Year: 2020

Austin, Texas, is a progressive city in a conservative state with a thriving software industry and a “Keep Austin Weird” counterculture image. With a decision expected within a few weeks, the Austin-versus-Tulsa contest is heating up as Tesla and its chief executive, Elon Musk, stoke a bidding war over tax breaks and other concessions that would reduce the factory’s cost. Travis County, home to Austin, is expected to vote this week on a portion of ten-year tax rebates totaling more than $65 million. …read more […]

Shares of Tesla surged 16% early in the session before joining a sell-off along with other big-name Nasdaq stocks, including Amazon , Microsoft and Nvidia , that have outperformed in recent months. With investors betting Tesla could show a quarterly profit in its July 22 report and potentially join the S&P 500 index, traders at one point on Monday paid $1,794.99 per share, a premium of almost $300 over Tesla’s previous closing price. Only the second daily decline for Tesla in 10 sessions came after the company on Saturday cut the price of its Model Y sport …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Singapore’s economy plunged into recession last quarter as an extended lockdown shuttered businesses and decimated retail spending.Gross domestic product declined an annualized 41.2% from the previous three months, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement Tuesday, the biggest quarterly contraction on record and worse than the Bloomberg survey median of a 35.9% drop. Compared with a year earlier, GDP fell 12.6% in the second quarter, versus a survey median of -10.5%.The deep slump shows the blow Singapore’s economy is taking from all sides amid the pandemic. A plunge in global trade has hit the export-reliant …read more […]

The coronavirus is here to stay. Well, hopefully not indefinitely, but for longer than anyone was expecting when it first began making headlines at the turn of the year. The recent surge in cases just as the economy was reopening means an additional stay-at-home period might be in the cards. In such a situation, what are we to do? Watch Netflix (NFLX).That is the basis for the Netflix bull case from Monness analyst Brian White, who said, “Given the expansion of this COVID-19 crisis across a larger swath of the U.S., disrupting more states and further exasperating fears of a …read more […]

If you’re looking for a large-cap success story from this coronavirus-stained year, look no further than GPU giant Nvidia (NVDA). Driven by two segments – gaming and data center – perfectly suited to the times, investors have rewarded Nvidia with share gains of over 70% year-to-date. So, is now the time to reduce exposure to this impressive performer?Au contraire, says Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann, who argues Nvidia’s “data center and gaming tailwinds are just getting started.” The 5-star noted, “We continue to like the Nvidia story over the long-term, as we see the secular shift to data processing units …read more […]

Unlike other industries, the coronavirus’ impact on parcel delivery services has been more nuanced. The drop in volume for the traditionally more profitable B2B segment has been countered by the massive increase in B2C deliveries, which are typically more margin tight. So much so, these companies are finding it difficult to meet demand.This is true of package delivery giant United Parcel (UPS). In normal times, the mix between B2C and B2B is evenly split, but by the end of March, the pandemic resulted in the B2C segment boasting 70% of delivery volume.In a recent note to clients, Credit Suisse analyst …read more […]

The Financial Times newspaper first reported the findings from a court filing, which was made public Monday. Bridgewater Associates had started the case against two former employees, Zachary Squire and Lawrence Minicone, with the claim that they breached their contracts and misappropriated trade secrets. …read more […]

The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, a week after the market trough. Now, we are […] …read more […]

A lot of people in the stock market want Nikola Corporation (NKLA) to be the next Tesla. Unfortunately, the company filed a prospectus allowing shareholders to dump a large amount of shares that will cause an overhang on the stock. Nikola has yet to generate revenues from vehicle sales, yet the stock already has a market value of $21 billion, an amount approaching the level of Ford. The company has the innovative promise similar to Tesla in the vehicle space with the goal of building a fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks, but the hype extends far beyond reality here …read more […]

Investor focus has landed squarely on the surge in new COVID-19 cases and its threat to economic reopenings, but there’s another possibility being ignored. According to Morgan Stanley equity strategist Mike Wilson, even though the market is expecting economic activity to decline, earnings could get a major boost.“Cautious investors may be overlooking the potential for operating leverage to fuel an earnings rebound… Aggressive cost-cutting in a downturn is what creates the powerful operating leverage when the economy recovers,” Wilson commented.While unemployment has skyrocketed during the coronavirus crisis, Wilson argues operating leverage was already dropping before the pandemic’s onset. “It’s also …read more […]

As I’m sure you know, the way we work will now be changed forever…
So if you find yourself wondering how many jobs can be done at home, you’re not alone.
That’s why a recent study from the Journal of Public Economics was so eye-opening.
You see, the authors studied the feasibility of working at home for all U.S. occupations.
The findings were quite interesting…
The study concluded that37% of jobs in the UnitedStates can be performed entirely at home and jobs done at home typically pay more.
This continues to make an interesting case for work-at-home plays, including Slack, Keurig Dr Pepper and Peloton.
But let’s …read more […]

Chief Income Strategist Marc Lichtenfeld notes investing in COVID-19 stocks is risky. As companies claim they have coronavirus vaccines, more investors are moving into biotech stocks. Marc reveals to readers the smart steps to take before investing in COVID-19.
I was listening to a podcast this morning on my run when the guest – a market analyst and CFA – said something that almost made me stop midstride.
He said COVID-19 was under control in the United States, then it spiked a little and will be back under control again soon.
It reminded me of a famous quote popular with boxing fans. Roger …read more […]

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On Tuesday, three of the largest banks in the U.S. — JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi — kick off earnings season when they report their quarterly results. Moody’s Jeffrey Berg expects financials to report “varied, and in some instances, sharp declines in earnings” due to coronavirus and collapsing oil prices. Berg joins The Final Round to discuss what factors he’s focused on beyond the headline numbers. …read more […]

Monday morning’s stock rally lost steam towards the close, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq turning negative and the Dow wiping out much of its earlier gains. The 30-stock index had been up as much as 2.2%, or 564 points, earlier in the day.
…read more […]