Author Archives: Scalper1

Sucampo Q4 Beats Estimates, Affirms Guidance, Driving Up Stock

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals ( SCMP ) popped to a two-month high Tuesday after its Q4 earnings beat estimates. Sucampo said it made 43 cents a share in the quarter, excluding one-time items, up 108% from the year-earlier quarter. That beat analysts’ consensus of 19 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. On a GAAP basis, Sucampo made 23 cents a share. Sales climbed 47% to $55.4 million, about $13 million above consensus. For the full year, Sucampo made 95 cents a share, up 136% from 2014, while revenue rose 33% to $153.2 million. For the current year, the company affirmed its previous guidance of 97 cents to $1.07 in EPS on sales of $195 million to $205 million. Sucampo stock jumped almost 15% in early trading to 16, its highest point since Jan. 5, but closed up just 4.3% at 14.54. The company’s lead drug Amitiza provided most of the revenue, with prescriptions growing 10% over Q4 2014 to 390,228. Sucampo’s income derives from royalties paid by its partners, Takeda in the U.S. and Mylan ( MYL ) in Japan; Sucampo also took a $5 million milestone payment from Mylan in the quarter as part of their partnership. The Q4 results included the acquisition of R-Tech Ueno in December, which gave Sucampo a greater share in Amitiza’s global economics as well as some pipeline products. “The key revenue driver, Amitiza, is doing better than we expected outside the U.S., and even in the U.S. sales remained strong as the end-market sales reported by Takeda for royalty calculation were $102.3 million vs. our estimate of $98.2 million,” wrote UBS analyst Ami Fadia in a research note. “4Q 2015 was the first reported quarter that included the R-Tech deal and we are starting to see the improvement in earnings we were expecting from this deal.” Guggenheim analyst Louise Chen lowered her 2016 earnings estimate slightly due to the guidance, but said several factors could provide upside this year: M&A, data readouts on some pipeline products this year, and new formulations and indications for Amitiza, which is currently used for constipation. She estimated that Sucampo has the financial capacity to make a buyout in the $400 million to $500 million range.  

In A Big Retail Sector, This Group Is Worth Watching

Retailer Urban Outfitters ( URBN ) soared Tuesday after earnings topped expectations. But one day of strong price performance doesn’t make a stock an industry group leader. It takes a lot more than that. Urban Outfitters is a member of IBD’s apparel retail industry group. The group has rallied about 21% since its mid-November low. Over the same time, the S&P 500 is down about 3%. Leadership is fairly broad in the group. As of Monday’s close, four names owned Composite Ratings of 90 or higher, and should be regarded as the group’s leaders. Discount retailer Ross Stores ( ROST ) hasn’t made a lot of progress after a breakout over a 55.74 buy point, but it’s still holding near highs on the heels of a strong earnings report March 1 that saw the company deliver its seventh straight quarter of double-digit profit growth. As part of its earnings release, the company also upped its dividend 15% to 13.5 cents a share. The dividend is payable March 31 to shareholders of record March 14. Competitor TJX Companies ( TJX ), which operates TJ Maxx and HomeGoods stores, is more than twice the size of Ross Stores, with a market capitalization of just over $50 billion. When it reported Q4 results last month, TJX announced plans to raise its quarterly dividend by 24% to 26 cents a share. It also plans to buy back $1.5 billion to $2 billion of stock in the current fiscal year that ends next January. TJX is also showing relative strength. It’s trading tightly and is still in buy range from a 74.75 entry. Small cap Express ( EXPR ) is showing some signs of accumulation as it works on the right side of a base with a 20.82 entry. Q4 earnings are due Wednesday before the open. Earnings are expected to rise 33% from a year ago to 65 cents a share. In January, Express raised its Q4 guidance thanks to strong holiday sales. Express is a specialty apparel and accessories retailer of women’s and men’s merchandise, targeting the 20- to 30-year-old crowd. Another small-cap, Francesca’s ( FRAN ), is holding near highs, but is extended after a breakout in December over a 15.60 cup-with-handle buy point. It’s been getting support at its 10-week moving ever since the company raised its earnings guidance in January, also due to strong holiday sales. Francesca’s hasn’t announced an earnings date yet, but it should be later this month. After several quarters in a row of declining earnings growth, quarterly profit is seen rising 62% to 34 cents a share with sales up 23% to $132 million. Last month, the Commerce Department released solid retail sales data for January. Recession fears were quelled by news that overall sales rose 0.2%, in line with expectations. December sales were revised upward to a 0.2% gain from a previously reported decline of 0.1%. Core retail sales jumped 0.6% after falling 0.3% in December. February retail sales data are due Tuesday next week.

Google Chromecast Tops Apple TV In Streamer Market

Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google Chromecast widened its lead in the digital media streamer market last year over devices from Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Roku. Google’s low-cost HDMI dongle for streaming Internet video to television sets grabbed 35% of the market in 2015, up from 28% in 2014, Strategy Analytics reported Tuesday. Apple TV ranked second with a 20% market share, down from 22% in 2014. Amazon Fire TV and Roku tied for third, each with a 15% market share. “Google’s puck-sized Chromecast dongle continues to have broad appeal with consumers who favor its mobile-centric approach to content access and control,” Strategy Analytics analyst David Watkins said in a statement . “The device’s portability and low price at just $35 has made it an impulse purchase for many and household ownership of multiple Chromecasts is not uncommon.” Based on cumulative shipments of digital media streamers, Apple leads the market with nearly 37 million Apple TV units sold since its launch in 2007. Chromecast is catching up fast with 27 million units sold in just 2.5-years. Roku’s Box and Streaming Stick products are third with 20 million units, followed by Amazon Fire TV with less than 10 million. Amazon, Apple, Google and Roku accounted for 85% of the 42 million digital streaming devices sold last year. But dedicated streaming media boxes and dongles accounted for 19% of the overall connected TV device market in 2015. All told, 220 million connected TV devices shipped last year, including smart TVs, Blu-ray Disc players, game consoles and streaming boxes, Strategy Analytics said. Smart TVs accounted for 54% of connected TV device shipments in 2015, reaching 120 million units, the research firm said. Samsung, LG and Sony ( SNE ) have a combined 50% share of the smart-TV market. “Our research shows that U.S. broadband homes own an average of 2.3 such devices giving them multiple means by which to stream video and audio content to the TV,” Strategy Analytics analyst Chirag Upadhyay said. “While some consumers will have a favored method, we find that most households are switching between different devices depending on the user and type of content being consumed.” Consumers increasingly are choosing to watch Internet TV services such as Netflix ( NFLX ), Hulu and YouTube.