Shares of Aurora Cannabis Inc. dropped almost -10% during after-hours trading Wednesday, after the company reported  net revenue that fell short of its previously lowered guidance. The Canadian cannabis company’s fiscal fourth-quarter consolidated net revenue increased +52% from the previous quarter to C$98.9 million – lower than the C$100 million to C$107 million guidance the company had provided offered last month.  Aurora’s adjusted EBITDA loss was -C$11.7 million. In a separate filing, Aurora said that its net loss attributable to common shareholders was less than -C$200,000, and less than a penny a share, with the rest of the losses attributed to two subsidiaries’ non-controlling interests. Aurora mentioned that it is working closely with all regulatory and channel partners to streamline distribution, amidst challenges facing the Canadian consumer channel at the retail level in its key markets.

Shares of Alcoa climbed around +6% Wednesday, following a rating upgrade by Credit Suisse. Analysts at Credit Suisse raised their rating on the aluminum products and wrap maker’s stock to outperform from neutral.They also hiked their price target on the shares to $27 from $26. Credit Suisse analyst Curt Woodworth indicated that he expects alumina prices to bounce back on "significant" capacity cuts in China, the ending of inventory destocking, and the reported shutdown of the Alpart plant by Chinese Jiuquan Iron & Steel. Woodworth also believes that raw material inputs for alumina, like caustic soda, energy, and calcined coke are declining in price and therefore boosting profit margin for Alcoa. Woodworth also mentioned that Alcoa's restructuring efforts should result in  significant tailwinds to its mid-cycle free cash flow starting early 2020.

Charles Schwab revealed plans to retrench 3% of its workforce, as it attempts to boost interest margins amidst macroeconomic headwinds. The financial services giant is laying off 600 employees, hoping that the move would lower expenses and therefore mitigate pressure from declining interest rates and economic challenges.The global and domestic macroeconomic headwinds/uncertainties and therefore declining interest rates seem to have aggravated the narrowing of interest margin between loans and deposits for Charles Schwab. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve is expected to implement more rate cuts this year after dropping rates by a quarter of a percentage point over the summer – something that could potentially add to Charles Schwab’s concerns, since a large portion of its revenue comes from net interest. In its second quarter earnings, Schwab’s net interest revenue declined -4% from the first quarter.

The SPDR Oil & Gas Exploration and Production ETF (NYSE: XOP) is down just over 40% in the past year while the S&P 500 is up 3.55%.The relative strength for the sector has been strong, but that strength has put many stocks in the sector in overbought territory. One such stock is PBF Energy (NYSE: PBF).

Analyst Rupesh Parikh  mentioned the company's price to future earnings ratio  at 34.5 times is "well above prior peaks on both metrics".Parikh sees limited upside to the shares - due to premium valuation, potentially aggressive Street forecasts, and difficult compares especially in Q2 (as indicated by the analyst). Oppenheimer’s expectation for full year 2020 and 2021 earnings are $8.40 and $8.95 a share respectively, which are below the corresponding consensus estimates of $8.55 and $9.21 per share. However, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Costco's shares to $300 from $295.     

The price target represents a potential 22% upside from the stock's previous closing price of $49.21. Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani emphasized how investors are “underappreciating” Cisco's shift towards a more predictable and free-cash-flow-focused model.Daryanani suggested that investors evaluate the stock more on a free-cash-flow-based valuation versus a traditional price-to-earnings method.  Regarding the communications/networking industry as a whole,  Evercore indicated that investment will be focused towards technologies that bolster growing bandwidth demands with an incremental approach to 5G products.   

Philip Morris International announced a dividend hike to an annualized $4.68 a share. The tobacco company’s new quarterly dividend of $1.17 per share, up +2.6% from $1.14, would be payable payable Oct. 11 to holders of record Sept. 25. Based on Tuesday's Philip Morris stock closing price of $74.50, the new annual dividend rate of $4.68 a share indicates a dividend yield of 6.28%, which is significantly higher than the yield for the SPDR Consumer Discretionary Select Sector ETF  of 1.23% and also greater than the implied yield for the S&P 500  of 1.97% (according to FactSet). In August, Philip Morris confirmed that it was in talks with Altria regarding a potential merger.In 2008, Altria spun off Philip Morris and focused on the domestic cigarette market, while  Philip Morris went on to have a larger overseas presence. Philip Morris, along with several of its peers, has ventured into the e-cigarette market, amidst declining global sales of tobacco products. &

Santa Clara-based Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) reported earnings on September 4.The overall reaction from investors was a positive one as the stock jumped when it opened for trading on September 5. Looking at the weekly chart for Palo Alto, we see that the stock was trading just above its 104-week (two years of data) moving average and just above a trend line that connects the lows from the last three years.

The KeyBanc analysts increased their price target to $58 from $45. KeyBanc analysts expect memory trends to improve through 2020 excluding a recession, as indicated by Twigg wrote in a note.Twigg also suggested that DRAM, which accounts for roughly 70% of the company’s revenue, is likely to be a stronger market over the long-term compared to NAND, due to less competition, high barriers to entry, and supply constraints from scaling limitations. Twigg also expects both NAND and DRAM inventories to drop during the second half of this year, with NAND pricing likely to steadily increase through that period and DRAM pricing likely to stabilize by the end of the year.    

On Monday, e-commerce company Shopify announced that it is acquiring warehouse automation startup 6 River Systems for $450 million. Through the 60% cash and 40% stock deal, Shopify expects to expand its warehouse & deliveries capabilities – thanks to 6 River Systems’ expertise in fulfilment/cloud-based software and robotics solutions.6 River Systems is well-known for its “Chuck” autonomous vehicles that can move around packages in the warehouse. Shopify indicated that the acquisition will improve delivery times and lower costs.

The analyst’s price target on the shares is $48. Senior research analyst Tom Forte indicated in a note that DA Davidson  believes that Overstock's Interim CEO, Jonathan Johnson (who is also the chairman of tZero) is well positioned to lead Overstock (including its Medici Ventures' effort that includes tZero).In recent times, Overstock is looking to branch out (from its e-commerce business) to offer blockchain services, including its tZero cryptocurrency. Last month, Overstock’s long-time CEO Patrick Byrne resigned citing distraction and fallout related to his involvement in a Federal Bureau of Investigation Russian espionage probe.    

Tech giant Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) reported earnings after the closing bell back on August 14.The stock dropped 8.6% on August 15. Looking at the weekly chart for Cisco we see a couple of important factors are coming in to play.

Oil and gas exploration company Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP) has been trending lower for almost a year now, falling from a high of $54.40 to a recent low of $32.00.As a result of these numbers, the Tickeron SMR rating for Targa Resources is 97, indicating weak sales and an unprofitable business model.

Las Vegas Sands shares are climbing Monday, on rating upgrade by Deutsche Bank. Analysts at Deutsche Bank boosted the casino/resort company’s stock to buy from hold. They also hiked their price target to $70 from $69 – which represents a potential upside of 25% from the stock's closing price on Friday. Analyst Carlo Santarelli emphasized that Las Vegas Sands currently has a favorable entry point, owing to the largely bearish sentiment towards the Macau gaming market amidst geopolitical headwinds According to the analyst, Las Vegas Sands has to  a large extent priced in the Macau-induced headwinds. Santarelli  belives that the Macau gaming authority will soon release gross gaming receipts that would reveal a positive trend, which turn should propel a turnaround in investor sentiment on Macau.    

HP Inc. shares took a hit on Monday, following  a rating downgrade by Bernstein Research. Bernstein reduced its rating on the tech company's stock to market perform from outperform, citing structural headwinds to HP's printing unit amidst a shift to digital. In its third quarter, HP experienced  a -5% decline in revenue from its printing unit.However, outgoing CEO Dion Weisler told investors on an earnings call last month HP "outperformed the market in an increasingly challenging environment,". HP's PC segment saw a +6% revenue growth in the latest quarter ,and a +51% surge its profit margin .

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill jumped +1.2% Monday, following a rating upgrade from Wedbush. Analyst Nick Setyan upgraded his rating of the fast food restaurant chain' shares to outperform from neutral.This was the program’s first full quarter since it began. Setyan mentioned that loyalty would be  a strong, key driver of penetration of Chipotle’s own app among consumers.

Kellogg got a rating boost from Goldman Sachs on Friday. Analysts at Goldman Sachs raised their rating on the cereal maker’s stock to buy from neutral.They also hiked price target on the shares to $72 from $58, a potential 15% upside over the stock's closing price Thursday of $62.84. Calling Kellogg "the most compelling value left in snacks", Goldman Sachs indicated that said Kellogg’s organic sales will accelerate  which in turn should boost profit margins.  

Cybersecurity company Symantec could be acquired in a deal valued at more than $16 billion. Citing people familiar with the offer, the Wall Street Journal reported that private equity firms Permira and Advent International have offered $26 to $27 a share to buy Symantec. The proposed deal involving the PE firms would happen along with the sale of Symantec’s enterprise business to Broadcom for $10.7 billion, according to the Journal. Under one possibility, Symantec would sell its consumer business to the PE firms after the deal with Broadcom closes; an alternative possibility has Permira and Advent acquiring the whole company and then selling off the enterprise unit to Broadcom, ( as indicated by the Journal).

Crowdstrike reported its fiscal second-quarter loss that was narrower than analysts' estimates, thanks to strength in recurring subscriptions of its cloud-based security systems. The cloud-based cybersecurity company’s non-GAAP net loss came in at - 18 cents a share, which was better than analysts’ forecasted loss of -23 cents  a share (based on FactSet survey of analysts).The loss was also smaller than the year-ago quarterly loss of -69 cents a share. Revenue of $108.1 million was slightly below the $111.1 million expected by analysts. Subscription revenue surged to $97.6 million in the quarter, from the prior year quarter’s $49.2 million. CEO George Kurtz cited customer growth acceleration for CrowdStrike's cloud-native Falcon platform as a major reason behind the improving performance in the quarter. Looking ahead, Crowdstrike expects its full-year fiscal 2020, to incur a non-GAAP net loss of between $93.5 million and $97.9 million, (or between -62 cents and -65 cents a sh

Even with the group as a whole underperforming, Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq: PENN) has performed worse than its peers.The stock is down over 20% in the past six months while the S&P is up just over 5% during the same time period. Looking at the daily chart we see that there is a trend channel that has formed over the last six months and it defines the cyclical moves within the overall downward trend.