#CSuite Ascot Group Launches Bermuda Reinsurer; Berger Appointed CEO http://bit.ly/2n8H9HZ
— Muzaffaruddin Alvi (@Muzaffar1969) November 27, 2017
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Twenty Practical Steps to Better Corporate Governance | The Corporate Secretaries International Association (CSIA)
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Showing posts with label 2017 at 07:26PM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2017 at 07:26PM. Show all posts
Monday, November 27, 2017
#CSuite Ascot Group Launches Bermuda Reinsurer; Berger Appointed CEO http://bit.ly/2n8H9HZ
#CSuite Ashish Kishore – Ashish Kishore Hospitality NetFull coverage http://bit.ly/2zJ4ndC
#CSuite Ashish Kishore – Ashish Kishore Hospitality NetFull coverage http://bit.ly/2zJ4ndC
— Muzaffaruddin Alvi (@Muzaffar1969) November 27, 2017
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Monday, August 14, 2017
@SocietyCorpSec: SEC announces search for PCAOB Chair successor & new board members http://bit.ly/2fFDqy9 #corpgov
SEC announces search for PCAOB Chair successor & new board members http://bit.ly/2fFDqy9 #corpgov
— Corporate Governance (@SocietyCorpSec) August 14, 2017
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August 14, 2017 at 07:17PM
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Tuesday, July 4, 2017
@ICSA_News: RT @SKrimowa: Income inequality and #CorpGov being discussed #ICSAConf #richardwilkinson #theequalitytrust
Income inequality and #CorpGov being discussed #ICSAConf #richardwilkinson #theequalitytrust
— Symone Krimowa (@SKrimowa) July 4, 2017
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July 04, 2017 at 07:21PM
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@ICSA_News: RT @brainloop_en: Are you ready for ice cream? Swing by our stand at #ICSAConf and grab some đŚđ #CoSec #corpgov #boardroom @ICSA_News http://bit.ly/2ulQTyf
Are you ready for ice cream? Swing by our stand at #ICSAConf and grab some
#CoSec #corpgov #boardroom @ICSA_News http://pic.twitter.com/ctq9q01CEF
— BrainloopUK (@brainloop_en) July 4, 2017
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Thursday, June 15, 2017
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Monday, June 12, 2017
Chart of the Day: Mallmageddon—-30,000 Stores Expected To Close Over 2017-2019
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
We use big data to sentence criminals. But can the algorithms really tell us what we need to know?
Melissa Hamilton at the Conversation: “In 2013, a man named Eric L. Loomis was sentenced for eluding police and driving a car without the owner’s consent.
When the judge weighed Loomis’ sentence, he considered an array of evidence, including the results of an automated risk assessment tool called COMPAS. Loomis’ COMPAS score indicated he was at a “high risk” of committing new crimes. Considering this prediction, the judge sentenced him to seven years.
Loomis challenged his sentence, arguing it was unfair to use the data-driven score against him. The U.S. Supreme Court now must consider whether to hear his case – and perhaps settle a nationwide debate over whether it’s appropriate for any court to use these tools when sentencing criminals.
Today, judges across the U.S. use risk assessment tools like COMPAS in sentencing decisions. In at least 10 states, these tools are a formal part of the sentencing process. Elsewhere, judges informally refer to them for guidance.
I have studied the legal and scientific bases for risk assessments. The more I investigate the tools, the more my caution about them grows.
The scientific reality is that these risk assessment tools cannot do what advocates claim. The algorithms cannot actually make predictions about future risk for the individual defendants being sentenced….
Algorithms such as COMPAS cannot make predictions about individual defendants, because data-driven risk tools are based on group statistics. This creates an issue that academics sometimes call the “group-to-individual” or G2i problem.
Scientists study groups. But the law sentences the individual. Consider the disconnect between science and the law here.
The algorithms in risk assessment tools commonly assign specific points to different factors. The points are totaled. The total is then often translated to a risk bin, such as low or high risk. Typically, more points means a higher risk of recidivism.
Say a score of 6 points out of 10 on a certain tool is considered “high risk.” In the historical groups studied, perhaps 50 percent of people with a score of 6 points did reoffend.
Thus, one might be inclined to think that a new offender who also scores 6 points is at a 50 percent risk of reoffending. But that would be incorrect.
It may be the case that half of those with a score of 6 in the historical groups studied would later reoffend. However, the tool is unable to select which of the offenders with 6 points will reoffend and which will go on to lead productive lives.
The studies of factors associated with reoffending are not causation studies. They can tell only which factors are correlated with new crimes. Individuals retain some measure of free will to decide to break the law again, or not.
These issues may explain why risk tools often have significant false positive rates. The predictions made by the most popular risk tools for violence and sex offending have been shown to get it wrong for some groups over 50 percent of the time.
A ProPublica investigation found that COMPAS, the tool used in Loomis’ case, is burdened by large error rates. For example, COMPAS failed to predict reoffending in one study at a 37 percent rate. The company that makes COMPAS has disputed the study’s methodology….
There are also a host of thorny issues with risk assessment tools incorporating, either directly or indirectly, sociodemographic variables, such as gender, race and social class. Law professor Anupam Chander has named it the problem of the “racist algorithm.”
Big data may have its allure. But, data-driven tools cannot make the individual predictions that sentencing decisions require. The Supreme Court might helpfully opine on these legal and scientific issues by deciding to hear the Loomis case…(More)”.
Full Post: We use big data to sentence criminals. But can the algorithms really tell us what we need to know?
June 06, 2017 at 07:24PM
from Stefaan Verhulst
Should Value Investors Consider Penn National (PENN) Stock?
Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldn’t want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value?
One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Let’s put Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN stock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or if investors subscribing to this methodology should look elsewhere for top picks:
PE Ratio
A key metric that value investors always look at is the Price to Earnings Ratio, or PE for short. This shows us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings in a given stock, and is easily one of the most popular financial ratios in the world. The best use of the PE ratio is to compare the stock’s current PE ratio with: a) where this ratio has been in the past; b) how it compares to the average for the industry/sector; and c) how it compares to the market as a whole.
On this front, Penn National has a trailing twelve months PE ratio of 16.56, as you can see in the chart below:
This level actually compares pretty favorably with the market at large, as the PE for the S&P 500 compares in at about 20.40. If we focus on the stock’s long-term PE trend, the current level puts Penn National’s current PE ratio much lower its midpoint (which is 24.38) over the past five years.
Further, the stock’s PE also compares favorably with the Zacks classified Consumer Discretionary sector’s trailing twelve months PE ratio, which stands at 24.04. At the very least, this indicates that the stock is relatively undervalued right now, compared to its peers.
We should also point out that Penn National has a forward PE ratio (price relative to this year’s earnings) of 29.40, so it is fair to expect an increase in the company’s share price in the near future.
P/S Ratio
Another key metric to note is the Price/Sales ratio. This approach compares a given stock’s price to its total sales, where a lower reading is generally considered better. Some people like this metric more than other value-focused ones because it looks at sales, something that is far harder to manipulate with accounting tricks than earnings.
Right now, Penn National has a P/S ratio of about 0.58. This is significantly lower than the S&P 500 average, which comes in at 3.15 right now. Also, as we can see in the chart below, this is well below the highs for this stock in particular over the past few years.
If anything, this suggests some level of undervalued trading—at least compared to historical norms.
Broad Value Outlook
In aggregate, Penn National currently has a Zacks Value Style Score of ‘A’, putting it into the top 20% of all stocks we cover from this look. This makes PENN a solid choice for value investors, and some of its other key metrics make this pretty clear too.
For example, the P/CF ratio (another great indicator of value) comes in at 5.00, which is somewhat better than the industry average of 9.36. Clearly, PENN is a solid choice on the value front from multiple angles.
What About the Stock Overall?
Though Penn National might be a good choice for value investors, there are plenty of other factors to consider before investing in this name. In particular, it is worth noting that the company has a Growth grade of ‘C’ and a Momentum score of ‘A’. This gives PENN a Zacks VGM score—or its overarching fundamental grade—of ‘A’. (You can read more about the Zacks Style Scores here >>)
Meanwhile, the company’s recent earnings estimates have been encouraging. The current quarter has seen six estimates go higher in the past sixty days and one lower, while the full year estimate has seen a similar trend in the same time period.
This has had a favorable impact on the consensus estimate, as the current quarter consensus estimate has risen by 14.3% in the past two months, while the full year estimate has increased 17.9%. You can see the consensus estimate trend and recent price action for the stock in the chart below:
Penn National Gaming, Inc. Price and Consensus
Penn National Gaming, Inc. Price and Consensus | Penn National Gaming, Inc. Quote
The stock holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which indicates expectations of in-line performance from the company in the near term. However, Penn National is enjoying bullish analyst sentiment, as indicated by the positive estimate revisions, and this works in the company’s favor.
Bottom Line
Penn National is an inspired choice for value investors, as it is hard to beat its incredible lineup of statistics on this front. However, despite a decent industry rank (top 26% out of more than 250 industries), a Zacks Rank #3, makes it hard to get too excited about this company overall. However, over the past one year, the Zacks Gaming sector has clearly outperformed the broader market, as you can see below:
So, despite a Zacks Rank #3, we believe that bullish analyst sentiment and favorable industry factors make this value stock a compelling pick.
Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?
Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.
Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look. See the pot trades we’re targeting>>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Penn National Gaming, Inc. (PENN): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
June 06, 2017 at 07:18PM
from Zacks Equity Research
SONIC Drive-In Donates $1 Million to Public School Teacher Projects in Second Annual #ThanksTeach Campaign
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OKLAHOMA CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SONIC® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC), the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants, announced the impact of its second #ThanksTeach campaign in partnership with Julianne Hough during Teacher Appreciation Month. The campaign funds essential learning and innovative teaching resources requested by public school teachers across the country. SONIC donated $1 million to DonorsChoose.org through its Limeades for Learning® initiative and asked consumers to share or incor
June 06, 2017 at 07:25PM
from
ArcelorMittal (MT) to Launch Second Generation iCARe Steel
ArcelorMittal MT said that it is officially launching the second generation of iCARe electrical steels at the coil-winding expo CWIEME, in Berlin, from Jun 20–22.
The iCARe steel grades play a vital role in manufacturing electric motors used in both conventional cars and electric vehicles. In Jun 2012, iCARe was the first electrical steel product range launched by ArcelorMittal. It was specifically designed to meet the requirements of electrical vehicles.
The second generation of iCARe steels will help to improve power density compared with the first generation, resulting in less weight for identical motors. Other advantages for the new, second generation grades include reduced use of electricity at all levels of performance, generation of less heat, providing greater strength and superior magnetic properties. This in turn will lead to better performance of engines and increase driving range.
ArcelorMittal said that the main challenge for electric vehicles continues to be the limited distance over which they can be driven. The introduction of second generation iCARe into the automobile manufacturing will allow the industry to add more power and driving range. The technology also applies to many small motors car, because superior energy balance helps to save electricity and thereby extend the driving range of vehicles.
The company also noted that the market for e-bikes and e-cars in Europe is growing robustly. The number of electric motors used in both electric and conventional cars is also on the rise. To illustrate, in an average-priced conventional car, there can be as many as 70 electric motors, operating everything from headlight controllers to power seat positioners and power windows. In case of Luxury cars, the number of motors required can be more than 100.
ArcelorMittal’s initiative of introducing new iCARe electrical steels support the manufacturers of drive systems in their efforts to build more efficient and better-performing electric motors by using improved materials.
ArcelorMittal has outperformed the Zacks categorized Steel-Producers industry over a year. The company’s shares gained 31.5% over this period while the industry saw a gain of 22.7%.
The company continues to expect global apparent steel consumption to rise 0.5–1.5% year over year in 2017. It will remain focused on progressing in three areas, namely cost optimization, product mix and volume growth.
ArcelorMittal should gain from its efforts to reduce debt, lower cost, expand capacity and improve efficiency. The company remains on track with its cost reduction actions under its Action 2020 program. The Action 2020 program includes plans to optimize costs and increase steel shipment volumes, along with improving the portfolio of high added value products.
ArcelorMittal is also expanding its automotive steel line of products. The company is expanding its global portfolio of automotive steels by launching a new generation of advanced high strength steels (AHSS). It is also planning to expand its family of third-generation advanced high strength steel. These products will ensure that the company is best positioned to meet customer requirements via a strong technical and product portfolio.
ArcelorMittal currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Other Stocks to Consider
Other top-ranked stocks in the basic materials space include Kronos Worldwide Inc. KRO, Huntsman Corporation HUN and The Chemours Company CC. All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.
Kronos has expected long-term earnings growth rate of 5%.
Huntsman has expected long-term earnings growth rate of 7%.
Chemours Company has expected long-term earnings growth rate of 15.5%.
Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?
Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.
Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look. See the pot trades we’re targeting>>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Kronos Worldwide Inc (KRO): Free Stock Analysis Report
Huntsman Corporation (HUN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Chemours Company (The) (CC): Free Stock Analysis Report
ArcelorMittal (MT): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
June 06, 2017 at 07:18PM
from Zacks Equity Research
Mapping the invisible: Street View cars add air pollution sensors
Environment at Google: “There are 1.3 million miles of natural gas distribution pipelines in the U.S. These pipelines exist pretty much everywhere that people do, and when they leak, the escaping methane — the main ingredient in natural gas — is a potent greenhouse gas, with 84 times the short-term warming effect of carbon dioxide. These leaks can be time-consuming to identify and measure using existing technologies. Utilities are required by law to quickly fix any leaks that are deemed a safety threat, but thousands of others can — and often do — go on leaking for months or years.
To help gas utilities, regulators, and others understand the scale of the challenge and help prioritize the most cost-effective solutions, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) worked with Joe von Fischer, a scientist at Colorado State University, to develop technology to detect and measure methane concentrations from a moving vehicle. Initial tests were promising, and EDF decided to expand the effort to more locations.
That’s when the organization reached out to Google. The project needed to scale, and we had the infrastructure to make it happen: computing power, secure data storage, and, most important, a fleet of Street View cars. These vehicles, equipped with high-precision GPS, were already driving around pretty much everywhere, capturing 360-degree photos for Google Maps; maybe they could measure methane while they were at it. The hypothesis, says Karin Tuxen-Bettman of Google Earth Outreach, was that “we had the potential to turn our Street View fleet into an environmental sensing platform.”
Street View cars make at least 2 trips around a given area in order to capture good air quality data. An intake tube on the front bumper collects air samples, which are then processed by a methane analyzer in the trunk. Finally, the data is sent to the Google Cloud for analysis and integration into a map showing the size and location of methane leaks. Since the trial began in 2012, EDF has built methane maps for 11 cities and found more than 5,500 leaks. The results range from one leak for every mile driven (sorry, Bostonians) to one every 200 miles (congrats, Indianapolis, for replacing all those corrosive steel and iron pipes with plastic).
All of us can go on our smartphone and get the weather. But what if you could scroll down and see what the air quality is on the street where you’re walking?…
This promising start inspired the team to take the next step and explore using Street View cars to measure overall air quality. For years, Google has worked on measuring indoor environmental quality across company offices with Aclima, which builds environmental sensor networks. In 2014, we expanded the partnership to the outside world, equipping several more Street View cars with its ‘Environmental Intelligence’ (Ei) mobile platform, including scientific-grade analyzers and arrays of small-scale, low-cost sensors to measure pollutants, including particulate matter, NO2, CO2 black carbon, and more. The new project began with a pilot in Denver, and we’ll finish mapping cities in 3 regions of California by the end of 2016. And today the system is delivering reliable data that corresponds to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s stationary measurement network….
The project began with a few cars, but Aclima’s mobile platform, which has already produced one of the world’s largest data sets on air quality, could also be expanded via deployment on vehicles like buses and mail trucks, on the way to creating a street-level pollution map. This hyper-local data could help people make more informed choices about things like when to let their kids play outside and which changes to advocate for to make their communities healthier….(More)”.
Full Post: Mapping the invisible: Street View cars add air pollution sensors
June 06, 2017 at 07:24PM
from Stefaan Verhulst
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Up-and-Comers 2017: PeraHealth and its Rothman Index Tackle EHR Data
David Raths
Leaders at PeraHealth initially set out to create a health “score” that could synthesize EHR data into meaningful, actionable information for care providers.
May 25, 2017 at 07:24PM
from David Raths
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Rocketship retweeted: Some great #Leadership research. bit.ly/2oGLHnA #corpgov #CEO
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Rocketship retweeted:
Some great #Leadership research. bit.ly/2oGLHnA #corpgov #CEO
May 14, 2017 at 07:18PM
https://twitter.com/GetRocketship/status/863755263257522177
from Rocketship
The latest The Corporate Governance Daily! http://ift.tt/1NYyvBH Thanks to @KeithGottfried @eShareHQ #corpgov #corporategovernance
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The latest The Corporate Governance Daily! http://ift.tt/1NYyvBH Thanks to @KeithGottfried @eShareHQ #corpgov #corporategovernance
May 14, 2017 at 07:18PM
https://twitter.com/TrustEnabler/status/863755036698062848
from Alex Todd
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