What underlying fundamental trends can indicate that a company might be in decline? A business that’s potentially in decline often shows two trends, a return on capital employed (ROCE) that’s declining, and a base of capital employed that’s also declining. This indicates to us that the business is not only shrinking the size of its net assets, but its returns are falling as well. On that note, looking into Alcoa (NYSE:AA), we weren’t too upbeat about how things were going.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

Just to clarify if you’re unsure, ROCE is a metric

Some have more dollars than sense, they say, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can easily find investors. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses.

If, on the other hand, you like companies that have revenue, and even earn profits, then you may well be interested in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Even if the shares are fully valued today, most capitalists would recognize its profits as the demonstration of steady value generation. While

TipRanks

Oppenheimer: 3 Stocks That Could Surge Over 100% From Current Levels

So far, September has been a wild ride of ups and downs. Following the recent bout of volatility, stocks have ticked higher again. But as uncertainty regarding another rescue program and the presidential election continues to linger, where does the market go from here? Weighing in for Oppenheimer, Chief Investment Strategist John Stoltzfus argues that any market dips appear “relatively contained and orderly,” and present longer-term investors the chance to find “babies that got thrown out with the bathwater.” He noted, “For nervous investors the recent downdraft has

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

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How strong is the labor market?

As the third quarter nears its end, investors, workers, lawmakers, and central bankers are all pondering the next phase of this pandemic-induced economic cycle.

And one question more than any other sets a baseline for what happens next in the U.S. economy: how strong is the labor market?

Earlier this month, the August jobs report came in stronger than expected. Nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 1.3 million. The unemployment rate fell

(Bloomberg) — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is in talks to invest $3 billion into Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

The Chinese e-commerce giant, a sole investor in the round, will spend a portion of the funds to acquire some of the Grab stock held by Uber Technologies Inc., one of the people said, asking not to be named as the discussions are private. The deal may represent one of Alibaba’s biggest bets on Southeast Asia since its first investment in Lazada in 2016.

China’s largest corporation has previously had limited forays

(Bloomberg) — It was meant to be the week when OPEC nations gathered in Baghdad to celebrate the cartel’s six decades as a dominant force in global oil markets.

Instead, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will convene online, and reflect on whether the coronavirus has thwarted their best efforts to keep the market afloat.

After reviving crude prices from an unprecedented collapse over the spring, OPEC+ is seeing the recovery stall and fuel demand falter as the deadly pandemic surges once again. Prices slipped below $40 a barrel last week for the first time since June.

(Bloomberg) — As Angela Merkel weighs up the arguments for scrapping a Russian pipeline project, a cornerstone of the German chancellor’s carefully crafted energy strategy is at stake.

Merkel is coming under increasing pressure to ditch the Nord Stream 2 pipeline after the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Members of her own party have questioned the project and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the decision should be a “no brainer.”

But cancellation would mean unwinding years of government strategy to turn Germany into a lucrative gas hub as it boosts supplies of the fossil fuel during the

(Bloomberg) — ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese owner of video-sharing app TikTok, is planning to make Singapore its beachhead for the rest of Asia as part of its global expansion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Beijing-based company is looking to spend several billion dollars and add hundreds of jobs over the next three years in the city-state, where it has applied for a license to operate a digital bank, said the people, who asked not to be identified because of confidentiality. The investment would come at a crucial time as the technology firm is forced to sell TikTok

(Bloomberg) — Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is offering to sell a roughly $20 billion stake in its retail business to Amazon.com Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Amazon has held discussions about investing in the conglomerate’s Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. unit and has expressed interest in negotiating a potential transaction, the person said. Mumbai-based Reliance Industries is willing to sell as much as a 40% stake in the subsidiary to Amazon, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

A deal, if successful, would not only create a

PARIS — The engagement between Tiffany and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton seems to be off.

The French luxury giant said it likely won’t be able to complete its planned $16.2 billion acquisition of the American jeweler after France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs asked LVMH to defer the transaction beyond Jan. 6, 2021. The request was made in the wake of a U.S. threat to slap taxes on a range of French products.

More from WWD

LVMH noted that its original acquisition agreement called for a deadline of Nov. 24 to complete the transaction.

“As it stands, the