Avoid, Avoid and Sell

John Ransom | May 01, 2014 3:15 PM

Welcome to John Ransom’s Stocks in the News where the headlines meet the trendlines.

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Stock number one: Yelp, Inc.

Yelp's Q1 Loss Narrower than Expected—Zack's

Yelp Inc. (YELP) incurred a loss of 4 cents per share in the first quarter of 2014, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 6 cents per share. It was also narrower than loss of 7 cents reported in the year ago quarter. This improvement was primarily attributable to robust revenue growth.

Revenue

Revenues for the quarter surged 65.6% from the year-ago quarter to $76.4 million. Reported revenues were ahead of management’s guided range of $73.5 million to $74.5 million as well as the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $75.0 million.

Symbol: YELP

Trailing PE: NA; Forward PE: 176

PEG: -22.76

Dividend: NA

Estimate Trend: Flat

Ransom Note Trendline: Avoid Yelp

YELP data by YCharts

Stock number two: Avon Products Inc.

Avon to pay $135 M to settle bribery charges—Associated Press

Avon Products Inc. will pay $135 million to settle a long-standing U.S. government probe into whether the cosmetics company paid bribes in China and other countries to gain favors. Avon, the world's largest direct seller of cosmetics, said it would fork over $68 million to the Justice Department and $67 million to resolve the dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The preliminary resolution still needs SEC authorization and court approval, according to documents filed with the regulatory agency Thursday.

General Cable Corporation (BGC) reported today results for the first quarter ended March 28, 2014. For the first quarter of 2014, excluding certain items, the Company recorded adjusted loss per share of ($0.05) and adjusted operating income of $27 million. For the first quarter of 2014, reported loss per share was ($6.42) and reported operating loss was ($237) million. A reconciliation of adjusted earnings per share to reported earnings per share and adjusted operating income to reported operating income is included on page 3 of this press release.

Symbol: BGC

Trailing PE: NA; Forward PE: 11

PEG: 1.72

Dividend: 2.80

Estimate Trend: Down

Ransom Note Trendline: Sell General Cable