Kiwis/iStock via Getty Images National HealthCare ( NHC ) has had a nice run in the recent months. Total return is 17% in the past 3 months and 51% in the past 6 months: Total Return of NHC vs. S&P 500 (Seeking Alpha) The gains appear to have been driven by earnings growth, with valuation ratios nearly unchanged from year-ago levels. EV/EBITDA is currently in the low double digits, which could ind...
Kiwis/iStock via Getty Images National HealthCare ( NHC ) has had a nice run in the recent months. Total return is 17% in the past 3 months and 51% in the past 6 months: Total Return of NHC vs. S&P 500 (Seeking Alpha) The gains appear to have been driven by earnings growth, with valuation ratios nearly unchanged from year-ago levels. EV/EBITDA is currently in the low double digits, which could indicate that the market is not expecting high earnings growth in the next few years. However, I continue to believe that high growth is the more likely outcome, and NHC remains the largest position in my portfolio. Inpatient stays in rehab hospitals and traditional hospitals are incredibly expensive. Recent trends of moving some of that inpatient burden to far less expensive skilled nursing facilities will continue. The result of this will be a continued increase in nursing home occupancy and patient acuity. For those that may not be familiar with the company, NHC owns and operates skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and independent living facilities. NHC also owns and operates home health, home personal care, and hospice agencies. Skilled nursing facilities are really the heart of the business, contributing approximately 85% of total revenue. Although NHC owns the majority of facilities that it operates, it rents a significant portion from National Health Investors ( NHI ). The master lease expires at the end of 2026, and lease renewal negotiations are ongoing. This article includes: A review of NHC's strong 3rd quarter results and a 4th quarter earnings preview. A section about the lease renewal between NHC and NHI, with a potential solution that would benefit both companies. Valuation using fair value models Potential hidden value in NHC's owned properties Overview and commentary on the primary risks the company faces 3rd Quarter Results and 4th Quarter Preview In November, NHC once again reported strong quarterly earnings . Highlights included adjusted...
A baggy green cap worn by the Australian cricket great Sir Donald Bradman has sold for $460,000 to an anonymous buyer at a Gold Coast auction. Bradman wore the cap during the 1947-48 series against India – his final home Test series before retiring in 1948 with a career batting average of 99.94, earning him the reputation as cricket’s greatest batter. Bradman gifted the cap to the Indian cricketer...
A baggy green cap worn by the Australian cricket great Sir Donald Bradman has sold for $460,000 to an anonymous buyer at a Gold Coast auction. Bradman wore the cap during the 1947-48 series against India – his final home Test series before retiring in 1948 with a career batting average of 99.94, earning him the reputation as cricket’s greatest batter. Bradman gifted the cap to the Indian cricketer SW Sohoni during the series and it remained with his family for generations, never exhibited publicly. It was sold on Monday afternoon by Lloyds Auctions. View image in fullscreen The Sohoni family displays Bradman’s cap before auction. Photograph: Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers Lee Hames, the chief operating officer of Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers, called the cap a “holy grail of cricket” before the bidding commenced. Hames said at the auction that Sohoni’s “dying wish was to have the cap return to Australian shores”. “It has been hidden for 75 years, that’s over three generations under lock and key,” he said. “If you were a family member you were only allowed to look at it when you were 16 years old for five minutes.” A spokesperson for Lloyds Auctions said the cap would now remain in Australia and “will be put on display at a prominent museum”. View image in fullscreen Sohoni and Bradman’s names are inscribed in the interior of the cap. Photograph: Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers On the inside of the cap, the names “D.G. Bradman” and “S.W. Sohoni” are inscribed. Bids for the baggy green started at $1, garnering significant interest from buyers in person and online from around Australia, India and the UK – ultimately selling for $460,000 before the addition of a 16.5% buyer’s premium. “Cherished in the family collection ever since, this cap links you to Don Bradman’s invincible era and a memorable exchange with the Indian squad,” the cap’s auction description said. “Australia dominated, winning 4–0 with one match drawn … part of the post-World War II revival of internat...
Caribbean cannabis growers eye budding domestic sales and exports 5 hours ago Share Save Gemma Handy Business reporter, St John’s, Antigua Share Save Gemma Handy Antiguan cannabis grower Michaelus Tracey says that a lot of effort is put into developing new strains Rub the leaf and inhale the fragrance, Michaelus Tracey is saying. The musky scent of this cannabis plant is distinctly different from ...
Caribbean cannabis growers eye budding domestic sales and exports 5 hours ago Share Save Gemma Handy Business reporter, St John’s, Antigua Share Save Gemma Handy Antiguan cannabis grower Michaelus Tracey says that a lot of effort is put into developing new strains Rub the leaf and inhale the fragrance, Michaelus Tracey is saying. The musky scent of this cannabis plant is distinctly different from the citrusy aroma of another that he is also holding. To the untrained eye, the neat rows of flowering cannabis crops in front of us are indistinguishable from each other. Yet master cultivator Tracey can identify the separate varieties by their smell and the shape of their leaves. Nine strains are being grown here at Pineapple Road, a farm deep in the countryside on the Caribbean island of Antigua. The warm temperatures, abundant sunshine, and high humidity make this prime territory for growing the plants. Intense trials were conducted to produce the various strains, Tracey explains. "We wanted different flavour profiles as well as different effects, but all with a medicinal value - something to help you relax, something to give you more energy, more pain relief, less anxiety." Gemma Handy Cannibis plants thrive in Antigua's warm, sunny conditions Last year marked a decade since Jamaica decriminalised the recreational use of cannabis and legalised its production and sale for medical reasons. Several other Caribbean nations, including the twin island country Antigua and Barbuda in 2018, have since followed suit. Smoking cannabis is emblematic of Caribbean culture, to the extent it has become a cliché. But while the region's affection for the plant is well documented, its status as a leader in the field is less so. Today the region is home to a plethora of legally registered cannabis farms and medicinal dispensaries, where both locals and tourists can purchase the drug if they have a valid medical authorisation card. Yet Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, an expert on the cannab...
Russia’s first domestically-built ice-class tanker is closing in on the US-sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant, expanding the facility’s fleet of vessels able to transport the fuel in winter. The Alexey Kosygin tanker has completed its monthlong maiden journey across the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route and is preparing to dock at the Novatek PJSC -led plant, according to ship-tracking data compil...
Russia’s first domestically-built ice-class tanker is closing in on the US-sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant, expanding the facility’s fleet of vessels able to transport the fuel in winter. The Alexey Kosygin tanker has completed its monthlong maiden journey across the eastern part of the Northern Sea Route and is preparing to dock at the Novatek PJSC -led plant, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Once the Alexey Kosygin docks at Arctic LNG 2, it will be only the second ever ice-class tanker to do so. It is rated Arc-7, the highest ice-class ranking, which means the ship can service the plant in the winter. Until now, the only such vessel going to the facility has been the Christophe de Margerie. Designed to be Russia’s largest liquefied natural gas plant, Arctic LNG 2 is central to the country’s ambition to triple annual LNG output to 100 million tons and capture a 20% share of the global market. The addition of another ice-class tanker to the plant’s winter fleet would support LNG production and exports during the season when thick ice covers Arctic waters. The operator and Novatek, the project’s largest shareholder, did not respond to Bloomberg requests for comment on the current or future operations of the vessel. With a design capacity of nearly 20 million tons per year, Arctic LNG 2 began producing super-chilled fuel at the end of 2023 but only started exports in the summer of 2024 after western sanctions delayed shipments. During winter, when ice thickens along the Northern Sea Route, only tankers with reinforced hulls can load cargoes at Arctic LNG 2. Most vessels servicing the facility are not designed to operate in such conditions, and western restrictions have made it difficult to procure additional ice-class ships. Domestic construction of ice-class tankers has also taken longer than expected due to limited expertise in Russia. The Alexey Kosygin, built at the Zvezda shipyard in the country’s Far East, was originally scheduled for deliver...
For Immediate Releases Chicago, IL – January 26, 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog includeMicrosoft Corp. MSFT, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV BUD, CVS Health Corp. CVS and Stran & Co., Inc. SWAG. Here...
For Immediate Releases Chicago, IL – January 26, 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog includeMicrosoft Corp. MSFT, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV BUD, CVS Health Corp. CVS and Stran & Co., Inc. SWAG. Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog: Top Stock Reports for Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch and CVS Health The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 12 major stocks, including Microsoft Corp., Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV and CVS Health Corp., as well as a micro-cap stock, Stran & Co., Inc.. The Zacks microcap research is unique as our research content on these small and under-the-radar companies is the only research of its type in the country. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today. You can see all of today’s research reports here >>> Ahead of Wall Street The daily 'Ahead of Wall Street' article is a must-read for all investors who would like to be ready for that day's trading action. The article comes out before the market opens, attempting to make sense of that morning's economic releases and how they will affect that day's market action. You can read this article for free on our home page and can actually sign up there to get an email notification as this article comes out each morning. You can read today's AWS here >>> Pre-Markets Lower Ahead of Massive Polar Vortex Today's Featured Research Reports Microsoft’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Computer - Software industry over the past year (+2.3% vs. -3.7%). The company demonstrates strong fundamentals anchored by Azure's 25% cloud market share and strategic AI integration through OpenAI. Microsoft generates exceptional operating cash flows, exceeding $100 ...
When David Warr was 11 he thought he was dying. At his school swimming lesson, he jumped in and swam – then realised with horror that his feet couldn’t feel the bottom. He recalls his teacher, standing on the side of the pool, shouting at him to “just swim” and his own immobilising fear. “I thought, ‘I can’t. I don’t know what to do.’ I started to panic hard. I thought, ‘She’s going to let me die....
When David Warr was 11 he thought he was dying. At his school swimming lesson, he jumped in and swam – then realised with horror that his feet couldn’t feel the bottom. He recalls his teacher, standing on the side of the pool, shouting at him to “just swim” and his own immobilising fear. “I thought, ‘I can’t. I don’t know what to do.’ I started to panic hard. I thought, ‘She’s going to let me die.’” Warr, 61, has blocked out how he reached safety, but for five decades he refused to go out of his depth again. He lives on the island of Jersey where water is a fact of life – but even when his sons were small, he would only wade a bit, and watch them swim with envy and pride. In contrast, he felt he was “battling the water”. Warr runs a tea and coffee business and also works as a politician; he’s a deputy for the St Helier South district. He doesn’t go on holiday often, but last year he and his wife visited Norway and stayed in a hotel on a lake. The water was murky and dark. There were no shallows. Warr’s wife swam; he dipped in a toe. “I thought, ‘I’m not going in there. I don’t trust myself.’” A few days later, they passed a long zip wire. Warr plays tennis and keeps fit, and “the sense of holding age at bay is strong” for him. “I have this thing in me, which is, if there’s an inadequacy, I want to overcome that.” Warr went on the zip wire, and when he and his wife returned to Jersey, he asked his boys’ old swimming teacher, Sally Minty-Gravett, for lessons. She had repeatedly swum the Channel, so she knew what she was doing. View image in fullscreen Dream team … Sally Minty-Gravett and David Warr. Photograph: Courtesy of David Warr They met at the bottom of a slipway. Warr put on goggles and a hat. “All the gear, and no idea.” In the first lesson, he practised floating. After a few sessions, he became more confident, but he still couldn’t go out of his depth. When Minty-Gravett asked him to jump off the slipway into the deep, it was “the most fearful moment … Here I...
Investors once again pulling away from the dollar has given precious metals yet another boost, with gold and silver both rallying to new highs . Gold has risen past $5,000/ounce for the first time, and silver has hurtled through $100/ounce, having only made that level for the first time on Friday. It is now trading around $109/ounce. The yen intervention risk adds to a catalogue of risks sending t...
Investors once again pulling away from the dollar has given precious metals yet another boost, with gold and silver both rallying to new highs . Gold has risen past $5,000/ounce for the first time, and silver has hurtled through $100/ounce, having only made that level for the first time on Friday. It is now trading around $109/ounce. The yen intervention risk adds to a catalogue of risks sending traders into precious metals, including ongoing worries about Federal Reserve independence and erratic policymaking from the White House.