PayPal shares got bullish views from several analysts, following its commentary in its investor/analyst day on Thursday. Wedbush maintained its outperform rating and $300 price target on the online payments system company’s shares. The analysts mentioned “accelerating organic top line/volume growth rate; further expansion in margins, as PayPal’s revenue/volume growth will benefit from...

SVMK reported first-quarter revenue guidance was below analysts’ forecasts. The survey software company expects revenue of $99.5 million to $101.5 million for the first quarter, compared to the FactSet analyst consensus estimate of $105 million. In the fourth quarter, the company generated adjusted earnings of $0.03 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.01 per share. This...

But decentralized apps (abbreviated as dapps, pronounced “dee-apps”) are currently extremely slow, and functionality is hit-or-miss.They allow structured, readable data to be easily accessed by apps and websites, which ultimately drive the services we take for granted, like weather updates and stock reports.

Clyde Vanel, a New York lawmaker, submitted legislation in February calling for a task force to study the potential impact of a state-backed cryptocurrency.This is the latest of several blockchain-oriented bills that Vanel has submitted in recent months. The proposed study would cover four areas: the “necessary steps” the state of New York would need to take to create and issue a cryptocurrency, and how Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulations would affect it; how the cryptocurrency would affect state monetary policy and financial stability; how taxation at local, state, and federal levels would be impacted; and examples of other institutions that have issued cryptocurrency and the steps they took to do so. Vanel’s interest in blockchain comes at a time when decisionmakers around the world are eager to apply its unique properties to a variety of uses.

Companies are increasingly using technology to deliver new-look financial services – banking apps, peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding, and blockchain-based cryptocurrencies – that are bypassing traditional infrastructure and reshaping the financial sector in major ways.And is it here to stay?   Lessons from 2007-2008 2007-2008’s devastating financial crisis caught traditional companies by surprise.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent subpoenas last week to as many as 80 companies and people involved in the rise of initial coin offerings, or ICOs.Coindesk, the trusted crypto news and information service, estimated that businesses raised over $5 billion via ICO in 2017.

Investing just $100 per year starting at 20 years old, with a minimum 5% return, would mean $17,667.02 sitting in a bank account upon retirement age (65).For investors who can sock away $100 a month instead of $100 a year, the numbers get into six figure territory. With a help from a professional, or even a little research, achieving returns beyond 5% are well within reach.

AI is an area of computer science aiming to build software and hardware that replicates important human mental faculties, ultimately thinking and reacting like a human.Crucially, AI is designed to learn and evolve on its own, rather than strictly taking instructions like traditional software. Experts agree that AI’s effects will be widely felt, regardless of industry.

HubSpot got price target hikes from analysts, following quarterly earnings beat. On Thursday, the software solutions company posted adjusted earnings of 40 cents per share in the fourth quarter, (vs. 45 cents from the year-ago quarter), which is well above the Zacks analyst consensus of 23 cents. Revenue surged +35% year-over-year to $252.1 million. Morgan Stanley boosted its price target on...

A Morgan Stanley analyst initiated coverage of electric vehicle companies Fisker and QuantumScape with overweight ratings. Morgan Stanley analysts led by Adam Jonas set a $70 price target for QuantumScape. According to Jonas, it was among companies in the electric vehicle battery space offering "the most compelling strategies" and has positive risk/reward balance. QuantumScape went public...

For years — decades even— traders have been scouring charts on a daily basis in search of pattern formations.The thinking has been that if you found a pattern early in its formation, maybe you could capitalize on a trade by predicting where the security was headed. The Cup-and-Handle pattern is a great example of how this works.

There was once a time when traders and analysts pored over hundreds — even thousands — of stock charts every day, looking for patterns and opportunities.The bearish version of it, the “Head-and-Shoulders Top,” forms when a stock is testing new highs on an uptrend, but fails to retest its highest high and break upward.

There are a myriad of logistical challenges in overseeing a new financial system predicated on anonymity, and that’s before taking into account crypto investors’ concerns that regulation would cripple, or even destroy, vital elements of the currency and impede its ability to grow. Nevertheless, talks broaching the regulatory subject have heated up.The US Treasury held a hearing on Tuesday to discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) roles in overseeing cryptocurrency markets in the US, and prominent international figures, including US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, have called for talks about cryptocurrency regulation during March’s G20 summit in Argentina. Mnuchin and Le Maire have different, but standard, fears about cryptocurrencies.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s global head of investment research, Steve Strongin, has indicated that the recent market tumble, with losses to the tune of nearly $500 billion, stands to get much, much worse. In a February 5, 2018 report, Strongin warned digital currency investors to prepare for massive future changes.Strongin’s research, citing the recent price swings as evidence, indicates a bubble inconsistent with a “few-winners-take-most” market. Strongin believes that most modern digital coins have too many challenges to succeed – security issues, high maintenance costs, and slow transaction times that present significant obstacles to consistency and staying power. While sobering, the report is not a death knell for cryptocurrency.

No earnings reports, no profits/sales to monitor, very few valuation metrics to analyze. In the absence of fundamental analysis, it is technical analysis that becomes the primary source of data used for trading.Indeed, technical and chart analysis can help make sense of price trends and allow us to anticipate market shifts.

In November 2017, The Bank for International Settlements ranked Bitcoin as the sixth most-circulated currency in the world, at $180 billion.The ranking, calculated when bitcoin was valued at $10,765 each, means the flagship cryptocurrency outranked the UK pound and the Russian ruble, and was only surpassed in total value by the rupee (India), yen (Japan), yuan (China), euro (Europe), and the US dollar. While bitcoin has been performing extremely well over the last year plus, it is worth noting that the value of notes in circulation does not equate to total value of a currency.

Zynga shares got optimistic views from analysts on the company's latest earnings release. Bank of America's analyst Ryan Gee boosted rating on the online games company’s stock to neutral from underperform. He raised price target to $12 from $9.50 per share. Piper Sandler's Yung Kim raised price target to $13.50 from $12 per share. Kim said that “with a string of new titles poised to launch...

Uber Technologies fourth-quarter earnings missed analysts’ expectations, on pandemic-related drop in riders’ demand. But analysts boosted their one-year price targets as they expect better prospects. For the fourth quarter. Uber experienced a narrower loss, as strength in its food-delivery business (+130% year-over-year) to a large extent offset a decline of -50% in its ride-hailing business...

Traditional shopping malls and the retailers that operate in them have been struggling for a number of years as consumers have shifted their shopping preferences. This shift was going on well before the pandemic hit and now it appears the health crisis has only made things worse. Among the companies that are struggling are two apparel retailers that caught my eye because they are overbought...

Decentralized applications, or Dapp (pronounced ‘dee-app’), are in early stages of development, but have extraordinary potential to revolutionize the way economic ecosystems grow and function removed from a centralized authority.Cryptocurrency models, which are open-source, peer-to-peer, and encrypted end-to-end, are likely the foundational pieces of the next phases of data storage, social media, and the internet as a whole. But cryptocurrencies and decentralized ownership are raising difficult legislative and regulatory questions that have roots in an influential court case from the 1940’s, SEC v. Howey Co. In 1946, a large Florida citrus farm called the Howey Company planned to lease half of its vast acreage “to finance an additional development”.