STOCKS TELEGRAPH

Tag: AFI

  • New Developments: Armstrong Flooring Inc. (AFI) Leaps Further After Hours

    New Developments: Armstrong Flooring Inc. (AFI) Leaps Further After Hours

    On December 31, the company announced amendments to ABL and term loan facilities along with the sale process of the company. Consequently, Armstrong Flooring Inc. (AFI) jumped higher in the after hours.

    During the regular session, the stock saw a slight gain of 1.54% at its closing price of $1.98 with 4.03M shares exchanging. Following the announcement, AFI stock took a leap of a hug 52.02% in the after-hours at 3.91M shares. Hence, the stock was trading at $3.01 apiece in the after hours.

    Founded in 1860, the flooring company, AFI has a market capitalization of $42.98 million. Currently, the company has 21.71 million shares outstanding in the market.

    AFI’s Recent Announcement

    As per December 31’s announcement, the company amended its ABL Credit Facility and Term Loan Facility. Moreover, the amendments were passed after receiving unanimous support from its ABL and Term Loan lenders. Furthermore, under the AFI’s ABL and Term Loan facilities, these amendments will provide some covenant modifications through June 30, 2022.

    Moreover, the company also received $35 million additional aggregate principal amount of term loans. These loans were provided by its current term loan lender, Pathlight Capital LP for pursuing operational and strategic goals.

    In addition, AFI announced the developments in its sale process as well. Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc. will be assisting the company with the process of the sale of AFI. Furthermore, the firm will also assist AFI in the consideration of other strategic alternatives. As per the board of directors, the sale of AFI and another strategic transaction will add to the company’s stockholders’ value.

    Further, the company will provide details on the amendments in its loan facilities in a current report on Form 8-K. AFI expects to file the report on Monday, January 3, 2022, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

    GOOD DESIGN® Awards

    On December 22, 2021, the company announced that its four products received the GOOD DESIGN 2020 Award. These products include ExchangeTM Luxury Flooring, TheoremTM Luxury Flooring, EmpowerTM Rigid Core, and Rest & RefugeTM Rigid Core. Moreover, all of these products have Diamond 10® Technology, which makes them resistant to scratch, stain, and scuff.

    AFI’s Financial Highlights

    AFI declared its third-quarter financial results on November 05, 2021. In the third quarter of 2021, the company generated net sales of $168.5 million with a net loss of $29.7 million. The net sales showed a growth of 8% year-over-year.

  • Early Morning Vibes: Check These 4 Hot Stocks Right Now

    Early Morning Vibes: Check These 4 Hot Stocks Right Now

    Yesterday the US indices plunged deep into the red again. The last two days have seen a brave recovery, but panic broke out yesterday. The S&P 500 index lost 2.45% from a position of 3,829 points and the Nasdaq index fell 3.52% and closed at 13,119 points. The rising bond yields are now really starting to hurt investors. Ten-year yields rose to 1.49% on Thursday and the US 30-year Treasury bond even yields 2.28%. For the first time since early 2020, you will now receive a higher interest rate on this long-term bond than you will receive in dividends on stocks (S&P 500). 

    Technology stocks in particular seem to be affected by these higher interest rates. In recent days, the Nasdaq has lost more than the S&P and Dow Jones. Refinancing debt simply becomes more expensive and thus attracting new capital becomes more difficult. Hardest stocks are hit the hardest, because investors can still get out there with good profits. For example, Baidu lost 10% yesterday and Tesla again lost more than 10%. NVIDIA fell 7.11% and Spotify lost a whopping 9.45%.

     Positive outliers were Twitter (+ 3.71%) and GameStop (+ 18.56%). Twitter revised its earnings forecast upwards and GameStop responded positively to the CFO replacement.
     Today, the sell-off seems to be taking another tail, as futures are sharply lower. In the US, the Nasdaq Future is already 0.7% in the red. 

    Meanwhile, it is hoped that the interest rate rise will cool down quickly, because we are currently seeing panic across the entire market. The VIX (Volatility Index) has risen to a level of 28 points and even gold and silver are being hit. People really seem to be looking for liquidity, because even Bitcoin (-8%) is significantly lower today.

    Today Top Movers

    Lixte Biotechnology Holdings Inc (LIXT)is up 29.97% to $4.90 in premarket trading today.

    Armstrong Flooring Inc. (AFI) stock soared 36.14% to $5.5 in the pre-market trading after signing a definitive agreement to sell South Gate, California property for $76.7 million.

    Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (AMEX: NAK) shares are trading up 33.14% at $0.932 at the time of writing.

    Sensus Healthcare Inc. (SRTS) grew over 15.18% at $4.4 in pre-market trading today. The company recently declared fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results.

    Top Upgrades & Downgrades

    Needham turned bullish on LivePerson Inc. (LPSN), upgrading the stock to “Buy” and assigning a $71.0 price target, representing a potential upside of 35.81% from Thursday’s close. 

    NetApp Inc. (NTAP) has won the favor of Daiwa’s equity research team. The firm upgraded the shares from Neutral to Outperform and moved their price target to $70, suggesting a 14.36% additional upside for the stock. 

    Spirit Realty Capital Inc. (SRC) received an upgrade from analysts at UBS. They changed their rating on SRC to Neutral from Sell in a recently issued research note.

    Earlier Friday Baird reduced its rating on Voyager Therapeutics Inc. (VYGR) stock to Neutral from Outperform and assigned the price target to $6. 

    Raymond James analysts reduced their investment ratings, saying in research reports covered by the media that it’s rating for Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) has been changed to Outperform from Strong Buy and the new price target is set at $120. 

    Analysts at SVB Leerink downgraded Pandion Therapeutics Inc. (PAND)’s stock to Market Perform from Outperform Friday.

    Latest Insider Activity

    PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL) EVP, Chief Strategy & Growth Auerbach Jonathan announced the sale of shares taking place on Feb 23 at $261.38 for some 46,134 shares. The total came to more than $12.06 million. 

    Tapestry Inc. (TPR) VP, Controller, and PAO Dadlani Manesh sold on Feb 24 a total of 19,753 shares at $41.47 on average. The insider’s sale generated proceeds of almost $6801. 

    Ford Motor Company (F) Director THORNTON JOHN L declared the purchase of shares taking place on Feb 23 at $11.62 for some 8,620 shares. The transaction amount was around $0.1 million. 

    DuPont de Nemours Inc. (DD) Director CURTIN TERRENCE R bought on Feb 22 a total 7,500 shares at $69.94 on average. The purchase cost the insider an estimated $524,549.

    Important Earnings

    Top US earnings releases scheduled for today include DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG). It will announce its Dec 2020 financial results. The company is expected to report earnings of -$0.47 per share from revenues of $232.6M in the three-month period. 

    Analysts expect Vistra Corp. (NYSE: VST) to report a net income (adjusted) of $0.76 per share when the company releases its quarterly results shortly. Revenue for the fiscal quarter ended Dec 2020 is predicted to come in at $3.39B. 

    EOG Resources Inc. (EOG), due to announce earnings before the market opens today, is expected to report earnings of $0.8 per share from revenues of $3.04B recently concluded three-month period.

  • This rise in the market trend is still far from over: Armstrong Flooring Inc. [AFI]

    This rise in the market trend is still far from over: Armstrong Flooring Inc. [AFI]

    During the past week, the stock was up 6.60% for Armstrong Flooring Inc., and for the previous month, it was down 5.16%. Its price is 5.76% year-to-date and 45.85% over the past year. The Company had short interest amounting to 0.47 million shares as of Jan 14, 2021. On Feb 11, 2021, short interest fell -5.61% to 25640.0 shares. Days to cover were 2.5. The company had nearly 0.44 million shares short a month ago.

    A leader in the global manufacture of flooring, Armstrong Flooring is a celebrated and trusted brand in the flooring industry. By consistently delivering on its mission to create a stronger future for customers through adaptive and innovative solutions, the company has built on its 1500-year legacy of resilience. Operating eight manufacturing facilities safely and responsibly, Armstrong Flooring is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

    WHAT’s NEW

    February 26, 2021, the company announced it has entered into a definitive agreement concluding the sale of its South Gate, California warehouse and manufacturing plant to an Overton Moore Properties affiliate for an amount of $76.7 million cash. An estimated $65 million will be received from Armstrong Flooring in cash, net of the fees and expenses on the deal, plus $10.5 million held in an environmental escrow account. Under customary closing conditions, the transaction is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2021.

    Armstrong Flooring will receive considerable financial and operational benefits from this acquisition. As previously announced, the Company is planning to sell the South Gate property and has taken steps to ensure a smooth transition. The company plans to close the factory in December 2020 in order to increase its tile manufacturing footprint. Two plants located in Illinois and Mississippi are producing products formerly manufactured at South Gate. In addition, the company’s warehouse in Southern California, which has started shipping to customers, has been expanded to 100,000 square feet. South Gate property is being replaced with the new warehouse, which will be sold in the transaction, and leased from the buyer for two months after closing. Investments in modernizing the Company’s five remaining facilities as well as the optimization of the manufacturing network are expected to result in increased efficiencies, lower costs, and higher capacity utilization.

    Finally,

    Wall Street analysts are certainly watching closely the recommendations of Armstrong Flooring Inc. According to current analyst evaluations, AFI has a Hold rating. A simple metric referring to the brokerage firm shows a current average recommendation of 2.00 for the stock. The value below 2 indicates a Buy recommendation, whereas those in the range of 2 to 3 suggest a Hold recommendation, and those above 3 advise investors to sell the stock.