Stock Market Profiles

LRCX (LAM RESEARCH CORP) P/E: 20 GAAP DILUTED YEAR-OVER-YEAR EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $2.28 SECTOR: ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 2.4 DIVIDEND: 1.15% Lam Research Corp is a technology company focused on wafer semiconductor processing equipment. The company is trading near its 52-week high, and has increased in price 48% YTD. It will look to build on exponential EPS growth and high expectations in the next quarter. In the last quarter, revenue increased by approximately 64% on a year-over-year basis, and 14% from the prior quarter. Gross margin decreased slightly on increased R&D and administrative costs. Assets and available cash decreased in Q1 along with liabilities, while investments increased, and the ratio of assets-liabilities also increased. EPS beat wall street expectations in the last quarter, and the company set guidance below wall street expectations for the upcoming quarter reporting in late July 2017. Founded in Californ

TTC (THE TORO COMPANY) P/E: 31.6 GAAP DILUTED YEAR-OVER-YEAR EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $.06 SECTOR: PRODUCER MANUFACTURING ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 2.8 DIVIDEND: 1.05% TTC is the symbol for Toro, a manufacturer of lawnmowers, irrigation and lighting systems, and other tools for residential and professional landscaping. They utilize high-quality products and deliver them in a reliable package to their customers. Toro reports 5/25/17, and will attempt to demonstrate business growth in line with expectations. In the most recent quarter, Toro reported a 6% boost in revenue and an increase in operating costs by just under 6%. The company utilized some of its 35% increase in cash to repurchase stock. Inventories and receivables were cut on a year-over-year basis, signifying that the company is fulfilling orders more rapidly. Professional services make up the bulk of the company's revenue at approximately 80%. While residential revenue decreased on a year-over

Bitcoin is an online currency operating as a peer-to-peer network. Miners produce, and sell bitcoins, and the price rises as more bitcoins are bought. The commodity 's price has skyrocketed recently, rising over $1000 per bitcoin between 4/25/17-5/25/17. Satoshi Nakamoto is the anonymous name of the creator(s) of bitcoin. The currency was created in January 2009. Nakamoto's motivation for creating bitcoin was to create a currency which was not controlled by a centralized body such as a government susceptible to turmoil, but rather by a computer program. As such, bitcoin is impervious to foreign exchange rates, and can be used for international trade without the requirement of changing currencies. The currency is generated through bitcoin mining. Bitcoins are “mined” by solving mathematical tasks which increase with difficulty as the number of bitcoins grows. As of the time of this post, approximately 16,350,000 bitcoins exist. To put the rate of growth in perspecti

TOL (TOLL BROTHERS) P/E: 17.3 GAAP DILUTED YEAR-OVER-YEAR EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $.22 SECTOR: CONSUMER DURABLES ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 1.83 DIVIDEND: .84% Toll Brothers, INC, (TOL), is a housing manufacturer. Although their stock posted a beat on EPS and revenue expectations in Q2 '17, which reported today, the stock went down due to concerns over the housing market, as housing sales slumped unexpectedly in April. The share price is linked to housing market expectations, and it will be difficult for the stock to trade up should the housing market falter. While revenues increased 22% in Q2 '17 from the comparable '16 quarter, revenues in Q1 were down on a year-over-year basis. Costs increased and gross margin shrank slightly while the company delivered a substantial EPS growth of $.22 per share to $.73. The company's backlog of orders grew 25%. Total debt increased, and the company increased its cash pile to cut net debt. In each

PCLN (THE PRICELINE GROUP) P/E: 40.6 GAAP DILUTED YEAR-OVER-YEAR EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $1.64 SECTOR: CONSUMER SERVICES ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 2 DIVIDEND: none Priceline is a vacation-booking company, offering services for flight reservation, hotel reservation, and car rental in one convenient place. In recent years, Priceline's revenues have grown above Expedia's, another major competitor in the field. They recently reported earnings on 5/9/17, and the recent market dip has provided an opportunity to buy shares at a discounted price. Compared to the comparable 2016 quarter, Priceline increased revenue by 13%. GAAP net income also increased by a substantial amount. The company also increased spending across the board, from advertising to “general and administrative.” Part of the growth in income is a substantial decrease in what the company reports as “cost of revenues.” Glenn Fogel, former investment banker and Harvard Graduate, is t

SQ (SQUARE INC) P/E: N/A GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $0.25 SECTOR: TECHNOLOGY SERVICES ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 1.5 DIVIDEND: none Square Inc is the company behind the popular cash app, Square Cash. Square Cash's largest competitor is Venmo. Square's main business, however, is in its subscription segment, which provides business services, primarily to the food industry. Square increased its revenue on a year-over-year basis by 21% in the 1st quarter, driven by a 100% increase in subscription revenue, and partially offset by a reduction in hardware revenue. Square's only hardware product is its chip readers. Additionally, the company spent 40% less on “general and administrative” costs due to a one-time, $50 million expense suffered in the comparable quarter last year; despite an increase in their 'product development', and 'sales and marketing' budgets, they saw reduced operating expenses of approximately 1

ICHR (ICHOR HOLDINGS, INC) P/E: 24.2 GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: N/A SECTOR: ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 2 DIVIDEND: none Ichor is a recent IPO that went public 12/9/2016, founded in 1999, and re-incorporated in 2012. The company is producing semiconductor equipment, process equipment for LED lights, flat panel displays, and alternative energy systems. Their revenue is growing rapidly, and the company is already profitable. In the most recent quarter, it is impossible to track GAAP y-o-y growth as the company did not have shares utilized to calculate EPS. However, the company did double their net sales from $64 to $131 million and maintain a gross profit rate of 16.3%. Obviously, the company doubled its cash pile after their IPO. The company increased R&D by 60%, and long-term debt borrowings were also decreased from the comparable quarter of last year. Tom Rohr, the company's CEO, has 27 years of executive expe

TLND (TALEND SA) P/E: N/A GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $.16 SECTOR: TECHNOLOGY SERVICES ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 1.14 DIVIDEND: none Talend is a software company producing products to integrate mass data, and information from the cloud. Founded in 2005, the international company went public 7/29/2016. Talend is valued based on expectations, as it is not yet profitable, and the company is growing at a fast rate. In the most recent quarter, Talend increased its revenue by 45% on a year-over-year basis. The company substantially reduced the net loss per share with its IPO, as there has been a large increase in the amount of shares outstanding. Adjusted for the increase in shares, the company reduced their losses $.16 per share, or 50%, in the last quarter. With the IPO, the company increased its cash pile by 13 times the amount they had previously. The company reported its “borrowings” decreased to an almost negligible level, and they announc

TTD (THE TRADE DESK) P/E: 54.58 GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $.11 SECTOR: COMMERCIAL SERVICES ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 1.44 DIVIDEND: none The Trade Desk, or TTD, is an online advertising company. TTD also hosts an online advertising marketplace. The industry for this company is rapidly expanding, and it currently has the highest percentage of market share by a large margin. In the most recent quarter, TTD increased revenue 70% year-over-year. Operating expenses also grew across the board, as the company nearly doubled its spending on sales, marketing, technology and development (the company does not track R&D), general/administrative costs, and “platform operations,” bringing the gross margin down slightly. Prior to the implementation of GAAP, TTD posted a $.05 gain in EPS, and $.11 afterward. The company reduced its debt, and doubled its assets from the last comparable quarter. Most of the increase in assets is located in the co

MSFT (MICROSOFT) P/E: 30.4 GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $.11 SECTOR: TECHNOLOGY SERVICES ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 1.45 DIVIDEND: 2.26% Microsoft is a ubiquitous company, and has a long history of successful products. In recent years, Microsoft has not been as innovative within the field of technology as companies such as facebook, tesla, apple, google, or netflix. However, I am typing this write-up on a windows system, and have only ever owned windows systems in my life. Microsoft makes a popular product, and the business is expanding into social media. In the last quarter, Microsoft posted a decline in revenue for products sold, with an increase in “service and other” revenue, with an increase in gross margin. The company also increased its R&D budget. The operating income increased, partially offset by a one-time expense and higher taxes in the comparable 2016 quarter. While the company increased their assets, the ratio of asset

POST (POST HOLDINGS) P/E: 127.4 GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $1.07 SECTOR: CONSUMER NON-DURABLES ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 148 DIVIDEND: NONE Although famous primarily for its cereal, Post is rapidly expanding its business. Utilizing cost-cutting techniques in combination with the innovation of popular products, the company experienced exponential growth in its most recent quarter. Post has an opportunity to grow in competition with other US cereal leaders Kellogg, and General Mills. Post has only 1 cereal in the top 10 best-selling cold cereals and 2 in the top 10 best-selling warm cereals, and produces less than half the revenue of Kellogg last year. However, Post is diversifying its product base with the introduction of Premier Protein, and the expansion of its Dymatize protein powder. Dymatize is a leading brand in the whey protein market geared towards bodybuilders, while Premier Protein is marketed to casual fitness enthusiasts. Post al

AAPL (APPLE) P/E: 17.1 GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $.2 SECTOR: ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 1.67 DIVIDEND: .57% Apple is a technology company famous for their cell phones, tablets, and music store. The company has a solid balance sheet, and a history of earnings growth. The company reported 5/2/2017. Both revenues and gross margins increased, as well as the expenditure on R&D. Therefore, the company posted quality EPS growth in the past quarter. The revenues and EPS beat wall street expectations, and revenue missed estimize's consensus expectation. Cash flows, and accounts receivable, however, decreased in the last quarter. Inventory, which some consider to be a red flag for technology stocks, also increased. Tim Cook has been employed by Apple since 1998, and held the title of CEO since 2011. He is also on the board of directors with Nike. According to IDC, Apple's market share in the cell phone bus

 PXD (PIONEER NATURAL RESOURCES) P/E: N/A GAAP DILUTED Y-O-Y EPS GROWTH LAST QUARTER: $.67 SECTOR: ENERGY MINERALS ASSETS-LIABILITIES: 1.58 DIVIDEND: .04% Pioneer Natural Resources has recently made the jaw-dropping switch from negative EPS to positive with its last quarter. Situated in the largest oil-producing region in the US, the company is utilizing its good fortune to produce profits. The company has a good balance sheet, a wealth of resources, and a business model which has afforded it growth. This last quarter does not mark the first occasion on which Pioneer has posted a profit. In 2014, and 2012, Pioneer posted a positive EPS for the full year. While the 2016 oil and gas revenues have grown from 2015, the 2014 and 2012 levels were higher. The company's revenue from oil and gas is largely based on market prices. In order to mitigate the market volatility, Pioneer has made efforts to reduce their cost of production, according to their earnin