Just a day after reports surfaced of U.S. administrators considering delisting some Chinese firms from U.S. stock exchanges, a U.S. Treasury official said that there are no such plans currently. Citing  people familiar with and the matter, a Bloomberg report indicated on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is pondering ways to limit U.S. investors’ portfolio flows to China, including delisting of Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges, putting a lid on Americans’ government pension funds exposure to China, and capping the Chinese companies included in stock indexes managed by U.S. firms. Responding to the same, Treasury spokeswoman Monica Crowley said that the administration is not  planning on blocking Chinese companies from listing shares on U.S. stock exchanges at this time. According to Bloomberg’s Friday report (citing people familiar with the matter), administration officials for weeks have been considering their options, and Treasury has be

Wholesale membership retailer Costco (Nasdaq: COST) is scheduled to report fiscal fourth quarter and year-end earnings on October 3.From a fundamental perspective, the company has some indicators that are sub-par and could hurt the stock going forward. Let’s look at the chart first.

Masco Corp (NYSE: MAS) manufactures and distributes home improvement and building products.The company’s plumbing product line includes Delta Faucets, Peerless, Hot Spring, and Elan as well as others.

Shares of Progress Software shares declined Friday, after the company reported revenue that fell short of estimates. The business applications maker’s third-quarter adjusted earnings came in at 75 cents, higher than  the year-ago quarter's 55 cents. Non-GAAP revenue for the quarter increased +25% to $115.5 million, which is lower than the Street estimate of $111 million. For the fourth quarter, Progress Software has predicted non-GAAP earnings of 73 cents to 75 cents a share on revenue of $116 million to $119 million a share.Analysts had forecasted revenue of $123.2 million. For the full year, Progress Software is expecting non-GAAP earnings to range between $2.63 and $2.65 a share, and revenue to come in between $425 million and $428 million. Chief financial officer Paul Jalbert mentioned that the company expects its $225 million acquisition of Ipswich (completed in May) to bring in substantially all of the $15 million of cost synergies by the end of 2019 - which would be we

Shares iRobot climbed Friday, after analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch initiated coverage on the stock with a buy rating.  The bank initiated coverage with buy and one-year price target of $70 on the shares of  the robotic vacuum cleaner maker. In July, iRobot expressed concerns that the ongoing China-U.S. trade tensions would pose headwinds to its full-year earnings.For the full year 2019,  iRobot expects revenue in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.25 billion, operating income of between $75 million and $100 million, and earnings per share of between $2.40 and $3.15.  

The bank also slashed its price target to $27 from $46 - the latter being a slight upside from the stock's closing price Thursday of $27.74. Bank of America analyst Christopher Carey is hopeful of Canopy’s long-term potential to be a leader in the burgeoning global cannabis market.Health risks like respiratory problems that are being associated with  vaping is a headwind to cannabis stock sentiment, as hinted by Carey. Meanwhile, consensus analyst expectations are pointing towards double-digit quarter-over-quarter revenue growth from Canopy in the second half of 2019.

If we break down the different analysis styles we see that Schwab’s fundamentals are really good and above average in almost every category, but the price performance or technical analysis shows that the stock has been below average. Schwab has seen earnings grow by 34% per year over the last three years while sales have grown by 17% per year.Analysts expect earnings to grow by 9% for 2019 as a whole and sales are expected to increase by 5.8%. The company’s management efficiency measurements are solid with a return on equity of 17.9% and a profit margin of 41.5%.

According to a group of Citigroup analysts, Cigna is "one of the most compelling stocks and stories" they have seen across 20 years on the sell side. The group of analysts feels that the health services company has the right goals coupled with a strong historical performance, a solid strategy, improved positioning, and a balanced growth outlook – while having a low valuation. Analyst Ralph Giacobbe mentioned that Cigna is trading at a 27% discount to peers and 49% discount to the market. Citigroup gave Cigna shares a “buy” rating.The target indicates upside of 31% from Wednesday's close price. However, Giacobbe did mention that the outlook is not without a few risks, such as  a potential unexpected increase in healthcare-costs, heated competition from peers, the risks inherent in integrating Express Scripts, and general headline risks from the focus on drug pricing and the evolving pharmacy-benefit-manager model.  

Shares of Conagra Brands climbed Thursday,  after reporting first quarter earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations. The owner of food brands including Birds Eye, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim and others reported adjusted earnings of 43 cents a share, compared to analysts' expectations of 39 cents. Net income of $173.8 million, or 36 cents a share, came in lower compared to the year-ago quarter’s $178.2 million, or 45 cents a share. Sales increased to $2.39 billion (from the prior year's $1.82 billion), but missed Wall Street's estimate of $2.48 billion. Chief Executive Sean Connolly indicated that although Conagra’s Foodservice and International businesses experienced unexpected softness on sales for the quarter, they surpassed its operating profit and margin expectations. For full year 2020, Conagra projects net sales growth of 13.5% to 14%, and adjusted earnings per range of $2.08 to $2.18, reiterating its guidance.      

DXC Technology shares fell -4.4% Thursday, following a price target cut from a  Wells Fargo Securities analyst. Analyst Ed Caso lowered his price target for the information technology company to $32 from $46 a share.Caso also seemed concerned about a potential volatility in DXC stock price around current levels, notwithstanding current valuation levels. According to Caso, investors are increasingly concerned as to whether the company would be able to boost organic growth without meaningfully reducing the EBITDA margin outlook.

Carnival Corp. shares are declining Thursday, following a lowering of its fiscal 2019 profit outlook. Carnival has predicted that full fiscal year’s  adjusted earnings would now range between $4.23 and $4.27 a share, versus its prior guidance of $4.25 to $4.35.Its revenue for that quarter came in at $6.5 billion, compared to analysts’ estimate of $6.16 billion.     

Marathon Petroleum shares surged Wednesday, following comments from activist investors at Elliott Management that the group should be split into three separate companies.  The independent oil refining company’s 2.5% stake is held by Elliott.Elliot also believes that the separation would  boost the company's stock price by more than 60%. Elliott’s letter asked Marathon to separate its Speedway gas-station chain and its pipeline business into their own companies, while making Marathon’s refining business as the new Marathon. Marathon agreed to a $23 billion deal last year to acquire rival Andeavor.

Nike shares climbed after-hours ,following its report of earnings and revenue that surpassed analyst expectations. The sports footwear &apparel maker’s fiscal-first-quarter earnings came in at 86 cents a share, beating  analysts’ estimates of 70 cents a share.The figure was also higher than the year-ago quarter’s 67 cents. Revenue increased +7% year-over-year in the quarter to $10.66 billion, compared to analysts’ expectation of  $10.44 billion.  Revenue growth in China surged +22% to $1.68 billion, thereby exceeding analyst expectations. Chief Financial Officer Andy Campion emphasized that even amidst volatile macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions,  Nike expects “strong, broad-based growth” across its global portfolio.

Shares of Broadcom Inc. declined after-hours trading Tuesday, after the company announced a $3 billion offering in preferred/convertible shares. Accoring to the semiconductor company, the net proceeds from the offering will go towards repaying a part of  outstanding borrowings under Broadcom's existing term loan facilities on a pro rata basis. The $3 billion in Series A mandatory convertible preferred stock will give underwriters the option for an additional $450 million in shares to cover over-allotments.The preferred shares offering including over-allotments at Tuesday's closing price would represent an additional 12.2 million shares. The convertible preferred shares are set to convert into a variable number of shares of Broadcom's common stock on the conversion date of Sept. 30, 2022.

Software giant Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) reported earnings on September 17 and the company beat on the top and bottom line.Personally I think that was because expectations were pretty high for Adobe heading in to the report. Now that the earnings report is out of the way, is the stock ready to resume its upward trend?

The analyst also emphasized on the iPhone maker’s potential in services and 5G. Apple generates services revenue from every active device of $38 in fiscal 2020, compared $25 in 2017, according to the analyst. McNealy  mentioned that their  iPhone units outlook is ahead of the Street by 9 million for fiscal 2020 with most of these coming from the midrange.Assuming these are mostly new iPhone users, Apple would make $342 million in annual services revenue off of these customers -- or almost a point of services growth, according to McNealy. At Jefferies’ current 13.4x multiple on calendar 2020 base business EPS estimate, they think that Apple shares are “ too cheap” for a business that they expect would drive over +8% top-line growth and +12%-plus earnings per share power sustainable over time.  

Blackberry shares fell Tuesday, after the company reported weaker-than-expected revenue for its fiscal second quarter. The smartphone maker reported a loss of  -10 cents a share for its fiscal second quarter, wider than the year-ago quarter’s -4 cents loss a share. On an adjusted basis, the company had breakeven per-share earnings, compared to -1-cent loss expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Blackberry’s revenue for the quarter increased to $244 million (from $210 million), falling short of the $268 million expected by analysts.  Looking ahead, BlackBerry has predicted  total company non-GAAP revenue growth in the range of 23% to 25% for fiscal 2020, on expected double-digit percentage growth in year-over-year billings.

Tech giant Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) surprised investors earlier this month when it reported earnings a day earlier than expected.All of this information was a lot for investors to digest and in the end, they sold the stock. The stock closed at $56.29 on September 11 and Oracle made the announcements after the closing bell that day.

Morgan analyst Michael Gambardella cut his rating on the steelmaker’s shares to 'neutral' from 'overweight', after U.S. Steel Corp indicated that it would likely report an adjusted third quarter loss of -35 cents per share.The steel company has also been  hit hard by falling steel prices and scrap prices, leading it to continue idling two of its main U.S. blast furnaces. Several other analysts lowered their outlook as well.

Beyond Meat shares fell - 5% on Monday, following Exane BNP Paribas underperform rating. Analyst Mikheil Omanadze initiated coverage of the plant-based food producer with an underperform rating and a $70 price target.Omanadze  expressed concerns over the company’s shares valuation since he feels that barriers to entry in the meat alternatives industry are negligible. Beyond Meat incurred a second-quarter loss of -24 cents a share – for the first time as a public company.