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Best Canadian Stocks For 2021
Brokerages expect Limelight Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:LLNW) to post $49.61 million in sales for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Four analysts have provided estimates for Limelight Networks' earnings. The highest sales estimate is $51.00 million and the lowest is $48.55 million. Limelight Networks reported sales of $45.37 million during the same quarter last year, which would suggest a positive year-over-year growth rate of 9.3%. The business is expected to report its next quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, July 25th.
On average, analysts expect that Limelight Networks will report full year sales of $203.50 million for the current year, with estimates ranging from $199.63 million to $208.10 million. For the next financial year, analysts anticipate that the company will post sales of $222.47 million per share, with estimates ranging from $211.05 million to $230.93 million. Zacks' sales calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side research analysts that cover Limelight Networks.
Best Canadian Stocks For 2021: Apollo Gold Corporation(BRD)
Brigus Gold Corp. engages in the extraction, processing, refining, and production of gold and other by-product metals primarily in North America. The company principally produces gold and silver. It primarily owns the Black Fox Complex and Black Fox Mill properties located in the Timmins Mining District in the Province of Ontario, Canada; the Goldfields project located in the Lake Athabasca region of Saskatchewan, Canada; and the Ixhuatan property located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Brigus Gold Corp., through its joint venture, holds interests in the Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo and Loma El Mate gold exploration projects located in the Dominican Republic. The company was formerly known as Apollo Gold Corporation and changed its name to Brigus Gold Corp. in June 2010. Brigus Gold Corp. was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.
Bread (CURRENCY:BRD) traded 0% higher against the US dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 0:00 AM E.T. on February 12th. Bread has a market capitalization of $17.44 million and $74,926.00 worth of Bread was traded on exchanges in the last day. In the last week, Bread has traded 6.8% higher against the US dollar. One Bread token can currently be purchased for $0.20 or 0.00005397 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Cobinhood, OKEx, Tokenomy and Kucoin.
Bread (CURRENCY:BRD) traded up 12.2% against the U.S. dollar during the one day period ending at 15:00 PM E.T. on September 20th. In the last week, Bread has traded 17.1% higher against the U.S. dollar. Bread has a total market capitalization of $32.97 million and approximately $760,371.00 worth of Bread was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Bread token can now be bought for approximately $0.37 or 0.00005774 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Kucoin, Tokenomy, OKEx and Cobinhood.
Bread (CURRENCY:BRD) traded 20.4% lower against the US dollar during the 1 day period ending at 22:00 PM ET on September 5th. Bread has a total market cap of $25.52 million and $314,664.00 worth of Bread was traded on exchanges in the last day. During the last week, Bread has traded down 19.7% against the US dollar. One Bread token can currently be purchased for about $0.29 or 0.00004486 BTC on cryptocurrency exchanges including Tokenomy, Kucoin, OKEx and Cobinhood.
Best Canadian Stocks For 2021: Safeway Inc.(SWY)
Safeway Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food and drug retailer in North America. The company operates stores that provide an array of grocery items, food, and general merchandise, as well as features specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral, and pharmacy, as well as coffee shops and fuel centers. It also offers SELECT line of products that include baked goods, sparkling ciders and lemonades, salsas, whole bean coffees, frozen pizzas and entrees, and fresh and dry pastas and sauces, as well as an array of ice creams, hors d'oeuvres, and desserts; O ORGANICS line, which comprises milk, chicken, salads, juices, and entrees; Lucerne line of dairy products; Eating Right line of better-for-you products; Bright Green line of home care products; Total Pet Care line of pet foods and pet care products; and Value Red line of value-priced paper goods. As of December 31, 2009, Safeway operated approximately 1,725 stores in California, Oregon, Wash ington, Alaska, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba/Saskatchewan. In addition, the company owns and operates GroceryWorks.com Operating Company, LLC, an online grocery channel, doing business under the names Safeway.com, Vons.com, and Genuardis.com; and Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc., which provides third-party gift cards, prepaid cards, telecom cards, and sports and entertainment cards to North American retailers for sale to retail customers. Additionally, it engages in gift card businesses in the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Australia. Further, the company, through a 49% ownership interest in Casa Ley, S.A. de C.V. operates 156 food and general merchandise stores in Western Mexico. The company was formerly known as Safeway Stores, Incorporated and changed its name to Safeway Inc. in February 1990. Safeway was founded in 1915 and is based in Pleasanton, California.
[By Jim Robertson]
Large and small cap junior miners have long been interested in the region due to Goldcorps l茅onore mine being located in the heart of the territory along with the Troilus mine (which has produced over 2 million ounces of gold from 1997-2010 and is estimated to have another remaining 2 million ounces of reserves). The Otish Mountains area has also attracted attention following the discovery of diamonds by Stornoway Diamond Corporation (TSX: SWY) at their Renard diamond mine (projected to produce 1.5-2 millions carats per year).
Stornoway Diamond (TSE:SWY) is scheduled to post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, August 14th.
Stornoway Diamond (TSE:SWY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 15th. The company reported C($0.01) EPS for the quarter. Stornoway Diamond had a negative net margin of 6.15% and a negative return on equity of 1.78%. The business had revenue of C$55.95 million for the quarter.
In addition, Goldcorps (NYSE: GG) l茅onore mine in the heart of the territory along with the Troilus mine (which produced over 2 million ounces of gold from 1997-2010 and is estimated to have another remaining 2 million ounces of reserves) are helping to maintain the interest of junior exploration companies in nearby properties. The same can be said about the Otish Mountainsarea following the discovery of diamonds byStornoway Diamond Corporation (TSX: SWY) at their Renard diamond mine which is projected to produce 1.5-2 millions carats per year.
Best Canadian Stocks For 2021: NRG Energy Inc.(NRG)
NRG Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a wholesale power generation company. The company engages in the ownership, development, construction, and operation of power generation facilities. It also involves in the transacting in and trading of fuel and transportation services; the trading of energy, capacity, and related products in the United States and internationally; and the supply of electricity, energy services, and cleaner energy and carbon offset products to retail electricity customers in deregulated markets. The company operates natural gas- fired, coal- fired, oil-fired, nuclear, solar, and wind power plants. As of December 31, 2010, it had power generation portfolio of 193 operating fossil fuel and nuclear generation units with an aggregate generation capacity of approximately 24,570 megawatt (MW), as well as ownership interests in renewable facilities with an aggregate generation capacity of 470 MW. The company portfolio also includes appr oximately 24,035 MW generation capacity in the United States, and 1,005 MW generation capacity in Australia and Germany. In addition, it has a district energy business with steam and chilled water capacity of approximately 1,140 megawatts thermal equivalent. NRG Energy, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.
Energi (CURRENCY:NRG) traded 3.8% lower against the dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 22:00 PM Eastern on February 2nd. Energi has a market cap of $9.51 million and approximately $100,521.00 worth of Energi was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Energi coin can currently be bought for approximately $0.76 or 0.00021720 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including CoinExchange, Cryptopia and CryptoBridge. In the last seven days, Energi has traded down 9.3% against the dollar.
ValuEngine upgraded shares of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.
A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on NRG. Citigroup downgraded shares of NRG Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, July 30th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of NRG Energy from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 26th. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $37.00.
NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $42.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. NRG Energy traded as high as $37.32 and last traded at $37.21, with a volume of 143112 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $36.45.
Best Canadian Stocks For 2021: Natural Gas(NG)
NovaGold Resources Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties primarily in North America. The company primarily explores for gold, silver, copper, zinc, and lead ores. It holds interests in the Donlin Creek property covering 81,361 acres and the Ambler property comprising 90,614 acres located in Alaska; and the Galore Creek property comprising 293,838 acres located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The company was formerly known as NovaCan Mining Resources (1985) Limited and changed its name to NovaGold Resources Inc. in March 1987. NovaGold Resources Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.
[By Joseph Griffin]
Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Novagold Resources (NG)
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NG. SlateStone Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in NovaGold Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Signition LP purchased a new position in NovaGold Resources during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in NovaGold Resources by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 23,985 shares of the mining company's stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 7,125 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in NovaGold Resources by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 24,610 shares of the mining company's stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new position in NovaGold Resources during the fourth quarter worth approximately $128,000.
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About NovaGold Resources (NYSEAMERICAN:NG)
Novagold Resources (NASDAQ:NG) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BidaskClub from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.
Best Canadian Stocks For 2021: Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.(CMG)
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. develops and operates fast-casual, fresh Mexican food restaurants in the United States, Canada, and England. Its restaurants primarily offer burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads. As of December 31, 2011, it operated 1,230 restaurants, which includes 1 ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is based in Denver, Colorado.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG)Q12019 Earnings CallApril 24, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET
[By Adam Levine-Weinberg]
I have been bullish about Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) for several years, believing that Chipotle would eventually recover from its food safety problems. During 2018 in particular, the fast-casual pioneer made a lot of progress in accelerating its comp sales growth and returning to margin expansion (excluding one-time costs).
This entry was posted in Top Stocks and tagged BRD, CMG, NG, NRG, SWY on May 10, 2021 by admin.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021
Prabhudas Lilladher has come out with its fourth quarter (Jan-March 18) earnings estimates for the Others sector. The brokerage house expects Rallis India to report net profit at Rs. 31.9 crore up 2.5% year-on-year (up 27.1% quarter-on-quarter).
Net Sales are expected to increase by 15 percent Y-o-Y (up 2.6 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs. 400.3 crore, according to Prabhudas Lilladher.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are likely to rise by 16.9 percent Y-o-Y (down 29.8 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs. 48.7 crore.
Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: ConocoPhillips(COP)
ConocoPhillips operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. The company?s Exploration and Production (E&P) segment explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its Midstream segment gathers, processes, and markets natural gas; and fractionates and markets natural gas liquids in the United States and Trinidad. The company?s Refining and Marketing (R&M) segment purchases, refines, markets, and transports crude oil and petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels. Its Chemicals segment manufactures and markets petrochemicals and plastics. This segment offers olefins and polyolefins, including ethylene, propylene, and other olefin products; aromatics products, such as benzene, styrene, paraxylene, and cyclohexane, as well as polystyrene and styrene-butadiene copolymers; and various specialty chemical products comprising organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalyst s, drilling chemicals, mining chemicals, and engineering plastics and compounds. The company?s Emerging Businesses segment develops new technologies and businesses. It focuses on power generation; and technologies related to conventional and nonconventional hydrocarbon recovery, refining, alternative energy, biofuels, and the environment. This segment also offers E-Gas, a gasification technology producing high-value synthetic gas. ConocoPhillips was founded in 1917 and is based in Houston, Texas.
[By ]
It starts in 2007 when the Oracle of Omaha began purchasing shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP). By the end of 2007, Buffett had spent just over $1 billion.
[By Matthew DiLallo]
U.S. oil giant ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)used $50 oil as a rough baseline for its 2019 capital plans as well. ConocoPhillips currently expects to invest $6.1 billion on capital projects this year — enough money to grow production per share by 8% — which it can fund on the cash flows produced at $40 oil. Add in a dividend that the company increased twice last year to a $3 billion repurchase program and ConocoPhillips is on track to return 50% of the cash it produces at $50 oil to investors this year, though some of that money will come from its cash-rich balance sheet. However, with oil in the mid-$50s, ConocoPhillips is on track to produce more cash than expected this year, which could lead it to buy back even more stock than planned as it works to whittle down a cash balance that stood at $6.4 billion at the end of 2018.
Courier Capital LLC cut its stake in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,910 shares of the energy producer's stock after selling 198 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC's holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Bbva Compass Bancshares Inc. raised its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,638 shares of the energy producer's stock after buying an additional 2,066 shares during the period. Bbva Compass Bancshares Inc.'s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $3,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust(PMT)
PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust is based in the United States.
Pennymac Mortgage Investment (NYSE:PMT) shares reached a new 52-week high and low on Monday . The company traded as low as $18.60 and last traded at $18.62, with a volume of 19306 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.50.
Pennymac Mortgage Investment (NYSE:PMT) – Equities researchers at Wedbush lifted their Q1 2019 earnings per share estimates for shares of Pennymac Mortgage Investment in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, May 10th. Wedbush analyst J. Weaver now anticipates that the real estate investment trust will post earnings per share of $0.36 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.34. Wedbush also issued estimates for Pennymac Mortgage Investment's Q2 2019 earnings at $0.43 EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at $0.43 EPS, Q4 2019 earnings at $0.52 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $1.74 EPS.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: PPL Corporation(PPL)
PPL Corporation, an energy and utility holding company, generates and sells electricity; and delivers natural gas to approximately 5.3 million utility customers primarily in the northeastern and northwestern U.S. The company operates in four segments: Kentucky Regulated, International Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Supply. The Kentucky Regulated segment engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity; and the distribution and sale of natural gas to approximately 1.3 million customers in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The International Regulated segment owns and operates electricity distribution businesses in the United Kingdom that deliver electricity to 7.7 million customers. The Pennsylvania Regulated segment delivers electricity to approximately 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania. The Supply segment owns and operates power plants to generate electricity using coal, uranium, natural gas, oil, and water res ources; markets and trades electricity and other purchased power to wholesale and retail markets; and acquires and develops domestic generation projects. It controls or owns a portfolio of generation assets of approximately 11,000 megawatts in Montana and Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s distribution system included 649 substations with a capacity of 25 million kVA, 28,838 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 24,131 cable miles of underground conductors in the United Kingdom. It also operated 377 substations with a capacity of 31 million kVA, 33,122 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 7,368 cable miles of underground conductors in Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
PPL (NYSE:PPL) and IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its holdings in Pembina Pipeline Corp (NYSE:PBA) (TSE:PPL) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 74,320 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 9,133 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s holdings in Pembina Pipeline were worth $2,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: Safeway Inc.(SWY)
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited(CNR)
China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the development and operation of agricultural logistics and trade centers in northeast China. It also involves in purchasing, processing, assembling, merchandising, and distributing pearls and jewelry products. The company markets its pearls and jewelry products to wholesale distributors and mass merchandisers in Europe, the United States, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia. In addition, it develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial properties in Hong Kong and the People?s Republic of China. The company is based in Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong.
Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $93.33.
Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Canadian National Railway (TSE: CNR) in the last few weeks:
2/11/2019 – Canadian National Railway was given a new C$117.00 price target on by analysts at Morgan Stanley. 1/31/2019 – Canadian National Railway was given a new C$116.00 price target on by analysts at BMO Capital Markets. They now have a "market perform" rating on the stock. 1/30/2019 – Canadian National Railway had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Raymond James. They now have a C$125.00 price target on the stock. 1/30/2019 – Canadian National Railway had its price target raised by analysts at TD Securities from C$125.00 to C$130.00. They now have a "buy" rating on the stock. 1/30/2019 – Canadian National Railway had its price target raised by analysts at CIBC from C$118.00 to C$119.00. 1/30/2019 – Canadian National Railway had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from C$116.00 to C$119.00. 1/14/2019 – Canadian National Railway had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from C$112.00 to C$116.00. 1/7/2019 – Canadian National Railway had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from C$114.00 to C$115.00. 1/2/2019 – Canadian National Railway had its price target lowered by analysts at CIBC from C$120.00 to C$118.00. 12/19/2018 – Canadian National Railway had its price target lowered by analysts at National Bank Financial from C$119.00 to C$110.00. They now have a "sector perform" rating on the stock. 12/18/2018 – Canadian National Railway had its price target lowered by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from C$122.00 to C$112.00. 12/17/2018 – Canadian National Railway had its price target lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$130.00 to C$128.00.
Shares of CNR stock traded up C$1.79 during tr
Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) – Analysts at Seaport Global Securities issued their Q1 2019 EPS estimates for shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 30th. Seaport Global Securities analyst M. Levin expects that the transportation company will earn $0.96 per share for the quarter. Seaport Global Securities also issued estimates for Canadian National Railway's Q2 2019 earnings at $1.26 EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at $1.27 EPS and Q4 2019 earnings at $1.26 EPS.
Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) – Equities research analysts at Desjardins boosted their Q3 2018 earnings per share estimates for shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note issued on Monday, October 8th. Desjardins analyst B. Poirier now anticipates that the transportation company will earn $1.09 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.09. Desjardins also issued estimates for Canadian National Railway's FY2021 earnings at $5.66 EPS.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: NRG Energy Inc.(NRG)
Energi (CURRENCY:NRG) traded up 0.2% against the U.S. dollar during the twenty-four hour period ending at 19:00 PM Eastern on September 15th. Over the last seven days, Energi has traded 14.2% higher against the U.S. dollar. Energi has a market capitalization of $1.61 million and $2,597.00 worth of Energi was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One Energi coin can now be purchased for $0.32 or 0.00004969 BTC on exchanges including CoinExchange, Cryptopia and CryptoBridge.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: Credit Suisse Group(CS)
Credit Suisse Group AG, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial services company. The company operates in three segments: Private Banking, Investment Banking, and Asset Management. The Private Banking segment offers advisory services and a range of wealth management solutions, including pension planning, life insurance products, tax planning, and wealth and inheritance advice for the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. This segment also supplies banking products and services to affluent, high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, and corporates and institutions. The Investment Banking segment provides investment banking and securities products and services to corporations, governments, pension funds, and institutions. Its products and services include debt and equity underwriting, sales and trading, mergers and acquisitions advice, divestitures, corporate sales, restructuring, and investment research. The Asset Management segment offe rs integrated investment solutions and services to institutions, governments, foundations and endowments, corporations, and individuals. It provides access to a range of investment classes across alternative investment, asset allocation, and traditional investment strategies. The company operates in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. Credit Suisse Group AG was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
The ABCs Of IPOs
Most entities looking to go public bring in underwriters to help navigate the company through the entire process — in Lyft's case JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) led the offering along with Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS), Jeffries Group LLC and 26 other financial institutions. The filing fees to go public amounted to a staggering $6.5 million for Lyft.
[By Shah Gilani]
Lyft's lead IPO bankers, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS), did a great job of polishing their lead actors' acting chops.
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Shares of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) continue to slump. The stock was off another 1%, a day after falling another eight percentage points. The downturn came after its CEO announced its industrial division will be cash-flow negative in 2019. Shares of PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) were off 1% this morning after the stock received a downgrade from Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS). While the Swiss bank called PepsiCo a "high quality" business, it raised concerns about its need to heavily invest over several years into struggling business lines and snack products. It also raised concerns about the ongoing competitive threats in the industry. CS set a price target for Pepsi at $100 per share, which is well below yesterday's trading price of $116. Look for other earnings reports from American Outdoor Brands Corp.(NASDAQ: AOBC), Burlington Stores Inc.(NASDAQ: BURL), Care.com Inc.(NASDAQ: CRCM), Chuy's Holdings Inc.(NASDAQ: CHUY), El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc.(NASDAQ: LOCO), GNC Holdings Inc.(NYSE: GNC), H&R Block Inc.(NYSE: HRB), Hovnanian Enterprises Inc.(NYSE: HOV), Plug Power Inc.(NASDAQ: PLUG), andUMH Properties SH(NYSE: UMH).
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Shares of Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS) have been given a consensus rating of "Buy" by the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.00.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: Apollo Gold Corporation(BRD)
Bread (CURRENCY:BRD) traded up 0.8% against the US dollar during the twenty-four hour period ending at 22:00 PM Eastern on September 1st. Over the last week, Bread has traded 3.1% higher against the US dollar. Bread has a market cap of $32.33 million and $367,357.00 worth of Bread was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Bread token can currently be purchased for about $0.36 or 0.00005097 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Kucoin, Cobinhood, Binance and OKEx.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: NEW GOLD INC.(NGD)
New Gold Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, extraction, processing, and reclamation of mineral properties. The company primarily explore for gold, silver, and copper deposits. Its operating properties include the Mesquite gold mine in the United States; the Cerro San Pedro gold-silver mine in Mexico; and the Peak gold-copper mine in Australia. The company also has development projects, including the New Afton gold, silver, and copper project in Canada; and a 30% interest in the El Morro copper-gold project in Chile. The company was formerly known as DRC Resources Corporation and changed its name to New Gold Inc. in June 2005. New Gold Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
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New Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:NGD) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $1.25 to $1.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday. The brokerage currently has an "underperform" rating on the basic materials company's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's target price indicates a potential upside of 14.50% from the stock's current price.
Top 10 Canadian Stocks To Invest In 2021: Encana Corporation(ECA)
Encana Corporation and its subsidiaries engage in the exploration for, development, production, and marketing of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids. The company owns interests in resource plays that primarily include the Greater Sierra, Cutbank Ridge, Bighorn, and Coalbed Methane resource plays located in British Columbia and Alberta, as well as the Deep Panuke natural gas project offshore Nova Scotia in Canada. It also holds interests in resource plays comprising the Jonah in southwest Wyoming, Piceance in northwest Colorado, Haynesville in Louisiana, and Texas resource play, including east Texas and north Texas. The company serves primarily local distribution companies, industrials, energy marketing companies, and other producers. Encana Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
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[By Jon C. Ogg]
Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) has seen its shares rise 19% so far in 2019, outperforming its peers by about 500 basis points. That said, Encana shares have underperformed peers by over 20% since the NFX deal announcement last November. Merrill Lynch has a Buy rating and $11 price objective on Encana, almost 60% higher than the prior $6.89 close. The firm noted that Encanas cube style completions have been an important driver of outperformance in the Permian. In the STACK, the firm expects Encana to be deliberate initially using skinny cubes to determine optimal vertical/horizontal spacing while targeting select zones using multi-well pads.
This entry was posted in Top Stocks and tagged BRD, CNR, COP, CS, ECA, NGD, NRG, PMT, PPL, SWY on April 8, 2021 by admin.
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Buy Right Now
An earnings report finally made Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) investors smile as the company reported fourth quarter results Tuesday that featured a solid holiday season performance, and more importantly, upbeat guidance for the upcoming fiscal year. While Ryzen and Vega drove the Computing and Graphics ("C&G") group to blistering year-over-year ("YoY") growth, the real catalyst for AMD is EPYC. The server market is the company's primary growth opportunity, and I think 2018 will only bring more progress on this all-important front.
As frequent readers of AMD articles on Seeking Alpha might be aware, the title of this piece is a not-so-subtle reference to another article written by an AMD bear who concluded that this earnings report was further evidence of overvaluation. My article won't be a direct rebuttal to that piece, but as might be apparent, I certainly reached a different conclusion. With that, let's get down to AMD's Q4 earnings report.
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Buy Right Now: Plains All American Pipeline L.P.(PAA)
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the transportation, storage, terminalling, and marketing of crude oil, refined products, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) products in the United States and Canada. The company operates in three segments: Transportation, Facilities, and Supply and Logistics. The Transportation segment transports crude oil and refined products on pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and barges. As of December 31, 2011, this segment owned and leased 16,000 miles of active crude oil and refined products pipelines and gathering systems; 23 million barrels of above-ground tank capacity used primarily to facilitate pipeline throughput; 67 trucks and 382 trailers; and 82 transport and storage barges, and 44 transport tugs. The Facilities segment provides storage, terminalling, and throughput services for crude oil, refined products, and LPG and natural gas, as well as offers LPG fractionation and isomerization, and natural gas processing services. The Supply and Logistics segment purchases crude oil at the wellhead, and pipeline and terminal facilities; waterborne cargoes at their load port and various other locations in transit; and LPG from producers, refiners, and other marketers. This segment also resells or exchanges crude oil and LPG; and transports oil and LPG on trucks, barges, railcars, pipelines, and ocean-going vessels to various delivery points. It has 622 trucks and 731 trailers, and 2,453 railcars. The company also owns and operates natural gas storage facilities. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Finally, ExxonMobil is working with Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) to develop a large-scale oil pipeline out of the Permian. Exxon, Plains All American, and another partner recently agreed to move forward with construction on the Wink-to-Webster pipeline, which would transport 1 million barrels of oil per day from the Permian to refineries and export terminals along the Gulf Coast when it comes online in the first half of 2021. However, the companies are in discussions with the developers of a rival project to combine them into one large-scale pipeline, which is currently on track to start up by the middle of next year.
However, Long stated that the company is also in discussions with Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) to potentially join their Wink to Webster Pipeline project. Long stated that "we will continue to go down parallel paths in order to evaluate and achieve the most efficient and accretive [project] for our partnership."
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Buy Right Now: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)
Wells Fargo & Company, through its subsidiaries, provides retail, commercial, and corporate banking services primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Community Banking; Wholesale Banking; and Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement. The Community Banking segment offers deposits, including checking, market rate, and individual retirement accounts; savings and time deposits; and debit cards. Its loan products comprise lines of credit, auto floor plans, equity lines and loans, equipment and transportation loans, education loans, residential mortgage loans, health savings accounts, and credit cards. This segment also provides equipment leases, real estate financing, small business administration financing, venture capital financing, cash management, payroll services, retirement plans, loans secured by autos, and merchant payment processing services; purchases sales finance contracts from retail merchants; and a family of funds, and investment managemen t services. The Wholesale Banking segment offers commercial and corporate banking products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, letters of credit, asset-based lending, equipment leasing, international trade facilities, trade financing, collection services, foreign exchange services, treasury and investment management, institutional fixed-income sales, commodity and equity risk management, insurance, corporate trust fiduciary and agency services, and investment banking services. This segment also provides banking products for commercial real estate market, and real estate and mortgage brokerage services. The Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement segment offers financial advisory, brokerage, and institutional retirement and trust services. As of December 31, 2010, the company served its customers through approximately 9,000 banking stores in 39 States and the District of Columbia. Wells Fargo & Company was founded in 1929 and is headquartered in San Franci sco, California.
[By Motley Fool Transcribing]
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Q1 2019 Earnings CallApril 12, 2019 10:00 a.m. ET
Uber unveiled its IPO on Thursday with a stunning warning to investors: It may never be a profitable company. Although the ride sharing app has 91 million customers and values itself at up to $100 billion, the company has been embroiled in multiple scandals and has struggled to retain those customers in an increasingly competitive environment. Concerns about Uber's massive valuation has hurt its rival Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT), which went public on March 29. Shares of Lyft are trading just above $61, well below the IPO price of $72. Oil prices are continuing their impressive run, the best in three years. WTI crude is flat this morning at $64.52 per barrel, while Brent crude is sitting at $71.38. Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors says that oil prices will rocket even higher from here. And if you want to make real money, you need to do this now.
Stocks to Watch Today: WFC, DIS, CVX, APC, RDS.A
Shares of Wells Fargo & Co.(NYSE: WFC) are up 1.2% after the company topped Wall Street earnings expectations for the first quarter. The firm reported earnings per share of $1.20 on top of $21.61 billion in revenue. Analysts had expected EPS of $1.09 on $1.01 billion. WFC also hiked its dividend from $0.43 to $0.45 and announced it returned $6 billion to shareholders last quarter through buybacks and dividend payments. This is the first earnings report since CEO Tim Sloan departed the company on March 28. The company is working to rebuild its reputation after a series of scandals rocked Wall Street over fake accounts created by employees to meet quotas.
See Now: Our founder just released his No. 1 pick for 2019. Don't miss this. See the urgent briefing here…
[By Money Morning Staff Reports]
Buffett is no stranger to banks. He's owned a piece of Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) for 19 years. And recently, he took some big chunks of some of the other big and well-known banks, including Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC).
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Buy Right Now: NRG Energy Inc.(NRG)
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Buy Right Now: Airgas Inc.(ARG)
Airgas, Inc., through its subsidiaries, distributes industrial, medical, and specialty gases, as well as hardgoods in the United States. The company offers various gases, including nitrogen, oxygen, argon, helium, and hydrogen; welding and fuel gases, such as acetylene, propylene, and propane; and carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, ultra high purity grades, special application blends, and process chemicals. Its hardgoods products comprise welding consumables and equipment, safety products, and construction supplies, as well as maintenance, repair, and operating supplies. The company also engages in the rental of gas cylinders, cryogenic liquid containers, bulk storage tanks, tube trailers, and welding and welding related equipment. In addition, the company manufactures and distributes liquid carbon dioxide, dry ice, nitrous oxide, ammonia, refrigerant gases, and atmospheric merchant gases. It serves repair and maintenance, industrial manufacturing, energy and infrastructure co nstruction, medical, petrochemical, food and beverage, retail and wholesale, analytical, utilities, and transportation industries. The company operates an integrated network of approximately 1100 locations, including branches, retail stores, packaged gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities, and distribution centers. Additionally, it provides retail solutions to retail customers, such as florists, grocers, restaurants and bars, tire and automotive service centers, and others. The company markets its products through multiple sales channels, including branch-based sales representatives, retail stores, strategic customer account programs, telesales, catalogs, e-business, and independent distributors. Airgas, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is based in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Argentum (CURRENCY:ARG) traded 3.6% lower against the US dollar during the one day period ending at 19:00 PM ET on May 27th. In the last week, Argentum has traded 2.8% lower against the US dollar. Argentum has a total market capitalization of $1.66 million and approximately $610.00 worth of Argentum was traded on exchanges in the last day. One Argentum coin can currently be purchased for about $0.17 or 0.00002374 BTC on popular cryptocurrency exchanges including Cryptopia and CoinExchange.
Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Buy Right Now: Credit Suisse Group(CS)
This entry was posted in Top Stocks and tagged ARG, CS, NRG, PAA, WFC on March 30, 2021 by admin.
Hot Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now
Facebook, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:FB) data fiasco has shaken the market as a whole — and tech stocks in particular. Prices have pulled back on a wave of negative media attention and potentially tighter regulation. Suddenly the unstoppable rise of the tech giants looks a little bit more fragile. But many tech stocks still show very sustainable and robust long-term fundamentals. That's why I am confident that now is the time to buy cheap tech stocks on the dip.
Indeed, top Monness analyst Brian White has just told CNBC that tech might be the biggest buying opportunity right now. Now is the time for investors to boost their tech holdings, says White, adding: "There are some great secular trends in this group."
With this in mind, I used TipRanks' stock screener to pinpoint the most compelling tech stocks right now. These are stocks with support from top analysts — i.e. analysts with the strongest track record of rating success, as well as big upside potential.
I include in all the stocks covered below the average analyst price target so you can see how far these stocks can potentially spike from current levels.
Let's take a closer look now:
Hot Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: Crown Castle International Corporation(CCI)
This owner and operator of cell towers and other wireless connectivity sites has seen share prices slide 8% lower in 2018. For a company that's preparing to exploit the upcoming rollout of 5G networking standards among its core American clients, that looks like a buy-in opportunity.
Armed with 50,000 small-cell nodes already deployed and firm orders for another 30,000 towerless connection points, Crown Castle is poised to make the most of the 5G revolution. As a reminder, 5G technologies will support much larger numbers of connected devices, which goes hand in hand with an expected explosion of networked devices under the Internet of Things banner. One megatrend supports the other, and Crown Castle is in position to benefit from these synergies.
But right now, Crown Castle investors are more concerned with the proposed merger between T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) and Sprint (NYSE:S). These two customers accounted for a total of 33% of Crown Castle's total first-quarter sales, so any cost-cutting moves that might follow from that acquisition would eventually be bad news for Crown Castle. That's why the stock is trading lower in May.
It's a legitimate concern, but hardly an immediate kidney punch to Crown Castle's income statement. The sites that actually serve both Sprint and T-Mobile today only make up 12% of Crown Castle's current sales — 6% from each telecom — and their tower leases are tied to multiyear contracts that cannot be canceled. The average remaining lease agreement between T-Mobile and Crown Castle stands at five years today, and the average Sprint contract has seven years left to play out. So if worst comes to worst, the resulting revenue bleed will be drawn out over several years. And at the same time, the IoT and 5G installations will keep pouring in.
The long-term story remains intact, and Crown Castle is selling at a discount for all the wrong reasons today. You should consider taking advantage of these inaccurate share prices.
Hot Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: Intel Corporation(INTC)
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) for a retirement portfolio? The same Intel that makes computer parts and other highly cyclical technological components?
It's not quite as aggressive as it sounds, particularly when bearing in mind that you'll want some stable growth during your retirement years. Intel is positioning to provide just that, venturing out to a more diversified product base than computer processors that drove it to prominence in the 90's. Graphics processors, self-driving cars and networking solutions are a growing part of the revenue mix, and the organization is finally thinking more in terms of solutions than products.
There's also the not-so-minor dividend, which Intel just raised another 10% for this year. Its trailing yield is 2.2%, and it has paid — and increased — quite reliably for more than a couple of decades.
Hot Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: NRG Energy Inc.(NRG)
NRG Energy was another stock surging in the wake of solid earnings results, adding more than 6.3% in morning trading to touch a new 52-week high of $32.26 per share. The energy company posted revenue of $2.42 billion in its latest quarter, beating our consensus estimate of $2.23 billion and improving 1.6% from the year-ago period.
More notably, NRG posted adjusted earnings of 87 cents per share, crushing the Zacks Consensus Estimate which called for break-even earnings. Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was $549 million compared with $385 million in the prior-year period.
NRG is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
This entry was posted in Penny Stocks and tagged CCI, INTC, NRG on June 25, 2018 by admin.


text:
For Canada, the G20 summit in Saudi Arabia could be far more tense than most
Politics·Analysis
UN Special rapporteur Agnes Callamard says countries should not accept that the next G20 will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She wants Canada, as a vocal critic of Saudi Arabia, to lead opposition. But the government of Canada is not ready to miss the event over the Khashoggi murder.
Ottawa has won UN praise for its public stances on Saudi offences - but it's still on for the summit
Evan Dyer · CBC News · Posted: Jul 10, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: July 10
The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, has confronted the Saudi regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, more than once. But it won't boycott the upcoming G20 in Riyadh. (Cliff Owen/AP, Patrick Doyle/CP )
The coming Group of Seven summit takes place next month in Biarritz, a town known for topless bathing — not beheading.
The next Group of 20 summit, however, will be held next November in an altogether more forbidding environment: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It will take place in the modern surroundings of the new King Abdullah Financial District, with 59 towers and a few architectural wonders.
But for a taste of the real Saudi Arabia, summiteers need only take a cab south on King Fahd Road. In about half an hour they'll come to Deera Square, colloquially known as 'Chop-chop Square' for its frequent public executions.
Despite praise from western governments for his supposedly modernizing ways, Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (often known as MBS) has overseen a near-doubling in the number of executions.
An Iranian woman holds up a poster showing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric who was executed by Saudi Arabia, in Tehran, Iran on Jan. 4, 2016. (The Associated Press)
The swordsmen were busy on April 23, when Saudi Arabia executed 37 people in one day. All but four were members of the country's persecuted Shia minority. The body and severed head of one of the 37 was put on public display.
The next group of condemned individuals set for execution in Saudi Arabia includes Murtaja Qureiris, who has been in prison since the age of 13. He's accused of crimes that include leading a protest of children on bicycles during the Arab Spring movement — when he was ten.
Murder in the consulate
Many of those executed in Saudi Arabia are poor foreigners. Saudi Arabia has sentenced people to die in recent years for such crimes as witchcraft, making potions and predicting the future. Under MBS, political opponents of the royal family have made up a large percentage of those executed.
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Jan. 29, 2011. (Virginia Mayo/Associated Press)
But the killing that made Saudi Arabia uniquely controversial as a site for a G20 summit was — unlike the ones in Deera Square — never meant to be seen by the wider world.
Jamal Khashoggi's murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has been a public relations disaster for a kingdom that has worked hard to present a face to the world very different from the one it shows at home.
According to the report of UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard, Turkish microphones captured the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi, while his fiancee waited outside for him, unaware. Turkish cameras captured one of Khashoggi's killers leaving the consulate wearing the dead man's clothes.
And Turkish wiretaps captured the communications between the hit squad and home base, leading foreign intelligence services to conclude that the murder realistically could not have been carried out without the approval of Mohammed bin Salman.
The prince's response was to deny everything and arrest the hitmen. Riyadh has made it clear that, if found guilty, they too will be headed for Chop-chop Square.
Callamard said the Saudi investigation can't be expected to produce a true or just outcome. She wants to see a credible probe that assigns individual responsibility and examines the role of prime suspect Mohammed bin Salman.
"The holding of the G20 in Saudi Arabia next year is a slap in the face of all those who have fought and some of whom have died for accountability and human rights protections," she told CBC News, calling for the summit to be moved.
'Canada has taken strongest stance'
Callamard said she admires the positions that Canada has taken on Saudi Arabia, particularly when compared to those taken by other western nations.
"Canada has already taken possibly the strongest stance on Saudi Arabia and has paid a heavy price for it," she said. "The international community as a whole failed to support Canada a year or so ago when it criticized Saudi Arabia for its treatment of women activists."
Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Allowing the G20 summit to go ahead in Saudi Arabia would be a 'slap in the face' for those fighting for their human rights, she said. (Jose Cabezas/Reuters)
Callamard said Canada also has "taken a number of stands when it comes to accountability for Mr. Khashoggi. I think the government of Canada has probably taken the strongest stance against Saudi Arabia of all western countries, alongside with maybe Germany."
It was at the G20 Summit in Argentina in November 2018 that the crown prince made his first international appearance after the murder. Most leaders steered clear of him. Some, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, were friendly. But only one, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, spoke to him directly about the killing.
"It's important that Canada exercise leadership as it has so far," said Callamard. "But it cannot do that on its own. Other countries must rally around Canada in a way that they haven't done so far."
No boycott planned
The Trudeau government says it intends to keep speaking out about Saudi Arabia, but Canada is not prepared to skip the G20 summit to show its disapproval.
"The G20 provides a forum for Canada and its partners to take concerted action on some of the world's most pressing challenges," said Adam Austen, spokesman for Global Affairs. "Canada supports the important inquiry of Agnes Callamard ... into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This murder was an unconscionable attack on the freedom of expression of all individuals and on the freedom of the press.
"The explanations provided by Saudi Arabia to date are insufficient. We continue to call for a full, international independent investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi."
Canada should lead campaign to move G20 summit out of Saudi Arabia, says UN expert
U.S. seeks support for Mideast plan in face of Palestinian disdain
'Credible evidence' Saudi crown prince is responsible for Khashoggi killing, UN says
CBC News also asked the Conservative Party if a Prime Minister Andrew Scheer would attend the summit — which happens after the coming federal election — but the answer wasn't quite clear.
"Conservatives have always been clear and consistent when it comes to the promotion of human rights in Saudi Arabia, China or any other country," said foreign affairs critic Erin O'Toole. "We will raise these issues at the G20, the United Nations or any other multilateral gathering where members do not support human rights, the rule of law and the democratic freedom. The Trudeau Liberals have not been consistent in this regard and are not taken seriously on the world stage."
Asked whether that meant the Conservatives would show up in Riyadh, party spokesperson Mey Fung replied: "We haven't said that."
Guy Caron, the NDP foreign affairs critic, said in a statement that Canada shouldn't take part in the Riyadh summit.
"When the Liberal government was elected in 2015, it promised the return of Canadian leadership on the international stage," Caron said. "Yet, more than eight months after committing to review arms export permits to Saudi Arabia, the government is still unable to give a timetable. In the meantime, Canadian weapons are fuelling the crisis in Yemen."
Caron went on to say that the Liberals are "not doing much better than the Conservatives before them."
"The atrocities committed by the Saudi regime are not consistent with Canadian values. Canada should not take part in the upcoming G20 summit in Riyadh. The Canadian government must stand up and reclaim its international leader status."
Ambassador expelled
Dennis Horak, Canada's former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, was expelled during last year's diplomatic spat with the kingdom. He told CBC News he feels that avoiding the summit, or trying to move it elsewhere, would be an "empty gesture."
"What would be the objective? What would we be trying to achieve?" he asked.
"Normally when you put sanctions on a country or punish them in some way, it's because you're trying to get them to do something. What is that something we want them to do? Are we looking for them to remove the crown prince and put him on trial? Because that's not going to happen."
Not a club for the virtuous
The G7, which Canada hosted last year in La Malbaie, Que., has always been a club for advanced economies that are also democracies. China has never been invited to join. Russia was expelled for bad behaviour (the annexation of Crimea) in March 2014.
The Group of 20, on the other hand, was never supposed to be about democracy. It was born as a leaders' summit in 2008 (previous meetings had been at ministerial level only), to provide a forum where the rich western democracies could engage with some of the biggest developing nations and emerging economies — countries like Indonesia, India, Turkey, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico.
A quick glance at the recent family photo in Osaka shows that the current crop of leaders is not limited to fans of democracy and civil rights. In addition to MBS, there is one other unelected autocrat: President Xi Jinping of China, who hosted the G20 in Hangzhou in 2016.
Putin's government is believed to have ordered several deadly attacks on dissidents. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has bragged about shooting people and throwing them out of helicopters during his time as a crime-busting mayor in Davao City.
A willingness to rub shoulders with autocrats and killers is the price of bringing together leaders who represent, in whatever fashion, most of the world's people and GDP.
But never has the group had to assemble in a venue as controversial as Riyadh. And few other members of the Group of 20 have had as rocky a recent relationship with the kingdom as Canada.
Dilemma doubly hard for women
While male visitors to Saudi Arabia may have to swallow their principles, women face additional challenges — including the question of what to wear in a country where even the most conservative western clothing is considered immodest.
Riyadh is one of the few places in the Muslim world where most women cover their faces in public.
Conversations with female members of the Trudeau government who might expect to attend the G20 reveal that they are already thinking about how to strike a balance between showing respect for local practices and upholding their own beliefs. At the same time, they're aware that avoiding the event entirely would leave the G20 even more male-dominated than usual.
Evan Dyer
Evan Dyer has been a journalist with CBC for 18 years, after an early career as a freelancer in Argentina. He works in the Parliamentary Bureau and can be reached at evan.dyer@cbc.ca.
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Kushner's $50B economic plan for Mideast peace faces broad Arab rejection
The National Today
How the Saudis are being shielded from international heat over Khashoggi, Yemen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This is one family's story of what life was like living in the old Civilian Conservation Corps barracks in the late 1950s.
Editor's note: In response to the story "McKinley Woods World War II Connection," the Forest Preserve received an e-mail from Luann Sage Nash, which read in part: "We lived in one of the old [Civilian Conservation Corp] camp homes (at McKinley) till 1973 when my father, Arthur Olin Sage, Custodian of the Will County Forest Preserve, retired at the age of 75." Staff writer Bruce Hodgdon contacted Mrs. Nash, and this is what he learned.
The barracks at McKinley Woods had stood empty for more than a decade. They had once housed hundreds of workers, part of a huge national army, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Corps members were employed by the federal government to combat the Great Depression by construction improvements to America's vast parklands. By 1942, the program had ended, but the buildings that housed the workers remained at McKinley.
In 1957 Arthur Olin Sage, who was a farmer in Channahon, was hired by the Forest Preserve District of Will County's Superintendent John Jevitz to serve as custodian of McKinley Woods. He was also deputized as a Will County sheriff's police officer in order to deal with any situations that might arise in the preserve. He was paid, his daughter Luann Sage Nash recalls, $60 a week, and the family would be provided housing in one of the CCC barracks.
Arthur and Lucille Sage had seven children. Two sisters had married and settled elsewhere, so five of them – Don, Marilyn, Arthur Jr., Nancy and Luann – moved into the wooden building with their parents. At age 3, Luann was the youngest, her sisters were ages 7 and 14, and brothers, 10 and 17.
Arthur Sage with daughters, Luann (left) and Nancy.
The accommodations were sparse. The family lived in the front part of the barracks. The front door opened to the kitchen and behind that was the family living room. A hallway led to rooms on both sides. These served as the bedrooms for the parents and girls. The boys slept in the living room.
A large room in the back of the barracks and several rooms connected to this large room had deteriorated over the years and were locked off.
In the kitchen, cooking was done, at first, on a coal stove. Some years later, the Forest Preserve installed a propane gas stove. A second coal-heated stove warmed the living room. The family had a television – though reception was often interfered with by the location of the building, situated at the bottom of a steep hill, and by traffic moving outside the preserve.
The building had running cold water only. Hot water required heating it on the stove.
Luann was aware, even as a young girl, that her father was supplied with very little to perform his day-by-day duties, like grass cutting and painting. Arthur Sage brought many of the tools he used from his farm. Eventually, the Forest Preserve provided him with a mower, but, Luann said, even it was used and well past its prime. It left such a narrow cut that she is still amazed that her father was able to mow so much land with it.
The children had to pitch in when needed. Luann remembers that when her father would declare that the family was "going into town" on wintry days, the kids had to scatter cinders on the long, steep road in order for their car to get traction up the hill.
The most terrifying experience the family faced at McKinley Woods occurred in the early morning hours when Luann was just four years old. She needed to go to the bathroom, and when she stepped out into the hall, she froze in her tracks. One of the walls was on fire, she told her sister when she urgently awoke her. They discovered it was not the wall but the neighboring building that was ablaze.
She also recalls that once or twice a year, a church picnic was held at McKinley Woods. "We loved the ice cream and soda," she remembers. These were rare, special treats for the children.
But there were also other darker moments. Luann tells how her father was on the roof of the building cleaning out the chimney, because, Luann says, the danger of "fire was always a concern," the dry wooden building a potential tinderbox. The roof collapsed beneath Arthur and he fell to the floor below. He was hospitalized and would suffer back pain the rest of his life.
A more gruesome incident occurred when Arthur was operating a saw, making picnic tables. The saw slipped in his hand, slicing all four fingers. Doctors were able to save the fingers, but Luann's father's hand was never the same.
In those days, not many people visited McKinley Woods even though the preserve was open to the public. They encountered visitors only infrequently. But Luann does remember that motorcycle gangs would come down from Chicago to party in the preserve. Arthur Sage would approach these groups to talk with the visitors, reminding them of park rules and closing time.
In 1973, Sage retired at the age of 75. By this time, Luann, both brothers and one sister had married and moved away. The Sages vacated their home of 16 years, and Arthur, Lucille and sister Nancy moved to Shorewood.
The Sage sisters today (from left): Nancy, Luann and Marilyn.


text:
January 17, 2017 Diarmuid Editorial, Games
Big Red Barrel's Gaming Picks for 2017
With cancellations and delays seemingly becoming more common, anticipating video games ahead of time is becoming a fool's game – but one we are glad to play! With new consoles set to launch this year also, 2017 could be another magnificent year for gaming. The staff at Big Red Barrel have chosen some upcoming titles and platforms that will (hopefully) knock your socks off when they release this year.
Mass Effect Andromeda (Josh)
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I know that this was on the 2016 list, however, it's back again! Ever since the game was announced at E3 2015, Mass Effect Andromeda has been on my most anticipated list. The first 3 games in the franchise had some of the most memorable story lines and characters that I've ever encountered. I felt genuine happiness and sadness as I followed the ups and downs with Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. I'm eagerly awaiting stepping into Ryder's shoes. In a few short months, that eagerness will finally become a reality (I hope).
With a new story, new characters and a new setting, the game looks to be stepping into the unknown again, similar to the original Mass Effect. As the trailers have mentioned, Andromeda is about exploration; to forge into the darkness as commander of the Tempest. A whole new galaxy awaits, patiently waiting to be explored and for its mysterious secrets to be discovered. I'd also really like to see how effective the Nomad (MAKO 2.0) and the class loadout swapping really are.
Personally, I'm really looking forward to meeting the new characters, making friends, enemies and everything in between. This is something that Bioware does exceedingly well and seeing how bonds form with my new crew members will be an exciting new experience (That said, they'll have to be pretty special to compare to a certain Mr. Vakarian).
Mass Effect Andromeda looks to be going back to the core exploration of the earlier games and I am counting down the days until I can make my first small step onto a strange new world, meeting its inhabitants… and punching them in the face.
Expected Release: 23rd March 2017
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Rik)
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My most anticipated game of 2017 is without a doubt The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. When the game was first revealed in 2014, my jaw hit the floor; it looked absolutely beautiful. But despite the stunning visuals, what really got my attention was producer Eiji Aonuma's talk of "rethinking the conventions" of the Zelda titles, specifically changing the way the series handles puzzles and dungeons.
Breath of the Wild promises a fully open world experience, with the ability to tackle any dungeon in any order, which hasn't really been seen in the series since 1986's The Legend of Zelda, the game that started it all. The addition of objective-based gameplay, RPG elements and voice over makes Breath of the Wild seem more Skyrim than Skyward Sword, and that is perfectly fine with me. These changes to convention are exactly what the series needs and it's great to see Nintendo take notice and inspiration from more western adventure games.
If I wasn't already excited enough. the trailer shown at the end of the recent Nintendo Switch presentation has me feeling like a kid at Christmas time. My copy has been pre-ordered and I am eagerly counting down the days to its launch on 3rd March.
Expected Release: 3rd March 2017
Absolver (Diarmuid)
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As someone who begrudgingly tolerated Bloodborne and Dark Souls III, it seems odd that a game that could be described as Soulsborne-esque would interest me. However, ever since I was a spotty young gamer, I've wanted a realistic hand-to-hand fighter (that actually controls responsively). While people may point at games like UFC or Chivalry, it ss Absolver that has caught my eye as a game that may fulfil that gaming fantasy for me.
In case you are not aware, Absolver is a martial arts-focused, action role-playing/fighting game, developed by Sloclap, a Parisian indie game developer composed of former Ubisoft Paris employees. The game sees you become a Prospect, a potential Absolver. You wish to join their ranks as they make up an elite corps of combatants fighting to maintain stability in the world.
The game plays as a large PvP world where you fight other people to prove your prowess. The combat looks fluid and fast, with precision and skill required to succeed, over button-bashing (remember I mentioned Soulsborne-esque). Anyway, I can't wait to get my hands on it later this year.
Expected Release: Q2 2017
Sea of Thieves (Smashsoul)
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Sea of Thieves represents a massive turning point for Rare. After a few years of slaving away on subpar Kinect titles during the dark reign of Don Mattrick titles they've finally been given the opportunity to do what they want again under Phil Spencer.
Sea of Thieves will be their first new IP since Viva Piñata and it's looking to be their most ambitious project yet. You can take to the high seas as a pirate with other players and plunder and explore to your hearts content whilst also getting into naval combat with other players. Overall, it seems like the perfect game for someone like myself who likes playing cooperatively with friends whilst also getting into PvP skirmishes from time to time.
The art style, the gameplay and the premise all look and feel distinctly Rare. Whilst there's still a whole lot I want to know about Sea of Thieves my early impressions are overwhelmingly positive and I can't wait to find out more at E3.
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Reuben)
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In a just world, I wouldn't be writing about Horizon: Zero Dawn on this list. But since the Murphiest of Laws conspired to delay the game from 2016 into the early months of 2017, here we are. I try not to get too invested in video games before they're released, but I seem to have broken my own rule with Horizon. The reason for that is simple: ROBOT DINOSAURS!
That may not seem like much but seeing these two words together represents every childhood fantasy I've had come to life; the raw power of dinosaurs combined with the endless excitement of robots! I'm sure there is a story to Horizon, and I'm sure it'll be absolutely fine – but truthfully I couldn't care less about the protagonist Aloy or her troubles. The real appeal of the game for me is in hunting down mechanical crocodiles and cybernetic T-Rexs. If Horizon can manage to make the previous sentence feel even 1/100th as cool as my 8 year old self wanted it to be, it'll be my game of the year without a doubt.
Expected Release: 1st March 2017
Nintendo Switch (Michael Barclay)
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Ah Nintendo. If I had written this piece a week ago I'd be writing about how I was more excited by the Nintendo Switch than I had been about a piece of hardware for years. The union of home and portable gaming seems gimmicky yes but a gimmick I could see the utility of. Nintendo's presentation last week has soured that excitement somewhat though. The machine itself still looks good in theory but the impeding launch this March looks less promising.
At £279 the console is at significantly higher price point that most retailers and customers were expecting and this is without any games included. Only five titles are releasing at launch and realistically only the new Zelda game is a must have tittle with an RRP £20 greater than the Wii U version. Compare this to the PS4 and Xbox One which have been on the market long enough now for attractive and significantly cheaper bundles available. Combine this with Nintendo introducing paid online services for the first time and the fact that the console really isn't that much more powerful than its predecessor and there are a fair few things to be worried about.
Honestly this was really meant to be a piece about anticipation and excitement. It might have been wiser for Nintendo have waited until the end of the year when the new Mario and remastered Skyrim would be available rather than seemingly rushing the console to market.
NieR: Automata (PacManPolarBear)
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I have to admit NieR: Automata was not really on my radar until very recently. The original game, developed by Cavia and released on the PS3/360, was a flawed game that never managed to realise its broad ambitions. Poor visuals mixed with uneven game-play held it back from being a hit, even if it did develop a cult following. Thanks in no small part to it being a spin-off from the Drakengard series; another cool but flawed assortment of games.
NieR ended up being the last game Cavia ever made but a few staff members, including director Yoko Taro, did go on to make Drakengard 3. That game did OK but much like every other game in the Drakengard / NieR family so far it was flawed and never became the hit it could have been. I'd dabbled with the series(s) over the years and enjoyed them as bargain bin fodder but never really considered myself a fan. Then Yoko Taro moved over to Platinum Games to work on a NieR sequel called Automata.
Now Platinum Games has a pretty hit or miss (shed a tear for Scalebound) resume themselves but they did make three of my favorite games; Bayonetta, Vanquish and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. When Platinum Games gets it right they make some of the most responsive, dynamic, high speed third-person action games in the biz. But what really sold me was the demo for Automata released just before Christmas 2016. It is PHENOMENAL. It's one of the best game demos I have ever played. That is how you make a demo folks. It's hard to judge the environmental visuals as you are playing in a rusted, ramshackle factory which understandably looks kinda bland, but the pair of characters (2B and 9S) showcased look fantastic and the enemies look sharp and unique. The music is top notch and the English voice acting is far above average for a Japanese game. The real seller though is the gameplay. It is flawless.
Where the original NieR stumbled in execution Automata strides with confidence. The third-person sword/gun combat transitions into a side scrolling platformer into a top down bullet-hell shooter and back again effortlessly. The genres dance and blend in a way I have never seen in any other game. Sure other games have attempted to blend these genres before but I've never seen any of them be this smooth and satisfying. The robotic enemies are engaging and their attacks accentuate the strengths of all three genres. And the boss battles? Wow. If there was ever a game that seems to understand what makes boss battles great it is Automata. In an age when boss battles are either terrible, or more likely absent entirely, fighting that huge boss at the end of the demo was like a love letter addressed to me personally. If even half the finished game is as good as the demo was NieR: Automata may join Bayonetta, Vanquish and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as one of the best games Platinum Games has ever made. I can't freaking wait!
Expected Release: 10 March 2017
Yooka Laylee (Smashsoul)
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As a proud backer of Yooka-Laylee on Kickstarter it would probably be an understatement to say that I'm excited enough for the game that I went out of my way to fund it.
Banjo-Kazooie is one of my favourite platformers from the Nintendo 64 days and to see it reimagined for the current generation in the form of Yooka-Laylee was always going to make me throw money at my computer screen.
The gameplay, the humour, the characters and the music send shivers of nostalgia down my spine even though it's technically a brand new IP. This is the Banjo-Kazooie game I wanted when I saw the teaser trailer for a new Banjo game just after the launch of the Xbox 360 (except it features a gecko/bat instead of a bear/bird).
I could sit here and gush for hours about how much I want this game in my hands right now, but I won't, because there are people waiting to talk about other games too.
Expected Release: 11th April 2017
Let us know what you think of the list above. What games are you looking forward to this year?
Tags: Absolver, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Mass Effect Andromeda, NieR: Automata, Nintendo Switch, Sea of Thieves, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Yooka-Laylee
Written by Diarmuid
2503 Posts in Total See Them »
I like games. I like movies. I'm Irish. I live in London.


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Artificial Intelligence is currently being deployed in customer service to both augment and replace human agents - with the primary goals of improving the customer experience and reducing human customer service costs. While the technology is not yet able to perform all the tasks a human customer service representative could, many consumer requests are very simple ask that sometimes be handled by current AI technologies without human input.
Users want to ask questions in their own language, and have bots help them. A statement that sounds as straight-forward as "My login isn't working! I haven't been able to log into your on-line billing system" might sound straight forward to us, but to a bot, there's a lot it needs to understand. Watson Conversation Services has learned from Wikipedia, and along with its deep learning techniques, it's able to work out what the user is asking.
The idea was to permit Tay to "learn" about the nuances of human conversation by monitoring and interacting with real people online. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Tay to figure out that Twitter is a towering garbage-fire of awfulness, which resulted in the Twitter bot claiming that "Hitler did nothing wrong," using a wide range of colorful expletives, and encouraging casual drug use. While some of Tay's tweets were "original," in that Tay composed them itself, many were actually the result of the bot's "repeat back to me" function, meaning users could literally make the poor bot say whatever disgusting remarks they wanted.
Facebook Messenger chat bots are a way to communicate with the companies and services that you use directly through Messenger. The goal of chat bots is to minimize the time you would spend waiting on hold or sifting through automated phone menus. By using keywords and short phrases, you can get information and perform tasks all through the Messenger app. For example, you could use bots to purchase clothing, or check the weather by asking the bot questions. Bot selection is limited, but more are being added all the time. You can also interact with bots using the Facebook website.
"They're doing things we're simply not doing in the U.S. Imagine if you were going to start a city from scratch. Rather than having to deal with all the infrastructure created 200 years ago, you could hit the ground running on the latest technology. That's what China's doing — they're accessing markets for the first time through mobile apps and payments." — Brian Buchwald, CEO of consumer intelligence firm Bomoda
The process of building, testing and deploying chatbots can be done on cloud based chatbot development platforms[39] offered by cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) providers such as Yekaliva, Oracle Cloud Platform, SnatchBot[40] and IBM Watson.[41] [42] [43] These cloud platforms provide Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Backend as a Service for chatbot development.
Magic, launched in early 2015, is one of the earliest examples of conversational commerce by launching one of the first all-in-one intelligent virtual assistants as a service. Unique in that the service does not even have an app (you access it purely via SMS), Magic promises to be able to handle virtually any task you send it — almost like a human executive assistant. Based on user and press accounts, Magic seems to be able to successfully carry out a variety of odd tasks from setting up flight reservations to ordering hard-to-find food items.
For every question or instruction input to the conversational bot, there must exist a specific pattern in the database to provide a suitable response. Where there are several combinations of patterns available, and a hierarchical pattern is created. In these cases, algorithms are used to reduce the classifiers and generate a structure that is more manageable. This is the "reductionist" approach—or, in other words, to have a simplified solution, it reduces the problem.
Another option is to integrate your own custom AI service. This approach is more complex, but gives you complete flexibility in terms of the machine learning algorithm, training, and model. For example, you could implement your own topic modeling and use algorithm such as LDA to find similar or relevant documents. A good approach is to expose your custom AI solution as a web service endpoint, and call the endpoint from the core bot logic. The web service could be hosted in App Service or in a cluster of VMs. Azure Machine Learning provides a number of services and libraries to assist you in training and deploying your models.
When considering potential uses, first assess the impact on resources. There are two options here: replacement or empowerment. Replacement is clearly easier as you don't need to consider integration with existing processes and you can build from scratch. Empowerment enhances an existing process by making it more flexible, accommodating, accessible and simple for users.
2017 was the year that AI and chatbots took off in business, not just in developed nations, but across the whole world. Sage have reported that this global trend is boosting international collaboration between startups across all continents, such as the European Commission-backed Startup Europe Comes to Africa (SEC2A) which was held in November 2017.
Of course, each messaging app has its own fine print for bots. For example, on Messenger a brand can send a message only if the user prompted the conversation, and if the user doesn't find value and opt to receive future notifications within those first 24 hours, there's no future communication. But to be honest, that's not enough to eradicate the threat of bad bots.
One of the most thriving eLearning innovations is the chatbot technology. Chatbots work on the principle of interacting with users in a human-like manner. These intelligent bots are often deployed as virtual assistants. The best example would be Google Allo - an intelligent messaging app packed with Google Assistant that interacts with the user by texting back and replying to queries. This app supports both voice and text queries.
With the help of equation, word matches are found for given some sample sentences for each class. Classification score identifies the class with the highest term matches but it also has some limitations. The score signifies which intent is most likely to the sentence but does not guarantee it is the perfect match. Highest score only provides the relativity base.
Chatbots currently operate through a number of channels, including web, within apps, and on messaging platforms. They also work across the spectrum from digital commerce to banking using bots for research, lead generation, and brand awareness. An increasing amount of businesses are experimenting with chatbots for e-commerce, customer service, and content delivery.
For starters, he was the former president of PayPal. And he once founded a mobile media monetization firm. And he also founded a company that facilitated mobile phone payments. And then he helped Facebook acquire Braintree, which invented Venmo. And then he invented Messenger's P2P payment platform. And then he was appointed to the board of directors at Coinbase.
Note — If the plan is to build the sample conversations from the scratch, then one recommended way is to use an approach called interactive learning. We will not go into the details of the interactive learning here, but to put it in simple terms and as the name suggests, it is a user interface application that will prompt the user to input the user request and then the dialogue manager model will come up with its top choices for predicting the best next_action, prompting the user again to confirm on its priority of learned choices. The model uses this feedback to refine its predictions for next time (This is like a reinforcement learning technique wherein the model is rewarded for its correct predictions).
Earlier, I made a rather lazy joke with a reference to the Terminator movie franchise, in which an artificial intelligence system known as Skynet becomes self-aware and identifies the human race as the greatest threat to its own survival, triggering a global nuclear war by preemptively launching the missiles under its command at cities around the world. (If by some miracle you haven't seen any of the Terminator movies, the first two are excellent but I'd strongly advise steering clear of later entries in the franchise.)
Die meisten Chatbots greifen auf eine vorgefertigte Datenbank, die sog. Wissensdatenbank mit Antworten und Erkennungsmustern, zurück. Das Programm zerlegt die eingegebene Frage zuerst in Einzelteile und verarbeitet diese nach vorgegebenen Regeln. Dabei können Schreibweisen harmonisiert (Groß- und Kleinschreibung, Umlaute etc.), Satzzeichen interpretiert und Tippfehler ausgeglichen werden (Preprocessing). Im zweiten Schritt erfolgt dann die eigentliche Erkennung der Frage. Diese wird üblicherweise über Erkennungsmuster gelöst, manche Chatbots erlauben darüber hinaus die Verschachtelung verschiedener Mustererkennungen über sogenannte Makros. Wird eine zur Frage passende Antwort erkannt, kann diese noch angepasst werden (beispielsweise können skriptgesteuert berechnete Daten eingefügt werden – "In Ulm sind es heute 37 °C."). Diesen Vorgang nennt man Postprocessing. Die daraus entstandene Antwort wird dann ausgegeben. Moderne kommerzielle Chatbot-Programme erlauben darüber hinaus den direkten Zugriff auf die gesamte Verarbeitung über eingebaute Skriptsprachen und Programmierschnittstellen.
Once your bot is running in production, you will need a DevOps team to keep it that way. Continually monitor the system to ensure the bot operates at peak performance. Use the logs sent to Application Insights or Cosmos DB to create monitoring dashboards, either using Application Insights itself, Power BI, or a custom web app dashboard. Send alerts to the DevOps team if critical errors occur or performance falls below an acceptable threshold.
With last year's refresh of AppleTV, Apple brought its Siri voice assistant to the center of the UI. You can now ask Siri to play your favorite TV shows, check the weather, search for and buy specific types of movies, and a variety of other specific tasks. Although far behind Amazon's Echo in terms of breadth of functionality, Apple will no doubt expand Siri's integration into AppleTV, and its likely that the company will introduce a new version of AppleTV that more directly competes with the Echo, perhaps with a voice remote control that is always listening for commands.
When one dialog invokes another, the Bot Builder adds the new dialog to the top of the dialog stack. The dialog that is on top of the stack is in control of the conversation. Every new message sent by the user will be subject to processing by that dialog until it either closes or redirects to another dialog. When a dialog closes, it's removed from the stack, and the previous dialog in the stack assumes control of the conversation.
H&M's consistent increased sales over the past year and its August announcement to launch an eCommerce presence in Canada and South Korea during the fall of 2016, along with 11 new H&M online markets (for a total of 35 markets by the end of the year), appear to signify positive results for its chatbot implementation (though direct correlations are unavailable on its website).
Last, but not least coming in with the bot platform for business is FlowXO, which creates bots for Messenger, Slack, SMS, Telegraph and the web. This platform allows for creating various flexibility in bots by giving you the option to create a fully automated bot, human, or a hybrid of both. ChatBot expert Murray Newlands commented that "Where 10 years ago every company needed a website and five years ago every company needed an app, now every company needs to embrace messaging with AI and chatbots."
Today, more than ever, instant availability and approachability matter. Which is why your presence should be dictated by your customer's preference or the type of message your business wants to convey. Keep in mind that these can overlap or change depending on your demographic you wish to acquire or cater to. There are very few set-in-stone rules when it comes to new customers.
In the early 90's, the Turing test, which allows determining the possibility of thinking by computers, was developed. It consists in the following. A person talks to both the person and the computer. The goal is to find out who his interlocutor is — a person or a machine. This test is carried out in our days and many conversational programs have coped with it successfully.
Build a bot directly from one of the top messaging apps themselves. By building a bot in Telegram, you can easily run a bot in the application itself. The company recently open-sourced their chatbot code, making it easy for third-parties to integrate and create bots of their own. Their Telegram API, which they also built, can send customized notifications, news, reminders, or alerts. Integrate the API with other popular apps such as YouTube and Github for a unique customer experience.
As with many 'organic' channels, the relative reach of your audience tends to decline over time due to a variety of factors. In email's case, it can be the over-exposure to marketing emails and moves from email providers to filter out promotional content; with other channels it can be the platform itself. Back in 2014 I wrote about how "Facebook's Likes Don't Matter Anymore" in relation to the declining organic reach of Facebook pages. Last year alone the organic reach of publishers on Facebook fell by a further 52%.
"To be honest, I'm a little worried about the bot hype overtaking the bot reality," said M.G. Siegler, a partner with GV, the investment firm formerly known as Google Ventures. "Yes, the high level promise of what bots can offer is great. But this isn't going to happen overnight. And it's going to take a lot of experimentation and likely bot failure before we get there."
Since 2016 when Facebook allows businesses to deliver automated customer support, e-commerce guidance, content and interactive experiences through chatbots, a large variety of chatbots for Facebook Messenger platform were developed.[35] In 2016, Russia-based Tochka Bank launched the world's first Facebook bot for a range of financial services, in particularly including a possibility of making payments. [36] In July 2016, Barclays Africa also launched a Facebook chatbot, making it the first bank to do so in Africa. [37]


A Hartland High School teacher and coach who has been placed on leave as the result of an incident involving a student is receiving support from students, parents and colleagues.
Brian Morrison, affectionately known as "Coach Mo" or "Mo", was placed on paid leave March 3rd after roughhousing with a student during gym class two days prior. During the incident Morrison reportedly put the student in a headlock, ripping his shirt in the process. Students who were present at the time say Morrison was just playing around. At the advice of their attorney, district officials have declined to comment on the incident. It is unknown at this time whether Morrison will be allowed to return to his teaching and coaching job.
At a Board of Education meeting Monday, students, athletes and teachers from the school, as well as parents and former students, packed the board room of the Hartland Educational Support Service Center. During the meeting's call to the public session, numerous individuals stood and spoke on Morrison's behalf, expressing their belief in his integrity and lasting positive impact on the students he's come into contact with. Several individuals became emotional or cried when talking about what Morrison has done for them. At one point, a student asked those in the crowd who were there to support Morrison to stand. The majority did.
Weston says it'd be "excessive" if Morrison lost his teaching job, losing his coaching job would be "plenty of punishment" and losing his teaching certification would be a "career-ending death sentence". While Board of Education President Thom Dummond did not speak to the incident or potential outcome, he did thank community members for attending the meeting, adding he knows there's a lot of sensitivity involved.


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Order to cull HP's 'vermin' monkeys draws activists' ire
Union environment ministry has declared monkeys (Rhesus Macaque) as 'vermin' in Himachal Pradesh, allowing local authorities to cull this animal in certain identified non-forest areas in Shimla for one year. The move has, however, attracted the ire of animal rights activists.
The decision, notified last week, was taken on request of the state government which reported harm to life and property, including large-scale destruction of agriculture due to overpopulation of this species outside forests.
Though Rhesus Macaque monkeys are protected species under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the law allows for it to be hunted by declaring it 'vermin' for a specific period if it poses a danger to human life or property.
"The declaration of macaques as vermin is a fraud played by the central and state governments to cancel utter mismanagement of forests and wildlife. Himachal Pradesh forest department's website clearly shows a marked decline in the number of monkeys in the state, yet the Centre declares it as vermin due to overpopulation," said animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi.
Citing previous instances, she said, "The monkeys mistakenly sterilized by the government has cost the taxpayer ₹50 crore. The mass surgical sterilization of wild animals backfired. Now a notification for killing them will only compound the blunder."
The Times of India, 19 July, Chennai.


Top Christian Hits is now available as part of the popular Instrumental Play-Along Series.
Top Christian Hits Instrumental Solos offers a versatile selection of today's top Christian hits for flute, clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax, trumpet, horn in F, trombone, violin, viola, and cello. Each book contains carefully edited arrangements appropriate to each instrument, and well suited for level 2–3 students. The CD includes a fully orchestrated demo track of each song, which features a live instrumental solo performance, followed by a play-along track. Also included are PDFs of piano accompaniments, and Alfred's Tempo Changer Software.
Top Christian Hits titles include "In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found)," "O Come to the Altar," "Even If," "What a Beautiful Name," "Oh My Soul," "Great Are You Lord," "Good Good Father," "The Lion and the Lamb," "Glorious Day," "Home," "I Can Only Imagine," "This Is Amazing Grace," "Thy Will," "Trust in You," and "Clean."
Top Christian Hits books are available for $14.99.


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Happy birthday to you! Or happy anniversary! Or happy nothing special! Whatever the occasion (or non-occasion), this stunning array of the season's most fabulous flowers in a clear glass vase will make their day.