Blogs

Shares of sports betting company DraftKings rose Wednesday, following announcement of the company's plans to launch DraftKings Marketplace.

The marketplace will offer access to curated nonfungible-token releases and provide secondary-market transactions.The initial offering, called the Pre-Season Access collection, will feature NFTs from Autograph's athletes roster, which includes Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Derek Jeter, Naomi Osaka and Tony Hawk.

"The NFT boom has reinvented the collectibles industry and driven excitement to early-adopting audiences worldwide — including the DraftKings community,” said DraftKings co-founder and president Matt Kalish.

All of Apple’s next-generation iPhones to be released next year will reportedly be 5G-capable.

According to a Nikkei Asia report, Apple will not introduce any new 4G models next year. The company  will begin selling a version of its iPhone SE  that is compatible with the next-generation communication standard.

The budget 5G iPhone is expected to start selling as early as the first half of 2022 and will be powered by Apple's own A15 processor.

They affirmed a buy rating on the stock.

Analyst David Vogt mentioned “aggressive carrier promotions in the U.S. and strength in China” as factors that should boost iPhone units to at least 44 million in the June quarter, up almost +15% year over year and about +5% above UBS prior forecast.UBS expects iPhone sales to rise +12% year over year to 85 million in the second half of the year, on the back of the next phone launch in September.

Analysts at UBS increased their earnings estimates for Apple to $1.01 a share up from the previous view of 95 cents a share.

Shares of chipmaker Nvidia  moved lower Tuesday, ahead of a stock split.

In late May, Nvidia told investors that it would execute a four-for-one stock split beginning on July 20, that included shareholders of record on June 21.This would lead to an investor holding one share at $750 each to four at $187.80 each, but without any change to the chipmaker's market value.

The company’s shares have rallied around 52% so far this year, on the back of  gaming and cryptocurrency mining and its expanding footprint in artificial intelligence.

First Horizon National reported earnings for the second quarter, beating analysts’ expectations.

The bank holding company’s adjusted earnings for the quarter ending June came in at $0.58 per share, compared to Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.43 per share.The figure is also higher than the year-ago quarter’s $0.20 per share.

Revenues of $782 million exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.36%.

Global business process management company WNS posted net profit of $26.8 million for the first quarter, which represent an 81% year-over-year increase.

Revenues climbed +22% from the year-ago quarter to $253.2 million.

"Despite Covid-related challenges in the quarter, WNS continued to perform well and posted solid financial results.Hiring accelerated in support of both new wins and committed volume increases with existing clients," said Group CEO Keshav R Murugesh.

As of quarter-end, the company had $311.3 million in cash and investments.

Shares of Dow Inc. and LyondellBasell  fell after Bank of America analyst Steve Byrne downgraded rating on the chemicals companies.

Byrne cut his rating on Dow Inc. shares to underperform from neutral, while lowering his price target to $68 from $71.He downgraded LyondellBasell stock to neutral from buy and reduced his price target to $114 from $117.

The lowered outlook was largely due to the possibility of commodity price inflation peaking.

posted its fiscal second quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations.

The beverage giant’s adjusted earnings for the quarter came in at $1.72, compared to $1.53 expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Revenue increased more than +20% year-over-year to $19.22 billion , also exceeding analysts’ expectation of $17.96 billion.

Net sales climbed +20.5% year-over-year to $19.22 billion, vs. analysts’ expectations of $17.96 billion.The Quaker Foods North America segment was the only business to report decreasing organic revenue (a -21% fall in the segment’s volume led to a -14% decrease in organic revenue ).

The company narrowed its projection for 2021 organic revenue growth from mid-single digits to 6%.

Pepsi now projects + 11% growth in constant currency earnings per share, higher than its prior forecast of high-single digit growth.

Wells Fargo on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings and revenue results that topped Wall Street’s expectations, as the bank continued to release reserves that it had set aside as cushion against pandemic-induced loan loss risks.

The financial behemoth’s earnings for the quarter came in at $1.38, beating the 97 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.The quarter marked a  sharp rebound from the loss it incurred in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose +10% year-over-year to $20.27 billion, vs. $17.77 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Wells Fargo released $1.6 billion of its credit loss reserves as consumers perform better than the bank expected amid the pandemic-induced recession.

The bank’s net interest margin was 2.02% for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectation of 2.05% (according to FactSet).

On Thursday, Apple  shares touched  a market value of $2.5 trillion, as analysts offer optimistic outlook on the tech giant’s stock.

 At Morgan Stanley, analyst Kathy Huberty boosted price target on Apple shares  by $4 to $166 per share, emphasizing solid demand forecasts and improving supply-chain dynamics heading into Apple's iPhone 13 launch in the fall.Huberty also mentioned a Bloomberg report that suggested Apple is planning to build 90 million next-generation iPhones this year.

Earlier this week, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee included Apple to his 'analyst focus list'.

Silvercorp Metals Inc. posted production and sales figures for the quarter ended June, 2021.

The company produced approximately 1.5 million ounces of silver, 1,000 ounces of gold, 15.9 million pounds of lead, and 7.2 million pounds of zinc.When the contracts were renewed for an additional two year term in mid May 2021, it took some time for the contractors to boost the operations back up to full capacity.

Nevertheless, Silvercorp.

The aircraft manufacturer also said that it will temporarily lower production rates following the detection of a new defect in some of the wide-body jets.

The company said that it will deliver fewer than half of the Dreamliners it has already produced but has not yet delivered. Last month, CEO Dave Calhoun mentioned that the company would deliver the “lion’s share” of the 100 Dreamliners in its inventory this year.

On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that the latest issue detected was near the nose of certain 787 Dreamliners that Boeing has produced but not delivered.

Boeing suspended deliveries of the wide-body planes in May for the second time in less than a year as the FAA reviewed the company’s methodology for assessing the aircraft.

The latest delivery delays could potentially exacerbate financial strain for Boeing.

Financial asset management firm, Capital Group, has bought a 12.2% stake in business intelligence solutions company MicroStrategy, according to a SEC filing.This purchase gives Capital Group 953,242 shares in MicroStrategy.

MicroStrategy has been amassing the cryptocurrency, thanks to its CEO Michael Saylor’s advocacy of the same.

Credit-card company Discover Financial Services  got a rating boost from Citigroup analyst.

Citigroup  upgraded the shares to buy from neutral, citing the potential for the company to benefit from increased consumer payments.According to Cyganovich Discover has the "clearest near-term path" to gain from the economic reopening of the country.

Meanwhile, analysts at Barclays also increased their price target on Discover to $146 from $132.

The deal could close the deal in this quarter, subject to conditions including regulatory approvals and a vote of Stamps.com holders.

However, the deal includes a 40-day period (through Aug. 18) during which Stamps.com  can actively seek better acquisition proposals.During this period, the board will have the right to terminate the Thoma Bravo agreement without penalty.

Chief Executive Ken McBride said that with Thoma Bravo's backing, Stamps.com will intend to capture the expanding e-commerce shipping market.

"The e-commerce landscape is rapidly evolving and we look forward to partnering with the Stamps.com team to continue building on the company’s leading position in e-commerce shipping solutions," said Thoma Bravo principal Brian Jaffee.

Carver Bancorp  shares more than tripled on Thursday, as retail traders talked up the financial services company’s stock.

"Blasting up!!"Upside 300%+".

 

Streaming giant Netflix  announced on Thursday an expanded partnership with producer Shonda Rhimes.The expanded partnership is expected to give Netflix and Shondaland Media the opportunity to exclusively produce, stream and distribute feature films as well potential gaming and virtual reality content.

The deal includes three more seasons of “Bridgerton” and a new series, “Inventing Anna,” which Rhimes and producing partner Betsy Beers will produce

The world’s fourth-largest automaker was formed via the merged automaker between Fiat Chrysler and French automaker PSA Group,

The company intends to have 55 electrified vehicles in the U.S. and Europe by 2025.Stellantis CFO Richard Palmer said the company has a goal to achieve double-digit adjusted profit margins by around 2026.

 

Semiconductor company Nvidia's  shares got a price-target boost from Truist, based on demand in gaming and cryptocurrency industries.

Analyst at Truist raised the price target on the shares to $910 from $768.That followed BMO Capital Markets analyst Ambrish Srivastava’s rice target boost to a Wall Street high of $1,000 from $975.

Analysts have been optimistic about Nvidia shares after the company beat its first quarter results on the back of demand for its graphics cards and chips using for both gaming and crypto mining.

Wells Fargo announced that it would stop offering personal lines of credit and is shutting those current accounts.

The product allowed users to borrow between $3,000 and $100,000, and was intended to consolidate higher-interest credit-card debt, pay for home renovations and avoid overdraft fees on linked accounts.

"Wells Fargo recently reviewed its product offerings and decided to discontinue offering new Personal and Portfolio line of credit accounts and close all existing accounts,” the bank said in a six-page letter (ass reported by CNBC).

In 2018, the Fed imposed caps on Wells Fargo balance sheet until it fixes compliance shortcomings revealed by Wells Fargo’s fake accounts scandal.However, the bank didn’t directly answer questions as to whether the Fed’s asset cap had a role in its latest decision.

Wells Fargo warned customers that the account closures “may have an impact on your credit score,” according to the letter.