U.S. dairy farmers dump milk as pandemic upends food markets

"We need you to start dumping your milk," said his contact from Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), the largest U.S. dairy cooperative. Despite strong demand for basic foods like dairy products amid the coronavirus pandemic, the milk supply chain has seen a host of disruptions that are preventing dairy farmers from getting their products to market. Mass closures of restaurants and schools have forced a sudden shift from those wholesale food-service markets to retail grocery stores, creating logistical and packaging nightmares for plants processing milk, butter and cheese.

• 
  Why the Global Recession Could Last a Long Time

  The New York Times
• STUDY: Organizations Rising to the Challenge of COVID-19 Communications, but Needs Persist; Leaders Must Address Concerns and Demonstrate Transparency, Clarity and Openness

  Business Wire

Dow 15,000 very likely as coronavirus hits US economy: strategist

The coronavirus pandemic isn't done yet, bringing pressure to the stock market, pros say.

• 
  Here’s how the NFL is handling the coronavirus pandemic

  Yahoo Finance Video
• 
  Coronavirus: Teacher goes the extra mile for her students during pandemic

  KGO – San Francisco

Warren Buffett Dumps Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines As Coronavirus Pandemic Slams Industry

In a notable reversal, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines stakes amid the coronavirus pandemic. Airline stocks sold off late Friday.

• 
  Berkshire Hathaway sells part of Delta, Southwest airline stakes

  Reuters
• 
  A Brush With Warren Buffett

  Kiplinger

After $50 Billion of Losses, No One Comes to Save the Mortgage Market

(Bloomberg) -- The market for mortgage-backed securities was in free fall, with fear running rampant and banks seizing collateral.So Tom Barrack, the chairman of real estate investment trust Colony Capital Inc., published an 1,800-word plea for the Federal Reserve to buy bonds backed by homes, cars and other assets and for banks to halt margin calls.That was last Saturday. In the week since, three top investors in the sector have engaged restructuring advisers, two others sold $7 billion of debt at a discount and publicly traded mortgage REITs in the U.S. lost more than $12 billion of market value, bringing total declines this year to at least $50 billion.The carnage shows no signs of abating. Prominent asset managers including Blackstone Group Inc., TPG and Apollo Global Management Inc. have been sucked into the vortex wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, with their associated mortgage REITs losing more than two-thirds of their value on average so far in 2020.The pandemic has crippled commerce across the U.S., putting almost 10 million people out of work in a matter of weeks and sparking fears that huge numbers of businesses and individuals will fail to make rent and mortgage payments. As a result, investors are fleeing from residential and commercial debt that isn’t backstopped by the federal government.Read more: Nobody knows what will happen when the rent comes due on April 1“Nobody wants to buy those securities when the underlying contracts are not performing,” especially when it remains unclear how long the disruption will last, Barrack wrote in his post on Medium.Nobody, that is, except perhaps Starwood Capital Group’s Barry Sternlicht, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and others looking for deals as billions of dollars of debt hit the block.Sternlicht, who manages $60 billion, said in a letter to shareholders last week that his firm is looking to “take advantage of market dislocations” even as shares of his publicly traded REIT have tumbled 61% this year through Thursday.TCW, an asset manager overseeing about $217 billion, is buying selectively. So are family offices, according to people familiar with the transactions. And JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank, said Monday it was raising as much as $10 billion to invest in dislocated markets, including credit and real estate.“For buyers in this market, it’s about willingness and ability right now,” said Mark Fontanilla, who owns a market strategy consulting firm that specializes in structured finance. “Things are so uncertain, you need to have deployable, stable capital to be able to hold positions, especially less liquid ones, through the uncertainty.”Why the Mortgage Market Needs Its Fixes Fixed: QuickTakeIn some cases, asset managers’ private funds are bidding on assets being unloaded by their own publicly traded REITs. New Residential Investment Corp., managed by Fortress Investment Group, sold bonds with a face value of $6.1 billion. One of the buyers was an entity also affiliated with Fortress, the company disclosed in a filing Thursday.REITs with too much leverage and not enough liquidity have been the most prolific sellers. Leverage, used to increase returns when times are good, are now amplifying losses. This is typically done through so-called repurchase agreements, or repos, through which borrowers post securities as collateral. When the value of those assets drop, they must post more collateral or cash. When they can’t meet margin calls, banks may liquidate the assets, driving down prices even further.“I don’t think that the leverage amount that people have been using is inappropriate,” said Eric Reilly, a partner in Mayer Brown’s banking and finance group. “In order to get the returns that investors are looking for, whether you are a public REIT or a fund, it’s difficult to invest in high quality assets and meet your return.”In the past month, five mortgage REITs have notified investors that they’ve been unable to meet margin calls and started discussing forbearance agreements with their lenders. Other REITs have canceled, delayed or modified dividends, or liquidated riskier parts of their portfolios. While private funds also use leverage, they often have access to liquidity through capital calls, giving them more flexibility than their publicly traded peers. But they aren’t necessarily immune. Their problems may just be less apparent because of more relaxed disclosure requirements.“There are a lot more mortgage funds and real estate funds than mortgage REITs,” Reilly said. “There’s probably a couple of funds out there in some form of distress for every mortgage REIT you see.”Meanwhile, the market is waiting to see if the Fed sides with Barrack by including non-agency mortgage backed securities in its intervention efforts.For any relief program to work, all parties need to be part of the rescue program, including non-bank lenders, Reilly said.“This is nobody’s fault,” he said. “It came out of the blue, from across the world, and basically punched people in the mouth.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

• These 3 Mortgage REITs Are a Buy, KBW Says

  Barrons.com
• These 4 Mortgage REITs Are ‘in Limbo,’ According to KBW

  Barrons.com

Goldman Sachs: These 3 Stocks Are Poised to Surge by at Least 35%

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has been analyzing the market performance, and has a mixed outlook for the year – not necessarily bad news for the long term, but an acknowledgement that we’re not completely certain what the economic cycle has in store. David Kostin, Goldman Sachs' chief U.S. equity strategist, predicts that the market has not found its true bottom yet, and has to meet three conditions before it can. Kostin notes that the current peak-to-trough time, of just 23 trading days, is an order of magnitude faster than the median – which stands at 17 months. But there is hope on the horizon: Kostin also believes that the S&P can finish out the year at 3,000.The three conditions Kostin sees as essential to a true market bottom are: A slow in the viral spread in the US, allowing investors to understand the actual economic impact; evidence that policy actions by the Federal Reserve and Congress are showing success in limiting the damage; and a bottoming out in both investor sentiment and positioning.Once the bottom is reached, Kostin sees a quick rebound in the offing. With that in mind, Goldman's stock analysts remind investors that compelling opportunities can still be found. Using TipRanks database, we were able to pinpoint 3 stocks that are Buy-rated and backed by the analysts from Goldman Sachs as well as the rest of the Street. To top it all off, each stands to see over 35% gains in the next year. Columbia Property Trust (CXP)We’ll start in commercial real estate, with an REIT focused on urban office properties. Columbia Property Trust holds some 6.8 million square feet of office space in New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC, with smaller investments in Los Angeles and Boston. Three of these cities – NY, LA, and San Fran – are hard-hit by coronavirus or the lockdown policies implemented to halt its spread. That should hurt a commercial landlord, but Columbia also has over 6 years remaining on its average lease, and those long remaining terms, along with a high occupancy rate of 97%, help to insulate the company from immediate difficulties.A solid end to 2019 also put Columbia in a fair position to meet the current downturn. The company met the earnings forecast, showing 34 cents per share, while the $68.73 million revenues beat the estimates by 3.1%. The earnings were more than enough to keep up the 21-cent quarterly dividend. The payout ratio, at 61%, is low for the sector – but also shows that the company can easily afford its dividend. At 7.6%, the yield is excellent, far ahead of both the average yield on the S&P 500 and the yield on Treasury notes.5-star analyst Richard Skidmore, covering CXP for Goldman Sachs, sees the stock with a clear near-term path to weather the current storm. Skidmore writes, “CXP has approximately 2% of its portfolio expiring in 2020, so we see limited downside risk resulting from the current environment. We expect growth to accelerate in 2021/2022 driven by expiration renewals… From a liquidity perspective, CXP has $314mn available under its revolving credit facility, so we believe CXP has adequate liquidity to fund its operations…”Skidmore backs his Buy rating on the stock with a $16 price target, indicative of a 44% upside potential. (To watch Skidmore’s track record, click here)Overall, CXP shares have a Strong Buy from the analyst consensus, based on 3 Buy ratings and 1 Hold. The stock is selling for a low $11.10, and the $21.25 average price target suggest room for 91% upside growth in the coming 12 months. (See Columbia stock analysis on TipRanks)Celanese Corporation (CE)Next up, we’ll switch to the chemical industry, where Texas-based Celanese holds a global niche. The company produces acetyl products, a vital molecular compound with applications in a wide range of industries. Celanese is also the largest producer of vinyl acetate monomer, a vital component of industrial polymers and adhesives.The coronavirus pandemic, by forcing workplace closures to halt the viral spread, has halted operations and put serious pressure on the company. This comes on the heels of a disappointing fourth quarter, in which demand fell and earnings and revenues both missed the estimates. EPS, at $1.99 cents, was down 16% year-over-year, and revenues declined 15% over the same period.On a positive note, Celanese boasted $179 million in free cash flow for the quarter, well ahead of the $144 million in capital expenditure. The company was easily able to maintain its 62-cent quarterly dividend, with a moderate payout ratio of 31%. At $2.48, the annualized payment gives a yield of 3.6%.Goldman Sachs 5-star analyst Robert Koort has been covering CE shares, and sees them in an advantageous position right now – enough that he upgraded his stance on the stock from Neutral to Buy. His $95 price target implies an upside potential of 38%. (To watch Koort’s track record, click here)Defending his position on CE, Koort writes, “…the company has shown an ability to maintain meaningful free cash generation during previous economic downturns. Additionally, a significantly improved and less capital intensive business mix, and strategic acquisitions have driven structurally higher cash generation capabilities through the cycle, as evidenced by steep increases and relative stability in FCF generation over the last 7 years.”It appears consensus sentiment matches well with Koort's bullish stance, with TipRanks analytics showing CE as a Buy. Based on 17 analysts tracked in the last 3 months, 10 rate the stock a "buy," while 7 suggest "hold." The 12-month average price target stands at $104.36, marking a 52% upside from where the stock is currently trading. (See Celanese stock analysis on TipRanks.)Univar Solutions (UNVR)Last on our list is another player in the chemical industry. Univar is an ingredients distributor, providing an enormous range of chemicals, solvents, and additives needed by industrial chemical manufacturers in completing their formulations. The company bills itself as the one-stop-shop in supplying the major chemical manufacturers, and its $9.3 billion in 2019 revenue, up 8% year-over-year, underlines the importance of that niche.Q4 revenues were in-line with the 2019 total. At $2.2 billion, the quarterly total showed 9% year-over-year growth. EPS, however, was down; the 29 cents reported fell 4 cents from the year-ago number. Like Celanese above, however, Univar finished 2019 with plenty of cash on hand. The company reported some $330.3 million available, a 172% increase.This is another stock reviewed by GS’s Robert Koort. Like CE above, Koort gives UNVR an upgrade, raising his outlook to a Buy. Koort gives the stock a $15 price target, showing confidence in a 51% upside for the coming year. (To watch Koort’s track record, click here)Commenting on Univar, Koort wrote, “When looking at prior periods of economic weakness, distributors have broadly proven to perform relatively in-line with the market… we believe the stock has underperformed driven by several factors. First, during the last quarterly earnings call UNVR provided disappointing FCF guidance… We see this dynamic improving as the FCF guidance for 2020 assumed a back-end loaded improvement in sales. Should the macro environment falter… this could result in improving FCF...”UNVR shares are heavily discounted after the market’s recent slide, selling for just $9.89 now. The average price target is $24.88, and implies a powerful growth potential: 152% for the coming year. The stock gets a Moderate Buy rating from the analyst consensus, based on a 3 to 2 split of Buys versus Holds. (See Univar’s stock analysis at TipRanks)To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

• 
  Twitter could exit the COVID-19 crisis stronger than before, Goldman Sachs says

  MarketWatch
• Twitter Shares Upgraded to Buy at Goldman Sachs

  TheStreet.com

Homeowner Alert: Mortgage Rates Are Near a Record Low Again

Rates have dropped this week and are giving homeowners new opportunities to save.

• 
  Mortgage Concerns?

  WLS – Chicago
• 
  These 20 Cities Are America's Mortgage Refinance Hot Spots

  MoneyWise

Coronavirus stimulus checks: When to expect up to $1,200, what you need to do, and more

Many Americans will get government checks to help them weather money challenges from the coronavirus outbreak. Here’s what you need to know.

• 
  Social Security recipients will get a stimulus check without filing taxes, Treasury says

  Yahoo Money
• 
  Coronavirus: Millions of Americans must wait weeks — and even months — for stimulus checks

  The Independent

‘Quiet’ Warren Buffett has three ways to win in this market

At times like this it must be a relief to have some of your retirement portfolio managed by Warren Buffett. Granted, Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger aren’t the spring chickens they were during the dot-com crash or the global financial crisis, when they were spry youngsters in their 70s and early 80s. The company press office says Buffett is not planning to speak in public before May.

• Coronavirus punishes Warren Buffett's equity holdings

  Reuters
• 
  Warren Buffett Can Hunt Elephants From Home

  Bloomberg

Luckin Coffee Scandal Deals New Blow to Corporate China

(Bloomberg) -- The fallout from Luckin Coffee Inc.’s accounting scandal is spreading far beyond the high-flying Starbucks challenger, with renewed concerns about Chinese corporate governance dragging down stocks across industries and threatening to bring a halt to the country’s overseas initial public offerings.The Xiamen-based coffee chain said on Thursday that its chief operating officer and some underlings may have fabricated billions of yuan in sales, upending what was supposed to be one of China’s best growth stories. Luckin Coffee shares plunged as much as 81% in U.S. trading and CAR Inc., a rental company founded by Luckin Coffee’s chairman, sank 54% in Hong Kong. Popular short-selling targets including Anta Sports Products Ltd. also slumped.Lone Pine Capital, one of Luckin Coffee’s top holders, no longer reports a stake in the company, according to a filing. It held a 10.7% stake as of Jan. 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The revelations revived doubts about financial reporting that have for years dogged Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. and Hong Kong, two exchanges frequently picked by company founders to raise new funds. While China recently changed regulations to punish instances of financial fraud onshore, the penalties remain negligible. Just last year, one of China’s largest listed drug makers said it overstated cash holdings by more than $4.3 billion.“After the Luckin incident, investors will be more careful when investing in Chinese companies that have a short founding history and rely on huge leverage to expand,” said Jackson Wong, Hong Kong-based asset management director for Amber Hill Capital Ltd.The news is likely to put at least a temporary freeze on new U.S. listings by Chinese companies, according to four investment bankers who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to media. One of the bankers said U.S. investor appetite for Chinese shares already had waned amid a string of disappointing deals and heightened geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing.Those concerns come on top of a general flight from risk because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused IPO volumes globally to plunge in recent weeks.“It will inevitably affect the investors’ confidence and market momentum on other U.S.-listed China stocks,” said Steven Leung, executive director at UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong. “It may even affect the Chinese companies’ U.S. IPO pipeline because investors would start to question their accountability.”Read more: Global Banks, Wary of Some China U.S. IPOs, Walk Away From DealsLouis Tse, Hong Kong-based managing director at VC Asset Management Ltd., disagreed, saying all IPOs have to follow the same procedures and meet the same regulatory requirements.“I don’t think this will tarnish the names of incoming companies in Nasdaq,” he said. “Psychologically it would have an impact, but it’s not necessarily on a Chinese company.”Outside the Luckin Coffee corporate family, the sell-off on Friday hit companies previously called out by speculators for their financial reporting -- including Anta Sports Products Ltd., Xtep International Holdings Ltd. and 361 Degrees International Ltd. China International Capital Corp., one of the lead managers of Luckin Coffee’s IPO last year, slid as much as 5.4% in Hong Kong.Luckin Coffee suspended Chief Operating Officer Jian Liu and others while its board investigates, and it said investors shouldn’t rely on previous financial statements for the nine months ended Sept. 30. The transactions in question occurred last year and totaled about 2.2 billion yuan ($310 million), according to its filing.If true, the fabricated sales figure could represent a significant portion of the company’s total revenue. Luckin, which has only reported financial data for the second and third quarter of last year after its May public offering, was seen reporting 5.15 billion yuan of revenue for the full year, according to the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.“Certain costs and expenses were also substantially inflated by fabricated transactions during this period,” Luckin said, adding that the board hasn’t verified the fabricated sales figures.Thursday’s share decline erased what had been a 54% gain since the company went public last year.The coffee chain, founded in 2017, operated about 4,500 stores by the end of 2019 in China. Chairman Lu Zhengyao and Chief Executive Officer Qian Zhiya employed a strategy they used with CAR Inc. more than a decade ago: burning money from investors to quickly grab market share from rivals. That strategy has been successful in winning over investors.Luckin Coffee planned to reach 10,000 locations by the end of next year in a market valued at $5.8 billion. Coffee consumption is only in its initial stages in China, and Luckin Coffee was trying to overtake Starbucks by opening more stores in two years than the industry giant has in two decades. Luckin pulled in Chinese consumers by offering generous discounts.Trouble emerged earlier this year, however. The stock plunged after Muddy Waters Capital tweeted Jan. 31 that it had a short position after receiving what it called a “credible,” unattributed 89-page report that alleged accounting issues with the chain and a broken business model. Luckin Coffee denied the allegations.The company raised $865 million from a share sale and a convertible bond offering in January, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It also raised $645 million in its U.S. IPO.“Luckin denied short sellers’ reports earlier, and then it admitted wrongdoing,” said Kenny Wen, a Hong Kong-based wealth management strategist at Everbright Sun Hung Kai Co. “Lots of lawsuits will emerge.”(Updates with holding data in third paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

• 
  Why Did Shares of Luckin' Coffee (LK) Crater 80% Today?

  Zacks
• 
  Luckin Coffee Emerges as a Bet on China’s Economic Resurgence

  InvestorPlace

Raytheon Technologies Debuts On The Dow As Rival GE Deepens Cuts

Raytheon Technologies debuted on the Dow Jones Industrial Average Friday after the closing of its massive merger.

• What's Not to Like About the New Raytheon Technologies?

  TheStreet.com
• Raytheon Technologies' stock, formerly United Technologies, starts trading in the Dow Friday,

  MarketWatch

Equities Take a Stroll Through Wonderland, Awaiting “Herd Immunity.”

I’m not so much a bear as a realist and not buying into the notion that this is a temporary dip followed by a huge rebound. Voluminous job losses and bankruptcies could lead to permanent wealth deviation.

• 
  Trump says the UK's coronavirus plan for 'herd immunity' would have been 'catastrophic' and caused 'a lot of death'

  Business Insider
• 
  Herd immunity: How it will help slow coronavirus spread

  KABC – Los Angeles

Wells Fargo: 2 Big 11% Dividend Stocks to Buy (And 1 to Avoid)

Stock markets fell 4.4% yesterday, marking the third session in a row of losses. The declines haven’t erased the gains from last week’s bullish trading, but they put a damper on investors’ enthusiasm. There’s a feeling of gloom; President Trump has said that the country and economy are in for a hard two weeks in the first half of April as the coronavirus epidemic peaks in the States, and he walked back his previously stated hope to see the country ‘get back to work’ by mid-month. No one is certain what the near-term holds, except that times are hard.It’s in times like these that investors, when they buy, start looking that much harder at dividend stocks. With share prices dropping, and interest rates cut to near zero, stock dividends are the surest form of asset returns available today – and those low share prices have brought down the initial cost of entry.Investment bank Wells Fargo has been following the markets, and the bank’s stock analysts are coming to the plain conclusion: get into dividends now. In a series of reports released in February and March, the firm's stock researchers outline some low-cost, high-return dividend stocks that investors need to consider – and also one that may be too risky to try. We’ve pulled the details from the TipRanks database, so let’s find out what makes these stock moves so compelling.Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL)We’ll start in the financial sector, appropriate when the financial world seems to be crumbling around us. But there is hope. Oaktree focuses on specialty finance, offering customized credit and loan solutions for companies that lack access to more traditional capital markets. The company generates its income through fees and interest on its loan products, which include first and second liens, unsecured loans, and preferred equity. With traditional markets staggering under the weight of the lockdowns and quarantines, Oaktree may find a wider field of action later this year.Earlier this year, just before the coronavirus outbreak hit the US, Oaktree announced a capital drive of its own, raising $300 million in 3.5% notes, which will come due in 2025. The notes were used to reduce outstanding debt while lowering the rates, and providentially gave Oaktree a sound footing just as the market disruptions hit. Shortly afterward, OCSL reported Q1 fiscal 2020 earnings, showing $14.1 million in net income, or 10 cents per share. This was down from Q4, and missed the EPS forecast by 17%.Income was enough to maintain the dividend, however, at 10 cents per quarter. The annual payment, 40 cents, gives the stock a yield of 11.8%, far higher than the 2% average dividend yield found on the broader markets. OCLS has a reliable dividend history, and adjusts the payment when needed to ensure that the company can afford the dividend.Wells Fargo analyst Finian O’Shea wrote on the stock shortly before the earnings report, saying, “OCSL continues to exit legacy positions at par or greater, which likely improves its fundamentals every quarter that passes. While we still see the case for a discount because it chooses to under-earn, we are very positive on the stock at these levels.”O’Shea stands by this opinion, giving the stock a Buy rating with a $6 price target indicating an upside potential of 86%. (To watch O’Shea’s track record, click here)OCSL’s Moderate Buy analyst consensus rating is based on 2 recent reviews, both of which agree that the stock is a buy-side proposition. Shares are priced at a heavy discount, $3.10, and the $5.80 average price target suggests an 81% upside potential for the coming 12 months. (See Oaktree stock analysis on TipRanks)TPG Specialty Lending (TSLX)Next up is another specialty finance company, TPG. TPG’s customer base is middle market companies, and like Oaktree above, its corporate customers have limited access to the capital markets. TGP offers credit, financing, and funding solutions for complex business models. Underlining the importance of the niche, TSLX rose 27% in calendar year 2019.The company had a good financial quarter to finish 2019, too. EPS beat expectations by 8.5%, coming in at 51 cents and at the top line, revenues were 3.6% over expectations, at $66.5 million. On a sour note, both numbers were down year-over-year. Despite that yoy drop, TSLX kept up its dividend – the company pays out 6 dividends annually, and has a history of adjusting those payments to ensure reliability. The current payment, due this month, is 25 cents per quarter.Annualized, TSLX’s dividend comes out to $1.64, giving a yield of 12.4%. This is more than 6x higher than the average stock dividend. And it simply blows away Treasury bonds, which have dipped below 1% as the Fed has cut rates to the bone in an effort to ameliorate the financial damage of the current economic shutdowns.Finian O’Shea, quoted above, reviewed this stock as well, and rated it as a clear Buying proposition. He put a $23.50 price target on the shares, implying an upside of nearly 80%. (To watch O’Shea’s track record, click here)In his comments, O’Shea sees this stock as a conservative, defensive play. He wrote, “We’ll reiterate the view that the value-add provided though highly structured and idiosyncratic deals is still under-appreciated, and perhaps highlighted by TSLX’ best-in-class-peers now showing non-accruals. Moreover, we see that TSLX should receive a richer valuation for preserving a defensive and opportunistic financial position at this market stage.”TPG has 5 Buy ratings and just 1 Hold, giving the stock a Strong Buy from the analyst consensus. The stock is selling for $13.15, and the average price target of $23.13 is indicative of a 76% upside potential for the coming year. (See TPG’s stock analysis at TipRanks)Ventas, Inc. (VTR)Last on our list is Ventas, which Wells Fargo says to steer clear of. This company is a real estate investment trust, focused on health care facility properties in the US, Canada, and the UK. The company holds a varied portfolio, including medical offices, nursing homes, acute and special care centers, surgical centers, and medical labs. The portfolio is valued at more than $25 billion.You’d think that a company focused on health care properties would not be badly hurt in the current epidemic environment, but Ventas shares are down heavily in the current market downturn, having lost 61%. This comes despite the company edging over the estimates in its last quarterly report, when it showed 93 cents per share Funds from Operations and $996 million total revenue. Company management, however, is lowering its forward guidance, as it is not certain that tenants will be able to meet rent obligations as the economy comes to a halt. Health care facilities are working harder than ever – but their medical operations expenses are growing faster as they try to cope with the coronavirus, and those medical operations may be seen as a higher priority than rent. It is part of the spreading ripple of consequences the epidemic has set in motion.VTR is maintaining its divided, as REIT’s are required by law to return earnings to shareholders. The current payment is 79.25 cents quarterly, or $3.17 annually. This makes the yield 13.8%, the highest of the stocks on this list. The question for investors is, Does this yield offset the likely future risk?Todd Stender, covering the stock for Wells Fargo, says to Sell this stock, and he has lowered the price target from$56 to $29. He writes of the company, “The company did indicate that through February, its senior housing and company­wide results were in line with its previous expectations; however, mgmt. felt it was prudent at this point to remove 2020 guidance not knowing how long this situation may last. The company has also shifted focus to the balance sheet and is becoming a bit more defensive given the level of uncertainty by tapping $2.75B from its $3.0B line of credit for added liquidity and flexibility.”Even though he rates the stock a Sell, Stender’s lower price target still suggests about 20% upside. This REIT may still bring a return, but as with the dividend yield, it’s not known if that return potential is enough to balance the likely near-term risks. (To watch Stender’s track record, click here)This stock’s analyst consensus rating is a Hold, based on a single Buy against 4 Holds and 3 Sells. Shares are currently trading for $22.95, and the average price target of $42.57 suggests a premium of 80% from that trading level. (See Ventas stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

He nailed the March coronavirus selloff — now he says there’s another 30% to go before the stock market hits bottom

Hedge-fund manager Dan Niles, in a note cited by Yahoo Finance this week, warned his clients way back in February that he was getting “increasingly worried” investors weren’t ready for the impact the spread of the coronavirus could have on the U.S. economy. He’s not any more optimistic now then he was back then.

• 
  Investor who called coronavirus collapse: Stocks aren't even close to a bottom

  Yahoo Finance
• 
  Dow closes 400 points lower to end worst first quarter on record as coronavirus worries linger

  MarketWatch

Delta predicts 90% revenue decline; Berkshire Hathaway sells nearly 13 million shares

Delta CEO Ed Bastian says his company has not yet hit bottom as it is ravaged by fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic. What's more, billionaire Warren Buffett has parted with nearly 13 million shares of Delta stock. In a memo to Delta Air Lines Inc. employees Friday, which was released as a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bastian said he expects second quarter year-over-year revenue to fall by 90%.

• 
  A Brush With Warren Buffett

  Kiplinger
• 
  ‘Quiet’ Warren Buffett has three ways to win in this market

  MarketWatch

20 technology stocks with low debt to consider owning in a down market

Many tech stocks have held up relatively well during the coronavirus crisis. Mark Grant of B. Riley FBR says long-term investors can make money ‘with a little patience.’

Why sweetened layoff benefits may be at odds with U.S. loan program

The generous U.S. unemployment benefits rolled out to blunt the economic harm caused by the coronavirus could have an unintended effect: it may actually be an incentive for companies to choose layoffs rather than keep staff on their books. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week shot up to more than 6 million, a record high, Labor Department data on Thursday showed. The CARES Act passed by Congress a week ago was designed to keep businesses and workers from economic freefall.

• 
  Record unemployment numbers show us why Paycheck Protection Program so important

  Fox Business
• 
  Coronavirus batters US economy as 6.65m file for unemployment last week

  The Guardian

Here's How Much The Coronavirus Crisis Is Costing Airlines Per Day

Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, United Airlines and other airline stocks fell during and after Friday's session as they laid out the coronavirus costs.

• 
  U.S. airlines apply for U.S. payroll help but terms still unclear

  Reuters
• 
  Pelosi urges U.S. Treasury not to delay $25 billion in grants to airlines

  Reuters