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Ex-campaign adviser Michael Caputo says he met with Trump, vows to plead the fifth if subpoenaed

Michael Caputo, a former adviser to President Trump’s campaign in 2016, told Fox News on Thursday that he paid a visit to the president in Washington D.C. and that he plans to plead the Fifth should he receive a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee.

Caputo and Trump spoke about a variety of topics over the course of their nearly 40-minute meeting at the White House on Wednesday, including the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, as well as the 2020 presidential election, he said.

The Russia probe has fueled Trump and made him ready to fight in 2020, Caputo said. Adding, without getting into specifics, that people affected by the Mueller investigation will be pleased with what’s to come.

HOUSE JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN SUBPOENAS EX-WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL DON MCGAHN

"I can’t tell you what he said but I can promise you every one of those people would have been delighted to hear what I heard yesterday,” he told Fox News.

Caputo also said he informed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., that he will be pleading the Fifth in regards to any potential subpoenas.

“He’s going to get five fingers from me,” Caputo told Fox News.

Caputo was among the 81 individuals and entities who were served document requests last month by Nadler and the Judiciary Committee as part of a probe into "alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump."

Caputo told Fox News in March that he told the committee that he did not have any of the documents they wanted.

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In discussing next year’s presidential election, Caputo said he wants to assist Trump’s campaign, however the pair did not discuss any specific job.

Caputo also said former Vice President Joe Biden's entrance into the 2020 Democratic race doesn't worry the president at all.

Fox News’ Sally Persons, Brooke Singman, Mike Emanuel and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Goldman Sachs in talks to buy restructured Turkish loans: sources

FILE PHOTO - The Goldman Sachs company logo is seen in the company's space on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO - The Goldman Sachs company logo is seen in the company's space on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 24, 2019

By Ebru Tuncay and Birsen Altayli

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs is in talks with Turkish banks and companies to buy large distressed loans following a wave of corporate restructurings in the country last year, two sources close to the matter told Reuters.

The sources, who requested anonymity, did not specify the size of the restructured loans but said Goldman was looking at those valued in the range of $2 billion to $6 billion.

Turkish banks, grappling with fallout from a recession and a weak lira, could be interested in selling loans to bolster their stressed balance sheets and to gain access to liquidity, the sources said. One of the Turkish government’s priorities is to relieve banks of bad loans.

One of the sources said that non-performing loans specialists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, as well as at certain large London-based banks, were in “intense talks right now” over restructured Turkish loans.

A representative for Goldman Sachs in Turkey declined to comment.

Since Turkey’s currency crisis last year, where the lira halved in value at one stage, companies constrained by the currency weakness have sought to restructure their debts.

The weaker lira, which has fallen another 10 percent this year, has made it difficult for Turkish companies to service foreign-currency debts.

“They (Goldman Sachs) are not interested in complicated situations. They are interested in good loans for which the bank could provide a relative hair cut,” or discount, a second source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Some of the big corporate loans in Turkey that have been restructured or are being restructured include a $5.5 billion loan taken out by Yildiz Holding, which owns Godiva chocolates; a 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion) loan from restaurant group Dogus Holding; and a $4.75 billion loan for Turk Telekom’s previous shareholder OTAS.

Restructured loans make up more than 100 billion liras ($17 billion) of the loans in Turkey’s banking sector, which total 2.5 trillion lira, Finance Ministry data showed.

The non-performing loan ratio at banks rose to 4.2 percent in the wake of last year’s crisis and is expected to reach 6 percent by year-end, according to the ministry data.

The potential for big returns from distressed debt deals has already attracted attention in the financial markets.

Earlier this month, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it was ready to help with Turkish banks’ non-performing loans. In March, sources told Reuters that Japan’s Orix and U.S.-based Bain Capital were in talks to buy problematic loans from Turkish banks.

“Investment banks can talk to (Turkish) banks and take over these loans with a hair cut,” a distressed asset trader in London said. “But what is important here is how much of a hair cut there will be. It may take some time to be agreed upon,” he said.

As part of a reform plan announced this month by Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, loans in the energy and construction sector would be taken off banks’ balance sheets.

The Treasury will also issue 5-year debt instruments worth a total of 3.7 billion euros to strengthen the capital of state banks, it said on Monday.

(Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Tennessee Tech hires Pelphrey as coach

FILE PHOTO: University of South Alabama Jaguars head coach Pelphrey disagrees with official on call in his team's game in Jacksonville
FILE PHOTO: University of South Alabama Jaguars head coach John Pelphrey (R) disagrees with an official on a call in his team's game against the University of Florida Gators in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament in Jacksonville, Florida March 16, 2006. REUTERS/Mark Wallheiser/File Photo

April 6, 2019

Tennessee Tech announced Saturday that it has hired John Pelphrey as its basketball coach.

Pelphrey served on Alabama’s coaching staff for the past three seasons. He was a former head coach at South Alabama (2002-07) and Arkansas (2007-11).

“It’s an honor and privilege to be at Tennessee Tech,” Pelphrey said in a school news release. “My family and I, and our staff, were looking for a place where we could go and learn, lead and take on challenges in college basketball. We’re very appreciative of (athletic director) Mark Wilson and his pursuit of us. We have complete confidence and trust in him.

“We love the alignment between him and President (Phil) Oldham and their vision for basketball at Tennessee Tech moving into the future, and we are very, very excited to be a part of that. We understand that there’s a lot of work to do, but we’re going to embrace that.”

Pelphrey, 50, replaces Steve Payne, who compiled a 118-134 in eight seasons. The Golden Eagles were just 8-23 this past season.

Pelphrey went 80-67 at South Alabama and made the NCAA Tournament in 2006 as his club finished 24-7. He went 20-12 the following season before departing for Arkansas.

The Razorbacks went 23-12 and made the NCAA Tournament in his first season (2007-08). But the team had losing campaigns the following two seasons and he went 69-59 in four seasons before being fired in March 2011.

Pelphrey played college basketball at Kentucky and averaged 11.0 points in 114 games (89 starts) over four seasons (1988-92).

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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NTSB: Co-pilot in fatal NJ crash shouldn’t have been flying

The crew of a Learjet that crashed into office buildings near a New Jersey airport two years ago committed multiple mistakes during the 25-minute flight from Philadelphia, starting with the pilot’s decision to let the co-pilot fly the aircraft in violation of company policy, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded Tuesday.

Both pilots were killed in the fiery May 15, 2017, crash just south of Teterboro Airport, located about 8 miles (12 kilometers) from New York City that caters to private jets often carrying the rich and famous. No one else was aboard the aircraft.

NTSB investigators painted a picture of a flight beset by incorrect calculations, missed signals and miscommunication between the two pilots and air traffic controllers at Teterboro.

AIRLINES GROUND BOEING JET AFTER PLANE CRASHES IN ETHIOPIA

There was “widespread procedural noncompliance” on the part of the crew, according to NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt, beginning with the pilot’s decision to have the co-pilot take the controls. The co-pilot had had multiple difficulties during training and was designated by Trans-Pacific Jets to perform flight monitoring.

“The pilot had to extensively coach the co-pilot, while performing his own responsibilities,” Sumwalt said. “He did neither well, and both pilots lacked situational awareness.”

The NTSB faulted Trans-Pacific for inadequate safety monitoring of its operations. The Honolulu-based company hasn’t responded to a message left before business hours Tuesday.

The flight’s problems began even before the plane left Philadelphia, investigators concluded. The pilot initially requested to fly at 27,000 feet, an altitude far too high for a roughly 85-mile (136-kilometer) flight, and there was no evidence the two conducted a briefing on the approach procedures at the small Teterboro airport.

“Somebody needed to get together before they even started the engines and talk about this,” NTSB investigator David Lawrence said Tuesday.

A dozen times during the short flight, the co-pilot had trouble controlling the plane’s speed, Sumwalt said, and the crew initially mistook Newark Liberty International Airport’s runways for Teterboro’s as it headed north. After passing Newark, Teterboro’s air traffic controllers instructed the plane to turn east at a point just north of MetLife Stadium in preparation for a northward turn to Teterboro. But the crew, apparently uncertain about the approach procedure, didn’t execute the maneuver or ask for clarification from the tower.

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Now bearing down on the airport, the plane banked sharply to the right. One controller told investigators the turn was so extreme he could see the aircraft’s entire underbelly. The cockpit voice recorder revealed the expletive-filled final moments as the pilot took the controls back 15 seconds before impact.

The plane crashed into office buildings and a parking lot less than a mile from the runway. Employees at a public works building had left the crash site minutes earlier, according to an eyewitness.

Source: Fox News National

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BOJ signals readiness to combine steps if more stimulus needed

FILE PHOTO: A security guard walks past in front of the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: A security guard walks past in front of the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, Japan January 23, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato

April 23, 2019

By Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan is ready to ramp up stimulus, including through a combination of various steps, if the economy loses momentum for hitting its 2 percent inflation target, a senior central bank official said on Tuesday.

Eiji Maeda, the BOJ’s executive director overseeing monetary policy, added that any further step must take into account the impact it has not just on the economy but on the banking system.

“If the economy’s momentum for achieving our price target is threatened, we are ready to ease monetary policy as necessary,” Maeda told parliament.

The BOJ has various means available to ease, such as cutting interest rates, boosting asset purchases and accelerating the pace of money printing, he said.

“The BOJ has actively taken various unconventional steps. We’ll continue to take steps as needed, including a combination of them, with an eye on their effects and side-effects,” Maeda said.

At a two-day rate review ending on Thursday, the BOJ is widely expected to keep monetary policy steady even as its latest prediction will likely show inflation missing its target through the fiscal year that ends in March 2022.

The BOJ is in a bind. Years of heavy money printing have failed to fire up inflation to its 2 percent target and left it with little ammunition to fight the next recession.

Prolonged easing has also added to pains for regional banks, already facing slumping profits due to an ageing population and an exodus of borrowers to big cities.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher & Kim Coghill)

Source: OANN

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Wildfires rage across Britain after hottest winter day on record

A fire is seen burning on Saddleworth Moor near Diggle
A fire is seen burning on Saddleworth Moor near the town of Diggle, Britain, February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Super

February 27, 2019

By Jon Super

DIGGLE, England (Reuters) – Firefighters battled a series of wildfires in Britain on Wednesday, including a large moorland blaze outside the northern English city of Manchester, as the country experienced its warmest winter weather on record.

A fire started on Tuesday evening on Saddleworth Moor, an expanse of hills that is popular with hikers. It has since spread to an area about one-and-a-half square kilometers.

Large flames could be seen rising from the hillside as witnesses described “apocalyptic” scenes.

Laura Boocock, West Yorkshire Fire Service’s incident commander, told the BBC it was “one of the biggest moorland fires we’ve ever had to deal with”.

Five crews and two specialist moorland firefighting units were trying to contain the blaze. There have been no reports of any injuries.

The fire comes after Britain recorded its warmest winter day with a temperature of 21.2 Celsius in Kew Gardens in London.

Fire officials have not yet commented on what may have caused the blaze.

Last summer a fire on Saddleworth Moor, which required army assistance to tackle, took more than three weeks to extinguish.

Separately, on Tuesday a wildfire started in woodland made famous in AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories.Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, the inspiration for Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood, suffered two fires that began within an hour of each other.The local fire service said that “unusual warm weather this week” meant that the ground was drier than usual and could lead to a greater risk of outdoor fires.

In Scotland, firefighters battled through the night to extinguish a large gorse fire on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.

(Writing by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: OANN

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WWE’s next battle royale: Investor fans vs. shorts

FILE PHOTO: Saudi fans watch the WWE
FILE PHOTO: Saudi fans watch the WWE "Crown Jewel" World Cup 2018 tournament at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, November 2, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal al Nasser

March 28, 2019

By Sinéad Carew

(Reuters) – A brawl between World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s bears and bulls could reach a peak this year as the company renegotiates overseas contracts.

While a large contingent of short sellers have been betting that the stock will fall, WWE’s most ardent Wall Street fans say it will continue to rise even after outperforming the stock market last year and for much of 2019.

Shares in WWE soared 144 percent in 2018 as U.S. TV license deals that blew past analyst expectations with a 3.6-times hike in average annual value from its previous agreements.

The stock has risen another 13.6 percent so far this year as investors are betting on license renewals being negotiated in countries including India and the United Kingdom, which WWE expects to announce by mid-year.

Ten out of 13 analysts have buy ratings on the stock while three recommend holding the stock which last traded at $84.87. The mean share price target is $102.70 with the highest target at $157 and the lowest at $85, according to Refinitiv.

While the stock has already risen a lot on expectations for new business, Gabelli Funds analyst Alexandra Cowie says it still has room to gain further.

“I wouldn’t be selling before the contract news. Going in and coming out of announcements, it gets a double bump,” said Cowie, whose firm owns more than 174,000 WWE shares.

WWE is in an unusual entertainment category. Unlike traditional sports, its fights are scripted, but analysts measure its popularity against sports because it still involves athleticism and suspense.

The creator of Smackdown and Raw TV shows boasted a U.S. cable television viewership second only to the National Football League in 2018, according to Nielsen data. And in India, WWE viewership was second only to cricket, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Council.

Guggenheim analyst Curry Baker expects a U.K. renewal similar to WWE’s current contract there. But he anticipates a five-fold boost to its average annual revenue in India to $124 million.

“The market is underappreciating the India opportunity,” said Baker who has a $105 price target and a buy rating on WWE.

MKM analyst Eric Handler, who raised his price target for the stock to $110 from $95 on Tuesday, says a possible U.S. deal for a third weekly hour of Smackdown could add $50 million to annual revenue. The company declined to comment on the prospect of an additional hour.

WWE shares have fallen 7.9 percent since Thursday. On Wednesday, Chief Executive Vincent McMahon sold 3.2 million of his shares, or four percent of WWE’s shares outstanding, to fund a separate entity.

It also came under pressure as the broader market has been losing ground on worries about global economic growth. But analysts say WWE contracts – which are for around three to five years – provide some insulation against economic fluctuations.

In the United States, live sports have been a key draw for cable TV subscribers, at a time when many consumers are cutting the chord to avoid high monthly fees.

“It feels like one of the lower-risk higher-return names in the media space,” said Baker.

Still, about 17 percent of WWE’s float is sold short, according to data from S3 Partners which estimates short seller mark-to-market losses of $359 million since the start of 2018.

The bets against the stock can be partly attributed to hedging by investors in its convertible bonds due in 2023, according to BTIG analyst Brandon Ross. “That’s contributed to it,” he said.

Wolfe Research analyst Marci Ryvicker, is Wall Street’s biggest fan, with a price target of $157.

Wall Street expects 2020 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $460.59 million on $1.33 billion revenue, according to Refinitiv data. Ryvicker expects EBITDA of $510 million on revenue of $1.423 billion.

With this in mind, Ryvicker says WWE looks cheap compared with other sports peers, including Nicks basketball team owner Madison Square Garden Co and a Liberty Media Corp subsidiary which owns Formula One rights and Liberty’s subsidiary that owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team.

WWE’s enterprise value is roughly 14.8 times her 2020 EBITDA estimates compared with multiples of 32 for Madison Square Garden, 33.2 for Liberty’s Atlanta Braves subsidiary and 12.6 for the Formula One subsidiary, the analyst wrote.

WWE “has no reason not to trade right in-line with its closest peers,” Ryvicker said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Additional reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai, Lewis Krauskopf, Lance Tupper and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Editing by Alden Bentley and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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