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The Outlook for India’s Sugar Industry

Dec.16 -- Abinash Verma, director general of Indian Sugar Mills Association, discusses India’s sugar industry on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.”

Latest Stories

  • What Leon Black Got for Paying Jeffrey Epstein $158 Million

    (Bloomberg) -- Leon Black viewed Jeffrey Epstein as a “confirmed bachelor with eclectic tastes, who often employed attractive women.”The private equity titan was willing to overlook that Epstein had served 13 months in a Florida jail after soliciting an underage prostitute. That was partly because Epstein claimed the girl had lied about her age, while Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management Inc., believed in second chances, particularly for his well-connected friend.Thus continued a relationship between the men that was laid out in a report released Monday by law firm Dechert, commissioned by Apollo’s board after news stories about their financial ties. The investigation found that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 -- after the sex offender pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2008 -- for advisory services that helped expand the wealth of one of America’s richest men.The report made clear that Apollo never retained Epstein for any services and that he never invested in any Apollo-managed funds. Dechert found no evidence that Black, 69, was involved in any way of Epstein’s criminal activities, and the billionaire maintains he had no knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of underage girls. Still, the findings showed how the disgraced adviser’s knowledge of the tax system and skill managing the affairs of the ultra-rich helped Black save at least $1 billion, and potentially more than $2 billion.At the same time Apollo revealed details of the report, the company said Black would step down as chief executive officer. He’ll remain chairman.Tax SavingsThe Dechert report details a friendship going back to the 1990s, with Black impressed by Epstein’s ties to prominent figures in business, politics and science, including researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Black was a frequent visitor to Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, confided personal matters to him and visited his homes around the globe.Dechert also laid out the ways Epstein was useful to Black, who’s worth almost $10 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.The business arrangement started in 2012, according to the law firm, which reviewed over 60,000 documents.Black a few years earlier had set up a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT. These vehicles, which are popular with extremely wealthy Americans, are structured so that appreciation in assets placed in a GRAT can go to heirs without paying U.S. estate and gift taxes. But Black’s had a flaw and there was a risk of a tax assessment of $500 million, which could rise to $1 billion or more if it wasn’t resolved.Epstein offered what the report described as a “unique solution.” It was the first project Epstein worked on for Black and possibly the most valuable.In 2015, Epstein helped with another transaction designed to save Black’s children on taxes, known as a step-up basis transaction. The complicated arrangement, which took nine months to execute, involved loans between Black and trusts, and avoiding capital gains taxes for his beneficiaries. Epstein claimed the move saved $600 million.Yachts, PlaneEpstein, a Brooklyn native, was an enigma to many inside and outside of finance. He attended Cooper Union and New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences but left both without a degree. He briefly had a job at Bear Stearns Cos. and before his first arrest worked extensively for lingerie mogul Les Wexner. The L Brands founder severed ties with Epstein after his first conviction and later accused him of misappropriating “vast sums of money from me and my family.” But Epstein had helped Wexner with his finances and purchases such as real estate.He did many of those same things for Black.Epstein helped respond to audits, and advised on how to manage Black’s art, yacht and airplane, according to the Dechert report.“Epstein would get into the weeds on obscure issues about which otherwise highly competent Family Office employees were not knowledgeable,” the report said.One of Epstein’s contributions, according to the report, was convincing Black to focus on these issues, as well as meeting with his family and explaining how the estate was organized. He would prepare detailed “fire drill” plans, testing how Black’s estate would be taxed under different scenarios.‘Caustic Force’Black’s full-time staff didn’t always appreciate Epstein’s contributions. He was “generally a disruptive and caustic force within the family office,” the report said, one who “had a habit of overdramatizing even minor perceived errors.”Epstein would take credit for others’ ideas, while compiling long lists of his own suggestions. Many of his creative estate-planning schemes didn’t hold up under scrutiny. According to witnesses, including Black, “part of the challenge of working with Epstein was separating the good ideas from the bad ones.”“What’s bizarre to me is having Epstein in any way in charge of your estate planning,” said University of Richmond law professor Allison Tait. “He didn’t just leave this to his family office staff, who were likely highly competent.”But the payments racked up. Black paid Epstein $50 million in 2013, $70 million in 2014 and $30 million the following year. He made a $10 million donation to Gratitude America in October 2015, which was a charitable organization affiliated with Epstein.That sort of compensation is unusual. Estate planning attorneys and tax advisers are typically paid by the hour or by the transaction. IRS regulations forbid tax practitioners from charging contingent fees “in connection with any matter before the Internal Revenue Service.”But Epstein, with his atypical role and background, could avoid those rules, said Jay Soled, a Rutgers University professor who is also a practicing estate tax attorney. “This is a very unusual arrangement because he doesn’t really have training.”Beginning in 2016, “Black and Epstein’s professional and personal relationship deteriorated,” according to the report. One dispute was over a payment tied to the step-up transaction, with Black refusing to pay Epstein tens of millions of dollars that Epstein believed he had earned.Epstein pushed back on the issue through emails that invoked his friendship with the billionaire and referenced personal matters shared in confidence. Black held firm and at an April 2018 meeting it was determined that while Epstein had played a key role in the deal, the idea came from one of Black’s external lawyers.Black also thought that the amounts he was paying Epstein would be fully deductible on his tax returns -- because this is what Epstein told him -- and this wasn’t the case.Black’s last payment to Epstein was made in April 2017, and in 2018, Epstein repaid a portion of two loans that were outstanding to Black but never repaid the balance, according to the report. Black and Epstein stopped communicating in 2018, the year before Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors and later died in jail. His death was ruled a suicide.(Updates with external comment in 19th paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Goldman Sachs warns of a dangerous bubble in these 39 stocks

    Goldman Sachs sounds the alarm on some very hot tech stocks.

  • Looking Into Vertex Energy's Return On Capital Employed

    Vertex Energy (NASDAQ:VTNR) reported Q3 sales of $37.38 million. Earnings fell to a loss of $1.84 million, resulting in a 78.52% decrease from last quarter. Vertex Energy collected $21.37 million in revenue during Q2, but reported earnings showed a $8.57 million loss. What Is Return On Capital Employed? Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in Vertex Energy's Return on Capital Employed, a measure of yearly pre-tax profit relative to capital employed by a business. Generally, a higher ROCE suggests successful growth of a company and is a sign of higher earnings per share in the future. In Q3, Vertex Energy posted an ROCE of -0.03%. It is important to keep in mind ROCE evaluates past performance and is not used as a predictive tool. It is a good measure of a company's recent performance, but several factors could affect earnings and sales in the near future. View more earnings on VTNR ROCE is an important metric for the comparison of similar companies. A relatively high ROCE shows Vertex Energy is potentially operating at a higher level of efficiency than other companies in its industry. If the company is generating high profits with its current level of capital, some of that money can be reinvested in more capital which will generally lead to higher returns and earnings per share growth. For Vertex Energy, the return on capital employed ratio shows the current amount of assets may not actually be helping the company achieve higher returns, a note many investors will take into account when making long-term financial decisions. Q3 Earnings Insight Vertex Energy reported Q3 earnings per share at $-0.1/share, which beat analyst predictions of $-0.15/share. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from Benzinga11 Energy Stocks Moving In Wednesday's After-Market Session11 Energy Stocks Moving In Tuesday's Pre-Market Session© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Johnson & Johnson expects COVID-19 vaccine data next week

    Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said it expected to report eagerly-awaited data on its COVID-19 vaccine early next week, and that it would be able to meet the delivery target for doses to countries with which it had signed supply agreements. Public health officials are increasingly counting on single-dose options like the one being tested by J&J to simplify and boost inoculations given the complications and slower-than-hoped rollout of authorized vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc, which require second shots weeks after the first. The company forecast 2021 profit well above Wall Street estimates, and its shares rose 3.4% to $171.55.

  • Massive internet outage hits U.S. East Coast taking down Gmail, Slack, and Amazon AWS

    Large swaths of the internet were down on Tuesday afternoon, as outages hit everything from Google's Gmail to Slack.

  • 2 Big Dividend Stocks Yielding at Least 7%; Raymond James Says ‘Buy’

    For investors seeking a strong dividend player, there are some market segments that are known for their high-yield dividends, making them logical places to start looking for reliable payers. The hydrocarbon sector, oil and gas production and mainstreaming, is one of these. The sector deals in a products that’s essential – our world runs on oil and its by-products. And while overhead for energy companies is high, they still have a market for their deliverables, leading to a ready cash flow – which can be used, among other things, to pay the dividends. All of this has investment firm Raymond James looking to the roster oil and gas midstream companies for dividend stocks with growth potential. "We anticipate the [midstream] group will add around ~1 turn to its average EV/EBITDA multiple this year. This equates to a ~20-25% move in equity value," Raymond James analyst Justin Jenkins noted. Jenkins outlined a series of points leading to a midstream recovery in 2021, which include the shift from ‘lockdown’ to ‘reopen’ policies; a general boost on the way for commodities, as the economy picks up; a political point, that some of DC’s more traditional centrists are unlikely to vote in favor of anti-oil, Green New Deal policies; and finally, with stock values relatively low, the dividend yields are high. A look into the TipRanks database reveals two midstream companies that have come to Raymond James’ attention – for all of the points noted above. These are stocks with a specific set of clear attributes: a dividend yield of 7% or higher and Buy ratings. MPLX LP (MPLX) MPLX, which spun off of Marathon Petroleum eight years ago as a separate midstream entity, acquires, owns, and operates a series of midstream assets, including pipelines, terminals, refineries, and river shipping. MPLX’s main areas of operations are in the northern Rocky Mountains, and in the Midwest and stretching south to the Gulf of Mexico coast. Revenue reports through the ‘corona year’ of 2020 show the value potential of oil and gas midstreaming. The company reported $2.18 billion at the top line in Q1, $1.99 billion in Q2, and $2.16 billion in Q3; earnings turned negative in Q1, but were positive in both subsequent quarters. The Q3 report also showed $1.2 billion in net cash generated, more than enough to cover the company’s dividend distribution. MPLX pays out 68.75 cents per common share quarterly, or $2.75 annualized, which gives the dividend a high yield of 11.9%. The company has a diversified set of midstream operations, and strong cash generation, factors leading Raymond James' Justin Jenkins to upgrade his stance on MPLX from Neutral to Outperform (i.e. Buy). His price target, at $28, implies a 22% one-year upside for the shares. (To watch Jenkins’ track record, click here) Backing his stance, Jenkins writes, “Given the number of 'boxes' that the story for MPLX can check, it's no surprise that it's been a debate stock. With exposure to inflecting G&P trends, an expected refining/refined product volume recovery, the story hits many operational boxes - while also straddling several financial debates… We also think solid 2020 financial results should give longer-term confidence…” Turning now to the rest of the Street, it appears that other analysts are generally on the same page. With 6 Buys and 2 Holds assigned in the last three months, the consensus rating comes in as a Strong Buy. In addition, the $26.71 average price target puts the upside at ~17%. (See MPLX stock analysis on TipRanks) DCP Midstream Partners (DCP) Based in Denver, Colorado, the next stock is one of the country’s largest natural gas midstream operators. DCP controls a network of gas pipelines, hubs, storage facilities, and plants stretching between the Rocky Mountain, Midcontinent, and Permian Basin production areas and the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. The company also operates in the Antrim gas region of Michigan. In the most recent reported quarter – 3Q20 – DCP gathered and processed 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day, along with 375 thousand barrels of natural gas liquids. The company also reported $268 million in net cash generated, of which $130 million was free cash flow. The company reduced its debt load by $156 million in the quarter, and showed a 17% reduction in operating costs year-over-year. All of this allowed DCP to maintain its dividend at 39 cents per share. Early in the corona crisis, the company had to cut back that payment – but only once. The recently declared 4Q20 dividend is the fourth in a row at 39 cents per common share. The annualized rate of $1.56 gives a respectable yield of 7.8%. This is another stock that gets an upgrade from Raymond James. Analyst James Weston bumps this stock up from Neutral to Outperform (i.e. Buy), while setting a $24 target price to imply 20% growth on the one-year time horizon. “[We] expect DCP to post yet another solid quarter on sequential improvements in NGL prices, NGL market volatility, and positive upstream trends… we are not capitalizing current propane prices and anticipate a solid, but more normalized pricing regime over the next 12-18 months. In our view, this will create a beneficial operating environment for DCP cash flows that is not currently reflected in Street estimates,” Weston noted. All in all, the Moderate Buy analyst consensus rating on DCP is based on 7 recent reviews, breaking down 4 to 3 Buy versus Hold. Shares are priced at $19.58 and the average target of $23 suggests an upside of ~15% from that level. (See DCP 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. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

  • Virgin Galactic stock on track for record high

    Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. are poised to hit a record closing high Tuesday, rallying more than 17% and on pace for their largest one-day percent increase in a little over a week. The stock also stretched their winning run to a sixth straight session, up 40% in the period. Virgin Galactic stock has gained 77% in the past 12 months, compared with gains around 17% for the S&P 500 index.

  • Should you use a Monte Carlo simulation to determine if your retirement savings will last?

    In the old days, starting in 1994 with Bill Bengen’s seminal study, financial advisers estimated how long your portfolio might last using historical returns and a safe withdrawal rate. For those unfamiliar, Bengen’s research left us with the 4% rule, which is considered (rightly or wrongly) the holy grail of retirement planning in some circles. Then, starting in 2005, investment firms and advisers were given the green light to use something called Monte Carlo to predict your portfolio’s probability of success — success being the probability that your nest egg would adequately fund your desired standard of living throughout your retirement.

  • Dow Slips With Biden Open To This Stimulus Compromise; Microsoft, GE Hits Buy Zone

    The Dow Jones rallied early as it emerged that President Joe Biden could be open to slicing his coronavirus stimulus package. Microsoft stock and GE stock flashed buy signals.

  • 30-year Wall Street veteran says buyer beware, we may be in a stock market bubble

    One of the biggest questions on Wall Street right now: is the stock market a bubble on the verge of exploding?

  • How a Penny Stock Explodes From Obscurity to 451% Gains Via Chat Forums

    (Bloomberg) -- “You guys still awake?”It was 12:43 a.m. on Jan. 19, and TRGainz, a frequent user of the social media platform Stocktwits, was getting antsy. So too was Alwaysliquid. “Can’t sleep,” he shot back seconds later.In some nine hours, financial markets would open in New York, and when they did, an obscure penny stock by the name of Blue Sphere Corp. would suddenly, and seemingly miraculously, soar, handing a windfall of some $30 million to those who had loaded up on the stock in the weeks before.TRGainz and Alwaysliquid knew what was coming and were struggling to contain their excitement. For days, chatter on this Stocktwits page and others, like a message board for Reddit users dedicated to penny stocks, had been steadily building about Blue Sphere.That the company had neither a stock exchange listing nor recent financial disclosures of any kind seemed not to matter to anyone. It was a clean-energy company and, with the Democrats taking control of both the White House and Congress, that was enough to make it a sellable story to the day-trading masses who had turned into an unstoppable force in the great pandemic stock rally.Moneyman223 was a prominent voice throughout, imploring fellow members to jump in before the stock exploded. “Get in or regret not getting in,” the moneyman posted early Jan. 14, a day after another Stocktwits member had tagged Blue Sphere as a clear winner from the Democrats’ climate-change agenda.Late the next day, the final session of trading before the long weekend, Moneyman223 was prodding again: “not too late for you fools to still get in.” Then a character named byelowsellhi declared: “Have a great weekend fellow future millionaires.”Blue Sphere soared as advertised on Jan. 19. By the end of the day, it was up 451%, having risen from six-tenths of a penny to over 3 cents. Roughly 2 billion shares traded that day, staggering and yet not altogether abnormal volume in a burgeoning new age of penny stock speculation. The chat-forum posts came in fast and furious as the stock soared: “Incredible day everyone,” “we r gonna filthy rich together” and “congrats to everyone who took the risk & believed in yourself!!!!!!”On any given day, there are a dozen or more Blue Sphere-like stories of tiny, profitless companies that mysteriously go from obscurity to viral sensation. Lately the frenzied pace of boom and bust in these penny stocks has started to drown out all the other forms of speculative mania in the pandemic-era market. Call it another froth marker -- retail traders beset with mass psychosis amid zero-commission fees and zero benchmark interest rates -- to be filed alongside the GameStop Corp. saga, the three-fold rally in cryptocurrencies, the SPACs that are minted daily and the record highs being plumbed by major equity indexes.“People start to look around and say, ‘What else can I do with my money?’” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. Rules regarding trading over-the-counter securities vary broker to broker, but they can be purchased on any of TD Ameritrade’s trading platforms for a fee. “Those would be one of the ones on the top of my list to say to people, ‘Please understand the risk that you’re taking going in there.’ I learned early in life, if there’s a lot of upside, there’s a lot of downside. People just might not want to tell you about the downside.”For anyone observing at a distance, it’s hard to understand how penny stocks of the moment are chosen. How does critical mass form around them? The universe of companies that make up off-exchange trading in America is vast, and they trade on lightly regulated quotation services where information is scant to non-existent. Like everything on the internet, it’s next to impossible to track down exact origins. But in trying to locate the spark, these types of message-board conversations almost always presage takeoff.And while nobody so far is ascribing illicit intent to the goings-on in today’s trader-chat rooms, it’s hard not to note the similarity to the penny-stock crazes of yesteryear, when schemes like “pump-and-dump” and “greater fool” were the rage.Stocktwits, which bills itself as the largest community for investors and traders, has been increasing its focus on content moderation and support to crack down on get-rich-quick scams, according to Chief Executive Officer Rishi Khanna.“It’s something we keep our eye out for. Now we can’t obviously pay attention to every single screen, so we depend on the community to report something that might seem a little bit off or funky,” Khanna said in an interview. “We’re not going to stop it all -- that’s just physically impossible -- but we do our best.”Attempts to contact officials at Blue Sphere for comment were unsuccessful. Emails and voicemails left by Bloomberg News weren’t answered.The company hasn’t filed a report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in roughly two years. In the aftermath of the stock’s surge last week, a Stocktwits member with the user name WolfeRegalia, wrote, “I can’t find any real information. Company’s website has financials backed to 2018. Any leads someone can recommend? Thanks in advance.”Such is the challenge of telling a true long-term penny stock investment from a straight pump -- when a group of people pile into the same stock at the same time to quickly influence prices.One rapidly growing Reddit forum dedicated to penny stock trading recently updated its rules to curb user shilling. The page, r/pennystocks, now boasts over 430,000 members -- “astronauts,” using the site’s own nomenclature. That’s up 21% from the end of December, according to Breakout Point, a data and analytics firm that tracks such information.At the top of the r/pennystocks page is a frequently asked questions drop down menu. One option reads, “Identifying a pump,” and links back to a three-year-old post titled, “How to find, and ride pumps.”The first step? According to the post, start by downloading Stocktwits, but use your own discretion.“I hesitate to tell you this simply because I don’t want you to buy into all the hype on there,” the post reads. “Remember, don’t trust anyone, especially all the talk on Stocktwits. Most of it is all garbage. Don’t believe it.”Then find a stock that’s recently gone parabolic, do some research to see which people were telling folks to buy before the surge (they’re the pumpers), follow those people and set up alerts for when they make new posts.“Don’t cross the line,” the post reads. “Now I do want to stress the importance here that pumping a stock is illegal. However investing in a stock that is rising in price and volume is not.” But in closing, “Good luck everyone! May your losses be low, and your gains be high.”These days, there’s plenty of hopefuls out there.“The newly minted day traders which have been such dominant forces in the market -- they keep finding other places to go and bring that speculative fervor into the mix, and it seems penny stocks is the latest,” said Liz Ann Sonders, Charles Schwab’s chief investment strategist. Trading of OTC stocks is available for those with Schwab brokerage accounts. “I have no speculation or knowledge or even guess on what starts that, but whatever does, it feeds on itself and year-to-date that’s been another hot trend.”As for Blue Sphere, it appears the fever hasn’t broken. The stock price did almost collapse 50% in the first three days after its Jan. 19 pop, but on Monday, it shot higher once again, ending the day at 2.2 cents, for a gain of 26%.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • How To Generate $100,000 Of Retirement Income, Without Selling Your Principal

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  • Sorrento Stock Has Multiple Catalysts in Play; Analyst Says ‘Buy’

    Some companies favor a "do one job and do it well" approach. However, that is not the Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE) way. While being laser-focused on just one objective can have its advantages, having a wider-based remit can be just as effective, if done well. That is certainly the opinion of Alliance Global analyst James Molloy when evaluating Sorrento’s prospects. “SRNE combines one of the most active and promising pipelines in the COVID space with a potentially transformative non-opioid pain pipeline, and adds in a deep oncology pipeline,” the analyst said. “Most of SRNE's pipeline has significant catalysts over the next 1-4 quarters, with multiple late-stage clinical data read-outs and multiple potential Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) launches as well.” So, what’s on offer from the Sorrento menu in the near-term? The company has already filed an EUA for COVI-STIX, a 15-minute nasal swab antigen test for SARS-CoV-2, in the US and Mexico, and the test could be launched as early as 1H21. Accurate COVID tests are still needed in the US and around the globe, and Molloy expects the assay to gain EUA approval and could “rapidly approach $500M in sales as soon as 2022.“ SRNE's 8-minute SARS-CoV-2 antibody test COVID-TRACK could swiftly follow in its footsteps with an EUA anticipated to be filed in the year’s first half, too. “This could easily be another $500million+ near term opportunity,” Molloy said. Furthermore, the company’s two neutralizing antibody treatments, COVI-DROPS and COVI-AMG, against SARS-CoV-2, could be launched in 2022. Each of these, as well, have the potential to bring in more than $500 million in sales, according to the analyst The company’s non-opioid pain pipeline also has several late-stage catalysts. Fast tracked by the FDA, Phase 3 data for sciatica pain candidate SP-102 should be available this year, while RTX for OsteoArthritis (OA) knee pain and intractable cancer pain will kick-off Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies, respectively, in 2021. Both target “substantial market opportunities.” Last but not least is Abivertinib, the company's oncology lead candidate, indicated for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and B-cell lymphomas, and currently in Phase 3 trials in China with top line data anticipated in 1H21. To this end, based on the progress of the company's pipeline, Molloy sees significant gains in SRNE's future. The analyst rates the stock a Buy and his $35 price target implies a hefty 277% upside. (To watch Molloy’s track record, click here) Overall, Sorrneto currently has few, yet very positive analysts tracking its progress. With Buy ratings only – 3, in total - the stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating. There’s plenty of upside projected, too; At $28.67, the average price target suggests gains of ~209% over the next 12 months. (See SRNE stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for healthcare stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

  • Looking Into Phunware's Return On Capital Employed

    During Q3, Phunware's (NASDAQ:PHUN) reported sales totaled $3.13 million. Despite a 152.49% in earnings, the company posted a loss of $7.50 million. Phunware collected $2.21 million in revenue during Q2, but reported earnings showed a $2.97 million loss. What Is Return On Capital Employed? Return on Capital Employed is a measure of yearly pre-tax profit relative to capital employed by a business. Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in a company's ROCE. A higher ROCE is generally representative of successful growth of a company and is a sign of higher earnings per share in the future. A low or negative ROCE suggests the opposite. In Q3, Phunware posted an ROCE of 1.56%. Keep in mind, while ROCE is a good measure of a company's recent performance, it is not a highly reliable predictor of a company's earnings or sales in the near future. View more earnings on PHUN ROCE is an important metric for the comparison of similar companies. A relatively high ROCE shows Phunware is potentially operating at a higher level of efficiency than other companies in its industry. If the company is generating high profits with its current level of capital, some of that money can be reinvested in more capital which will generally lead to higher returns and earnings per share growth. In Phunware's case, the positive ROCE ratio will be something investors pay attention to before making long-term financial decisions. Q3 Earnings Insight Phunware reported Q3 earnings per share at $-0.09/share, which did not meet analyst predictions of $-0.07/share. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from Benzinga12 Information Technology Stocks Moving In Tuesday's Pre-Market Session12 Information Technology Stocks Moving In Monday's After-Market Session© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Want to sacrifice your traditional IRA in favor of a Roth strategy?

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