5 Reasons Not to Worry This Week: Diamond Foods, Inc. (DMND), Ebix Inc (EBIX), TICC Capital Corp. (TICC)

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It’s not a perfect world out there for investors, but things may be starting to get better.

Last week’s run to a new Dow Jones Industrial Average high and the encouraging drop of the unemployment rate to its lowest level in more than four years are welcome signs.

I recently went over some of the companies that are expected to post lower quarterly profits when they report this week. Thankfully, they’re the exceptions and not the rule.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND)Let’s go over some publicly traded companies that are expected to stand tall this week by posting year-over-year improvement on the bottom line.

Company Latest Quarter EPS (Estimated) Year-Ago Quarter EPS
Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) $0.06 $0.01
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PPHM) ($0.07) ($0.13)
TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) $0.27 $0.26
Delcath Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCTH) ($0.16) ($0.32)
Ebix Inc (NASDAQ:EBIX) $0.45 $0.44

Source: Thomson Reuters.

Clearing the table
Let’s start at the top with Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND).

The snack giant is trying to get beyond an embarrassing couple of years. An accounting scandal and a botched attempt to acquire the Pringles line of potato chips smacked Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND)’s credibility, but the company that got its start 100 years ago when a collective of California walnut growers banded together is crawling its way back to credibility.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) — whose brands include Emerald nuts, Pop Secret microwaveable popcorn, and Kettle potato chips — is still a work in progress. Analysts see revenue and earnings declining this fiscal year that ends in July. However, analysts still see bottom-line improvement this quarter, overcoming an expected 9% decline in revenue.

Peregrine is a fledgling and for now profitless biotech researching monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer.

Investors aren’t buying into Peregrine for today’s financial results, and that’s a good thing. Peregrine is years away from profitability and meaningful revenue. The market will have to wait until its potentially promising treatments gain regulatory clearance to truly pay off. However, for now the important takeaway is that Peregrine’s deficits are getting narrower.

You have to start somewhere.

TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) Capital is one of the many high-yielding business development companies out there, investing in bank loans, debt, and equity tranches of small- and mid-sized companies. TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) then passes on the bulk of its proceeds to its investors in the form of dividends.

TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) Capital completed a secondary offering last month. Secondary offerings may be dilutive to investors, but TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TICC) will put the new money to work earning more high yields off of cash flow positive companies.

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