Aqua America Hits All-Time High

Koninklijke Philips (NYSE: PHG) has moved to expand its rapidly growing digital pathology business, acquiring Northern Ireland-based PathXL. PathXL provides an array of software applications that basically improves the analysis of cancerous tumors. The terms of the deal weren’t publicly disclosed.

Philips has put a particular emphasis on its healthcare business recently, with the segment making big contributions to the company’s growth as the lighting business has slowed down a bit over the years. This latest acquisition will push Philips further into the computational pathology market as well as image analytics, both have which have been doubling every year for the past few years.

Koninklijke Philips is a buy up to $35.

While we feel the Brexit referendum is too close to call, apparently investors in British companies are more than a little hopeful. U.K.-headquartered InterContinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG) jumped by more than 6% on Monday, with the only news being that several polls showed the “Stay” votes were slightly ahead of “Leave.” Those poll positions have been changing day-by-day though, so for now we wouldn’t make any bets one way or the other.

That said, Europe accounts for less than 15% of InterContinental Hotels Group’s annual revenue, with the U.K. amounting to just a sliver of that. At nearly half of revenue, the Americas are, by far, the biggest moneymaker for the hotel operator. Regardless of how the Brexit vote turns out, the company should emerge relatively unscathed thanks to its geographic diversification.

InterContinental Hotels Group is a buy under $45.

Shares of Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) hit a new all-time high last week after releasing updated earnings guidance for 2016. The water utility reiterated that it expects earnings per share to come in between $1.30 – $1.35, with the top end of the range above the consensus analyst estimate of $1.33.

The company has closed on a number of acquisitions over the past year or so, boosting it customer count and achieving greater economies of scale. It added more than 4,700 new customer connections in the first quarter alone, which should provide a nice boost to earnings going forward.

Between rapid growth and its growing dividend, Aqua America is a great buy under $35.

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