Category Archives: stocks

Abiomed’s Impella Pumps Up Q4 Earnings, But Hot Stock Slows

Cardiac device maker Abiomed ( ABMD ) beat quarterly estimates and guided the current fiscal year above consensus Tuesday, but its elevated stock still slipped in trading. For its fiscal Q4 ended March 31, Abiomed’s sales totaled $94 million, up 39% from the year-earlier quarter and beating analysts’ consensus by about $3 million, according to Thomson Reuters. Earnings fell 14% to 24 cents a share but still beat consensus by 9 cents. The earnings decline in both Q3 and Q4 were due to tough year-over-year comparisons, but analysts expect growth to return in the current quarter and accelerate thereafter. Abiomed supported this with its guidance for the current fiscal year: $430 million to $445 million in sales vs. last year’s $329.5 million, beating consensus of $421 million. It does not provide EPS guidance but said operating margin should be 18% to 20%, which would be flat to slightly below last year’s. The margin guidance might have been a bit below expectations. Leerink analyst Danielle Antalffy had estimated it at 20%, and Thomson Reuters’ consensus for net income was also about 20% of revenue. Abiomed stock was down 2% in midday trading on the stock market today , near 97. The stock had been trading strong lately, with a consistent IBD Relative Strength Rating in the 90s. Shares are up more than 40% since touching a nine-month low in early February. Antalffy still was positive on Abiomed’s report, noting good adoption trends for the company’s Impella heart pump in the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) market. “We believe this adoption momentum is under-appreciated by the Street — particularly given what we view as a possibly open-ended market opportunity in protected PCI as previously untreated patients are now increasingly treated — paving the way for consistent “beat and raise” quarters over the near-to-medium term,” Antalffy wrote in her research note.

VMAX And VMIN Poised To Be Most Important VIX ETP Launch In Years

REX Shares is launching two new VIX exchange-traded products on Tuesday (5/3/16) in what is likely to be the most important VIX ETP launch in several years. The REX VolMAXX Long VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF (VMAX) is the long volatility product, while the REX VolMAXX Inverse VIX Weekly Futures Strategy ETF (VMIN) is the short volatility sibling. The launch of these two products comes at a time when the VIX ETP space had become stale and had frustrated investors who have sought out products for both long and short volatility strategies when Every Single VIX ETP (Long and Short) Lost Money in 2015 . After a flurry of innovation in the VIX ETP space from 2009 to 2011, new product offerings have slowed to a trickle over the course of the past few years, with only the mystifying AccuShares Spot CBOE VIX Up Shares ETF (NASDAQ: VXUP ) and Down Class Shares ETF (NASDAQ: VXDN ) products making it out of the gate last year in a highly-anticipated May 18th launch that pivoted quickly from excitement to befuddlement, as investors were overwhelmed by the complexities associated with the seemingly endless flow of regular distributions, special distributions and corrective distributions. VIX aficionados know that 2015 was also notable in that it marked the launch by the CBOE of VIX weekly futures on July 23rd and VIX weekly options on October 8th. Both product launches were successful and it was just a matter of time before the new VIX weekly futures provided the foundation for a VIX ETP that was based on those futures. While details are sketchy regarding VMAX and VMIN, they will be holding VIX weekly futures and will target a weighted-average VIX futures maturity that is less than thirty days. These ETFs will be actively managed and it is likely that they will not have a fixed target maturity. Theoretically, the target maturity could vary anywhere from five days to 29 days, though given the holdings and the “max” and “min” embedded in the ticker symbol, I would anticipate an aggressive target maturity on the order of 7-14 calendar days. Whatever the target maturity, VMAX will be competing with the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSEARCA: VXX ) right from the outset, while VMIN will find itself up against the likes of the VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term ETN (NASDAQ: XIV ). The competition trades approximately 100 million shares each day and is certainly vulnerable to new products that have a higher beta and should more closely track the spot/cash VIX on a daily basis. Depending upon the target maturity of VMAX and VMIN, I would not be surprised if these products have 50% more beta than VXX and XIV. For this reason, I would be shocked if, at the very minimum, VMAX and VMIN do not become darlings of the day-trading crowd – a forecast not unlike the one I made on November 14, 2008 in Prediction: Direxion Triple ETFs Will Revolutionize Day Trading . Frankly, this space has been relatively inactive as of late and with VMAX and VMIN, I now have the perfect opportunity to dust off the cobwebs and spit out the analysis and opinions that once came in such machine-gun rapidity that readers came up some far-reaching possible explanations for why I was so prolific . So…consider me back. I’m rested, hungry and ready for some new – and old – subjects to tackle. Disclosure(s): net short VXX and net long XIV at time of writing; CBOE is an advertiser on VIX and More

Priceline Q1 Sales Seen Rising Sharply But Lagging Rival Expedia

A week after its CEO Darren Huston tendered his resignation over an inappropriate-at-work relationship, No. 1 online travel agency Priceline ( PCLN ) is expected Wednesday to report double-digit Q1 sales and earnings growth. The consensus of 30 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, however, doesn’t foresee Priceline surpassing the growth rate for No. 2  Expedia ( EXPE ), which last week reported respective year-over-year gains of 39% and 31% for sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Priceline’s Q1 earnings are slated to come out before the open Wednesday. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Priceline stock was down a fraction, near 1,347. Expedia stock was down more than 1%. Priceline stock broke out of a cup-with-handle base at a 1,361.73 buy point on April 18. Priceline is expected to report $2.12 billion in sales, $9.65 earnings per share minus items and $620.6 million EBITDA, up 15%, 19% and 17%, respectively vs. the year-earlier period. Three months ago, Priceline guided to $9-$9.60 EPS ex items and $580 million to $620 million EBITDA. Sales were guided up 9%-16% vs. the year-earlier quarter, or about $2 billion to $2.13 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Priceline expects room-night stays booked and gross bookings to grow 20%-27% and 12%-19%, respectively. Last week, Expedia reported  Q1 room-night stays and gross bookings rising a respective 42% and 32%. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson reiterated his overweight rating and 1,540 price target last week on Priceline stock. Huston’s resignation isn’t “a risk to near-term financials, but it does pose a slight risk of distraction for employees of the company’s Booking.com segment, as well as investors,” he wrote in a research report. Gillian Tans, chief operating officer and president of Booking.com, was tapped to succeed Huston as Booking.com CEO. Booking.com is Priceline’s accommodations-booking website. Priceline Chairman Jeffrey Boyd, former longtime CEO of the company, assumed the role of interim CEO while it searches for a new CEO.