Buy The Ramco Cement; target of Rs 918: Motilal Oswal

Motilal Oswal's research report on The Ramco Cement

TRCL��s volumes grew 20% YoY to 2.74mt (est. of 2.6mt) in 4QFY18, driven by strong growth in the eastern market. South volumes also grew at a healthy pace. Cement realizations stood at INR4,571/ton (+2.7% YoY, -0.8% QoQ) v/s our estimate of INR4,539/ton due to weaker prices in south. Revenue grew 23% YoY to INR12.5b, better than our estimate of INR11.9b, due to the realization beat.

Outlook

We estimate 17%/24% EBITDA/PBT CAGR over FY18-20. The stock trades at EV of 13x FY20E EBITDA, and USD158/ton (FY20E). Maintain Buy with TP of INR918 (valuing at 15x FY20E EBITDA), implying 15% upside.

For all recommendations report,�click here

Disclaimer:�The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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10 Money Mistakes To Avoid This Year

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&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-1092245297&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1092245297/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;656&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

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There&a;rsquo;s a lot of talk about what to do right with your money.

Now, let&a;rsquo;s talk about what some do &l;em&g;wrong&l;/em&g; with their money, and what you can do to avoid their mistakes.

Here are 10 money mistakes that you should avoid this year:

&l;ol&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Skipping a payment&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

You got busy. You forgot. The balance was just too high. So, you skipped making the payment when it was due.

No.

Don&a;rsquo;t skip a payment. Whether it&a;rsquo;s a student loan, personal loan, credit card, auto loan or mortgage, you have a contractual commitment to repay your debt. Of course, you can skip whatever payments you want, but you&a;rsquo;ll be assessed fees and penalties. Plus, missed payments can hurt your credit score.

&l;ol start=&q;2&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Making a late payment&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

While not as bad as outright skipping a payment, a late payment also can hurt your credit score. Each month, your goal should be to make on-time payments in full. To avoid late or missed payments, enroll in auto pay. It will save time and headaches.

&l;ol start=&q;3&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Not creating an emergency fund&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

Too many think disaster will never strike, or it only happens to certain people.

Survey says? Look, things will go wrong. It will happen before you realize it happens. An emergency fund is the safety net that you need in place before disaster strikes. Consider it a financial first aid kit.

At a minimum, you should save 6-9 months (preferably longer) of cash in a separate bank account to cover necessary expenses in case you unexpectedly lose your job, get sick or have another unforeseen expense. Don&a;rsquo;t postpone or go without an emergency fund -&a;nbsp; you need one.

&l;ol start=&q;4&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Borrowing debt you can&a;rsquo;t pay back&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

Gaining access to credit often is easier than you think. However, if you can&a;rsquo;t pay back that debt in full or afford the monthly payments, then don&a;rsquo;t borrow the debt. It sounds simple, but too many ignore this basic principle. Do your homework. Understand your interest rate and monthly payment.

The last thing you want is to borrow debt you can&a;rsquo;t repay - and then you&a;rsquo;re stuck with a big bill.

&l;ol start=&q;5&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Buying more house than you can afford&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

Buying a house can be a smart move for you and your family. It can help build a foundation and bring stability to your life.

When you find your dream home, it&a;rsquo;s also easy to borrow more than you can afford. Separate the beauty from cost of the house - they are two different things. One is for you to enjoy; the other you need to pay for.

&l;ol start=&q;6&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Not refinancing student loans&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

Student loan refinancing enables you to combine your existing federal and private student loans into a new, single student loan with a lower interest rate. The result can be a lower monthly payment with a single payment, due date and student loan servicer.

To get approved, you will need strong credit (preferably 680 or higher) and strong income, but the savings can be significant. Lenders also may evaluate your monthly cash flow and debt-to-income ratio, including other factors. You can apply to multiple lenders at once, and even check your new rate before your credit is checked. Approval is not guaranteed, but it&a;rsquo;s worth the try to how much you could save.

This &l;a href=&q;https://www.makelemonade.co/calculators/student-loan-refinancing-calculator/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;free student loan refinancing calculator&l;/a&g; can show you how much you can save.

&l;ol start=&q;7&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Not consolidating credit card debt with a personal loan&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

Credit cards can be great financial tools. If you have credit card debt, however, you could be paying 10-20% interest.

One option is to consolidate your credit card debt with a personal loan. A &l;a href=&q;https://www.makelemonade.co/what-is-a-personal-loan/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;personal loan&l;/a&g; is unsecured credit that is typically repaid within 3-7 years. If you can obtain a lower interest rate with a personal loan compared to your credit card interest rate, you could save interest costs.

You can use this &l;a href=&q;https://www.makelemonade.co/calculators/personal-loan-calculator/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;free personal loan calculator&l;/a&g; to determine how much you could save on your monthly payments.

&l;ol start=&q;8&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Borrowing against your retirement account&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

Your retirement account is there for a simple reason: to help cover your expenses in retirement.

If you make an early withdrawal, you could face a penalty&a;nbsp; as well as taxes. Likewise, taking a loan against your retirement account also is a risky proposition, even with a relatively low interest rate. There&a;rsquo;s always a chance you can&a;rsquo;t pay back the loan, or won&a;rsquo;t be able to &a;ldquo;replenish&a;rdquo; your retirement savings.

&l;ol start=&q;9&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Not using financial calculators&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

When you make a financial decision, it&a;rsquo;s helpful to quantify that decision. A &l;a href=&q;https://www.makelemonade.co/calculators/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;financial calculator&l;/a&g; can help make a complex decision simpler. Why? Financial calculators provide transparency, and they are essential tools to help you make better decisions.

&l;ol start=&q;10&q;&g;&l;li&g;&l;strong&g; Not comparison shopping for financial products&l;/strong&g;&l;/li&g;

&l;/ol&g;

When you buy a financial product &a;ndash; a student loan, credit card, personal loan, auto loan or any other product &a;ndash; you want to comparison shop. Understand the differences among your choices. Determine the best rates and the best terms for your specific situation.

If you can avoid these 10 mistakes, you&a;rsquo;re in better shape than most. Feels good to be ahead of the pack, right?

&a;nbsp;

&l;/div&g;

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Does Drug Testing for Marijuana Tell Us Anything?

Earlier this month, Quest Diagnostics, the world’s leading supplier of diagnostic services, released its 2018 Drug Testing Index reporting results of U.S. employers’ 2017 drug-tests. The good news is that compared to the index reading of 13.8% in 1988, the first year the company performed its analysis, the index reading has fallen by two-thirds in 2017 to 4.2%.

The overall index has two components: the first reports on testing on the federally defined safety-sensitive workforce (airline pilots, nuclear power plant workers, bus and taxi drivers) and the second on the general workforce.

We wrote a few weeks ago about the more lenient approach some employers are taking toward potential employees who test positive for marijuana. Some, like AutoNation, have announced that they no longer test for marijuana, while others either don’t ask for marijuana testing or ignore the reported results.

The Quest Diagnostics report for 2017 notes that “marijuana positivity rising sharply in states with newer recreational use statutes” and points out that positive urine test results have risen by 43% in Nevada, 14% in Massachusetts and 11% in California since these states enacted marijuana legalization laws in 2016.

Quest’s senior director of science and technology, Barry Sample, commented:

These increases are similar to the increases we observed after recreational marijuana use statues were passed in Washington and Colorado. While it is too early to tell if this is a trend, our data suggests that the recreational use of marijuana is spilling into the workforce, including among individuals most responsible for keeping our communities safe.

Too early indeed. The first sales of recreational marijuana in California did not happen until after the first of January this year, so the 11% uptick in 2017 has to be attributable to something else. The first legal recreational sales in Massachusetts don’t happen until July 1, 2018. Nevada dispensaries began selling legal recreational marijuana on July 1, 2017.

Year over year, the 2017 rise in combined positive tests for marijuana rose by 5%, while among the general workforce the year-over-year increase was 4%, and it was more than 7% in the safety-sensitive workforce.

Here are the positive test percentages for marijuana for the past five years in the U.S. workforce:

2013:
>Safety-sensitive: 0.67%
>General workforce: 2.1%
>Combined: 1.7% 2014:
>Safety-sensitive: 0.71%
>General workforce: 2.4%
>Combined: 1.9% 2015:
>Safety-sensitive: 0.71%
>General workforce: 2.5%
>Combined: 1.9% 2016:
>Safety-sensitive: 0.78%
>General workforce: 2.5%
>Combined: 2.0% 2017:
>Safety-sensitive:0.84%
>General workforce: 2.6%
>Combined: 2.1%

The other thing to keep in mind is that urine tests detect non-psychoactive marijuana traces for days to weeks after use, long after any impairment has passed. For regular users, the period stretches from seven to 100 days, according to California NORML.

Cannabis Business Executive has more details on marijuana testing and the Quest Diagnostics report on all drugs is available from the company’s website.

ALSO READ: The Next 15 States to Legalize Marijuana

Unseasonably Cold Weather To Dampen Lowe's First Quarter Results

&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/companies/lowes-cos/&q;&g;Lowe&a;rsquo;s&l;/a&g; (NYSE: LOW) is slated to report its first quarter earnings on May 23, wherein a 5% rise in revenues and a 23% growth in earnings is expected. Revenue growth is expected to be driven by the improving housing market, as well as an increase in online sales. However, the unseasonably cold weather conditions during April may play a dampener on the sales growth, as it did with Home Depot. The substantial growth in earnings is expected to be a result of the decline in taxes. For a company like Lowe&a;rsquo;s, which generates a bulk of its revenues from the U.S., the decline in the corporate tax rate will be immensely beneficial. For FY 2018, Lowe&a;rsquo;s has guided for a 4% growth in sales, 3.5% improvement in comps (deceleration compared to FY 2017), with a flat gross margin and continued decline in the operating margin.

&l;a href=&q;http://dashboards.trefis.com/no-login-required/6O5ko3cd?fromforbesandarticle=unseasonably-cold-weather-to-dampen-lowes-first-quarter-results&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;img class=&q; wp-image-184208 size-full&q; src=&q;http://blogs-images.forbes.com/greatspeculations/files/2018/05/low21-e1526926696470.jpg?width=960&q; alt=&q;&q; data-height=&q;267&q; data-width=&q;532&q;&g;&l;/a&g;

We have a &l;a href=&q;https://www.trefis.com/company.jsp?hm=LOW.trefis&a;amp;from=widget:forecast&a;amp;ovd_urlid=847763#&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;$105 price estimate for Lowe&a;rsquo;s&l;/a&g;, which is higher than the current market price. The charts have been made using our new, interactive platform. The various &l;a href=&q;http://dashboards.trefis.com/no-login-required/6O5ko3cd?fromforbesandarticle=unseasonably-cold-weather-to-dampen-lowes-first-quarter-results&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;driver assumptions can be modified by clicking here&l;/a&g;, to gauge their impact on the earnings and price per share metric.

&l;strong&g;Factors That May Impact The Performance&l;/strong&g;

&l;strong&g;1. Colder Than Normal Weather Conditions:&l;/strong&g; Poor weather conditions during the month of April in some parts of the country may have had an impact on the traffic, as well as on the sales of outdoor items, particularly in the gardening category. This same factor resulted in &l;a href=&q;https://www.trefis.com/articles/440895/home-depot-deals-with-the-winter-blues-in-the-first-quarter/2018-05-16&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Home Depot reporting a miss on analyst estimates for revenue&l;/a&g; in their recently reported first quarter results, when snowy conditions in April resulted in just a &l;a href=&q;https://seekingalpha.com/article/4174391-home-depots-hd-ceo-craig-menear-q1-2018-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;2.2% rise in comparable sales growth in the month&l;/a&g;. In the first quarter for Home Depot, the comps improved 4.2% for the company as a whole, and 3.9% in the U.S., lower than the 5.6% and 5.5% anticipated by analysts.

&l;strong&g;2. Strong Macroeconomic Conditions:&l;/strong&g; Unemployment is at its lowest since 2000, and wages are improving. Although interest rate hikes make mortgages more expensive, on the whole, it is indicative of a strong economy. These factors signal a solid U.S. economy, and have given rise to supportive housing fundamentals. This bodes well for a company like Lowe&a;rsquo;s that is heavily reliant on the improvement of the housing industry.

&l;strong&g;3. Effect of Tariffs On Housing Market:&l;/strong&g; According to the &l;a href=&q;https://mi.archcapgroup.com/Portals/1/Documents/hammr/HaMMR_Spring2018.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Housing and Mortgage Market Review&l;/a&g; published by Arch MI, a leading mortgage insurance provider in the United States, the direct impact of the steel and aluminum tariffs on the housing market are expected to be &a;ldquo;inconsequential.&a;rdquo; As per the review, although the costs of some building construction materials will rise, the direct impact on the total cost of a new home should be relatively insignificant. This is because steel frames accounted for less than 0.5% of new single-family houses and about 4% of multifamily buildings, according to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. On the other hand, the imposition of lumber tariffs can raise the cost of building the average new single-family home by an estimated $1,400 and each multi-family unit by roughly $500, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

&l;strong&g;4. Growth Driven By Omnichannel Segment:&l;/strong&g; Lowe&a;rsquo;s has provided an upgraded online shopping experience, with enhanced functionality and optimization for touch and mobile devices. The company&a;rsquo;s MyLowe&a;rsquo;s platform has also helped to drive brand loyalty and build deeper relationships with customers, a consequence of which has been that MyLowe&a;rsquo;s members spend approximately 35% more on average than non-members. Lowe&a;rsquo;s also provides flexible fulfillment options of buy online, pick up in store, and buy online, deliver from store, besides making it easier for customers to engage with its in-home project specialists to request services. As a result of the efforts undertaken by the company, 60% of the online orders are picked up in the store, with 40% of those customers buying incremental products when they go to collect their products. Lowe&a;rsquo;s has received positive feedback for its omnichannel initiatives, a key factor in driving a &l;a href=&q;https://seekingalpha.com/article/4151753-lowes-cos-low-q4-2017-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;28% online comps improvement in the fourth quarter of FY 2017&l;/a&g;, and 34% for the year. We expect strong growth from this segment to continue.

&l;!--nextpage--&g; &l;strong&g;5. Margin Pressure To Remain:&l;/strong&g; A number of factors resulted in margin pressure for Lowe&a;rsquo;s in FY 2017. This included the greater focus by the company on getting more competitive, and increasing its value perception among consumers, in order to gain market share, which resulted in higher staff and marketing expenditure. This is expected to continue this year. Moreover, Home Depot cited higher transportation costs as a factor for margin pressure in Q1. This should have a negative impact on Lowe&a;rsquo;s results, as well. The company has guided for a flat gross margin for this year, along with a decline in operating margins, as mentioned earlier.

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What&a;rsquo;s behind Trefis? See How It&a;rsquo;s Powering New Collaboration and What-Ifs

For &l;strong&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.trefis.com/info/trefis-technology&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;CFOs and Finance Teams&l;/a&g;&l;/strong&g; | &l;strong&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.trefis.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Product, R&a;amp;D, and Marketing Teams&l;/a&g;&l;/strong&g;

&l;strong&g;&l;a href=&q;http://www.trefis.com/&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;More Trefis Research&l;/a&g;&l;/strong&g;

Like our charts? Explore &l;a href=&q;https://dashboards.trefis.com/signupDashboard&q; target=&q;_blank&q; rel=&q;noopener noreferrer&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;example interactive dashboards&l;/a&g; and create your own.

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AeroCentury (ACY) Cut to C at TheStreet

TheStreet downgraded shares of AeroCentury (NYSEAMERICAN:ACY) from a b rating to a c rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of AeroCentury from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th.

Get AeroCentury alerts:

AeroCentury opened at $15.75 on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. AeroCentury has a 52-week low of $9.98 and a 52-week high of $17.34.

AeroCentury (NYSEAMERICAN:ACY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 6th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.16. AeroCentury had a return on equity of 3.75% and a net margin of 4.61%. The business had revenue of $11.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.12 million.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Perritt Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in AeroCentury by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 70,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,877 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in AeroCentury by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in AeroCentury by 45.2% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 42,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter.

About AeroCentury

AeroCentury Corp., together with its subsidiaries, acquires and leases aircraft and aircraft engines to regional airlines in the United States and internationally. The company provides operating and finance leasing services of mid-life regional aircraft to carriers. It also sells aircraft from its operating lease portfolio to third parties, which includes other leasing companies, financial services companies, and airlines, as well as engages in parting out aircraft.