Blogs

Authored by Chas Freeman via ConsortiumNews.com,

What the U.S. faces with China is not a new Cold War but a contest unlike any it has known before...

Five hundred years ago, Hernán Cortés began the European annihilation of the Mayan, Aztec, and other indigenous civilizations in the Western Hemisphere.  Six months later, in August 1519, Magellan [Fernão de Magalhães] launched his circumnavigation of the globe.  For five centuries thereafter, a series of Western powers — Portugal, Spain, Holland, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and, finally, the United States — overturned preexisting regional orders as they imposed their own on the world.  That era has now come to an end.

In the final phases of the age of Western dominance, we Americans made and enforced the rules.  We were empowered to do so in two phases.  First, around 1880, the United States became the world’s largest economy.  Then, in 1945, having liberated Western Europe from Germany and overthrown Japanese hegemony in East Asia, Americans…

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Hackett Group Inc (NASDAQ: HCKT)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Feb. 19, 2019, 5:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Welcome to The Hackett Group Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Your lines have been placed on a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer. Please be advised the conference is being recorded. Hosting tonight's call are Mr. Ted Fernandez, Chairman and CEO and Mr. Rob Ramirez, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Ramirez, you may begin.

Rob Ramirez -- Chief Financial Officer

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss The Hackett Group's fourth quarter and full year 2018 results. Speaking on the call today and here to answer your questions are Ted Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of The Hackett Group and myself, Rob Ramirez, CFO.

A press announcement was released over the wires at 4:32 PM Eastern Time. For a copy of the release, please visit our website at www.thehackettg…

Submitted by Visual Capitalist

Over the last decade, the prospect of mass automation has seemingly shifted from a vague possibility to an inescapable reality. While it’s still incredibly difficult to estimate the ultimate impact of automation and AI on the economy, the picture is starting to become a bit clearer as projections begin to converge.

Today’s infographic comes to us from Raconteur, and it highlights seven different charts that show us how automation is shaping the world – and in particular, the future outlook for manufacturing jobs.

The Age of Automation

The precise details are up to debate, but here are a few key areas that many experts agree on with respect to the coming age of automation:

Half of manufacturing hours worked today are spent on manual jobs.

Image source The Motley Fool.

Five9 Inc (NASDAQ: FIVN)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Feb. 19, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Five9 Inc. Fourth Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Lisa Laukkanen. Please go ahead.

Lisa Laukkanen -- The Blueshirt Group, Managing Director

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss Five9's fourth quarter and full year 2018 results. Today's call is being hosted by Rowan Trollope, CEO; Dan Burkland, President; and Barry Zwarenstein, CFO.

During the course of this conference call, Five9's management team will make projections and other forward-looking statements regarding the future financial performance of the company, industry trends, company initiatives and other future events. You are cautione…

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Continental Resources Inc (NYSE: CLR)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Feb. 19, 2019, 12:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to Continental Resources Fourth Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference may be recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Rory Sabino, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Rory R. Sabino -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I would like to welcome you to today's earnings call. We'll start today's call with remarks from Harold Hamm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Jack Stark, President; and John Hart, Chief Financial Officer. Also on the call and availabl…

A federal judge in Chicago ruled on Tuesday that a lawsuit aimed at scuttling President Obama's $500 million library may proceed, according to the Associated Press. 

Dubbed an "ugly waste of taxpayer resources" by angry Chicagoans, the presidential center slated for construction in a park beside Lake Michigan may be in jeopardy after Judge John Robert Blakey denied the city's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Protect Our Parks. 

Supporters of the project had hoped the court would grant a city motion to throw out the lawsuit by Protect Our Parks, some fearing any drawn out litigation might lead Obama to decide to build the Obama Presidential Center somewhere other than his hometown.

...

Blakey’s ruling doesn’t mean the group will necessarily prevail in the end, but confirms that the suit poses a formidable threat to the project. The judge indicated that he doesn’t want the litigation to drag out, and that he would strictly limit any fact gathering leading up to trial to 45 days. -Associated Press

Image source: The Motley Fool.

ShotSpotter, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTI)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Feb. 19, 2019, 4:30 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to ShotSpotter's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Matt and I'll be your operator on today's conference. Joining us are ShotSpotter's CEO, Ralph Clark; and CFO, Alan Stewart.

Please note that certain information discussed on the call today will include forward-looking statements about future events and ShotSpotter's business strategy and future financial and operating performance. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and may cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by those statements. Certain of these risks and assumptions are discussed in ShotSpotter's SEC filings, including the registration st…

Submitted by SafeHaven.com

President Trump has never hidden his disdain for cyber-retailing giant Amazon Inc., accusing the company of unfair tax practices and antitrust violation. The president probably won’t be too amused by a new report that the company avoided paying any federal income tax in 2018 for the second year in a row despite posting billions of dollars in profits.

The purveyor of two-day delivery of just about everything posted a massive net income of $11.2 billion in fiscal 2018 after doubling it from the previous year’s tab of $5.6 billion. Yet, a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the company did not pay a single cent in income tax on both occasions—ironically in large part due to Trump’s tax bonanza of 2017.

Tax loopholes

Incredibly, the company’s latest corporate filing reveals that far from paying the statutory 21 percent income tax demanded under the new tax laws, it’s the federal government that ended up paying Amazon thanks to a…

Image source: The Motley Fool.

LeMaitre Vascular inc (NASDAQ: LMAT)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Feb. 19, 2019, 5:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Welcome to LeMaitre Vascular Fourth Quarter 2018 Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. JJ Pellegrino, Chief Financial Officer of LeMaitre Vascular. Please go ahead, sir.

Joseph P. Pellegrino -- Chief Financial Officer and Board Director

Thank you, Ashley. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on our Q4 2018 conference call. With me on today's call is our Chairman and CEO, George LeMaitre; and our President, Dave Roberts.

Before we begin, I'll read our safe harbor statement. Today, we will make some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is subject to risks and uncertainties. Wherever possible,…

There was a notable change in Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN) annual report this year. Under the competition section of its 10-K, Amazon listed "companies that provide fulfillment and logistics services."

Previously, Amazon had always considered FedEx (NYSE: FDX) and UPS (NYSE: UPS) partners. But the company is moving more and more of its shipping needs in-house. On the fourth-quarter earnings call, CFO Brian Olsavsky said the online retailer can ship many packages itself for less than it'd have to pay a third party.

Since the start of the year, Amazon has been making investments in potential solutions for last-mile delivery, as well as expanding its Prime Air network, buying more planes and developing its airport hubs. Here's what it's been up to and why its moves should scare FedEx and UPS.

Image source: Amazon.

Automating the last mile

The biggest bottleneck in any logistics operation delivering packages from a fulfillment center to a customer's doorstep can be the last mile. This can often be the most cos…

Amid slack sales for off-road vehicles and a declining motorcycle market, Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) is counting on the boating market to provide growth for the powersports vehicle maker as it recently made its second acquisition in the space in the span of a year.

Polaris acquired fishing boat maker Larson Boat Group for an undisclosed sum and immediately began moving the assets to its Syracuse, Ind., facility, where it makes Rinker boats, one of the brands it purchased when it acquired Boat Holdings last May. Polaris also bought a minority position in a tournament fishing organization in November.

Image source: Larson Boat Group.

Hook, line, and sinker

Its latest purchases indicate Polaris is making a bet on fishing, which remains a growing leisure activity. The National Marine Manufacturers Association recently said new powerboat sales in 2018 hit their highest level since 2007, or some 280,000 boats, a 4% increase over the year before. Total annual U.S. sales of boats, marine products, and service…

The current crop of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones isn't selling too well. Last quarter, Apple reported that its iPhone revenue dropped close to 15% year over year and issued guidance for the current quarter suggesting yet another quarter of iPhone revenue declines.

It's clear that Apple's current product cycle is, for lack of a better word, a bust.

Image source: Apple.

Fortunately, Apple introduces new smartphones on an annual cadence, meaning that around September, the company will announce a new generation of iPhones. And, thanks to respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo with TF International Securities, we now know some of the key upgrades that Apple plans to bring to the table with its upcoming iPhone product lineup.

Key upgrades

With each new iPhone generation, Apple has typically delivered improvements in obvious areas such as the applications processor and cameras, and I expect that'll be the case with this year's iPhones, too.

Beyond the more obvious improvements, though, Kuo says that the new iPhones wi…

For nearly two decades at the Grand Canyon, tourists, employees, and children on tours passed by three paint buckets stored in the National Park's museum collection building, unaware that they were being exposed to radiation.

Federal officials learned last year that three five-gallon buckets stored in the Grand Canyon’s museum building were literally overflowing with highly-radioactive uranium ore. The buckets were moved to the museum building when it opened in 2000 and were so full of the ore one literally wouldn’t close. 

As AZCentral.com reports, in a rogue email sent to all Park Service employees on Feb. 4, Elston "Swede" Stephenson - the safety, health and wellness manager - described the alleged cover-up as "a top management failure" and warned of possible health consequences.

"If you were in the Museum Collections Building (2C) between the year 2000 and June 18, 2018, you were 'exposed' to uranium by OSHA's definition," Stephenson wrote.

 "The radiation readings, at first blush, exceeds (sic) …

Image source: The Motley Fool.

National Health Investors Inc (NYSE: NHI)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Feb. 19, 2019, 12:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks:

Colleen Schaller -- Director, Investor Relations

Hello, everyone. This is Colleen Schaller, Director of Investor Relations. Welcome to the National Health Investors Conference Call to review the Company's results for the fourth quarter of 2018. On the call with me today is Eric Mendelsohn, President and CEO; Roger Hopkins, Chief Accounting Officer; Kevin Pascoe, Chief Investment Officer; and John Spaid, Executive Vice President of Finance.

The results as well as notice of the accessibility of this conference call on a listen-only basis over the Internet were released this morning before market opened in a press release that's been covered by the financial media. As we start, let me remind you that any statements in this conference call which are not historical facts are forward-looking st…

After an investigation conducted by the Covington Diocese turned up no evidence that 16-year-old high school student Nicholas Sandmann confronted Native American activist Nathan Phillips during a March for Life rally at the Lincoln Memorial last month, seemingly confirming that the mainstream press was incorrect to pillory the white, MAGA-hat wearing teen for a confrontation that never actually happened, lawyers for Sandmann filed the first of what are expected to be many defamation lawsuits demanding compensatory and punitive damages for leading an Internet mob that villified Sandmann and his peers.

According to Reuters, lawyers Lin Wood and Todd McMurtry are seeking $250 million in damages from the Washington Post on behalf of Sandmann, a sum equal to the amount that billionaire Jeff Bezos paid to buy the paper in 2013.

The suit claims that the paper - which helped publicize a now infamous photo that helped trigger an Internet mob that swiftly outed the teen and demanded he be punished - led the hate cam…