The company also said that 2021 production of its Endurance truck will be half prior expectations.

Lordstown incurred a net loss of -72 cents a share, compared with a loss of -28 cents a share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.The year-ago quarter’s loss was - 16 cents a share.

Chairman and CEO Steve Burns said Endurance production this year will be limited and would be "at best 50%" of the company's prior expectations of 2,200 trucks.

Its owners include Highland Capital Partners, Anchorage Capital, Davidson, Kempner Capital Management, Solus Alternative Asset Management and Owl Creek Investments.

MGM owns several popular movie and TV franchises, such as The Pink Panther, Rocky, and Legally Blonde.It also owns a studio, which has produced hit TV shows, including “Fargo.” The company also owns many popular reality TV shows, including “Shark Tank,” “Survivor,” and “The Voice.”

 

 

 

Hodulik also hiked the price target to $35 from $32.

According to the analyst, AT&T’s decision to  spin-off  its streaming business with Discovery Communications could simplify the structure for AT&T. “We see a favorable risk-reward at the current valuation given a more simplified set of connectivity-based assets, lower dividend payout, better visibility into EBITDA growth and lower leverage,” Hodulik said.

Hodulik said that a goal of free cash flow of $20 billion is achievable by 2023.The deal structure could lead to $7 to $8 per share in a one-time tax-free payment via shares of DiscoveryWarner, which represents four to five years of lump-sum dividend payment, Hodulik said.

 

Applied Materials got bullish views from several analysts, following its fiscal second-quarter earnings beat.

Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore boosted the price target on the semiconductor equipment company’s shares to $139 from $137.Moore maintained an Equal-weight rating on the shares.

Moore noted that tight supply conditions led to better near-term spending conditions, thereby boosting Applied Materials’ performance relative to peers in the quarter.However, even as the company’s guidance implied continued wafer fab equipment, or WFE, growth through 2022, Morgan Stanley sees the growth plateauing ahead in the second half of 2021.

Needham analyst Quinn Bolton reiterated a Buy rating and $153 price target.

What's more, the guidance for the fiscal  third quarter is also higher than analysts' forecast.

The company’s net income came in at $1.43 a share, increasing from 82 cents a share in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected $5.41 billion.

For the third quarter, Applied Materials project adjusted earnings of $1.70 to $1.82 a share on sales of $5.72 billion to $6.12 billion.

Photo-sharing app Snapchat reached 500 million monthly active users, parent Snap  announced.

Chief Executive Evan Spiegel said that around 40% of the Snapchat user base is now located outside North America and Europe.

"[Nearly] one of every two smartphone users in the U.S. is on Snapchat," Chief Executive Evan Spiegel said in opening Snap's partner summit, according to Yahoo Finance.

Snapchat launched series of augmented reality tools, including Scan, which allows Snapchatters to match what is seen through the camera to relevant AR experiences on Snapchat.

The company also announced  that it would launch a new app called Story Studio, which has video-editing tools.

Also, Poshmark is partnering with Snap to launch Poshmark Mini, which will be available to Snapchat users in the U.S. in three different ways: Shop Virtual Posh Parties, Shop Poshmark’s Entire Catalogue, and Shop Top-Selling Brands.

 

Boeing Co. is reportedly preparing to boost production of its flagship 737 MAX aircraft. 

On Friday, Reuters reported that Boeing could produce as many as 42 Max jets per month by the fall of next year – which would be higher than the aircraft manufacturer’s current target of an increase to 31 planes per month by the spring of next year. 

However, the implementation of the plan hinges on various of factors including demand, capacity uncertainty around some suppliers and Boeing's ability to reduce a surplus of jets already built.

Boeing has not issued any official statement on the plans yet.Last month the company reaffirmed plans to increase MAX output from an unspecified "low" rate to 31 a month by early 2022.

 

 

The cybersecurity company also boosted its guidance for the year. 

The company’s fiscal third-quarter non-GAAP earnings came in $1.39 per share, compared to the $1.29 a share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.The company generated revenue of $869.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

Palo Alto Networks is expecting fiscal fourth-quarter revenue in the range of $1.165 billion to $1.175 billion and diluted non-GAAP net income per share of $1.42 to $1.44.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury proposed a minimum global corporate tax rate of 15%.

The proposal is part of discussions with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and G20 officials over the past two days.

During the discussions “Treasury expressed its belief that the international tax architecture must be stabilized, that the global playing field must be fair, and that we must create an environment in which countries work together to maintain our tax bases and ensure the global tax system is equitable and equipped to meet the needs of for the 21st century global economy,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Many large U.S. companies are known to avoid higher taxes by setting up headquarters in tax haven countries such as Ireland and the Cayan Islands. 

 Ehrlich  also hiked share-price target to $53 from $38.

Ehrlich cited Viacom’s “scarcity value in an industry facing consolidation.”  She indicated that various recent press reports  have suggested Viacom as a potential target “with several assets that could command a premium."

The analyst emphasized that Viacom’s variegated content  consisting of 140,000-plus TV episodes and 3,600-plus films across sports, movies, comedy, news, children, etc.

The analyst has a $400 price target on the shares.

Tindle said in a note that Palo Alto Networks "has underperformed significantly year to date, and we previously noted our concern that next gen [annual recurring revenue] guidance did not appear conservative.""

According to Tindle, Palo Alto experienced “a sustained period of healthy growth and operating leverage for the better part of prior CEO Mark McLaughlin's tenure."

IBM  announced that it was buying Waeg, a Salesforce  consulting partner in Europe.

The acquisition would potentially boost IBM’s Salesforce services and boost its hybrid-cloud and artificial intelligence strategy, as indicated by IBM.“The acquisition builds on IBM's continued investment in Salesforce consulting services to meet the rising client demand for experience-led business transformation and new customer engagement strategies backed by data, AI and machine learning,” IBM said.

The terms were not disclosed for the deal, which is expected to be closed this quarter.

In January, IBM acquired 7Summits, a U.S. consultancy that specialises in Salesforce's customer management software.
 

 

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software  posted fiscal fourth quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations, thanks to pandemic-driven demand.Revenue rose +10% year-over-year to $839.4 million in the quarter, also beating analysts’ consensus of $661.4 million.

Net bookings came in at approximately $3.6 billion and adjusted unrestricted operating cash flow was $920 million for the quarter.

For fiscal 2022, Take-Two is expecting revenue of $3.14 billion to $3.24 billion and profit of $228 million to $257 million.

The remaining AT&T assets will intend to give shareholders a dividend payout ratio of between 40% and 43%, based on expected free cash flow of around $20 billion.

AT&T Inc. agreed to spin off its media operations in a deal with Discovery Inc. that will create a new company, merging assets such as CNN and HBO with HGTV and the Food Network.The transaction values the combined entity at about $130 billion including debt, based on WarnerMedia’s estimated enterprise value of more than $90 billion.

As part of the 'Reverse Morris Trust' agreement structure, AT&T shareholders will own 71% of the combined entity, which will likely generate $52 billion in 2023 revenues and a combined subscriber base of nearly 150 million.

 

 

For the third quarter ended March 31, the cannabis company reported a loss of -C$0.85 a share, wider than the -C$0.25 a share loss anticipated by analysts polled by FactSet.The company’s revenue came in at C$55.2 million, compared to C$68.7 million expected by analysts.

Aurora also said that it plans to file for a new US$300 million at-the-market stock sale program.

AT&T is planning to spin off its media business and merge it with Discovery Inc. , according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported.

A deal could be announced as soon as this week, according to the people, who asked not to be identified (Bloomberg report).The merger could potentially be a competitor to entertainment giants Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. 

AT&T acquired some of the biggest brands in entertainment through its acquisition of Time Warner Inc., which was completed in 2018.

Discovery meanwhile is available in 220 countries and territories, and owns brands like Food Network Kitchen, MotorTrend OnDemand, Group Nine Media, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Science Channel and the Oprah Winfrey Network.

 

Beverage behemoth Coca-Cola   said that it’s dropping its energy-drink line in the U.S. and Canada --  less than 18 months after launching it.

Coca-Cola Energy began to be sold in January 2020.However, it will still be sold overseas.

"Our strategy is focused on scaling big bets across a streamlined portfolio,” a company spokeswoman told Reuters.

Shares of The Walt Disney Company  fell on Thursday, following mixed results for the quarter ended April 3.

The entertainment giant’s fiscal second quarter earnings increased +32% year-over-year to 79 cents per share, compared to analysts’ expectations of 27 cents per share.

Revenue of $15.61 billion, however, came in below the  $15.87 billion expected in the Refinitiv survey of analysts.

Paid subscribers of Disney+ was 103.6 million compared to 109 million expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Average monthly revenue per user fell -29% year over year to $3.99, which the company attributed to Disney+ Hotstar.The service has lower average monthly revenue per paid subscriber than traditional Disney+ in other markets, pulling down the overall average.

 

 

Movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment   announced it has completed the offering of 43 million shares it launched on April 29.

The offering amounts to $428 million of new equity capital, before commissions and fees, at an average price of $9.94 a share.

The capital “will immediately buttress and fortify our liquidity profile,” CEO Adam Aron said, and “puts AMC in a stronger position to tackle the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead.”

AMC stock also has achieved  interest among Reddit readers.About 133,000 Reddit interactions with the word “AMC" happened over the past week, according to Facebook’s CrowdTangle data tool, Bloomberg reported.

GrowGeneration Corp.  reported first-quarter results that surpassed analysts’ expectations.

The farm supplies company’s first-quarter earnings came in at 10 cents per share, compared to the 8 cents per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue surged +173% year-over-year to $90 million in the quarter, also beating analysts’ estimate of $86.4 million. 

Same-store sales grew +51% year-over-year,  despite port delays and supply chain challenges (according to the company).

The company boosted its full-year revenue guidance between $450 million and $470 million – compared to its March guidance of between $415 million and $430 million.Analysts are expecting $426 million.