Top 5 Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now

tags:ISRG,BWLD,MED,JWN,TBI,

Staffing 360 Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:STAF) is on a roll. Just a couple of days after it pre-announced some impressive preliminary results for the most recently-completed quarter, the IT staffing agency told STAF shareholders today that $2.7 million worth of debt had essentially been refinanced. Now, no interest payments are due until October of this year, and no principal is due until October of next year. That may well be enough time for Staffing 360 Solutions to acquire more companies, beef up the top and bottom line, and pay the whole amount off before another refinancing or conversion to shares.

Staffing 360 Solutions' story is a compelling one. Seeing the growing need for information technology workers in an increasingly digital and increasingly networked world -- and a severe lack of those qualified workers -- three years ago the company began to capitalize on the supply/demand imbalance. Its mission was to aggregate, or "roll up" several smaller IT staffing companies into one big one, create some synergies and thus widen margins, and develop enough muscle to become THE dominant name in the niche.

It's working too. On Tuesday of this week, the company pre-announced its fiscal first quarter (ending in November) sales and gross profits. Revenue of $47 million and a gross profit of $8.1 million were up 14% and 8%, respectively, year-over-year, extending a long-term growth trend.

What we haven't heard yet -- and won't until the official Q1 filing is submitted later this month -- is the company's net income and EBITDA figures for the quarter. But, those numbers are improving too. EBITDA has been positive in each of the five prior quarters, and is expected to continue growing through last quarter. Net income is within sight of turning positive too. And, with its debt-interest payments now going away for at least nine months, net income will move towards turning positive at an even faster rate... through lower expenses, as well as greater financial flexibility that will allow the company to add another acquisition (and maybe even two) before October to help make those interest payments when they start to come due in October.

Top 5 Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: Intuitive Surgical Inc.(ISRG)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Baldwin]

  Earnings season is now in full swing, with today's key reports from�International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Intuitive Surgical Inc.�(Nasdaq: ISRG). Thanks to tax cuts, expectations are high. Analysts expect profit growth to top 18%, which would be the biggest jump in seven years. But there are a few bearish trends that are still lurking in the market. And if you're serious about making money, you need to know how to harness them and target individual stocks for life-changing gains.�Money Morning�Quantitative Specialist Chris Johnson explains.

• [By Ethan Ryder]

  These are some of the news stories that may have effected Accern Sentiment Analysis’s scoring:

  Get Intuitive Surgical alerts: Global Commercial Robotics Market 2018 by Key Players �� INTUITIVE SURGICAL INC , YASKAWA ELECTRIC … (themobileherald.com) Bullish or Bearish Territory: Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) (nysestocks.review) Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) -Price to Earnings Ratio Evaluation (P/E) (nasdaqfortune.com) Stock in Featured List: Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG) (stockquote.review) Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Gains on Strength in Robotics (finance.yahoo.com)

  A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ISRG. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $490.00 price objective on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Friday, January 26th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Intuitive Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. ValuEngine lowered Intuitive Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 1st. Piper Jaffray Companies reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intuitive Surgical in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Vetr raised Intuitive Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $478.64 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Intuitive Surgical presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $457.59.

• [By Motley Fool Staff]

  Stock No. 4: Let's go to the "I" stock from our April stocks a year ago. That's one of my favorite companies, a stock that I own, and have held for more than a decade, and that would be Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), the maker of the da Vinci robot, the surgical robot.

• [By Chris Lange]

  The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Wednesday was Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) which rose over 6% to $423.76. The stock��s 52-week range is $217.19 to $426.98. Volume was 1.7 million compared to its average volume of nearly 1 million.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Align Technology (NASDAQ: ALGN) and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and earnings.

• [By Sean Williams]

  The VISE acronym stands for:

  Visa (NYSE:V) Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI) Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA)

  Each of these four companies brings clear-cut competitive advantages to the table that should allow it to handily outperform the broader market (and the FANG stocks).

Top 5 Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steve Symington]

  That's not to say it was a quiet day for every stock on the market. With earnings season ramping up, brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) and restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) served as an exercise in contrast as investors reacted to their respective quarterly reports.

• [By Peter Graham]

  A long term performance chart shows Dave & Busters Entertainment�tripling in value�before falling back while�small cap upscale gentlemen's clubs and restaurant owner�RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: RICK) began taking off in 2016 and small cap�Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) is being acquired by Arby��s Restaurant Group:

Top 5 Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: MEDIFAST INC(MED)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Joseph Griffin]

  MediBloc (CURRENCY:MED) traded 6.8% lower against the dollar during the 1-day period ending at 15:00 PM Eastern on May 27th. MediBloc has a total market cap of $73.40 million and $743,880.00 worth of MediBloc was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One MediBloc token can currently be purchased for approximately $0.0247 or 0.00000339 BTC on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Bibox, Gate.io and Coinrail. During the last seven days, MediBloc has traded 8.3% higher against the dollar.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $124.60 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $121.06 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $119 after the company reported strong Q1 results and raised its FY18 guidance.

Top 5 Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Baldwin]
  Crude oil prices continue to remain in focus after Brent crude hit $80.00 per barrel. The benchmark crude touched $80.00, as markets are concerned about the impact renewed Iranian sanctions will have on global supply. French oil giant Total announced Wednesday that it was abandoning a gas project in Iran after failing to obtain a waiver from the Trump administration to do business in Iran. The sanctions are expected to decline global output at a time that OPEC is already working diligently to push oil prices higher by containing excessive global production. Four Stocks to Watch Today: JCP, BABA, F, KR Shares of JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) are ticking higher after its earnings report before the bell. Yesterday, retail companies were stunned by the 11% jump for its rival Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) stock thanks to a strong first-quarter report. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.�(NYSE: BABA) is generating a lot of buzz as investors monitor trade relations between the United States and China. BABA stock had slumped by 18% thanks to trade restrictions on Chinese companies. Ford Motor Co.�(NYSE: F) announced it will restart production of its popular F-150 pickup truck at its Dearborn, Mich., facility. The company recently suspended operations after a fire damaged supplies needed for manufacturing. The F-150 is the most popular consumer vehicle in the United States. In an effort to beat back the growth of Wal-Mart and Amazon, grocery giant Kroger Co.�(NYSE: KR) announced a deal to purchase a 5% stake in British online supermarket Ocado. The deal will allow Kroger to utilize the UK firm's warehouse automation technology in the United States and improve its supply chain costs. Look for additional earnings reports from Applied Materials Inc.�(Nasdaq: AMAT), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), The Children's Place Inc.�(Nasdaq: PLCE), Teekay Corp.�(NYSE: TK), and Quantum Corp.�(NYSE: QTM).

  Follow�Money Morning��on��Facebook,�Twitter, and�LinkedIn.

• [By Chris Lange]

  Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) is scheduled to release its most recent quarterly results after the markets close on Thursday. The consensus estimates call for $0.44 in earnings per share (EPS) on $3.46 billion in revenue. The fiscal first quarter of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.37 and $3.35 billion in revenue.

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) insider Ken Worzel sold 13,703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.97, for a total value of $671,035.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) reported fourth-quarter and full fiscal-year 2017 results after markets closed Thursday evening. The department store giant posted quarterly diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.89 on revenues of $4.7 billion. In the same period a year ago, Nordstrom reported EPS of $1.27 on revenues of $4.32 billion. Fourth-quarter results compare to the consensus estimates for EPS of $1.24 and $4.62 billion in revenue. EPS includes a negative impact of $0.31 per share related to changes in U.S. tax law.

• [By JJ Kinahan]

  DE was the second company to disappoint the Street since yesterday’s closing bell. Retailer Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN) beat Wall Street analysts’ earnings per share estimates and raised guidance, but missed on same-store sales. That key metric barely rose (up 0.2 percent), and shares of JWN tumbled more than 6 percent in pre-market futures trading. The same-store weakness for JWN came after a bunch of other retailers reported growth in that area.

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  Hudson's Bay's European operations and its off-price division are probably responsible for the majority of the company's recent losses. Still, sales have been plummeting at Lord & Taylor in recent years, as the tired chain has lost market share to other retail formats, as well as stronger department stores like Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) and even Macy's (NYSE:M). Lord & Taylor is almost certainly contributing to its parent company's ongoing losses.

Top 5 Growth Stocks To Watch Right Now: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Byrd]

  American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) by 24.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 95,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,680 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Trueblue worth $2,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

• [By Logan Wallace]

  Trueblue (NYSE: TBI) is one of 23 public companies in the “Help supply services” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Trueblue to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk.

Glencore Trader Held by China Amid Lead Probe

A Glencore Plc metals trader is one of a group of people detained by Chinese authorities this week as part of an investigation into shipments of lead into the country, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Hu Qiang, a Beijing-based senior lead concentrate trader at Glencore, was detained by Chinese authorities, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. While a spokesman for Glencore declined to comment on any individual arrests, the company on Thursday said it refutes allegations that it acted improperly.

Nobody replied to calls or a fax to China’s General Administration of Customs. Hu didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone, which were diverted to voice mail, nor he did he reply to emails sent to his work address.

The Nanjing branch of China’s customs authority this week was said to have seized 16,000 metric tons of imported material that it says is lead slag but was declared as lead concentrate. The authorities allege that Glencore worked with a local company to import the material from Germany. The company said it refuted the allegations.

It’s another challenge for the world’s biggest commodity trader as it grapples with legal battles from Africa to Europe and faces the possibility of a bribery investigation by Britain’s white collar prosecutors over its work in the Democratic Republic of Congo with an Israeli billionaire.

The material was imported in three batches to the port of Lianyungang in Jiangsu province in December, people said on Thursday.

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Agarwal Wants to Build Indian Commodity Giant to Rival Majors

Billionaire industrialist Anil Agarwal plans to leave behind a legacy: an Indian resources group to rival the world’s biggest.

The founder and owner of Vedanta Resources Plc wants to keep building the company into a giant producer of the commodities that India needs to curb its reliance on imports, create jobs and reduce poverty. Despite its insatiable appetite for materials, India is yet to impose itself among the mining heavyweights in the way that Australia, China or even the U.K does.

Vedanta Still Dwarfed by Majors

Source: Company data on Bloomberg

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"It can be the second- or third-largest resource company in the world," Agarwal, 64, said in an interview in London. Domestic resources have been key to the success of all of the world’s biggest economies and India should be no different, he said. “We thought India should have a company.”

The goal is to invest in more local production of all commodities to feed India’s rapidly growing economy, which currently depends on imports for 80 percent of its oil and minerals. What’s less clear is how Agarwal’s stake in Anglo American Plc fits into that plan. The structure of his purchase last year -- he’s now Anglo’s top shareholder but effectively rents the shares -- led to speculation that he might take an activist role and seek to merge assets with Vedanta.

Management Talks

Anglo’s management have consulted Agarwal regularly, he said, and so far his interventions have been limited to advice that the miner shouldn’t abandon South Africa as well as offering to help it expand into India. He said he’s committed to his 21 percent stake in Anglo.

“I am long-term, we can always keep extending, I can buy the bonds,” he said. “We can do anything.”

Read more: Agarwal offers Anglo help in tapping India’s 1.3 billion people

The self-made businessman has enjoyed an audacious ascent from a small-town metal business in northern India to chairman of Vedanta, which he founded in Mumbai in 1976 and listed in London in 2003. Through its local Vedanta Ltd. and Hindustan Zinc Ltd. units, it controls oil fields, zinc mines, iron ore assets and aluminum and copper operations in India. It also has mines in Zambia and South Africa.

Vedanta's Commodities

Company owns assets in India and Africa

Source: Company report

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To keep expanding, Vedanta will invest $8 billion in the next 2 1/2 years. That’s a bigger share of annual revenue than miners such as Rio Tinto Group and Anglo have pledged to spend over a similar period.

“We take chances," Agarwal said. “We are like a river, we are going as and where assets are available.”

Agarwal’s confidence is largely driven by India’s reliance on imported raw materials. The country’s economy is expected to triple by 2030, and at the moment oil and mineral imports cost the nation about $300 billion a year, he said. By developing local mines, he hopes to curb that import spend and increase the mining industry’s contribution to the economy from 2.5 percent to 10 percent.

"In India we have enough resources,” Agarwal said “India’s policies are liberalizing and improving the ease of doing business, and we don’t have to go outside of India.”

While Agarwal sees Vedanta’s growth and his philanthropy as key to helping reduce India’s poverty, the company’s expansion plans haven’t always been welcomed in the country. Deaths this week during protests at its copper smelting operations in southern India are the latest incidents in a controversial rise that has seen the company clash with communities and environmental standards. It shows the challenges of mining in the world’s most populated democracy.

Last month, Agarwal hired AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.’s Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan to take over as chief executive officer, giving Vedanta a chief with global mining experience and a strong reputation in India. Agarwal said it will allow him to better focus on company strategy, in the way he did before former CEO Tom Albanese left last year, as well as philanthropic work. But he won’t be walking away from the company.

"I’ll never retire, why should I retire," he said.

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BP Invests in Tech to Charge Cars as Quickly as Filling Gas Tank

BP Plc agreed to invest $20 million in a developer of ultra-fast charging for batteries, a technology the oil major believes is key for accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles.

The lithium ion technology developed by StoreDot has the potential to recharge a car battery as quickly as refilling a gas tank, according to a joint statement released on Tuesday. The Israel-based firm’s “flash batteries” will be deployed in mobile devices as early as next year and BP’s investment will help bring them to vehicles.

London-based BP’s collaboration with StoreDot is just the latest example of major oil producers backing technology that could help drive the mass adoption of electric vehicles. The investments serve a dual purpose -- potentially providing a shield against criticism about their contribution to climate change, while also offering a commercial foothold in a technology that could account for half of all new car sales by 2040 and wipe out 6.4 million barrels a day of oil demand.

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“Ultra-fast charging is at the heart of BP’s electrification strategy,” Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive officer of the company’s downstream division, said in the statement. “We are committed to be the fuel provider of choice -- no matter what car our customers drive.”

BP currently has more than 70 charge points on its retail sites globally. In January it invested $5 million in FreeWire Technologies, which makes mobile rapid charging systems for electric vehicles. Earlier this month, it signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s NIO Capital to explore opportunities in advanced mobility.

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Polaris Industries (PII) Position Raised by Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc.

Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Polaris Industries (NYSE:PII) by 26.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 441,807 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 92,350 shares during the quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.70% of Polaris Industries worth $50,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PII. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in Polaris Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $533,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Polaris Industries by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 173,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,552,000 after buying an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Polaris Industries by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,534,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. James Investment Research Inc. purchased a new stake in Polaris Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,989,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Polaris Industries by 374.5% in the fourth quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 33,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,134,000 after buying an additional 26,312 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.69% of the company’s stock.

Get Polaris Industries alerts:

Shares of Polaris Industries opened at $112.52 on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Polaris Industries has a 1-year low of $82.77 and a 1-year high of $137.66.

Polaris Industries (NYSE:PII) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Polaris Industries had a return on equity of 36.32% and a net margin of 4.15%. Polaris Industries’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. equities analysts predict that Polaris Industries will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 1st will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 31st. Polaris Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.48%.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. ValuEngine cut Polaris Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 11th. TheStreet upgraded Polaris Industries from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Polaris Industries in a research note on Monday, April 9th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Polaris Industries from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Polaris Industries from $136.00 to $129.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.88.

Polaris Industries Company Profile

Polaris Industries Inc designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets power sports vehicles worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs)/Snowmobiles, Motorcycles, Global Adjacent Markets, and Aftermarket. It offers ORVs, including all-terrain vehicles and side-by-side vehicles for recreational and utility use; snowmobiles; motorcycles; and low emission, light duty hauling, passenger, commercial, and industrial vehicles, as well as snow bike conversion kit systems.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PII? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Polaris Industries (NYSE:PII).

3 Workplace Benefits That May Not Kick in Right Away

One of the many perks of becoming a permanent employee is getting access to a host of workplace benefits. But don't get too excited -- you may have to work a certain minimum period of time before becoming eligible to enjoy those benefits. Here are a few that tend to come with a waiting period, and what to do about it.

1. Health insurance

Health benefits are a major plus for permanent workers, since often, your employer will subsidize a large chunk of your insurance premium, making it more affordable for you on a whole. But don't assume you'll be eligible for health insurance right away when you start a new job. Often, you'll need to wait a minimum of 30 days, or as long as 90 days, before getting coverage under your employer's group plan, so don't let yourself get stuck without insurance.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

Thankfully, you have a few options for securing coverage during that transition. First, you can see about continuing your old coverage under COBRA, which allows you to retain your previous plan provided you're willing to pay its premiums costs in full. The downside of COBRA is that it can be prohibitively expensive, but if you're looking at, say, a 60-day coverage gap, and you know you have solid coverage under your old plan, it might pay to bear that cost until you can move over to a new health plan.

Another option is to buy your own plan on the open marketplace. The advantage of going this route is that you might pay a lot less per month than with COBRA. The downside, on the other hand, is that you might experience a dip in coverage -- and if you encounter a major health issue during that period, you could end up spending more out of pocket.

Finally, you might talk to your employer about paying your way into its plan and getting access to coverage right away. Though your company's policy might state that employees don't get subsidized insurance immediately, if you're willing to pay those premiums in full, you may be allowed to start on that group health plan sooner.

2. Vacation time

Paid time off is one of those benefits permanent employees look forward to the most. But if you're new to a job, you might have to accrue time off based on hours worked, as opposed to being eligible for paid vacation or sick time right away. Now the most obvious solution here is to avoid being out of the office until you're eligible to get paid for it. But what if you come down with the flu, or have an out-of-town wedding you must travel for during that transition period?

First, know that you probably have the option to take that time off without pay. Is that ideal? Certainly not. But if you can swing it financially, it's probably the easiest solution. If that doesn't work, you can see about making up those days by working weekends instead. Some companies are more flexible than others, so it pays to discuss your personal situation with your manager and see what you can work out.

3. 401(k) participation

Some companies allow you to sign up for their 401(k) plans right away. Others, however, might make you wait a year to participate. And then there are those that allow you to contribute immediately, but wait to become eligible for employee matching dollars.

Your solution here will depend on the specifics of your employer's policy. If you're barred from making plan contributions for a given period of time (say, a year), you can always save for retirement in an IRA instead. The downside is that you'll be limited to a lower annual maximum contribution -- $5,500 if you're under 50, and $6,500 if you're 50 or older, compared to $18,500 and $24,500, respectively, for a 401(k). Still, saving some money in a tax-advantaged fashion is better than saving none.

As far as matching goes, if your employer states that you don't get a match right away, there's not much you can do about it. But make sure that's really the case. Some companies put their employees on a vesting schedule where they receive a 401(k) match immediately, but must remain employed for a specific period of time to get full access to that money. If that's the case, then be sure to contribute enough of your own earnings to snag that match as soon as you can. Otherwise, you'll be giving up free money.

Waiting isn't always easy, especially when it comes to workplace benefits. If you're starting at a new company, make sure you understand what benefits you won't have access to immediately. This way, you can plan around them and start that job off on the right foot.

California's Solar Mandate Could Be a $2 Billion Windfall for the Solar Industry

California's Energy Commission has officially made solar mandatory for new homes built after 2020. This gives the solar industry a new guaranteed market of about 222 megawatts (MW) per year, according to GTM Research (now Wood Mackenzie, a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics). In other words, California's new home construction alone could account for about 10% of all of the residential solar installed in the U.S., based on 2017 installation levels.

Recent updates to GTM Research's projections show an incremental benefit for the residential solar industry of about 650 MW between 2020 and 2023, which could be worth $2 billion for the industry. That should be great for the fortunes of solar companies with exposure to the state.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why this mandate is a big deal

New homes were always more likely to have solar than old homes in California, but only about 20% of new homes actually had solar installed. With 75,000 to 100,000 new homes being built each year, there could be as much as 400 MW of incremental demand growth, assuming an average solar system size of 5 kW.

GTM Research takes a slightly more conservative approach and only estimates 222 MW of total new-build solar in California in 2020, with 900 MW total installed between 2020 and 2023. But 650 MW will be incremental new demand from this law, which at an average cost of $3 per watt would be worth $1.95 billion to the solar industry.

Expanding the pool for everyone

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN), Vivint Solar (NYSE:VSLR), and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are the three biggest solar installers in the U.S., and they're likely to see an incremental boost in demand. Expanding the pool in any way is good news because residential solar installations were down 16% in 2017, and it's getting harder to find new solar customers. Tesla has taken the brunt of the decline, shrinking installations in the first quarter of 2018 by 49% versus a year ago. Sunrun's installations fell 7% to 68 MW, and Vivint Solar's dropped 12% to 40.4 MW. All installers would love a new source of consistent demand.

One product that will be interesting to watch is Tesla's solar roof, which makes a lot of sense on new homes (rather than in retrofits of old homes). New roofs could be designed to incorporate the solar roof, maximizing the number of active solar tiles and improving energy production. This would also give Tesla a consistent source of demand.

The king of new-construction solar energy

It's easy to see how the winners from a residential solar mandate would be the biggest residential solar installers in the country. But it's SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) that has a leg up in solar for new construction. The company has partnered with 13 of the top 16 homebuilders in California, and its premium solar panels fit well with the same target market as buyers of newly constructed homes, who are more likely to have disposable income for a premium product.

According to SunPower, it has installed solar on over 30,000 new homes in over 1,000 communities since 2005. It may be a surprising choice, but if I had to choose one winner in California's new-home solar boom, SunPower would be it. Still, given the decline in installations recently, all solar installers will take a guaranteed source of demand.