Month: July 2020

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Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) has delivered another strong quarter driven by better-than-expected system placements and procedure volume. Shares in the robotic surgery company rose 2% in Tuesday’s after-hours trading, with the stock now up 11% year-to-date.Second quarter Non-GAAP EPS of $1.11 beat Street estimates by $0.62 while revenue of $852.1M beat forecasts by $215.26M, despite falling 22% year-over-year. Also encouraging was the number of the company’s daVinci systems shipped at 178 (down 3.5% year-over-year), versus the Street’s estimated 141. Procedure volume declined by 19% year-over-year, but was nevertheless an improvement on the consensus estimate of 29%.However, GAAP EPS of $0.57 missed …read more […]

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Shares in Snap Inc. (SNAP) dropped over 6% in extended market trading after its second-quarter loss widened and user growth figures disappointed.The stock declined to $23.17 in Tuesday’s after-market trading. Snap reported a net loss of $326 million, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter ended June, widening from $255.2 million, or 19 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Meanwhile, total revenue increased 17% to $454 million during the reported period.Daily active users (DAUs), a widely followed metric by investors and advertisers, increased 17% to 238 million in the second quarter year-on-year but fell short of analysts’ expectations …read more […]

As the trading session gets underway, stocks are pointing to yet another session of data and earnings for direction. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Oil in New York eased from a four-month high on signs of a surprise gain in U.S. crude stockpiles, raising fresh concerns about supply as many regions struggled to get the pandemic under control.The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories rose by 7.54 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the figures, which would be the biggest increase since May if confirmed by government data on Wednesday. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump warned that the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. will probably worsen before improving.Oil surged Tuesday after European Union leaders agreed on a giant stimulus package …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — A plan by President Xi Jinping hatched in late 2018 to liberalize China’s constrained stock market and prevent home-grown tech firms from flocking to New York is turning out to be a prescient move.The reforms took shape in the form of a new, relatively small venue in Shanghai, called the Star board, which started trading exactly a year ago. The goal was mild in scale compared with other major stock markets, but radical by China’s standards: Minimize red tape and relax tight controls on what kind of companies could list, and how much their shares could move. More …read more […]

Snap has focused on helping advertisers increase sales directly from its ads, which boosted revenue growth even as many brands have been cutting marketing budgets due to the pandemic. Snap has positioned itself as a safe ad platform focused on friendly interactions, as more than 1,000 companies have paused ads on larger rival Facebook Inc due to concerns about hate speech. “The growing focus on brand safety and privacy across the entire industry places us in a unique position of strength as we have invested in these areas from the beginning of our business,” Snap Chief Executive Evan …read more […]

Shares of Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS) have done what shares of most companies in the hunt for coronavirus solutions have done in 2020 – appreciate. Since the turn of the year, there has been 171% of upside for the Seattle-based biotech firm.Despite the impressive gains, the micro-cap still has a market cap of only $39 million. Going by his revised outlook for Atossa, Maxim’s 5-star analyst Jason McCarthy believes the stock remains seriously undervalued.McCarthy recently doubled his price target from $4 to $8. The implication for investors? Upside of a very hefty 119%. There’s no change to McCarthy’s rating, which remains …read more […]

The coronavirus has hit the airline industry particularly hard. As long as COVID-19 rages, it is unlikely that there will be a meaningful resumption of normal services. In the meantime, airlines have taken drastic measures such as refinancing, taking on piles of extra debt, severe cost-cutting initiatives and furloughing employees, in order to remain afloat.But apart from extreme courses of action, the industry will need to be creative to keep the wolf from the door. A new partnership between American Airlines (AAL) and JetBlue (JBLU) could be the first of many collaborations over the coming months.Although, new might not be …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Seo Jung-jin used to borrow money from loan sharks, pledging his organs to get much needed funds for his upstart drugmaker. Now he’s the second-richest person in South Korea, trailing just Samsung Electronics Co.’s chairman.The Celltrion Inc. founder’s fortune has swelled to $10 billion as shares of his company, which is developing a Covid-19 treatment, almost doubled this year.His rise is extraordinary and represents a shift in the country’s business elite. While family-run conglomerates touch almost every aspect of life in South Korea, more corporate founders making fortunes in non-traditional sectors like Seo have emerged. As the coronavirus …read more […]

Just when you thought things could not get any worse for A&D giant Boeing (BA), more dispiriting news gets revealed.Last week, Boeing reported that another 60 MAX 737 orders were cancelled in June, bringing the yearly cancellation total to 373. Boeing has an additional 439 orders that are currently considered at risk.All in all, in the second quarter, Boeing delivered just 20 commercial aircrafts. While only 10 orders left the warehouse in June, the figure is still an improvement on the 4 delivered in May.Boeing will report 2Q20 results on July 29, and ahead of the print, Canaccord’s 5-star analyst …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Silver jumped to the highest in almost seven years and gold continued its march toward a record on expectations more stimulus is needed to help the global economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.Investors have flocked to the precious metals on surging demand for havens amid a resurgence in virus cases, slowing growth and negative real interest rates in the U.S. After the success of a European rescue package this week, focus turns to negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on legislation to prop up the hobbled American economy.Holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by the metals are at an all-time …read more […]

Investors of Moderna (MRNA) slept soundly last weekend, as shares ended each session in the green during the week. Saving the best for last, on Friday July 17, Moderna posted a 16% uptick after it was revealed that the European Union (EU) might purchase Moderna’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The latest surge has sent the stock to a record high, having added 310% of muscle since the turn of the year.With a Phase 2 study currently in progress, and a Phase 3 trial of mRNA-1273 set to begin on July 27, Oppenheimer analyst Hartaj Singh sees a rocky path ahead, yet …read more […]

After a series of ups and downs through most of June and July, making the stock index charts look like a saw, the S&P 500 is rising again. The index is holding above 3,200, giving investors reason to view that level as a new support. Where the upper resistance may lie, is anyone’s guess. At the start of the current rally, analysts placed it at 2,750 to 2,850 – but the index broke above that back in May.Whether these movements in S&P are lasting or ephemeral, there will always be means to find profit in the markets. Investing is a …read more […]