Author Archives: Scalper1

Amazon.com, GrubHub Under Fire From Uber Restaurant Delivery

Ride-booking firm Uber announced in a blog post Tuesday that it was expanding its restaurant delivery service and spinning it off from the main Uber mobile app. Called UberEats, the food delivery app will add competitive pressure to Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and GrubHub ( GRUB ), both of which have competing restaurant delivery offerings. GrubHub stock was down 5% in early afternoon trading in the stock market today , while Amazon stock was flat. UberEats is an expansion of the company’s “instant delivery” service, which offers a fixed menu and deliveries in “as little as 10 minutes.” UberEats is partnering with “hundreds” of restaurants to make food delivery available seven days a week, according to the company’s blog. Cowen analyst Kevin Kopelman conducted tests of UberEats in Santa Monica, Calif., and found that the app’s estimates — 30 minutes or less, with a midpoint around 11 minutes — beat Amazon Prime Now Restaurants’ nationwide average of 39 minutes. GrubHub does not provide precise timing information because it doesn’t make the delivery itself, Kopelman pointed out in a research note Monday. Amazon offers estimates “within the hour.” Kopelman says that UberEats has changed to curbside delivery only, which means that drivers will not meet customers at the door, as is the norm in food delivery. Kopelman says that changing to curbside lets the company more easily integrate existing drivers for UberX — its taxi-like service, where drivers use personal cars to ferry passengers — which the firm is using as a primary source for delivery recruitment. An Uber spokeswoman told IBD that the company’s “instant delivery” is curbside, but she added that its regular restaurant delivery “in most cases” is door-to-door. Unlike Amazon and GrubHub, UberEats does not allow tipping within the app — though customers can give the driver a cash tip — and its fees are among the lowest among its competitors, according to Kopelman. Amazon does not charge a delivery fee, at least for now. “Our initial impressions of UberEats in Los Angeles make us incrementally more cautious on the competitive environment for GrubHub,” Kopelman wrote. The UberEats app and curbside restaurant delivery are set to roll out in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto, according to the company’s blog. Seven other major markets are set to open “around the corner” — including Melbourne, New York and Paris. Troubled Market But if startups are any indication, then UberEats, Amazon and GrubHub are vying for a market that is looking at a troubled future. Tuesday, TechCrunch reported that SpoonRocket, a food delivery app, is shutting down amid the “on-demand apocalypse,” referring to the big challenges of the food deliveries business. And Monday, the Wall Street Journal published a report  saying that grocery delivery app Instacart, valued at over $2 billion, is slashing its driver pay 63% in a bid for profitability. The WSJ also pointed out that such on-demand delivery companies are attempting to avoid repeating history. In the dot-com bust, heralded grocery delivery startup Webvan Group burned through $800 million before shutting down in 2001.

4 Top-Rated Small-Cap Blend Mutual Funds To Invest In

Investors looking to invest in a portfolio that provides significant exposure to both value and growth stocks, and wanting to diversify their investments across a wide range of sectors and companies, may consider small-cap blend mutual funds. Blend funds or “hybrid funds” owe their origin to a graphical representation of a fund’s equity style box and aim for value appreciation by capital gains. Meanwhile, small-cap companies are believed to be less affected by a global downturn, thanks to limited international exposure. Though funds investing in small-cap stocks are believed to be more volatile than funds with a more large or mid-cap focus, these are expected to have higher growth prospects than their large and medium counterparts. Companies with market capitalization lower than $2 billion are generally considered small-cap firms. Below we will share with you 4 buy-rated small-cap blend mutual funds . Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) as we expect these mutual funds to outperform their peers in the future. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all small-cap blend mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds . Fidelity Stock Selector Small Cap (MUTF: FDSCX ) seeks capital growth by investing its assets across a wide range of sectors. FDSCX invests a major portion of its assets in common stocks of companies having market capitalizations within the universe of the Russell 2000 Index or the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. The Fidelity Stock Selector Small Cap fund has a three-year annualized return of 7.2%. As of October 2015, FDSCX held 207 issues, with 1.75% of its total assets invested in Bank of the Ozarks Inc. SSgA Dynamic Small Cap N (MUTF: SVSCX ) invests a large chunk of its assets in equity securities of companies listed in the Russell 2000 Index. SVSCX may also invest a maximum of 20% of its assets in securities of companies that are not included in the index. The SSgA Dynamic Small Cap N fund has a three-year annualized return of 8.9%. SVSCX has an expense ratio of 1.10% as compared to the category average of 1.24%. JPMorgan U.S. Small Company C (MUTF: JTUCX ) seeks total return. JTUCX invests a large portion of its assets in equity securities of small-cap U.S. companies. These small-cap companies have market capitalization similar to those companies listed in the Russell 2000 Index during the time of purchase. The JPMorgan US Small Company C fund has a three-year annualized return of 7.6%. As of January 2016, JTUCX held 371 issues, with 1.48% of its total assets invested in Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. Vanguard Strategic Small Cap Equity Investor (MUTF: VSTCX ) invests the majority of its assets in small-cap domestic equity securities. VSTCX invests in securities that have strong growth prospects and reasonable valuations compared to their industry peers. VSTCX achieves this balance by applying a quantitative process to evaluate all of the securities in the MSCI US Small Cap 1750 Index. The Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Investor fund has a three-year annualized return of almost 10%. VSTCX has an expense ratio of 0.34% as compared to the category average of 1.24%. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all small-cap blend mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds. About Zacks Mutual Fund Rank By applying the Zacks Rank to mutual funds, investors can find funds that not only outpaced the market in the past but are also expected to outperform going forward. Pick the best mutual funds with the Zacks Rank. Original Post

Lilly Changes Endpoint For Alzheimer’s Drug Trial; Stock Falls

Big pharma Eli Lilly ( LLY ) changed its goals for a much-anticipated clinical trial of its Alzheimer’s disease drug Tuesday, sending the stock down in a bad day overall for drug stocks. Lilly’s phase-three trial of its drug solanezumab, called Expedition-3, had previously targeted two primary endpoints: a slowing of cognitive decline, and a slowing of functional decline. On Tuesday, Lilly said it was going to keep cognitive decline as the primary endpoint, but functional decline would become a key secondary endpoint. Lilly is expecting to report its first results from the trial late this year, and make a decision about filing for approval based on the outcome. “Emerging scientific evidence supports the idea that cognitive decline precedes and predicts functional decline in Alzheimer’s disease, particularly in earlier stages of the disease,” Lilly said by way of explanation in its press release. Lilly added that “regulators globally will continue to view both cognitive and functional endpoints as necessary for clinical trials in people with mild Alzheimer’s dementia, and regulatory guidance has been to include these as co-primary endpoints,” so it’s not clear how much difference this will make to the drug’s approvability. Nonetheless, a trial that failed a co-primary endpoint would still be a failed trial. “Sounds like Lilly is doing everything they can to improve the success rate of Expedition-3,” wrote Evercore ISI analyst Mark Schoenebaum in an email to clients. Schoenebaum said Lilly told him the decision wasn’t based on data from the trial itself, which the company hasn’t yet seen. Lilly did analyze data from its earlier solanezumab studies Expedition-1 and Expedition-2, however, “and other datasets in the field.” Schoenebaum added that the phase-three trial of a possible competitor from Biogen ( BIIB ), aducanumab, is using a different test that measures both cognitive and functional decline as its sole primary endpoint. Lilly stock hit a 52-week low of 69.60 on the stock market today , on a day when stocks in general and drug stocks in particular were taking a hit. By midday,  it was down 3.5% near 71. Biogen stock was down 2.5% near 250.