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The coronavirus epidemic, and the economic and society lockdowns put in place to combat it, have body-slammed the financial world; the S&P 500 is still down 13% even after a 5 week rally, while oil prices are stuck in a doldrums, with Brent trading at just $30 and WTI at $25. Corporate earnings season has been grim, and some 120 S&P companies have rescinded their 2020 guidance while others have canceled dividend payments or stock buybacks.So, investors are confused; they aren’t seeing the usual signals that indicate what the market may do, and opinions are deeply divided on whether we’ll see a true rally or a long-term bear cycle. Writing from Wells Fargo, head of equity strategy Chris Harvey has come down on the bearish side, but with a caveat. “A near-term equity market pullback should not be unexpected – but we believe selloffs will be much shallower than those in the recent past,” he says, and goes on to add, “There still is substantial uncertainty, and the path forward is not set in stone. Market participants are deciphering shades of gray and for now we are accepting of data that is merely less bad.”Looking at possible ways forward, Harvey expects that the ‘shallower’ selloff will find support from dividend stocks. He’s predicting that the equity market’s current upward trend has pushed the dividend future contract up towards $50. He does not expect dividend stocks to falter in CY20; they are the logical defensive move for investors seeking to remain in the market while protecting their income stream.Harvey’s colleagues at Well Fargo are extrapolating from his general stance, and applying it to individual stocks. In a series of reports, the firm’s stock analysts outlined some low-cost, high-return dividend stocks that investors need to consider – and also one that may be too risky to try. We’ve pulled the details from the TipRanks database, so let’s find out what makes these stock moves so compelling.Energy Transfer LP (ET)We’ll start in the energy sector, where strong dividends are common. The collapse of oil prices – America’s WTI benchmark dipped into negative territory for the first time ever on April 20 – hurt the industry, but there is still some resilience there. Energy is a non-negotiable requirement in modern society, and there is always current demand for hydrocarbon products. Energy Transfer, a midstream company, is well positioned to take advantage of hydrocarbon demand; it controls pipelines, terminals, and storage tanks for both crude oil and natural gas in 38 states. The company operates mainly in the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana and Midwest-Appalachian regions.ET finished 2019 with a solid earnings report, beating both the EPS and revenue expectations while growing both metric year-over-year. Heading into Q1, the company had also increased its distributable cash flow by 2%, to $1.55 billion, an excellent signal for dividend investors. The company will report Q1 this evening, and the outlook is for 32 cents EPS, down 15.7% sequentially. At the same time, the revenue forecast is looking at a 6.8% yoy increase to $14.02 billion.The cash flow is likely to be the more important figure, as far as investors are concerned. ET has been keeping up reliable payments for the last eleven years, and the current quarterly dividend, of 30.5 cents, is set for payment on May 19. The current payout ratio is high but still affordable – and even if earnings drop to the expected 32 cents, the company will still be able to cover the dividend payment. And at 16%, the dividend yield is simply stellar – far higher than the 2% average among S&P listed companies.Analyst Michael Blum reviewed this stock for Wells Fargo, and took a clearly bullish position. Blum rates ET shares a Buy, with a $12 price target that suggests an impressive 59% upside potential for the coming year. (To watch Blum’s track record, click here)Supporting his stance on ET, Blum looks to the long-term and writes, “[H]ydrocarbon use will [not] dramatically decrease within the next ten years (and beyond) and thus, [we are] not concerned with obsolescence risk for its pipeline assets. The company would consider renewable investments if they met ET’s return thresholds. However, to date, returns for renewable projects are below that of midstream.”Overall, the analyst consensus on ET is a Moderate Buy, based on 13 recent reviews. The breakdown among those reviews skews positive, with 8 Buys versus 5 Holds. Shares are selling for $7.64, and the average price target of $11.85 implies an upside of 55%. (See ET stock analysis on TipRanks)MPLX LP (MPLX)Staying in the energy industry, we’ll look at MPLX. This company was spun off of Marathon Petroleum in 2012, to handle the oil giant’s midstream operations. Marathon still holds a controlling interest in MPLX, which in turn owns and operates assets in pipelines, terminals, inland river shipping, and refineries. MPLX operates in both the petroleum and natural gas midstream segments.MPLX has a seven-year history of growing its dividend, and the current payment of 68.75 cents per quarter is due out on May 15. Annualized, the dividend comes to $2.75 and gives a yield of 16%. Compared to current interest rates, which have been slashed to the bone in an attempt to counter the economic hit from the coronavirus shutdowns, this yield is a clear attraction for investors.The dividend is supported by a cash-rich business model. MPLX generated $4.1 billion in net cash during calendar year 2019, and returned $2.8 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. The company has reduced its capital spending for 2020 to compensate for reduced income during the 1H20 economic downturn. The company a heavy net loss for Q1, of $2.7 billion, but still was able to generate $1 billion net cash.Michael Blum, quoted above, also cast his gaze on MPLX. He wrote, “We entered 2020 with a defensive mindset… We continue to expect near-term volatility as crude storage fills and WTI oil prices likely head lower… the sector is technically oversold, which should create long-term buying opportunities for investors that have the wherewithal to step in… for investors with a bit more risk appetite, [MPLX] appears attractive on a multi-year time horizon…”In line with this stance, Blum gives MPLX a Buy rating. His $24 price target implies a strong upside potential here of 38%.For the most part, Wall Street appears to agree with Blum on MPLX. The stock has received 11 recent reviews, of which 8 are Buys and 3 are Holds, making the analyst consensus rating a Moderate Buy. Shares are currently trading for $17.72, while the average price target of $21.80 suggests a one-year upside potential of 23%. (See MPLX stock analysis on TipRanks)Bain Capital Specialty Finance (BCSF)The world of business development companies (BDCs) has long sparked the interest of investors. These companies invest capital into the business world, earning their own profits on the returns. Bain has $105 billion in assets under management, in real estate, venture capital, and both private and public equity. Current economic conditions have hit Bain hard, as many of the company’s portfolio assets are underperforming due to the coronavirus shutdowns.Despite volatile earnings, Bain is maintaining its dividend. The 41-cent dividend is sustainable at current earnings levels, and has been held steady for the past six quarter – but the payout ratio of 93% indicates that there is not much slack here. The yield, however, is 15.6%, so for investors willing to shoulder the risk, the reward may be substantial.Well Fargo analyst Finian O’Shea sees too much risk here to justify the possible reward. The analyst points out that BCSF has started process to open up a rights offering, putting common stock at a discount. This is a move to raise new capital fast, and shows softness in the stock’s position. O’Shea writes, “…this is the first of what the market speculates as a wave of below-NAV issuance in the BDC industry. We don’t see a big wave noting BCSF was more leveraged, at 1.72x net including revolvers as of 12/31 – so there was not a lot of mark to market leeway.”To this end, O’Shea rates the stock a Sell, predicting it will underperform in the coming year. In line with this, O’Shea cut the price target by nearly half, to $9.50, suggesting an 11% downside from current levels. (To watch O’Shea’s track record, click here)The Wall Street analyst corps, generally, are cautious on this stock. The consensus rating, a Hold, is based on a single Buy along with 2 Holds and 1 Sell. The upside is also modest; the average price target of $10.67 indicates room for just 0.66% growth from the $10.60 share price. (See Bain Capital stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

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(Bloomberg) — AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. jumped as much as 56% on a media report that Amazon.com Inc. has discussed a potential takeover of the largest U.S. movie-theater owner.It’s unclear if the talks are active or will lead to a deal, the U.K.’s Mail on Sunday newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. AMC and Amazon didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.AMC shares rose as much as $2.31 to $6.41 in premarket trading, and were up 41% to $5.76 at 9:37 a.m. in New York. The stock was down 43% this year through Friday, battered along with the rest of the cinema industry by a worldwide shutdown for the coronavirus pandemic.The reported talks are unlikely to spark a price war for AMC, Bloomberg Intelligence media analyst Amine Bensaid said in a note. “Movie-going is unlikely to fully bounce back in a post-Covid-19 world and may create risks for an acquirer,” he said. “AMC’s elevated debt load and unavoidable fixed costs means the company’s near-term financial flexibility will be severely challenged.”AMC showed its concern about existential threats with its reaction to last month’s straight-to-streaming release of the kids movie “Trolls World Tour,” which Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures crowed about as a high-grossing success. AMC said it would no longer show Universal’s movies.Along with its vast retail and web-services operations, Amazon is an active player in streaming with its Prime Video platform, along with releasing original films. Like Netflix Inc., Amazon is eager to shore up its burgeoning position in Hollywood as new and old players scrap for content deals. Buying a theater chain would guarantee another outlet for its movies.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Quidel Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) just released its latest quarterly results and things are looking bullish. The…

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St. Louis Fed President James Bullard joins Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christofourous, Brian Sozzi and Brian Cheung to discuss why he believes negative interest rates are not a clear remedy for the coronavirus-induced economic crisis in the United States, despite market bets on below-zero rates next year.

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Hedge funds don't get the respect they used to get. Nowadays investors prefer passive funds over actively managed funds. One thing they don't realize is that 100% of the passive funds didn't see the coronavirus recession coming, but a lot of hedge funds did. Even we published an article near the end of February and […]

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Quidel Corporation's (NASDAQ: QDEL) development of an antigen test for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a "game changer" in the world's fight against the pandemic, former Food and Drugs Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CBS on Sunday.The test was given emergency use authorization by the FDA late Friday.'Quick And Cost Effective'"I think this kind of technology is a real game changer…it's a very rapid test that could be used in a doctor's office," Gottlieb said at CBS "Face The Nation.""Doctors now have about 40,000 of these Sofia machines already installed in their offices. And you do a simple nasal swab and the test itself scans for the antigens that the virus produces."Gottlieb noted the test is cost-effective and quick to return results. "It'll probably be about five dollars a test and you can get a result within five minutes," he told CBS.According to the former FDA chairman, the test gives accurate results about 85% of the time. Those who don't return coronavirus positive from the test can then see an additional screening through PCR-based tests, which take up to 24 hours to give the results."For those [85%] patients that you could screen out right away, you're getting a very fast result and you can start to take action immediately," he said at the CBS show.CDC Guidelines Will Dictate Adoption If Quidel is able to produce 200,000 testing kits right away, and 1.5 million a week in the coming weeks, as it has suggested, it will "dramatically expand testing capacity in the United States, Gottlieb noted.The physician said that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities would need to come up with proper guidance to ensure that the doctors don't hesitate to test coronavirus patients using the antigen tests."If turning over a positive case in your medical office means that you have to do a deep cleaning and quarantine your nursing staff and close your office, doctors aren't going to be testing," he told CBS.Why It Matters There are more than 1.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. at press time, and the death toll is nearing 80,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health experts have warned of a worse second wave, if adequate preventative measures aren't put in place.Multiple vaccines, including those of Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO), are currently seeing clinical trials.Even a rapidly developed and approved vaccine is unlikely to be available until next year, according to White House Coronavirus Task Force lead member Anthony Fauci and others, making widespread testing the best-available preventative measure to curb the spread of the virus.Price Action Quidel shares closed 3.3% higher at $158.60 on Friday. The shares traded slightly lower in the after-hours session at $158.See more from Benzinga * Trump, Intel, TSMC Plan US 'Self-Sufficiency' In Semiconductors As Coronavirus Gives Supply-Chain Scare * Tesla's China Sales Dropped 64% In April, Even As Wider Market Recovered, CPCA Says * Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Cut Last Ties With The Company: Report(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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(Bloomberg) — In the equity market, fear of missing out seems to be overshadowing fear of all that’s wrong with the economy. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says pessimism will soon get the upper hand and send the S&P 500 Index down almost 20% in the next three months.Fiscal and monetary support over the past few weeks of the coronavirus pandemic successfully warded off a financial crisis, but a return to economic normalcy is still a long ways away and investors have gotten ahead of themselves, the bank’s chief U.S. equity strategist, David Kostin, wrote in a report.Financial, economic and political risks darken the outlook for domestic equities, Goldman warns. The bank cites the lack of flattening in the U.S. infection curve outside of New York, what promises to be a lengthy re-start process, a 50% hit to buybacks in 2020 and the risk of higher corporate taxes and de facto consumption taxes if U.S.-China trade tensions bubble up again.“A single catalyst may not spark a pullback, but a number of concerns and risks exist that we believe, and our client discussions confirm, investors are downplaying,” Kostin wrote. Goldman says the S&P 500 will probably drop to 2,400 over the next three months before it rebounds to 3,000 by year end.The index slumped 0.5% Monday to 2,914 as of 9:45 a.m. in New York.Kostin notes that large swaths of the investor community have failed to cash in on the S&P 500’s 31% surge since its trough on March 23. He points out that most mutual funds have underperformed since the bear market low, with long/short and macro hedge funds posting single-digit returns as a group, and investors may face pressure to chase the rally.“The ‘fear of missing out’ best describes the thought process,” Kostin said.But he warns that it’s a risky move. Even with measures of the breadth of the recent rally improving in recent days — potentially signaling more buy-in on the idea the gains will last — Goldman Sachs’ sentiment indicator has barely improved since mid-March.“Skepticism abounds regarding the likelihood the rally will continue,” the strategist writes.Kostin is pessimistic on the outlook for corporate profits, citing frozen growth plans and capital expenditures will drop 27% this year. He points out that the only encouraging driver for earnings is the swelling federal deficit, which in effect acts as substantial support for demand.Caution on equities may also be warranted in the face of stretched valuations — to the extent that anything about 2021’s bottom-line outlook can be discerned.The benchmark U.S. stock gauge trades at 19.5 times the buy side’s estimate of next year’s earnings, Kostin concludes, the highest level since 2002.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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