Potbelly Corp (PBPB) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

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Potbelly Corp  (NASDAQ:PBPB)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 25, 2019, 5:00 p.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Greetings and welcome to Potbelly Corporation Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Matt Revord, Potbelly's Chief Legal Officer. Please go ahead.

Matthew Revord -- Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief People Officer and Secretary

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter earnings call. Before we get started, I'd like to note that certain comments made in this call will contain forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company. Any such statements, including our outlook for 2019 or any other future periods, should be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance nor should they be relied upon as representing management's views, any subsequent date.

Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, and events or results could differ materially from those presented due to a number of risks and uncertainties. Additional detailed information concerning these risks regarding our business and the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements and other information we'll be giving today can be found in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K under the headings Risk Factors and MD&A and in our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at sec.gov.

Our presenters today are Alan Johnson, our Chief Executive Officer; and Tom Fitzgerald, our Chief Financial Officer. After our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for your questions.

I'll now turn the call over to Alan.

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Matt. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining the call. Almost a year ago to the day, I delivered my first earnings call as CEO of Potbelly, where I outlined my key priorities to significantly improve our performance in what I consider to be a transition year for Potbelly. Our goals for 2018 were to learn what it takes to positively impact same-store sales, learn how to positively impact traffic and learn how to drive industry-beating traffic trends. To get there we needed to challenge ourselves to innovate, act with urgency, execute flawlessly, but also be willing to take thoughtful risk, and if necessary, fail fast. With the support of the senior leadership team, the Board, the dedicated professionals at the support center and most importantly our shop associates who were open and hungry for change. I believe we accomplished these goals.

It is clear that there is still much work ahead, but we are pleased with our performance in 2018. As we took significant steps forward and made solid progress toward the execution of our turnaround plan to reposition the Company to return to profitable growth. Our financial results for the year came in modestly ahead of our expectations as we delivered same-store sales of negative 1.4%, which reflects a significant 380 basis points improvement in traffic trends year-over-year. And adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.29 both of which we are ahead of our revised guidance.

For the fourth quarter, we delivered adjusted earnings per share of $0.05 and same-store sales of negative 1.7% which reflects a significant 270 basis points improvement in traffic trends year-over-year. The two year same-store sales deck of negative 4.1% was the best quarter of the year. Furthermore, we outperformed industry traffic trends for the second consecutive quarter. When we contrast our performance against Black Box fast-casual industry trends for just our markets. This is particularly notable when you consider that we achieved this result despite a deliberate reduction in our marketing spend in the fourth quarter.

Particularly during turnarounds going through a transition, I believe there are times where it is essential to have the discipline to slowdown in order to speed up. And we took a bit of a pause in the fourth quarter to evaluate the significant traffic building initiatives we tested and deployed in the second and third quarters. As we focused on striking the right balance to drive profitable growth.

Tom will walk go through our financial results in greater detail later in the call. As this is our year-end earnings call, I would like to spend a few minutes to review our key business learnings for 2018 which has built the foundation for our disciplined growth strategy in 2019. First, we focused on hiring the right team with the skill sets and experience required to successfully execute our turnaround strategy. We also took the opportunity to examine how we were organized and then in a number of cases restructured to ensure we got closer to our customer. Since I joined Potbelly in December of 2017, we have bolstered our senior leadership team with the addition of Brandon Rhoten, our Chief Marketing Officer who has done a great job leveraging digital media to tell the Potbelly story in a way that differentiates the brand. Jeff Welch, who was brought in to lead our franchise development and strategy and has expanded his role to oversee the development of both our franchise and Company-owned shop growth.

Chef Ryan LaRoche who joined to become Potbelly's first Head of Culinary Innovation to lead our product innovation and menu optimization. In addition, Matt Revord, our Chief Legal Officer was also promoted to Chief People Officer. Julie Younglove-Webb, who leads our shop operations was promoted to Chief Restaurant Operations Officer. Maryann Byrdak who manages our investment and technology was promoted to SVP of Information Technology. And finally, I want to firmly welcome Tom Fitzgerald as our new CFO.

Tom joined Potbelly in December and brings over 30 years of significant turnaround experience across a number of highly competitive consumer retail industries. He is a valuable addition to our leadership team, especially as we continue to execute on our strategy to reposition Potbelly for future growth. I am very pleased with the roster of talented executives that we have assembled over the past year. With the right team in place, I believe we are well positioned to execute on our turnaround strategy to position Potbelly for sustained traffic and same-store sales growth over time.

As I had indicated in our prior calls, the foundation of our turnaround strategy starts with one key priority, and that's reversing the same-store sales and traffic trends. The path to driving sustainable same-store sales growth is predicated on our ability to attract and retain new customers and earning repeat visits from our loyal fans.

Let me spend a few minutes to highlight several of the key traffic building initiatives that we've focused on over the past year. We have become a more sales-focused organization. We saw tremendous traction with our one more initiative, which encourages our shop associates to prioritize suggestive selling to get our existing customers to buy one more item to spend one more dollar and to visit one more time. This initiative resulted in a measurable increase in our average check. We have enhanced our in-shop experience to drive incremental sales through menu engineering product innovation and enhancements we have made to the functionality of our digital app and website.

We believe our menu optimization initiative is an excellent example of how design can assist in suggestive selling and improve the customer experience. We're focused on making our menus much more shoppable by vastly reducing the number of price points and improving the layout, which will make it much easier for our customers to find what they want, as well as encourage bundling and combos which will drive incremental lift in throughput, sales and margins.

Much of 2018 was spent testing a number of initiatives, with the sole intent to roll-out only those that showed significant promise. To be transparent, not everything we tried worked, but I never expected 100% success rate. However, as a result of the team's relentless passion and commitment to learning I would like to highlight those initiatives that have already or will be rolled out systemwide in 2019.

Last fall, we launched our first test series of concept menu boards in 58 select locations. We also tested for the first time in our history the inclusion of combos and bundle offers on our menu boards. We offered a pick-your-pair option that bundles a half sandwich with your choice of half a salad, a cup of soup or cup of mac & cheese, and then make-a-meal option that combines your choice of chips and a fountain drink, with chips and a shake for one great value.

The early results were encouraging, and we initially planned to roll-out the new menu in the second half of 2019. However, as the tests progressed and we continue to see positive traction, we accelerated our plans. I'm pleased to announce that on February the 12th, the new enhanced menu boards were rolled out system wide. We continue to test and learn by using our menu as a platform for innovation and growth. As I had mentioned earlier, we brought on Chef Ryan LaRoche to lead our product innovation and menu design. In 2018, we turned up the dialog (ph) product innovation and we saw positive customer feedback and results from our robust slate of LTOs, which featured seven premium sandwiches, two cookies and one shake. In addition, we added one new soup and made all our soups available every day of the week.

We are excited by our pipeline of menu innovation, which we believe will continue to be a driver for sales going forward. We also remain focused on growing our off-premise business to leverage the catering and delivery potential of the brand. Off-premise business has grown from 15.3% last year to over 17.5% of comparable sales in 2018. While we are trending in the right direction, we do recognize that this channel offers a significant opportunity for incremental growth going forward. Last year, we tested a number of ways to unlock the off-premise potential, which has increased our confidence to now expand these initiatives to systemwide roll-out. I'm pleased to announce we now offer delivery and catering in all of our shops. I'm also excited to tell you, we now offer all-day delivery in all of our shops.

In addition, during the year, we tested a variety of third-party last mile delivery providers to complement our Potbelly team delivery, and to better understand how they could potentially help drive incremental off-premise growth. I am pleased to announce, last month we rolled out with DoorDash nationally, and we are excited to offer enhanced delivery service to our customers in all of our shops. To ensure the best customer experience, our Potbelly drivers delivered the bulk of the orders during peak lunch hours. However, we supplement our drivers with DoorDash to flex, with demand during peak hours and to provide delivery during our expanded off-premise delivery window, think of it is a variable labor model where you only pay for it when you need it.

The systemwide roll-out, coupled with the significant improvements we have made to the functionality of the online digital app and website have greatly increased Potbelly's competitive positioning in a very crowded marketplace. Anytime we make Potbelly experience easier and more convenient, we believe our customers appreciate it, and we win. Finally, we continue to invest in digital marketing, which provides a cost-effective and targeted channel to tell the Potbelly story in a way that really differentiates the brand.

Potbelly has historically under invested in marketing, which inhibited our ability to maintain our share of voice and drive unaided awareness in a very competitive marketplace. The creative digital marketing driven by Brandon's team combined with our investment in customer-facing technology such as our mobile app and Potbelly Perks have helped to drive targeted customer engagement and loyalty. Perks in particular have allowed us to capture critical insights about what motivates our existing customers and how to attract and retain new customers. We will continue to make further investments in marketing and build on the features and functionality to drive greater productivity and customer convenience. Pickup-and-shop is a very good example of something we currently haven't test which we fully expect to be rolled out in the second half of this year.

In summary, as we look back at 2018, we achieved what we set out to do. We put in place, the right team, we learned how to positively impact same-store sales. We learned how to positively impact traffic and notably we learned how to drive industry-beating traffic trends. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we have made significant progress. As we look out to 2019, we have two main priorities that support our conviction to achieve our goals. First, we will maintain our relentless focus on executing our strategic initiatives to generate positive same-store sales comps which builds on the menu optimization marketing and commitment to invest in off-premise channel that I discussed in a fair amount of detail earlier in this presentation.

Our second priority is to maximize profitability by striking the right balance in our traffic building initiative plus driving productivity initiatives and continuing with our effort to build an appropriate framework to accelerate shop growth in a strategic and disciplined manner. With a solid foundation that we built last year, the positive momentum in our business and our disciplined and focused growth strategy for 2019, we believe we will achieve positive company-operated same-store sales growth for the year in the range of 0.5% to 1.5%, the first time since 2016.

I will now turn it over to Tom, who will go through the details of the P&L in the fourth quarter and the full year as well as outline of our expectations for 2019.

Thomas Fitzgerald -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Alan and good afternoon, everyone. As Alan mentioned, I'll review the P&L and give you some highlights associated with our fourth quarter and full year results. I'll also provide a summary of our outlook for 2019. Starting with the top line, total revenues decreased 8.7% to $102 million in the fourth quarter, driven predominantly by overlapping the impact of the 53rd week last year which contributed approximately $6 million of revenue. The balance was due to a 1.7% same-store sales decrease for our company-operated shops. Breaking down the same-store sales, our average check grew approximately 1.9% driven by a combination of price and the mix. We opened seven new shops, including four new company-operated and three franchised.

For the full year, total revenue decreased by 1.3% to $423 million, driven by our same-store sales decrease of 1.4% and the impact of the 53rd week last year. We opened 17 new shops, including 10 new company-operated and seven franchised. Our shop level margin for the fourth quarter was 15.7% of company-operated sales as compared to 17.9% in the prior year period.

Shop level margin for the year was 16.7% as compared to 18.2% in the prior year period. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of company-operated sales was 26.9% in the fourth quarter, an increase of 20 basis points to the prior year, driven by our traffic driving investments and the impact of the romaine lettuce recall. For the year cost of goods sold was 26.5%, an improvement of 20 basis points to the prior year and consistent with our prior guidance. For the quarter, labor was 31.1%, which was an increase of about 140 basis points from the prior year. For the full year, labor was 30.5%, which was an increase of 80 basis points compared to last year and near prior guidance.

Increases were primarily driven by wage inflation and sales deleverage. Occupancy expense was 14.8% in the quarter, an increase of 60 basis points as compared to the prior year period due to sales deleverage and inflation in certain occupancy related costs including lease renewals, real estate taxes and common area maintenance. For the year, occupancy expense was 14.3% of sales, which was an increase of 50 basis points compared to the prior year. Other operating expenses were 11.5% in the fourth quarter and flat to the prior year. For the year, other operating expenses as a percent of sales were 12%, an increase of 40 basis points compared to last year, due largely to sales deleverage in terms -- in items such as repairs, utilities and other expenses not directly variable with sales.

Our general and administrative expenses were approximately $11.1 million in the fourth quarter or 10.9% of total revenue, which is an increase of 90 basis points as compared to the prior year period. For the year, our G&A expenses were $46.9 million or 11.1% of total revenue, an increase of 70 basis points compared to the prior year driven primarily by our store closures, CEO transition costs and restructuring costs. Adjusted G&A, which excludes store closure costs CEO transition costs, restructuring costs and proxy related expenses and which we believe is the best indication of our core G&A in our business was $9.6 million for the fourth quarter 2018 or 9.4% of total revenue, an increase of 10 basis points as compared to the prior year period.

For the full year 2018 adjusted G&A was $40.5 million or 9.6% of revenue as compared to $41.0 million or 9.6% of revenue in the prior year. Our adjusted EBITDA was $7.2 million for the quarter as compared to $11.1 million in the prior year period. For the year, adjusted EBITDA was $35 million as compared to $41.7 million in the prior year period, mostly driven from our decline in same-store sales as well as labor and occupancy inflation. During the fourth quarter, we had an income tax benefit of $1.1 million and an income tax benefit of $2.2 million for the year. Our adjusted net income for the fourth quarter was $1.2 million or $0.05 per diluted share as compared to adjusted net income of $2.2 million or $0.08 per diluted share in the prior year period.

For the year, our adjusted net income was $7.5 million or $0.29 per diluted share as compared to adjusted net income of $8.0 million or $0.31 per diluted share in the prior year period and previous guidance of $0.26 to $0.27. Regarding our share repurchase program, in the fourth quarter, we repurchased approximately 989,000 shares of Potbelly common stock in the open market for a total of approximately $10.5 million. During the fiscal year 2018, we purchased 2 million shares for approximately $22.9 million. At the end of the fourth quarter we had $42.2 million available from our Board authorized program for repurchases which will continue as we move forward. Our capital expenditures came in at approximately $21.4 million for the full year, which was at the low end of our guidance for the year. Our balance sheet remains very strong with a cash balance at the end of the fourth quarter of $19.8 million and we have zero debt.

Now, I would like to briefly comment on the adoption of the new lease accounting standard ASC 842, effective December 31st, 2018. We expect that this standard will have a material impact on our consolidated balance sheet as we expect to record operating lease liabilities in a range of approximately $235 million to $255 million and corresponding right of use assets in a range of approximately $185 million to $205 million. We expect an impact of approximately $4.5 million to $6.5 million in reduction of occupancy expense associated with the shops, which have impaired right of use assets in our consolidated statements of income. We expect no material impact on our consolidated statement of cash flows.

Please note that prior results have not been restated for the impact of this accounting change and therefore comparable -- comparative periods remain as reported historically. Turning now to our outlook for the full fiscal year 2019, as Alan had mentioned earlier, we expect to deliver 0.5% to 1.5% company-operated same-store sales growth for the full year 2019. We anticipate cost of goods sold in the range of 25.5% to 26.5% for 2019 and our food basket is approximately 54% locked. We expect labor as a percentage of sales to trend between 30.5% and 31.5% as we expect wage pressures from minimum wage increases implemented last year as well as expected minimum wage increases and inflationary pressures this year to outpace our full year same-store sales.

We will continue to manage our labor expenses through our continued investments to improve our labor productivity. For the year, we expect our adjusted G&A expense to be in the range of $46 million to $48 million, reflecting increased investment in advertising, increasing our performance based compensation to target payout levels and technology investments to support our future growth. Our G&A outlook does not include store closure costs, which are expected to occur again during 2019 as we remain focused on opportunistically optimizing our existing company-owned portfolio. Given the continued slowing pace of our company-owned unit growth in 2019 and our anticipated shop closures as we continue to optimize our portfolio coupled with inflationary pressures, our ongoing strategic growth investments to drive traffic and increasing our performance based compensation to target levels, we expect adjusted EBITDA in the range of $30 million to $33 million.

We expect an effective tax rate between 22% and 24% for next year. We expect to open 6 to 10 new company operated shops in 2019 and 6 to 10 new franchised shops. The new company-operated shops will be back-end weighted. In addition, we remain focused on optimizing our existing company-owned portfolio as such, we will continue to explore opportunities to exit less profitable shops. We expect to close between 6 and 10 shops in 2019 with the majority closing in Q1. In terms of capital investments, we expect to spend between $21 million and $24 million in 2019.

Finally, while we do not provide guidance on a quarterly basis, I want to spend a moment to discuss our comp results through the first half of the first quarter. As many of you are aware, our current business is weighted toward the upper Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic, including the Washington DC region. As such our business results were negatively influenced by the shutdown of the federal government, as well as the frigid polar vortex that swept across our key markets. In addition to prepare the business for the launch of our menu changes, we did not renew pricing at the start of the fiscal year as has been our normal cadence. However, we did accelerate the roll-out of our menu optimization from later in 2019 to as soon as physically possible which was mid-February.

This created a short-term lapse in pricing until the middle of the first quarter. As a result of these items, although our underlying same-store sales trend has remained similar to our Q4, our quarter-to-date nominal same-store sales trend has worsened and we anticipate Q1 comp growth to be lower than Q4 results. These factors are contemplated in our outlook for full year 2019, company-operated same-store sales growth in the range of 0.5% to 1.5%.

I will now turn the call back over to Alan for his summary remarks.

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Tom. In closing, we are proud of our meaningful progress we achieved last year where we demonstrated that we can improve our same-store sales and traffic trends. However, we recognize there is still much work to be done to turn the business around. As we look ahead to 2019, our main priorities are to generate positive same-store sales and to drive profitability. We are optimistic about our ability to continue to improve our same-store sales trajectory and are planning for a positive same-store sales comp growth in the -- for the first time since 2016. I am energized by our progress so far and I truly believe the Potbelly's best days are ahead of us.

Thank you all for your time today. We appreciate you being on the call and the support of our business. I look forward to providing you with an update on our progress on our next earnings call.

I will now turn it over to the operator and then open up for questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Karen Holthouse with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.

Alex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Hi, thanks for taking the question. This is actually Alex (ph) on for Karen. Something you've given in the past, but could you tell us what the number of rewards member signed up for the loyalty program as of this quarter?

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, sure, Alex. Hi, this is Alan. Yeah, as of the end of 2018, we have just a smidge, under 1.2 million registrants.

Alex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Thank you. And then one more if I may, you gave the breakdown of sales, by what percent is off-premise? But could you tell us also, what percentage is just delivery?

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. So off-premise is a touch over 17% of the mix of sales and that's of comp 2018 sales. Looking at the split between catering and delivery, the delivery is about three quarters, what -- so the catering is about double what delivery is.

Alex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Great, thank you.

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Right.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Gregory Francfort with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Hey, guys. I just had a couple. The first was, maybe trying to understand your confidence in getting to the comps. The 0.5% to 1.5%, I think you gave some disclosure on where you're running so far this quarter and I think you may have mentioned it, but what was the sort of underlying rate if you back out some of the impacts that are weighing down in your business? Do you have a sense for where you think that's running? And then I guess, the follow on question to that is, clearly you've seen something in the new menu test that has you excited about where sales are going to go. Can you maybe talk about what you've seen when you test the menu? And why that as you're confident that you're going to get a couple of points pickup in comps?

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Why don't I take the menu optimization test question first. Sort of do a bit (ph) in reverse order. So, just as a reminder, there were two important goals here. The number one goal is to improve the experience through simplification, and the second one was to maximize check traffic and profitability. We tested it in 58 shops. We actually tested it -- tested three different versions, and interestingly enough, we took the best of the best. So the version that was deployed on the 12th of February is a hybrid of the three versions that we tested.

So, therefore there are some unknowns, but we cherry-picked the best of the best. The -- obviously with the test that we had in place, we saw sufficient lift in average transaction. The check to believe this was a good solution to simplifying on the menu and trying to maximize the average transaction. The biggest changes that we made, if you look at the center panel of the menu, we've taken that from 55 price points down to 18 and interestingly enough about nine of them at the cost of avocado and cucumber, and the various different add-ons. The other -- the major change, which is really the, I think the crux of the change is the addition of pick-your-pair, which is your choice of half a sandwich, half salad, a cup of soup or mac & cheese and then two meal deal options which is sort of chips and a fountain, chips and short shake.

Now, I sort of remind you, the 12th of February was less than two weeks ago. So, I'm not ready to sort of give you hard numbers that I've seen in less than two weeks, but I will tell you that from the tests that we did to the full national roll-out, there were no unforeseen surprises. I think, the only thing that most people under estimated, and that's why I fictionally (ph) referred to this internally as mission impossible is, this is one heck of a complicated thing that we haven't done in 41 years. I mean, to give you a sense of how complicated this is, we have 486 shops, yet we have 680 unique menu boards in terms of size.

We had to reprogram the POS. We had to redo the app. We had to redo the website. We had to change the loyalty program. We had to update the catering and delivery functionality and how you pay, other than that we didn't have to change too much more. So I mean, you can see what -- this thing was complicated. So when, initially the plan was, will it roll it out in the second half of the year. When I saw the potential and, I challenged the team let's launch it as early in 2019, and use that as a platform to learn. So that's what we did. And so far, if you tried. I think one of the things that you'll see is that, there's a very nice surprise. You actually get half of the big, not half of the original and it's a lot of food for a fair amount of great value.

Thomas Fitzgerald -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. I think the second question related to Q1 and some of the softness, we talked about in the script. And yeah, I think coming out of Q4 was sort of on-trend with where we were before that until we saw the effects of the first week of the federal government shutdown there, which is given we have a lot of shops in the DC area and other markets affected -- start to affect our business. So as we look at Q1, while we're sort of weaker than we -- like we understand the drivers, which principally our -- as we mentioned the polar vortex that affected about 50% of our shops, mostly located in the upper Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. And just for comparative purposes, about 35% of our business days in the first month experienced negative volume weather related influences. And that's as we measured up against 14% last year, so quite a significant increase in the number of days.

And we also, as I mentioned, the federal government shutdown impacted the last week of '18 and then certainly into '19 until it ended January 25th. The third headwind that we knew about was the pricing, which we were up against pricing week one of last year in January. And we knew the menu optimization despite all efforts to bring it forward as early as possible. We knew it wouldn't roll until mid-February. Having said that, we're very excited about the launch that, that's happened thus far still early days but, and also as we think about where we are in the middle of the quarter so far generally our traffic trends as we measure them against the weighted average Black Box are sort of in line. So we're moving in a similar way to where we were with the industry as we came out of Q4. Now as we think about these early Q1 trends, which has -- as I said on the call -- on the -- in the earlier remarks, we expect to be below our Q4 results. They are reflected in our full-year outlook as it relates to same-store sales.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Understood. And then maybe if I wanted to somewhat of a separate topic, but Tom just as you've thought about or gotten a look at the business, any thoughts on balance sheet and leverage and kind of where you are in any sort of goals or plans that might have been different than that Mike was thinking about the business?

Thomas Fitzgerald -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, sure, I think from what I understand the business is always discussed with the Board, whether its overall capital structure and we'll continue to do that. At this point, we see no need to take on any debt, the business generates enough cash flow for us to make the investments we want to make and do the repurchases that the Board had authorized. Now, we'll continue to fund the buyback through into 2019 and for the foreseeable future. But at this point we don't see any reason to take on debt and that's something we'll continue to come back to as a management team and as a Board, but at this point that's how we see it.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Understood. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Gregory.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Stephen Anderson with the Maxim Group. Please proceed with your question.

Stephen Anderson -- Maxim Group -- Analyst

Yes, good afternoon. I'm calling to ask about your store fleet and whether you've been able to -- if you're still looking through your fleet for a potential sale of the Company-owned stores through the franchisees. I know there's something that you are touched upon in recent quarters, and I think, now I saw your management team now complete whether you are able to maybe spend more time in terms of where you or how you wish to proceed?

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Thank you, Stephen, this is Alan. Yeah, Greg's making -- sorry Jeff's making solid progress on this front, and but now our primary focus is creating the right set of conditions for the franchise model, so getting positive comps that are predictable and consistent reducing the cost of the box making sure that the margins are strong and stable. Making sure that we have a quality pipeline of sites and very importantly a highly qualified group of franchise partners and I personally attended six discovery days. I think I'm very encouraged by the reception, but we're looking for a higher quality standard here and it's important to make sure that if we don't have those right conditions, then I don't think we'll be maximizing shareholders value. And it's important to be patient here, but getting everything aligned around making sure that we create the right set of circumstances.

Stephen Anderson -- Maxim Group -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question is a follow-up from Gregory Francfort with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Hey, guys. I just had a couple more. The first is, on other operating expense during the quarter, I think that's been a little bit of a pressure, but you were able to manage that pretty well. Is there anything specific to the quarter that you want to call out or anything that may be of change in terms of one-time items or anything like that?

Thomas Fitzgerald -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, I think the team did a good job, pulling back on non-essential spending, things that the customer doesn't see that we could either do without or do far less of. We also had some upsides in repair and maintenance and some of the bigger items there as we looked at that year-on-year, but I think overall between belt tightening and just really trying to make sure we spent what was necessary, so that we could at a minimum meet and preferably exceed the guidance that we had given.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Understood. And then just on the franchise closures, I guess for '18 and for this quarter and then also for '19, are those calling mostly in the domestic side or the international side and maybe if you thought about using the cash that you've got on the balance sheet and the cash flow you're generating to buy some of those stores?

Thomas Fitzgerald -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

They're all coming from international.

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

(inaudible) they were not reacquired by the Company.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Do you know where that will put you at the end of '19 on the international unit count if you go through that closure rate and where those stores will remain?

Thomas Fitzgerald -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

We're still working through it. We have a handful across the different regions, but it will be single-digits for sure.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Got it. Okay. Then maybe the last one for me is just getting back to the new menu, as you put that in place, the pricing on that versus your existing pricing, maybe what that will do is that do you take a couple of percent on that or is it mostly just mix shift that's going to happen? I don't even know if it's comparable or how are you thinking about that?

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. It's really hard to compare. There is a little bit of pricing but it depends -- if you're taking the meal deals, obviously you can't hide value in a meal deal. In fact, you don't want to. And so, it very much depends on whether they're taking the pick-your-pair or the menu option. What I do know is you get a lot of food for a little money. So, we wanted to make sure that anyone taking the pick-your-pair option could see the fact that, even though this is a selection in a variety play, but it's also a great value.

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Got it. Understood. Thank you very much appreciate it.

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question and answer session. And I would like to turn the call back to Mr. Alan Johnson for closing remarks.

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you for your time today. We appreciate your interest in the business and the support of our business. I look forward to providing you with an update on our next Q1 earnings call. Thank you.

Operator

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Duration: 47 minutes

Call participants:

Matthew Revord -- Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief People Officer and Secretary

Alan Johnson -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thomas Fitzgerald -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Alex -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Gregory Francfort -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Stephen Anderson -- Maxim Group -- Analyst

More PBPB analysis

Transcript powered by AlphaStreet

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

Why Alphabet and Microsoft Are Better-Positioned Than You Think

World War III is already here, and it's happening online. Four primary combatants are vying for digital supremacy: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Alphabet and Microsoft may be best-positioned to win the fight, according to a recent ranking of the most popular development platforms.

The Most Popular Development Platforms Environment 2018 2017 Percentage Change

Linux	48%	24%	up 100%
Windows	31%	35%	down 12%
Android	29%	22%	up 32%
AWS	25%	26%	down 4%
MacOS	18%	15%	up 20%

Data source: Stack Overflow Annual Developer Survey

See the trend? Twice as many developers named Linux one of their favorite development platforms last year than in 2017. Windows was down but still popular (not surprising) while AWS also fell (very surprising given the love shown AWS by developers in recent years).

The Linux penguin is showing up in a lot more places. Image source: Getty Images.

Inside the numbers

Each year, Stack Overflow polls over 100,000 professional developers to get a read on their favorite platforms -- what they use most, what they love most, what they dread most, and what they want most. Linux was the winner, by far, which is really good news for both Alphabet and Microsoft.

Why? Let's start with Linux itself. The world's most popular open-source operating system is available in a number of varieties commonly known as distributions. Red Hat has a very popular one that IBM is in the process of acquiring. In the cloud, Ubuntu is extremely popular. So are Fedora (a completely free version of Red Hat) and Arch Linux.

Alphabet is far and away the biggest consumer of open-source software built for Linux and related technologies. Microsoft is the biggest overall contributor of open-source ideas to GitHub, the development community it acquired in August for about $7.5 billion in stock. Both companies are also making it easier to run Linux installations in their clouds (i.e., Azure and Google Cloud, respectively). As developers continue to up their intake of Linux -- and last year usage doubled, according to Stack Overflow -- they're more likely to run into open-source offerings from Alphabet and Microsoft.

Image source: Getty Images.

What about Apple and Amazon?

Good question. Amazon is by no means in trouble, though it's a bit troubling to see developers using AWS less often, especially when you look further down the list. Azure kept pace with 11% of respondents confirming their usage of the platform. Google Cloud, meanwhile, got an 8% share. Google's Firebase is an increasingly popular choice for building real-time cloud software and 15% of those surveyed cited it as a favorite.

Then there are the "serverless"alternatives from the major cloud providers. In the Stack Overflow survey, 5% chose serverless options among their favorites, up from 2% the year prior. What's serverless exactly? You get a window, write some code, and execute it, never seeing or connecting with the underlying environment appropriated for the task.

AWS Lambda is widely considered the most popular platform for "serverless" functionality, but a 2017 analysis of data compiled by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, completed and published by New Stack, found that Azure and Google Cloud were gaining traction. Stack Overflow's survey seems to confirm the growing popularity of Alphabet's and Microsoft's platforms.

And what of Apple? While it's nice to see that there's still love for the Mac OS, it's the iPhone that produces profits for the iEmpire. Only 16% of developers surveyed cited iOS among their favorites, up from 14% the year prior but still far less than the enthusiasm shown for Android.

Maybe that'll change, and maybe AWS will regain its growth genes. For now, though, it looks like developers are moving to Google and Microsoft in greater numbers -- and profits should follow.

Why Your Small Business Needs to Let Talent Go -- Sometimes

Many years ago when I served as the editor of a small daily newspaper, I made young reporters a promise. "If you do your job well, after a year I'll help you move to a bigger paper in the chain -- and if I can't do that, then I'll help you move on elsewhere."

That wasn't an easy promise to make, because the company I worked for was very slow to approve filling positions. If I lost someone, whether it be to a promotion or because they quit, I might be a person down for months on an already strained staff.

Despite that, it still made sense for me to help people move on. My paper gained a reputation as a place that turned out reporters and editors who were ready for bigger things. That helped me recruit better people, and was more personally satisfying. At your small business, it's important to follow the same kind of policy and make sure that you don't hold people back just because they can help you.

Talk to your employees so you know what they want. Image source: Getty Images.

How do you handle talent?

A small business only has so much room to develop and promote talented people. It's important that you nurture the skills of everyone who comes to work for you so they can grow and take on more important positions.

The problem is that sometimes you will have an employee ready for an opportunity that you don't have available. If that happens, it's important to have a dialogue with that employee. Find out what he or she wants and be honest about your ability to make it happen.

It's possible that your employee would be happy to grow slowly as long as there's an eventual destination at your company that fits their needs. In other cases, it may be clear that someone -- even someone you value a lot who likes working for you -- needs to move on.

How can you help?

If you're honest with an employee who's ready for more than you can give, he or she can start looking with your blessing. In some cases, you may even help someone move on by making an introduction.

Of course, you don't want to send someone to a company you directly compete with, but you should still help where you can. This will take some of the mystery out of the process. Yes, you will lose the employee, but you'll have a longer lead time than two week's notice to prepare for their departure.

In addition, if you know a person is leaving, that may open up an opportunity for someone else to move up. Letting one person go may allow you to keep another.

It hurts, but it's necessary

If you act selfishly, your employee will either leave without looping you in or stagnate in their current position. And while it hurts to lose people, losing them to better jobs or promotions makes your company an attractive place to work for potential new hires.

Yes, your first responsibility is to your business, but treating employees right is a long-term move that helps make that happen. Do the right thing by people and it will increase loyalty, make your company an attractive place to work, and ultimately help your business.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019

tags:RCII,GD,UNH,WEN,IBM,EMR,PH,CMP,SIRI,USG,

Dividend investors are considered conservative folk. They eschew hypergrowth stocks because of their speculative nature, and instead focus on the security of a regular check that can be used for income or to harness the power of reinvested dividends.

At least that is what dividend investors want you to believe. 

In reality, they also have a speculative tendency in them; it's just that they indulge that tendency in the form of high-yield stocks trading for incredibly low valuations. Make no mistake, there is no such thing as a double-digit dividend yield that doesn't come with a healthy dose of speculation.

Three dividend companies -- oil and gas logistics company Buckeye Partners (NYSE:BPL), coal miner Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP), and fracking sand supplier Hi-Crush Partners (NYSE:HCLP) -- are all selling at gobsmackingly cheap prices, which likely has a few yield-chasing investors taking a look at them. But are any of these stocks actually worth buying today?

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: Rent-A-Center Inc.(RCII)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Lange]

  Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ: RCII) shares made an incredible gain on Monday after the company announced that it would be taken private by Vintage Rodeo Parent, an affiliate of Vintage Capital Management.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  AerCap (NYSE: AER) and Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ:RCII) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

• [By ]

  Engaged Capital maintained large positions in Rent-A-Center (RCII) , TiVo (TIVO) , Hain Celestial (HAIN) , SunOpta and Jamba Inc. (JMBA) , all companies that have either previously been targeted by Welling or currently are in his cross-hairs.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  ValuEngine upgraded shares of Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ:RCII) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

  A number of other research firms have also issued reports on RCII. TheStreet upgraded shares of Rent-A-Center from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Monday, July 9th. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Rent-A-Center from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 3rd. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Rent-A-Center from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $17.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 4th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Rent-A-Center from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, June 18th. Finally, Northcoast Research lowered shares of Rent-A-Center from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Rent-A-Center presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $11.00.

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Shares of Rent-A-Center Inc (NASDAQ:RCII) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $8.75.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Rent-A-Center (RCII)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: S&P GSCI(GD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ]

  Only 10% of the companies on the list had female CEOs at the helm, four of which -- Hewlett Packard (HP) , Lockheed Martin (LMT) , General Motors (GM) , and General Dynamics (GD) -- grew significant revenue in five years or less. 

• [By Lou Whiteman]

  Whiteman: It is. The big guns, so to speak, are the names you mentioned, Lockheed Martin being the biggest with an $85 billion market cap. Then, there's a handful of other companies that are focused mostly on weapons platforms -- your General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), Northrop Grumman, Raytheon. The Boeing defense business is only 20% of the company, but it's still a huge contractor. 

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Riverhead Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) by 223.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,055 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,328 shares during the period. Riverhead Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Five years ago, General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) was struck by disaster.

  Years of acquisitions in the IT space, designed to turn the defense giant best known for its battle tanks and nuclear submarines into a cybersecurity specialist, had failed to produce significant profit growth. Instead, realizing that it had overpaid for its new subsidiaries, General D acknowledged its mistake, took a $2.9 billion charge to earnings, fired its IT division head (or allowed him to retire "to pursue new professional opportunities"), and reported only its second full-year net loss in the last 30 years.

• [By Lou Whiteman]

  Two of the biggest laggards have been General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) and Huntington Ingalls (NYSE:HII), each down by more than 10% in the past three months. The similarities go well beyond stock performance. The companies have two of the more interesting outlooks for growth among defense players, but each seemed to catch investors off guard over how long it will take that increased business to materialize.

• [By Lou Whiteman]

  Scale matters in the government IT business, as larger companies are better able to manage the increasingly large and complex systems customers demand, and a broader cost basis helps in putting together low-cost, competitive bids. In recent years, a wave of mergers and acquisitions has left a clear top two in the market. Industry leader Leidos Holdings (NYSE:LDOS) in 2016 bought the IT business of Lockheed Martin, while General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) vaulted to No. 2 earlier this year via its acquisition of CSRA.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Monday was UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) which traded up 1.67% at $242.25. The stock’s 52-week range is $166.65 to $250.79. Volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 3.5 million shares. The company had no specific news.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) traded up 0.37% at $220.41. The stock’s 52-week range is $156.09 to $231.77. Volume was about a 65% below the daily average of around 3 million shares. The company had no specific news.

• [By Garrett Baldwin]
  Market fears of an escalating Middle Eastern conflict abated thanks to last week's military strikes against the Syrian government. On Friday, April 13, U.S. forces joined the United Kingdom and France in retaliation for a chemical gas attack carried out by the Syrian government. The military exercise came at a time that tensions are also rising in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Today, several members of the U.S. Federal Reserve will be speaking at events around the globe, including San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Chicago Fed Bank President Charles Evans. But no one will be more watched today than Fed Gov. Randal Quarles, who will testify before the U.S. House Financial Services Commission. Quarles will provide testimony on the central bank's plans to regulate and oversee the financial system. Expect a wealth of questions about the Fed's plans to raise interest rates and manage its massive balance sheet. Money Morning Liquidity Specialist Lee Adler offers you advice on how to play the Fed's problems, right here. Four Stocks to Watch Today: GS, NFLX, TSLA, and ROKU Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) added 0.6% after the Wall Street bank easily topped Q1 earnings and revenue estimates. The firm reported earnings per share (EPS) of $6.95 on top of more than $10 billion in revenue. Analysts projected EPS of $5.67 on top of $8.89 billion. The investment bank hiked its quarterly dividend and said that revenue from equity trading rallied thanks to an uptick in recent market volatility. Shares of Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) are flat on the news that the firm will suspend production of its Model 3 vehicles. The firm said the temporary halt in production will aim to "improve automation" and address ongoing bottlenecks in its production process. Shares of Roku Inc. (Nasdaq: ROKU) popped more than 8.2% on news that Steven Cohen's family office has taken a passive 5.1% stake in the company. The streaming device manufactur
• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $288 price target (versus a $266.54 close) at Citigroup.

  Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Here are some of the media headlines that may have impacted Accern Sentiment Analysis’s analysis:

  Get UnitedHealth Group alerts: UnitedHealth strikes two long-term deals with lab giants (bizjournals.com) LabCorp Extends UnitedHealthcare Pact, Lifts Diagnostics Arm (finance.yahoo.com) UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Director Sells $3,732,300.00 in Stock (americanbankingnews.com) Is UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year? (nasdaq.com) Brief Overview on Stock’s Performances – UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH) (financerater.com)

  Several research analysts recently commented on UNH shares. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, April 18th. Barclays started coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $254.66.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Heading into 2018, Avalere estimated that 41% of all U.S. counties were expected to have just one insurer offering a health plan. This comes after UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), the nation's largest insurer, pulled out of 31 of 34 states in 2017. After UnitedHealth Group lost $475 million from Obamacare in 2015 and predicted $650 million in ACA losses in 2016, it was no surprise to see the nation's largest health insurer critical of the ACA. 

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc.(WEN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Buyout speculation gained momentum last week after The Wall Street Journal -- citing anonymous "people familiar with the matter" -- said Nelson Peltz and his Trian Fund Management hedge fund were contemplating a takeover offer for Papa John's. Peltz also arranged a meeting between Schnatter and the management of burger joint Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) in late June to discuss a possible deal, according to WSJ. However, Wendy's backed away after the last Schnatter brouhaha.

• [By ]

  Throughout its history, Starbucks has mostly had a company-owned model for its retail locations, a strategy that is at odds with a trend of activist investors pushing fast food, restaurant and coffee companies to franchise locations out to raise cash for stock buybacks and debt reduction. In recent years, activists have targeted Jamba Juice (JMBA) , Potbelly (PBPB) , Jack in the Box (JACK) , Wendys Co. (WEN) , McDonald's (MCD) and elsewhere. In addition, Starbucks has a one-share, one-vote structure, which can make it vulnerable to an activist investor seeking to elect dissident director candidates as it pursued the strategy.

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  The chart below shows how McDonald's compares with some of its closest peers based on its valuation and expected growth rate.

  Company P/E Ratio 2-Year Expected EPS Growth Rate McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) 26.2 23.6% Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) 26.2 27.3% Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) 21.8 58.1% Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR) 21.4 41.9% Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) 23.2 29.7%

  Data source: Yahoo! Finance. EPS = earnings per share.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  If you're a burger lover who doesn't mind slumming it with the fast-food giants, this is going to be a great month for your pocketbook. McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) and now Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) are offering big markdowns on signature sandwiches through the end of September. 

• [By Leo Sun]

  However, the fast casual market became increasingly crowded with rival chains like Panera Bread and Chipotle, and Zoe's got squeezed between traditional dine-in restaurants like Darden's Olive Garden and evolving fast food players like Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) and McDonald's (NYSE:MCD).

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Feroldi, Keith Speights, and Maxx Chatsko]

  IBM (NYSE:IBM) used to be a tech titan that could be relied upon to deliver steady growth. Unfortunately, Big Blue has struggled in recent years to keep pace with the changing times. Investors have responded in kind by knocking down the company's valuation to historic lows.

• [By ]

  Pivotal's product line also covers the Spring Java app development platform and a distribution of the analytics-focused Greenplum database. The company has been focused on inking deals with large enterprises such as GE, Ford, Citi and FedEx, and claimed 319 clients as of the end of fiscal 2018 (ended on Feb. 2). Competition comes from alternative Cloud Foundry distributions from companies such as IBM (IBM) and SAP (SAP) , as well as from Red Hat's (RHT) OpenShift PaaS solution and -- though Pivotal partners with these firms as well -- the PaaS offerings of public cloud giants such as Amazon (AMZN) , Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet/Google (GOOGL) .

• [By Benzinga News Desk]

  Gold and diamond companies including Berkshire Hathaway’s Richline Group Inc joined with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to develop blockchain technology to track the origin of jewelry and ensure it is ethically sourced, the companies said on Thursday: Link

• [By Wayne Duggan]

  From an investing standpoint, Foresi said IT Services stocks such as IBM (NYSE: IBM), Accenture Plc (NYSE: ACN) and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ: CTSH) could benefit from a rise in blockchain projects.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: Emerson Electric Company(EMR)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,348 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,984 shares during the quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Emerson Electric were worth $3,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Lee Samaha]

  However, analysts are right to question Rockwell's relative valuation, because peer Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) has outgrown Rockwell in the past three quarters. The difference is that Emerson is more of a process automation company and has more exposure to capital spending of energy and heavy industry-related companies, which are growing faster than Rockwell's end markets. The latter is more of a factory automation company and has more general industrial exposure, notably to the automotive industry.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Analysts at Berenberg upgraded Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) from Sell to Hold.

  Emerson Electric shares fell 0.43 percent to close at $69.90 on Monday.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: S&P Smallcap 600(PH)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shane Hupp]

  Barings LLC decreased its holdings in Parker Hannifin (NYSE:PH) by 36.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,064 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 14,937 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Parker Hannifin were worth $4,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Parker Hannifin (PH)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

• [By Shane Hupp]

  ClariVest Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Parker Hannifin (NYSE:PH) by 3.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 122,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,773 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Parker Hannifin worth $20,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Investment analysts at Barclays started coverage on shares of Parker-Hannifin (NYSE:PH) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. Barclays’ price target indicates a potential upside of 12.54% from the stock’s current price.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Parker-Hannifin (PH)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: Compass Minerals Intl Inc(CMP)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Compcoin (CURRENCY:CMP) traded flat against the US dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 11:00 AM E.T. on October 13th. During the last seven days, Compcoin has traded up 12.6% against the US dollar. One Compcoin coin can currently be purchased for approximately $12.20 or 0.00130307 BTC on cryptocurrency exchanges. Compcoin has a total market cap of $0.00 and approximately $0.00 worth of Compcoin was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) was downgraded by investment analysts at ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

• [By Jordan Wathen, Matthew Frankel, CFP, and Dan Caplinger]

  Here, three Fool.com contributors share why they believe Compass Minerals (NYSE:CMP), Chubb (NYSE:CB), and Realty Income (NYSE:O) exhibit the kind of traits found in many of Buffett's best investments.

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,295 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 991 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.18% of Compass Minerals International worth $4,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: Sirius XM Radio Inc.(SIRI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Max Byerly]

  Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 196,142,023 shares, an increase of 1.7% from the August 15th total of 192,889,327 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,084,621 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 17.7 days. Approximately 14.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

• [By Chris Lange]

  It was announced on Monday that Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) would be acquired by Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI). While this deal might look good at first glance, one analyst believes that Pandora shareholders will shoot down any acquisition hopes.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Shares of Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI) hit another 12-year high on Monday. The country's lone satellite radio provider would go on to improve its fundamentals, announcing that it's laying to rest a pending legal matter by settling with SoundExchange.

• [By Lisa Levin] Companies Reporting Before The Bell Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $2.4 per share on revenue of $5.63 billion. Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.41 per share on revenue of $37.16 billion. Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.11 per share on revenue of $605.26 million. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.59 per share on revenue of $22.75 billion. General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $2.52 per share on revenue of $7.6 billion. The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $2.58 per share on revenue of $22.24 billion. Anthem, Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $4.91 per share on revenue of $22.52 billion. Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.79 per share on revenue of $3.04 billion. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $3.61 per share on revenue of $6.61 billion. Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE: ROK) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.81 per share on revenue of $1.66 billion. Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.07 per share on revenue of $2.15 billion. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $0.46 per share on revenue of $3.82 billion. Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $0.97 per share on revenue of $1.62 billion. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TROW) is estimated to report quarterly earnings at $1.71 per share on revenue of $1.29 billion. Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS) is expected to report quarterly earnings at $1.04 per share on revenue of $1.57 billion. Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SI
• [By VantagePoint]

  Siriux XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) began trading higher on April 19 following a bullish crossover, but the real uptrend didn't begin until May 3. This is an example of how trends can sometimes take several days to take shape, as the upside wasn't immediately apparent. Nonetheless, the stock is trading at its highest levels since 2005. 

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own For 2019: USG Corporation(USG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on USG (USG)

  For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  ValuEngine upgraded shares of USG (NYSE:USG) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

  A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of USG from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Friday, April 27th. Jefferies Group reiterated a hold rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of USG in a research note on Monday, April 23rd. SunTrust Banks boosted their target price on shares of USG from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 17th. Buckingham Research boosted their target price on shares of USG from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 16th. Finally, Nomura boosted their target price on shares of USG from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $39.00.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Warren Buffett likes to hold his stock positions for the long run, and his experience with USG (NYSE:USG) has been typical of his other long-term investments. The Oracle of Omaha started buying shares of the manufacturer of Sheetrock drywall and other building materials back in 2000, accumulating a sizable stake that has ballooned to more than 30% of the company. USG ended up going through bankruptcy in order to get a handle on its asbestos liability claims, but thanks largely to Buffett's involvement, the building materials company not only survived bankruptcy but also saw share prices soar briefly on hopes that USG would once again fully participate in the then-strong housing boom.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  USG Co. (NYSE:USG) – Equities research analysts at SunTrust Banks reduced their Q3 2018 earnings per share estimates for shares of USG in a report issued on Monday, July 9th. SunTrust Banks analyst K. Hughes now forecasts that the construction company will post earnings of $0.57 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.61. SunTrust Banks currently has a “Hold” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. SunTrust Banks also issued estimates for USG’s FY2018 earnings at $2.05 EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at $0.71 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $2.53 EPS.

• [By Jordan Wathen]

  As USG Corporation (NYSE:USG) drags its feet on an offer to sell the company for $42 per share, Berkshire intends to use its 30.8% ownership stake to motivate its top brass to make a deal. Berkshire told Bloomberg it intends to vote its shares against USG's board members who are up for re-election at this year's annual meeting, a clear message that Buffett is ready to cash in, even if USG's management and board are not.

Zacks: Analysts Anticipate Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (ACHC) to Announce $0.48 Earnings Per Share

Brokerages predict that Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC) will post earnings of $0.48 per share for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Eight analysts have made estimates for Acadia Healthcare’s earnings, with the highest EPS estimate coming in at $0.51 and the lowest estimate coming in at $0.32. Acadia Healthcare posted earnings per share of $0.61 during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a negative year-over-year growth rate of 21.3%. The business is expected to issue its next earnings report after the market closes on Thursday, February 28th.

On average, analysts expect that Acadia Healthcare will report full-year earnings of $2.26 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $2.24 to $2.28. For the next fiscal year, analysts anticipate that the firm will post earnings of $2.42 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $2.26 to $2.70. Zacks Investment Research’s EPS calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that follow Acadia Healthcare.

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A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACHC. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Acadia Healthcare from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 12th. BidaskClub raised shares of Acadia Healthcare from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 31st. ValuEngine raised shares of Acadia Healthcare from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 26th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Acadia Healthcare in a research report on Thursday, November 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Acadia Healthcare from $46.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.36.

Shares of ACHC opened at $28.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Acadia Healthcare has a 12-month low of $24.27 and a 12-month high of $45.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.64.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACHC. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Acadia Healthcare by 2,686.1% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 897,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 865,743 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acadia Healthcare by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Pearl River Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Acadia Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $92,000. Ffcm LLC lifted its position in shares of Acadia Healthcare by 183.6% during the fourth quarter. Ffcm LLC now owns 4,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NumerixS Investment Technologies Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Acadia Healthcare during the fourth quarter worth about $156,000.

About Acadia Healthcare

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc develops and operates inpatient psychiatric facilities, residential treatment centers, group homes, substance abuse facilities, and outpatient behavioral healthcare facilities to serve the behavioral health and recovery needs of communities. The company operates acute inpatient psychiatric facilities, which offer evaluation and crisis stabilization of patients with severe psychiatric diagnoses; specialty treatment facilities, including residential recovery facilities, eating disorder facilities, and comprehensive treatment centers that provide continuum care for adults with addictive disorders and co-occurring mental disorders; and residential treatment centers, which treat patients with behavioral disorders in a non-hospital setting, including outdoor programs.

Further Reading: How to interpret a stock's beta number

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Analysts Anticipate Ball Co. (BLL) Will Announce Earnings of $0.50 Per Share

Wall Street brokerages expect that Ball Co. (NYSE:BLL) will announce earnings of $0.50 per share for the current quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Five analysts have issued estimates for Ball’s earnings. The highest EPS estimate is $0.53 and the lowest is $0.47. Ball also reported earnings of $0.50 per share in the same quarter last year. The company is scheduled to report its next earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd.

On average, analysts expect that Ball will report full-year earnings of $2.61 per share for the current financial year, with EPS estimates ranging from $2.30 to $2.70. For the next year, analysts expect that the business will post earnings of $2.97 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $2.60 to $3.20. Zacks’ EPS calculations are an average based on a survey of analysts that follow Ball.

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Ball (NYSE:BLL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.68 billion. Ball had a net margin of 3.90% and a return on equity of 20.08%.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Ball from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Morgan Stanley set a $55.00 target price on shares of Ball and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 5th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.31.

In other Ball news, Chairman John A. Hayes sold 91,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $5,061,895.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 467,844 shares in the company, valued at $25,824,988.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Scott C. Morrison sold 13,677 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $725,017.77. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 459,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,349,401.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 112,378 shares of company stock valued at $6,158,823. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLL. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Ball by 43.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 725,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,892,000 after buying an additional 219,129 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $703,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ball by 4.3% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 125,026 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,500,000 after buying an additional 5,100 shares during the period. Aperio Group LLC grew its stake in Ball by 5.8% during the third quarter. Aperio Group LLC now owns 157,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,908,000 after buying an additional 8,612 shares during the period. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Ball by 1.0% during the third quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 276,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,162,000 after buying an additional 2,622 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.33% of the company’s stock.

NYSE:BLL opened at $54.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company has a market capitalization of $18.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.84. Ball has a 1-year low of $34.71 and a 1-year high of $55.48.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase 50,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Ball’s payout ratio is 18.18%.

About Ball

Ball Corp. provides metal packaging for beverages, foods and household products, and of aerospace and other technologies and services to commercial and governmental customers. It operates through the following business segments: Beverage Packaging, North and Central America; Beverage Packaging, South America; Beverage Packaging, Europe; Food and Aerosol Packaging; and Aerospace.

Read More: Why is the conference call important?

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$1.22 EPS Expected for PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) This Quarter

Analysts expect PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) to report $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the current quarter, according to Zacks. Four analysts have issued estimates for PPG Industries’ earnings, with the highest EPS estimate coming in at $1.28 and the lowest estimate coming in at $1.18. PPG Industries reported earnings per share of $1.39 in the same quarter last year, which indicates a negative year over year growth rate of 12.2%. The company is scheduled to announce its next quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th.

On average, analysts expect that PPG Industries will report full-year earnings of $6.23 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $6.11 to $6.45. For the next fiscal year, analysts expect that the business will report earnings of $6.86 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $6.50 to $7.38. Zacks Investment Research’s EPS calculations are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side research analysts that follow PPG Industries.

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PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 17th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.05. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 27.86% and a net margin of 8.84%. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. PPG Industries’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of research analysts have commented on PPG shares. SunTrust Banks increased their target price on PPG Industries to $110.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 22nd. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on PPG Industries to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 18th. BMO Capital Markets set a $112.00 price target on PPG Industries and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 23rd. Zacks Investment Research downgraded PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 20th. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group raised PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.25.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Capital Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Quantamental Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, First Mercantile Trust Co. increased its position in PPG Industries by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. now owns 470 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 79.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NYSE:PPG traded up $1.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $109.11. 1,043,136 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,366,350. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. PPG Industries has a 52 week low of $94.37 and a 52 week high of $118.62. The company has a market cap of $26.17 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.20.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 22nd will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.43%.

PPG Industries Company Profile

PPG Industries, Inc manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials in the United States and internationally. It operates through Performance Coatings and Industrial Coatings segments. The Performance Coatings segment provides coatings products for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing; light industrial and specialty coatings for signs; coatings, sealants, and transparencies for commercial, military, regional jet and general aviation aircraft, and transparent armor; protective and marine coatings and finishes; architectural coatings; and purchased sundries to painting contractors and consumers, as well as chemical management services.

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Socially conscious investors are putting their money where their ideals are

An influx of young investors are leading a charge of socially responsible and sustainable investing, funneling their money into investments and projects that serve the greater good.

In financial circles, socially responsible investments (SRI) and funds geared toward environmentally, socially and governance-friendly (ESG) projects have grown in popularity with millennial investors. Those activities include avoiding investment in companies associated with addictive substances and vices — like alcohol, gambling and tobacco — and seeking out companies engaged in social justice or environmental sustainability.

Socially responsible investing (SRI) now accounts for $26 trillion, a 2018 study from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government found, which is more than quarter of all assets under professional management worldwide. The study found that millennials are increasingly making investment decisions that weigh the impact on society.

Separately, U.S. Trust found that 76 percent of high net-worth millennial and Generation Z investors have reviewed their assets for ESG impact, while Morgan Stanley found millennial investors to be twice as likely as others to invest in companies that incorporate ESG practices.

Although sustainable investing has existed since the 1970s, the new wave of young investors are interested in more than just stable financial returns.

"The Gen-Z and Millennial generation is extremely misunderstood," said Brandon Krieg, Co-founder and CEO of Stash, a micro-investing app with a heavy millennial and Gen Z client base. "They do care about activism and the brands that they agree with."

'Dig deeper'

Financial activism is nothing new, but the democratization of investing has made it easier for small investors to nudge bigger companies to be more mindful of what kinds of activity their money is funding. For example, last year major asset managers like BlackRock were pushed to divest in ETF's containing gun makers and retailers tied to the sale of firearms, after a string of mass shootings.

The growth of financial technology and retail investing has prompted a number of younger investors to actively decide how to align their money with their values. It's also prodded investment firms to offer the public an ever widening range of vehicles in which to do so. According to Morningstar, in 2017 there were 234 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds that invested in a socially responsible way, having doubled since 2012.

"When I initially choose the ETFs to invest in, it's based on my risk profile first and then I'll review what companies make up the fund," Danielle Libatique, 28, a millennial investor and senior financial analyst at aviation company Wheels Up, told CNBC in a recent interview. Libatique currently has around $2,000 invested in the micro-investing app Acorns.

"One of my funds involves over 100 holdings, but I have reviewed the list to make sure that there aren't any glaring companies that I would not want to invest in due to social impact," she said.

show chapters Millennials are 'spot on' about ESG investing: CEO    1:49 AM ET Fri, 28 Dec 2018 | 01:53

Still, there are questions about how fully aware young investors are about where and how their money is being allocated — particularly as apps like Stash and Acorns effectively sweep spare change into ETF investments.

"Some robo-investing apps give you an overview of sector," said Libatique. "But you have to dig deeper to review the exact holdings within those funds."

Stash has attempted to make investing simple by renaming ETFs within the app, in an appeal to an investor's personal interests. For example, the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF is renamed "Defending America" and the ETFMG Video Game Tech ETF is renamed "Gamers FTW".

In some cases, funds may hold assets that socially-conscious investors may find unpalatable, experts say. However, by foreclosing on certain sectors or activities, socially responsible investors could undermine their own portfolio, which experts recommend diversifying across a range of assets and industries, some say.

"It's limiting to have a perfect socially responsible ETF or portfolio," said Doug Boneparth, a financial advisor at Bone Fide Wealth. "Cutting out entire industries and removing portfolio diversity can hurt performance."

While there have been isolated controversies related to whether some socially responsible financial instruments live up to their ideals, the current system relies on the apps users' accountability and decision to access the resources offered by micro investing apps to educate themselves.

Investors have the freedom to view their portfolio holdings, while content related to socially responsible investing in general is also provided.

"An important point is transparency, but everyone has different views and different beliefs," said Krieg. "Some people come here wanting to buy 'Defending America', others want to buy 'Do the Right Thing' and it is not my role to tell people what to do."