Year: 2020

Introduction To keep myself sharp and my skills honed, I routinely go to my library of investment books and re-read classics that have had an impact on me. This week I did a complete re-read of Joel Greenblatt’s classic “The Little Book That Beats The Market.” For any of you that are not familiar with the book, […] …read more […]

International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) was a growth stock, but today the main interest is the dividend yield. Currently, IBM yields over 5%. Very few stocks that are not REITs, MLPs, or BDCs, have a yield this high. Further, IBM recently raised the regular cash dividend for the 25th consecutive year making it a new Dividend […] …read more […]

Some much-needed optimism has made its way to the Street. The expectation that a vaccine against COVID-19 will be “widely distributed” by the middle of 2021 prompted an estimate revision from Goldman Sachs. Giving its projections for 2021 U.S. GDP a lift, the figure moves up from 5.6% to 6.2%. “We now expect that at least one vaccine will be approved by the end of 2020 and will be widely distributed by the end of 2021 Q2,” Goldman Sachs’ chief economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a note to clients. As for unemployment rates, the firm also anticipates an improvement, …read more […]

Contrarian Podcast and Breakout Point, today, and Dan David of Wolfpack Research was one of the presenters. He explained why he sees Remark Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARK) as a good short. Remark’s Stake In Sharecare, Ownership Of KanKan He said one of the most popular bull cases for Remark Holdings issued by promoters like David Portnoy, is […] …read more […]

Biotech stocks came under pressure in the week ended Aug. 14 amid mixed earnings news flow from the sector. FDA decisions scheduled for the week also produced adverse outcomes. Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: EGRX) and Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: FENC) received complete response letters for their respective regulatory applications, while a decision on Eton Pharmaceuticals Inc’s (NASDAQ: ETON) eye inflammation drug hadn’t come by the Aug. 10 decision date.The week, however, saw a signing spree by coronavirus vaccine developers, which stitched up manufacturing as well as supply deals.Here are the key catalysts for the unfolding week.ConferencesVirtual Keystone Symposia: Advances in …read more […]

Retail pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS Health have been struggling to fight intense competition from Amazon and Walmart. They have also been under pressure due to decline in reimbursement rates and lower prices of generic drugs.Aside from enhancing their digital capabilities, Walgreens and CVS have been aggressively focusing on healthcare services to improve their revenues.Using the TipRanks’ Stock Comparison tool, we will compare these two drug store chains to see which stock offers the most compelling investment opportunity.Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Walgreens was finding it difficult to thrive due to a competitive retail environment and changing …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Tech behemoths have been Wall Street’s obsession all year. But the tiniest of stocks have surreptitiously been making a comeback — in a big way.The Russell Microcap Index, whose members have a value of $300 million on average, is up more than 60% from this year’s stock-market lows, outperforming both the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500. The tiny-stock gauge is having its best month relative to the U.S. equity benchmark since September 2017.“The good-looking big boys and girls have been touted as the only game in town this year. These large, domestic, safe, easily recognized, fast-growing, …read more […]

Bernstein expects Apple’s services segment to generate double-digit revenue growth for at least 2 to 3 years as other parts of the tech giant’s business may grow at a slower pace.Nonetheless, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi reiterated a Hold rating on Apple (AAPL) with a price target of $400 (13% downside potential) .”While we see many of Apple’s existing businesses (e.g. App Store, iCloud, and Apple Music) decelerating to high single digit growth as incremental penetration/increased ARPU [average revenue per user] becomes more challenging, we believe there is significant runway (to $7-12B in annual revenues) from Apple’s new services, which could …read more […]

Alibaba’s fintech arm Ant Group has started the process to dual list in Shanghai and Hong Kong.The group, China’s biggest mobile payments company, has now made a preparatory filing with China’s securities regulator, according to a report from Reuters.Meanwhile China’s Caixin states that Ant Group is hoping to sell 10% of its shares on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like STAR board and 5% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.BABA currently owns 33% of Ant, while Alibaba (BABA) co-founder and former executive chairman Jack Ma owns 8.8%, but with over 50% of voting power.According to Reuters, Ant is seeking a valuation of over $200B …read more […]

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway built up a new position in Toronto-based miner Barrick Gold and continued to divest shares in a number of large US banks during the second quarter.According to a SEC filing released late on Friday, Berkshire (BRK.A) bought 20.9 million shares in Barrick Gold worth about $563.6 million. Following the disclosure, the stock surged 8.1% to $29.18 in after-market trading.Barrick shares (GOLD) have been on a steady gaining streak since mid-March appreciating some 45% this year, as surging gold prices have driven stock prices of gold miners to multi-year highs. This comes as the …read more […]

Barclays reduced the price target on Micron Technology but maintained a Buy rating on the stock. Shares in the chipmaker declined 1.2% on Friday.Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis lowered Micron’s (MU) price target to $55 (20.6% upside potential) from $60, after the company warned that it could miss 1Q revenue guidance. The new PT reflects “near-term softness after the company indicated they are seeing a softer demand environment in the Enterprise channel as well as some impact from later qualifications of their 1Z products, which add up to make their August-end quarter revenue much more back-end loaded than anticipated.”In addition, UBS …read more […]

Chinese tech giant Baidu (BIDU) has announced that it has now taken its 2020 Share Repurchase Program from $1 billion to $3 billion, effective through December 31, 2022.During the second quarter Baidu returned $540 million to shareholders, bringing its cumulative repurchase for the last two years to approximately $1.9 billion.The announcement came as part of the company’s second quarter earning results, which saw the stock crater 6% in Friday’s trading. News of an SEC investigation into Baidu-owned online streaming provider iQIYI (IQ) also weighed on shares.Baidu reported overall revenues RMB 26.03B, down 1% year-over-year but up 15% from the previous …read more […]

Merrill Lynch upgraded Tesla to Hold from Sell citing the company’s “unlimited” access to low-cost capital. Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy also ramped up the stocks’s price target to $1,750 (6% upside potential) from $800.In a note to investors, Murphy said: “While we remain skeptical that TSLA (TSLA) will be the dominant EV automaker in the long-run, if a big global footprint can be built with no-cost capital, the ‘growth’ story would carry the day for the stock.” The analyst also added that Tesla’s unlimited access to low-cost capital should “accelerate its revenue growth rate to 50% annually over the …read more […]

The Bureau of Land Management has approved ConocoPhillips’ (COP) proposed Willow Master Development Plan (MDP) for drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve.According to the bureau’s final environmental impact statement (EIS), the Willow MDP Project could produce in excess of 160,000 barrels of oil per day (with a processing capacity of 200,000 barrels of oil per day) over its anticipated 30-year life, producing up to approximately 590 million total barrels of oil.More than 1,000 jobs are expected during peak construction with more than 400 jobs during operations- which will help offset declines in production from the North Slope oil fields and …read more […]

Lockheed Martin (LMT) has been awarded a $62 billion ten-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ), fixed-price-incentive contract for new production of F-16 Foreign Military Sale (FMS) aircraft.The total value for the initial delivery order is $4,941,105,246 and will be awarded on the same date, the US Department of Defense wrote on August 14.According to the statement, the initial delivery order is for 90 aircraft, including both the pre-priced recurring core configuration costs at $2,862,797,674 and the engineering change proposal/ undefinitized contract action for the non-recurring costs not-to-exceed $2,078,307,572 obligated at approximately $1,018,370,710.Work will be primarily performed in Greenville, South Carolina; and Fort Worth, …read more […]