Blogs

On Monday, Cruise company Carnival began a tender offer to purchase up to $2 billion of 11.5% senior secured notes due 2023.The company  could issue new first-priority debt to finance the buyback.

Carnival issued the notes in April 2020 to boost its cash reserves, as the COVID pandemic wreaked havoc on the cruise industry.

Semiconductor company Nvidia  shares got a prcie target boost from Keybanc, on expectations of continued solid demand for video graphics cards and other products used in cryptocurrency and gaming industries.

Keybanc analyst John Vinh raised his one-year price target on Nvidia shares to $950 from $775.This follows BMO Capital Markets analyst Ambrish Srivastava’s price target hike on the shares last Thursday to a Wall Street high of $1,000 from $975. 

Nvidia received optimistic outlook from analysts following company’s better-than-expected first-quarter results, on the back of  strong demand for its graphics cards and chips that have uses in gaming and digital coin mining.

Electric carmaker Tesla reported second-quarter deliveries of 201,250 vehicles, marginally exceeding analysts’ consensus expectation  of 200,900.

The number of vehicles Tesla delivered were 9% higher quarter-over-quarter and 122% more year-over-year.The Q2 deliveries included 199,3560 Model 3/Y's and 1,890 Model S/X's.

The automaker produced 206,421 vehicles during the second quarter, which implies a +14% increase quarter-over quarter and a +151% increase year-over year.

Myron Holubiak, president and chief executive mentioned that this would be the third recommendation by the DMC supporting the continuation of the Mino-Lok trial.He said the outcome indicates that “based on our predefined parameters, it would be possible to achieve our primary endpoint by continuing the trial as planned, and is an encouraging signal when combined with the results of our prior studies.

Also, it is reducing production at eight additional factories owing to the global semiconductor shortage.

The  Michigan plant that makes the Bronco and Ranger pickup will be closed during the weeks of July 5 and July 26 (as reported in Bloomberg).The company was diverting its scarce semiconductor supply to be used for completing nearly finished vehicles.

Ford’s Chief Executive Jim Farley revealed this month that the company  had received 190,000 reservations for the Bronco, and around 125,000 had been converted to orders to build the new SUV.

Home retail chain Bed Bath and Beyond’s fiscal first-quarter sales rose almost +50% year-over-year , even as earnings missed analysts’ estimates.

The company’s earnings for the quarter came in at 5 cents adjusted vs. 8 cents expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.

However, net sales rose to $1.95 billion from the year-ago quarter’s $1.3 billion, thereby topping expectations of $1.87 billion.sales from Bed Bath & Beyond, Buybuy Baby, Harmon Face Values and Decorist) surged +73% from the year-ago quarter.

Comparable sales ( revenue online and at shops open for at least 12 months) increased +86% from a year earlier, compared to analysts’ expectation of 75.6% (StreetAccount estimates).

For the second quarter, Bed Bath & Beyond predicts adjusted earnings to range between 48 cents and 55 cents per share, while analysts were expecting 52 cents per share.

Homebuilding stocks like Lennar rose Tuesday, following a record year-over-year increase in S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index in April,

The 10-City Composite rose +14.4% year-over-year in April, compared to  +12.9% in the previous month.All 20 cities reported sharper price increases in the year ending April compared with the year ending March.

Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P DJI,indicated that the demand increase may reflect an acceleration of purchases that “would have occurred anyway over the next several years.

The number of vehicles represents most of the vehicles Tesla has delivered China over recent years, according to Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.

Around 211,000 locally built Model 3 cars and around 36,000 imported ones will be recalled, along with around 38,000 Model Y cars, according to Wedbush.

The recall is made in order to rectify autopilot safety issues that were detected by Chinese regulators.According to the State Administration for Market Regulation in China, the glitch spotted might incorrectly activate the active cruise function in some situations.

 

On Friday, Nokia  shares got a rating upgrade from analysts at Goldman Sachs.

 Analyst Alexander Duval boosted rating on the company’ stock to buy from neutral.This is the highest target of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

The analyst cited  a better 5G spending backdrop, wireless product progress and market-share gain from Chinese vendors such as Huawei, especially in Europe, as factors behind the improved outlook.

In March, Nokia announced a five-year deal with AT&T. As part of the deal, Nokia will provide its latest fifth-generation equipment to power 5G on AT&T’s C-Band network.

On Thursday, Nike reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations, on the back of record revenue in North America.

The sneaker maker’s earnings came in at 93 cents, crushing the  51 cents expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Revenue rose to $12.34 billion from $6.31 billion a year earlier, exceeding estimates for $11.01 billion.“Building on our 40-year history in Greater China, we continue to invest in serving consumers with the best products Nike has to offer in locally relevant ways,” CFO Matt Friend said during a post-earnings conference call.

For fiscal year 2022, Nike is projecting revenue to grow a low double-digit percentage, and to exceed $50 billion.

However, the hydrogen fuel cell company’s revenue came in higher than what analysts’ expected,  on the back of solid product revenue that more than doubled.

The net loss for the quarter ending March 31 was - 12 cents a share, compared to FactSet consensus estimate of -8 cents.Sales of fuel cell systems and related infrastructure climbed +128.5% to $46.77 million, while and product gross margin widened to 38% from 32% (notwithstanding unusually high freight costs).

Amazon’s  proposed $8.45 billion acquisition of movie studio MGM will reportedly be reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Last month, the companies announced the deal, in which Amazon seems to be aiming at boosting its Prime Video streaming platform’s content.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal report suggested that the FTC advocated for review authority on the deal because it already has begun an antitrust query into Amazon’s business.On the antitrust issue, the Justice Department is looking at Apple  and Alphabet’s Google, while the FTC is probing into Facebook  and Amazon.

On Tuesday, the European Union announced that it has started an investigation into whether Alphabet’s  Google has broken EU competition rules.

The European Commission is probing into whether Google is curbing competition by favoring its own online display advertising technology services in the ad-tech supply chain, to the extent of restricting access by third parties to user data for advertising purposes on websites and apps (while reserving such data for its own use). 

EC will also study whether Google's policies on user tracking are in line with fair competition principles.

The analysts also hiked the price target raised to a Wall Street-high of  $300 a share from $240.

Stifel analysts mentioned  that a survey it conducted of CrowdStrike customers reflects the growing customer demand for consolidating security functionalities with CrowdStrike over time as well as extending their CrowdStrike deployments.

Analyst Brad Redback of Stifel said he sees significant room  for CrowdStrike to gain new customers.According to Redback, the company over time can boost its customer count to more than 100,000 (that is, nearly 10 times the 11,420 customers the company reported in its January quarter).

Stifel is expecting a greater use of CrowdStrike's Falcon endpoint protection program that should enable the company to reach the higher end of its non-GAAP subscription gross-margin target range of between 77% and 82% faster than investors currently expect.

Chen  boosted his price target to $30 from $28.

The analyst cited “favorable hair and salon trends” and Sally Beauty's “structural modernization efforts” as factors that should eventually lead to improved brand awareness and earnings growth.According to him, tailwinds to the company included COVID-19-driven do-it-yourself at-home trends yielding about 20% color category growth.

Chen indicated that Sally Beauty is emerging from the pandemic as a stronger retailer on the back of its digital offerings, improving store experience on rehabs, and strategic store closures.

Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh raised rating on Sally Beauty shares to outperform from perform, with a $24 price target.

Globalstar  shares climbed Monday,  following B. Riley’s  coverage of the mobile satellite services company.

B.B. Riley analyst Mike Crawford mentioned that the company and its sponsors, “after years of development, support, and patience, are at long last starting to realize a return on satellite system and spectrum assets.”

That, according to Crawford, makes 2021 an “excellent” time to buy the company’s shares before the market incorporates this change.

Netflix  and Amblin Partners, the film and television studio led by Steven Spielberg, are partnering up for Amblin to produce multiple films a year for the streaming company.

"Steven is a creative visionary and leader and, like so many others around the world, my growing up was shaped by his memorable characters and stories that have been enduring, inspiring and awakening," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix Co-CEO and chief content officer, in a statement.

Meanwhile, Spielberg will continue to direct movies for Comcast's  Universal Pictures as part of a separate agreement.

Earlier this month, Netflix launched its online shop Netflix.shop, which will sell curated products such as toys and apparel.

 

Shares of homebuilding company Lennar were upgraded to overweight from neutral at J.P. Morgan, following second-quarter earnings beat last week. The analysts at J.P. Morgan also boosted their price target on the shares to $141 a share from $115. According to the analysts, the stock is attractive relative to its peers, and effectively not reflecting the company’s “significant and ongoing”...

On Friday, Boeing's latest version of its 737 MAX made its first test flight. This was the beginning of a comprehensive test program. The aerospace behemoth’s MAX 10 took off near Seattle. 737 chief pilot captain Jennifer Henderson said the airplane performed "beautifully". According to Henderson, the profile flown allowed the team to test the airplane's systems, flight controls and handling...

Supermarket company Kroger posted adjusted earnings of $1.19 per share for the first quarter, that exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 99 cents. However, the figure is lower than the year-ago quarter’s $1.22. Sales fell -0.6% year-over-year to $41,298 million, but surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $39,222 million. Excluding fuel, sales were -4% lower than the year-ago period...