealed plans to grow medical cannabis and (hopefully) export this weed to the United States. However, Israeli officials cancelled these plans after President Trump soured on the idea.

Then, in April 2018, Trump reversed course and once again supported the idea of states' rights -- i.e., the idea that states have the right to legalize marijuana in some capacity and regulate their own industry. This support came at a time when Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Co., was attempting to garner support for banking reform in the cannabis industry.

President Trump signing a bill at his desk in the Oval Office.

President Trump signing a bill at his desk in the Oval Office. Image source: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead.

Trump changes his tune once again

This past week, Trump offered conflicting support yet again.

According to online publication Marijuana Moment, Trump used a signing statement following the passage of a Justice Department spending bill on Friday, Feb. 15, implying that his support for medical marijuana and states' rights isn't as strong as you might think.

The bill signed by the president, as with other previous spending bills, contained a rider that disallowed the Justice Department from using federal dollars to interfere with state medical marijuana laws. However, Trump's signing statement read as follows, courtesy of Marijuana Moment:

Division C, section 537, provides that the Department of Justice may not use any funds to prevent implementation of medical marijuana laws by various States and territories. I will treat this provision consistent with the President's constitutional responsibility to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.

In plain English, this signing statement leaves open the possibility that Trump will use his executive authority to not honor states' rights and allow the federal government to impose federal law. As a reminder, marijuana is a Schedule I drug at the federal level, which means it's entirely illegal, prone to abuse, and not recognized as having any medical benefits. Although this isn't the first time that Trump has used a signing statement with a bill he's signed, and he hasn't imposed federal law on legal states before, it demonstrates just how tenuous the president's support remains for medical marijuana.

A tipped over bottle of dried cannabis lying atop a doctor's prescription pad.

Image source: Getty Images.

Change may be brewing from within

However, even with Trump seemingly wavering on medical cannabis, we're witnessing plenty of calls for change from within. For example, a Quinnipiac University poll from April 2018 found that 93% of respondents favored the idea of having physicians prescribe medical cannabis. Even though marijuana isn't a polarizing enough issue yet for politicians to lose their seats on Capitol Hill, this could change in the years that lie ahead.

We're also seeing the first signs of reform in Washington. On Feb. 13, the House Financial Services Committee held discussions on cannabis banking reform that's expected to lead to the first independent cannabis banking legislation at some point this year. Marijuana enthusiasts view weed banking reform as the first step toward overall legalization at the federal level.

But perhaps the biggest victory for the legal marijuana industry was the Food and Drug Administration's approval of GW Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ:GWPH) Epidiolex in June 2018. GW Pharmaceuticals' cannabis-derived lead drug dazzled in multiple late-stage trials, in which it led to a statistically significant improvement in seizure frequency reduction relative to baseline and a placebo drug for two rare types of childhood-onset epilepsy. This approval for GW Pharmaceuticals creates a cannabis conundrum that the federal government, Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency have yet to deal with. Namely, it demonstrated that cannabis-derived drugs can have medical benefits, which is in stark contrast to the definition of a Schedule I drug.

Even with Trump's mixed signals, the U.S. medical cannabis industry looks poised for expansion at some point in the future. The question is, will Trump stand in its way?

Monday, February 25, 2019

Cal-Maine Foods Inc (CALM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have given a hold recommendation to the company.

A number of research firms recently commented on CALM. Vertical Group downgraded shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 6th. ValuEngine downgraded shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 7th. BidaskClub downgraded shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 13th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Friday, December 28th.

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A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Piedmont Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Piedmont Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 76,544 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,238,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 10,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 50,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,131,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 67.3% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 994 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 64.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of NASDAQ:CALM opened at $44.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 0.32. Cal-Maine Foods has a fifty-two week low of $40.63 and a fifty-two week high of $52.30.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $356.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.73 million. Cal-Maine Foods had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 12.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.149 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 29th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. This is an increase from Cal-Maine Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Cal-Maine Foods’s payout ratio is currently 21.13%.

Cal-Maine Foods Company Profile

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse, and 4-Grain brand names, as well as under private labels.

Further Reading: What is a closed-end mutual fund (CEF)?

Saturday, February 23, 2019

5 Reasons The Trade Desk Skyrocketed on Earnings

Expectations were already high going into The Trade Desk's (NASDAQ:TTD) fourth-quarter earnings report. The programmatic ad-buying specialist forecast robust year-over-year revenue growth and analysts followed suit. Even in light of those enthusiastic projections, The Trade Desk smashed expectations and the stock soared, up more than 30% as of this writing.

There are a number of reasons investors were celebrating the company's results. Let's review a few of the most important items from the report that illustrate why The Trade Desk is probably just getting started.

Two hands touching digital globe showing various consumer advertising touchpoints.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Revenue up 56%

The Trade Desk continues to put up stunning growth. The company generated record revenue of $160.5 million, up 56% year over year. This easily surpassed management's forecast and analysts' consensus estimates, which both topped out at about $147 million.

This accomplishment is even more impressive when it's put into perspective. In the first three quarters of 2018, The Trade Desk produced year-over-year revenue growth of 61%, 54%, and 50%, respectively. The company faced tough comps, having grown its ad sales by 78% in 2016 and 52% in 2017, both year over year. For 2018, revenue growth accelerated to 55%.

This is also more than twice the 22% growth of the programmatic advertising industry overall.

2. Earnings more than doubled

The Trade Desk continues to move even more of its sales to the bottom line. Net income of $39.4 million grew 134% year over year, producing diluted earnings per share of $0.84, up 121%. Even on an adjusted basis, profits were robust, as adjusted net income of $51.1 million grew 111% year over year, resulting in adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.09, up 102% compared to the prior-year quarter.

The reason for the impressive profitability? The Trade Desk's revenue continues to outpace the company's spending. Overall, operating expenses of $111.5 million grew just 52% year over year compared to sales that jumped 56%. As long as The Trade Desk continues to grow revenue faster than costs, profits will continue to soar.

3. Advertising on key channels soared

The Trade Desk continues to increase its market share by tapping into several key growth channels for its programmatic advertising. Connected TVs continues to be the star of the show and produced year-over-year ad growth of 525% in the fourth quarter. That tops off a year where the channel grew 900% compared to 2017.

While connected TVs produced the most eye-popping growth, this is just one of several other key areas that grew like wildfire in 2018. Audio grew 230% compared to 2017, while mobile video grew 130%. Mobile in-app advertising also had a banner year, with advertising that grew 90%.

A woman's hand pointing a remote at a television as a variety of images fly towards the viewer to illustrate the vast number of viewing options.

Image source: Getty Images.

On the conference call, Jeff Green, founder and CEO of The Trade Desk, said the early investment in connected TVs is having "a material impact" on the company's revenue acceleration, both in the fourth quarter and in 2018. This and other fast-growing channels are helping to fuel The Trade Desk's phenomenal growth.

4. A $725 billion opportunity

Green illustrated the significant opportunity for future growth. In 2019, global advertising will be about $725 billion, up 4% year over year, and is expected to top $1 trillion within seven years. Digital advertising represents about half of that total, while the programmatic market is still just a small part, amounting to about $33 billion in 2019. Programmatic is growing faster than both advertising and digital -- and The Trade Desk is growing at twice the rate of the programmatic market.

"We believe that before long the vast majority of advertising will be digital and all of it will be transacted programmatically," Green said. "We expect to grow faster than the rest of the industry for as far as we can see into the future."

5. The future looks bright

The Trade Desk is forecasting first-quarter revenue of $116 million, up 35% year over year. That would mark a significant deceleration from this quarter's record results but is consistent with the company's practice of providing conservative guidance. For the full year, The Trade Desk is expecting revenue of at least $637 million, driven by gross ad spending of $3.2 billion. This forecast is higher than analysts' consensus estimates, which were expecting just $617 million for the year.

The Trade Desk continues to fire on all cylinders, reaping the rewards of the sophisticated ad-buying platform it developed and its channel agnostic approach. The stock soared more than 150% in 2018 and has started off 2019 with a bang -- all on the strength of its continued robust financial results.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Targa Resources (TRGP) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

Logo of jester cap with thought bubble with words 'Fool Transcripts' below it

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 20, 2019 11:00 a.m. ET

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

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Targa Resources Corporation fourth-quarter 2018 earnings webcast and presentation. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr.

Sanjay Lad, director of investor relations. Sir, you may begin.

Sanjay Lad -- Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Tom. Good morning, and welcome to the fourth-quarter 2018 earnings call for Targa Resources Corp. The fourth-quarter earnings release for Targa Resources Corp., Targa, TRC or the company, along with the fourth-quarter earnings supplement presentation are available on the investors section of our website at targaresources.com. In addition, an updated investor presentation has also been posted to our website.

Any statements made during this call that might include the company's expectations or predictions should be considered forward-looking statements and are covered by the safe harbor provision of the Securities Act of 1933 and 1934. Please note that actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to our recent SEC filings, including the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st 2017, and subsequently filed reports with the SEC. Our speakers for the call today will be Joe Bob Perkins, chief executive officer; Matt Meloy, president; and Jen Kneale, chief financial officer.

We will also have the following senior management team members available for Q&A: Pat McDonie, president, gathering and processing; Scott Pryor, president, logistics and marketing; and Bobby Muraro, chief commercial officer. Joe Bob will begin today's call with a few strategic highlights, followed by Matt, who will provide an update on commercial development and business outlook, and then Jen will discuss fourth-quarter 2018 results and present our operational and financial expectations for 2019 before we take the questions. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Joe Bob.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Sanjay. Thank you to everyone for joining our fourth-quarter and year-end 2018 call. It's a pleasure to be with you again this morning. 2018 was one of the busiest years ever at Targa, and what should be viewed as another transformational year for the company.

Over the course of 2018, including only the major headlines, Targa added approximately 860 million cubic feet per day of incremental natural gas processing capacity. Announced the significant Delaware Basin G&P expansion supported by long-term agreements with a large investment-grade energy company. Approved and began construction on another 1.2 billion cubic feet per day of incremental processing capacity. Announced and began construction on the Grand Prix extension into southern Oklahoma.

Announced and began construction on two new 110,000-barrel per day fractionators at our Mont Belvieu complex. Created innovative development company joint ventures or so called DevCos that provided $190 million of capital reimbursement at closing. In total, potential capital savings of up to $960 million on projects already in process. Raised approximately 684 million of common equity and issued $1 billion of senior notes over the course of the year.

Generated approximately $230 million in proceeds from asset sales. And Targa exceeded our previously disclosed full-year 2018 adjusted EBITDA guidance, that is a new Targa record with annual EBITDA of $1,366,000,000. Most importantly, those Targa execution highlights are complemented by the continued safe operations of our existing infrastructure facilities and our projects under construction, with safety focus as job No. 1 for our talented and dedicated employees across the company.

Now, we're only one and half months into 2019 and we've not slowed down. So far, in this new year, we closed on an aggregate $1.5 billion of eight-and-a-half-year and 10-year senior notes at attractive rates, demonstrating tremendous bondholder support for the Targa story. We announced the further extension of Grand Prix into the stack region of central Oklahoma, executed definitive supporting agreements with Williams and secured significant additional long-term NGL volume commitments for transportation on Grand Prix and fractionation at our Mont Belvieu complex. And we very recently executed definitive agreements for the sale of a 45% interest in our Badlands business, generating proceeds of approximately $1.6 billion.

These proceeds will substantially meet our estimated equity needs for 2019, for announced net growth CAPEX and the Permian acquisition earnout. It was a very important deal and we were happy to announce it earlier this week. Those of you who follow us closely know that many of our major projects under way will be completed over the next few months, including our Grand Prix NGL pipeline project. We've been saying this for some time now, and we'll say it again, Grand Prix really is a strategic competitive game-changer for Targa.

It seems like every quarter, we announce another exciting new development that leverages Grand Prix in our integrated asset base, and the Williams deal does that again. Our growth projects under way position us for significant EBITDA growth. The strength of our integrated asset footprint and growth projects complemented by our continued commercial success drive increasing largely fee-based cash flows, an attractive long-term outlook and substantially increased Targa size, scale and customer reputation as a large cap infrastructure operator. Fundamentally, the robust long-term outlook for domestic production volumes and what that means for Targa will lead to the high utilization of our infrastructure expansions, recently completed and under way, providing the line of sight to significantly increasing free cash flow at Targa.

Targa is in a special unique position. An investor recently made some observations that I believe will soon become more widely appreciated, and I'd like to share this with you. No. 1, Targa has a franchise Permian G&P position and diversity from other strong G&P positions.

No. 2 is Targa is one of only a very few integrated companies with the combination of strong gathering and processing plus NGL transportation, plus Mont Belvieu fractionation, plus NGL exports and other premium downstream markets. No. 3, Targa has an unmatched growth picture among significantly sized midstream companies and has a growing amount of fee-based business.

And he summarized, Targa is clearly on path to join a short list of high-performing, scaled, investment-grade midstream companies. And on that path, we'll experience above peer group growth, rapid deleveraging and dividend coverage improvement. That path is highly visible to me. It was highly visible to him from our projects coming online in company and our commercial success.

So as I wrap up my introductory comments, I'd like to directly address statements and likely questions about where Targa should be with respect to its capital expenditures and free cash flow. As a long-term Targa investor, privileged to work closely with the Targa team, the Targa assets, the Targa customers and the Targa opportunities, I believe, we are in a very good spot. Our profile and timing will be different than peer companies simply because Targa has been blessed with an abundance of high-return strategic projects relative to our size over the last few years. We have creatively partnered, prioritized and funded those high-return strategic opportunities, pursuing them, we certainly should not have ignored them.

Now with high visibility beginning in the second half of 2019, such projects are coming online, highly utilized in creating a rapid increase in our cash flow situation, and we will continue to prioritize capital expenditures resulting in lower levels of CAPEX and even lower levels relative to our EBITDA. Targa is clearly on a path to join a short list of high-performing, scaled investment-grade midstream companies. And on that path, we'll experience above peer group growth, rapid deleveraging and dividend coverage improvement. With that, I'll now turn it over to Matt.

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Joe Bob, and good morning, everyone. Let's now get into some of the specifics of our record-setting 2018 and discuss how that translate into our positioning for 2019 and beyond. Overall, Targa's 2018 inlet volumes in the Permian increased 24% over the previous year, and 2018 total Field G&P increased 17% over the previous year. While producers have recently adjusted budgets and forecasts, commercial activity and production in many of our operating regions remains robust, and we expect activity levels to remain strong.

In our Permian region, we expect continued production growth in 2019 across both the Midland and Delaware Basins, despite the temporary delay of some completions as producers await infrastructure expansions to come online throughout 2019. In Permian Midland, our Johnson plant came online late September and was quickly highly utilized. And our 250 million cubic feet per day Hopson plant will begin operation in early second quarter and is also expected to be highly utilized at start-up. The next 250 million cubic feet per day Pembrook plant is expected to begin operations late in the second quarter.

In Permian Delaware, a substantial portion of the asset underpinned via deal with a large investment-grade company are completed or well under way. Our 250 million cubic feet per day Falcon plant remains on track to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019, and the 250 million cubic feet per day Peregrine plant is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2020. These additional plants across the Permian will be interconnected to our multiplant, multisystem footprint with a vast majority of the NGL volumes flowing through Grand Prix to our fractionators in Mont Belvieu. In the Badlands, our Little Missouri complex is operating at capacity, and our volumes at our facility would have been even higher if we had additional processing capacity.

Our Little Missouri Plant 4 is expected to be online in the second quarter of 2019 and will progressively ramp over the second half of the year. Our average crude oil gathered volumes in 2018 increased 29% over the prior year's average volumes. As producer well results continue to improve, we expect continued growth in 2019 for both crude and gas in the Badlands. Turning to the downstream business.

Grand Prix will be fully operational around mid-year, and volumes are expected to progressively ramp over the second half of this year. We are able to significantly expand Grand Prix's capacity with low-cost pump station additions incrementally as required, which further enhances the project's long-term value. We are ordering long lead items for the pipeline's second expansion phase, which will increase the capacity of the segment originating from the Permian by adding pump stations to approximately 450,000 barrels per day. The cost of this expansion is included in our 2019 CAPEX forecast.

Last week, we announced a low-cost extension of Grand Prix into the stack region of central Oklahoma. Grand Prix will interconnect to Williams' Bluestem pipeline in Kingfisher County, opening up additional access to the Conway NGL market and volumes from the DJ Basin. The further expansion of Grand Prix into the stack is an attractive extension of a highly strategic asset for Targa and will direct significant incremental NGLs over the long term from Williams and other third parties to Grand Prix and through our downstream assets in Mont Belvieu and Galena Park. This extension will have an initial capacity of approximately 120,000 barrels per day, with a target in-service of first-quarter 2021, and it's expected to cost approximately 200 million.

As part of this deal, Targa provides Williams with an initial option to purchase a 20% equity interest in one of Targa's Frac Train 7 or 8 in Mont Belvieu. That option may increase depending on incremental committed volumes. This deal is an example of leveraging our unique position, while also supporting our overall business and capital efficiency. Turning to our fractionation business.

Our facilities in Mont Belvieu continue to remain highly utilized during the fourth quarter, with full-year 2018 fractionation volumes increasing 20% over 2017. Our next new 100,000-barrel per day Train 6 fractionator will begin operations in the second quarter and is expected to be highly utilized at start-up. We expect the fractionation market to remain tight throughout 2019, as increasing Y-grade NGL supply is directed to Mont Belvieu from new pipelines. Construction is under way on two new Targa 110,000-barrel per day fractionation trains, Trains 7 and 8.

They are expected to be online in the first quarter and second quarter of 2020, respectively. Our fractionation expansions will accommodate a robust outlook for increasing Y-grade NGL supply to Mont Belvieu, which for us will largely be coming from Grand Prix. In our LPG export business, we are on track to complete our new pipeline between Mont Belvieu and Galena Park, and the rebuild of Dock 2 by mid-year 2019. We are moving forward with a planned expansion to increase our refrigeration capacity and load rates to further enhance our LPG export capabilities at our Galena Park facility.

In the third quarter of 2020, our current effective export capacity of seven million barrels per month will increase to approximately 11 million to 15 million barrels per month, depending on the mix of propane and butane demand, vessel size and availability of supply, among other things. The estimated cost of this expansion is included in our 2019 CAPEX forecast. Construction on the Gulf Coast Express residue gas pipeline or GCX continues, and the project remains essentially on time and on budget with the pipeline expected to be fully operational in the fourth quarter of this year, which will provide some much-needed residue gas takeaway from Waha and/or the Midland Basin to Agua Dulce. We're also very interested in seeing the Whistler project go forward, and continue to work to commercialize a project as this provides strategic residue takeaway for Targa and our customers.

While we continue to support the project, we don't expect to have any meaningful ownership interest or capital requirement for this project. Our crude and condensate splitter at our Channelview Terminal is in start-up, we are working on third-party contracts and commercialization of the asset after Vitol terminated its splitter contract in December of last year. We expect this to be a well performing asset for Targa. With that, I will now turn the call over to Jen to discuss Targa's results for the fourth quarter and present our 2019 operational and financial outlook.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Matt. Good morning, everyone. Targa's reported quarterly adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $376 million. Fourth-quarter EBITDA include a recognition of the remaining $32 million cash payment associated with the terminated splitter agreement.

Normalizing for the splitter deferred revenue recognition, adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter decreased 4% sequentially due to lower commodity prices and lower fractionation margin, partially offset by higher Badlands and Permian volumes. Dividend coverage for the fourth quarter was 0.91 times. During the fourth quarter, we recognized a $210 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge. The only remaining goodwill balance on our financials relates to the 2017 Permian acquisition.

In our gathering and processing segment, higher volumes and fee-based margin in our Badlands business along with higher Permian volumes were more than offset by lower commodity prices. Operating margin decreased $5.3 million in the fourth quarter when compared to the third quarter. Fourth-quarter Permian inlet volumes increased 7% over the third quarter from growth in each of our Permian Midland and Permian Delaware systems. The sequential increase in Permian inlet volumes was partially impacted by a temporary operational disruption during the quarter on a third-party NGL pipeline exiting the basin.

Our fourth-quarter crude oil gathered volumes in the Badlands increased 4% over the third quarter, driven by continued strong production growth across our dedicated acreage. Permian volumes gathered in the fourth quarter were down 9% over the third quarter due to temporary disruptions of third-party facilities. In our logistics and marketing segment, operating margin decreased $23 million in the fourth quarter when compared to the third quarter, driven predominantly by lower marketing gains, lower fractionation margin, and lower terminaling and storage throughput, primarily due to the divestiture of our Tacoma and Baltimore terminals, partially offset by higher domestic marketing margin and higher LPG export margin. As Matt mentioned, our fractionation facilities remained highly utilized, averaging about 450,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter, despite that temporary curtailment of Y-grade NGL supply volumes to Mont Belvieu from the previously mentioned operational disruption on a third-party NGL pipe.

At our Galena Park facility, LPG exports remained strong during the fourth quarter as we averaged 6.5 million barrels per month. We are very pleased with our full-year 2018 operational and financial performance. Full-year 2018 operating margin in our gathering and processing and downstream segments increased 24% and 16%, respectively, over 2017, and we exceeded our previously disclosed full-year 2018 adjusted EBITDA guidance. Moving to other finance-related matters.

The fair value of the earn-out payment for our Permian acquisition is currently estimated to be $308 million, with the payment payable in May 2019. The $21 million decrease in the contingent consideration compared to the third-quarter estimate was driven by a lower forecast of volumes, partially offset by a shorter discount period. During the fourth quarter, we executed additional hedges for Targa's percent of proceeds equity commodity position. Based on our estimate of current equity volumes from field gathering and processing, for full-year 2019, we have hedged approximately 75% of condensate, 75% of natural gas and 70% of NGLs, and we estimate that we've hedged approximately 45% of condensate, 40% of NGLs and 35% of natural gas volumes for 2020.

As Joe Bob mentioned, in January, we successfully issued an aggregate $1.5 billion of six and a half and six and seven-eighths percent senior notes due in July 2027 and January 2029, and we appreciate the tremendous support from our fixed-income investors. Net proceeds from the senior notes offering were used to redeem our November 2019 maturity, and substantially reduce borrowings under our TRP revolver. As we look at our maturity stack, we feel very well-positioned, given our next meaningful maturity is in May 2023. On a debt compliance basis, TRP's leverage ratio at the end of the fourth quarter was approximately 4.1 times versus a compliance covenant of 5.5 times.

Our consolidated reported debt-to-EBITDA ratio was approximately 4.9 times. Full-year 2018 net growth CAPEX was $2.7 billion, and net maintenance CAPEX was $128 million. Spending in the fourth quarter was higher than we estimated in November. Given the number of projects that we have under way, precision around timing of capital spend is more difficult than it typically will be, and more projects were completed in the fourth quarter than expected.

Yesterday, we announced that we entered into definitive agreements to sell a 45% interest in Targa Badlands LLC, the entity that holds all of Targa's assets in North Dakota to funds managed by GSO Capital Partners and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, collectively Blackstone, for $1.6 billion. We expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2009, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Under the terms of the executed agreements, Targa will continue to be the operator and will hold majority governance rights. Future growth capital is expected to be funded on a pro rata basis.

Badlands will pay a minimum quarterly distribution of Blackstone and to Targa based on their initial investments, and Blackstone's capital contributions will have a liquidation preference upon a sale of Badlands. This minority interest sale is in a growth satisfying a substantial portion of our estimated funding needs for 2019 and provides us with significant flexibility looking forward. Pro forma to the senior notes offering, the redemption of our November 2019 maturity and the anticipated proceeds from the Badlands sale, our consolidated liquidity as of year-end was approximately $4.3 billion. Pro forma for the Badlands sale, our compliance and consolidated reported debt-to-EBITDA metrics was 3.4 times and 4.3 times, respectively, at the end of the fourth quarter.

Let's now turn to our expectations for 2019, which assume NGL composite barrel prices to average $0.60 per gallon, crude oil prices to average $54 per barrel, and natural gas prices to average $3 per MMbtu for the year. Beginning with our gathering and processing segment, we expect total Permian natural gas inlet volumes for 2019 to average between 1.85 billion to 1.95 billion cubic feet per day, with the midpoint of the range representing a 20% increase in average 2019 Permian inlet volumes over the 2018 average. We expect Permian inlet volumes to sequentially ramp throughout 2019 as our new processing plants come online. We expect to average 2019 inlet volumes in Southoak and the Badlands to be higher than average 2018.

Collectively, we expect total field G&P natural gas inlet volumes for 2019 to average between 3.45 billion to 3.65 billion cubic feet per day, with the midpoint of the range representing an approximate 10% increase over 2018 average inlet. We also expect total crude gathered volumes in both the Badlands and the Permian to be higher on average in 2019 than average 2018. Downstream, we expect fractionation volumes to increase year over year, largely driven by growth in our Permian G&P volumes and the addition of Train 6. Pro forma for the 45% interest sale in Badlands which again is expected to close in the second quarter, we expect full-year 2019 adjusted EBITDA to be between $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion.

We expect 2019 quarterly adjusted EBITDA to benefit as our growth projects, including Permian and Badlands processing expansion, Train 6 and Grand Prix begin operations and ramp through the second half of the year. Our EBITDA outlook for 2019 is lower than the preliminary range that we published in November given, one, and the largest impact item, the 45% sale of the Badlands, which includes the minimum quarterly distribution of Blackstone ahead of Targa in a rapidly growing business; two, a lower commodity price forecast given the decrease in prices in mid-November, we did a revised plan for our board using a lower price deck; and three, lower volumes from reduced activity at that lower price deck. First-quarter adjusted EBITDA is expected to be sequentially lower than fourth-quarter 2018, and second-quarter EBITDA pro forma for the Badlands is expected to be the lowest quarter of 2019. EBITDA will meaningfully increase in the second half of the year as our growth projects come online and begin to ramp.

Operating expenses and corporate G&A expenses are expected to increase year over year as a result of the additional assets coming online. We expect full-year 2019 dividend coverage to be about 0.9 times assuming a flat $3.64 annual dividend with significantly higher coverage in the second half of 2019 than the first half. Our current 2019 net growth CAPEX estimate for announced projects is approximately $2.3 billion, inclusive of the additional pumps for Grand Prix, the expansion at Galena Park and the CAPEX associated with the Williams transaction versus what we published back in November, and also reduced spending in the Badlands from the minority interest sale. Full-year 2019 maintenance CAPEX is forecasted to be approximately $130 million.

Our line of sight to significantly ramping EBITDA in the back half of 2019, 2020 and beyond, will result in a stronger balance sheet, increasing dividend coverage and additional free cash flow. The long-term outlook for Targa is compelling and our focus remains on executing on our strategic priorities to increase long-term shareholder value. So with that, Tom, please open the line for questions. 

Questions and Answers:

Operator

[Operator instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Michael Blum from Wells Fargo. Your line is now open.

Michael Blum -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst

Good morning, everyone. A couple of things here, then I'll jump back in the queue. I guess, a couple of questions on Badlands. Can you talk about what the MQD is to Blackstone? And then, can you just elaborate a little bit on the liquidation frac trends, if, I guess, if Blackstone wants to sell, what happens or if you want to sell? Anything you can just further expand upon that.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Obviously, we've got $1.6 billion of capital upfront, and we've said that there is an MQD ahead of Targa, a minimum quarterly distribution. And given this is a rapidly growing business that implies that the share distributions in the first couple of years is larger than the share of distributions after that, and that was important to allow Blackstone to derisk their investment and for us to maximize the upfront proceeds that we received. With regards to the liquidation preference, it's well outside the sort of five-year-plus investment horizon than investors typically think about, well outside of our planned period.

But there are options for us to repurchase the interest in the Badlands and there are also options whereby if there was a sale of the assets in a 100% sale, Blackstone would receive a preference in that liquidation to get their proceeds back first.

Michael Blum -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst

OK. And then, will there be taxes paid? Is there like a gain on sale here with taxes? And if not, how does this impact your NOL? And when you think you would be a cash tax payer?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

We don't have a change to the longer-term outlook that we have in terms of when we will become a taxpayer because of this, Michael. The way that some of the benefits from some of the changes in tax legislation benefit us in the relative near years versus later on means that there really isn't much of a tax impact related to this transaction. So no change on the guidance, so we don't expect to be a cash taxpayer for some years now.

Michael Blum -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst

OK, great. And then last question for me for now. So you didn't make any comment on kind of the longer-term guidance that you've provided for EBITDA. Should we assume that that is unchanged or is there a way to think about that in light of the change in '19?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

I think from our perspective, the long-term outlook absolutely remains intact. We've now sold the 45% interest in the Badlands, which is a detractor from that longer-term outlook, but we've also announced the Williams transaction. So similar to when we put out the first long-term outlook in June of 2017, this isn't something that we expect to update on a monthly or quarterly or even semi-annual basis. But I think that you can tell from our remarks that the long-term outlook for our business is as strong as it's ever been and we're very much excited about it.

Michael Blum -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst

Thank you.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Michael.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Shneur Gershuni from UBS. Your line is now open.

Shneur Gershuni -- UBS -- Analyst

Hi, good morning, guys. I guess to start off, I was wondering if we can sort of talk about the 2019 guide for today. I was wondering if you can sort of compare as apples-to-apples from where it was in November versus now? Obviously, there's a commodity revision, which makes sense. But I was wondering if you can sort of talk about some of the specifics, is there an adjustment for the canceled splitter, I mean, they gave you a payment upfront.

So have you adjusted that lower? What's the amount that you're assuming for Badlands? Should we see something for frac spreads? Just some of the details for us to effectively look at it on an apples-to-apples basis.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

We try to give you some color to do that, Shneur, in our scripted remarks, so I think that you hit a lot of the key components head on. The Badlands partial interest sale is the biggest delta when we look at what we put out today versus what we described in 2019, which was early November, which was a preliminary look at 2019. And then as we worked with our board under a lower price deck to basically redo the plan that we typically do in the fall, and then we saw lower prices in November and December, decided to redo that plan. What you're also seeing as a result of the lower commodity prices plus lower volumes related to that new plan.

Our perspective is that we will be able to manage the splitter for Targa and we will be able to generate margin for the splitter. And so there is some margin included or embedded in our 2019 EBITDA based on our view of how we can manage that asset for our benefit without the terminated contract.

Shneur Gershuni -- UBS -- Analyst

OK. Fair enough. Just turning over to CAPEX for a minute. It was revised upwards by about $300 million.

I recognize that CAPEX starts to step down next year after some of the big projects come into place. But there has been some, call it, 2020 and 2021 growth CAPEX creep over the last couple of quarters due to strong growth. We now have EMPs living within cash flows and recounts that it's kind of flattened. Do you see a slowing in CAPEX? Is there a likelihood that we won't see any further CAPEX creep for at least 2020?

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

Shneur, this is Joe Bob. Back on my opening remarks, I was trying to address that head on. As we have benefited from tremendous opportunities, we have had what you described as capital creep, I described it as capital blessings. Those are high return strategic investments that every investor looking under the covers would want us to make.

And I think most investors and analysts like you looking from the outside in, knowing what they are and when they're coming on, wanted us to make those investments. We've got terrific visibility of the cash flow that's going to be created with that, whether or like your team, you're modeling it from the bottom-up one project at a time with our comments of when they're coming on and that they're coming on highly utilized, or at the more top-down simplified calculation of it, which say what's that capital work in progress. It's $2.5 billion. Much of which comes in online in the second half at conservative multiples shows you the cash flow that's being generated.

We also described that we have been using discipline in prioritization, only doing the strategic in high return projects, and we will continue to do so. It's natural that we have a slug up because of the quality of our assets, the quality of the footprint and the Permian basis of that footprint. We have "caught up some," building two fractionators that once catches you up, building multiple plants in the Permian at the same time begins to catch you up. I think our comments says that we expected lower CAPEX in 2020 and even lower as a percent or as a ratio to that EBITDA.

I feel very good about that position. It's a terrific position. If you're comparing it to the other EMP companies and the peers, we should be slowing down slower than them because we had so many more opportunities. I'm -- that may have sound a little overly passionate, I do see the headlines, we did talk with investors about it.

Mostly, every time we talk to them because they want to understand how we feel about that opportunity set and the fact that to some extent, they're waiting a little longer for free cash flow. But in the meantime, they've experienced the growth. And now, they're going to experience the deleveraging and the rapid improvement in coverage. Did that address the question?

Shneur Gershuni -- UBS -- Analyst

It definitely does. I did have one final, I guess, kind of accounting-related type question. When we think about the Badlands asset sale. Based on your response to Mike, there doesn't seem to be any tax proceeds and so forth.

When we think about it from a cash flow statement perspective, first of all, is the agency is going to treat it completely as an equity infusion? And secondly, does it show up in investing cash flow or will it show up in financing cash flow given the structure with the MQDs and so forth?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

So as we work through the potential transaction, we obviously informed the rating agencies as we worked through different potential structures. And so our view is that both Moody's and S&P will treat it as -- will give it equity treatment.

Shneur Gershuni -- UBS -- Analyst

And will it show up as financing cash flow or will it show up as investing cash flow?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Well, Shneur, it's going to be consolidated. Since we operate in control, it's still going to be a consolidated entity but then with a minority interest cutback kind of how we handle our other consolidated entities with minority cutbacks.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

The usual NGL cutbacks.

Shneur Gershuni -- UBS -- Analyst

Got it. Perfect. Thank you very much, guys. I will jump back in the queue.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jeremy Tonet from JP Morgan. Your line is now open.

Jeremy Tonet -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst

Good morning. Just wanted to touch on the Badlands transaction one last time, if I could. I was just wondering if you could expand a bit more as far as why 45% was the right level to go for in this deal as opposed to a small number or a bigger number? And kind of how you see that stacking up against ATM issuance at this point?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

I think that everything you've seen us do over the last couple of years, Jeremy, is reflective of the fact that we think our equity is undervalued, particularly, when we look at the strength of our long-term outlook and the visibility that we have to that long-term outlook. So for Targa, when we first contemplated a potential minority interest sale in the Badlands, one of our key goals has always been to maximize the upfront proceeds that we receive to help derisk everything else that's going on at our company. And so that's why 45% seem like a great number. We would have been willing to sell up to 49% or we would have been willing to sell less if we didn't get a right valuation or a right structure.

But what Blackstone was able to do for us was to help us maximize those upfront proceeds in a structure that we're very comfortable with.

Jeremy Tonet -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst

That's helpful. And you touched on a couple of different times in the call Targa is really growing into a fully integrated player in midstream from wellhead to exports there. And it seems like this enables you guys to win kind of new growth projects and capture things that give you better returns than may be others in the industry can do. So I was just wondering how you see the midstream industry evolving here? If others can't compete with you guys in winning these type of project, how do you think about industry consolidation progressing going forward?

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

That's a really interesting way of asking the question. I think what I said is there are only a very few of us who look like that, and you all can list them. And guess what, they can compete with me, OK? That shortlist of players who have a gathering and processing footprint, a natural gas liquids pipeline, a presence at Mont Belvieu, that's quite competitive. But, for example, that large investment-grade energy player in the Delaware, I only consider folks that look like that and we did win that one.

The Williams transaction probably had some competition, we did win that one. We don't win all of them, but by beating that integrated player with that scale, I think, customer fit reputation, we're going to win our share, maybe more than our share, and then we get the blessing, the prioritizing opportunities. Our team is very focused on that over the course of this year and next year. How do we get the biggest bang for the buck and how do we work on more smaller projects and less larger projects.

But it's a function of a terrific footprint that now terrific integration and the reputation we've put in place with our customers.

Jeremy Tonet -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst

That's all for me.. Thanks for taking my questions.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

OK, thanks.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Colton Bean from Tudor, Pickering, Holt. Your line is now open.

Colton Bean -- Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company -- Analyst

Just wanted to follow up on the commentary there around the 2020 and 2021 capital spend. The expectation of lower spend referenced to the preliminary guide of $1.8 billion, or is that more a reference to 2019 levels?

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

I actually described '18 and '19, I -- I mean '19, '20, I believe, Colton, and if I didn't, that's what I meant. Yes, we're trying to have 2020 capital lower than 2019 capital. I don't think I went further than 2020. We believe we can do that.

We believe that that's natural. We've already been prioritizing our capital expenditures, but prioritized capital expenditures came in at a pretty high level, particularly relative to the EBITDA that we had in time. Now the additional good news is we've got a lot more EBITDA coming on at the end of 2019 and into 2020. We have even at a flat level or a slightly reduced level, that's less of a strain on the organization than the current level was at our current EBITDA.

We would like to get to that space of being free cash flow. We can't do that as quickly as a peer that doesn't have very many opportunities.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

I don't think that our view has changed much either, Colton, that when you think about November that $1.8 billion aggregate number that we put out for a 2020 plus 2021 preliminary CAPEX that we really see that changing much based on what we have looking forward. So the Williams deal will add some incrementally to that a small amount, particularly when you think about the structure of that transaction and what it will bring to Targa on transport on Grand Prix and fractionation at Belvieu. And then that $1.8 billion also already included the other projects that we thought were in the near-term horizon, and that view hasn't changed at all in terms of incremental processing plants in an incremental frac.

Colton Bean -- Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company -- Analyst

Got it. And so given the change that we've seen on the upstream budget, no impact thus far to that $1.8 billion?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

No.

Colton Bean -- Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company -- Analyst

Yes. OK. And just circling back to Scott's commentary on Galena Park, I think as of Q3, you had mentioned the possibility of an expansion to maybe 10 million to 11 million barrels a month. It sounds like that's substantially higher.

So can you guess or provide a bit of commentary to what's allowing you to get to that 11 million to 15 million barrels a month?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. The first time we talked about expanding there was adding a 20-inch pipeline between Galena Park and Mont Belvieu to allow us to flow additional butane as long as -- as well as doing some dock work. This expansion we talked about today is adding refrigeration capacity, which is going to basically more effectively allows us to utilize those pipelines. So it's really depends on a customer demand and how much ultimate butane demand there is.

So it's a pretty wide range of 11 million to 15 million barrels a month to the extent there's more butane demand, we'd be at the high end of that range. To the extent there's less butane demand, we'd be at the low end of that range. There's really the next step to get us to that real next leg of significant expansion. So I think the refrigeration was a key piece to us.

Colton Bean -- Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company -- Analyst

OK. And just on the refrigeration, is that part of the capital increase that we've seen from that two to two-three?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

It is. Yes.

Colton Bean -- Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company -- Analyst

Got it. Thank you.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

And that was also included in the $1.8 billion for '20 and 2021. So that accelerated into 2020. So obviously that changes what the 2021 number may have been depending on when we had it staged.

Colton Bean -- Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company -- Analyst

That's helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Christine Cho from Barclays. Your line is now open.

Christine Cho -- Barclays -- Analyst

Hi, everyone. If I could start with the project with Williams that lateral that you're extending into the stack in the prepared remarks you talk about, is third-party opportunities tied to that? What is the opportunity set over there aside from the Williams volumes? Is it mostly new plants that haven't yet dedicated their volumes? Or are there some legacy plants that have contracts coming due in the beginning of next decade that could be fair game?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. I'd say, it's both. There are some new plants going in, and we're having discussions with new customers up there about a potential dedication of their plants or volumes from the area. So there is some of that.

And then we're, of course, there's a portfolio of plants up there and in that region that have various contracts that may or will be rolling off over time, so we're having discussions with both of those parties.

Christine Cho -- Barclays -- Analyst

And the initial capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, well, can that be expanded to ballpark wise?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Well, I guess, it really depends on what line we ultimately lie up there and what kind of pumps we put on it. So we're still finalizing that. We expect the 120,000 to be a good initial capacity, but it ultimately depends on pipelines, not only that pipeline but also downstream of that as well.

Christine Cho -- Barclays -- Analyst

OK. And then your partner in some of the Permian processing plants has indicated an interest to sell their stake in the JV. How do you guys think about this? Do you find it necessary to own the whole thing if that partner wants to exit? Or are you fine letting the interest get sold to someone else given the multiple you just sold an interest for in the Badlands?

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

Our partner in the Permian is a terrific partnership. I think they say similar things about the Targa relationship. We worked very well with Pioneer, and have excellent communications. We work strategically well.

The partnership is strategic for both of us. I believe that most of their comments about potentially selling their interest in the Permian in response to questions on calls like these unless playing offense about it. Those discussions could occur. We don't have a driving force on either side of that equation.

And it's different. It's just different to think about how that might be monetized to Targa than how it might be up monetized to another player.

Christine Cho -- Barclays -- Analyst

Fair enough. Last question. Can you just remind me the outrigger payment, is that included in growth CAPEX, or is that incremental to growth CAPEX?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

It's incremental.

Christine Cho -- Barclays -- Analyst

OK, great. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Tristan Richardson from SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Tristan Richardson -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Hey, good morning, guys. Just thinking about corporate expenses year over year in 2019, fully appreciate the new projects will contribute to higher overall corporate cost. Should we think about the 4Q sequential step up is a general representation of how to think about '19 G&A costs?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

I think for both OPEX and G&A, you should expect that year over year those costs will be up a fair amount, just given how many projects are being put into service. I think when you look at where we were in the fourth quarter and the third quarter, which was actually fairly flat from an OPEX perspective. On a go-forward rate, I would continue to have somewhat of a ramp in there on a Q1 to Q4 basis in 2019.

Tristan Richardson -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Helpful. Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

There's movement -- on any one quarter, you're referencing one quarter, I tend to look at a trend and look at it for -- a total year versus a total year, and then as new volumes, new things come on, it's a better way to look at than any one quarter or any one segment, sequentially.

Tristan Richardson -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Sure. And then just, I think the implied multiple on the asset sales surprised a lot of folks and just sort of given the magnitude of the proceeds you guys expect compared with your outlook for CAPEX. Do you anticipate the proceeds effectively take you out of the ATM market for 2019?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

I think the Badlands transaction was incredibly important for us to get done. And the fact that we were able to get it done on the timeline that we did was also very important. So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody that worked on it internally. To reiterate what I said earlier, Tristan, I think that we've demonstrated that we have a view that our equity is undervalued and have shown a strong desire to minimize how much equity that we issue at these levels.

As we look forward, we're incredibly well-positioned as we wait for a significant ramp in EBITDA, and we'll continue to proactively approach funding to the extent that we need to diminish leverage.

Tristan Richardson -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Jen, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Tristan.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Spiro Dounis from Credit Suisse. Your line is now open.

Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

Hey, good morning. Just one more on Badlands, hopefully. Just to what degree where those assets constrained on growth prior to the JV? Just trying to get a sense of this new JV actually allows you to fund that asset more and grow Badlands faster. And to what degree does that offer you new opportunities to, I guess, develop egress-type long-haul assets out of the Bakken?

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

Since you said JV twice, we probably ought to clarify. We recently did another JV in the Badlands as you would recall, which is how we're building the current plant. It was constrained prior to construction. We're building that with Hess and that's a Badlands JV.

This additional investment by Blackstone is not changing the relationship of that first JV and it is providing funding, in my view, to the entire corporation. We're still going to pursue the attractive high-growth opportunities in the Badlands to the extent they are available. And we wish that that currently being constructed plant were up and running today because it is constrained. Does that help?

Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

Yes. I appreciate the clarification there. Second one, maybe I had a follow-up on Tristan's, but I think by our numbers, it looks like Badlands, their proceeds largely get you kind of all the way through '19 from an equity standpoint. And I guess, are you guys done selling assets at this point? Or could we see do a little bit more but maybe from 1opportunistic reasons?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

We've tried to be very transparent, particularly as our capital program has increased to tell you what we're thinking, when we're thinking it. I think that transparency has been very important for all of our investors. At this time, we are not in the process of selling any other assets. It's our fiduciary responsibly, if anybody calls us and wants to take a look at any of our assets to consider it, but no, we don't have any active processes under way right now, Spiro.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

And Spiro, I hope as part of that transparency, what you also hear us say is the rapidly increasing cash flow. Second half of this year and into 2020, there's a whole lot to remove concern about funding. That's the best source. OK?

Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

Yes, no, that was clear. Appreciate it. Thanks for the color, guys.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Danilo Juvane from BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Danilo Juvane -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Good morning and thank you. I had mostly follow-up questions. Firstly, Jen, with respect to guidance, do you see any visibility to potentially contract the splitter this year? Or are you fully embedding into guidance that the splitter will be running on a merchant basis?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

I believe, we said in our scripted comments that we're working on both. So we're looking at commercialization of the asset, both for us and with third-party agreements. So it will -- may be a combination.

Danilo Juvane -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

But within guidance, what are you assuming, that it's merchant or fully contracted? Or...

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

It's a modest merchant assumption at this time.

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

We put in a conservative assumption. And part of the bread was, there was lower than the all-in payment that we expect to receive on a contracted basis. Current economics would actually imply that it would be higher than that. But we put in, just for start-up and timing and getting it ramped up, we put in a modest assumption below, kind of, below the current economics and below the previously contracted amount.

Danilo Juvane -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Thanks for that Matt. My second question is with respect to the Bakken JV. Can you again explain what the MQD guidance is as it relates to the EBITDA guidance impact for 2019?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

I think that what we said earlier is that because we received a significant upfront payment from Blackstone and because they're trying to derisk their investment as they move through time given the type of investor that they are. What that would imply with the minimum quarterly distribution, which they receive ahead of us, is that their share of distributions in the first couple of years is larger than what they would receive on a percentage basis thereafter. And that's fully incorporated into our 2019 guidance.

Danilo Juvane -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Got it, OK. Thank you. Those are my questions.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

OK, thanks.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Becca Followill from U.S. Capital Advisors. Your line is now open.

Becca Followill -- U.S. Capital Advisors -- Analyst

Good morning, guys. First for all, I think, it's a change that you don't expect to have an equity stake, can you talk about the rationale for that at this point?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. That project, as we said all along, is a strategic project for us with the connectivity to our gas plants in the Midland, good takeaway from the Permian. Clearly, we're aligned to get more residue takeaway underwritten and done out of the Permian, so we can continue to make money on a G&P side, Grand Prix, fractionation and etc. There are other ways to support that project.

So we are still working with the other potential customers and equity owners to support and get that over the line. You don't have to have an equity interest which will then bring capital required with that to support the project. So we're still working with them and hope to get that pushed over the line. But we -- just to be clear, we do expect no funding for '19 and don't expect to have any meaningful ownership equity in it.

Becca Followill -- U.S. Capital Advisors -- Analyst

But you originally were going to be the operator of that pipe, is that no longer the case?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

I'd say, in our initial discussions, when we announced the deal, there's been changes for what partners have come in and come out. So there's been some back and forth on those items such as operating construction. Those details were being ironed out. So we're still negotiating those in coming to the right answer for that.

So we were working on those all along the way. And so what we wanted to say here is because CAPEX is a concern for investors on projects that you don't need to anticipate any CAPEX relating to this project.

Becca Followill -- U.S. Capital Advisors -- Analyst

Super. And then on -- one more on the Badlands. I know these are good assets and they're expected to grow, but we've all been through way too many cycles. So what happens in the event that oil does drop precipitously and these assets don't perform, are you obligated to pay Blackstone first, and then Targa second?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

The part of the attractiveness of a fee-based system like the Badlands, Becca, is that we were able to demonstrate growth even during, at least, the most recent cycles that we've experienced and that helped to get our potential partners comfortable with the asset profile there. The minimum quarterly distribution to the extent that there are funds available to be paid out then Blackstone will be paid out first. To the extent that there aren't then those will accrue.

Becca Followill -- U.S. Capital Advisors -- Analyst

Super. And then the last one is just on you talked about the rating agency treatment a bit, can be treated as equity. But in light of the CAPEX budget going higher and EBITDA estimates coming down for '19 and I think covers looking fairly low. Any thoughts on how the rating agencies are thinking about this? Are they willing to bridge you to 2020 when things look maturely better? If you can comment on that.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

We try to be incredibly transparent with the rating agencies over the last couple of years. We visited them more than we have in prior history. We've also tried to keep them informed and appraised of any developments as we've moved through. So I think at this point, we don't see any difference.

We frankly spend a lot more time discussing with them that rapid EBITDA growth that we see back half in '19 into 2020 and 2021, and what that means for the overall enterprise.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

And I'll just remember -- remind everyone, they get forecast for that. And then when we go into next time and the forecasts are even better, and we go into next time and the forecasts are even better, we've got pretty good credibility with them, on the rating agency forecast, which you could probably assume are at least among the conservative part of our range. That credibility with the rating agencies, when we walk in, they say that looks great, thanks again, appreciate the dialogue and sometimes they say, you are not our problem.

Becca Followill -- U.S. Capital Advisors -- Analyst

Super. Thank you, guys.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Becca.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

OK, thanks.

Operator

Our last question comes from the line of Craig Shere from Tuohy Brothers. Your line is now open.

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

Hi. Good morning. So just want to get clear on the EBITDA bridge relative to prior guidance. So the total backing out on the splitter combined with the disproportionate versus 45% interest of EBITDA accruing to Blackstone because there's minimum quarterly payments is a significant part of the bridge that would guide us to lower guidance net of the lower commodity deck?

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

We also said the only thing I think you may have left out is implied is that we had gone back, really bottom-up to try to do the best we could to understand what producer customers and downstream customers were doing in the new environment after the late November and December commodity price drop. Now that's an effort that we were able to do until a little past the middle of January when we started preparing it for our February board meeting. Just as our producer customers were doing the same thing, I think, we've done a reasonably conservative job on that. And that that change in activity associated with the new commodity price levels has been baked in the best we can.

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

Right. So that left the volumetric issue. So would you...

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

No. With the volumetric issue, but had a Delta P in our best estimate of Delta V.

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

Right. Now so my question is in terms of proportionality, would you say that the volumetric piece of it is perhaps in the area of the downdraft on the splitter?

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Craig, I want to give more color on the individual pieces, we've tried to frame for you the key deltas. No. 1, clearly, being the Badlands 45% minority interest sale. After that, we've got the Delta V and the Delta P.

As Matt answered earlier on the splitter, we are assuming modest margin for that asset in 2019. Frankly, I think, we think that we can outperform potentially versus underperform depending on market conditions, but that's also an assumption that's made in there.

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

And we don't have it completely up and running yet either.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

Correct.

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

Understood. On an ongoing basis this all, obviously, skews the EBITDA growth even more out to the next couple of years versus '19, in terms of your -- you're going to get more proportional EBITDA from the Badlands, eventually, something will be done with splitter. As we would expect that that proportional ramp to be much harder than previously?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. I think that's right with those items you outlined plus with the Williams deal. That's additional margin that's going to show up later as well.

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

OK. And now -- and I apologize if I'm reading the tables wrong. But was there a big shift in Southoak volumes to Centrahoma JV? It looked like on a net basis, we had a drop sequentially though on a gross basis, volumes were up?

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

With some ethane rejection numbers going on in there too.

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, there is. Yes, I mean, we brought on Hickory Hills in Q4. So there could be some noise around the start-up of Hickory Hills and rejection recovery related that we're being on inspect for takeaway issues in that. I'll look into that a little bit more but with increased volumes there.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

There are moving pieces, the sequential may have some interesting numbers. It didn't jump out at me, but I often look at Oklahoma together. I would say that if you're seeing particular noise of those two things, the Hickory Hills start-up and changes in that rejection because it was moving around a bit.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

But we'll follow-up you -- with you, Craig, if there's anything different than that, but I think that's the answer.

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

Great. And my last question, just some clarity on longer-term volume perspective today versus third quarter. Do you still see a late 2020 or at least 2021 filling up of the initial 300,000 a day on Grand Prix still on the table?

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. What we said was 250,000 barrels at some point in 2020. So I think we feel...

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

Good and better about that.

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Even better about that. This is the second, kind of, time we've talked about adding pumps and getting potentially up to that 450,000-barrel capacity. So I think we feel better about that guidance, although, we haven't updated that just to say we feel better about it.

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

OK, great. I appreciate the time.

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

OK, thanks.

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Thank you .

Operator

And that concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference over to Sanjay Lad.

Sanjay Lad -- Director of Investor Relations

Thanks to everyone that was on the call this morning, and we appreciate your interest in Targa Resources. I will be available after the call for any questions you may have. Thank you. Have a great day.

Operator

[Operator signoff]

Duration: 67 minutes

Call Participants:

Sanjay Lad -- Director of Investor Relations

Joe Bob Perkins -- Chief Executive Officer

Matt Meloy -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Jen Kneale -- Chief Financial Officer

Michael Blum -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst

Shneur Gershuni -- UBS -- Analyst

Jeremy Tonet -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst

Colton Bean -- Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Company -- Analyst

Christine Cho -- Barclays -- Analyst

Tristan Richardson -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

Danilo Juvane -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Becca Followill -- U.S. Capital Advisors -- Analyst

Craig Shere -- Tuohy Brothers Investment Research -- Analyst

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