Datasets:

KrossKinetic

/

SP500-Financial-News-Articles-Time-Series

like 1

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/qualcomm-says-nxp-deal-is-dead-even-as-china-is-seen-open-to-okaying-it.html

NXPI

NXP Semiconductors

Qualcomm says NXP deal is dead, even as China is seen open to okaying it

U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm rejected a suggestion by the White House that its collapsed $44 billion acquisition of Dutch peer NXP Semiconductors could be revived, saying the deal had been terminated as the deadline had expired. Qualcomm, the world's biggest smartphone-chip maker, walked away in July from the mammoth deal to buy NXP after failing to secure Chinese regulatory approval, becoming a high-profile victim of the China-U.S. trade dispute. After high-stakes talks on Saturday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina, the White House said that China was "open to approving the previously unapproved" deal for Qualcomm to acquire NXP "should it again be presented." But Qualcomm said there was no prospect for the acquisition to be revived. "While we were grateful to learn of President Trump and President Xi's comments about Qualcomm's previously proposed acquisition of NXP, the deadline for that transaction has expired, which terminated the contemplated deal," a Qualcomm representative said via email. "Qualcomm considers the matter closed." Chinese regulators did not have immediate comment. Qualcomm paid NXP a $2 billion fee to terminate the deal and embarked on a $30 billion stock repurchase plan to appease shareholders miffed by the deal falling through. It has spent more than $20 billion in share buybacks in the last 12 months. NXP has also announced its own $5 billion share buyback program.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/buy-these-stocks-that-oppenheimer-sees-having-upside-potential.html

NXPI

NXP Semiconductors

Buy these stocks that Oppenheimer sees having upside potential

Oppenheimer has refreshed its monthly list of top stocks to include several new tech names. This comes amid a choppy few days for the market. The three major indices all broke their five-week winning streaks last Friday and are on pace to finish this week lower as well. Information technology has suffered keenly, and the sector is down 2% this week. With this in mind, analysts Oppenheimer refreshed its list of top picks in the market. New additions to the list include NXP Semiconductors , CyberArk Software , AppLovin and Expedia . Take a look at some of the other names on the list below, and where Oppenheimer analysts see them going forward. The Netherlands-based chipmaker NXP Semiconductors is a new addition to Oppenheimer's list. NXP has rallied nearly 12% in February after reporting a quarterly earnings and revenue beat earlier in the month. However, the stock only has a modest 2.5% gain in 2024. "We believe NXP is among the best-positioned names in our coverage universe to capitalize on rising semiconductor content in automobiles, and one of the few pure plays leveraged to the growing secure ID, secure transactions, and mobile payment markets," Oppenheimer analyst Rick Schafer wrote. Another new tech name in the list is CyberArk Software. The IT company is a "leader in the privileged account management sector, and the company estimates it's addressing a market of $44 billion (lifetime value)," according to analyst Ittai Kidron. Shares are up 11.4% in 2024 and have surged nearly 67% over the past year. Analysts estimate the company could gain an additional 21.7% from current levels, according to LSEG data. CYBR YTD mountain CyberArk Software shares Athleisure company Lululemon is another one of Oppenheimer's favorite picks. Although the stock is down more than 13% year to date, shares are still up more than 41% during a 12-month period. The pullback stems from slowing growth amid intensifying competition within the sports apparel market. Earlier in February, the company announced it would debut its first men's footwear line as part of a larger strategy to double its men's business and grow revenue. "A meaningful shift to a more digital distribution focus and market strategy is working together with improved product innovation to drive outsized sales and margin expansion at the chain," analyst Brian Nagel wrote. "We remain confident that a solid, if not further fundamental strengthening, will support the stock's premium valuation," Nagel added. LULU 1Y mountain Lululemon shares —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/12/heres-morgan-stanleys-shopping-list-for-semiconductor-stocks.html

NXPI

NXP Semiconductors

Here's Morgan Stanley's 'shopping list' for semiconductor stocks to buy amid the turmoil

(This story is for CNBC Pro subscribers only.) As markets sell off, there could be some buying opportunities in chip stocks, according to Morgan Stanley. The firm created a "shopping list" of the top semiconductor stocks it recommends buying while the market is roiled with coronavirus fears. Nvidia and Western Digital are some of the stocks that top the list. "When the dust settles we do see alpha opportunities; as the selling has been driven by obvious macro concerns, we haven't seen much discrimination," equity analyst Joseph Moore said in a note to clients. Stocks have experienced a devastating rout in recent weeks as a spike in coronavirus cases in the U.S. and an oil price war has caused investors to fear about a slowing or stop to economic growth. The S & P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are in a bear market, meaning they are down more than 20% from their recent highs. And chip stocks have not escaped the market turmoil. Nvidia is 26% and Western Digital is 45% off their 52-week highs. Despite the pullback, Morgan Stanley said fundamentally it sees strength in the sector, notably cloud computing. The firm said consumer spending on personal electronics, especially gaming hardware, is a near-term beneficiary of a lapse in other areas of discretionary spending. "Remote computing driven by working from home will also benefit, and both of those factors should be additive to overall cloud demand," said Moore. "Semiconductor end markets should capture a higher percentage of discretionary spending dollars in this environment, the key variable of course being macroeconomic impact to those dollars." Morgan Stanley also likes Ambarella , Broadcom , NXP Semiconductors , Amphenol Corp . and Cree . The firm has an overweight rating on all the stocks in its "shopping list." Morgan Stanley said it is keeping its in-line rating of the industry, as it is highly aware that supply and demand disruptions from the COVID-19 are a risk. — with reporting from CNBC's Michael Bloom. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks during Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles on Oct. 21, 2019. Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/01/calls-of-the-day-take-two-corning-nxp-semiconductors-more.html

NXPI

NXP Semiconductors

Here are the biggest analyst calls of the day: Take-Two, Corning, NXP, Disney, McDonald's & more

Bank of America said the company is an "especially attractive" buying opportunity. "We upgrade Corning from Neutral to Buy rating as (1) we view the growth profile as better than historical and more diversified, (2) Gross profit dollar growth should scale with near term investments that are impacting gross margin rates, (3) glass pricing environment is a tailwind and could surprise incrementally to upside, (4) operating leverage should help drive incremental margin expansion over the next few years, (5) opportunity to return incremental capital to shareholders through corporate actions/incremental debt, (6) Lower capital intensity for new initiatives given ability to re-use idle capacity (e.g. Gorilla Glass), (7) We expect a positive update at the upcoming investor day in mid-June, and (8) Corning is significantly outgrowing declining unit growth in smartphones, TVs, Autos given its increasing content in each of these. Our new PO of $40 (was $38) is based on 18x C20E EPS of $2.18. We view the pullback in shares yesterday (-6% vs SPX up 0.1%) as an especially attractive buying opportunity."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/01/qualcomm-nxp-deal-xi-says-china-open-to-approving.html

NXPI

NXP Semiconductors

Qualcomm reportedly says it sees no prospect for NXP deal despite US-China trade truce

President Donald Trump, left, and China's President Xi Jinping arrive for a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. Despite signs that the deal could have been revived, Qualcomm said Monday it considers the prospect of buying chip rival NXP as closed, Reuters said. The news followed after Chinese President Xi Jinping indicated he's open to approving a renewed deal for Qualcomm to buy NXP during trade talks with President Donald Trump on Saturday evening, according to a statement issued by the White House. The company, however, dismissed the idea. "While we were grateful to learn of President Trump and President Xi's comments about Qualcomm's previously proposed acquisition of NXP, the deadline for that transaction has expired, which terminated the contemplated deal," a representative for Qualcomm told Reuters in an email. "Qualcomm considers the matter closed." Qualcomm first offered to buy NXP, which is based in the Netherlands, for about $38 billion in October 2016. However, it faced resistance from some NXP shareholders, who were holding out for a better price. Qualcomm upped its bid to $44 billion in February, only to scrap the deal in July after a regulatory deadline passed without approval from China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), which oversees antitrust regulation. In discussions with Trump, "Xi also stated that he is open to approving the previously unapproved Qualcomm-NXP deal should it again be presented to him," the White House said on Saturday. The buy — billed as the world's largest semiconductor takeover — could have helped Qualcomm, which provides chips to Android smartphone makers and Apple , expand into new market areas like automotive chips. Despite the positive indications from the Chinese government, a deal may be hard to negotiate, as both companies conducted stock buybacks after the deal fell through, and Qualcomm paid NXP a $2 billion break-up fee. During a dinner at the G-20 summit in Argentina on Saturday, Xi and Trump discussed a number of issues, including a trade dispute that has left over $200 billion worth of goods hanging in the balance. The U.S. agreed not to raise tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent for the time being, and over the next 90 days, American and Chinese officials will continue to negotiate lingering disagreements on technology transfer, intellectual property and agriculture. "This was an amazing and productive meeting with unlimited possibilities for both the United States and China," Trump said on Saturday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/27/china-says-it-is-still-open-to-talks-on-scrapped-qualcomm-nxp-takeover.html

NXPI

NXP Semiconductors

China says it is still open to talks on the scrapped Qualcomm-NXP takeover deal

China's market regulator said it still hoped to find a solution to antitrust concerns that doomed Qualcomm's $44 billion takeover of NXP Semiconductors , after finding that proposals to address the issue had fallen short. U.S.-based Qualcomm abandoned on Thursday what would have been the world's biggest ever semiconductor sector takeover after a deadline the companies set passed without the deal winning China's approval. China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said in a statement on Friday that proposals put forth by the firms to resolve Chinese antitrust concerns were insufficient, but it hoped to continue communicating with Qualcomm. The Chinese move likely comes too late for a resurrection of the deal, which had become embroiled in a political spat between Washington and Beijing. With the deal called off, the two companies have announced major share buybacks and Qualcomm has already paid NXP a $2 billion break fee. watch now "Coming a day after the deadline, my guess is the SAMR statement is meant to counter perceptions the deal approval process was politicized, not to revive it," said Andrew Gilholm, director of analysis for China and North Asia at consultancy Control Risks. "Of course, this conflicts with the view among many people following the deal that the U.S.-China situation had become the main obstacle, not the competition implications." The collapse of the deal could aggravate tensions between Washington and Beijing amid a whipsawing trade standoff that has chilled relations between the world's top two economies. Qualcomm, the world's biggest smartphone-chip maker, had said on Wednesday it would drop the bid for NXP, unless a last minute reprieve from China was received. There was no word from SAMR, the antitrust regulator reviewing the deal, as the deadline for the deal to expire passed. The Chinese regulator said on Friday that it was open to continuing negotiations over approving the deal. It added its current review period would expire on Aug. 15, with an extended review deadline of Oct. 14. "The results of our evaluation showed that Qualcomm's latest plan could not resolve competition issues," the regulator said, adding it had notified the chipmaker of this decision. "We hope to continue to communicate with Qualcomm and that we can find a suitable solution to resolve the issues within the review period." When asked for a comment on SAMR's statement, a Qualcomm spokeswoman pointed to the announcement of the deal's termination. NXP could not be immediately reached for comment. Caught up in a trade war? China's commerce ministry said on Thursday the Qualcomm case was about anti-monopoly issues, and not related to China-U.S. trade frictions. Qualcomm, however, viewed it differently. Qualcomm Chief Executive Steven Mollenkopf told CNBC in an interview on Thursday the firm had been caught up in a trade war, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said it was disappointing and called for U.S. firms to be treated fairly. watch now

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/26/qualcomm-ceo-steve-mollenkopf-china-us-tensions-are-stalling-nxp-deal.html

NXPI

NXP Semiconductors

Qualcomm CEO says tension with China is stalling NXP deal, but he's optimistic the mood will change

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said China-U.S. tensions are stalling big deals, but that could change in time to finalize an NXP tie-up. "This is not a great environment for big deals to get done at this time," Mollenkopf told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Thursday. "But in 90 days, it can be very, very different." The leading U.S. semiconductor company is waiting on approval from Chinese regulators to merge with Dutch rival NXP Semiconductors . China's is the last of nine approvals needed and has already caused the companies to withdraw and refile their application to buy more time. "I think it'd be a very unusual situation for the rest of the world to approve something and then China not do it," Mollenkopf said. "It's a good situation for China to get this deal done, and you know I have confidence that that'll happen." Qualcomm has been caught in the crossfires of growing trade tensions between the China and U.S. The semiconductor industry is considered the tech sector most exposed to potential regulatory action. Mollenkopf was optimistic that "real talks going on between Washington and Beijing" would work to Qualcomm's benefit. "Real discussions oftentimes lead to settlements and lead to a conclusion of hostilities, and I think that's likely to be the case here. We don't know when, but we're prepared either way."

https://www.cnbc.com/id/26291841

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Tuning Up Your Portfolio: Part 1

Cars are better built these days, so consumers are getting more mileage out of them. Here’s some proof: 41.3% of all cars were 11 years or older, a consulting firm reported last February, compared to 40.9% last year. And the median age for a passenger car is now 9.2 years versus 8.3 back in 1998. That means the need for repairs, tune-ups and replacement parts is growing. Not that this bad market, with its less available credit, isn’t putting a hurt on the auto dealers. People aren’t buying new cars or leasing them. In fact, companies like General Motors and Ford and lenders like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are either increasing their lease payments or turning their back on the business altogether. But the bottom line here is that a company like O’Reilly is in a good position to capitalize on budget-conscious consumers and their well-made cars. (Note: Auto-parts sellers that deal with manufacturers are toxic, Cramer said. Don’t confuse O’Reilly’s business with them.) Especially considering there’s about $60 billion of unperformed auto maintenance waiting to be earned, Cramer said. Plus, this industry is consolidating, and ORLY but made a buy that should add a lot of growth to the company. O’Reilly picked up CSK Auto, making the combined company the third-largest auto parts retailer. And the deal is expected to save ORLY as much as $100 million. Then there’s the regional growth CSK offers. O’Reilly’s base in the Midwest and Southeast now expands into the West, home of CSK. And O’Reilly can start to sell its parts to professional mechanics instead of just the do-it-yourself crowd that CSK caters to. O’Reilly cut guidance after the latest quarter, but the stock rallied anyway. Apparently, the Street was expecting worse. Regardless, trading at 14 times earnings with a 16% long-term growth rate, ORLY is the cheapest stock in its sector based on growth, Cramer said. He thinks the stock could go to $35 from $28. Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website? madcap@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/46782057

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Higher Gas Prices Will Hurt Consumer-Related Stocks: Report

“Higher spending on gas due to elevated gas prices may lead to decreased consumption of gas, decreased consumption of other goods, particularly more discretionary products, or lower levels of total consumption,” says the report. Barclays analysts see downside to their 2012 earnings-per-share estimates for Autozone , OReilly Automotive and Advance Auto Parts if gas prices reach $4.25 or higher. At $4.50 a gallon, the downside risk is 3-4 percent; and at $5 a gallon, the downside risk is 6-9 percent. The report also notes that “[auto parts] sales respond quickly and negatively to gas price increases but do not experience a corresponding lift with substantial declines in gas prices.” Advance Auto Parts appears to have the most downside potential, according to the analysts, “given its higher cost structure and the higher distribution costs it could potentially incur.” But the impact of higher gas prices on consumer spending depends more on the speed and duration of the increase rather than on the level of the increase, according to the report. “If the rise is gradual and temporary, consumers are better able to modify their savings and spending patterns to smooth out overall consumption. This results in a more modest impact to consumption,” notes the report. “However, if the rise is rapid and sustained, consumers may need to significantly alter the level and composition of their spending levels.” Barclays analysts see gasoline prices hitting $4.75 a gallon by July, if they rise at approximately the same speed and rate this year as in 2008, when pump prices reached their all-time high. “Given that gas prices generally rise between now and Memorial Day due to seasonality and differences in refining methods, it appears likely that gas prices could surpass the 2011 peak of $3.99 reached in May 2011 and the historical peak of $4.11 in July 2008,” says the report.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/26291843

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Tuning Up Your Portfolio: Part 2

Consumers are holding on to their vehicles for a lot longer, it appears. And that’s creating a strong market for parts and services companies. Cramer made a case for this thesis, and parts seller O’Reilly Automotive, and used this segment to highlight Monro . There are only two pure-play auto mechanics: Midas and Monro Muffler. But despite what you may think, Cramer said, its Monro that has the golden touch here. Cramer attributed it largely to geography. Monro has a stronger base in the Northeast, which has been coping with the market slump better than Midas’ Western and Southeastern customers. Midas even mentioned on their quarterly conference call that the Northeast garages they had were outperforming those in other locations. But Monro’s executes well, too. The company reported an earnings beat last quarter and exceeded the 3% to 5% guidance they offered for their comps, or same-store sales, growing 5.6%. And despite raising prices, traffic at Monro grew 2.5%. This just strengthens Cramer’s thesis that people are spending more to keep their cars running longer, he said. Another thing worth noting here is that Monro upped its comp guidance from 2.4% to the 3% to 4% range even though comps to date as of July 24 were 8%. Cramer’s betting this is a classic case of underpromise, overdeliver. So an earnings blowout is not out of the question next time around, he said. Much in the way O’Reilly Automotive is making acquisitions, Monro is as well. In fact, this company’s made nine in the last six years. The latest, Procare, has been integrated well and is outperforming, and there’s talk of another purchase on the way. Best of all for investors in Monro is the idea of scarcity value. Cramer’s thesis on auto-parts sellers isn’t a secret on Wall Street and big money managers are going to be looking for places to put their money. Since there are only two plays, Midas and Monro, this bodes well for the latter. These managers won’t be afraid to pay up for the better stock, Cramer said. A word of caution: Monro Muffler is a very small company, with a market cap of only $375 million. The stock dropped $1.20, or 5.6%, to $20.14 on Tuesday, but you need to be careful. Use limit orders, buy in small increments. You know the usual Mad Money approach. Ignore these rules and you could miss any gains Monro has to offer. Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website? madcap@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/35973028

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Ex-CSK Auto president dies while facing indictment

The death of a former top executive at CSK Auto Corp. means federal prosecutors won't be able to prove criminal charges that he manipulated earnings reports at the auto parts supplier. Prosecutors filed federal court documents earlier this month that notified the court of the death of former CSK president Martin G. Fraser and the government's intent to dismiss a 31-count indictment handed up last year. Fraser, 55, collapsed and died while visiting a Las Vegas hotel in January with his wife, his lawyer said on Thursday. The Clark County coroner's office said an autopsy showed he died of natural causes, citing cardiovascular disease exacerbated by obesity and diabetes. Fraser, of Glendale, Ariz., and former CSK chief financial officer Don W. Watson, of Gilbert, Ariz., were accused of covering up uncollectable debts at the Phoenix-based parent company of parts retailers Kragen, Checker Auto, Schuck's Auto Supply and Murray's Discount Auto Stores from 2001 to 2006. CSK was bought by Springfield, Mo.-based O'Reilly Automotive Inc. in 2008. A civil lawsuit filed last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission also alleged that Fraser and Watson, along with former CSK controller Edward O'Brien and supervisor Gary Opper, committed accounting fraud, leading to misstated income reports being filed. Fraser's lawyer, Los Angeles-based attorney David Schindler, said his client was innocent. "We were very confident that he was going to be exonerated," Schindler said, calling the death "a tragedy for his family." The criminal indictments charged Fraser and Watson with conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud, false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, false books and records, and false statements to the company's auditor. Watson was charged separately with falsely certifying financial reports. They allegedly conspired to misstate company income primarily by concealing tens of millions of dollars it couldn't collect that should have been written off. That resulted in incorrect financial reports in fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004 that overstated income by about $53 million, according to the government. The government notified the court early this month that it intended to seek dismissal of the criminal complaint against Fraser once it receives his death certificate. SEC deputy regional director Lorraine Echavarria said the civil suit against him will also be dropped. The criminal and civil actions against the remaining former employees are expected to continue. The SEC is separately seeking the return of more than $4 million in bonuses and stock grants from CSK's former CEO, Maynard L. Jenkins. That suit was filed under "clawback" provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which allows reimbursement from executives who profited while their companies were misleading investors. Jenkins is not accused of any wrongdoing.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/28115544

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Options Action: Auto Supplier Rides Bailout Talk

Goodyear Tire & Rubber saw a spike in options activity as its stock traded higher on Monday, apparently a positive reflection of progress toward an auto industry bailout in Washington. The action focused on the April 7.5 calls, which lit up OptionMonster's tracking systems, driving the price of those options up $0.50 to $1.50. Goodyear's actual stock has come off its highs of the day and now trades at about $6.38, still up more than 5 percent. GT has seen increased options activity in recent days along with other suppliers for the Detroit automakers. More Options Tips from Jon Najarian GT: Complete Options Chain Stocks That May Get Obama Bounce Companies ranging from engine manufacturers to radio services have seen broad price swings since the Big Three have lobbied Congress for a multibillion-dollar rescue package. ________________________________ Other Ancillary Auto Suppliers: AutoZone Advance Auto Parts O'Reilly Automotive Genuine Parts ________________________________ Jon 'DRJ' Najarian is a professional investor, CNBC contributor, and cofounder of OptionMonster. ________________________________ Disclaimer

https://www.cnbc.com/select/what-is-full-coverage-car-insurance/

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

What is full coverage auto insurance?

Full coverage car insurance doesn't refer to any one type of coverage. Instead, it's a policy that includes a bundle of insurance coverages such as: Liability coverage: This coverage can pay for the cost of injuries and property damage caused by your vehicle. Most states require you to have some type of liability coverage. This coverage can pay for the cost of injuries and property damage caused by your vehicle. Most states require you to have some type of liability coverage. Collision coverage: Helps cover damages to your car caused by colliding with another vehicle or object, like a mailbox or a guardrail. Helps cover damages to your car caused by colliding with another vehicle or object, like a mailbox or a guardrail. Comprehensive coverage: If your car is involved in flooding or hit by a falling tree, comprehensive coverage can help pay for the cost of your car. It also helps in cases of vandalism or theft, and if you hit an animal. Some states require you to have other types of coverage as part of your insurance policy, and these can also be part of full coverage car insurance. Two common coverages that fall under this category are: Personal injury protection (PIP): This coverage can help pay for medical expenses and lost wages for you and your passengers. This coverage can help pay for medical expenses and lost wages for you and your passengers. Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage: This coverage can help reimburse you if you're involved in a collision with an uninsured driver, or a driver carrying less coverage than what would cover a serious accident. It's worth noting that there's no one definition of full coverage car insurance — the coverage included can vary from state to state, and different insurance companies can define full coverage in different ways. Instead, it might be helpful to first determine what coverage types you need and then make sure that the full coverage car insurance policy includes them. If you're shopping for car insurance coverage, many companies offer full coverage car insurance policies, including some of CNBC Select's top picks for the best car insurance coverage. Our best overall car insurance company, Geico, offers relatively low average rates, including maximum coverage rates. Nationwide also offers coverage in 47 states and the District of Columbia, and offers some of the lowest average premiums for full coverage. Geico Auto Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights Geico coverage and services are available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and there are 16 different types of discounts available. In addition to the standard coverage options, Geico offers various optional add-ons, such as emergency roadside assistance, rental car reimbursement and mechanical breakdown insurance. Terms apply. Read our Geico Auto Insurance review. Pros Lowest average rates Inclusive coverage options, including high-risk drivers Available nationwide Cons High premiums for high-risk drivers Fewer branches for in-person services Learn More View More Nationwide Auto Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights Nationwide offers near-nationwide availability and personalized services, such as On Your Side® Review, a free annual insurance evaluation to ensure you are adequately protected and are taking advantage of any discounts available to you. Terms apply. Pros Available in 47 states and the District of Columbia Lowest average premiums for full coverage Cons High average premium for minimum coverage Learn More View More The pros and cons of full coverage car insurance If you're considering full-coverage car insurance, it's worth noting the difference between it and state minimum car insurance. Here are the main differences you need to know. Pros Helpful in situations where you're not involved in an accident, but your car would still be damaged, such as vandalism or a natural disaster. Would cover situations such as auto theft. Cons Full coverage car insurance can cost a significant amount more than the minimum required coverage. What does full coverage car insurance cover? While the types of coverage included in full coverage policies may differ from policy to policy, they all attempt to financially protect you in a wide variety of scenarios. For example, if you lose control on an icy road and crash into a tree, you'll need collision insurance to help pay for repairing or replacing your vehicle. But your collision insurance won't help you if your car gets stolen or vandalized — for that you need comprehensive coverage. Full coverage car insurance attempts to fill the gaps in protection left by each individual coverage type, but keep in mind it's rare for it to cover the personal property in your car. That's where your renters insurance or homeowners insurance policy can step in. What's the difference between full coverage car insurance and state minimum car insurance? Full coverage offers protection for more situations than state minimum coverage. Generally, state minimum coverage only includes liability insurance (up to the limit required by your state), as well as uninsured motorist coverage and PIP (if required). While liability car insurance will cover injuries, death, and property damage caused by your driving, it won't help you with the common scenarios covered by comprehensive and collision coverage. Is full coverage auto insurance required? If you lease your car or bought it with a loan, your lender or leasing company may require comprehensive coverage and collision coverage. Lenders have a financial stake in your vehicle and generally require these coverages, which when paired together start to resemble full coverage auto insurance. Most states don't require comprehensive or collision coverage. However, if you don't have the funds to replace your car on your own, these coverages might be helpful. Who needs full coverage auto insurance? If you don't have the money to replace your car out of pocket, you likely need full coverage auto insurance. The same holds true if you have a loan or lease on your vehicle, since full coverage insurance will probably keep you compliant with the terms of your lease or loan. There are some cases where full coverage auto insurance doesn't make sense. For example, if you have a very low-value vehicle and could cover the cost of a replacement on your own, full-coverage auto insurance might not be worth it. How much is full coverage auto insurance? According to data from Bankrate.com, the average full coverage auto insurance policy costs $2,014 per year, while the average minimum coverage policy costs $622 per year. While full coverage auto insurance might be more expensive than having less coverage, it could be helpful to have if you're in a situation where it's needed. However, there are ways to save on full coverage auto insurance. Getting several quotes from different insurance companies and comparing the types and amounts of coverage could help you find the best deal for you. You might consider raising the deductible, or the amount you'll pay before coverage kicks in, to lower your premium. Lastly, raising your credit score could also help reduce how much you'll pay for auto insurance, as many insurers consider your credit score when pricing your policy. Bottom line Full coverage car insurance could help you replace your car if it's stolen or damaged by something other than an accident. While it's more expensive, it could be helpful if you need to replace your car. Correction: A previous version of this story misstated what type of coverage applies to hitting an animal. It is comprehensive coverage. Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/16/apple-amazon-are-fridays-biggest-wall-street-calls.html

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, Carvana, Delta, Walmart & more

Here are Wall Street's biggest calls on Friday: Wedbush reiterates Carvana as underperform Wedbush said in a note that bankruptcy is a possibility for Carvana. "Near-term bankruptcy is not out of the question, but is less likely than other near-term outcomes given the liquidity timeline and the Garcias' (largest shareholder Ernie Garcia II and CEO Ernie Garcia III) 47% equity ownership position and 90% equity voting rights position." Evercore ISI names Apple as a top pick in 2023 Evercore said it sees 2023 as a "moonshot" year for Apple. "We see AAPL ramping up various moonshot projects that start to become material – be that AR/VR deployments (H1:23?), advertising business becomes more material and AAPL Pay starts to gain further scale." Evercore ISI names BlackRock as a top pick Evercore says BlackRock will be a key beneficiary of a deteriorating macro in 2023. "Our base case is for a tough & choppy equity backdrop given inflation, Fed rate moves, QT & a potential recession; as well as allocations & flows into fixed income strategies, the continuation of the ongoing active-to-passive trend & alts continuing to grow." Goldman Sachs upgrades Delta to buy from neutral Goldman resumed coverage of Delta and upgraded the stock adding that it sees "recovery tailwinds" remaining heading into 2023. "In this environment, we favor stocks with idiosyncratic earnings drivers, relatively more recovery tailwinds remaining, or characteristics that reduce downside risk. Read more about this call here. Needham reiterates Disney as hold Needham lowered its estimates on shares of Disney and said it sees rising direct-to-consumer losses. "In DTC, we lower our 1Q23 estimates as we expect price increases and ad tier introduction to impact results later in FY23, and we lower our rev estimate by 3% to $5.4B (up 16% y/y), and maintain our operating incoming Loss estimate of $1.2B." DA Davidson initiates Cyberark as buy DA Davidson said Cyberark is a "clear market leader." "Security spend remains highly defensible, demand remains robust, & security vendors continue to fair better than most other SaaS players." JPMorgan upgrades Meta to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said it sees "increased cost discipline" for the social media giant. "However, heading into 2023, we believe some of these top and bottom line pressures will ease, and most importantly, Meta is showing encouraging signs of increasing cost discipline, we believe with more to come." Read more about this call here. JPMorgan reiterates Amazon as overweight JPMorgan lowered its price target on the stock to $130 per share from $145, but said it's standing by Amazon shares. "We recognize the elevated cloud concerns and macro uncertainty over the next few months, but we believe there is still significant secular shift toward e-commerce & cloud ahead, and AMZN should also benefit from easing retail comps into 2023." Read more about this call here. Wells Fargo downgrades Prudential to underweight from equal weight Wells downgraded the insurance company mainly on valuation. "Our call is primarily one of relative value, as PRU's valuation has expanded relative to MET vs. historical levels." MKM names Walmart a top 2023 pick MKM said it sees further share gains for Walmart in 2023. " Walmart is gaining share against grocery peers, but discretionary categories have been soft. Strong price gaps, an increased focus on price, and an increasingly value-seeking consumer should lead to continued market share gains for Walmart." JPMorgan names Eli Lilly a top 2023 pick JPMorgan said Eli Lilly is "best-in-class." "BioPharma fundamentals remain healthy, but our focus is shifting to individual names following the 2022 rally." Canaccord names Yeti and Traeger top 2023 picks Canaccord says Yeti should hold up well in a recessionary environment. The company is a maker of mainly outdoor products. The firm also says it likes Traeger in 2023 and that the grill company should return to growth in 2023. " YETI Holdings (YETI : BUY, $58 PT): We believe the core YETI consumer should hold up relatively better in a recession as it skews a bit higher end. Traeger (COOK : BUY, $6 PT): 2023 won't look great as the industry works through channel inventories in H1, but this should be well understood, and we expect material growth to resume in 2H23." Credit Suisse initiates Datadog as outperform Credit Suisse said in its initiation of Datadog that the cloud-scale applications has a "track record of delivering market defining products." "Next generation product and business model levered to hyperscaler growth, category leader. Move into security doubles their TAM." Deutsche Bank names Charles Schwab a top 2023 pick Deutsche said it sees robust earnings growth for the financial services company in 2023. "Overall, amid what we think may be a very volatile year in markets that could end with a strong rebound, we have the highest conviction on the earnings growth outlook for stock price appreciation for Charles Schwab followed by the alternative asset managers." Bank of America names Nvidia a top 2023 pick Bank of America named Nvidia a top pick for 2023 and said a "soft landing could drive hard takeoff in chips stocks." "Bumpy start likely to 2023, as stocks digest Q4 gains and are exposed to softer consumer demand in PCs/smartphones/autos/cloud services. However, estimate cuts likely in last innings and anticipation of 2H recovery could drive SOX gains from Q2." Morgan Stanley downgrades New York Times to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said in its downgrade of New York Times that it sees growing macro ad headwinds. "Recent underperformance in net adds lowers our confidence in capturing the long-term opportunity. In addition, growing macro headwinds to advertising revenues put 2023 expectations at risk. Morgan Stanley names Prologis a top 2023 pick Morgan Stanley said the logistics real estate investment trust company is undervalued for 2023. "Industrials have pulled back and we see undervalued growth in Top Pick PLD' s (OW) operating segments." Citi reiterates DraftKings as buy Citi says it sees a "compelling" risk/reward for shares of DraftKings. "We remain optimistic and are buyers at current levels. We continue to view the company's risk-reward as compelling and maintain our Buy rating and $24 target price." JPMorgan names O'Reilly and AutoZone as top 2023 picks JPMorgan said auto parts stocks like O'Reilly and AutoZone are the best way to play a soft and hard landing. "In our view, autoparts remains the best way to straddle a hard and soft landing (inflation firm through the cycle, most rational industry, counter-cyclical and cyclical demand patterns) while our staples retailers seem like a much tougher 12-month setup in both scenarios." Deutsche Bank initiates Shockwave Medical as buy Deutsche said the medical device company is a "compelling" growth story. "We regard Shockwave Medical as among the most compelling growth stories across medtech over the next few years."

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/16/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-target-lowes-carnival-and-others.html

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Target, Lowe's, Carnival and others

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Target (TGT) – Target plunged 13.5% in the premarket after missing consensus estimates by 59 cents with quarterly earnings of $1.54 per share. The retailer expects a drop in holiday season sales and cut its operating margin forecast for the current quarter in half. Target also said it will launch a cost-cutting plan designed to save up to $3 billion per year. Lowe's (LOW) – Lowe's added 2.4% in premarket trading after the home improvement retailer beat top and bottom line estimates for its latest quarter and reported better-than-expected comparable store sales. Carnival (CCL) – Carnival slumped 12.7% in the premarket after the cruise line operator announced a $1 billion convertible debt offering as part of its refinancing plan. Advance Auto Parts (AAP) – Advance Auto Parts plummeted 14.7% in off-hours trading after the auto parts retailer posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings. Although its revenue matched Street forecasts, results were impacted by consumers shifting to its cheaper in-house brands rather than more expensive national brands. The company also lowered its full-year outlook. Competitor O'Reilly Auto Parts (ORLY) fell 2.9%. Sage Therapeutics (SAGE) – Sage Therapeutics gained 3.3% in premarket trading after an SEC filing showed CEO Barry Greene added 14,500 shares to his stake in the drug maker. Corteva (CTVA) – Corteva fell 1% in the premarket after UBS downgraded the seed and crop protection products company's stock to neutral from buy in what the firm says is a valuation call. Yet, UBS increased its price target on Corteva's stock to $73 from $70 per share. Alibaba (BABA), NetEase (NTES) – The China-based companies are among the stocks gaining ground following a Reuters report that U.S. regulators gained "good access" to audits of Chinese firms listed in the U.S. Alibaba rose 1.8% while Netease jumped 3.6% in premarket action. Etsy (ETSY) – The online crafts marketplace was put on Evercore's "Tactical Underperform" list, even as the firm maintained an outperform rating on the stock. Evercore likes Etsy's long-term outlook but foresees a 3-month trend of slower purchase frequency and a shift in spending toward lower-priced items. Etsy slid 3.6% in the premarket.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/29/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-bed-bath-beyond-carnival-upstart-and-more.html

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Bed Bath & Beyond, Carnival, Upstart and more

A security guard stands next to a Bed Bath & Beyond sign at the entrance to a New York City store location. Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Bed Bath & Beyond — Shares of the retailer plummeted 23.6% after the company missed revenue estimates and posted a wider-than-expected loss in the recent quarter. Bed Bath & Beyond also announced it is replacing CEO Mark Tritton. Carnival — Shares of the cruise line operator fell 14.1% after Morgan Stanley cut its price target on the stock roughly in half and said it could potentially go to zero in the face of another demand shock, given Carnival's debt levels. The call dragged other cruise stocks lower. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings dropped 10.3% and 9.3%, respectively. Upstart — Shares of the AI lending platform dropped 10.2% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to underweight from equal weight. The Wall Street firm said rising interest rates and a troublesome macroenvironment is hurting Upstart's growth trajectory. Bath & Body Works — The retailer's stock fell nearly 9% after JPMorgan downgraded shares to neutral from overweight. The firm lowered its second quarter and full-year earnings estimates for Bath & Body Works after reducing second quarter average unit retail estimates by 4% year over year. Teradyne — Shares of the semiconductor testing company slid 5.2% following a downgrade to neutral from buy from Bank of America. The firm said Teradyne's exposure to Apple could ding the stock in the near term, given uncertainty around iPhone demand. Tesla — Shares declined 1.8% following a Wall Street Journal report that said Tesla is closing its San Mateo, California, office and laying off 200 workers. CNBC confirmed the report. General Mills — The stock jumped 6.4% after General Mills reported an earnings beat on the top and bottom lines. Still, the cereal company's full-year profit estimates were weaker than expected, because of a consumer shift to cheaper brands. O'Reilly Automotive — The auto parts company traded up 1.1% following an upgrade to buy from neutral from D.A. Davidson. The firm said O'Reilly is their "preferred way" to play the auto parts theme compared to AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts. Auto parts companies, which typically sell nondiscretionary products, are expected to weather downturns better than other retailers. McDonald's — Shares climbed 2% following an upgrade to overweight by Atlantic Equities. The firm said hamburger chain will hold out as consumer spending slows. Goldman Sachs — Shares rose 1.3% after Bank of America upgraded Goldman Sachs to a buy from a neutral rating and said the bank will thrive even in an economic slowdown. — CNBC's Yun Li, Tanaya Macheel and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.

https://www.cnbc.com/select/how-does-auto-insurance-help-when-your-car-is-stolen/

ORLY

O'Reilly Auto Parts

New data shows car thefts are on the rise — here's how auto insurance can help

Car thefts are on the rise across the U.S. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) data, more than one million cars were stolen in 2022. Thefts were up 7% in 2022 compared to 2021, making last year one of the worst on record since 2008. The NICB recommends drivers check to make sure their car insurance policy is up to date, but don't assume that your policy will cover your stolen car. CNBC Select explains why you need comprehensive car insurance to protect against theft, and what actions you should take if you find yourself a victim of grand theft auto. You'll need comprehensive coverage to cover theft With the exception of New Hampshire and Virginia, every state requires you to have a car insurance policy to drive. But you'll most likely need more coverage than what's legally mandated if you want to be reimbursed for your stolen car. Most policies that meet the legal requirements provide some amount of liability coverage, which is a type of insurance that can cover other people and property that is damaged when you're involved in an at-fault accident. This coverage notably doesn't cover any damage to your car unrelated to accidents, such as theft. That's where comprehensive coverage comes in. This type of coverage isn't required by the law, but it can help reimburse you if your car or its parts are stolen, and even cover things like natural disaster damage, vandalism and fallen objects. Car insurance with comprehensive coverage tends to be more expensive than other policies. You can save some money by taking advantage of companies offering discounts on their policies. One of CNBC Select's top picks, Farmers Insurance, makes coverage cheaper with 22 discounts on car insurance. You can earn these discounts through a variety of actions, such as driving safely, enrolling in paperless billing, and more. Geico was also ranked as the best car insurance company for affordable coverage and offers low average premiums for full coverage. Farmers Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights Farmers sells car insurance in every state except Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia and offers a whopping 23 discounts. Terms apply. Pros Offers 23 types of discounts Below-average NAIC complaints Ability to bundle coverage with other products Cons Not all discounts are available in every state Average premium for maximum coverage is higher than the national average Learn More View More Geico Auto Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights Geico coverage and services are available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and there are 16 different types of discounts available. In addition to the standard coverage options, Geico offers various optional add-ons, such as emergency roadside assistance, rental car reimbursement and mechanical breakdown insurance. Terms apply. Read our Geico Auto Insurance review. Pros Lowest average rates Inclusive coverage options, including high-risk drivers Available nationwide Cons High premiums for high-risk drivers Fewer branches for in-person services Learn More View More If you're renting a car, you'll want to pay with a credit card that offers primary car rental insurance coverage. This covers the theft of a rental car and allows you to submit the claim directly through your credit card's insurance provider, without first submitting to your own car insurance company. For instance, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers primary rental insurance covering up to $75,000 worth of damage caused by a crash or theft for rentals up to 31 consecutive days. Chase Sapphire Reserve® Learn More On Chase’s secure site Rewards Earn 5X total points on flights and 10X total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3X points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases plus, 10X points on Lyft rides through March 2025 Welcome bonus Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. Annual fee $550 Intro APR None Regular APR 22.49% - 29.49% variable Balance transfer fee 5%, minimum $5 Foreign transaction fee None Credit needed Excellent Terms apply. Read our Chase Sapphire Reserve® review. How your insurance helps you when your car is stolen Here are the steps you need to take if you discover a pile of shattered glass where your car was parked. Report the crime to the police: Get in contact with the police and file a report with them ASAP. Make sure to have details on your car's vehicle identification number (VIN), title information (if you have it) and any photos or additional information about the car that can help the authorities identify it. Get in contact with the police and file a report with them ASAP. Make sure to have details on your car's vehicle identification number (VIN), title information (if you have it) and any photos or additional information about the car that can help the authorities identify it. File a claim with your insurance company: You can start this process quickly online with almost every insurance company. You'll need a copy of the police report, and a list of anything that had been in the vehicle. You can start this process quickly online with almost every insurance company. You'll need a copy of the police report, and a list of anything that had been in the vehicle. Play the waiting game: After a claim is filed, insurers typically have a waiting period of 30 days to see if the car is found before a payout. If the vehicle still has not been found, you'll likely receive a payout equaling the actual cash value (ACV), of the car minus your deductible (the amount you're responsible for paying before insurance coverage kicks in). Something important to note is that the AVC is not what you paid for the car. Rather, it's a determined replacement value (generally equal to the amount you'd have to pay to buy the same or similar model) minus the depreciation of the car. An example of actual cash value You bought a car for $40,000 five years ago. Over the past five years, the value of the car has depreciated by $10,000. However, the price to buy a new car of the same model has gone up by $2,000. The actual cash value of the car is the cost to replace the car ($42,000) minus its depreciation ($10,000), or $32,000. It's possible to get coverage that would pay for the price of a brand new vehicle, called new car replacement coverage, for an extra cost. While not every insurer offers this, some do for certain newer cars, including Farmers, Nationwide and Allstate. You should also keep in mind that the items in your stolen car might not be covered by your auto insurance. However, those belongings may fall under your renter's insurance or homeowner's insurance. And if you bought any of those items with a credit card offering purchase protection, you might be able to recoup some money through your card. Take steps to prevent auto theft Even if you do have comprehensive coverage, having your car stolen isn't ideal. While comprehensive coverage could help you repair or replace a stolen vehicle, you'll still have to pay the deductible. Taking steps to make sure your car isn't targeted could help you save time and potential headaches. Luckily, there are several things you can do to prevent it. The NICB suggests parking in a garage or in a well-lit area. For those with cars parked in a driveway, the NICB also suggests investing in motion-sensing lights to scare off would-be thieves. A steering wheel lock bar can lock onto your steering wheel, preventing it from being able to turn, and can be purchased for $25 to $50. Bottom line Auto thefts have increased significantly year-over-year. While you can take steps to prevent car theft, you'll need to have comprehensive coverage if you want theft to be covered. Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/29/berkshire-hathaway-boosts-occidental-stake-to-25percent-why-warren-buffett-loves-this-energy-play-so-much.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Berkshire Hathaway boosts Occidental stake to 25%. Why Warren Buffett loves this energy play so much

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway keeps buying the dip in Occidental Petroleum , now owning a quarter of the oil giant. The conglomerate purchased an additional 2.1 million Occidental shares on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, boosting its stake in the Houston-based energy producer to 25.1%, a new regulatory filing showed. Berkshire now owns 224.1 million shares, worth $12.9 billion based on Wednesday's closing price of $57.46. The buying spree this year came as Occidental shares pulled back after a stellar 2022. The stock is down nearly 9% in 2023 after soaring 117% last year, becoming the best performer in the S & P 500 for 2022. Occidental, once known for being founded by legendary oilman Armand Hammer, is now Berkshire's sixth-biggest equity holding. OXY 1Y mountain Occidental Buffett has ruled out the possibility of taking full control of the energy company. The legendary investor previously revealed that he started buying the stock after reading through Occidental's annual report and gaining confidence in the company's growth and its leadership. "Vicki Hollub, she's an extraordinary manager of Occidental. Her first job was with Cities Service. That was the first stock I bought in 1942. She knows what happens beneath the surface," Buffett said at Berkshire's annual meeting in May. "I know the math of it. But I wouldn't have the faintest idea what to do if I was in an oil field." Hollub is CEO of Occidental. In August, Berkshire received regulatory approval to purchase up to 50%, spurring speculation it may eventually buy all of Occidental. The 92-year-old investor also told shareholders that he's content with the warrants he owns, which were obtained as part of the company's 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko . "We may or may not own more in the future but we certainly have warrants on what we got on the original deal on a very substantial amount of stock around $59 a share, and warrants last a long time, and I'm glad we have them," he said. Berkshire also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock, and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion, or $59.62 each.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/12/warren-buffett-is-still-buying-occidental-petroleum-adding-shares-worth-1point5-billion.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Warren Buffett is still buying Occidental Petroleum, adding shares worth $1.5 billion

Warren Buffett was not done. After spending around $4.5 billion last week to buy 91.2 million shares of Occidental Petroleum , he's spent more than $1.5 billion this week to add another 27.1 million shares to Berkshire Hathaway's stake. An SEC filing late Friday revealed the purchases were made on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at prices between $51.03 and $58.58. The weighted average of the buys is around $56.60. That gives Berkshire a total of 118.3 million shares that are worth almost $6.9 billion at Friday's close of $57.95. As a result, OXY moves up a notch to 9th place on Berkshire's list of biggest reported holdings of publicly-traded U.S. shares. And it gives Berkshire nearly 12% of Occidental's outstanding shares. When its warrants to buy nearly 84 million shares, obtained as part of its 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko, are included, the stake that the SEC pays attention to is around 20%. The warrants have an exercise price of $59.624, which means they are a few cents away from being 'in the money.' Berkshire could then use them to buy at a price lower than the market price, generating an instant paper profit, which increases as the stock prices goes up. Occidental shares are up nearly 90% over the last 12 months as oil prices have surged.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/17/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-dollar-general-occidental-petroleum-guess-and-more.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Dollar General, Occidental Petroleum, Guess and more

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Dollar General — Shares of the discount retail chain gained 4.5% despite a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter report. Dollar General reported $8.65 billion in sales for the quarter, below the $8.7 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. The company's $2.57 in earnings per share matched expectations. The company did announce a 31% dividend increase, and some analysts cited Dollar General's outlook as a positive. Signet Jewelers — Shares of the jewelry company popped 7% after reporting same-store sales above consensus estimates. Per-share earnings were in line with expectations and quarterly revenue topped Wall Street's estimates, according to Refinitiv. PagerDuty — Shares rallied 20.9% after PagerDuty posted a better-than-expected quarterly report. The company lost an adjusted 4 cents per share for its latest quarter, beating the Refinitiv consensus estimate by 2 cents. The digital operations platform provider's revenue also defied Street forecasts, and PagerDuty issued an upbeat revenue forecast. Occidental Petroleum — The energy stock rose 9.5% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway purchased an additional 18.1 million shares of Occidental. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday shows it paid a weighted average of $54.41 per share, a total of $985 million for the new shares. Guess — The apparel maker's shares rallied 9.3% after the company's quarterly report. Guess posted adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.14 per share, one cent below the Refinitiv consensus, while revenue also fell short of forecasts. However, profit margins were better than anticipated. Revolve — Shares of the online designer clothing retailer rose 6.5% after Needham initiated coverage of the company with a buy rating. As consumers return to in-person events, Revolve is an "ultimate reopening play" that will continue to leverage data to capture market share, analysts wrote. Ralph Lauren — The retail stock rose 4.6% after JPMorgan upgraded Ralph Lauren to an overweight rating from neutral. The firm said Ralph Lauren could benefit from an "elevated casual" apparel trend as customers return to the office. McDonald's — McDonald's shares were marginally lower as Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the fast-food giant to $287 per share from $294 amid store closures in Russia and Ukraine. The company has said the closures could cost it $50 million a month. SolarEdge Technologies — Shares fell 5.9% after the company announced a proposed public offering of 2 million shares of its common stock. — CNBC's Jesse Pound, Tanaya Macheel and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/19/buffett-bought-more-occidental-shares-in-each-of-last-six-trading-days.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Warren Buffett bought more Occidental shares on each of the last six trading days

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought more shares of Occidental Petroleum on each of the last six trading days, boosting its stake in the Houston-based oil and gas producer to 24.4%, according to regulatory filings. The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate purchased a total of of 5.6 million shares for $327.2 million over the past six sessions at an average price of $58 a share. Berkshire now owns 217.3 million shares with a market value of nearly $12.7 billion. Shares of Occidental rose nearly 2% in premarket trading Friday. The stock is down about 7.5% this year, after more than doubling in 2022. The company once known for being founded by legendary oilman Armand Hammer was the best-performing name in the S & P 500 last year. For his part, Buffett has made it clear that he won't take full control of the oil company. There had been speculation of a takeover after Berkshire received regulatory approval to purchase as much as a 50% stake. "There's speculation about us buying control; we're not going to buy control," Buffett said at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting earlier this month. "We wouldn't know what to do with it." The 92-year-old investor told shareholders that he could be interested in buying more shares, and he's content with the warrants he owns. "We may or may not own more in the future but we certainly have warrants on what we got on the original deal on a very substantial amount of stock around $59 a share, and warrants last a long time, and I'm glad we have them." Berkshire owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock, and has warrants to buy another 83.9 million common shares for $5 billion, or $59.62 each. The warrants were obtained as part of the company's 2019 deal that helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko Petroleum . A full redemption of the preferred equity could lift Berkshire's ownership of Occidental above 40%, Wells Fargo estimated. — CNBC's Alex Crippen contributed reporting.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/truist-upgrades-oil-stock-occidental-petroleum-to-buy.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Truist upgrades Occidental Petroleum to buy, says oil stock can surge more than 50%

Shares of Occidental Petroleum still have significant upside as high oil prices make the company a major cash producer, according to Truist. Analyst Neal Dingmann upgraded Occidental to buy from hold, saying Monday in a note to clients that the oil stock's improving balance sheet could lead to greater returns for shareholders. "We forecast OXY's record [free cash flow] to continue combined with asset monetizations resulting in [less than two times] leverage by potentially early next year. As such, we believe the company will soon discuss plans to return its quarterly dividend to 2019/2020 levels along with the possibility of an additional variable dividend and/or stock repurchase program," Dingmann wrote. Truist hiked its price target on Occidental to $50 per share from $35 per share. That target is the highest among major Wall Street firms, according to FactSet, and is 58% above where the stock closed Friday. Shares of Occidental have already soared this year, climbing more than 80%. The stock has been boosted by the rising price of oil, with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude climbing above $83 per barrel. Additionally, the company's low-carbon initiatives could start to perform well as early as next year, Truist said. "OXY's decarbonizing operations continue to gain steam capitalizing on its notable infrastructure in place/under development. We forecast the upstream and chemicals segments could see record earnings/cash flow in the coming quarters," Dingmann said. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report. Occidental Petroleum Jay L. Clendenin | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/citi-says-to-buy-occidental-petroleum-sees-nearly-40percent-upside-ahead.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Citi predicts 40% upside ahead for Occidental Petroleum, is bullish on new carbon capture business

Citi initiated coverage of Occidental Petroleum with a bullish call and sees significant upside ahead for the energy company. The firm believes Occidental's low-carbon business can drive growth for the company, particularly its development of technology to capture carbon dioxide from the air. "If OXY can deliver a cash positive direct air capture system, we foresee terminal value accretion, potentially material," Citi's Scott Gruber said in a note Monday. Citi rated Occidental Petroleum a buy and set a $35 target price on the stock, implying 38.6% upside from its Monday closing price of $25.25 per share. The company's subsidiary Occidental Low Carbon Ventures has multiple opportunities that could boost the stock, Citi noted. However, Citi sees the most compelling growth opportunity in direct air capture. "Even more exciting, OXY is leading the effort to capture carbon directly from the air," Gruber said. Citi highlighted Occidental's equity stake in Carbon Engineering, which will provide technology to capture carbon dioxide at an Occidental oil field in Texas. That will be the largest direct air capture facility in the world, Citi pointed out. The firm also said Occidental's free cash flow yield — a company's free cash flow per share divided by the share price — is attractive when compared with peers. Shares of Occidental Petroleum have outperformed the market this year, up 45.9% in 2021 compared with the S & P 500's 20.6% gain. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting. The Occidental Petroleum headquarters in Los Angeles. Reed Saxon | AP

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/24/cramers-lightning-round-occidental-petroleum-is-the-only-oil-stock-that-i-dont-like-here.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Cramer's lightning round: Occidental Petroleum is 'the only oil stock that I don't like here'

EQRx Inc .: "What certain companies have to do is, they have to buy biotech companies. This is the kind of company that needs to be bought. It shouldn't be independent." DigitalOcean Holdings : "It sells at 190 times earnings. I'm not recommending anything that's north of 50 times earnings. That's just my new rule discipline to get me through this tough time." Occidental Petroleum : "It's the only oil stock that I don't like here." Cue Health : "We have too many tests, what can I say? Even the best that have tests are crumbling here, so that one has to crumble right along with it." ADT Inc .: "Nah. There's nothing there in ADT. That should never have come public. That was another one of those where they just got you." Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer's every move in the market.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/27/energy-stocks-may-rally-after-oil-prices-topped-a-key-level-this-week.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

These energy stocks may rally after U.S. crude oil prices rose above a key level this week

Occidental Petroleum and Diamondback Energy may be poised to rally after U.S. crude oil prices broke above a key resistance level on Friday, according to the chief market strategist at Miller Tabak. U.S. crude oil settled at $78.01 a barrel on Friday to close out its best week since Sept. 1 thanks to robust U.S. growth — as evidenced by a faster-than-expected fourth quarter GDP print — and China promising more spending to boost its economy. West Texas Intermediate futures breaking above the 200-day moving average of $77.64 should confirm that crude oil prices have made a meaningful change to the upside, Miller Tabak's Matt Maley told CNBC. "That paves the way for higher prices," said Bob Yawger, managing director and energy futures strategist at Mizuho Americas. Yawger said WTI not only topping the 200-day moving average but settling above that level is "definitely much more bullish" for crude futures prices. Key test next week The energy sector has been lagging oil prices over the past four to six weeks and confirmation now that crude is shifting to the upside should help the stocks "play catch up," Maley said. A key test will be whether WTI next week stays above the 200-day moving average that had been acting as price chart resistance, the strategist said. Conversely, however, Maley noted that it is also critical to monitor the 200-week moving average of $71.58 a barrel for U.S. crude as a support level for prices. "If crude oil rolls back over, breaks below that level — that's going to tell you that I'm wrong. It's not working," the Miller Tabak strategist said. Occidental and Diamondback, in particular, may be poised to bounce because they are highly leveraged to the price of oil, Maley said. Occidental is down 2.2% this year while Diamondback is up less than 1%. The United States Oil ETF , a decent proxy for crude, is almost 10% higher in 2024. Occidental could return to its 2022 highs of between $75 and $80, Maley said. That would imply upside of as much as 37% from Occidental's close Friday of $58.40. Buffett favorite Maley also noted that Occidental is a favorite of Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in the Houston-based company to 34% by the end of 2023 from about 21% at the end of 2022. "He's not a big guy who's keen on leverage," Maley said of Buffett. "And that tells me that if he's buying a stock that's highly leveraged to the price of oil, he believes oil prices are going higher." Diamondback could hit $170, Maley said, implying 9% appreciation from Friday's close of $156.24. Some 58% of Wall Street analysts have a hold on Occidental while 38% rate the stock the equivalent of buy, with a consensus price target of $67, according to FactSet. Wall Street is more bullish on Diamondback, with 82% of analysts giving the stock the equivalent of a buy and an average price target of $178. No displacement Although Yawger thinks energy stocks will rise on the back of higher crude prices as traders look for beaten down stocks, the sector won't lead the rest of the market: "They're not going to displace tech for the front of the pack," he said. That said, Yawger believes the outlook for crude prices is favorable, owing to the combination of falling U.S. stockpiles and production, economic expansion in the U.S., fiscal stimulus in China, and equity markets recently posting all time highs — if the market's a leading indicator. Not to mention mounting geopolitical risk from conflict in the Middle East and the continued Russia-Ukraine war. Just on Friday, Houthi militants claimed responsibility for a missile attack on an oil tanker, while a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian fuel terminal on the Baltic Sea helped push oil prices higher earlier in the week. "The one wild card out there is the Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure, oil infrastructure too," Yawger said. "They stepped that up — that could put a bid in the market also."

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-pfizer-occidental-petroleum-bank-of-america-and-more.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Pfizer, Occidental Petroleum, Bank of America and more

A syringe is filled with a dose of Pfizer's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a pop-up community vaccination center at the Gateway World Christian Center in Valley Stream, New York, U.S., February 23, 2021. Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: China Evergrande Group — Chinese property giant Evergrande tumbled more than 10% on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, spooking Asian markets. The company has been scrambling to pay its suppliers, and warned investors twice in as many weeks that it could default on its debts. Last week Evergrande said its property sales will likely continue to drop significantly in September after declining for months. Pfizer — The pharmaceutical giant said Monday that trials showed its Covid vaccine was safe and effective when used in children ages 5 to 11. Pfizer and partner BioNTech said they would submit the results for approval "as soon as possible." Shares of Pfizer were down about 1% in premarket trading. Laredo Petroleum , Occidental Petroleum — Oil and energy stocks dipped in premarket trading on Monday. The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration ETF is down more than 3% in early trading, on pace for its 3rd straight negative session. Laredo Petroleum is down more than 8%, Callon Petroleum is down roughly 6%, and Occidental Petroleum is down nearly 5%. The losses came as crude oil fell on fears of a global economic slowdown tied to the China property market. Colgate-Palmolive — The consumer staples stock was upgraded to buy from hold by Deutsche Bank on Sunday. The investment firm said that Colgate's difficulties with inflation and in some international markets was already priced in to its stock. JPMorgan , Bank of America — Bank stocks slid in unison amid a decline in bond yields on slowdown fears. Investors flocked to Treasurys for safety as the stock market is set for its biggest sell-off in months. Big bank stocks took a hit as the falling rates may crimp profits. Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase were each down more than 2% in premarket trading. Citizens Financial Group dropped 3%, while Citigroup declined 2.5%. AstraZeneca — The United Kingdom-based pharmaceutical company announced on Monday that its breast cancer drug Enhertu showed positive results in a phase-three trial. Shares of the company were up more than 1% in premarket trading. ARK Innovation ETF — Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation ETF is down 2.75% in the premarket, on pace to snap a 3-day winning streak. Compugen, DraftKings, Coinbase and Square are so of the ETF's biggest losers this morning. — with reporting from CNBC's Jesse Pound and Yun Li.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/08/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-owns-2-etfs.html

OXY

Occidental Petroleum

Warren Buffett owns 2 ETFs—this one is better for everyday investors, experts say

When you've been as successful an investor as Warren Buffett, you make headlines any time you buy an asset. As noted by CNBC's "Buffett Watch," the Berkshire Hathaway chairman recently upped his stakes in Liberty SiriusXM and Occidental Petroleum. If you really want to be like Buffett, you can scroll down on that page to get a full portrait of Berkshire's portfolio of public investments. The list is full of stocks, with the notable exception of two exchange-traded funds: SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (symbol: SPY) and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). These low-cost funds track the performance of the broad U.S. stock market via the S&P 500, and although they make up a miniscule portion of Buffett's portfolio, he's said over and over that similar investments should make up the majority of yours. "In my view, for most people, the best thing to do is own the S&P 500 index fund," Buffett said at Berkshire's 2020 annual meeting. Buffett's thinking here is straightforward. Most non-professional investors (and even many professional stock-pickers) have very little chance of outperforming the market. But index fund investors get exposure to the entire U.S. market and can benefit from its historical upward trajectory — and for cheap. "The trick is not to pick the right company. The trick is to essentially buy all the big companies through the S&P 500 and to do it consistently and to do it in a very, very low-cost way," Buffett told CNBC in 2017.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/virginia-is-back-as-americas-top-state-for-business.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

Virginia is back as America's Top State for Business in 2021

The Virginia State flag and the American flag fly near the Virginia State Capitol. Drew Angerer | Getty Images A year of pandemic and social reckoning has changed the nation in countless ways. But one thing has stayed the same: America's Top State for Business is Virginia. The Old Dominion captures top honors in CNBC's 2021 competitiveness rankings, just as it did in the previous study published in 2019. It is Virginia's fifth win since the study began in 2007, more than any other state. And it is the first state to post back-to-back victories (CNBC did not publish rankings in 2020 due to the pandemic.) Virginia pulls off the repeat performance despite a vastly altered competitive landscape, a testament to the resilience of the state's business climate. Mitsui Osk Lines ship MOL Magnificence docked at one of Norfolk's port terminals. Alexandre Tziripouloff | iStock Editorial | Getty Images "We've seen a remarkable V-shaped recovery from Covid," said Stephen Edwards, CEO and executive director of the Port of Virginia, a major economic engine in the state, which is in the middle of a 10-year, $1.5 billion expansion. "May 2021 was an all-time record for the port, 56% bigger than we were last year, and significantly above 2019." "We put a lot of investment and a lot thought into our port and it is a tremendous asset for our economy," Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, told CNBC on Tuesday. Going into the pandemic and coming out of it, Virginia's greatest strength has been its ability to nurture and retain talent. Public schools perform well in terms of test scores, and a world-class higher education system is reliably funded. watch now Virginia employers reap the benefits, with one of the best-educated workforces in the country — nearly 39% of workers have a bachelor's degree or higher, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Virginia also boasts the nation's third-highest concentration of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Virginia Tech Hokies fans cheer against the Boise State Broncos at FedExField on September 6, 2010 in Landover, Maryland. Geoff Burke | Getty Images "Education is the best tool we have to make our Commonwealth a better, more equitable place for everyone," said Gov. Northam in his annual State of the Commonwealth address on Jan. 13. The battle for inclusiveness Equity has not always been the state's strong suit — nor the governor's. In 2019, one year into his term, Northam was embroiled in a scandal over a racist photo on his 1984 yearbook page at Eastern Virginia Medical School showing an individual in blackface standing with another in Ku Klux Klan robes and hat. The governor has insisted that neither person is him, but he has otherwise struggled to explain the photo, leading to widespread calls two years ago for his resignation. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam speaks at an event titled “Transforming Rail in Virginia” at the Amtrak-VRE station in March 30, 2021 in Alexandria, Virginia. Win McNamee | Getty Images Instead, Northam vowed to use the remainder of his term to work toward equality in the state. "There are a number of inequities in our society, to include access to health care, access to education, access to the business environment, access to the voting booth," Northam told CNBC in 2019. "So, we are really focusing on those inequities." Two years later, Northam has gone a long way toward keeping his promises. This year alone, the state enacted legislation requiring all agencies to develop plans for diversity, equity and inclusion in their ranks. And in April, Virginia bucked the trend among many other Southern states with a package of laws to expand voting rights, repealing voter ID laws, and making Election Day a state holiday. In 2020, Northam signed the Virginia Values Act, expanding anti-discrimination laws to make Virginia the first state in the South to extend comprehensive protections to LGBTQ residents. watch now "When you do the right thing for people it's not only right for them but it's good for business, and we've proven it," Northam told CNBC on Tuesday. "Yes, Virginia went through some tough times and Virginians stuck with me. I committed to dealing with equity, to addressing numerous inequities we have in Virginia," Northam said. As other states — including some of Virginia's top competitors for business like Texas and Georgia — focus on voting restrictions, "Virginia is promoting making it easier to vote while other states are not," he said. The new landscape for ranking the states The push in Virginia comes as companies are increasingly vocal in their demands for inclusiveness in the states where they do business. That, in turn, has increased the importance of equity and inclusion in CNBC's 2021 competitiveness study. It is among the many changes this year to bring Top States in line with the new competitive landscape, including new metrics on diversity, sustainability and connectivity. As in the past, our methodology scores the states in 10 categories, weighted based on how frequently the states cite them in their economic development marketing pitches, for a total of 2,500 points. This year, Virginia scores 1,587 points to take the 2021 Top States crown. This year's categories and point totals are: Cost of Doing Business – 400 points Infrastructure – 375 points Life, Health and Inclusion (formerly Quality of Life) – 375 points Workforce – 325 points Economy – 250 points Business Friendliness – 200 points Access to Capital – 175 points Technology and Innovation – 175 points Education – 150 points Cost of Living – 75 points Virginia's strongest category is Education, where it finishes a close second to perennial leader Massachusetts. The state comes in third for Workforce, hampered slightly by a relative shortage of workers. Unemployment is running slightly below the national average, and Virginia lags in terms of educated workers moving into the state, according to CNBC's analysis of Census Bureau data. A bicyclist stops in front of signage in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, on June 28, 2019, the site of Amazon's HQ2. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images The state finishes No. 11 for Life, Health and Inclusion, earning points for the voting rights and anti-discrimination laws, but falling short on some health-care metrics including public health funding, where Virginia ranks 36th per capita according to the United Health Foundation. The state has logged better than average Covid-19 vaccination rates, but the state's hospitals were stretched beyond capacity when the pandemic peaked earlier this year. Northam cited increased access to health care, an expansion of Medicaid, and over 550,000 Virginians having access to health care during the pandemic, and recently making Medicaid recipients in the state eligible for dental care. While the state does underspend the national average on health care, Northam told CNBC that state is "moving in a positive direction, and he added, "I talk to businesses all the time and they want their employees to have access to affordable and quality health care." Virginia's worst category is Cost of Living, where it finishes No. 32. The state finishes No. 26 in the all-important Cost of Doing Business category, hurt by the 11th-highest wage costs in the nation, according to the Labor Department. Political calculus in a governor's race Virginia will elect a new governor this fall. Northam will not be on the ballot — the state constitution bars a governor from serving consecutive terms — but his policies will be. The Republican nominee, former Carlyle Group Co-CEO Glenn Youngkin, is promising to bring a business leader's perspective and "shared values" to the job. Youngkin has criticized Northam's policies as being outside the mainstream, and has vowed to reverse some of them, such as restoring the voter ID law. He has also accused the governor of mismanaging the pandemic by keeping schools and businesses closed for too long. "Virginia may be No. 1 for political correctness, pushing critical race theory in schools, and not requiring a photo ID to vote under Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam, but Virginia ranks among the worst states when it comes to things that actually determine the success of small businesses and opportunities for workers — cost of living and cost of doing business," a Youngkin spokeswoman told CNBC on Tuesday. Glenn Youngkin, former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21st, 2020. Glenn Youngkin, Co-CEO of the Carlyle Group Youngkin has focused more of his attention on the Democratic nominee, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, positioning himself as an outsider and McAuliffe as an entrenched politician. "Terry McAuliffe wants to repeal Virginia's Right to Work protections, which will cause employers to flee the state in droves," the spokeswoman said. McAuliffe told CNBC in a statement on Tuesday that his "Trump-endorsed opponent Glenn Youngkin's right-wing agenda" would put all of Virginia's progress under Democrats at risk. He said Governor Northam and the Democratic legislative majority's leadership helped the state emerge stronger from the pandemic's twin health and economic crises. And he cited the 200,000 "good paying" jobs created during his previous run as governor, as well as billions in new capital and big employers which came to the state. "We did it before ... we will do it again," McAuliffe said. "His [Youngkin's] focus on divisive social crusades, Trumpian conspiracy theories, and threats to defund our schools would jeopardize our economic progress and take our Commonwealth back. That's not a recipe for a 'rip-roaring economy,' it's a roadmap to economic chaos and watching businesses flee our state." In an election that is likely to pit the suburbs in the northern part of the state against rural areas elsewhere, voters will decide which candidate is better equipped to keep Virginia on top. The rest of the top 5 states for business Finishing second this year is North Carolina, marking its best finish in the CNBC study's history. In fact, the Tar Heel State trails Virginia by just 41 points. Charlotte North Carolina Myles Gelbach | iStock | Getty Images North Carolina does well in Economy (No. 4) with solid growth, and Workforce (No. 6) with a steady influx of educated workers. Both helped persuade Apple earlier this year to choose the Research Triangle area outside Raleigh for its first East Coast corporate campus. But as one of only five states with no statewide public accommodation law to protect nondisabled residents against discrimination according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, North Carolina falls short on Life, Health and Inclusion (No. 37), potentially enough to keep the top spot out of reach. Utah finishes third thanks to the third-best economy in the country, according to CNBC's analysis. Economic growth barely missed a beat in 2020, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data. The Beehive State's economy contracted by just 0.1% for the year — the best in the nation — helped by a 7.1% surge in the fourth quarter. Fans of the Texas Rangers hold a Texas state flag at a game in Arlington, Texas. Stephen Dunn | Getty Images Texas comes in fourth on the strength of America's top workforce — educated workers are flocking to the state in droves, according to Census Bureau data — and the fifth-best economy. But this year's finish ties for the worst ever for the four-time Top State, which last won in 2018. While the size, depth and breadth of the Lone Star State's economy puts it at the heart of any conversation about competitiveness, Texas has relentlessly pursued policies that run counter to inclusiveness. Further proposed restrictions on voting and LGBTQ rights failed in the regular legislative session, but Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, is pressing ahead with the effort in a special session that began last week. Lawmakers were to take up the voting restrictions as soon as Tuesday, but Democrats left the state on Monday, leaving the legislature without a quorum, potentially for the remainder of the 30-day session. Abbott, who can call an unlimited number of special sessions, has vowed to continue his efforts to pass the law. Add a woefully underfunded public health system, the nation's highest rate of uninsured, and a low Covid-19 vaccination rate, and Texas finishes No. 49 for Life, Health and Inclusion. Coming in at No. 5 is Tennessee, making its first appearance in the Top Five. The Volunteer State has the nation's second-best economy (following red hot Idaho), as well as the eighth-lowest cost of doing Business, bolstered by ample incentives and a competitive tax climate. State movers This year's most improved state is Maryland, surging 19 points from its No. 31 ranking in 2019 to finish No. 12 this year. The state improves mainly on the strength of its infrastructure — not its traditional infrastructure like roads and water utilities which remain in suboptimal shape, but in components like broadband and the power grid, both of which are new metrics for 2021. Maryland is a leader on expanding broadband access and grid modernization. And the state performs well in other areas, scoring higher rankings in eight of the 10 categories of competitiveness. The Chicago, Illinois, downtown skyline including the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, is seen from the air, February 15, 2013. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images Other improvements include Illinois, jumping 15 spots to No. 15; Michigan, which rises 13 spots to No. 11, and Oklahoma, moving 11 places to No. 32. The biggest decline belongs to Oregon, which falls 13 spots in 2021 to No. 35 overall, largely due to a big drop in its Economy ranking. The state falls to No. 29 in the category, compared with No. 7 in 2019 when the Pacific Northwest was going gangbusters. The pandemic hit the Beaver State hard, state economists say. More than 20% of the labor force collected unemployment benefits at some point in 2020 after the shutdowns began. Overall economic growth for the full year fell 2.8% in Oregon, or slightly better than the national average, according to the Commerce Department. But Oregon has been slower than the rest of the country to rebound, with 2.7% growth in the fourth quarter versus 4.3% nationally. Hardest hit was the state's vital tourism sector, but officials also note that Oregon is among the states that are most dependent on international trade. Its largest foreign trading partners are China, Canada, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea, all of which suffered disruptions last year. Other big declines include New Hampshire, which slides 12 spots to No. 37; Nevada, slipping 11 places to No. 40, and Arizona and Wyoming, which each fall 10 places to No. 20 and No. 36 respectively. Bottom states for business This year's also-rans find themselves in familiar territory. State No. 46 Rhode Island improves from last place in 2019 even as it remains in the bottom tier. The Ocean State's physical infrastructure remains dismal, but good broadband and a reliable electric grid pull it out of the cellar. No. 47 West Virginia ranks near the bottom for Technology and Innovation, Access to Capital, Business Friendliness and Education. Coal mounds sit beneath coaling towers at the SunCoke Energy Partners LP Ceredo Terminal in Ceredo, West Virginia. Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/17/chart-shows-transports-are-about-to-drive-higher-oppenheimer-says.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

Chart shows transports are about to power higher, Oppenheimer says

With earnings on tap this week and next, the transportation group will likely cover more miles than usual. To one technician, the only direction for the group is up. "The charts are bullish on the iShares Transports ETF (ticker IYT)," Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Monday. "The trend is positive." The 200-day moving average, which acts as a proxy for trend, is heading north, says Wald who rates the industry as a buy. That longer-term moving average currently sits at $181 a share, a level the ETF has not closed below since November. "Within this uptrend, we are seeing some signs of stabilization at an important support level. That support level is about $181," said Wald. "We came down and tested it in early February, tested it again more recently, so we are seeing some signs of base building at that important level." Gains over the past week have also improved the technical outlook for transports stocks, he said. The IYT has risen by more than 1 percent three times in the past five sessions. "It is reversing the ETF's downtrend year to date. I think it would be the final confirmation you're looking for a rally through $196 resistance," said Wald. The IYT currently trades nearly 3 percent from its $196 level of resistance. The ETF has not closed above that level since early February. As for individual names, Wald favors large-cap railroad companies such as Union Pacific and mid-cap trucking companies, including Old Dominion . Stacey Gilbert of Susquehanna sees the bullish case for transports stocks from a fundamentals perspective. "Investor concerns about first-quarter profits being weaker because of harsh winter weather and inconsistencies with railroads were really short-sighted," Gilbert, head of derivatives strategy, said on "Trading Nation." "For truck-levered companies, this is the best fundamentals backdrop that they've seen in a decade." In the trucking subsector, Gilbert and Susquehanna senior equity research analyst Bascome Majors see potential for J.B. Hunt and Hub Group . They forecast at least 20 percent to 22 percent upside from current levels, one of the more bullish calls on the Street for both names. As for railroad companies, Gilbert has her eye on Norfolk Southern . "This is really our contrarian call," she said. "Bascome's price target is about 22 percent above current levels and from a valuation perspective this is certainly cheap relative to peers." On its options, Gilbert added, "This is the name where we've seen an increase in options order flow where investors seem to be positioning bullishly in ticker NSC." Transports stocks have underperformed the broader markets this year. The IYT has fallen 0.4 percent compared with the 's slight gain. The Dow transports index is flat for the year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/10/wednesdays-stock-analyst-calls-wells-fargo-chevron-gm-apple.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Apple, Wells Fargo, Chevron, GM & more

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Morgan Stanley upgraded Sunrun to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley upgraded the solar company, praised the company's management and said the stock was "compelling." "We view RUN stock at this price as compelling value driven by (1) a management team with a strong execution track record; (2) a rapidly growing 'economic wedge' between incumbent utility costs and the company's own falling cost structure; (3) the company's being a key beneficiary of upcoming clean energy legislation, which we expect to include a standalone tax credit for energy storage." Goldman Sachs upgraded Old Dominion to buy from neutral Goldman upgraded the truckload shipping company and said investors should get more exposure to transportation stocks like Old Dominion. "Even with the recent February storms, the recovery does appear to be well underway, with a strong likelihood for re-acceleration in YOY growth in March - typically the busiest in the 1Q. With the impending recovery solidified, we think more exposure to industrial-centric portions of transportation is prudent." Wedbush added Apple to the best ideas list Wedbush added the tech giant to its best ideas list and said Apple 's "supercycle party" is going "well." "To this point, our recent Asia checks overall came in bullish yet again with only some tweaks to near-term builds and an initial build forecast for iPhone 13 which could be a 'game changer' indicating the supercycle party in Cupertino is going well in FY22." Morgan Stanley reiterated General Motors as a top pick Morgan Stanley reiterated General Motors as a top pick and said the company continues to make the right "structural changes" needed to be successful in the future. " GM remains our top pick in US Autos (OW, $80 price target) due primarily to our bet on management taking advantage of this window of opportunity to make permanent structural changes to the company's business which we believe will be significantly reflected in the company's valuation." Evercore ISI reiterated Chevron as a top pick Evercore ISI reiterated the oil and gas giant as one of its favorite stock's after the company's "positive" analyst day. "Chevron remains a long-time favorite, as it retains emphasis on the returns profile rather than the production profile. Higher returns and lower carbon drive the value proposition with Chevron providing credible targets and timeframes for higher ROCE. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Wells Fargo to $47 from $43 Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the banking giant and said it sees more "upside" in the stock and that the company should benefit from the yield curve steepening. " WFC set to benefit as the most asset-sensitive name in our coverage. Add in lower credit costs and higher loan growth from oil prices up +34% YTD, and we raise our 2023e EPS +6% and our PT to $47 from $43. Climb aboard; we think there's plenty of upside left." Loop downgraded Tempur Sealy to hold from buy Loop downgraded the mattress and bedding company mainly on valuation. " TPX has benefitted from a much more intense focus on home comfort and a diversion of consumer dollars to home product spending. We believe Covid is still driving the shift of consumer time and dollars away from vacations and entertainment and towards making homes more comfortable, but this is likely to reverse soon." Evercore ISI raised its price target on Dick's to $100 from $75 Evercore raised its price target on shares of the sporting goods company to a Street high after its earnings report on Tuesday . The firm also reiterated its outperform rating on the stock. "Our thesis on DKS is that the retailer became more relevant to both customers (including 8 million Americans who discovered DICK'S for the first time in 2020) and brands over the course of the pandemic, and what we saw from 4Q was net-net more constructive towards that view." A sign is posted in front of a Chevron gas station on July 31, 2020 in Novato, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/virginia-gets-close-to-legalizing-recreational-weed-as-other-states-eye-cannabis-tax-windfalls.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

Virginia gets close to legalizing recreational weed as other states eye cannabis tax windfalls

A customer lights a joint at Lowell Farms, America's first official Cannabis Cafe offering farm-to-table dining and smoking of cannabis in West Hollywood, California, October 1, 2019. Virginia is close to becoming the first Southern state to get a tax revenue high as it moves to legalize recreational weed. A bill passed Sunday in both the state's House of Delegates and Senate is awaiting the signature of Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat. Once signed, the Old Dominion would officially join 15 other states and the District of Columbia that have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use. Though under the Virginia bill, legal sales and possession would not take effect until 2024. States from Wisconsin to Kansas — many cash-strapped amid the Covid pandemic — are calling for similar measures as they struggle to balance their budgets. Governors also cite racial justice as a reason to legalize marijuana, with Black and Latino men imprisoned at higher rates nationwide than their white counterparts for the same offenses. Support for marijuana legalization has steadily increased over the years. Recent polling by Gallup found that 68% of U.S. adults think marijuana should be legalized for recreational use, up from 66% the year prior. With Democratic President Joe Biden in the White House and the party currently maintaining a majority in both the House and Senate, federal legalization of marijuana could be closer than ever. But for now, it remains a state-by-state decision. New Jersey is the most recent to join the party. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed reform legislation in late February after voters approved the measure in November. A report from nonpartisan think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective estimates the state could see at least $300 million in tax revenue annually. For Virginia, pot legalization could bring in $698 million to $1.2 billion annually in economic activity and up to $274 million in tax revenue per year, according to a study from the governor's office. Northam also acknowledged racial disparities in drug convictions in his recent State of the Commonwealth address. "Reforming our marijuana laws is one way to ensure that Virginia is a more just state that works better for everyone," he said. Not all constituents are satisfied with the pace of change. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said the legislation pays "lip service," but "does nothing to help continued racial disparities that we're seeing with decriminalization until 2024," TV station WWBT, an NBC affiliate in Richmond, Virginia, reported. A spokesperson for the governor told CNBC that "there's still a lot of work ahead, but this bill will help to reinvest in our communities and reduce inequities in our criminal justice system." The spokesperson said the governor's top priority is making sure Virginia legalizes marijuana in an equitable way.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/02/xpo-logistics-ceo-says-company-is-in-the-middle-of-the-e-comm-boom.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

XPO Logistics CEO says company is in the middle of the 'e-comm boom'

The online shopping craze has delivered a windfall for the shipping industry, and global warehouse providers such as XPO Logistics are reaping benefits, CEO Brad Jacobs told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday. "In our logistics business, we are squarely in the middle of this massive e-commerce boom," he said in a "Mad Money" interview. XPO Logistics reports e-commerce to be its fastest-growing vertical. Internet commerce has powered a warehouse expansion in the industry, leading to 70 million square feet of storage space to be added this year alone, with still more room for growth. XPO Logistics says it is the largest provider of last-mile services for heavy goods in the U.S. In the U.S., Black Friday online shopping spiked 22% to a record $9 billion and Cyber Monday saw a record $10.8 billion spent online in one day, according to Adobe. "We have the largest outsourced e-comm fulfillment platform in all of Europe, we're very big in omnichannel, we're huge in reverse logistics, and we have a big presence in cold chain," Jacobs said. "So, all of the hottest parts of supply chain powered by this e-comm boom, we're right in the middle of that." The company, which announced Wednesday that it would separate its logistics and transportation businesses from one another, reported bringing in $1.58 billion in its logistics business in its most recent quarter. That figure was up 4.6% from a year ago. While the coronavirus pandemic affected other areas of XPO Logistics' operations, demand for e-commerce and other consumer-related verticals produced $77 million in operating income, the company said, up from $61 million in the year-ago quarter. XPO Logistics, which Wall Street values to be worth $10.1 billion, plans to spin off its warehousing and logistics business into a separate publicly traded company. The new company, which has about 200 million square feet of warehousing capacity, will focus on e-commerce fulfillment. The split is expected to come in the second half of 2021. The move to split the companies comes after management sought ways to unlock value that Jacobs said is "trapped inside this conglomerate structure." The company's goal is to simplify the business and make it more attractive on the market to investors, in comparison to competitors such as DHL, Old Dominion and DSV. "By separating into two global segments — two separate public trading companies, two real powerhouses — leaders in logistics and transportation, we've got two strong companies that are really easy to understand," Jacobs said. Shares of XPO Logistics slipped 0.37% Wednesday to $110.01 at the close. In the after-hours, the stock is up 1.63% after the announcement of the split. The stock is up 38% year to date.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/23/trump-talks-health-care-with-truckers.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

President Trump sits down with truckers to talk health care, jobs

While Republican leaders were busy most of the day Thursday trying to rally House support behind the GOP-proposed American Health Care Act, President Donald Trump met with some of the trucking industry's biggest names, and their dialogue focused on health care. "We're the ones out there moving the economy," Chris Spear, chief executive officer of the American Trucking Associations, told CNBC's "Closing Bell" after the meeting. Spear said the group had an "outstanding conversation" with Trump. Trucking is a $725 billion industry, employing around 7.3 million Americans and delivering 70 percent of the nation's goods. One in 16 jobs in the U.S. goes to a trucker, Spear told CNBC, and in 29 states the most popular job is truck driver. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has severely hurt the industry of late, Spear said. "Rising insurance costs, administrative burdens, lack of choice ... the status quo is not acceptable to our industry, with all the people we employ. For us, it's a jobs issue."

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/jp-morgan-raises-amazon-price-forecast-likes-facebook-and-priceline.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

JP Morgan raises Amazon price forecast, also likes Facebook and Priceline for 2018

The importance of online retail and Amazon's dominion over e-commerce have no end in sight, according to J.P. Morgan. Citing Amazon's growing market share and the success of Amazon Web Services, analyst Doug Anmuth argued that Jeff Bezos' retail giant is only just getting started. "We believe Amazon is well positioned as the market leader in e-commerce, where it's still early days with U.S. e-commerce representing about 12 percent of adjusted retail sales (ex-gas, food, and autos), which we view as likely going to 30 percent over time," Anmuth wrote Monday. "We believe Amazon continues to show strong ability to take share of overall e-commerce, and its flexibility in pushing first-party vs. third-party inventory and its Prime offering both serve as major advantages." As one of Main Street's largest disruptors, Amazon roared through 2017 by keeping pressure on traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, sending entire industry groups tumbling after it acquired Whole Foods Market over the summer. Though countless companies have shed share value, Amazon's stock has climbed more than 58 percent since January, one of the best large-cap performances this year. Anmuth's new $1,375 price target on Amazon shares is 17 percent higher than Friday's closing price. Shares closed up 1 percent Monday. Though it is known for pairing consumer goods with logistical prowess, Amazon has seen significant growth in its cloud platform, known as Amazon Web Services. As a secure cloud services platform, AWS offers its users computing power, data storage and content delivery to help scale businesses, according to its website. "We believe AWS is the leader in the public cloud with roughly 75 percent U.S. market share, and it remains early with only about 10 percent or more of workloads in the cloud today and the pace of cloud adoption accelerating in our view," explained Anmuth. While the analyst offered positive outlook on Amazon, he also remarked on social media companies Twitter and Facebook and on Priceline. Calling Twitter one of J.P. Morgan's best ideas in 2018, Anmuth upgraded shares and raised his price target on the popular platform to $27 from $20, implying 21 percent upside over the next 12 months. After an unimpressive start to the year, Twitter staged a 43 percent climb in the past six months — a trend the analyst believes will continue with daily active user growth and scaling ad revenue. And Anmuth's $225 price target on Facebook reflects his belief in 25 percent upside for the stock in the next year. The analyst is also bullish on online travel agent Priceline, increasing his price target to $2,050, which is 16 percent higher than Friday's close. His old price target was $1,950. "We continue to think Priceline is the best in class in online travel with strong growth driven by scale benefits, efficient performance & brand spend, and large and growing supply," explained Anmuth. "We also believe Priceline has the potential to re-accelerate in mid-2018 as comps ease and stepped-up investments start to reap benefits."

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/30/after-fedex-and-ups-best-quarter-in-decades-market-experts-are-backing-the-transports.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

After FedEx and UPS’ best quarter in decades, traders are backing transports

Two transport titans speeded higher in the past three months. FedEx closed the third quarter nearly 80% higher, its best quarterly gain since 1998. UPS , meanwhile, ended 50% higher in its best quarterly performance since going public in 1999. The two have benefited from tailwinds that should power gains in the entire transports sector in the final stretch of 2020, said Steve Chiavarone, portfolio manager at Federated Hermes. "We really like transports here. We think that they're one of the few industry groups that have the ability to [do] well in the stay at home kind of Covid world, but also in an economic recovery world," Chiavarone told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday. He said increased e-commerce should drive business-to-consumer activity, while a pickup in the economy should boost business-to-business. "The third quarter of this year is supposed to be a 25% year-over-year increase in GDP. That's the biggest quarterly jump in GDP ever recorded in the U.S., and we think transports are going to really benefit from that and be at the heart of the trade of value cyclicals that we put in place at Federated Hermes in late August," said Chiavarone. Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, agreed that economic factors are working in the transports' favor. In particular, he prefers exposure to road-and-rail industry stocks. "We like it because it's broadly strong. You've got truckers like Old Dominion , rails like Kansas City Southern , and the one I want to talk about, Union Pacific , the biggest of them all. I think what's most notable about UNP is that it was one of the first non-technology companies to rally above its February peak. I think that's a sign of relative strength," Wald said during the same "Trading Nation" segment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/12/transports-stocks-tumble-technical-analyst-sees-one-winner-and-one-loser.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

As transports tumble, technical analyst sees one winner and one loser in the space

Transports have tumbled this year. The IYT transportation ETF is down 25% in 2020, tracking for its worst year on record. Airlines have led the decline as coronavirus lockdowns shut down domestic and international travel. Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, sees markets improving but does not expect transport stocks to catch up. "We think a new bull market is underway and transports are at least attempting to bottom, but there are two concerns that keep us away from this industry," Wald said on CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Monday. "One, the tracking ETF can be considered damaged below its December 2018 low at $156." "Two, we think it's quite telling that transports underperformed into their initial January peak. They underperformed into the March low, and they're still underperforming on this market snapback," said Wald. While the S&P 500 has bounced 34% off its March low, the IYT ETF has risen 25% from its own. It is still 28% below its January peak. "Against these industry headwinds, we're most cautious on defensive air freight names like UPS and most positive on truckers like Old Dominion ," Wald said. Freight and logistics company UPS is down 20% this year, while Old Dominion has climbed 23%. Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico Global, is also wary about the group. "It's hard to be opportunistic in this sector. The outlook was quite negative even before the crisis, because we were going into a natural slowdown, trade had already rolled over and you normally see transports follow that. So, I think the outlook, even before this crisis was bad and given this crisis, it has gotten worse," Sanchez said during the same segment. The IYT ETF fell more than 1% on Monday, while the S&P 500 ended flat. Disclaimer

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/21/lightning-round-best-performing-stock-in-the-sp.html

ODFL

Old Dominion

Lightning Round: Best performing stock in the S&P

It's that time again! The Lightning Round bell has rung, and Jim Cramer gives his take on a few favorite audience stocks: CVR Refining : "I've been looking at that stock, and it's one of the ones that has that troublesome yield. a 14 or 15 percent yield means that it is a red flag, which means I can't recommend it." Horizon Pharmaceuticals : "We like all the pain plays, we think there is room for all of them. But you have to understand it is a very speculative situation...as long as people recognize you have to be playing with your mad money, I'm okay with it." Seadrill : "I don't know how much lower Seadrill can go. It's been just a disaster, along with all of the others. That said, there are a lot of people who know that if oil were to drop back to $42, that stock would go to $8. At this point you have endured enough pain. You do not need to sell it yet, but know that the downside might not be complete if oil goes down to $42." Southwest Airlines : "Best performing stock in the . Do I think it could repeat? I don't know. It's a great stock, a great airline. I listened to the Delta call and Delta is real good. I bet Southwest is really good tomorrow, I like it." Rice Energy : "I got enough oil companies with really good dividends and have great prospects, so I don't need to be in Rice. If I had to be in one that is really down and out that fits the Rice category, I would probably be in Carrizo or maybe in Cimarex ." Greenbrier Companies : "It is too volatile for me, as is Trinity . They just reported a fantastic quarter, but I do think that there will be fewer cars ordered because I think that the railroad part of the oil business is going to be slowed down...scale out of it over time." Old Dominion Freight Line : "People feel that the trucking companies are not having a good quarter. People also feel that they are not benefiting because diesel fuel has not fallen as fast as regular gasoline. I think Old Dominion is fine, and that owning the truckers is not a bad deal." Deckers Outdoor Corp : "My feeling on Deckers is that you own it long-term because Angel Martinez is maybe one of the smartest people in the footwear business. I want to own that stock. Am I saying the quarter is good? No, I'm saying that you want the long-term value of Deckers." Castlight Health : "No, that came public during a time when a whole lot of other companies came public. It was a real jam up, I'm disappointed and expensive. If you want cost effective benefits, it's not exactly the same kind of industry but I've been recommending TriNet . That is the one that I want to use." ---------------------------------------------------------- Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: Netflix after the news Cramer: Fear is back! Selloff ahead Cramer: Don't fall for negative press ---------------------------------------------------------- Sprint : "There's a lot of talk about a Sprint and a Google tie up, talk with a Sprint and T-Mobile tie up with Google. All this is talk, all of it is rumor. I think you have to hold on to Sprint for the long-term because it's too low to sell at $4 and they've got a big backer. I think they'll be okay." Integrated Device Technology : "I hear good things about it, but my favorite in that sector is Cypress and I still like Intel after that quarter. But Cypress to me represents the best value and so does Skyworks . I think those are better plays."

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/09/publicis-ceo-merger-off-as-equality-impossible.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

Publicis CEO: Merger off as 'equality impossible'

watch now Publicis CEO Maurice Levy has told CNBC that the decision to call off a $35 billion merger with U.S.-based Omnicom was "an issue of principle." In an exclusive interview, Levy said the deal had been presented as a merger of equals, but that in the end, it was impossible to get equality. The companies had planned a 50-50 ownership split of the equity in the new firm, with Omnicom head John Wren and Levy serving as co-CEOs for 30 months. But Levy said that equality in the management team was not part of Omnicom's eventual proposals. Read MoreOmnicom, Publicis call off proposed $35 billion merger "I was going back and forth to try to convince them (Omnicom) that we should have equality; it was impossible to get that equality and this was not the terms of the agreement," Levy told CNBC. Publicis CEO Maurice Levy Getty Images He also said that the deal posed a threat to Publicis' business model, which was to be focused on delivering the highest margins in the industry. "We had the feeling that, in fact, that model may be diluted and the promise that we made to the market - that we would deliver superior margins - would not be met," Levy said. As the world's largest pharmaceutical company Pzifer attempts to acquire AstraZeneca , Levy was asked whether a merger of equals was more difficult to implement than a takeover. Read MorePfizer/AstraZeneca: The numbers you need to watch "Definitely yes," he said. "(In) an acquisition, you are the master, you make your decision - people are acquired and they have no say. (In) a merger of equals, you have to share; to discuss almost every single decision. It's more complicated, definitely." watch now

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/31/won-most-of-our-new-business-from-rivals.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

WPP CEO: We won most of our new business from rivals

The chief executive of WPP , the world's largest advertising group by revenue, said most of his firm's new business in the third quarter was from clients that had left rival groups Publicis and Omnicom . WPP, which has market capitalization of £16.4 billion ($26.2 billion), posted sales that outstripped competitors in the third quarter. Its like-for-like revenues were up 7.6 percent in the three months to the end of September. Read MoreOmnicom, Publicis deal was driven by ego: WPP In comparison, the U.S.'s Omnicom posted 6.5 percent growth in the quarter and France's Publicis reported growth of only 1 percent. "Most of our new business wins have come from both Publicis and Omnicom in terms of talent – the rate of inflow into us is still running at 4-to-1. So there has been a bit of a talent outflow and a bit of a business outflow (from Omnicom and Publicis)," WPP CEO Martin Sorrell told CNBC on Friday. Read MoreOmnicom, Publicis call off proposed $35 billion merger Sorrell described Publicis's third-quarter performance and fourth quarter forecast as "lacking in vigor".

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/stocks-making-the-biggest-move-premarket-bb-low-mtn-tesla-ba--more.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

Stocks making the biggest move premarket: BB, LOW, MTN, TSLA, BA & more

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: BlackBerry — The communications software maker reported adjusted quarterly profit of 4 cents per share, compared to a consensus estimate of a penny a share, with revenue also beating forecasts. Lowe's – The home improvement retailer's stock was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, which sees the potential for earnings acceleration in general and especially in relation to rival Home Depot . Vail Resorts – The resort operator lost $2.07 per share for its latest quarter, less than the $2.24 per share that analysts were expecting. Revenue, however, came in below Street forecasts. Vail said its just-completed fiscal year suffered from historically poor winter conditions, but that it has momentum going forward thanks to strong season pass sales. Tesla — CEO Elon Musk was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged fraud, with the commission seeking to remove him from his job. Musk was accused of making false and misleading statements about potentially taking Tesla private. In a statement, Musk called the action "unjustified" and the automaker's board said it had full confidence in him. Volkswagen – Volkswagen will announce the firing of Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, perhaps as soon as today, according to sources quoted by The Wall Street Journal. Stadler has been in jail in connection with the automaker's emissions cheating scandal. Boeing – Boeing won a $9.2 billion contract to build new trainer jets for the Air Force. The contract is one of the largest awarded by the Pentagon over the past few years. Eli Lilly – Lilly's new migraine drug Emgality won Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Emgality is the latest entry in a new class of treatments for migraine headaches, with prior approvals coming for one treatment from Novartis and Amgen and another from Teva Pharmaceutical . Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan Chase , Credit Suisse , Morgan Stanley , UBS – The banks will have to face a lawsuit charging that the banks tried to limit competition in the $2 trillion stock lending market. The banks had tried to block the suit from going forward, but a judge ruled against their claim that their actions were reasonable. J.C. Penney – The retailer's Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Davis is resigning to pursue a new opportunity, after less than a year and a half on the job. The retailer's senior vice president of finance, Jerry Murray, will assume the CFO role on an interim basis. Pfizer – Pfizer's once-a-day oral lung cancer drug won FDA approval, after having been granted priority review earlier this year. Progress Software – The company reported adjusted quarterly profit of 60 cents per share, 2 cents a share above estimates. Revenue came in below Wall Street forecasts, however, and the business software maker said it was disappointed with its revenue outlook for the year. WPP , Omnicom , Interpublic Group – These and other advertising stocks may be under pressure today, after The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors have opened a probe into media buying practices in the advertising industry. Trade Desk – RBC raised its price target for the provider of programmatic advertising technology by 35 percent to $170, citing the strength of the company's new product line. The stock has more than

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-walmart-slack-wpp-sap-jj-roku-more.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Walmart, Slack, WPP, SAP, J&J, Roku & more

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Walmart – Walmart U.S. stores chief Greg Foran will leave the retailer on Jan. 31 to become chief executive officer of Air New Zealand. He will be replaced by John Furner, who runs Walmart's Sam's Club warehouse chain. Slack Technologies – Slack said it had more than 12 million active daily users during September, up 37% from a year ago. The workplace messaging company also said it had more than 6 million paid seats during the month. WPP , Omnicom – The ad giants are among U.S.-traded advertising stocks that could be impacted today after French rival Publicis cut its full-year sales outlook. Ford – Ford said China sales fell 30% during the third quarter, with the automaker delivering about 131,000 vehicles from July through September. Ford's China sales had fallen by about 36% in the first quarter and about 22% in the second quarter. SAP — Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott is stepping down, with Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein taking over as co-CEOs of the enterprise software giant. The announcement came as SAP was reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Deckers Outdoor – Deckers was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Stifel Nicolaus, which said the footwear maker's product mix now gives the company protection from weather-related volatility. Roku – Roku was upgraded by RBC Capital to "outperform" from "sector perform." RBC points to compelling valuation following a 31% decline in the streaming video device maker's stock, as well as strong fundamentals and favorable positioning. Johnson & Johnson – Bernstein upgraded J&J to "outperform" from "market perform," saying the worst-case scenario regarding legal liabilities is now priced in, and that the valuation is "historically cheap." Fastenal – The maker of construction and industrial supplies reported quarterly profit of 37 cents per share, 2 cents a share above estimates. Revenue came in slightly above Wall Street forecasts. Fastenal's results were helped by higher unit sales, as well as higher prices that had been implemented to mitigate the impacts of general and tariff-related inflation. The Trade Desk – The provider of programmatic advertising technology was upgraded to "outperform" from "sector perform" at RBC Capital, based on a compelling valuation following a 32% decline, as well as strong fundamentals.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/09/new-contract-wins-help-wpp-to-improved-second-quarter-trading.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

New contract wins help WPP to improved second-quarter trading

Mark Read, CEO of WPP Group, the largest global advertising and public relations agency, poses for a portrait at their offices in London, Britain, July 17, 2019. New client wins including Instagram and eBay helped WPP report better-than-expected trading in the second quarter, giving a lift both to its shares and the boss of the world's biggest advertising company. Mark Read, who took over from founder Martin Sorrell last year, has been working to simplify the group by merging agencies and changing incentive schemes after clients complained the owner of Ogilvy, Grey and Finsbury had become too unwieldy. The British company said on Friday its key sales measure - organic growth less pass-through costs - fell 1.4% in the second quarter, beating the 3% fall expected by analysts. It was also an improvement on a fall of 2.8% in the first quarter and enabled WPP to reiterate its full-year outlook. The stock, which had slumped earlier this week to a near four-month low, jumped as much as 10% in early trading and by 0845 GMT was up 6.3% at 973 pence. "We believe that we have the right strategy," Read told Reuters. "There will be twists and turns on the way but we set out a three-year plan and I would say we're now more confident that it's the right plan." WPP is in the middle of an overhaul after the loss of key clients and work led to several profit warnings in 2017 and 2018, the same year Sorrell quit over a complaint of misconduct, which he denied. Shares in the company fell 60% between March 2017 and March 2019 as it lost work from clients including American Express, United Airlines and Ford - a partner for 75 years. The stock is up 20% since then, slowly closing the valuation gap with U.S. rivals Omnicom and Interpublic which have performed more strongly in recent years. "The investment case at WPP is all about the multiple where the significant discount the group suffers vs peers ... is entirely down to the perception that WPP's growth has permanently diverged from the peers," analysts at Citi said. "With this in mind we think results will be taken well," noting WPP had been trading on just nine time prospective earnings against 11 to 13 for its rivals.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/dow-rises-on-new-brexit-deal-pence-in-turkey-rep-cummings-died.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

What to watch today: Dow spikes on new Brexit deal, Rep. Elijah Cummings died, VP Pence in Turkey

BY THE NUMBERS U.S. stock futures spiked this morning after a draft Brexit deal was struck between the European Union and the U.K. The Dow and S&P 500 are on track for a second straight positive week, with the Nasdaq aiming for a third consecutive weekly gain. All remain positive for October after erasing the month's losses earlier this week, and the Dow managed to barely hold onto the 27,000 level despite its Wednesday drop. (CNBC) On today's economic calendar, the Labor Department is out with its weekly look at initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. At the same time, the government will issue September housing starts and building permits figures, along with the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Manufacturing Index. Industrial production figures for September are released at 9:15 a.m. ET. Also, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans appear at a "Fed Listens" Chicago event this afternoon. A busy earnings week continues, as Morgan Stanley (MS) and Honeywell (HON) highlight this morning's corporate earnings reports. BB&T (BBT), KeyCorp (KEY), M&T Bank (MTB), Philip Morris (PM), SunTrust Banks (STI), Textron (TXT) and Union Pacific (UNP) are also reporting. E*Trade Financial (ETFC), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) and WD-40 (WDFC) are scheduled to issue quarterly numbers after today's closing bell. Shares of Netflix (NFLX) soared nearly 7.9% in extended trading after the company released its third-quarter earnings report. The company reported mixed results, with an earnings beat and a miss on domestic subscriber adds, while revenue slightly missed analysts' expectations. (CNBC) IN THE NEWS TODAY Negotiators from the U.K. and EU have reached a draft Brexit deal in the eleventh hour of talks and ahead of a crucial EU summit today. The "Withdrawal Agreement" will now be put before EU leaders at their summit today and tomorrow, and then U.K. lawmakers at the weekend. (CNBC) Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings died at Johns Hopkins Hospital due to complications from longstanding health challenges, his congressional office said. He was 68. A sharecropper's son, Cummings became the powerful chairman of a U.S. House committee that has investigated President Donald Trump. (CNBC) Vice President Mike Pence will urge Turkey today to halt its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, a day after Trump threatened heavy sanctions over the operation. Turkey's week-long assault has created a new humanitarian crisis in Syria, with 160,000 civilians taking flight and a security alert over thousands of Islamic State fighters abandoned in Kurdish jails. (Reuters) * 'Don't be a fool!' Trump letter warned Turkey's Erdogan against Syria offensive (CNBC) Democratic congressional leaders said they walked out of a White House meeting on Syria after what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a Trump "meltdown." After top Democrats left the bipartisan meeting with Trump, Pelosi said the president appeared "shaken up" by a House vote condemning his decision to remove U.S. forces from northern Syria. (CNBC) China emphasized today that the U.S. must remove tariffs in order for the two countries to reach a final agreement on trade. The two economic giants have been embroiled in a trade dispute for more than a year, with each country applying tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of goods from the other. (CNBC) General Motors (GM) and union leaders have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract that could end the United Auto Workers' monthlong strike against the automaker. The deal still needs approval from local union leaders, who will vote whether to approve the deal during a private meeting today in Detroit. (CNBC) McKesson (MCK), AmerisourceBergen (ABC), Cardinal Health (CAH), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) are in discussions with state attorneys general over a potential $22 billion opioid settlement. The possible deal comes days before the start of the first federal trial seeking to hold industries accountable for the epidemic. (CNBC) WeWork owner, The We Company, has formed a special board committee to consider proposals for a $5 billion financing lifeline from its largest shareholder SoftBank and its main lender J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), Reuters reported. The office-space sharing company is establishing the committee in an effort to ring-fence its financing deliberations from SoftBank's influence. Tesla (TSLA) was added to a government list of approved automotive manufacturers, China's industry ministry said today, as it granted the electric-vehicle maker a certificate it needs to start production in the country. The $2 billion factory it is building in the eastern Chinese city of Shanghai is its first car manufacturing site overseas. (Reuters) STOCKS TO WATCH IBM (IBM) shares fell after the company issued weaker-than-expected third-quarter revenue. IBM's revenue has now dropped for five straight quarters as growth in the company's cloud business hasn't been able to make up for declining sales in its services, hardware, and financing businesses. CSX (CSX) came in 7 cents ahead of estimates with quarterly earnings of $1.08 per share, with the railroad operator's revenue in line with Wall Street forecasts. CSX saw lower shipment volumes. Unilever (UL) reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales, with softer demand in India and China. Emerging markets account for about 60% of the consumer products maker's business. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, with the chipmaker seeing its net profit rise 13.5% from a year earlier. Facebook (FB) fell again in Interbrand's annual Best Global Brands report, dropping to 14th place from 9th. Interbrand, a unit of ad giant Omnicom (OMC), said the estimated value of the Facebook brand fell 12% to $39.9 billion from a year earlier. Alcoa (AA) is mulling up to $1 billion in asset sales as well as closing production facilities, as aluminum prices fall. The aluminum producer reported a loss of 44 cents per share for the third quarter, wider than the 33 cents a share that Wall Street was expecting, with revenue essentially in line with expectations. Apple's (AAPL) Apple Pay service is being examined for antitrust concerns by European Union regulators, according to the Financial Times. WATERCOOLER

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-ibm-morgan-stanley-honeywell-netflix-more.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: IBM, Morgan Stanley, Honeywell, Netflix & more

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Morgan Stanley – Morgan Stanley reported third-quarter profit of $1.27 per share, beating estimates by 16 cents a share. Revenue also beat analysts' forecasts. Chairman and CEO James Gorman said the quarter was a strong one despite a typical summer slowdown and volatile markets. Honeywell – Honeywell beat estimates by 7 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $2.08 per share. Revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts, however. Results were helped by profit margin expansion and 3% growth in organic sales. Honeywell also raised the lower end of its full-year 2019 earnings forecast, now forecasting adjusted earnings per share of $8.10 to $8.15 compared with the prior $7.95 to $8.15 a share estimate. Netflix – Netflix reported quarterly profit of $1.47 per share, compared to a consensus estimate of $1.04 a share. Revenue was in line with Wall Street forecasts and Netflix saw an addition of 6.77 million paying subscribers during the quarter. The company warned, however, that increasing competition could weigh on subscriber growth during the remainder of the year. IBM – The company earned an adjusted $2.68 per share for the third quarter, a penny a share above estimates. Revenue came in below analysts' forecasts, however, with IBM reporting a fifth consecutive quarter of falling sales thanks to weakness in the company's legacy businesses. Ford – Ford announced a new public charging network for its electric vehicle customers and is also teaming with Amazon's Home Services unit for the installation of various home charging options. BellRing Brands – BellRing's initial public offering priced at $14 per share, below the projected range of $16 to $19 per share. BellRing, maker of PowerBar branded snacks, is a spin-off from Post Holdings and will begin trading this morning on the New York Stock Exchange. CSX – The company's quarterly earnings came in 7 cents a share ahead of estimates, with profit of $1.08 per share. The railroad operator's revenue was in line with Wall Street forecasts. CSX also saw lower shipment volumes Tesla – Tesla received approval from Chinese regulators to begin production in that country. Tesla is in the process of building a $2 billion factory in Shanghai. Unilever – Unilever reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales, with softer demand in India and China. Emerging markets account for about 60% of the consumer product maker's business. Taiwan Semiconductor – Taiwan Semi reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, with the chipmaker and Apple supplier seeing its net profit rise 13.5% from a year earlier. Facebook – Facebook fell again in Interbrand's annual Best Global Brands report, dropping to 14th place from 9th. Interbrand – a unit of ad giant Omnicom – said the estimated value of the Facebook brand fell 12% to $39.9 billion from a year earlier. Alcoa – Alcoa is mulling up to $1 billion in asset sales as well as closing production facilities, as aluminum prices fall. The aluminum producer reported a loss of 44 cents per share for the third quarter, wider than the 33 cents a share that Wall Street was expecting. Revenue was essentially in line with expectations. Apple – Apple's Apple Pay service is being examined for antitrust concerns by European Union regulators, according to the Financial Times.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/03/publicis-to-buy-us-based-sapient-for-37-billion.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

Publicis to buy US-based Sapient for $3.7 billion

But some analysts said Publicis' offer of $25 per share, a 44 percent premium to Sapient's closing price on Friday, was a hefty price for a company whose growth may have peaked, and that the deal could also dash hopes among the French company's shareholders that cash might be distributed to them. Read More Labcorp gets into drug research with Covance deal Chief Executive Maurice Levy has blamed Publicis' recent poor performance on a failed merger with world No.2 ad agency Omnicom , announced in August 2013 and abandoned in May over control and cultural clashes. The French group is hoping rapid growth in both North American and internet advertising, which are far outpacing European and traditional ad formats, will help it catch up with sales gains at rivals such as WPP and Interpublic . Publicis , the world's third-largest advertising agency, is to buy U.S.-based digital ad specialist Sapient for $3.7 billion in cash as it seeks to accelerate growth after a botched merger earlier this year. Publicis shares fell as much as 5 percent in early Monday trade. They were down 2.6 percent at 1128 GMT, the biggest fall on France's blue-chip CAC 40 index. "A good asset at a steep price," said Exane BNP Paribas analyst Charles Bedouelle of the deal, adding it would "likely push back (Publicis') cash return story by two years." UBS analyst Tamsin Garrity said Publicis had been under pressure from investors to return cash, and was expected to announced share buybacks at a strategy day on Friday. "The acquisition of Sapient makes such returns unlikely," she added. Garrity has a neutral rating on Publicis shares. Levy defended the decision, saying the company would generate more value in the long term by buying Sapient rather than buying back its own shares. He pledged to update investors on his approach to dividends and buybacks sometime in November. "This operation is extremely important for securing the future of Publicis," Levy said. "It is far better to invest and deliver a higher growth and higher profits ... which will lead to a re-rating, rather than simply buy back our own shares." "The deal will create a foundation for accelerated growth" by giving Publicis access to new markets and revenues, he added. Publicis said the deal would be financed through existing cash and new debt, and would not affect Publicis' credit rating. It did not say when it would add to group profits but forecast 50 million euros ($63 million) in annual cost savings. 'A jilted lover?' Sapient's sales grew 14.1 percent to 1.1 billion euros last year, far outstripping Publicis' sales growth of 1.2 percent, though the French company had a higher operating profit margin. The U.S-based group earned 63 percent of its 2013 sales in North America and has 13,000 employees, 8,500 of which are in India. "The risk that growth slows at Sapient is one of the transaction's more important considerations," said Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser. He noted the deal gave Sapient an enterprise value (equity plus debt) of around 12 times its forecast earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for 2015, far above Publicis' current multiple of about 8 times. Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of Publicis' rival WPP, was even harsher, telling financial blog Business Insider that Publicis had rushed into the Sapient deal to compensate for its botched marriage with Omnicom. "It looks like the behavior of a jilted lover," he said. Buying Sapient will speed Publicis' roughly seven year-old effort to earn more revenue from digital advertising, which includes everything from online marketing to brand building on social networks and automatic ad buying for major customers. Last year, 38.4 percent of Publicis' sales came from digital, and it had been aiming to reach 50 percent by 2018, something that the Sapient deal will make happen immediately. According to Zenith Optimedia, the digital ad market is expected to grow 17.1 percent this year, driving total ad market growth of 5.3 percent. Sapient's main SapientNitro unit is a digital agency on a par with Publicis' Razorfish and WPP's AKQA with customers including carmaker Fiat, retailer Marks & Spencer, and consumer goods group Unilever. Sapient also has a technology consulting business serving government and banks, which brings in a third of revenues but is less profitable than the ad business. Publicis' management and supervisory boards unanimously backed the deal, as did the board of Sapient, which will recommend shareholders tender their shares. As a result, Sapient will be de-listed from the Nasdaq stock exchange. Sapient boss Alan Herrick will continue to run the company and join Publicis' management team, while Jerry Greenberg, the co-chairman of Sapient's board will join Publicis' board. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of next year. Citigroup has committed to financing the bid. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and Rothschild advised Publicis, while Goldman Sachs and Blackstone advised Sapient.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/21/google-ad-blocker-why-advertisers-might-not-need-to-worry.html

OMC

Omnicom Group

Google is definitely building an ad blocker in Chrome - but it's not as bad as advertisers feared

Earlier this week, the advertising industry was alarmed at a report that suggested Google was developing an ad blocker for its Chrome browser. The report, it turns out, is partially true. Google is thinking about making the ad-blocker – and has discussed the idea with others in the advertising industry — but the end-product might not be as threatening as it first sounded. Google has talked with the Coalition for Better Ads — an ad industry trade group — regarding an ad blocking feature on its Chrome browser, several sources told CNBC. Theoretically, it would work similarly to Chrome's update in 2015 that blocked all ads that used Adobe Flash technology, and would not discriminate if the ad was placed by Google's ad exchanges or another competing service, a source said. But if it becomes a reality, the end product would likely be very friendly towards advertisers and media companies, and adhere to industry standards that are currently being hashed out, said Coalition for Better Ads' counsel Stu Ingis. Those standards are likely to be determined in the next six months to a year, Ingis said. Ingis said calling the proposed product an "ad blocker" isn't strictly accurate. "To me an 'ad blocker' is a company blocking ads and eliminating the consumer interest in experience without any dialogue with these [advertising and publisher] companies," said Ingis. "I would view anything that is adopting this type of standard process set forth by the industry based on the consumer research as not an 'ad blocker.'" If Google does decide to make the Chrome feature, the goal would be to provide users with choice and options about their online experience, a Google spokesperson said. Google agreed that it would also be in line with guidelines set by the advertising industry. "We've said publicly for awhile now that Google alone cannot solve the bad experiences users have online — we need a data-driven industry approach to improving ads experiences," a Google spokesperson said. "As a member of the [Coalition], we've been talking to a number industry associations, publishers, advertisers and other technology companies about the development of the Better Ads Standard. One option we're exploring is how Chrome could help support this Standard. We can't confirm any additional details or timing right now." The Coalition is creating guidelines to improve the online ad experience with input from its members, which include Facebook , News Corp. , Procter & Gamble and Unilever , as well as agencies like Group M and Omnicom . The organization is also including information from its 25,000-person survey on what they disliked about online advertising. Google has been a "very collaborative participant," Ingis added. But the ad industry's worries aren't completely soothed, and agencies say there are still unanswered questions. IPG Mediabrands senior vice president of ad operations Mitch Weinstein pointed out several potential conflicts-of-interest. Would the service would only allow ads served (or placed on websites) through Google's owned-and-operated services? Would YouTube ads would be blocked if watched through a Chrome browser? "[There's] a lot of questions on this, but it could potentially be a very big deal," he said. Google has no plans to exempt itself, a source with knowledge of project said. Slow-loading websites, inaccessible content, and cluttered webpages have made many people hate online advertising, Weinstein said. At the same time, ads are a necessary part of the ecosystem because it's a major source of revenue for online publishers. IPG Mediabrands is also working with several organizations to make sure its ads are "lighter and less intrusive," to keep customers happy. Advertisers are always concerned when they hear the words "ad blocker," said BBH communications planner Zack Green. But if Google creates its own with everyone's input, it could be an big win for them. The company could develop its own ad format that wouldn't be blocked, Green pointed out. It would also force the entire industry to think more "creatively" to find ways to weave ads into content, he added. "Google is giving people what they want, but it's also may be a place for Google to come up with their own bespoke in-line ad opportunities," he said. Watch: How to spot a legitimate ad blocker

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100919765

OMC

Omnicom Group

Rivals question $35 billion global ad deal

"In terms of size, at the end of the day, if you look at the geographies, it doesn't really create great scale except in the U.S. and obviously the regulators are going to take a good hard look at that," Sorrell told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box." The global advertising market began its week with news of the creation of the world's biggest firm in the sector, after France's Publicis and U.S.-based Omnicom announced at the weekend they were joining forces to form a group worth $35.1 billion, overtaking global leader WPP. David Jones, chief executive of French advertising agency Havas, said he was "very surprised" by the merger, and questioned the rationale of the deal for clients and employees. "It's clearly a very cleverly constructed deal and I think it makes huge sense for the two current CEOs and works for them, but I think you end up making two people happy and 130,000 [people] and many clients concerned and destabilized," he told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange." Jones said Havas wouldn't block the deal for anti-trust reasons. Both WPP's Sorrell and Havas's Jones said a bigger agency wasn't what clients wanted, rather marketers wanted agencies that were more nimble, entrepreneurial and less bureaucratic. Shares of WPP closed 0.6 percent higher on Monday, while Havas's shares were up 4.68 percent. Shares of Publicis were over 3.7 percent higher at 5.15 p.m after the London market closed. Analysts also questioned whether Omnicom and Publicis could execute on the merger. Potential issues include how the firm will cope with its bases split between the U.S. and Europe, whether the two cultures can be combined effectively and potential conflicts of interest in terms of representing competing clients. The firms will now collectively represent competing brands, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, McDonald's and Taco Bell. "Clients really have not been taken through the pros and cons of this in any great detail and it's going to be very interesting to see what happens," WPP's Sorrell said. Mike Amour, CEO of Asia Pacific at advertising network Project Worldwide, said the merged firm could tackle this concern by being open and transparent with its clients. "As long as the agencies are transparent and are upfront with their clients about potential conflict [the issue can be avoided]. This is not the first time this has happened in regards to clients from similar categories sitting under the same agency," he said. (Read more: Publicis CEO: Digital, US rebound driving revenues) Publicis's 71-year old CEO Maurice Levy and Omnicom's 60-year old CEO John Wren will run the merged group together for the first two-and-a-half years, after which Wren will take the reins.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/31/samsung-electronics-q4-2023-earnings-report.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business reports record annual loss

The Biden administration plans to announce it is awarding more than $6 billion to South Korea's Samsung next week to expand its chip output in Taylor, Texas, as it seeks to ramp up chipmaking in the U.S., two people familiar with the matter said. Samsung Electronics on Wednesday posted a 34.57% drop in operating profit in the fourth quarter from a year ago, in line with its guidance issued earlier this month. Here are Samsung's fourth-quarter results versus estimates: Revenue: 67.78 trillion Korean won (about $51 billion), vs. 69.27 trillion Korean won expected by LSEG analysts 67.78 trillion Korean won (about $51 billion), vs. 69.27 trillion Korean won expected by LSEG analysts Operating profit: 2.82 trillion Korean won, vs. 3.43 trillion Korean won expected by LSEG analysts Samsung's revenue for the quarter ending December fell 3.8% from a year ago, while operating profit dropped 34.57% in the same period. For the full year of 2023, its semiconductor business fell into a record loss of 14.88 trillion Korean won, from a 23.82 trillion Korean won profit a year earlier on the back of weak global demand, according to LSEG data. Samsung is the world's largest maker for dynamic random-access memory chips which are found in consumer devices such as smartphones and computers. In its earnings guidance earlier this month, Samsung said it expected operating profit for the October-December quarter to be 2.8 trillion South Korean won ($2.13 billion), down 35% from the same period a year ago when the firm reported an operating profit of 4.31 trillion won. Samsung said its fourth-quarter revenue and operating profit improved from the third quarter due to a recovery in memory chip prices and "continued strength" in sales of premium display products. "We will focus on increasing sales of high value-added products to improve profitability," said Samsung in its earnings call on Wednesday. It said it would capture the rising demand for advanced products and those aimed at generative AI, as well as strengthening AI functionalities in smartphones and other products.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/19/dutch-minister-confident-chip-firm-asml-will-stay-in-the-netherlands.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Dutch minister confident ‘crown jewel’ chip firm ASML will stay in Netherlands after threat to leave

A top Dutch government minister said he's confident the country's coveted chip-equipment maker ASML will remain in the Netherlands following threats from the company to move its operations abroad. Steven van Weyenberg, the Netherlands' finance minister, told CNBC's Karen Tso on Thursday that he isn't worried by ASML's statements threatening to leave the country. The company has since walked back the comments. In a January call with investors, ASML CEO Peter Wennink said: "The consequences of limiting labor migration are large, we need those people to innovate. If we can't get those people here, we will go somewhere where we can grow." His comments followed controversial plans by the Dutch to scale back tax breaks for highly skilled migrants and limit the number of foreigners who can attend Dutch universities. ASML is core to the world's semiconductor supply chain. The company makes extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, which are critical to the semiconductor industry for manufacturing integrated circuits. EUV machines generate an incredibly short wavelength of light in large quantities to print small, complex designs on microchips. The EUV light is created with tiny explosions of molten tin happening at extreme speeds and then bounced off mirrors that ASML says are the flattest surfaces in the world. "I think many people, many countries would love to welcome ASML, but I think they're strongly embedded in the Netherlands," Van Weyenberg told CNBC Thursday. The minster said he had been involved in discussions between the cabinet and ASML last month concerning the firm's plans to grow in the Netherlands and whether there were enough roads, houses and skilled people from abroad to foster that growth. "I'm very optimistic about ASML's future and that it will be within the Netherlands," he said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/05/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-after-hours-pltr-nxpi-chgg.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Palantir Technologies, NXP Semiconductors, Chegg and more

Check out the companies making headlines after hours. Palantir Technologies — Shares jumped 17% after Palantir posted a revenue beat in the fourth quarter. Revenue came in at $608.4 million versus the $602.4 forecast by analysts, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. The company posted adjusted earnings of 8 cents per share, which was in line with analysts' expectations. CEO Alex Karp also highlighted the growth in the company's artificial intelligence platform. NXP Semiconductors — The chipmaker gained 3% following stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results. NXP announced adjusted earnings of $3.71 per share, which was 8 cents above estimates from analysts polled by LSEG. The company's revenue of $3.42 billion also beat analysts' forecasts of $3.40 billion. Chegg — The stock declined 1% after revenue guidance for the first quarter came in lighter than expected. Meanwhile, the company posted adjusted earnings per share that was in line with analysts' expectations and a revenue beat in the fourth quarter, per LSEG. Vertex Pharmaceuticals — Vertex shares were 2.6% higher following a beat on both top and bottom lines in the fourth quarter. The company reported adjusted earnings of $4.20 per share, topping analysts' estimates of $4.10 in earnings per share, per LSEG. Revenue of $2.52 billion was slightly higher than consensus forecasts of $2.51 billion. Rambus — The chipmaker dropped 7.9% after it posted a year-over-year decline in revenue during the fourth quarter. Revenue in the prior quarter came in at $122.2 million, down from $122.4 million from the previous year. Simon Property Group — Shares rose nearly 1% after the real estate investment trust issued strong earnings guidance for the full year. Occupancy also gained 90 basis points year over year to 95.8% as of Dec. 31, 2023. The company reported revenue in line with analysts' estimates and raised its dividend to $1.95 from $1.90. Aecom — The infrastructure consulting firm's shares gained 2.6%. In the first fiscal quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share, higher than consensus estimates of 95 cents per share, according to FactSet. Revenue was lower than analysts had forecast. Aecom reported $1.71 billion, excluding items, versus analysts' estimates of $1.74 billion. Cabot — Shares of the specialty chemicals company added 1.2% after its fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue beat analysts' expectations. Cabot posted $1.56 in adjusted earnings per share on $958 million in revenue. Analysts estimated $1.50 in earnings per share and $953 million in revenue, per FactSet.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/05/watch-now-etf-edge-on-the-remarkable-flows-in-semiconductors.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Watch now: ETF Edge on the remarkable flows in semiconductors

[The stream is slated to start at 1:00 PM ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] CNBC's ETF Edge is dedicated to the fastest-growing trend in investing right now: ETFs. Every Monday, Bob Pisani will be joined by a panel of top market participants to offer educational and actionable advice to help you build your best portfolio.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/19/our-2-semiconductor-stocks-hit-more-all-time-highs-what-is-behind-each-move.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Our 2 semiconductor stocks hit more all-time highs. Here is what's behind each move

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Friday's key moments. 1. U.S. stocks jumped Friday, putting the S & P 500 on its way to top its Jan. 3, 2022 record close of 4,796.56. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the Dow were also higher Friday after a rough ride earlier in the week. The Dow was trading just below its Jan. 2 record close of $37,715.04. The Nasdaq still has about 6% to go to reach its Nov. 18, 2021 record close of 16,057.44. The Nasdaq 100 , which weighs even more heavily on Big Tech, gained ground Friday, one day after closing at a record high of 16,982.29. The stock market has been recovering from its early 2024 tumble . 2. Meta Platforms stock traded above 52-week highs after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would spend billions on Nvidia's heavy-duty semiconductors for artificial intelligence. This is great for Meta in its efforts to further its AI ambitions and great for Nvidia as tech companies clamor for its powerful chips. Another Club name, Eaton , could also benefit in the long term. Running Nvidia's chips on a mass scale requires a lot of electricity, which is Eaton's specialty. Nvidia shares hit another all-time high Friday. 3. Broadcom stock hit another all-time high Friday on a bullish analyst upgrade. Goldman Sachs reinstated coverage of the chip designer with a buy rating, citing double-digit percentage revenue growth potential on its acquisition of VMware . We found this call to be especially bullish, as Goldman analysts expect sizeable margin expansion from VMware-related synergies. 4. Evercore added Apple its tactical outperform list. The analysts said that buy-side expectations for the iPhone maker are below consensus, meaning in-line quarterly results could be solid enough to drive Apple shares higher. Additionally, preorders for Apple's mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro, began Friday ahead of its earnings release next month. Shares of Apple were higher Friday but still down about 1% in 2024 on a raft of recent negative commentary. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long META, NVDA, ETN, AVGO, AAPL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/18/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Apple, Humana, Taiwan Semiconductor, Birkenstock and more

Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday. Apple — Shares of the iPad maker jumped 3.26%, leading the rebound in the Nasdaq Composite. The rally came after Bank of America upgraded Apple to buy from neutral. The bank cited a stronger multiyear iPhone upgrade cycle as well as higher growth in services as Apple better monetizes its installed base of customers. Humana — Shares tumbled 7.99% after the health insurance company said in a filing it experienced higher-than-expected medical costs in the fourth quarter, which could also weigh on its 2024 forecast. Humana also said it believes the emerging trends are affecting the industry more broadly. Shares of UnitedHealth fell nearly 3%, while CVS Health lost about 5%. MDC Holdings — The homebuilder soared 18.37% after Japanese homebuilder Sekisui House reached a $4.95 billion deal to buy MDC. Sekisui House will pay $63 per share in cash, nearly 19% above MDC's closing price Wednesday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing — U.S.-listed shares of the semiconductor company popped 9.79% on the back of a fourth-quarter profit and revenue beat . Taiwan Semiconductor also said it expects 2024 to be a "healthy growth year." Shares of some of the company's major customers rose, too, with Nvidia , Apple, Qualcomm and Advanced Micro Devices up at least 2% each. Hertz — The stock jumped 7.54% after being upgraded to overweight by Morgan Stanley. The investment bank said the rental car company's decision to sell about 20,000 electric vehicles from its fleet should help boost the stock. Spirit Airlines — Shares tanked another 7.17% as fallout from the budget airline's blocked proposed merger with JetBlue continued to weigh on the stock. Spirit, which plunged 60% the first three trading days of the week, was also downgraded by Citi on Thursday to sell from neutral. Fastenal — Shares gained 7.18% after the distribution giant exceeded Wall Street expectations for the fourth quarter. Fastenal earned 46 cents per share on revenue of $1.76 billion, while analysts polled by StreetAccount forecast 45 cents per share on $1.75 billion in revenue. Fastenal said it got a boost to unit sales from growth at on-site locations as well as currency tailwinds. First Horizon — The regional bank added 5.06% after First Horizon beat earnings expectations in its fourth quarter. Adjusted earnings per share were 32 cents, versus the 27 cents expected from analysts polled by StreetAccount. Net interest income and net interest margins also came in higher than expected. Discover Financial Services — Shares slipped 10.8% after the financial services company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.54 postmarket Wednesday, missing estimates of $2.50, per LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. Birkenstock — The German shoe company shed 7.72% after warning that its full-year earnings will come under pressure as it pursues a global expansion. It was Birkenstock's first earnings report as a public company. KeyCorp — The Cleveland-based bank dropped 4.62% after reporting fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 3 cents, down from 38 cents a year prior. Net interest income also fell year over year, to $928 million from $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. Microchip Technology — The tech manufacturer added 3.38% after being upgraded to outperform from peer perform by Wolfe Research. The firm said a lot has been done to de-risk the stock heading into its fiscal third-quarter earnings report. Plug Power — Shares of the beaten-down fuel cell company dropped 11.52% after Morgan Stanley maintained its underweight rating and $3 price target. Plug will need to use a substantial amount of its $1 billion at-the-market equity program it announced after market close on Thursday, Morgan Stanley said. Grab Holdings — Shares rose 2.74% after JPMorgan upgraded the Singapore-based ride-hailing and food delivery app to overweight. As catalysts for the upgrade, the bank highlighted an attractive valuation and improving delivery margins. Kinder Morgan — Kinder Morgan shares slid 1.42% after the natural gas pipeline operator reported fourth-quarter revenue of $4.04 billion, missing the LSEG consensus estimate of $4.41 billion. — CNBC's Lisa Han, Samantha Subin, Alex Harring, Yun Li, Pia Singh and Sarah Min contributed reporting.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/17/asml-earnings-report-q1-2024.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Shares of critical chip firm ASML drop 5% as sales miss expectations with 22% fall

In this article ASML-NL ASML Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now Shares of ASML on Wednesday fell as the company missed sales forecasts, but stuck to its full-year outlook. ASML's stock was down around 4.5% in early European trade after the results. Here's how ASML did versus LSEG consensus estimates: Net sales: 5.29 billion euros ($5.62 billion) versus 5.39 billion euros expected. 5.29 billion euros ($5.62 billion) versus 5.39 billion euros expected. Net profit: 1.22 billion euros versus 1.07 billion euros expected. Net sales fell 21.6% year-on-year while net income dropped 37.4%. ASML's net sales fell in the middle point of the company's guidance. Net bookings for ASML's machinery, a closely watched booking, totaled 3.6 billion euros in the first quarter, down 4% year-on-year but plunging nearly two thirds versus the December quarter. ASML is one of the most important semiconductor firms in the world, producing tools known as extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, which are required to manufacture the most advanced chips globally. Last year, weak demand for consumer electronics such as smartphones and laptops hit chipmakers that produce semiconductors for those devices. That has in turn led to slightly weaker call for ASML's gear. However, various semiconductor firms across the board, such as memory chipmaker Samsung, are seeing a rebound in demand. "ASML's latest financial results were not the numbers many investors had been hoping for or expecting. After an excellent Q4 orders, Q1 orders were expected to shrink due to their lumpy nature, but the amount that they fell was worse than expectations and could potentially be an early warning sign for concern," Ben Barringer, technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said in a note on Wednesday. "There a number of factors at play; the economic environment is still incredibly uncertain and thus customers are not ordering in the same quantities as they have done previously; there is a transition in product in 2025 so some may just be holding off and preserving any spend; it's still early in the year and things may turn around; and finally, China sales are good but difficult to gauge as to what will happen going forward." ASML has previously said it expects net sales for 2024 to be similar to 2023 and reiterated this projection on Monday. ASML reported net sales of 27.6 billion euros in 2023. Outlook

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/06/citi-is-bullish-on-this-corner-of-semiconductors-names-its-top-picks.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Citi is bullish about one part of the semiconductor industry. Here are its top stock picks

An upturn in a corner of the semiconductor industry began in the second half of this year, according to Citi. That's DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory — a type of semiconductor memory needed for data processing. "DRAM pricing has started to rebound in 2H23 as DRAM production cuts start materializing," the bank said in a Nov. 1 note, noting that DRAM spot pricing has increased by 5% over the past month. The jump in September's monthly semiconductor sales beat Citi's estimates. It was up 13% month on month to $49.6 billion, higher than the bank's estimates of $46.9 billion. The bank cited figures from the Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents the U.S. semiconductor industry. Citi attributed that to higher DRAM sales across the industry, as it was up 92.2% month on month. Overall, the bank said it updated its 2023 semiconductor sales forecast from a 12% year-on-year decline to a 11% decline. That translates to a projected $512.7 billion in sales for 2023, less than 2022's $574.1 billion, according to the bank. Analysts have been bullish on the DRAM sector this year. As the use of artificial intelligence grows, more and more memory is required. AI servers use four times as much DRAM as normal servers. Top pick and other buy-rated names Against that optimistic DRAM backdrop, Citi named Micron as its top pick. It gave Micron, which produces DRAM and other types of memory, a price target of $85 — given the DRAM pricing rebound. That implies potential upside of around 20%. "If memory demand exceeds memory industry supply, it could lead to higher DRAM pricing, resulting in upside to our estimates on Micron," Citi said. However, the converse also applies. Citi also named other buy-rated stocks within the sector: Advanced Micro Devices : Citi is optimistic on AMD, driven by its server share gains and AMD's artificial intelligence opportunity. It gave AMD a price target of $136, implying potential upside of around 26%. One risk, however, is that it competes directly with Intel and Nvidia in the microprocessor and graphics markets, respectively. "Consequently, any fluctuations in market share between AMD and NVIDIA could result in risk to our estimates," Citi wrote. Analog Devices : Citi gave Analog Devices a price target of $200, implying potential upside of around 21%. It said Analog Devices has geographically diverse exposure, so any prolonged downturn or upturn could result in either a downside or an upside to its estimates. GlobalFoundries : Citi pointed to its "solid execution" and earnings per share growth, giving it a price target of $70 — implying potential upside of around 39%. Onsemi : Given its "superior growth," Citi gave the stock a price target of $85, implying potential upside of around 27%.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/30/shares-of-on-semiconductor-fall-20percent-on-bad-q4-guidance.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

Shares of ON Semiconductor fall 21% as fourth-quarter guidance disappoints Wall Street

Shares of ON Semiconductor closed down more than 21% Monday after the company's third-quarter report beat expectations but offered weak guidance for the rest of the year. ON Semiconductor said it expects to report fourth-quarter earnings between $1.13 and $1.27 per share, excluding certain items, which is short of the $1.36 analysts had anticipated. Similarly, the company said revenue will come in between $1.95 billion and $2.05 billion, while Wall Street was expecting $2.18 billion. Analysts at Deutsche Bank said ON Semiconductor's guidance suggests the company has "finally succumbed to macro pressures" such as softening demand for cars. "Following this disappointing outlook, we are not surprised by today's stock move, as investors are likely wary of ON returning to its cyclical patterns of old," they wrote in a Monday note. Even so, the analysts said they believe the company's structural improvements will yield better outcomes than it saw in past cycles. They maintained their buy rating on the stock. Craig-Hallum analysts said they believe weakening demand for electric vehicles will adversely affect ON Semiconductor in the near term. They said it will be a "tougher year" for the company and investors should "remain cautious." "We note near-term auto uncertainty, including the recently settled UAW strike, higher interest rates, and lowered demand for EVs, will likely negatively impact the next several quarters or much of 2024," they wrote Monday. Analysts at Wolfe Research added that ON Semiconductor had managed to avoid weakness until now because of its noncancelable orders, long lead times and strength in auto, but that lingering challenges in the market means that will be "difficult to continue." — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report. Don't miss these CNBC PRO stories:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/17/how-the-chips-act-is-aiming-to-restore-a-us-lead-in-semiconductors.html

ON

ON Semiconductor

How the CHIPS Act is aiming to restore a U.S. lead position in semiconductors

Just a few decades ago, the U.S. was a global leader in semiconductors, producing upwards of 40% of the world's supply after having invented the technology. But as semiconductors became more important, the U.S.'s hold on that market has dwindled, now just producing 10% of the global chip supply and none of the bleeding edge semiconductors that are powering the next generation of AI, smartphones, and mobile devices. That's where the bipartisan $52.7 billion CHIPS Act comes in, with a goal of having the U.S. compete once again with countries like South Korea and Taiwan in semiconductors. "We're in a position now where one of the strategically significant goods for supply chains across the planet is one where we as a country are not in a strong position," Michael Schmidt, director of the CHIPS Program Office, told CNBC CEO Council members in a member-only virtual event on Oct. 10. "The CHIPS Act was a bipartisan recognition that is not an acceptable status quo." Schmidt, who previously served as a senior advisor at the Treasury Department, is overseeing how $39 billion of the funds set aside by the legislation will be allocated toward manufacturing centers. He called the bill an opportunity for the U.S. to catch up. "We as a country have to be prepared to make those investments and really use the funding we have as start-up capital, to build an ecosystem with enough scale and enough significance to build our workforce and supplier base to create an environment where ongoing investment in the semiconductor industry is attractive for the future," he said. CEO Council members on the virtual meeting raised several of the challenges that lie ahead for these projects, which perhaps most importantly include finding capable workers. Schmidt noted that the U.S. government's focus on semiconductors has helped raise visibility and encourage college students towards semiconductor manufacturing as opposed to other tech jobs. He added that the continued success of American companies like Nvidia , Qualcomm , and AMD also helps. There is also funding from the CHIPS Act earmarked for worker development. However, as now more than a year has passed since President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS Act into law, many in the U.S. semiconductor industry are waiting for that money to flow into it. While the potential for federal funding has spurred some potential huge investments in the semiconductor sector — in total, $231 billion has been announced in private sector semiconductor investments in the United States, according to the White House — many of those projects are contingent on receiving federal government aid. "Moving the wheels of government is not always easy," Schmidt said. "But I think in many respects, we've moved so fast that our private sector counterparts and partners have had to keep pace with us and catch up." Schmidt said the office is actively working with applicants and is "looking forward to announcing some major progress in the months ahead," telling CNBC's Morgan Brennan that "this is not your normal government program where you get the applications in, you close the doors while you read it, and then maybe a few months later you come out with the white smoke that says whether or not you're going to get funding — this is a highly iterative, commercial, interactive experience." Schmidt assured CEOs that the funding will not be at risk if there is a change in the White House after the 2024 election. "We have a lot of support on both sides of the aisle because this is fundamentally a national security initiative," Schmidt said. "My team isn't made up of political appointees. This operation will continue into the next term and for many years after that." He stressed that the government's focus on rebuilding this sector is long-term in nature. "After this program's money has been spent, I want the United States to continue to be a place where the leading companies in the world view it as in their core business interests to continue making large-scale investments," he said. "This is a global industry and will remain a global industry and that's a good thing, but we want the United States to be a core part of their business models."

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/cramer-lightning-round-zoetis-could-be-resistant-to-recession.html

OKE

ONEOK

Cramer's lightning round: Zoetis could be 'resistant to recession'

Zoetis : "Zoetis is a humanization-of-pets story. That story is going to be a resistant to recession, however, at the same time, the stock is up gigantically over time so I would buy it on the way down, but I do like it." Coupa Software Inc. : "Coupa Software's the kind of company that's probably going to exceed the number and people are probably going to sell it anyway, 'cause this is the kind of market where while it's a high-growth stock, which I like, it has gone up so much over multiple years and that's when I do want you to buy 'cause this company does — is a way for companies to save money. Wait for the report." AMN Healthcare Services : "Susan Salka is a great CEO and that is about finding about people in the health-care system. Temporary health care, well could you think of a better moment for temporary health care. I don't think I can." Oneok : "Oneok is such a good company and Walter Hulse, who's the terrific CFO ... they do a lot of good stuff. It would be the last one I think that would cut, but they could cut 'cause they're talking about cutting the capex. ... If you have to own one of these how about that, Oneok would be the one to do it. It is the most conservative, but that group is NSH — not so hot." BP : "BP is tough. ... It's just nasty and horrible and it stinks."

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/21/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-ibm-salesforce-beyond-meat-occidental-petroleum-and-more.html

OKE

ONEOK

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: IBM, Salesforce, Beyond Meat, Occidental Petroleum and more

Pedestrians walk in front of the IBM building in New York. Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. IBM — Shares of IBM dropped 3% after the company reported a 3.4% decline in revenue in the first quarter from a year ago amid the spread of coronavirus. The computer hardware company also withdrew full-year guidance given the uncertainty around the pandemic. OneOk , ConocoPhillips, Occidental , Pioneer Natural Resources — Energy stocks struggled on Tuesday as oil futures for June fell sharply. OneOK plunged 4.6%, after being downgraded to neutral from buy by Goldman Sachs, according to FactSet. Occidental Petroleum fell 2%, while Pioneer Natural Resources slid 3% and ConocoPhillips lost 4%. Pioneer ended the day in the green. Travelers — Shares of The Travelers Companies jumped 2% but ended the day flat despite reporting an earnings and revenue miss. The insurance company earned $2.62 per share for the first quarter, compared to Refinitiv consensus estimate of $2.85 per share. Its quarterly revenue also came short of expectations, as the company cited higher "catastrophe losses" amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, the company announced a 4% dividend hike. Alteryx , Salesforce , Workday , Fortinet — Shares of technology software stocks tanked on Tuesday. Shares of Alteryx cratered more than 10.9%, Salesforce fell 7.5%, Workday dropped 7.1% and Fortinet sunk 9.9%. Philip Morris International — Shares of the tobacco stock fell 6% after warning that the pandemic would hurt its full-year results and withdrawing its guidance for 2020. The company also announced better than expected results for earnings and revenue for its first quarter. Hertz Global — Shares of the global car rental company sank 8.2% after it said it has laid off about 10,000 employees in North America to cut costs and offset the impact Covid-19 is having on its sales. The company said in a government filing that it has "experienced increased rental cancellations and declining forward bookings." The stock is down 73% since the start of 2020 as the coronavirus brings both domestic and international travel to a halt. Beyond Meat — Shares of the alternative meat company popped 7.4% on news that Starbucks will debut Beyond Meat products on its menu in China. The partnership with the world's largest coffee chain marks Beyond's entry into the Chinese market. Equifax — Shares of Equifax jumped 3.4% after reporting quarterly earnings that topped expectations. The credit reporting agency said its quarterly revenue was its best in any quarter since the 2017 cyber breach incident, although it did withdraw its full-year forecast due to uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. Chewy — Shares of the pet food delivery service dropped 2.9% following a downgrade to neutral from buy at UBS. The firm said the company's long-term positives are now reflected in the shares after the stock's 62% rally. SAP — Shares of SAP dropped 5.4% after abandoning its dual CEO structure that had been in place for the past six months, naming Christian Klein as sole CEO of the business software giant. SAP said the move was made to give customers more clarity, and that co-CEO Jennifer Morgan will depart April 30. — With reporting from CNBC's Yun Li, Jesse Pound and Tom Franck.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/10/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-stitch-fix-amazon-qualcomm-royal-caribbean-and-more.html

OKE

ONEOK

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Stitch Fix, Amazon, Qualcomm, Royal Caribbean and more

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Stitch Fix — Shares of Stitch Fix plummeted 25% on Tuesday after the personal styling service issued a bleak outlook and reported quarterly revenue that missed analysts' expectations. Stitch Fix reported sales of $451.8 million, below the forecast $452.5 million, according to Refinitiv. Its next quarter guidance is between $465 million and $475 million, while analysts estimated about $506.2 million. Amazon — The online retail giant rose 5% on Tuesday as the broader stock market recovered about half of its historic losses incurred on Monday. Amazon has outperformed the broader market in recent days as the coronavirus fears that have dogged the S&P 500 made online shopping more appealing for those worried about contracting the disease at a brick-and-mortar shop. Amazon shares are down 2.9% over the last week versus the S&P 500's 7.1% decline. The uptick in Amazon shares also followed Cowen's move to hike its price target to $2,700, more than 50% upside from current levels. OneOk — Natural gas company OneOk was one of the biggest losers in the S&P 500 Tuesday morning, at one point falling more than 14%. The company announced an additional $100 million debt offering, on top of a $1.6 billion offering it announced March 5. Natural gas futures rose Tuesday but are still down over the past three weeks. OneOk finished the day down just 0.18%. Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Lines — Cruise line stocks whipsawed on Tuesday as President Trump's pledge for provide aid to the industry offset lingering concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. Royal Caribbean jumped 7% on Tuesday, while Norwegian gained 3.4%. Royal Caribbean fell earlier in the day after it withdrew its full-year guidance on Tuesday morning and announced that it had increased its revolving credit by $550 million and would be cutting capital expenditures over the next two years. Norwegian announced a new $675 million credit agreement with JPMorgan on Monday. Carnival also reversed losses to end the day sharply higher, up 10.49%. American Airlines — Shares of American Airlines rose 15% after the company said it's slashing international and domestic flights as the coronavirus dents travel demand. Shares also rose on hopes the federal government could provide aid to industries severely impacted by the coronavirus. American said it will shave 10% off its peak summer international flying, including a 55% slash to trans-Pacific flying. United Airlines announced similar cuts last week. Shares of United also climbed more than 12%. Qualcomm — Shares of Qualcomm jumped 8.6% on Tuesday after being initiated with a buy rating at Nomura Instinet. The firm called the semiconductor company a "world leader" in "cellular communications technology. United Postal Service — Shares of UPS jumped 6.4% following an upgrade to to buy from hold at Stifel. The firm called UPS "interesting" due to its healthy cash generation. Pioneer Natural Resources — Shares of the exploration and production gained more than 20% as oil prices rebounded from their sharpest slide since 1991. Occidental Petroleum was also in the green with a gain of more than 3%, one day after the stock plummeted 53%. Chevron also gained nearly 2%. Dollar General — Shares of the discount retailer jumped 4.3%, extending its gain for the week. The stock also moved higher on Monday amid the broad market sell-off that saw the Dow post its single-largest point decline on record. — with reporting from CNBC's Thomas Franck, Yun Li, Jesse Pound and Pippa Stevens.

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/07/lightning-round-sell-this-asap.html

OKE

ONEOK

Lightning Round: Sell this ASAP

It's that time again! The Lightning Round bell has rung, and Jim Cramer gives his take on a few favorite audience stocks: Oneok, Inc : "I'm not as big of a fan of Oneok as I was at one point. I think that if you want to be in this group, you want to be in either Energy Transfer Partners, Enterprise, Enbridge or Kinder Morgan (the C corp) not Oneok. It just doesn't have the growth that I used to like." Horizon Pharma PLC : "I like Horizon, it has pulled back like the whole group but we know that they've got a great business model. I think it can go up over time, this guy's building a lot of great wealth. I think he's a winner." Carbo Ceramics Inc : "No I don't want propane, I don't want fracking sand, I don't want any of those. If you take a look they've had a move and this is when you should sell, sell, sell because I think that in the end you don't want to be in the service business other than if you are a big dog." ---------------------------------------------------------- Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: How to benefit off the Fed Cramer: Einhorn was dead wrong on EOG Cramer: Thanks for nothing, Janet Yellen! ---------------------------------------------------------- WCI Communities Inc : "I can't believe that company has made such a comeback. It's really doing very, very well. When anyone mentions homebuilding though, I always go Lennar because I like best-of-breed." Transocean : "Transocean is involved with deep water rigs, the deep water market has not come back at all. So therefore my help is to say that if it does go up at all sell, sell, sell."

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/10/the-oil-companies-that-could-be-in-big-dividend-trouble.html

OKE

ONEOK

The oil companies that could be in big dividend trouble

Other beleaguered names in the space with high dividend yields include EnLink Midstream , Oneok , Plains GP Holdings and Spectra Energy . The most imminently similar company to Kinder Morgan is Targa Resources , Sighinolfi said, which has a dividend yield of 12 percent and is down about 70 percent year to date. Christopher Sighinolfi of Jefferies said Kinder Morgan is representative of energy companies that have taken a fall from crumbling oil prices, but struggle to maintain high dividends to attract investors. Higher yields are also in part a product of falling stock prices, as the existing dividend becomes a larger percentage of a lower share price. On Tuesday, energy giant Kinder Morgan announced a plan to slash its quarterly dividend to 12.5 cents from 51 cents. And if the commodities crush continues, one analyst says a slew of other companies may find themselves in a similarly tight position. However, he said Kinder Morgan has suffered from a unique intersection of problems, such as highly leveraged debt, the threat of being downgraded to junk status and a pressing need for capital in 2016. "These companies exist on a spectrum, and Kinder's issues were more acute," Sighinolfi said Wednesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "The rest of the universe that we cover, broadly speaking, doesn't have those pressures immediately." Should markets normalize, others in the space may not need to follow in Kinder Morgan's footsteps, Sighinolfi said. But "if current conditions persist, it will be contemplated at other companies. It is obviously having an effect on midstream equity valuations that have also largely been valued for years on their dividend yields and their dividend growth stories," Sighinolfi said. On Monday, Sighinolfi published a report calling for Kinder Morgan to reduce its quarterly dividend all the way down to 1 penny. Before the cut, Kinder Morgan had one of the highest-yielding dividends in the at 13 percent. Read MoreYield of dreams: The 3 stocks that yield more than 8 percent High-yield dividends can look attractive to investors, promising payouts on relatively cheaper stock holdings. But the current energy environment has some investors skeptical of using dividend yields to value stocks, Sighinolfi said. Not only might companies like Kinder Morgan be unable to sustain dividends, but high dividends may also indicate imprudent use of cash flow. For Kinder Morgan, cutting the dividend will allow the company to allot more cash to capital expenditures and deleveraging debt without issuing new equity, Sighinolfi said, an ability the company previously lacked. "We had made the call that if they were going to cut at all and alienate the investor who had been there solely for the dividend, that they might as well cut all the way down to a penny," Sighinolfi said. "If they could cut down to a penny, they could definitively restore their balance sheet." Kinder Morgan shares soared after the dividend cut announcement, closing up almost 7 percent Wednesday and continuing the gains into Thursday trading. Read MoreWant to bet on an oil bounce? Here's how to do it "I think it's being rewarded today by investors, because they see it as a much more prudent strategy to fund external growth with internally generated cash given the price of the equity itself," Sighinolfi said Wednesday. However, like many others in the industry, Kinder Morgan's stock is down substantially for the year at about 60 percent. EnLink, Oneok, Plains GP, Spectra Energy and Targa did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. Kinder Morgan did not provide additional comment beyond the company's press release and company call Wednesday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/04/cramer-lightning-round-the-market-does-not-like-okta-right-now.html

OKE

ONEOK

Cramer's lightning round: The market does not like Okta right now

LendingTree, Inc. : "I like LendingTree in this environment. Doug Lebda is killing it. He's crushing it. We are Lebda supporters from way back. It's buy time." Avita Medical : "What's the one? ... I don't know that one. I'll have to come back on that. That's a foreign company." Scorpio: "It's crazy town in that group. That is a trade. Those rates keep going higher ... but you're in there for a trade. Please, don't overstay your welcome." Okta : "The market does not like this stock right now. Even if they shoot the lights out, I don't know how much it's going to go up. But Adobe did report after the bell; they raised their guidance... so maybe it can save family fave Okta, but right now, because you're younger, just own it for the long haul because Todd McKinnon has the best cybersecurity business there is." SunPower Corporation : "Sunpower is so low I'm not going to tell you to sell it. I can't believe how low it's gone. It's actually quite discouraging, frankly. But I think that it's OK here." Oneok : "Oneok is one of the best energy plays. 5% yield ... That one is a buy." Plains All American Pipeline : "That's the opposite of Oneok. That is a company that I don't trust and I would not own, and I don't think is a good situation for anyone retired or otherwise." HubSpot : "I like HubSpot but remember, Dave, we know these big hyper growth stocks have gone out of style for now. But if we sit there on HubSpot, I think we will be fine." Zscaler : "Zscaler quarter was not the blow-out quarter I was not looking for, frankly, and that was a little discouraging there ... but it did not blow the numbers away."

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/10/cramers-lightning-round-i-no-longer-trust-schlumberger.html

OKE

ONEOK

Cramer's lightning round: I no longer trust Schlumberger

Planet Fitness : "It is going down pretty fast and I've got to tell you that I think it's still a great secular trend, but I understand that it's in a downturn so let's be careful. Buy it slowly, but I do think that we're nearing a bottom in that stock." Paysign : "Payment processing remains a hot industry. A lot of these stocks have given up the gains. ... but this is a nice small spec that's come down a lot." Oneok : "The CFO there, Walter Hulse, is an old friend of mine. He's absolutely fantastic and neighbor, and I think that they do a great job." Motorola Solutions : "Communication infrastructure play that I absolutely like, but ... it's right now caught up in the same kind of rotation that I talked about at the top of the show." Anthem : Anthem is bottoming. Kennedy-Wilson : "I think you got a winner there." Heico : "It's a good company." Schlumberger : "My charitable trust owns it and it's been a bad stock and I've gotten hurt in it. I don't want you in it. I know that there was a nice upgrade today, but I don't trust it anymore. They got new management, the dividend's good, but I don't want to hurt people and I've hurt my charitable trust with that one."

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/05/if-you-missed-market-rally-here-are-two-ways-to-play-catch-up.html

OKE

ONEOK

If you missed the market rebound, here are two ways to play for a catch-up

The markets have roared back from the December lows, with the up more than 13 percent. If you missed the rally, two experts say there's still time to get in. "I think you're going to see incremental participation underneath the surface," Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, said Monday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "I think more and more stocks are going to slowly participate as the markets rotate their way higher as conditions improve." Wald noted that for investors looking to take advantage of the market recovery, stocks in the energy space are beginning to look attractive. "I'd call out the trend improvement that we're seeing in a lot of the midstream oil and gas companies," he said. "We're seeing participation really start to grow out in names like Oneok and Kinder Morgan ." Shares of Kinder Morgan are up more than 19 percent so far this year. Wald's charting reveals that while the stock has yet to break through its key resistance around $18.50, the rotation higher in its 200-day moving average suggests it has "pre-breakout potential." "On top of it all the stock offers 4.3 percent dividend yield to boot so a pretty nice set up here for Kinder Morgan," he said. Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico Global, believes the defensive nature in the rally of late could be setting the stage for more gains in value stocks over growth. "Valuation actually matters and so we would actually be looking at sort of the cheaper, less highly valued segments of the market," she said Monday on "Trading Nation." Sanchez noted that infrastructure prioritization out of the Trump administration could be a potential boon for the Industrials space. "I don't think it's going to come around a wall, but there are other elements of infrastructure that we could actually see Washington come down on which would be very beneficial to many of the names in the S&P industrials sector," she said. Industrials are now the second best-performing sector this year, up more than 13 percent. "So XLI is actually a pretty good way to play this and it's not as highly valued as the high-flying technology area or other areas," she said. The industrials ETF (XLI) has bounced 22 percent from its Boxing Day, or Dec. 26, intraday lows. It trades at 15 times forward earnings, a cheaper valuation than the 16 times multiple on the S&P 500.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100606810

OKE

ONEOK

Your First Move for Tuesday, April 2

Stephanie Link was a buyer of Waste Management. Jon Najarian was a buyer of Oneok stock and calls. Anthony Scaramucci was a buyer of Tiffany. Stephen Weiss was a buyer of Soda Stream. Trader disclosure: On April 1, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Guy Adami is long C; Guy Adami is long GS; Guy Adami is long INTC; Guy Adami is long AGU; Guy Adami is long MSFT; Guy Adami is long NUE; Guy Adami is long BTU; Steve Grasso is long AAPL; Steve Grasso is long ASTM; Steve Grasso is long BA; Steve Grasso is long BAC; Steve Grasso is long GOOG; Steve Grasso is long GDX; Steve Grasso is long HPQ; Steve Grasso is long LF; Steve Grasso is long LNG; Steve Grasso is long MHY; Steve Grasso is long MU ; Steve Grasso is long PXD; Steve Grasso is long NVIV; Steve Grasso is long PFE; Steve Grasso is long S; Steve Grasso is long VLO; Karen Finerman is long AAPL; Karen Finerman is long BAC; Karen Finerman is long JPM; Karen Finerman is long WMT; Karen Finerman is long TGT; Karen Finerman is long MSFT; Karen Finerman is long GOOG; Karen Finerman is short SPY; Karen Finerman is short IWM; Pete Najarian is long AAPL; Pete Najarian is long BBRY; Pete Najarian is long SBUX; Pete Najarian is long FB; Pete Najarian is long MSFT; Pete Najarian is long AMZN CALLS; Pete Najarian is long OKE CALLS; Pete Najarian is long PFE; Pete Najarian is long MRK; Pete Najarian is long BMY; Stephanie Link is long AAPL; Stephanie Link is long GS; Stephanie Link is long CSCO; Steve Weiss is long BAC; Steve Weiss is long BBRY; Steve Weiss is long QCOM; Steve Weiss is long C; Anthony Scaramucci is long AAPL; Anthony Scaramucci is long BAC; Anthony Scaramucci is long GS; Anthony Scaramucci is long GOOG; Anthony Scaramucci is long TIF; Jon Najarian is long OKE ; Jon Najarian is long KMI; Jon Najarian is long CLF; Jon Najarian is short GLD puts; Jon Najarian is long TXN puts.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/45494866

OKE

ONEOK

Even In an Up Market, Conservatism Can Pay

There is no question that the trifecta of positive news we received Wednesday support a more bullish posture: (1) The central banks announced a plan to provide liquidity to support the financial system, (2) China indicated it will loosen monetary policy by lowering the reserve requirement ratio for banks, (3) The ADP labor market report that showed private business hiring rising 206,000 in November—the largest monthly gain this year. However, the top of Monday’s “Mad Money” show—using the tool of the 52-week high list that day—revealed an important lesson for this volatile market: you can indeed reap gains from being positive. Other than speculative pharma stocks (note: a dose of speculation can be justified), dividend names dominated the 52-week high list—including three master limited partnerships—Kinder Morgan Energy Partners , Markwest Energy Partners and ONEOK —and under-the-radar dividend raiser Cedar Fair. Indeed, boring can be a winning strategy, particularly in this headline-driven market. The “Defcon Three” strategy of this week on “Mad Money” has aimed to get investors in the defense readiness position necessary for this high degree of uncertainty. Of course, Wednesday’s news is positive, but because of the high degree of uncertainty with regard to Europe that has persisted (and continues to persist on a solvency basis), we have advocated the unfavorable risk/reward trade-off for companies that need credit, companies that do a lot of business in Europe or names with a steep valuation. And while Wednesday’s coordinated central bank efforts provide important patchwork, it is key to continue to manage your risk. The lesson drawn from the fact revelation that a key portion of the 52-week-high list has come from more defensive names is one that can be extended to the renewed social media chatter. Murmurs of recently-IPO’d LinkedIn and Groupon offering attractive entry points have sprung up, now that both names are down 40 percent in the after-market, a decline we predicted after their initial pops. This now comes to the forefront, as we just heard that Facebook is planning an IPO next year at a level that would value the company at $100bn. Or that Zynga will kick off its IPO road show next week. There is no question that Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have transformed the world of social media, with the company’s 800mm users presenting a compelling case for monetization. Or that Zynga is uniquely levered to the growth in social gaming. But, the intrigue of the “hot” names won’t necessarily offer the most upside. Instead, look no further than Google , which was upgraded in a smart note by Citi on Monday. The stock remains cheap at these levels (At 12x P/E, it is near recession trough level), and it embraces the “holy trinity” of tech—social, mobile and cloud —with much run-room for growth. It indeed is difficult to be a stock picker in this confusing market. But, if you maintain a defensive posture and pick out a couple of well-positioned names that offer strong long-term growth prospects with compelling valuations and long-term growth—like our stocking stuffers Home Depoton Monday and Tractor Supplyon Tuesday you can position yourself for upside.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/45729955

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Street Got Zynga IPO Totally Wrong: Top Analyst

Although Farmville doesn’t appeal to more serious gamers it does attract an alternative demographic; older people and women. He compares Farmville to penny slots at a casino. “It’s easy to play, it’s mindless and people just keep coming back.” In other words he thinks Farmville has carved out a niche for itself. As a result, “I think we’re about 6 weeks away from hearing the company had an amazing December quarter. And that’s going to get the stock moving.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > DON'T MISS: Slo-o-o-w Money, 10 Top Stocks for the Long-Term Investor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________ Got something to to say? Send us an e-mail at fastmoney-web@cnbc.com and your comment might be posted on the Rapid Recap. If you'd prefer to make a comment, but not have it published on our Web site, send those e-mails to fastmoney@cnbc.com. Trader disclosure: On December 20, 2011, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders; Terranova is long VRTS; Terranova is long IBM; Terranova is long LQD; Terranova is long MUB; Terranova is long EMC; Terranova is long CSCO; Terranova is long AXP; Terranova is long SBUX; Terranova is long TRLG; Murphy owns AKS; Murphy owns BAC For Patty Edwards Trutina Financial is long APPLE (AAPL) Trutina Financial is long SPDR GOLD TRUST (GLD) Trutina Financial is long MICROSOFT (MSFT) Trutina Financial is long INTEL (INTC) Trutina Financial is long VERIZON (VZ) Trutina Financial is long ORACLE (ORCL) Trutina Financial is long ZYNGA (ZNGA) Trutina Financial is long Target TGT Trutina Financial is long COSTCO (COST) For Brian Kelly Shelter Harbor Capital is long KRE Shelter Harbor Capital is long IWM Shelter Harbor Capital is long US DOLLAR Shelter Harbor Capital is long ITUB Shelter Harbor Capital is long BBD Shelter Harbor Capital is short AIV Shelter Harbor Capital is short AVB Shelter Harbor Capital is short UBS Shelter Harbor Capital is short CS Shelter Harbor Capital is short C For Jeff Harte Bank of America Corporation (BAC) - Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Bank of America Corporation for investment banking services in the next three months. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Bank of America Corporation for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Bank of America Corporation is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the second most recent month immediately preceding the date of this report). The reviewer of this report owns shares of stock of Bank of America Corporation. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) - Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for investment banking services in the next three months. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) - Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Citigroup, Inc. (C)- Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Citigroup, Inc. for investment banking services in the past 12 months. Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Citigroup, Inc. for investment banking services in the next three months. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Citigroup, Inc. for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Citigroup, Inc. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Citigroup, Inc. was a client of Sandler O'Neill in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month immediately preceding the date of this report. During that period, Sandler O'Neill provided investment banking services to Citigroup, Inc. Morgan Stanley (MS)- Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Morgan Stanley for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Morgan Stanley is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Jefferies Group, Inc. (JEF)- Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Jefferies Group, Inc. for investment banking services in the past 12 months. Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Jefferies Group, Inc. for investment banking services in the next three months. Jefferies Group, Inc. was a client of Sandler O'Neill in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month immediately preceding the date of this report. During that period, Sandler O'Neill provided investment banking services to Jefferies Group, Inc. Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS)- Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Northern Trust Corporation for investment banking services in the next three months. As of the date of this report, Sandler O'Neill currently acts as a market maker in the securities of Northern Trust Corporation. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Northern Trust Corporation for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Northern Trust Corporation is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM)- Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from JP Morgan Chase & Co. for investment banking services in the next three months. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from JP Morgan Chase & Co. for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. JP Morgan Chase & Co. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). For Sara Senatore CHIPTOTLE (CMG): Bernstein analysts are compensated based on aggregate contributions to the research franchise as measured by account penetration, productivity and proactivity of investment ideas. No analysts are compensated based on performance in, or contributions to, generating investment banking revenues. For Rick Sherlund Oracle – I, Rick Sherlund, hereby certify (1) that the views expressed in this Research report accurately reflect my personal views about any or all of the subject securities or issuers referred to in this Research report, (2) no part of my compensation was, is or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this Research report and (3) no part of my compensation is tied to any specific investment banking transactions performed by Nomura Securities International, Inc., Nomura International plc or any other Nomura Group company. For Michael Pachter Zynga – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. Activision Blizzard – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. Best Buy – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. Electronic Arts – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. For Ben Abramovitz AT&T - The analyst responsible for preparing the research upon which these ratings are based may receive compensation based upon various factors including the firm's overall profitability, a portion of which is derived from investment banking revenues. CNBC.com with wires.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/45825037

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Letter That Led to Downfall of Hewlett Chief Surfaces

A Delaware court ruled Wednesday that the letter, from the lawyer Gloria Allred to Mr. Hurd, who at the time was chief executive of H.P. , may be made public. The letter set in motion internal investigations at the company that led to Mr. Hurd’s resignation on Aug. 6, 2010. Running eight pages, the letteraccuses Mr. Hurd of sexual harassment, saying he repeatedly pressed Ms. Allred’s client, Jodie Fisher, a former actress in pornographic movies and reality show contestant, for sex. It also claims that he boasted about his wealth and knowledge of business deals. Mr. Hurd, now a president of the Oracle Corporation , had fought to keep the letter private, asserting California’s privacy laws. But the court found that the letter, while “mildly embarrassing,” was not protected in the same way as trade secrets and certain financial information. In Oct. 2007, the letter says, Mr. Hurd met Ms. Fisher, who was working as a contract employee for H.P., in Atlanta. On the pretext of showing her some documents for China’s vice premier, the letter says, Mr. Hurd invited Ms. Fisher to his room at the Ritz-Carlton, where Mr. Hurd propositioned her. “Ms. Fisher was horrified,” the letter says, and after an hour of refusals, she eventually left. “You told her that no one had ever rejected you before and were clearly miffed.” After describing several such encounters in detail, the letter says that Ms. Fisher’s employment with H.P. ended. A source briefed on the case, however, says that an outside counsel for H.P. prepared a timeline of e-mails that Ms. Fisher sent around the time of the events recorded in the letter. An e-mail sent soon after the Atlanta event had the subject line “great to see you” and talked about how she was looking forward to seeing Mr. Hurd again. Ms. Fisher settled with Mr. Hurd two days before his resignation from H.P. In a letter following the settlement, she stated that the letter from Ms. Allred contained many inaccuracies. “The letter was recanted by Ms. Fisher,” said Ken Glueck, a senior vice president at Oracle. “She admitted it was full of inaccuracies.” A spokeswoman for H.P. declined to comment. An H.P shareholder, Ernesto Espinoza, had filed a lawsuit against H.P. and sought a copy of the letter in court to investigate corporate wrongdoing and waste associated with the relationship and Mr. Hurd’s resignation. The Delaware court did not release the letter on Thursday, but the documents were obtained by The New York Times from sources close to the case. Soon after receiving the letter from Ms. Allred, Mr. Hurd turned it over to H.P.’s corporate counsel, Michael Holston. Mr. Holston, acting on behalf of the company, began an internal investigation of Mr. Hurd’s behavior. While the letter from Ms. Allred was mostly a narrative of a powerful man’s pursuit of a woman for sex (after the settlement Ms. Fisher also stated that she and Mr. Hurd never had sexual relations), it also states that in March 2008, Mr. Hurd told Ms. Fisher that he was working on a deal to purchase Electronic Data Systems. H.P. announced in May 2008 that it would buy E.D.S. for $13.9 billion. If these accusations are true, Mr. Hurd could be found guilty of leaking insider information. Sources close to the H.P. board, however, say that its internal investigation did not prove any such transgression. Tension emerged between Mr. Hurd and the board, they say, over his changing explanations about his relationship with Ms. Fisher and discrepancies in his expense reporting. A spokeswoman for the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing commission policy, would not comment on whether the agency looked into the charge. Given the time that has elapsed since the letter was known to several corporate lawyers and the government, it seems unlikely that there was sufficient evidence for a case. In an e-mail to employees a few days after Mr. Hurd resigned in 2010, the company’s interim chief, Cathie Lesjak, said Mr. Hurd resigned over “inappropriate behavior in which he engaged that violated H.P.’s standards of business conduct and undermined his ability to continue to lead the company.” Since Mr. Hurd’s departure, Hewlett-Packard has struggled to regain its bearings. He was first replaced as chief by Léo Apotheker, who himself was ousted on Sept. 22. Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay, is now H.P.’s chief.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/45361431

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Lightning Round: Sanofi, InterLinks, Ford Motor and More

Amarin : Although this Dublin-based drug manufacturer has no earnings or revenue to speak of, Cramer will bless this stock as a speculative buy. McDermott International : Don’t buy this stock, Cramer said. He didn’t like that the heavy construction company recently reported a disappointing quarter. Ford Motor : The automaker has considerable exposure to Europe and faces increasing commodity costs, making it hard for its stock to go higher any time soon. Nonetheless, Cramer wouldn’t mind owning F shares. He just doesn’t expect any upside in the near-term. InterLinks : “What a disaster,” Cramer said of this technology company, which recently reported disappointing quarterly results. “Don’t buy.” Sanofi : Cramer is a buyer of this drug manufacturer’s stock. When this story was published, Cramer’s charitable trust owned Oracle and Sanofi. Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website? madcap@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/45729952

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Shorts About to Squeeze Market Higher: Fast Pros

______________________________________________________ Got something to to say? Send us an e-mail at fastmoney-web@cnbc.com and your comment might be posted on the Rapid Recap. If you'd prefer to make a comment, but not have it published on our Web site, send those e-mails to fastmoney@cnbc.com. Trader disclosure: On December 20, 2011, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders; Terranova is long VRTS; Terranova is long IBM; Terranova is long LQD; Terranova is long MUB; Terranova is long EMC; Terranova is long CSCO; Terranova is long AXP; Terranova is long SBUX; Terranova is long TRLG; Murphy owns AKS; Murphy owns BAC For Patty Edwards Trutina Financial is long APPLE (AAPL) Trutina Financial is long SPDR GOLD TRUST (GLD) Trutina Financial is long MICROSOFT (MSFT) Trutina Financial is long INTEL (INTC) Trutina Financial is long VERIZON (VZ) Trutina Financial is long ORACLE (ORCL) Trutina Financial is long ZYNGA (ZNGA) Trutina Financial is long Target TGT Trutina Financial is long COSTCO (COST) For Brian Kelly Shelter Harbor Capital is long KRE Shelter Harbor Capital is long IWM Shelter Harbor Capital is long US DOLLAR Shelter Harbor Capital is long ITUB Shelter Harbor Capital is long BBD Shelter Harbor Capital is short AIV Shelter Harbor Capital is short AVB Shelter Harbor Capital is short UBS Shelter Harbor Capital is short CS Shelter Harbor Capital is short C For Jeff Harte Bank of America Corporation (BAC) - Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Bank of America Corporation for investment banking services in the next three months. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Bank of America Corporation for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Bank of America Corporation is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the second most recent month immediately preceding the date of this report). The reviewer of this report owns shares of stock of Bank of America Corporation. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) - Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for investment banking services in the next three months. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) - Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Citigroup, Inc. (C)- Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Citigroup, Inc. for investment banking services in the past 12 months. Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Citigroup, Inc. for investment banking services in the next three months. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Citigroup, Inc. for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Citigroup, Inc. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Citigroup, Inc. was a client of Sandler O'Neill in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month immediately preceding the date of this report. During that period, Sandler O'Neill provided investment banking services to Citigroup, Inc. Morgan Stanley (MS)- Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Morgan Stanley for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Morgan Stanley is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). Jefferies Group, Inc. (JEF)- Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Jefferies Group, Inc. for investment banking services in the past 12 months. Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Jefferies Group, Inc. for investment banking services in the next three months. Jefferies Group, Inc. was a client of Sandler O'Neill in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month immediately preceding the date of this report. During that period, Sandler O'Neill provided investment banking services to Jefferies Group, Inc. Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS)- Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from Northern Trust Corporation for investment banking services in the next three months. As of the date of this report, Sandler O'Neill currently acts as a market maker in the securities of Northern Trust Corporation. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from Northern Trust Corporation for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. Northern Trust Corporation is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM)- Sandler O'Neill expects to receive or intends to seek compensation from JP Morgan Chase & Co. for investment banking services in the next three months. Sandler O'Neill has received compensation from JP Morgan Chase & Co. for providing products or services other than investment banking services in the 12-month period ending as of the second most recent month preceding the date of this report. JP Morgan Chase & Co. is a client of and receives non-investment banking securities-related services from Sandler O'Neill (based on information as of the end of the month immediately preceding the date of this report). For Sara Senatore CHIPTOTLE (CMG): Bernstein analysts are compensated based on aggregate contributions to the research franchise as measured by account penetration, productivity and proactivity of investment ideas. No analysts are compensated based on performance in, or contributions to, generating investment banking revenues. For Rick Sherlund Oracle – I, Rick Sherlund, hereby certify (1) that the views expressed in this Research report accurately reflect my personal views about any or all of the subject securities or issuers referred to in this Research report, (2) no part of my compensation was, is or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this Research report and (3) no part of my compensation is tied to any specific investment banking transactions performed by Nomura Securities International, Inc., Nomura International plc or any other Nomura Group company. For Michael Pachter Zynga – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. Activision Blizzard – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. Best Buy – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. Electronic Arts – Wedbush Securities makes a market in the securities of the subject company. For Ben Abramovitz AT&T - The analyst responsible for preparing the research upon which these ratings are based may receive compensation based upon various factors including the firm's overall profitability, a portion of which is derived from investment banking revenues. CNBC.com with wires.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/27400058

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

WSJ to Warren Buffett: "Time to Get a New Crystal Ball"

Warren Buffett has gotten greedy too quickly while everyone else takes too long to become fearful, suggests the Wall Street Journal in today's "Heard on the Street" column. Under the headline Even the Oracle Didn't Time It Perfectly, Peter Eavis writes that while Buffett has won "plaudits for some canny deals," there's also an "unnerving pattern emerging." "Mr. Buffett looks to be committing his capital too early. On some bets, waiting might have gotten him better terms or more attractive entry prices." "Time for the Oracle to get a new crystal ball," according to Eavis. He acknowledges that Buffett doesn't try to time his investments too closely, and says he's not launching a "cheap gibe" based on the S&P's 7 percent decline since Buffett's 'I'm Buying U.S. Stocks' op-ed piece in the New York Times on October 17. Instead, Eavis focuses on two bets Berkshire Hathaway has placed on derivatives. In one, Berkshire received large payments to provide default protection for "certain junk-rated corporations" in North America. The company has already booked hundreds of millions of dollars in mark-to-market losses on its exposure to these credit default swaps. "Berkshire more than doubled it notional exposure on these CDS to $8.8 billion between the end of 2006 and the middle of this year."

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100946504

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Your first trade for Thursday, Aug. 8

Enis Taner was a buyer of AT&T. Stephen Weiss was a buyer of Macy's. Jon Najarian was a buyer of CIE. Pete Najarian was a buyer of FCX. Trader disclosure: On Aug. 7, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Jon Najarian is long puts JCP; Jon Najarian is long AAPL; Jon Najarian is long CIE; Jon Najarian is long POT; Jon Najarian is long PBR; Jon Najarian is long MAR; Jon Najarian is long HUN; Jon Najarian is long HLF; Jon Najarian is long FCS; Enis Tanner is long GS; Enis Tanner is long WMT; Enis Tanner is long TSLA; Enis Tanner is long NUE; Enis Tanner is long T; Enis Tanner is long CF call fly; Pete Najarian is long AAPL; Pete Najarian is long BAC; Pete Najarian is long FCX; Pete Najarian is long SBUX; Pete Najarian is long DIS; Pete Najarian is long FB ; Pete Najarian is long BBRY; Pete Najarian is long VLO; Pete Najarian is long NSC; Pete Najarian is long KRE; Pete Najarian is long EMC; Pete Najarian is long BMY; Pete Najarian is long PFE; Pete Najarian is long MRK; Pete Najarian is long LLY; Stephen Weiss is short JCP; Stephen Weiss is short PHM; Stephen Weiss is short UCP; Stephen Weiss is short TMHC; Stephen Weiss is long M; Stephen Weiss is long BAC; Stephen Weiss is long JPM; Stephen Weiss is long SODA.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/34937425

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Earnings Preview: IBM

expected to provide investors with a pulse on IT spending during its fourth-quarter-earnings report today after the bell. The consensus First Call EPS estimate stands at $3.47 compared to last year's gain of $3.28. Could IBM be poised to beat estimates for the 11th consecutive time? What follows are some facts and figures on how IBM shares traded in the most recent earnings reports. International Business Machines Beat revenue estimates for 4 of the past 8 quarters Beat EPS estimates for 10 quarters straight Beat annual EPS estimates for 4 of the past 5 years Dollar impact? In 2008, 65% of revenue derived from outside the United States IBM shares are up 2% in 2010, 59% since the March low, and 85% since reaching a "bottom" on 11/20/2008 Competitors' Performance in 2010: Infosys Technologies +6%, Accenture +5%, Oracle +4%, Hewlett-Packard 2% and Microsoft 2% IBM shares are currently trading at their highest level since 9/1/2000 The company's shares are trading 3% above their 50-day moving average Stock Performance By The Numbers In the past 8 quarters, IBM shares rose 2.38%, on average, the day after the company reported its quarterly results In 6 of the last 9 earnings reports, IBM shares trended up within 11 days, posting an overall average gain of 1% (MarketHistory.com) Information Technology Sector: Eighth best performing sector so far in 2010, up 1% Leaders year-to-date: Novell +15%, Compuware +8% and Qualcomm +7% Earning Estimates Source: CNBC & Thomson Reuters Comments? Send them to bythenumbers@cnbc.com bythenumbers.cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100577728

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Airgas Is the Earnings Barometer Today

The good news is that the bar is low: expectations for Q1 are for earnings growth of only about one percent year over year. Regardless: what's priced into the market is that the economy is improving and earnings will get better. Still, the commentary from the companies are clearly disappointing in the last 24 hours. These are bellweather companies, and it plays into the hands of those who claim that the Fed has been the big help to stocks. No argument there, but there's an additional point: corporations are now super-efficient and are looking microscopically at costs (look at what Fed Ex said!), but somewhere we have to find organic growth. That will be tough with 1 to 2 percent GDP growth. I think for the moment traders will give the market the benefit of the doubt. But this is troubling. Elsewhere: 1) Global markets mostly down, the standout is Japan, where the Nikkei is up another 1.3 percent to a 5-year high, as Haruhiko Kuroda began his first day as the new head of the Bank of Japan. European stocks mostly lower on soft regional manufacturing data. The ECB statement that they will only provide Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to Cyprus through Monday, unless a bailout deal is reached, is also likely weighing on stocks. (Watch: Report from Cyprus: ATM Lines Grow, Worries Mount ) Three alternatives are possible with Cyprus: a) With the Russian unlikely to grant a loan sufficiently large to cover the roughly 7 billion euro hole they need to fill, the Cypriots will be forced to return to a deposit tax on those with deposits over 100,000 euros, likely in the 15 percent range; b) a more complicated deal involving some deposit tax coupled with an offer of money in exchange for future gas revenues. c) Cypriot banks default and Cyprus leaves the eurozone. No matter what happens, there will be capital flight and it's possible Cyprus' offshore bank haven model may be effectively destroyed. Longer term, this might be another one of those watershed moments, an indication of what is to come for the eurozone, i.e. more private sector involvement, more taxes of one kind or another. Call it Private Sector Involvement (PSI), call it "bail-ins", call it whatever you want, but locals are going to pay an increasing share of the debt overhang problem in Europe, taking its place alongside debt restructurings, Troika bailouts, and ECB liquidity injections. 2) Big week for IPOs continue: Aviv REIT (AVIV) and Enanta Pharmaceuticals (ENTA) - are set to make their trade debuts today. AVIV will trade on the NYSE, priced 13.2 million shares at $20 each…the high end of its $18-$20 price talk. The company owns mostly nursing facilities. ENTA will trade at the NASDAQ, priced four million shares at $14 apiece, at the low end of the $14-$16 range. Haven't had an IPO REIT since Silver Bay in December. By the way, AVIV said they would be projecting a 7 percent dividend yield, if came at $20, that would be a $0.35 a quarter yield. —By CNBC's Bob Pisani

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100290441

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Midday Movers: CSCO, CTXS & More

Shoe Carnival gained after it declared a $1 a share special cash dividend. It kept its quarterly dividend at 5 cents a share. Aetna rose after reaching a $120 million settlement over reimbursements. Avon moved higher on speculation that Coty is coming back with a takeover offer. Deckers Outdoor moved higher on renewed takeover speculation. Freeport McMoRan rebounded after Oracle Investment Research gave the company a "strong buy" recommendation, calling the recent selloff an opportunity to participate in a commodity cycle upswing. Oracle put a $60 price target on the stock. Gulfport Energy moved lower after Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy." Amarin lost ground after it said it will begin hiring a sales force to launch its cholesterol-reducing fish oil pill, disappointing investors who thought it would have a partner by now. Geo Group jumped after the company's board authorized the private-prison operator to divest certain health-care assets as it moves to converting itself to a REIT by 2013. It will also pay a special dividend of $5.68 a share. Analogic fell on weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings. Comtech Telecommunications moved lower after its first-quarter earnings fell 41 percent on weaker sales. The maker of advanced communications systems also lowered its full-year outlook. (Read More: See CNBC's Market Insider Blog) —By CNBC's Rich Fisherman. Questions? Comments? Email us at marketinsider@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/44967505

ORCL

Oracle Corporation

Pro Traders ID 9 Hot Stocks in a Tepid Market

On Thursday investors were again struggling with uncertainty in the market with the potential for a sharp sell-off looking about as likely as a sharp rally. The catalyst again was Europe – with an important summit scheduled for this weekend. Bulls are hoping leaders make strong progress toward a solution – something Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy suggested was quite possible earlier in the month. However, late newspaper reports out of Europe are saying that’s not the case and some are even saying the meeting could be postponed. Ready to pull your hair out? No need. The Fast Money traders say the way to navigate this market is to look for single stock stories. And they've spotted a slew of them. Here’s how the Fast Money traders are positioning. Strategy Session with the Fast Money traders “I’d look at eBay ," says Guy Adami. The stock sold off post earnings with investors worried about the company's marketing costs however Adami thinks it's a buy due to the company's PayPal business. (click here to find out Adami's 'Buy' level for eBay) "And I’d look at Microsoft post earnings," he says. "If it sells off I’d pull the trigger.” Adami also tells us Yahoo! is on his radar because it’s up in a down tape. ”I’d also look at tech,” adds trader Patty Edwards, "the earnings reports have not been that bad. But I’d play it long Oracle as a play on corporate tech spending.” Trader Steve Grasso says his clients will often look at what’s working – what’s green -and on Thursday that was ag stocks. “Look at Mosaic , Agrium, Potash and CF Industries ," he says. Trader Phil Pearlman suggests capitalizing on “the oscillation between risk on and risk off.” He suggests making a buy list and buying when things look like they’re going sour. What does Pearlman like? “Look at Intel ,” he says. “They reported a really solid quarter – they’re growing in China and the PC market is not dead. “ ______________________________________________________ Got something to to say? Send us an e-mail at fastmoney-web@cnbc.com and your comment might be posted on the Rapid Recap. If you'd prefer to make a comment, but not have it published on our Web site, send those e-mails to fastmoney@cnbc.com. Trader disclosure: On Oct 19, 2011, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders; Adami Owns AGU; Adami Owns C; Adami Owns GS; Adami Owns INTC; Adami Owns MSFT; Adami Owns NUE; Adami Owns BTU; Edwards is owns AAPL; Edwards is owns C; Edwards is owns GOOG; Edwards is owns GLD; Edwards is owns AMZN; Edwards is owns QCOM; Edwards is owns MSFT; Edwards is owns V; Edwards is owns EBAY; Edwards is owns PM; Edwards is owns WLT; Edwards is owns LQD; Edwards is owns JNK; Grasso owns AA; Grasso owns AKS; Grasso owns ASTM; Grasso owns BA; Grasso owns BAC; Grasso owns D; Grasso owns KEG; Grasso owns LIT; Grasso owns MHY; Grasso owns PFE; Grasso owns PRST; Grasso owns S; Grasso owns XLU; Pearlman is long GLD; Pearlman is INTC; Pearlman is YHOO; Gordon is short AUD/JPY; Gordon is long TLT; Gordon is long UUP For Steve Grasso Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own CUBA Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own CSCO Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own GERN Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own HPQ Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own JPM Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own MET Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own MSFT Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own MU Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own NYX Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own PFE Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own PRST Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own UAL Stuart Frankel & Co and its partners own XRX For Rich Ilczysyzn No disclosures For Gregg Moskowitz No disclosures For Todd Gordon Aspen Trading is short AUD/JPY For Gordon Johnson No disclosures CNBC.com with wires.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/26/jim-cramers-top-10-things-to-watch-in-the-stock-market-thursday.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday

My top 10 things to watch Thursday, Oct. 26 1. Club name Meta Platforms (META) had a superb quarter , but mentioned one bit of ad spending weakness in the fourth quarter following the start of the war in the Middle East. Shares took a hit. What management didn't report was that traditionally in these crises there's a pause in spending and then it starts back up again. We just don't know when. There is still more meaningful investment in its reality labs business and meaningful hiring, both of which seemed to conflict with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency." We see no meaningful results yet from spending on the metaverse. Still a lot to like: Earnings-per-shares of $4.39 vs. Wall Street's estimate of $3.50, a big stock buyback and multiple of just 17 times next year's earnings. The big bet on a VR headset? The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses? Reality labs operating losses to increase "meaningfully." But Zuckerberg said the company's ability to deliver AI through smart glasses may up end being a "killer use case." But is this like the Google glasses? That's what we are all worried about. 2. The U.S. economy grew even faster than expected in the third quarter, with gross domestic product rising at a 4.9% annual pace. It's way too strong. We need non-inflationary data so we can handle upcoming bond auctions and selling by China. Supply of bonds can't be tempered until we get weaker data. Looking for signs of it everywhere 3. Ford, UAW reach a tentative deal to end labor strikes . Includes 25% pay increases over four years. 30% with cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Win win? Will Ford go more hybrid? Base wage up 68% to $28 an hour. We look forward to hearing more from CEO Jim Farley and the management team — including the impact of the strike on its financials — in the call with investors after the carmaker reports earnings later today. 4. ServiceNow (NOW) is still getting good orders as it helps digitize entire companies and departments in the government. It is winning some very big contracts. The number of customers paying over $10 million in Q3 increased 60% year over year. New platform called Vancouver is producing security software, too. Much stronger than anyone else save Alphabet (GOOGL). 5. We don't know what happened to Align (ALGN), other than some real declines in both starts and equipment without any real explanation. The quarterly results for the maker of 3D digital scanners and Invisalign clear aligners used in orthodontics was very disappointing. We never thought this company was cyclical. 6. Mattel (MAT) posted an earnings beat for the third quarter but muted fourth quarter guidance and bulk of Barbie gain taken. People shocked by this and the surprising forecast. Multiple questions about how this could be all there is. I don't think so, but this is the transition to entertainment and getting out of the endless Christmas holiday treadmill for the company. 7. Edwards Lifesciences (EW): We didn't get any explanation for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) sales coming in at only at 11%. No snap back in demand post pandemic. Again we don't understand it. Good for Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH), bad for HCA Healthcare (HCA). 8. IBM kept its free cash flow — $1.7 billion — which has been the problem. The company's hybrid cloud strategy is winning. Third-quarter earnings beat and raised guidance. 9. Otis Worldwide (OTIS) beat and raised on Wednesday and catches price target cuts still. This is all reactive. 10. Thermo Fisher (TMO) price target cuts endless. They had been too upbeat. Too much inventory. Pfizer (PFE) cutting back R & D for example. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. An avatar of Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., speaks during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images My top 10 things to watch Thursday, Oct. 26

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/25/jim-cramers-top-10-things-to-watch-in-the-stock-market-wednesday.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Wednesday

My top 10 things to watch Wednesday, Oct. 25 1. Microsoft's (MSFT) quarterly earnings release was simply amazing with no glitches from this Club name. Maybe major share take from Alphabet (GOOGL). Really proved the software giant is one of the most formidable players in the artificial intelligence arms race. Incredible quarter from all divisions from personal computers to gaming. Will AI invade the PC world with chips from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) this winter? Shares of MSFT up about 4% in the premarket. 2. A mailed in, unsatisfactory quarter from Alphabet with no real explanation for the slowing of its cloud business, which fell short of Street estimates, and a really paltry analysis of its NFL Sunday Ticket. Management talked about how the NFL liked it. Well, no kidding. The NFL got $2 billion for the rights. What is the league going to do, complain? I also thought the AI discussion was lame, overly focused on its chat-based tool Bard. Shakespeare at its worst? Still much good at the Club holding, but certainly not explained in the call. The stock sank 6% in premarket trading. We had an excellent note on Alphabet last night, and a separate analysis of Microsoft . I don't want to flog the Club too hard, but man our analyses were spot on. 3. Texas Instruments (TXN) post-earnings discussion was an example of the conference call at its worst. As usual, total contempt for analysts. But even worse, the industrial business ex-auto for the semiconductor company was awful. Communications is a continual bad theme. I was mesmerized by how glutted the channel is with chips. These guys still spend a lot of money in plant and equipment though and the CHIPs Act is a total windfall. Shares are down more than 5% before the bell. 4. Why the heck is Visa (V) down more than 1% this morning? The key metric here is cross-border volume and it was very good. Payments volume was up 9% for the quarter. Management announced a $25 billion buyback program and raised its quarterly dividend. I started last night's show with the thought that even good earnings can be trumped by the bond market. You are seeing this now. 5. Embarrassing amount of attention paid to Snap (SNAP), which is a finished company. SNAP is a $15 billion company. Meta Platforms (META) is $800 billion. BTW, Google's YouTube was the only star in an incoherent conference call. The parent company of Snapchat had 5% positive growth but is still losing money: $368 million loss vs $360 million loss a year ago. Still, shares were up nearly 3% in the premarket. 6. Geopolitical risks mount. The United States drew two lines in the sand. Red Line No. 1: We will "act swiftly and decisively" if Iran or its proxies attacks U.S. personnel. Red Line No. 2: The U.S. renewed a warning Monday that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack under a 1951 treaty after Chinese ships blocked and collided (deliberately?) with two Filipino vessels in South China Sea. Some in Manila have sought U.S. military support as incidents multiply. Will Chinese President Xi Jinping pull the trigger? 7. Where will the Nvidia (NVDA) chips go that were meant for China? How about back to the U.S. to take share from AMD and Intel (INTC). That is the most likely scenario. 8. Is gold breaking out? The biggest winner would be Barrick (GOLD), which is dirt cheap. Copper byproduct is "free." 9. Otis Worldwide (OTIS) reported great quarterly numbers. What has driven the industrial was record margins of 16.9% thanks to a 90 basis-point improvement in service. Organic sales of elevators is light but what matters is the strength of Chinese service biz, refurbishment and safety. 10. Is the Federal Reserve beginning to win the war on inflation? Used car sales are falling, housing cancellations are spiking. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella attends a US Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023. Stefani Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images My top 10 things to watch Wednesday, Oct. 25

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/07/here-are-the-13-stocks-jim-cramer-is-watching-including-eli-lilly-mcdonalds.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

Here are the 13 stocks Jim Cramer is watching, including Eli Lilly, McDonald's

Here are some of the tickers on my radar for Thursday, Sept. 7, taken directly from my reporter's notebook: Weekly jobless claims 216,000 versus 230,000 expected. Will a resilient labor market push Fed to slip in another interest rate hike this year? Remember, August nonfarm payrolls were stronger than expected and stepping up for a second month in a row after June's smallest monthly gain since December 2020. JPMorgan forecasts $100 billion category for so-called GLP-1 treatments such as Eli Lilly's Canaccord starts Johnson & Johnson Kenvue Is DraftKings General Mills If you like this story, sign up for Jim Cramer's Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/13/cramer-on-how-different-kinds-of-investors-can-approach-this-august-pullback-.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

How different kinds of investors can approach this August market pullback

The Nasdaq is rolling over, duh. The oils are headed higher. No kidding. So, let's sell tech and buy oils. Solid idea? Everything else, except, perhaps a handful of industrials, as well as Walmart (WMT), which reports this week, and Club name Costco (COST), which reports next month. And, the defensives are almost as toxic as the artificial intelligence-infused techs. That's really where we are, isn't it? It's like the whole stock market changed without anything changing. We are still gaga over everything AI. We are still leery over oil and gas. We keep talking about nearing the end of the Federal Reserve tightening cycle. We know inflation is cooling. But, since this dreaded month began, we have stopped believing in anything to buy except oil and we truly feel that to own Nvidia (NVDA) means you are as dumb as a bag of hammers. How could you have not sold Nvidia? That's what I keep hearing. Why are you holding that dog, I am being asked, without even a sense of sad history that my late dog Everest was re-christened Nvidia during what now amounts to the heyday of the company's incredible arc. What's the truth here? Did the fundamentals change and we didn't observe it? Or are the stocks that are now hated going to turn out to be precursors of the next downturn? Here's what I think's going on right now, and it's neither exceptional nor Earth-shaking. There are simply competing camps for your dollars and some camps, like those with AI, have too many mouths to feed while others, like the industrials, lack competition for dollars. So as the Fed reaches its interest rate-hiking conclusion, the industrials can continue to rally. That's how the Nasdaq could look like a hideously developing head and shoulders pattern and the Dow looks like the place to be. .IXIC .DJI 1M mountain Nasdaq vs. Dow 1-month performance It makes sense. We had too much hoopla involving a legitimate concept, generative AI, and we had too little love for industrials because we knew the quarters would be bad, and, for the most part, they were just OK, unless they had an aerospace or energy-saving component. Weirdly, General Electric (GE) was most blessed with both of them. Now that the quarterly reporting moment is complete and we find ourselves showing tremendous remorse for paying so much for anything that has AI as its tentpole. Look no further than ServiceNow (NOW), which tied its flag to the AI mast and ran up to $614 per share for a new 52-week high in July and is now down more than 9% from there to $557 as of Friday. I like using this one — and not, say, Nvidia which hasn't yet reported its quarter. That makes it harder to game. Nvidia is set to release earnings after the closing bell on Aug. 23. Of all the techs I follow, I think ServiceNow probably had the best quarter. ServiceNow, with revenues and free cash flow more than doubling in the last four years, handles precisely the kinds of tasks that AI is meant for: the managing of the digital and often mundane workflows that we think AI is supposed to work with hand and hand. Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, has appeared with ServiceNow chief Bill McDermott to talk about how companies can benefit from AI. If I ran a large company right now and I wanted to know how AI can make my "knowledge" workers smarter while having fewer and less expensive "support" workers on board, I would pick up the phone and call Bill, as if I didn't already have his number, and say, "Bill, you be my Accenture and my SAP , where you used to work. You tell me what I need to do to digitize, what can be digitized." I think that ServiceNow would be called in over Club name Salesforce (CRM), which is much more about client retention and acquisition or Accenture (ACN) because Accenture isn't known as an AI company, which is probably unfair but accurate. SAP wants to take over your company well beyond just AI. That said, so does ServiceNow. However, I am using it to make the point that at this red-hot minute, ServiceNow has the edge on the elevator company Otis Worldwide (OTIS) or HVAC leader Carrier Global (CARR) or steel manufacturer Nucor (NUE) or Club name and heavy machine giant Caterpillar (CAT)and a host of other well-run industrials when it comes to the certainty of high growth connected with AI. But, there are two things wrong with the ServiceNow story, and they have nothing, zero to do, with ServiceNow: one, the price-to-earnings ratio of 55 and the 43.5% advance of the stock year to date. These two numbers, and not its business, are the true obstacles to the stock's investing desirability right now. When you put it like that, you can see how there are so many lesser companies with stocks that are truly behind the 8-ball — and I would include, for the moment, Club name Apple (AAPL), which has reported, and Nvidia, which hasn't — and face uncertain stock futures. Put simply: we don't know what to pay for any of them and when you don't know what you want to pay that means you sell, which is where we find ourselves. But, that kind of logic is ephemeral. We reach conclusions like that when stocks are going down, not up. We know what to pay when we think a stock is going up, which is the going price. But, when it is going down there is no price to be paid and stocks are, correctly, uniformly for sale. Logically, I could then say let's sell them all and go buy more Dupont (DD), which we just started a position in last week, or more Caterpillar or some GE or Eaton (ETN) or a handful of other industrials. Let's keep some financials because the quality ones can work their way higher. And, let's just stay away from anything else. Let's sell some of the beloved and precious oils — they have gone from being ridiculously cheap to actually almost expensive. But, I won't do that. Let me repeat, I won't do that. That's because at a certain point the ServiceNows and the Salesforces and even the Apples — now in a hate cycle once again — can be owned and the Nvidias can be bought after it reports and goes lower, as the stock seems to indicate. Or, let me put it another way that may be clearer. I love Fantasy Football and I love its relation to picking stocks. The two are so alike it is a little eerie and I even thought at one time that doing a Fantasy Football online program, Bull Market Fantasy, I would help bring in Club subscribers albeit at different employ. True fantasy followers know who is the best by far at his job of getting points and touchdowns. But the real game of fantasy is about how not to overpay for ANYONE. You may know that Christian McCaffrey is the single best player to draft, a fabulous San Francisco 49er running back with great hands and a nose for the goal line. Let's say he is ServiceNow. That doesn't mean, though, that if you have a limited budget and each player costs money, you will want to pay up for him. (Lots of fantasy leagues don't have salary caps but the ones that do are exactly like stock markets.) You want to pay the right price. Right now, ServiceNow and the entire cohort that makes up the AI-related stock group, and here I am talking about the real ones, not the ones who claim AI kinship, are like overvalued fantasy players They have fallen but they are still at the wrong price, the laughed-at price. You don't want to be laughed at buying them here, but you would be insane to let them fall to such low levels that may not last and they will start going right back up again without you. Right now, we are at that odd moment where it is so clear that they haven't fallen enough and we know that we can sell them tomorrow and feel great, just great about the sales. Relieved even. No Fear of Missing Out. No FOMO. But, can we get back in so easily if we leave them now? Or would we struggle? So often Club Director of Portfolio Analysis Jeff Marks and I will look at a stock that peaked at $150 and we would have sold some at $148. Next thing you know that stock is down to $143 and you say to yourself, should I buy it back? And then you think, no way, I sold it at $148, that's way too close to $143. Let's let it fall. Then it's at $140. At that point you think, ahem, it's now fallen from $150 to $140. Maybe something has changed. Maybe the story isn't as good. Maybe someone knows something. Or in the Fantasy example, maybe the player has gotten hurt and we don't know it, but some do. At that point, you are frozen. You don't know what to do. And you stay paralyzed at $135, now down 15 dollars from the high, when you should be pulling the trigger. You should be buying. But without the Fear of Missing Out juices flowing, it is very hard to pull the trigger. I think, right now, we are at the metaphorical levels of $143 for these stocks, where we all know we are overpaying, and it's not too late to sell anything, including the beloved Magnificent Seven. Every one of them. We aren't oversold. We know the market got too heated. We get that there are limited prospects away from these to own without worry. But it just seems wrong to hang on. But at $135, down fifteen from the high, or 10%, it suddenly doesn't seem so dangerous. It doesn't seem foolish. It seems like a good choice. So can you sell now at $143 and buy back at $135, or its equivalent? I say, it is worth it if you can do it and you don't want to mess up your taxes. But it is NOT worth it if you fear never getting back in. And that's the fear I identify with right now. I think your biggest fear here should be the fear of missing the bottom because we are talking about the stocks of the best companies there are. And, they are only getting stronger, not weaker, if the Fed stops tightening and we get some worldwide growth. Bottom line So my take is this: Conventional wisdom just stays extrapolate the lines of the techs and the oils and dozens of other groups and you will make money here. I want to buck conventional wisdom and have good-sized positions in the tech stocks that I actually know are going down — that we ALL actually know are going down — with the hope of actually getting bigger at the proverbial $135 mark. The people who will be selling this week aren't thinking about how to get back in. They are grateful to be getting out. But if you trimmed as we did, or if you have cash, I suggest that you do nothing. Patience. We are more likely at this point to get a greater buying opportunity in the near future than a selling opportunity now. The only case that my thinking doesn't hold up under close scrutiny is if you have little or no cash. In that case, you need to sell stocks pretty aggressively until we get oversold, raising cash to 10% like us. Because when these players reach prices that are too good to believe you will have nothing to buy them with. The twin worries: great prices and nothing to buy them with, those should be your concerns now, not the obvious decline that we find technology undergoing. Yes, FOMO has turned into GMO, or Get Me Out. You can get out. You fear no rally. You shouldn't. But you should feel it down 10% from the high. And, that's too close for comfort, for the comfortability of selling and then buying them back instead of patting yourself on the back for getting out just a few percentage points from where you needed to get back in. Remember, we'll be discussing all these crosscurrents in the market and my outlook for stocks into the end of the year on Thursday at our August Monthly Meeting livestream at noon ET. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer Rob Kim | NBCUniversal

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/22/what-we-hope-to-see-from-9-club-stocks-out-with-earnings-in-the-week-ahead.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

What we hope to see from 9 Club stocks out with earnings in the week ahead

The Nasdaq pulled back a bit this week while the S & P 500 continued to grind higher. But for a change, the Dow was the star show, with a weekly advance of more than 2%. Friday's tiny gain pushed the 30-stock average's winning streak to 10 straight sessions, the first time that's happened since way back in August 2017. Looking to next week, earnings season will ramp up — and though we'll get some important economic data, expect the corporate releases and management commentary on the post-game calls to be firmly in the driver's seat. And, the wild card, of course, is the Federal Reserve's July meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. A resumption of interest rate hikes appears to be a foregone conclusion after the June pause following 10 straight meetings of increases. Here are two important things to know for the week ahead. 1. Economic and Fed meeting : The advance estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP), which serves to provide one of the highest-level views of the U.S. economy, is out Thursday, the day after the conclusion of the Fed's meeting. While that high-level view is important to shaping our thinking on the timeline of any potential recession on the horizon, we don't think it's the most important update of the week. That designation is reserved for Friday's release of the June personal spending and income report, which contains the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the central bank's preferred measure of inflation. With consumer and wholesale inflation readings for June both coming in below expectations and both on a downward trend, we'll be looking to the PCE price index for further confirmation of whether inflation is indeed slowing. So far this year, we've seen the headline PCE trend lower but core PCE, which excludes food and energy, has proven far stickier. As we see here , the problem is really on the services side of the economy. Shelter, which is about a third of the consumer price index (CPI), was the largest driver of last month's increase. We need to see more supply in the housing market if we're going to get that number to come down more quickly. Fortunately, we'll get updated new home sales and pending home sales figures on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. New home sales will provide us with more quantitative data on pricing and inventory while the pending home sales report always has some good insights from National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun on the state of the real estate market. New details on pricing will help us understand where we stand, while information on inventory will help us better see where we might be headed. Remember, the primary issue right now is tight supply. That's putting upward pressure on list prices, which is being compounded by high mortgage rates. In the middle of all these releases, the Fed will wrap up its two-day July meeting Wednesday. At 2 p.m. ET, we'll get the latest monetary policy statement revealing the central bankers' decision rates. A quarter-point hike is expected. Expect any real move in the stock market to come as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's conference gets underway at 2:30 p.m. ET. That said, keep in mind that the PCE release comes two days after the Fed meeting so we have to take whatever is said about the inflation path ahead with a small grain of salt. After all, if the Fed is truly going to be data dependent and the most important piece of data comes out after the meeting, they don't have all the information either at the time of the press conference. 2. Quarterly earnings : As important as economic releases are, it's earnings that will garner the bulk of investors' attention. Not only do earnings provide a more detailed view of individual industries, but they also give us a chance to hear from management teams about what they are seeing in real-time and the conversations they are having with customers. Economic releases, on the other hand, tend to be higher level in nature and delayed. Nine Club names are out with quarterly results this coming week. Danaher (DHR) and GE Healthcare (GEHC) are out before the opening bell Tuesday. From Danaher, we want to hear about the inventory glut in bioprocessing. Notably, German competitor Sartorius reported earnings Friday and said they view "adverse factors to be only temporary and anticipate that demand will gradually pick up during the second half of 2023." This comes after Sartorius preannounced last month and slashed its bioprocessing outlook. It's likely the cause of the outsized 4.7% move higher we saw in Danaher shares Friday. Even if Danaher were cut to their outlook, we think the stock can hold steady on the view that it would be the last such cut, a clearing event for people to become more positive on the path forward. At GE Healthcare, which we added to just this past week, we'll be looking for any commentary around hospitals looking to step up their diagnostic infrastructure investments, including PET scanners and MRI systems, in order to support the launches of new Alzheimer's treatments. Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL) will report after the closing bell Tuesday. At Microsoft, it's all about Azure growth in the reported quarter and management's commentary on customer cloud optimization trends. As a reminder, management does not provide guidance on the earnings release, they only provide it at the end of management's prepared remarks on the earnings call. So, any move before the guidance is discussed is not to be trusted. As for Alphabet, we want to hear how cost optimization efforts are going and the latest on their generative AI initiatives. Additionally, with the company raising the cost of YouTube Premium this past week, it will be interesting to hear about how the platform may be benefitting from the strike in Hollywood as consumers start to feel starved for new content. Moving right along, we have Meta Platforms (META) reporting after the bell Wednesday. In addition to all the things we usually look for, such as active user numbers and average revenue per user, we want to hear about the progress in monetizing Reels. Will it no longer be a headwind come 2024? And, are those AI initiatives helping to improve ad targeting and attribution rates? Thursday morning, we hear from Linde (LIN) and Honeywell (HON). We booked some profits in Linde last month but still think it has significant growth prospects, due to the earnings-compounding nature of its business and incremental wins related to decarbonization. In addition to decarbonization efforts, we'll be listening to management's commentary on customer demand. Sitting so high up in the supply chain, the industrial gas giant can tell us a lot about demand across industries. Remember, these industrial gasses are used in everything from electronics to food and beverages, health care, manufacturing, metals and mining, the chemical and energy industries, and so much more. Linde's results can help us round out our thinking on inflation as any price action taken by the company is sure to have a ripple effect throughout the economy as customers will seek to pass through costs and protect profit margins. As for Honeywell, though we expect the strength we saw in Aerospace as well as Performance Materials and Technologies in the first quarter to have continued into the second, we're hoping for positive updates on supply, which management called out last time as an ongoing headwind containing top-line performance. We'll also be listening in for management's thoughts on the mergers and acquisitions (M & A) landscape. Thursday after the bell brings earnings from Ford (F). In addition to any commentary, management may care to share about its electric vehicle charging partnership with "frenemy" Tesla , we want to hear about management's thinking behind Ford's latest round of price cuts . Is demand an issue? Or has the team managed to cut battery costs and increase production to the point where the cost per vehicle is down enough that increased volumes at a lower price point can yield better returns overall? The last report of the week will be from Procter & Gamble (PG) before the bell Friday. Sales mix is always something to listen to because it informs margin dynamics. Additionally, with inflation an ongoing issue, we will be listening for any commentary on whether consumers are "trading down" to cheaper alternatives or if the value of P & G innovation is keeping them loyal. Recall, management has been playing with packaging in order to have something for those that want to buy bulk and save on a per-unit basis and buy less with a smaller cash outlay (at higher unit price points). Supply chain dynamics are another big watch item for us as we think margins can improve in the back half of the year as input costs (such as freight costs or raw materials costs) come down and selling prices hold firm. For those looking to review first-quarter performance ahead of these releases, keep our first-quarter earnings report card handy. Here's the full rundown of all the important domestic data in the week ahead. Monday, July 24 The Nasdaq 100′s special rebalance will take place before the market opens on July 24. Though some volatility wouldn't be a surprise, we reiterate that it's not a moment to panic. Any volatility has nothing to do with the underlying fundamentals of these companies. It's only happening because the fundamentals have been so strong after all. Any swings will be temporary. Earnings are what matters, not short-term market mechanics-induced moves. Before the bell earnings: Domino's Pizza (DPZ), Dynex Capital (DX), HBT Financial (HBT), Hope Bancorp (HOPE) After the bell: Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Cadence Design Systems (CDNS), Whirlpool (WHR), Logitech International (LOGI), Liberty Global (LBTYA) Tuesday, July 25 FOMC meeting begins 10 a.m. ET: Consumer confidence Before the bell: Danaher, GE Healthcare , Verizon Communications (VZ), General Motors (GM), 3M (MMM), General Electric (GE), Spotify (SPOT), Nucor (NUE), Raytheon Technologies (RTX), PulteGroup (PHM), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Biogen (BIIB), Albertsons Companies (ACI), Polaris Industries, Inc (PII), Dow Chemical (DOW), Corning (GLW), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Xerox (XRX) After the bell: Microsoft, Alphabet , Snap (SNAP), Visa (V), Texas Instruments (TXN), WM (WM), Canadian National Railway Company (CNI), Chubb Corporation (CB), Universal Health Services (UHS) Wednesday, July 26 10 a.m. ET: New home sales FOMC meeting ends; 2 p.m. ET policy statement and 2:30 p.m. ET Powell news conference Before the bell: AT & T (T), Boeing (BA), Coca-Cola (KO), Hilton (HLT), Union Pacific (UNP), General Dynamics (GD), Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Otis Worldwide (OTIS) After the bell: Meta Platforms , Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), ServiceNow (NOW), Lam Research (LRCX), eBay (EBAY), Mattel (MAT), Edwards Lifesciences (EW), Hewlett Packard (HP), L3Harris Technologies (LHX), Imax (IMAX) Thursday, July 27 8:30 a.m. ET: Gross domestic product 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial jobless claims 10:00 a.m. ET: Pending home sales Before the bell: Linde, Honeywell , Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL), McDonald's (MCD), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Mastercard (MA), Crocs (CROX), AbbVie (ABBV), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Overstock (OSTK), Hertz Global (HTZ), Tractor Supply Company (TSCO), Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP), HCA Healthcare (HCA), PG & E (PCG), Boston Scientific (BSX), Hershey (HSY), Comcast (CMCSA), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Mobileye Global MBLY), Norfolk Southern (NSC) After the bell: Ford, Intel (INTC), Roku (ROKU), First Solar (FSLR), T-Mobile US (TMUS), United States Steel Corp (X), KLA Corporation (KLAC), Skechers (SKX), Mondelez (MDLZ), Boston Beer Company (SAM), SkyWest (SKYW), Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), Texas Roadhouse (TXRH), Deckers Brands (DECK) Friday, July 28 8:30 a.m. ET: Personal income and spending 8:30 a.m. ET: PCE price index Before the bell: Procter & Gamble , Exxon Mobil(XOM), Chevron (CVX), Charter Communications (CHTR), AstraZeneca (AZN), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Newell Brands (NWL), Sanofi (SNY), Church & Dwight (CHD). (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. Spencer Platt | Getty Images

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/cramer-monday-the-3-things-driving-the-global-sell-off-in-stocks.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

What Cramer is watching Monday — the 3 things driving the global sell-off in stocks

What I am looking at April 25, 2022 The worldwide sell-off, with China's Shanghai composite dropping more than 5% on Monday, is based on three things: 1) Ukraine-Russia War; 2) Nationwide lockdown coming in China; 3) Inflation and the need for aggressive rate hikes in United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin make "surprise visit" to Kyiv, ratcheting up war as the goal is to contain Russia to old borders. China's capital city of Beijing reported a spike in Covid cases over the weekend, and its business district began three days of mass testing. But China's vaccine doesn't last as long and offers little protection at this point versus the U.S. vaccines and the mix-and-match booster doses. U.S. inflation is now just out of control, period. Company conference calls with investors — other than tech — all show persistent problems and a lack of a desire to build plants to fix them. The U.S. is getting better at supply chain, but economy needs to slow down. Shares of Twitter (TWTR) jumped more than 5% in premarket trading Monday on reports the social media company is nearing a deal with Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk. Goldman downgrades Verizon (VZ), which really had a poor quarter, and upgrades AT & T (T). I don't understand the latter. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is down again as public sells stock ... and an easy short. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) upgraded to a "strong buy" from a buy at Raymond James. Shares of this Club name traded at $161 not that long ago … now around $88. Getting attractive to buy back shares the Club sold. Marvell Technology (MRVL) upgraded to buy from hold. This chipmaker is the least impacted by global trends, but it has meant nothing. Deere (DE) cut to hold from buy at Bank of America. Odd given that the agricultural cycle is so powerful. Not top of cycle, but cautious due to slowdown in fertilizer orders. Bank of America reinstates Azek at neutral and starts Trex with a sell, sees "challenging outlook" after surge in 2021. Is this the beginning of the end of the housing cycle? Stephens takes Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) to buy from hold. We had CEO Steve Steinour on last week and the company is doing fabulously — 4.5% yield. One of the best banks to own. Reminds me of First Horizon (FHN). Renaissance in the heartland? Starbucks (SBUX) price target cut to $108 from $125 at Barclays, but analyst maintains its buy rating. I think numbers are too high as denominator of share count grows. Credit Suisse says stick with Microsoft (MSFT) despite headwinds. The Club is doing so. Itching to buy back stock we sold not that long ago to avoid the sell-off. Shares topped out in November with all the growth stocks. Recent Club addition Coterra Energy (CTRA) downgraded to hold at Susquehanna. Crucial company for liquefied natural gas. We will take the other side of the trade. But price targets raised for Devon Energy (DVN), EOG Resources (EOG), Pioneer Natural (PXD), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), and Diamondback Energy (FANG). Raymond James raises price target for APA Corp. to $75 from $59. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi with odd call saying there could be an upside surprise to sales and earnings when Apple (AAPL) reports later this week? Is this a set up for disappointment? It would make sense. Visa (V) reports this week. Citis lowers price target to $265 from $285 — a "chase down." So many of these. MasterCard (MA) cut to $435 from $445. There is nothing wrong with these, but a belief that the world must be slowing. Citi likes the catalyst-rich notion of owning Fortinet (FTNT) here. One of the strongest secular trends is to fight the cyber attackers. Our favorites remain Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and CrowdStrike (CRWD). PPG price target lowered to $180 from $200 at Baird, $155 from $180 at Deutsche Bank. Coca-Cola (KO) beat analysts' expectations on sales and earnings in recent quarter. I like but we know it is a snapshot in time. Citi likes HCA Healthcare (HCA) here and is now pricing in downside. The risk reward does seem good here after earnings debacle last week. Staffing shortages caused shortfall (unusual). Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) price target lowered to $180 from $230 at Barclays. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) misses — collapse in gaming? Bank of America lowers estimates for homebuilders. Homebuilder valuation attractive though …demand should moderate … earnings and margins peak-high mortgage .. Lennar (LEN), Pultegroup (PHM), Toll Brothers (TOL), KB Home (KBH). Semiconductor equipment supply worsens, but still early for demand cracks in most markets. Autos — lower production and higher commodity. Rentals best positioned. Second time estimates cut. Gap (GPS) upgraded to buy on compelling risk reward — Guggenheim. Shares are 70% off highs. Retailer could sell or spin off Athleta. Real estate value. E-commerce value. Snowflake (SNOW) initiated with a buy at Wolfe Research, says the software maker has potential "to become the 4 th hyperscaler." Otis Worldwide (OTIS) on tonight. Reports first-quarter adjusted EPS 77 cents, versus consensus 74 cents. Full year tightened range, sees organic sales up 3%-4% for fiscal year 2022. Shopify (SHOP) price target slashed to $1,000 from $1,300 at RBC Capital. Stifel cuts to $800 from $1,000. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AAPL, AMD, CTRA, DVN, MRVL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. In this handout photo from the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd from left) and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (left) attend a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 24, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukraine Presidential Press Service | Getty Images What I am looking at April 25, 2022

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/27/apple-earnings-federal-reserve-meeting-in-the-week-ahead.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

Stocks may face an inflection point in the week ahead as the Fed meets and Apple posts earnings

January's market rally faces a major test in the week ahead from multiple major events, the most important of which could be the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement and press conference. The Fed's meeting Tuesday and Wednesday comes amid a flood of corporate earnings reports, with about 20% of the S & P 500 reporting that week. The most important day for earnings is Thursday, when Apple , Alphabet and Amazon report after the bell. There is also important economic data with the employment cost index out on Tuesday and Friday's January jobs report. Both will be watched for signs of how much the central bank has cooled the labor market with its rate hiking. That could provide some rough guidance as to how much more the Fed will seek to raise rates. "The markets are at an inflection point," said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services. "I think it's going to be a critical week. We're still on the defensive, but there's a lot of important data points that could shift this market." Stocks have rallied since the start of the year, with the most beaten-down names outperforming. Two big loser sectors in 2022, tech and communications services, have led the market higher and are on track for double-digit gains this month. The Nasdaq Composite was up 11% for the month as of Friday afternoon, well ahead of the 6.5% gain in the S & P 500. Traders have been watching the S & P 500 edge closer to the key threshold of 4,100 , its high from December. The index closed at 4,070 Friday, with a 2.5% gain for the week. .SPX 1Y line s and p "We're at the top end of this trend line. We're either going to break out in a convincing way, or we're going to roll back over," said Lerner. "We're going to get what this market cares about most — the Fed and earnings." Earnings so far are beating expectations at about a 68% pace, according to Refinitiv, but some of the guidance has been troubling. "For every great report, American Express , Chevron, there's a company that's getting punched in the nose, like Intel, " said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Financial. He said Apple, the stock with the largest market cap, has the potential to turn the market one way or other. "You've got a company that sold off precipitously in the beginning of the year to $125, and now it's closer to $150. It's not priced for perfection, but it's priced for better news, a beat and a raise," said Hogan. "If there's one company that has the potential to upset the apple cart, it's that one — pun intended." AAPL 1Y line apple Apple is also important because of the signals it can send about the strength of the consumer, supply chains and China's reopening. Fed ahead The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point Wednesday afternoon, though it is not expected to make other changes in its outlook or forecasts. The Fed has raised interest rates seven times since last March, and its fed funds target rate range is now 4.25% to 4.5%. "At this point in time, they still have to double down," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG. "The Fed is in the uncomfortable position of holding on to its hawkishness even if internally they debate what is the further restrictive territory, how far they go." Swonk said Fed Chair Jerome Powell is unlikely to speak definitively about slowing down rate hikes, though the markets are still expecting policymakers to stop soon and even cut rates by year-end. "For now, we've moved into restrictive territory," said Swonk. "The risk that they fear is a repeat of 2021 ... where they were head-faked and all of a sudden inflation started picking up again." She expects the internal debate to heat up in March about how much further the central bank will go with its hikes. By then, it should have more insight into whether inflation is really cooling and whether the jobs market is weakening. The Fed forecasts a jump in the unemployment rate which could cool both the economy and inflation. "They can't signal they're backing down unless we get a more definitive move in inflation, going rapidly lower," said Swonk. "The jobs data is important, ECI [employment costs] is important. ... The consumer weakened in the fourth quarter. The downward revision in consumer spending, that set the stage for weaker first-quarter growth." Swonk expects slower job growth for January, but she said the employment report could still show about 200,000 jobs created because of labor hoarding by companies that had a tough time finding workers. "The jobs report is in the precarious position of needing to be worse," said Hogan. He said that though the payrolls data comes after the Fed meeting, the market will be watching for signs of a weaker labor market and a chance for the central bank to start positioning to end its hiking cycle. Oil drill A committee of OPEC+ ministers meets Wednesday, but the group is unlikely to recommend action on production levels, after OPEC+ announced a 2 million barrel a day cut last fall. OPEC+ is made up of OPEC, Russia and other non-OPEC producers. "I don't think they're going to do anything. They're going to say they're monitoring the situation," said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital. He said what goes on behind the scenes may be more interesting. "If there's going be something coming out of the group, it's going to be consternation about Russia and all the cheap oil they're selling to India and China," he said. But he doubts there will be any public comments on the topic. The European Union has cut off purchases of seaborne Russian oil, but it is still finding ways onto the global market at reduced prices. Oil prices have been rising recently in part on expectations China's reopening will boost demand. But West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down just under 1% since the start of the year and settled at $79.68 per barrel Friday. Week ahead calendar Monday Earnings : Whirlpool , Helmerich & Payne, Franklin Resources, Ryanair, NXP Semiconductors , SoFi, Canon, Samsung Tuesday Earnings: Caterpillar , Exxon Mobil, Amgen, General Motors , UPS, McDonald's, Pfizer, PulteGroup, Electronic Arts, Advanced Micro Devices, Snap , Marathon Petroleum, International Paper , Moody's, Corning, Manpower, Sysco, Stryker, Boston Properties, Oshkosh, Polaris, Spotify, Edwards Lifesciences, Canadian Pacific Railway, Match Group, Chubb, Mondelez, Owens-Illinois, MSCI, Phillips 66, Hawaiian Holdings, Western Digital FOMC meeting begins 8:30 a.m. Employment cost index (Q4) 9:00 a.m. S & P/Case-Shiller home prices (November) 9:00 a.m. FHFA home prices (November) 9:45 a.m. Chicago PMI (January) 10:00 a.m. Consumer confidence (January) 10:00 a.m. Housing vacancies (Q4) Wednesday Earnings: Meta Platforms , Novartis, T-Mobile US, Altria, GlaxoSmithKline, Peloton Interactive, Boston Scientific, Scotts Miracle-Gro , Waste Management, Netgear, Aflac , McKesson, TrueBlue, MetLife, Allstate, SLM, AmerisourceBergen, Brinker, Otis Worldwide, Thermo Fisher , Aflac, Qorvo, Johnson Controls Vehicle sales (January) 8:15 a.m. ADP employment (January) 9:45 a.m. S & P Global manufacturing PMI (January final) 10:00 a.m. ISM manufacturing (January) 10:00 a.m. Construction spending 10:00 a.m. JOLTS (December) 2:00 p.m. FOMC statement 2:30 p.m. Fed Chair Jerome Powell briefing Thursday Earnings: Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Ford, Eli Lilly, Merck , Bristol Myers Squibb, ConocoPhillips, Intercontinental Exchange, Qualcomm, Starbucks, Gilead Sciences, Clorox, Harley-Davidson, Honeywell, Estee Lauder, Skechers, U.S. Steel, Post Holdings, Cirrus Logic, Hartford Financial , Boyd Gaming, Shell, Air Products, Ball Corp., Tradeweb, Illinois Tool Works, Synaptics, Beazer Homes, Parker Hannifin, Canada Goose, Quest Diagnostics, Stanley Black & Decker, Lazard, Cardinal Health , Deckers Outdoor, GoPro 8:30 a.m. Initial jobless claims 8:30 a.m. Productivity and costs 10:00 a.m. Factory orders Friday Earnings: Cigna, Aon , Church & Dwight, CBOE Global Markets, Regeneron Pharma, Sanofi, Zimmer Biomet, LyondellBasell 8:30 a.m. Employment (January) 9:45 a.m. S & P Global services PMI (January final) 10:00 a.m. ISM services (January)

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/jim-cramers-top-10-things-to-watch-in-the-stock-market-thursday-meta.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday: Fed, peak earnings, META

My top 10 things to watch Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023 1. The Federal Reserve is saying exactly what it should say, allowing all people to dream what they want to dream. It vowed on Wednesday to keep fighting inflation and raised interest rates by 25 basis points. But the market seemed to rebound on Chair Jerome Powell's statement that inflation has "eased somewhat." It's still all about wages. We need wages lower, but there are only so many points you can really tack on without really gulling the economy. 2. Bears at pivot as we are back to where we were at Jackson Hole moment in August when Powell pledged to continue to use its tools to attack inflation. Those who have sat out this rally are now talking about how we need a breather. 3. Thursday is the biggest single day of earnings this season for the Club, with nine of our holdings reporting — three before the bell and six after the close. That list includes mega-caps Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN), as well as household names Starbucks (SBUX) and Ford Motor (F). Check your inboxes and the site all day for updates and analyses. 4. Momentary tech ascendance in the market as quarterly results have not been as bad as feared. Consider Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Shares bounced Wednesday after AMD delivered a Q4 beat after the bell on Tuesday. We were also reassured by CEO Lisa Su's confidence in the chipmaker's data-center outlook. 5. Meta Platforms (META) sounded like the mature company that we have been waiting for when it reported earnings on Wednesday after the bell. Beats on top and bottom lines. Just got too cheap and then got some growth and some cost cuts. They are being so judicious and they didn't emphasize the metaverse on the conference call with investors, even as they are still spending. The social media company also announced a $40 billion buyback. It's all in the tone, the recognition that there are shareholders. Huge multiple expansion. Many PT raises, including Bank of America's lift to $220 from $160. 6. Honeywell (HON) shares fell in the premarket on Thursday after reporting slight miss on revenue and a beat on adjusted earnings per share. Market judged weak immediately, but we have seen this movie before. No room for mixed cyclicals and even the good ones aren't going up for now. 7. Brinker (EAT), which owns and operates Chili's, reported a strong quarter with margins returning to double digits. The company represents a great paradigm: the less wealthy customers have dropped off as price was taken, but the wealthier are spending like crazy making it so the quarter was much better. Barclays and Citi raised their price targets. 8. Multiple price target boosts for Peloton (PTON). That's because this subscription model is run by a pro in CEO Barry McCarthy and the customers are re-upping nicely. Taking share and has a place in the workout panoply because many people feel comfortable working out from home. Now just another successful sub company like McCarthy ran at Netflix (NFLX) and Spotify (SPOT). 9. Elevator company Otis Worldwide (OTIS) says business in the eurozone is the strongest of any right now. The most building is occurring there and the Middle East (Qatar, Dubai) and not in the United States or China. Very big change that must be noticed. CEO Judy Marks delivers another excellent quarter. 10. Merck (MRK) not good enough? Shares dipped more than 1% this morning despite beating estimates on the top and bottom lines. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. CNBC My top 10 things to watch Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023

https://www.cnbc.com/select/marriott-bonvoy-american-express-credit-card-welcome-bonus/

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

New Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card welcome bonus offers — earn up to 185,000 points

If you're looking to stock up points for future Marriott hotel stays, you may be in luck. For a limited time, Marriott is offering one of the highest welcome bonus offers we've seen for new cardholders of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express ®Card. Cardholders of the Bevy card can earn 155,000 points (a value of around $1,240), while cardholders of the Brilliant card can earn 185,000 points (a value of around $1,480). If you love to travel and want to dive into the world of Marriott's points and loyalty program (which can give you access to discounted stays, free upgrades, and more), then these welcome offers are an excellent jumping-on point. Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card Learn More On the American Express secure site Rewards 6X Marriott Bonvoy® points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy; 4X points at restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarkets (on up to $15,000 in combined purchases at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets per calendar year, then 2X points). Welcome bonus Earn 155,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Annual fee $250 Intro APR None Regular APR 20.99% - 29.99% variable Balance transfer fee N/A Foreign transaction fee None Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees. Terms apply. Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card Learn More On the American Express secure site Rewards Earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. 3X points at restaurants worldwide and on flights booked directly with airlines. 2X points on all other eligible purchases. Welcome bonus Earn 185,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after you use your new Card to make $6,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Annual Fee $650 Intro APR None Regular APR 20.99% - 29.99% variable Balance transfer fee N/A Foreign transaction fee None Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees, terms apply. Marriott Bonvoy card welcome offers The Bonvoy Bevy Card and the Bonvoy Brilliant Card both offer compelling bonus offers, yet their value and benefits vary significantly. The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card welcome bonus and perks The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card is offering 155,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for new cardholders after you spend $5,000 in eligible purchases within the first six months of account opening. Travel rewards experts generally value Marriott points around 0.8 cents, so you'd earn about $1,240 towards Marriott hotel stays. That's also up from the Bevy card's usual 85,000 bonus points offering. The Bonvoy Bevy card comes with an annual fee of $250 (see rates and fees), along with benefits such as: An annual free night award (at hotels costing up to 50,000 points per night) after spending $15,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status (perks include late checkout and potential room upgrades ) and 15 elite night credits each year (which help you qualify for higher tiers of elite status) and 15 elite night credits each year (which help you qualify for higher tiers of elite status) 1,000 bonus points per paid eligible stay booked directly through Marriott Bonvoy Terms apply Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card welcome bonus and perks Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card welcome bonus offer is slightly higher than the Bevy card with 185,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after spending $6,000 in eligible purchases within the first six months of account opening. 185,000 points are worth around $1,480, and this bonus is almost double its original 95,000-point offering, With an annual fee of $650 (see rates and fees), the Bonvoy Brilliant card comes with a more robust set of perks including: $25 per month in statement credits for eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide An annual free night award (at hotels costing up to 85,000 points per night) Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status (perks may include room upgrades or late checkout) and 25 elite night credits each year (which help you qualify for higher levels of elite status) Statement credits for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck® (up to $85) Terms apply What these bonuses can get you To put this offering into perspective, let's say you're looking to book a stay in Miami. For four nights at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel in early June, you can get a room with a king bed for up to 194,000 points in total (48,000 points for the first three nights and 50,000 points for the fourth night) or roughly $1,552. That means you'd only have to pay about $72 out of pocket if you were to use the Brilliant card's welcome bonus offer, or $312 with the Bevy card. On the other hand, if you're looking for more of an escape somewhere like Hawaii, you can score two nights at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua in Maui in early June for up to 186,000 points (94,000 points the first night and 92,000 the second night), or $1,488 in total. That means you'd only pay out of pocket $8 with the Brilliant card's welcome bonus, or $248 with the Bevy card. Marriott Bonvoy credit cards welcome bonus eligibility Like other cards issued by American Express, the Bevy and Brilliant cards come with certain restrictions around who can earn a welcome bonus. For example, Amex won't let you open more than two of its cards within 90 days — and if you can't open a card, you certainly can't qualify for its welcome bonus. Amex also only allows you to earn a welcome bonus once per card per lifetime, so if you've had that specific card before, you won't be able to earn the welcome bonus again. In addition to the restrictions set by Amex, each card has its own rules for qualifying for its welcome bonus. Marriott Brilliant card bonus restrictions To qualify for this card's welcome bonus offer, you must not: Already have or have had the Bonvoy Brilliant card Have or have had the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card or previous versions of these cards Have or have had the Chase Ritz-Carlton® Credit Card in the last 30 days Have opened the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card and Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card in the last 90 days Have received a welcome bonus or upgrade offer from the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card or Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card in the last 24 months Marriot Bevy card bonus restrictions If you want to earn the Marriott Bevy card bonus, you must not: Already have or have had the Bonvoy Bevy card Have or have had the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card Have or have had any of the following cards in the last 30 days: Chase Ritz-Carlton Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card or several cards that are no longer available to new applicants Have opened the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card or Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card in the last 90 days Have received a welcome bonus or upgrade offer from the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card or Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card in the last 24 months Subscribe to the CNBC Select Newsletter! Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox. Sign up here. Why trust CNBC Select? At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every personal finance article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of financial products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date. For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express Card click here. For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express ®Card, click here. Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/26/what-cramer-is-watching-wednesday-mortgage-demand-collapses-tech-red-flags.html

OTIS

Otis Worldwide

What Cramer is watching Wednesday — mortgage demand collapses, tech red flags

What I am looking at Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022 Worst mortgage demand since 1997 . The broadening case for the end of Federal Reserve interest rate tightening and the strong dollar, which has dropped sharply in recent days. Early, weaker quarterly summary on tech Tuesday evening from Club holdings Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Tech continues to be the anti-leader, the group that turns out to be more cyclical, more levered to advertisers who were weaker than thought (crypto, real estate, gambling) and more unwilling to make cuts. For example, Alphabet actually hired 12,000 people. Do they not know how to fire? Companies growing increasingly concerned that halcyon days are over. Here's a broad overview. No longer in early innings of the cloud, and cloud costs, especially electricity, are way up. Multiples have not come down yet to reflect weakness except at Google-parent Alphabet. Unrealistic disconnect between what is happening in the economy and their own businesses. Much more impacted by Covid (these were Covid stay at home companies). Much more impacted by the Fed than thought. Really all smoked by TikTok, which came out of nowhere to crush margins and take sales. Microsoft weakness is not just in personal computers but the cloud; and cloud is turning out to be expensive to run as it was for Alphabet. So not immune. Cloud has costs like energy. Weakest in five years. Again, an unrealistic state of mind. I do not think that either Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella or CFO Amy Hood think there's anything fundamentally wrong or even slowing other than PCs, and instead they're doing just a reset. Alphabet's Google seems to believe that this is a temporary decline with the exception of some competition from TikTok. Very unrealistic view of what will occur going forward. The ancillary products have not produced enough and the cloud will require more spend without more results. No wonder Google trades at 20x. Readthrough to Club holding Meta Platforms (META), which reports its quarter after the bell Wednesday, is pretty dire because it doesn't even have consumer goods, which have held up relatively well. Club holding Ford (F) also reports after the bell Wednesday. Texas Instruments (TXN) paints an incredibly grim situation for personal electronics, which it says is down 50%. But TXN not really cutting capital expenditures (capex) and buying back 10% of company stock. Slowdown seeping into industrials now. This stock should be down a great deal. Elevator and escalator maker Otis Worldwide (OTIS) is a good readthrough on global economy. U.S. extremely strong. China, 20% weaker but not in service. Raw costs have come down in China. Boeing (BA) reported a quarterly loss stemming from charges over the contract for new Air Force One aircraft negotiated under former President Donald Trump. However, Boeing did generate nearly $3 billion in free cash flow. Breakout quarter for Boeing because of wide body demand and no more planes left. Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) appoints interim CEO Sue Gove to the position permanently. Gove was named interim CEO this summer after the company's board pushed out former CEO Mark Tritton. Buy Club name Constellation Brands (STZ) off of Canopy Growth (CGC) separation. Disney (DIS) reiterated as overweight (buy) rating at Morgan Stanley, which says shares reflect some macro risk. Expect better numbers but still lowers. Disney+, a dice roll. Has been underearning. Mattel (MAT) strong film slate next year. Disney princess contract beginning of 2023. Barbie will reignite. Wells Fargo upgrades Club holding Halliburton (HAL). Service intensity has increased. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long GOOGL, MSFT, HAL, DIS. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. A "For Sale" sign outside a house in Albany, California, on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images What I am looking at Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/10/cramer-lists-4-things-propelling-nvidias-booming-business.html

PCAR

Paccar

Cramer lists 4 things propelling Nvidia's booming business

"Nvidia makes the best graphics processors around. Gaming was up 49 percent as this company makes graphics chips that can run gorgeous games on your PC or power the new Nintendo Switch, which is the hottest console in the universe," Cramer said. The " Mad Money " host said the first driver for Nvidia's blowout success was the fast-growing area of virtual gaming. The company, led by CEO Jensen Huang, delivered $1.94 billion of revenue in the first quarter and 48 percent year-over-year growth. It also gave bullish second-quarter guidance. After Nvidia's stock popped over 17 percent on Wednesday following Tuesday's strong earnings report , Jim Cramer had to piece together what drives the gains for the outperforming chipmaker. E-sports are gaining popularity rapidly, a boon to Nvidia's bottom line. On the post-earnings conference call, its CEO nodded to the gaming sector's positive impact on business. "With apologies to the start of the baseball season, E-sports is now as popular among the U.S. male millennials as American's favorite pastime," Huang said. "More people will be gaming than HBO, Netflix, ESPN and Hulu combined." And with Nvidia client Electronic Arts beefing up its new Star Wars Battlefront II game for a November release, Cramer has no doubt that this trend will accelerate. The next group of drivers are Nvidia's clients in the professional visualization space, more commonly known as the virtual images companies use to let customers preview their products. "Nvidia's chips are being used by everybody, from Lockheed Martin for reliable virtual reality for the U.S. Navy to Ikea," Cramer said. With the new administration promising to bolster the U.S. military and e-commerce sales on the rise, the forecast for that area of Nvidia's business looks sunny as well. Nvidia's third booster comes from the data center space, where its business is now three times larger than it was one year ago, Cramer said. "Amazon Web Services, Facebook , [Alphabet's ] Google, IBM and Microsoft all rely on their chips — who else is there — to power their cloud platforms because of Nvidia's artificial intelligence prowess," he added. Fourth but not least is Nvidia's burgeoning auto business, which grew at 24 percent last quarter. The company's products are now in 225 car and truck models, and Nvidia's recent partnerships with Bosch , the world's biggest auto supplier, and Paccar , a leading truck manufacturer, show the company making definitive forays into the autonomous vehicle space. "Huang made it clear that because of the Amazon effect, there is a shortage of professional drivers coming. You'll need autonomous cars and trucks to power everything from shuttles and vans to pizza delivery in the not too distant future," Cramer explained. "You could understand from this call why Intel had to buy Mobileye. More chips for autonomous cars. Without it, Nvidia could leave the world's largest chipmaker behind." Cramer walked away from the conference call with confidence that Nvidia is a leader in these monumental areas that position it to seriously benefit from growth in products like Amazon's Echo and Alexa and industries like gaming, which now serves 30 million people. But being present in some of the market's hottest areas is not enough, Cramer said. Nvidia's intellectual property and skills in artificial intelligence are really what make the company's products indispensable to any technological players that want to compete. "You don't use Nvidia, you won't be able to win the enterprise or the customer," Cramer said. "No wonder the stock was the best performer in the S&P 500 last year and rallied $18 today. Artificial intelligence is here and you could argue it's here because Nvidia's processing power allows it. I doubt that any of its customers would disagree." Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Vine Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/06/early-movers-gm-hds-le-mik-giii-tho-acor-rbs-bbry-more.html

PCAR

Paccar

Early movers: GM, HDS, LE, MIK, GIII, THO, ACOR, RBS, BBRY & more

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell: General Motors – Shareholders will vote today on a proposal by investor David Einhorn to create two different classes of GM stock, one focusing on growth, the other on dividends. The annual meeting will also see a vote for company directors, with Einhorn's Greenlight Capital having nominated three board candidates. HD Supply Holdings – The industrial distributor earned an adjusted 63 cents per share for its latest quarter, three cents a share below estimates. Revenue beat forecasts. Separately, the company announced a deal to sell its Waterworks business to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for $2.5 billion in cash. Waterworks is a distributor of water, sewer, and storm prevention products. Lands' End – The apparel retailer lost 24 cents per share for its latest quarter, two cents a share wider than expected. Revenue also missed forecasts. Same-store sales rose 2.1 percent during the quarter, which the company pointed to as an encouraging sign. Michaels Cos. – The arts and crafts retailer missed estimates by a penny a share, with quarterly earnings of 38 cents per share. Revenue was also shy of estimates as comparable-store sales fell 1.2 percent. The company said that although it's pleased with current trends, a weakened Canadian dollar will impact its full-year results. G-III Apparel – The parent of apparel brands like DKNY, Wilsons Leather, and Calvin Klein lost 18 cents per share for its latest quarter, but that was less than half the 40-cent-a-share loss anticipated by analysts. Revenue beat estimates and the company raised its full-year forecast. G-III said it continues to make progress in cutting costs and that its strong brand portfolio is performing well in a challenging environment. Thor Industries – The recreational vehicle maker earned $2.02 per share for its latest quarter, beating consensus estimates of $1.89 a share. Revenue also topped forecasts, and Thor said economic conditions remain favorable for continued industry growth. Acorda Therapeutics – The drugmaker reported significantly positive results in a trial involving a new drug for Parkinson's disease. Acorda plans to file a new drug application in the U.S. by the end of the second quarter. Royal Bank of Scotland – A majority of claimants has reportedly accepted a proposed settlement in a lawsuit accusing the bank of misleading investors during a $16 billion capital raise during the financial crisis in 2008. Reuters reports that the settlement comes after days of intense talks delayed the start of a trial, which would now be avoided. Microchip Technology – The company raised its first-quarter guidance for both sales and profits, based on improved strength in its business and in industry conditions. The electronic components maker did say that it is adding capacity amid increased demand but that it could take a year for inventories and lead times to return to more normal levels. BlackBerry – BlackBerry is downplaying news that automaker Toyota is moving to rival software for its vehicle consoles. BlackBerry said its focus is shifting to the fast-growing autonomous driving market. Perrigo – Chief Executive Officer John Hendrickson is planning to retire. No timetable was given, but Hendrickson said he would stay on until a replacement was found, and then for an additional 60-day transition period. Hendrickson became the drugmaker's CEO last April after Joseph Papa left to take the top spot at Valeant Pharmaceuticals . Tesla – Tesla will resume selling rooftop solar panels in Nevada, 18 months after halting sales in that state. That comes after lawmakers reinstated an abandoned policy that required utilities to purchase excess electric power from customers. Dish Network – The satellite TV provider was ordered by a judge to pay $280 million in penalties to the federal government and four states in an eight-year-old lawsuit involving telemarketing robocalls. Casey's General Stores – Casey's reported quarterly profit of 76 cents per share, short of consensus estimates. The convenience store operator also gave a lower-than-expected forecast for the full year, although it did also announce a dividend increase. Paccar – Paccar was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" at UBS, with the firm also increasing its price target for the truck maker's stock to $75 from $66. UBS cites more positive conditions in the trucking market. Green Dot – Green Dot is working with Apple on the Apple Pay cash card announced yesterday at Apple's WWDC event, according to a Recode report. Green Dot is a provider of prepaid payment cards.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/21/markets-are-expected-to-remain-on-edge-as-the-fed-meets-in-the-week-ahead.html

PCAR

Paccar

Markets are expected to remain on edge as the Fed meets in the week ahead

Traders on the floor at the NYSE, Jan. 13, 2022. Source: NYSE Market turbulence is likely to continue in the week ahead as the Federal Reserve meets and the biggest of big tech —Apple and Microsoft — report earnings. Stocks on Friday closed out their worst week since 2020, with big losses in technology and consumer discretionary names. FANG darling Netflix was ripped after its Thursday afternoon earnings, and traders are watching to see whether the same fate will take down other big tech names. It was a painful week on Wall Street, with the Nasdaq slumping 7.6% for the week, its worst performance since March, 2020. The S&P 500 ended the week at 4,397, down 5.7%, and is now 8.7% from its Jan. 4 high. The Nasdaq has fallen 15.5% from its high and is off to its worst start to the year, through the first 14 trading days, since 2008, according to FactSet. The Federal Reserve's meeting Tuesday and Wednesday trumps everything else for markets, as investors await any new clues on how much the central bank will raise interest rates this year and when it will start. Economists expect the Fed to steer markets to a quarter-percentage-point March rate hike. There is also an avalanche of major earnings reports expected, including nearly half the Dow 30's blue chips, such as 3M, IBM , Intel, Caterpillar and American Express. The two biggest stocks in terms of market capitalization, Microsoft and Apple , report Tuesday and Thursday respectively. Tesla reports Wednesday. The economy will also be a focus with a first look at fourth-quarter GDP on Thursday, and Friday's personal consumption expenditures data, which includes the Fed's preferred inflation measure. Stocks could be in for more volatile trading, after a wild week of seesaw action resulted in steep declines in major indexes. The weakest major sectors for the week were consumer discretionary, off 8.5%, followed by communication services and technology, both lower by about 7%. Loading chart... Earnings season has been mixed so far with some high-profile negative stock reactions when investors did not like what they heard. Netflix stock cratered Friday, losing 22% after a disappointing disclosure about subscriber data when it released earnings Thursday afternoon. JP Morgan Chase fell sharply a week earlier when it reported higher expenses and slower trading activity. "We do not think that the earnings season is a macro catalyst to send the indexes significantly in one direction or the other. This is a stock-by-stock story," said Julian Emanuel, chief equity, derivatives and quantitative strategist at Evercore ISI. "The good reports are likely to be rewarded but in a much more muted fashion, whereas the companies that miss on either [revenues or earnings] are going to be disproportionately punished. It doesn't matter if you beat or miss, but if you had negative comment around margins and costs, you're going to pay a price," he added. Fed ahead The same inflation that is showing up in rising costs in company earnings and higher prices has become a major concern for the Fed. Investors will be listening closely to hear how worried the Fed is about inflation when Chairman Jerome Powell briefs the media Wednesday afternoon after the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee releases its statement. Loading chart... The Fed is not expected to raise interest rates or change policy at this meeting, but it could be setting the stage for how it will act when it finishes up its bond buying program, likely in March. Many economists expect the Fed could start raising its fed funds target rate from near-zero with a quarter-percentage-point hike in March. "The baseline is we see four hikes and the start of quantitative tightening somewhere around the middle to later in the year," Emanuel said. "I don't think the Fed is going to do anything to talk the market out of that stance." The Fed has also said it could move to shrink its balance sheet this year, and that would be another type of policy tightening, as the central bank steps back from replacing the maturing securities on its balance with market purchases. That would in essence start to decrease the size of the nearly $9 trillion balance sheet. The Fed has sounded much more hawkish, or in favor of rate hikes and other policy tightening, particularly since it released its December forecast. Powell is not likely to change his tone this week, even with stocks selling off, Emanuel said. "If Powell were going to come off sounding dovish, the presumption would be that would be a positive for the market, but we might argue that would not be," he said. "If the market doesn't really believe he's going with the four-hike plan, it's very likely that 10-year yields which have broken out of the three-year range by going over 1.80%, could make a very quick move to 2%." He added "growth is already backfooted versus value. That would be very destabilizing for the market." The Fed is already considered to be behind the curve by some Fed watchers. "The Fed has never responded this slowly to an emerging inflation risk and even today is signaling a benign hiking cycle," wrote Ethan Harris, Bank of America's head of global economic research. "If they are wrong, and inflation settles closer to 3% than 2%, it is bad news for both stocks and bonds." Bond yields stall Bond yields continued to stair-step higher early in the past week but fell back down by the end of the week. The widely watched benchmark 10-year Treasury yield touched 1.9% in the middle of the week before slipping back to 1.76% Friday. Ian Lyngen, BMO head of U.S. rates strategy, said the bond market is pricing in a move in the fed funds rate to 1.75%. He said the Fed would have to indicate it could push the funds target higher in order for the 10-year to get to 2% "We expect it will consolidate in this range until Wednesday," Lyngen said. "If the Fed does not come out as more hawkish, then we'll see a classic 'buy the rumor, sell the fact,' and the 10-year yield drifts lower." Yields move opposite price.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/20/tesla-could-add-billions-in-revenue-by-entering-the-trucking-market-analyst-says.html

PCAR

Paccar

Tesla could add billions in revenue by entering the trucking market, analyst says

A high-tech Tesla semitruck could garner billions in revenue just by capturing a small fraction of the country's trucking market, according to one analyst. While the automaker is already quite busy working on the launch of its Model 3 and the growth of its solar and energy storage business, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas says its announced entry into electric autonomous semitrucks makes "a lot of sense — maybe even more sense than passenger cars." In a research note Thursday, Jonas laid out a few hypothetical scenarios showing how Tesla could enter the industry as a manufacturer, a service provider or both. In one case, Tesla could become a truck manufacturer. If it can sell about 25,000 trucks a year, Jonas estimates the company could add $2.5 billion in annual revenue just by capturing 10 percent of the total U.S. new truck market. That would be worth about as much as selling 70,000 Model 3 cars at base prices, he said. Jonas, who has written before about Tesla's potential to enter the shared car market, also said Tesla's move could be about building a service business. For example, the automaker could sell trucks without batteries (lowering initial costs) and then offer a battery swapping service. (Tesla has, in fact, started a battery swapping pilot program for its cars, as a faster alternative to charging, but the company has not spoken much about it lately.) That business could bring $7.5 billion in revenue, Jonas said. His estimates come a few days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company will unveil the Tesla semi in September, around the time the Model 3 is supposed to enter volume production. The automaker's anticipated entry into semis could also be a boon for trucking companies. Jonas estimates an autonomous electric version could save them 60 percent to 70 percent over conventional trucks, due to lower fuel, maintenance and insurance costs. If Tesla were to lease batteries at 25 cents per mile, Jonas estimates it would cut costs for truckers in half. It would, of course, require a hefty investment. Jonas estimates Tesla would have to spend about $1.7 billion in capital upfront to supply both the trucks and the battery swap infrastructure. Jonas is not the only analyst who predicts Tesla's truck business could be big. On Wednesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Alex Potter downgraded truck manufacturers Paccar and Cummins , partly due to the potential threat from the Silicon Valley carmaker.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/03/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-aapl-sbux-mco-bid-blmn-cbs-more.html

PCAR

Paccar

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: AAPL, SBUX, MCO, BID, BLMN, CBS & more

Traders clapping on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 18, 2014 Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell: Apple – Apple reported quarterly profit of $2.07 per share, compared to consensus estimates of $1.87. Revenue also beat forecasts and Apple also gave strong current-quarter guidance. Shipments of iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers all came in above Street projections. Separately, long lines have been reported overseas as the company's new iPhone X hits stores today. Starbucks – Starbucks matched estimates by reporting adjusted quarterly profit of 55 cents per share, but the coffee chain's revenue came in below forecasts and it also trimmed its profit forecast as competition heats up. Starbucks saw its sales impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Moody's – The credit rating agency reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.52 per share, 13 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also topped analysts' forecasts. Moody's saw the strongest revenue gains from its corporate and structured finance businesses. Sotheby's – The auction house lost 45 cents per share for its latest quarter, smaller than the 68 cent loss anticipated by analysts. Revenue also exceeded forecasts, with the company benefitting from improved sales and better results from financing activities. Bloomin' Brands – The operator of Outback Steakhouse and other restaurant chains missed estimates by three cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 12 cents per share. Revenue did beat forecasts. The company also cut its full-year forecast to an adjusted $1.31 to $1.36 per share, below the current consensus estimates of $1.40. The company said its results were impacted significantly by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. CBS – CBS beat estimates by four cents with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.11 per share, although the media giant's revenue missed forecasts. Ad revenue fell by three percent, with the quarter containing one less National Football League broadcast than the year-ago quarter. AIG – AIG lost $1.22 per share for its latest quarter, wider than the 79-cent-a-share loss that Wall Street was expecting. Revenue missed forecasts, as the insurance company absorbed sizable hits from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Activision Blizzard – Activision reported adjusted quarterly profit of 60 cents per share, 11 cents a share above estimates. The video game maker's revenue also topping forecasts. Activision raised its full-year forecast, as well, with results boosted by the success of its "Destiny 2" game. Pandora – Pandora posted a quarterly loss of six cents per share, two cents a share smaller than Wall Street had projected. The streaming music service's revenue came in below forecasts, however, as Pandora faces intense competition from services like Spotify and Apple Music, and is having difficulty increasing ad sales. Tableau Software – Tableau fell a penny a share short of expectations, with an adjusted quarterly profit of eight cents per share. The analytics software maker revenue missed estimates, however, and the company gave a downbeat current-quarter forecast. Tableau's short-term results are being impacted by its ongoing shift to a subscription model. T-Mobile US – T-Mobile has made a revised offer to merge with rival Sprint , according to The Wall Street Journal, after the talks had reached an impasse. The paper said Sprint is considering the offer from its wireless service rival. Amazon.com – Amazon is ending its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service in some areas, according to a statement. A spokeswoman for Amazon told Reuters the move had nothing to do with the company's acquisition of Whole Foods earlier this year. Paccar , Navistar , Cummins – These and other truck and engine makers could get a boost today after industry tracker FTR reported that North American orders for Class 8 semi-trucks more than doubled in October from a year earlier. Boingo Wireless – Boingo lost nine cents per share for its latest quarter, four cents a share less than Wall Street had anticipated. The provider of airline WiFi services also posted better-than-expected quarterly revenue. It also raised its full-year forecast as it signs agreements with more carriers. Stamps.com – The company earned $2.68 per share for its latest quarter, well above estimates of $1.95 a share. The postage services provider also saw revenue beat forecasts. The company also raised its full-year outlook.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/03/snap-has-ipo-market-excited-but-job-impact-is-small.html

PCAR

Paccar

Snap has IPO market excited, but job impact is small

Snap has investors hoping that the IPO market may finally be taking off, after a virtually lost year in 2016. One small detail in the announcement caught my eye. What's amazing to me is that this may be the largest IPO since Alibaba — with an estimated market capitalization between $20 and $25 billion — and it has only 1,859 employees. That may seem like a lot of people, but compared to other companies with a similar market cap, it's pretty small. Employment at companies with market cap between $20 billion and $25 billion If you want to narrow the focus to just technology companies with a similar market cap, there is still far greater levels of employment among what could be called "old tech:" Employment at technology companies with market cap between $20 billion and $26 billion It's easy to understand why a company like Snap employs fewer people: the nature of most new software/social media companies is that they don't need that many people. Consider: My point? These companies — the software companies of the future — may be great engagers and they may have a great business model, but they are not going to be employing vast numbers of people. Of course, Snap is still growing. They only had roughly 600 employees the year before. So getting to 1,859 was quite a feat and they will undoubtedly add more. But not that much more. They are unlikely to ever have the 31,000 people Micron has. "If the goal is job growth, it's not going to be coming from these companies. They just don't need that many people," Cindi Profaca from IPOfinancial.com said. Fewer employees, of course, means higher productivity, and that's one of the reasons these companies are so attractive to investors. "That's why there is such high multiples for these software companies. The profit margins are really high because they can scale very easily without adding that many employees," Kathleen Smith from Renaissance Capital said. Let's hope Snap finally puts the IPO market into high gear. President Donald Trump's emphasis on cutting regulations is music to the ears of those in the small-cap universe that makes up most IPOs. Just don't expect many of these companies to move the needle on the jobs report.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/16/nvidia-develops-driverless-trucks.html

PCAR

Paccar

US chipmaker Nvidia is developing driverless trucks

U.S. chipmaker Nvidia Corp said on Thursday it was working with truckmaker Paccar Inc to develop autonomous vehicles. Paccar, which manufactures the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF lines of trucks, has developed a proof-of-concept self-driving truck using Nvidia's technology, the chipmaker said in a blog post. Nvidia, known for making graphics chips for the high-end gaming computers, has been focusing on self-driving systems and makes the DRIVE PX 2 self-driving system used by Tesla Inc. The rapidly growing market for self-driving technology has attracted companies ranging from Alphabet Inc's Waymo to chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. Intel Corp, the world's largest computer chipmaker, also jumped into the fray when it agreed on Monday to buy Israeli autonomous vehicle technology firm Mobileye for $15.3 billion.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/19/the-bounce-in-these-stocks-could-be-good-news-for-america.html

PCAR

Paccar

The bounce in these stocks could be good news for America

The recent strength in the industrial sector may be a reassuring sign to those worried about the U.S. economy. Industrial stocks surged more than 3 percent last week, outperforming the broader . The move comes along with a Wednesday report that industrial production increased more than expected in January, jumping 0.9 percent from a month earlier, compared to 0.4 percent estimates. "Although [industrial production] data can be choppy, the growth in the manufacturing component is a very encouraging sign that the industrial sector may be stabilizing in our view," Lisa Berlin wrote Thursday in a Bank of America Merrill Lynch research report. This year, market watchers and executives have referred to a potential "industrial recession," spurred by concerns about a slowdown in manufacturing and industrial production. The industrial sector has also served as a proxy for broader economic problems. JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank cited manufacturing last week as a troubling indicator when looking at recession risk. An industrial recession may be engulfing America "Seldom is the manufacturing sector in recession and the broader economy is robust," Deutsche Bank's Joseph LaVorgna wrote in a Thursday note, referring to continued concern over manufacturing data. Slowing global demand, low commodities prices and a strong U.S. dollar have all contributed to the lag in industrial strength. Copper and platinum have both fallen 20 percent over the last year. However, falling commodities prices may be a boon to industrial companies' bottom lines, said Phillip Streible, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. "If you look at their key operating costs, the key drivers are the industrial metals: platinum, palladium, copper and silver. They've all been beaten up severely over the last year and it's a benefit for [companies]," Streible said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." From a technical perspective, Craig Johnson of Piper Jaffray said the relative performance of industrial names compared to the overall market has taken a major turn. "You're starting to see this nice turn up in this relative performance. It's caught the eyes of a lot of investors," Johnson said Friday on "Trading Nation." "Some of the true industrial companies are really starting to work." Within the sector, Johnson pointed to Honeywell , Paccar , 3M , Fastenal , Avery Dennison and Illinois Tool Works as several companies that are starting to see a turnaround. "If these kinds of stocks are working now, it's a good sign that this economy is not as bad as everybody thinks it is," he said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/04/bank-of-england-adds-fuel-to-already-exploding-corporate-debt-market.html

PCAR

Paccar

Bank of England adds fuel to already exploding corporate debt market

U.S. corporate debt has already been a magnet for investors seeking better yield than they can get overseas, and the Bank of England just helped accelerate that trend with its rate cut and easy policy. Negative yields in Europe and Japan have created a bonanza for U.S. fixed income. That brings a big new buyer to an already hot corporate debt market, and its program and the programs of other central banks put downward pressure on global interest rates, even as the Federal Reserve hopes to tighten sometime later this year. The BOE cut rates by a quarter point, as expected. But as part of its policy easing, it also announced an expansion of quantitative easing , and like the European Central Bank, it included corporate bonds in its plans. U.S. corporations are on track to raise a trillion dollars in new debt this year, and the Bank of England just added more fuel to the bond fire. "I think the bigger thing is corporations get an absolute free pass to issue more debt and do whatever they want, and it's all financial engineering. Very little is going to cap ex, and I can't blame them," said Andrew Brenner, of broker-dealer National Alliance Securities. "You have historically low rates and you can basically issue debt for nothing. You can issue dividends. You can buy back stock. There's insatiable demand right now. But when it stops, it's going to hit a stone wall. That's not today." U.S. CFOs have been busy borrowing this week - even before the Bank of England move. August is usually a quiet month, but already $48.25 billion in investment grade debt has been issued, making it the fifth biggest week of the year. The Bank of England action had been expected as a response to Brexit and its potential impact on the U.K. economy as Britain moves to separate itself from the European Union. But the bank surprised the market by boosting its government bond-buying program by 60 billion pounds and adding the purchase of 10 billion pounds in U.K. corporate bonds. "Ten billion (pounds) is tiny. It's a modest amount but it leads to obviously a rally in the entire space," said Peter Boockvar, chief market strategist The Lindsey Group. "It'll trigger probably more issuance but by continuing to compress yields, you're making this appear less and less attractive to buy. Very unattractive." The corporate bond-buying program is expected to be limited only to the debt of U.K. firms that make a material contribution to the British economy. "Buying it directly or buying it indirectly has the same affect. If you have a U.K. pension manager and as corporate bonds there get ridiculously expensive, he's going to sell those and buy U.S. corporates — the Microsofts, the Apples," Brenner said. "Corporate spreads are going to stay tight. That's what we've seen from the ECB." So far this year, investment grade corporations have issued more than $850 billion in debt in the U.S. market and are on track to hit at least $1 trillion by year end, according to Informa Global Markets. Last year, they issued $1.25 trillion, topping the record $1.1 trillion in 2014. This week, Microsoft issued $19.75 billion of debt, in the fifth biggest bond deal ever. Deals on Thursday included Caterpillar Financial, Dominion Resources , Paccar and Huntington Financial, according to Informa.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/13/cramers-lightning-round-i-think-totalenergies-is-terrific.html

PCAR

Paccar

Cramer's lightning round: I think TotalEnergies is terrific

TotalEnergies SE : "I like TTE. Good yield, I like the spinoff. It's terrific. These are the kinds of things I'm looking for, by the way. I like Enbridge, too. Don't forget. Same price, same yield." AGCO Corporation : "Balance sheet is a little bit better. They bought back so much stock, I actually like that. Now I would tell you that remember if Deere has a long strike, AGCO is in like Flynn, so I like the call." Paccar : "Paccar is a great American manufacturer. I like it very much. It's a little out of favor right now, that makes no sense to me. I think it's terrific. I also like Cummins. " XL Fleet : "XL Fleet is one of the worst things I've done. I talked positively on the show, I had them on. I screwed up. I screwed up. Why? Because everybody was excited about hybrids. Me too. I cost people money, and I apologize. I should've done a better job, and it won't happen again that I can try, at least." Disclaimer

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/21/coronavirus-1-trillion-rescue-package-might-not-be-enough-for-businesses.html

PKG

Packaging Corporation of America

Congress is working on a massive coronavirus relief package — it might not be enough for businesses

(L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hold a meeting to discuss a potential economic bill in response to the coronavirus, COVID-19, in Washington, DC, on March 20, 2019. Congress is scrambling to put together a third coronavirus relief package − and lobbyists are flooding the phones. Lawmakers this weekend are pushing to meet the White House's Monday deadline of coming to an agreement on a rescue package likely to top $1 trillion. On Saturday, White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow said the package would likely equal 10% of U.S. economic output, or more than $2 trillion. Executives have zeroed in on language in Senate Republicans' initial proposal allocating a portion of those funds to Big Business. The proposed bill funnels $50 billion to airlines, $8 billion to cargo air carriers, and $150 billion for other "distressed businesses" — a category it leaves notably undefined. But companies have no interest in leaving the definition of "severely distressed business" up to Treasury. Meantime, there's a game of chicken going on in Congress of who will be the person to cause the delay that allows the collapse of bedrock American companies. United 's CEO warned the government this week that if it doesn't get aid by the end of the month, it "will begin to take the necessary steps to reduce [its] payroll in line with the 60% schedule reduction we announced for April." As the time bomb ticks, Congress must sift through the requests. The hotel industry wants $150 billion. The restaurant industry wants $145 billion. The National Association of Manufacturers wants $1.4 trillion. The International Council of Shopping Centers wants a guarantee of up to $1 trillion. "The bailout requests are mind-boggling," said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of advocacy group Better Markets. "And it's going to be a matter of who's going to win and who's going to lose." President Donald Trump said in a press conference earlier this week he's not picking winners, just keeping American jobs by protecting the largest employers. And most industries have argued it's not a bailout. They argue the situation is unprecedented, and the pain they are confronting is not their fault. "Take post 9-11, post-financial crisis– double it – and it's still not there," said American Hotel Lodging Association CEO Chip Rogers said. AHLA's members include Wyndham Hotels , Marriott , Hilton , as well a number of small businesses. Rogers, along with industry executives, met with Trump earlier this week to plead their case. Since February, U.S. hotels lost $2.4 billion in room revenue. In the Washington, D.C. Willard Intercontinental, there were four guests this week. But a rescue of the hotel industry may not flow down to its suppliers, who have also spent the week arguing their case. "There are a lot of good cases to be made and a lot of intense lobbying to have your industry to get in the mix," said Aaron Cutler, a partner at Hogan Lovells. "There are so many secondary sectors that are impacted beyond just hotels and casinos: airline part suppliers, seafood industry supplying the fish and seafood to restaurants, meatpacking industry and so forth."

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/10/the-labor-shortage-isnt-main-streets-biggest-problem.html

PKG

Packaging Corporation of America

America's small businesses still can't find workers, but that's not their biggest problem

watch now The delta variant hasn't significantly altered the outlook of America's small businesses, but the conditions that the Main Street economy is operating under as it attempts to fully reopen are weighing on business owners across the country. Half of small business owners (50%) say it's gotten harder to find qualified people to hire compared to a year ago, according to the Q3 2021 CNBC | Momentive Small Business Survey. Almost one-third (31%) say they have open roles they have not been able to fill for at least three months, up from 24% last quarter and 16% in Q1 2020. The labor situation has resulted in 41% of small business owners saying they are currently experiencing a rising cost in wages, according to the new CNBC | Momentive survey, which was conducted between July 26 and August 3 among over 2,000 small businesses across the U.S. "It turns out that revving the economy back up after months of shutdowns, layoffs, and work-from-home is really disorienting," said Laura Wronski, research science manager at Momentive . "Unfortunately, there's no on-or-off switch, and these labor and supply shocks that we're seeing are totally expected on our path back to normal, even if they are disruptive in the short term." The national unemployment rate is heading in the right direction, and the most recent jobs report from last Friday showed the strength of the recovery in hiring. But job openings have surged to over 10 million, according to the Labor Department, the highest level on record, and it has been implied that there are over one million more jobs available than people who are searching for them. "That hypergrowth in the hiring rate means that workers have the bargaining power to hold out for better wages before returning to work, or to leave their current jobs for higher-paying opportunities. That's especially tough for small businesses, who likely don't have the same resources as their bigger competitors," Wronski said. According to the survey, only a minority (24%) of small businesses expect to increase staff in the next year, and in the past two to three months, only 16% of small businesses say they have increased staff. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Jill Bommarito, founder and CEO of Detroit-based Ethel's Baking Company, which supplies national companies including Whole Foods, UNFI and Dawn Foods, is facing those pressures, especially as national corporations raise wages to $15 and above, and add benefits like paying for college education. "In small business, there are other ways to offer opportunities for growth and a faster path to growth and promotion, but it is tough to make everyone happy with wages," Bommarito said, who is a member of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices coalition, which has found similar business concerns in its recent survey work. "We have had to increase everyone's wages twice across the board this year, and we were considered a leader." Workers are taking advantage of the tilt in the balance of power in the labor economy. "We are getting people that are signing up to interview and canceling or saying they have 14 interviews, or saying 'I have three opportunities, can we talk about hourly wages before I even come in and see you?'" The Q3 CNBC | Momentive survey finds that 32% of small business owners say they have raised wages in the past three months to attract workers, while 27% have offered more flexible hours, and 24% more on-the-job training. Fewer have offered additional benefits, including enhanced medical (8%), educational benefits (7%) and child-care or elder-care benefits (5%). Ethel's Baking Company has added long-term and short-term disability, dental and vision, and $2,000 in education, but it can't afford to pay for the college education of workers like a Target or Walmart recently announced they are doing. "We can't offer a college education. Everything is going up for us across the board, our raw materials, our packaging, our casings, logistics, wages, benefits, all of that, and it hasn't been the typical 1% to 2%, but 18%," Bommarito said. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards While the labor shortage is a big problem for small businesses, the CNBC | Momentive survey results show that it is not even as extreme as the supply shortage and corresponding supply chain disruption that small businesses are still having to navigate. Four in ten small business owners say they're currently seeing rising wages for employees, but seven in 10 are experiencing a rising cost in supplies. "The worst part is that many small business owners are getting hit by all these factors at once," Wronski said. She noted that 86% of those who say they're experiencing rising costs of wages also say they're experiencing rising costs of supplies. "Unlike their bigger competitors, small businesses aren't going to be able to eat those costs for very long. If they haven't already, they'll eventually start raising prices in order to keep going," Wronski said. The survey finds that more firms (39%) have raised prices than those that have raised wages (33%), and many more (38%) say they may raise prices in the future if cost pressures remain. Ethel's revenue is up a lot, and across the corporate landscape there are reports of record profitability as many firms have been able to pass along price increases to customers in this early phase of an inflationary period. With the hit to her firm's profitability from higher wages and benefits, and higher input prices, Bommarito said it feels "inevitable" that more small businesses like hers will raise prices, too. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards The tough operating conditions have not, though, led to a major decline in small business confidence. The Q3 2021 CNBC | Momentive Small Business Survey finds the overall business sentiment on Main Street unchanged from Q2 2021, even as the Delta variant has become a bigger concern to the economy. Owners describing business conditions as good (36%) was up from last quarter (34%), while those describing business conditions as bad fell one percentage point to 17%. The percentage of small businesses that expect revenue to increase over the next 12 months (45%) and those who expect revenue to stay the same (34%) were unchanged from Q2 2021. A majority of businesses (66%) say they can continue to operate for more than a year under current conditions, according to the survey. The delta variant could still change Main Street confidence, especially if consumers retreat. The CNBC | Momentive survey finds at this point only 21% of non-small business owners surveyed as part of the research saying the delta variant has changed their outlook on the rest of 2021 by "a lot." But 41% say it has changed their outlook "a little." The response from small business owners to the delta variant question was similar, with 19% saying it has changed their outlook "a lot" and 37% saying it has changed their outlook "a little."

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/25/what-to-watch-today-dow-set-to-rise-slightly-after-friday-record-close.html

PKG

Packaging Corporation of America

What to watch today: Dow set to rise slightly after Friday's record close

BY THE NUMBERS IN THE NEWS TODAY STOCKS TO WATCH The Covid vaccine made by Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) showed 90.7% effectiveness in children 5-11. Health officials said a rollout of the vaccine for kids could come as soon as early November. Investor Carl Icahn is calling on Southwest Gas (SWX) to first offer shares to existing shareholders, amid the energy producer's plans to sell up to $1 billion in equity as part of financing to buy pipeline company Questar. Icahn, who holds a significant stake in the company, is against the deal, and is moving ahead with a tender offer to buy the shares he doesn't already own for $75 per share. Kimberly-Clark (KMB) slid 3% in premarket trading after quarterly earnings came in 3 cents a share below estimates at $1.62 per share. Revenue was slightly above forecasts, but Kimberly-Clark's results were hit by higher inflation and supply chain issues. Otis Worldwide (OTIS) came in 4 cents a share above estimates, with quarterly earnings of 77 cents per share. Revenue also topped analysts' projections. The company best known for its flagship elevators also raised its full-year outlook. HSBC (HSBC) reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, with a 74% rise from a year earlier, and the bank also announced a $2 billion share buyback. WATERCOOLER