Diamonds and Dogs

12/5/16

National Beverage (FIZZ) is fizzing to the top. The beverage company that makes such drinks as Shasta and Faygo is up 7% on an upgrade from Credit Suisse. The stock performed well last week following better than expected earnings. National Beverage easily beat estimates by 12 cents last week as sales rose 13% beating estimates as well. Operating margins also improved to 16.4% vs 15.1% last year. After an up and down year, National Beverage is moving in the right direction.

LPL Financial (LPLA) CEO riding off into a cloudy sunset. The largest U.S. independent broker dealer fell 3% today on news their CEO, Casady has had enough. The announcement comes as LPL faces steep regulatory hurdles that have forced it to lower fees on many retirement advice offerings and reportedly consider a sale. The CEO, Casady was credited with growing LPL from what was a primarily independent business to one of the largest U.S. providers with 14,000 independent financial advisers and 700 banks and credit unions. The firm's growth under Casady came with some regulatory troubles. LPL was fined repeatedly by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for supervisory failures, including an $11.7 million fine in May 2015.