Weingarten Realty Investors issued the following statement in response to Institution Shareholder Services' recommendation against Proposal Three: Advisory Proposal to Approve Executive Compensation to be voted on at the 2019 Annual Meeting. "ISS has raised two issues. First, they indicate that existing Change In Control greements provide for automatic accelerated vesting upon a change-in-control event. This is an error as the agreements have always been dual trigger'," said CEO Drew Alexander. "Furthermore, the excise tax gross up' provision in question has been a part of the Change In Control agreements for Steve Richter and Johnny Hendrix for over 20 years. This provision is no longer supported by ISS; however, existing agreements were grandfathered. The agreements were recently amended to extend the defined service period beyond the age of 65. No other part of the agreement was modified. We encourage shareholders to vote FOR Proposal Three: Advisory Proposal to Approve Executive Compensation."
BTIG analyst Michael Gorman initiated Weingarten Realty at Buy with a price target of $34, saying the company has a "well-positioned" portfolio of shopping centers concentrated in the Sunbelt region that can produce "solid" operating results. The analyst believes that earnings growth can suffer from disposition activity in 2018, but should recover in 2019. Gorman also states that given its clean balance sheet, the company is positioned to fund its development pipeline.
Scotiabank analyst Nicholas Yulico initiated Weingarten Realty with a Sector Perform and $29.50 price target.
Energy Recovery announced total awards of $3.3M to supply its PX Q300 Pressure Exchanger devices along with related equipment and services to multiple desalination facilities across Asia. The devices are expected to ship in the second quarter.
Microsoft price target raised to $145 from $127 at Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan raised his price target for Microsoft to $145 from $127 as he believes the company's s Hybrid Cloud Business is entering its "sweet spot" of enterprise adoption and operating leverage. The analyst estimates total cloud-based revenue grew 38% to about $10B in the third quarter and expects premium services to continue to drive Azure, which grew 75% year over year. Horan reiterates an Outperform rating on the shares.
Reports Q1 revenue $126.11M, consensus $137.24M. According to President and CEO Martin Kropelnicki, wet weather affected results in the typically lower-revenue and lower-rate-relief quarter. "The extended wintry conditions throughout California affected results for the first quarter," Kropelnicki said. "The near-record amount of rainfall in our service territories throughout the quarter resulted in much lower demand and slowed our infrastructure improvement program."
UP AFTER EARNINGS: Facebook (FB), up 9%... Microsoft (MSFT), up 5%... Comcast (CMCSA), up 2%... Southwest (LUV), up 2%... AbbVie (ABBV), up 2%...Hershey (HSY), up 3%...International Paper (IP), up 4%... Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), up 6%. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: 3M (MMM), down 8%... UPS (UPS), down 3%... Xilinx (XLNX), down 10%... Rockwell Automation (ROK), down 2%... D.R. Horton (DHI), down 4%... Altria Group (MO), down 4%... Consolidated Communications (CNSL), down 27%... Masco (MAS), down 3%.
Sprouts Farmers Market price target lowered to $26 from $31 at Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh lowered his price target for Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) to $26 from $31 ahead of quarterly results. The analyst notes that after outperforming in 2018, shares have meaningfully trailed year to date, reflecting the combination of a challenging 2019 earnings backdrop, continued dire sentiment toward grocers, and more recently adverse competitive actions from Amazon (AMZN)/Whole Foods on the pricing front. Parikh reiterates an Outperform rating on Sprouts Farmers Market shares and would take advantage of any potential weakness.
Lithia Motors price target raised to $125 from $103 at Craig-Hallum. Craig-Hallum analyst Steve Dyer raised his price target for Lithia Motors to $125 from $103 given profit growth and margin expansion amid industry slowdown, which highlights attractiveness of its business model. The analyst reiterates a Buy rating on the shares.
Sees Q2 revenue $490M-$505M, consensus $501.1M.
Says: New automated facilities improving efficiencies... New facilities expected to open in Q2... Expects to expand margins, improve profits as year unfolds.