Skechers upgraded on growth potential in the second half, shares soar

Skechers USA Inc. SKX, +14.78% stock soared 14% in Friday trading after blowout earnings were followed by a stock upgrade at Wedbush to outperform from neutral. Wedbush raised its price target to $46 from $31. "In our view, international wholesale and global direct-to-consumer can continue to outperform into the second half of 2019, driving improved leverage and earnings per share upside," wrote Wedbush analysts led by Christopher Svezia. Analysts are also encouraged by the U.S. business based on off-price comparisons, growth in the wholesale Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.47% account, and the product pipeline. Skechers also saw its price target raised at at least three research groups: Susquehanna Financial Group (up to $42 from $37), Cowen (up to $40 from $32) and Stifel (up to $44 from $35). "We are highly encouraged by the combination of strong end-market demand and SG&A [sales, general and administrative expenses] efficiency," Stifel wrote. "While still mindful of necessary systems investments and process improvements to support the current scale of the business, we see double-digit growth and leverage capacity as deserving of a higher multiple." Stifel rates Skechers stock buy. Skechers shares have soared 73.5% in 2019 so far while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.13% is up 19.8% for the period.

Twitter Goes Offline Briefly

Twitter suffered brief but widespread outage Thursday.

For nearly an hour Thursday, the social media network went offline.

And it was back by 4 pm ET in most of the parts in the world.

Twitter users were unable to upload photos and videos or send messages in the app or on desktop.

The social media gave an update shortly after the outage.

“Twitter is back up for some people, and we’re working to make sure our service is available to everyone as quickly as possible. The interruption was due to an internal system change, which we’re now fixing. We’re sorry for the inconvenience and should be at 100% soon”.

It comes just a week after Facebook and its other social media platforms suffered a lengthy outage.

Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp experienced technical glitches for hours, as users could not upload or view photos, videos and other files online on July 3.

Donald Trump: Are British politicians afraid of the president?

In today’s podcast, we ask why UK politicians won’t call Donald Trump out over racist language. Meanwhile, 17 people are injured after “rogue racers” crash into a crowd of car enthusiasts in Stevenage.

:: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker.

Canadiens sign Hudon to one-year deal

MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens have signed forward Charles Hudon to a one-year, US$800,000 contract.

Hudon, 25, had three goals and two assists in 32 games with the Canadiens last season.

The native of Alma, Que., has 13 goals and 26 assists in 110 career NHL games with Montreal

The five-foot-10, 196-pound left-winger was the Canadiens’ fifth-round pick (122nd overall) in 2012.

Worried about going cashless? Bias in the media?

This week, Greg Dyke baffles younger members of the panel by revealing he prefers to pay for goods with cash.

:: Listen to The Pledge on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Spreaker

Also:

Is Donald Trump racist?

Would it be wrong to force through a no-deal Brexit?

Is the mainstream media biased towards remainers?

Should police tell journalists how to do their job?

Toronto police investigating ‘sudden death’ near Bloor and Dovercourt

Toronto police say they are investigating a sudden death near Bloor Street West and Dovercourt Road area.

Police said they received a medical call shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday morning.

Investigators said homicide has been contacted and will take over the investigation.

More to come…

737 MAX Grounding To Cost Boeing $4.9 Bln

Boeing expects to record a hefty charge and increased costs in the second quarter, related to the 737 MAX grounding and associated delivery delays. The aircraft maker will report results for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 on June 24.

Boeing sees charges of $4.9 billion or $8.74 per share on the potential concessions and other considerations to customers for disruptions related to the 737 MAX grounding. This will translate to a $5.6 billion reduction of revenue and pre-tax earnings in the second quarter, the company said in a statement.

Further, Boeing said the estimated costs to produce the aircraft in the 737 accounting quantity increased by $1.7 billion in the second quarter, primarily due to higher costs associated with a longer than expected reduction in the production rate.

In its fiscal 2019 outlook, Boeing had not included impacts related to the 737 MAX grounding as they were unsure on the timing of return to service of the aircraft.

All Boeing 737 MAX aircrafts, including the 8 and 9 variants, were grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from March 13 following crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia killing 346 people in total.

Boeing has been working with the FAA, Department of Transportation (DOT), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and other regulatory authorities for lifting the grounding and to get the 737 MAXs back in the air.

Worker dies after industrial equipment blast in west-end Toronto, police say

Toronto police say one person was killed in an industrial incident on Thursday.

Police say they received reports of equipment exploding at the west-end site.

Crews were called to the North Queen Street and Shorncliffe Road area just before 11:30 a.m.

They say a worker was hit by metal from the blast and died en route to hospital.

The Ministry of Labour is investigating.