According to a U.S. Regulatory filing, the Swiss National Bank (SWX: SNBN) has trimmed down its investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) in the second quarter of 2014. Some important points of this filing include: SNB cuts down its Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares by 0.3% on June 30 as…
Fiserv Reports Solid First-Quarter Results
Fiserv reported first quarter 2014 results, which we characterize as modestly better than expectations. Adjusted internal revenue grew 5.6% year-over-year, compared with our estimate of 3.8% growth. The payments segment grew 8.5%, while the financial segment grew 2.7%, with both coming in above estimates. The adjusted operating margin was 29.6%, an improvement of 120 basis…
Apollo Education Group Positive Investor Day, but Recovery Remains Difficult to Quantify
Apollo Education Group’s first investor day since 2006 helped shed light on a business in transition and the deep and qualified leadership team behind the transition, but lacked incremental quantitative support for the next leg up in the company’s recovery. Management still believes the core domestic degree business can return to modest growth through a…
Charles River Laboratories International Galapagos Transaction Update
On March 13 Charles River announced the acquisition of Galapagos NV’s CRO services businesses: Argenta and BioFocus. To finance the acquisition, Charles River used a combination of cash and debt from its existing euro-denominated revolving credit facility. As a result, we estimate 2014 interest expense will increase by $2.8 million, to $9.6 million. CRL trades…
W.W. Grainger Quarter Likely to Fall Short of the Street
We expect first-quarter EPS to fall below consensus of $2.97, with a likely range of $2.86-$2.92. Street sales growth consensus of 5%, implying 9% growth in March, looks too high. Although March will benefit from the calendar shift of Good Friday, and weather has been more favorable, 9% growth from 3% growth in January and…
Harvest Capital Credit Corporation Portfolio Still in Ramp-Up Mode
Harvest’s portfolio consisted of 21 different companies, up from 15 in the prior quarter. Second lien senior secured made up 53% of the portfolio and 44% was first lien senior secured. Equity and royalty securities accounted for the remaining 3%. The first lien senior secured mix is up from 39% in the prior quarter, mostly…
Halozyme Therapeutics Positive Trial Results With Hylenex
Halozyme Therapeutics Positive Trial Results With Hylenex
AT&T Inc. Increased Penetration of Next Pricing
Based on exit take rates for 2013, analysts have revised assumptions around the success of the company’s Next pricing plan. Approximately 15%, or 1.2 million, of the 7.9 million smartphones purchased on the AT&T network were associated with the Next plan in the fourth quarter, with that percentage escalating to around 20% at the end of…
McGraw Hill Investor Day Reinforces Positive Long-Term Outlook
McGraw Hill Financial hosted its inaugural investor day in New York on Tuesday, March 18. The headlines were that the company: 1) reaffirmed its 2014 guidance (not really a surprise given that it just issued guidance last month); 2) announced that it is evaluating strategic alternatives for McGraw Hill Construction; 3) announced a three-year target…
IHS Inc. Investor Day Reinforces Steady Progress
IHS held its annual investor day in New York City on Tuesday . In large part, the trends and data points management communicated during the event reiterated points from the last two quarterly conference calls and the messages from our visit to headquarters last week, and was consistent with the overarching theme from last year’s…