The opportunity to work for a sustainability-focused company that protects the environment has really been a strong selling point for our recruiting team. Over the past several years, we've made substantial investment in our workforce. These have included offering additional benefits, absorbing healthcare cost increases, increasing compensation, and promoting more employees from within. These investments have resulted in a decreased voluntary turnover. After a brief uptick in the second half of 2021, voluntary turnover has since receded to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Clean Harbors is a place where many people have built and are continuing to build successful career. With more now than 6,000 of our employees having been with us over 10 years, and of those even 1,500 have been here more than 25 years. That creates a lot of stability across our business and a wealth of institutional knowledge that enables us to train the next generation of leaders here.
Heavy debt load is the negative here but it seems managed well_ Turning to the balance sheet on slide 10. Cash and short-term marketable securities at quarter-end were $415 million. The decline from year-end was expected and reflects typical Q1 seasonality and incentive compensation that was paid out in March for the terrific 2021 financial results. We ended the quarter with debt of just over $2.5 billion. Leverage on a net debt trailing 12-months EBITDA basis was approximately 3 times. Based on the midpoint of our new 2022 EBITDA and free cash flow guidance, we expect to reduce our leverage to approximately 2.2 times at year-end. Our weighted average cost of debt is 4.46% with about 70% of our debt at fixed rates. While the market finally saw its first rate hike in two years in March, we believe we are well positioned even in a rising interest rate environment.
BUY CAT! Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) Wait for $210.50 207.19+2.86 (+1.40%) At close: May 16 04:00PM EDT 212.00 +4.81 (+2.32%)<-------------- Pre-Market: 9:10AM EDT
White House to suggest Europeans continue buying Russian oil ? US Treasury officials said Tuesday they plan to propose European countries impose tariffs on Russian oil, rather than blocking imports altogether, according to sources cited by Reuters. Weird. Russia will just cut it when they see fit.
RH-$288 ? Morgan Stanley sees significant opportunity ahead for Restoration Hardware Holdings (NYSE:RH). In an initiation note released on Monday, the New York-based bank termed the company the “brand with the most long-term upside potential in our coverage”, assigning a $400 price target to shares. The target reflects a significant premium to Friday’s closing price of $289.65. “We view RH as a well-managed business with a strong track record of execution and ability to grow revenue, expand into new TAMs, and expand its margins (which sit at the high end of our coverage) over time,” Equity Analyst Simeon Gutman said. “ He added that the company is a “share gainer with pricing power” that is insulated from some inflationary concerns via its high-end product range. Further, an international expansion underway could provide more upside alongside more share repurchase optionality. To be sure, Gutman was concerned about short term pressures that will limit the stock’s ability to reflect this upside. He noted that the company’s exposure to macro risks, especially of a recession, temper his confidence in the 12-month trajectory for shares. "RH's current stock price largely already factors in recession risk rather than a structural dislocation in valuation," Gutman concluded. "Despite our belief in the long-term earnings potential of the business and we can envision RH being an attractive core holding...it could take an extended period for fears of economic weakness to dissipate." As a result, despite the $400 price target, Gutman assigned an “Equal-Weight” rating to the stock. He concluded that as “recession risks loom” even the “transcendent” RH brand is range-bound and subject to a vibrant bull-bear debate over retail normalization post-pandemic.
Well its easy to write that when the futures are up 450 points. Hey that stock FOUR... only about 800 shares have traded. Anything around $49 is a good short. It looks like its bouncing around a multi-year low. Bad call Stoney.
In my dealings with HF types over the years a few have really caught my attention. In my view David is one of the very brightest of the bunch. This is about a week old- Appaloosa's David Tepper: `I covered Nasdaq short' May 10, 2022 8:57 AM ETNASDAQ 100-Index (NDX)QQQ Billionaire hedge fund manager David Tepper said that he covered his Nasdaq short. Tepper expects the Nasdaq index to hold at 12,000, according to CNBC's Jim Cramer, who spoke to Tepper, the founder and president of hedge fund Appaloosa Management, earlier. Tepper believes "the sell-off could be concluding," he told CNBC's Cramer.