Despite the low trading volume and lack of excitement, there were three different semiconductor companies that saw bullish signals generated by Tickeron’s A.I.dvisor.The signals all three showed very high confidence levels for a move higher in the next month.

Microchip Technology (MCHP), Texas Instruments (TXN), and Xilinx (XLNX) all saw bullish signals generated on December 30 and the signals showed confidence levels of 88% and 89%.

All three stocks have seen big gains since the March low, but all three have also experienced small downturns in the last few weeks.

Digging deeper in to the companies and their fundamentals, the Tickeron Fundamental Analysis Screener shows a number of positive signs for all three.

It also mentioned that  upstream liquid-fuels pricing could increase earnings by as much as $400 million.Margins in its chemicals business could see an increase between $200 million and $400 million.

On the other hand, the company mentioned that downstream refining margins could range between a negative $100 million to a positive $100 million increase while mark-to-market derivatives could negatively affect earnings by $100 million to $300 million.

However, ExxonMobil said that the list of the  takeaways it is providing is not comprehensive, and said that it "may not account for all adjustments and charges required to fully reflect the changes in industry conditions.

Alphabet shares got a  price target hike from an analyst at  Robert W. Baird & Co., on optimistic outlook for the latter part of 2020 and for the next year.

Analyst Colin Sebastian  boosted his price target on the tech behemoth’s shares to $2,000 from $1,725.He also suggested that digital-advertising visibility in 2021 is improving.

Sebastian  has a "favorable outlook” for the next year, as he views an easy year-over-year comparison alongwith an expected improvement in recreation, travel and auto advertisements.

In its new founding round, the company is hoping to raise $125 million in fresh capital by selling 50 million shares, to avoid bankruptcy.

AMC needs at least $750 million of additional liquidity to finance cash requirements through 2021, as suggested by the company.It has been exploring several options, including restructuring of debt.

 “And in the event of such future liquidation or bankruptcy proceeding, holders of our common stock and other securities would likely suffer a total loss of their investment,” it said in the filing.

 

According to the Sensor Tower blog,  Apple’s  App Store and Alphabet’s  Google Play together experienced a +34.5% year-over-year increase in spending on Christmas Day, to $407.6 million.Last year’s year-over-year gain was +17.7%.

Of the total $407.6 million, Apple garnered $278.6 million, while Google Play generated $129 million.

Top category for spending was mobile games, climbing +27% year-over-year to $295.6 million combined for both platforms.

 Wondery, founded in 2016, is the producer of top-rated podcasts like "Dirty John," "Dr. Death," "Business Wars" and "The Shrink Next Door." 

In September, Amazon Music added podcasts to its platform - which means, it will be competing with players like  Spotify and Apple that are already prominent names in the podcasting market.

Terms of the Amazon-Wondery deal weren’t disclosed

According to two analysts, electric carmaker Tesla should be able to reach its goal of 500,000 deliveries for 2020.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a commentary that Tesla’s  180,000 for 4Q is “line in the sand”, and with  the underlying strength in China as well as a late push in Europe and the U.S., 190,000-200,000 is “well within reach”.This  could enable Tesla to achieve its 500,000 delivery for the year.

Ives maintained his neutral rating on Tesla with a $715 price target.

Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy expects 183,000 deliveries for this quarter (above what he views as the sell-side consensus of 163,000 and the probable buy-side consensus for 175,000 to 180,000 deliveries).

The stocks have seen small pullbacks in the last month and that may be creating a buying opportunity.

On December 29, Tickeron’s A.I.dvisor generated bullish signals on two steel companies and the confidence levels of those two signals were extremely high.The AI trend prediction tool generated a bullish signal on Nucor Corp. (NUE) and on US Steel (X).

 Activist hedge fund Third Point LLC is urging Intel Corp. to explore strategic alternatives, according to a letter it sent to the company’s chairman on Tuesday.

The alternatives include decisions such as whether Intel should keep chip design and production arms under one entity.It could also lead to the unwinding of some of its acquisitions, such as the $16.7 billion purchase of Altera in 2015 (as reported by Reuters).

Third Point has nearly $1 billion stake in Intel, according to people familiar with the matter(as reported by Reuters).

Reuters reported that Third Point Chief Executive Daniel Loeb wrote to Intel Chairman Omar Ishrak pushing for immediate action to bolster the company’s position as a major provider of processor chips for PCs and data centers.

Since an approximate 41% drop on March 14, (around the time the lockdown was beginning), BTC.X saw a steady rise throughout 2020, with a 43% surge from December 12 through yesterday, December 28.Tickeron’s outlook, as of today, is fairly positive, with four technical indicators, one fundamental analysis rating, and our A.I.

Consumers don't like waiting 10 weeks for anything. 

The long wait times are a signal of the strong demand for Peloton's product, but also underscore the rapid shift towards digital everything, including exercise.A perfect solution in a pandemic, which is why its connected-fitness subscriptions grew 137% year-over-year and its digital subscriptions grew 382%. 

Peloton has a manufacturing problem, however, with all of its bikes built by third-party manufacturers in Taiwan.

It's been awhile since Apple, Inc. wowed the world with a new, cutting edge consumer product.Is something huge in the works? 

Below, A.I.dvisor gives a full breakdown of Apple.

Then Chinese regulators stepped in.

In a crushing blow to both companies, China's top commerce regulator announced an investigation into Alibaba's business practices, alleging the company may be abusing its dominant market position for monopolistic purposes.A few days later, the Chinese central bank (the PBOC) issued a statement criticizing Ant Financial's business practices, ordering the company to focus on its less-lucrative digital-payments business.

Coinbase announced that it will halt trading of the XRP cryptocurrency, after the Securities and Exchange Commission last week deemed it a security (versus a digital currency).

The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange said it will suspend trading of XRP in its market by mid-January.That means, customers would still be able to avail deposit and withdraw functionality.

 

 

On Tuesday, Alkermes Plc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the company's resubmission of its new drug application for its treatment of schizophrenia or bipolar 1 disorder. 

The FDA classified the resubmission as a complete, Class 2 response to the Complete Response Letter (CRL) issued in November 2020.Last month, the FDA had  turned away Alkermes’ ALKS 3831 candidate, since it had concerns  with conditions related to the tablet-coating process.

Alkermes said it will continue to work closely with the FDA as it completes its review of ALKS 3831.

The pharma company said that it wants to make the treatment available to patients as soon as possible. 

Snap Inc.  got a Wall Street-high price target from Goldman Sachs analysts.

Goldman analyst Heath Terry raised his price target on the social media company’s shares to $70 per share (from $47) – the highest target on Wall Street.Terry maintained his buy rating on the stock.

 The analyst mentioned tech innovations and product partnerships that he believes could push Snap's revenue growth beyond the Street expectations.

Terry also said that Snap's Spotlight product, new ad campaign objectives and bid types, and the Unity partnership, particularly Unity Ads' inclusion into the Snap Audience Network (SAN) could potentially propel further momentum in engagement growth as well as provide valuable scale to advertisers.

After bottoming at $21.11 in March, the Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) has rallied over 400%.The five stocks were:

            First Solar (FSLR)

            JinkoSolar (JKS)

            Sunnova Energy International (NOVA)

            Plug Power (PLUG)

            Sunpower (SPWR)

When I pulled up these five stocks on the Tickeron Technical Analysis Screener, I couldn’t help but notice all five stocks had received bearish signals from the Bollinger Bands indicator within the last three days.

On Monday, electric vehicle-technology company Ideanomics announced that its Mobile Energy Global unit and contractor Qingdao Chengyang Medici have signed a deal with Meihao Chuxing (a joint venture between China's BYD and Didi) to buy an initial 2,000 ride-hailing units of model BYD D1 electric vehicle. 

According to Ideanomics, the vehicles are intended to be deployed in multiple cities within China.It expects deliveries to start in the first half of 2021.

The BYD D1 was launched in November, and has a range of 418 km, or 260 miles, and can reach top speeds of 130 km an hour, or 81 miles an hour.

The agreement is backed by a "viable government subsidy program, Ideanomics stated in a press release.

Nikola  shares got a price target cut from analysts at J.P. Morgan.

J.P.Morgan analysts slashed their price target on the electric carmaker’s shares to $35 from $40 per share. 

The investment bank mentioned that it identified execution risks for Nikola following General Motors’ decision   in November to sign a memorandum of understanding with the company that was smaller in scale than investors had previously anticipated.  General Motors will provide its hydrotec fuel cell system for Nikola's Class 7 and 8 semi-trucks, but not under the exact same terms as announced earlier.

Nevertheless analyst Paul Coster still expects Nikola's news cycle "to be less drama-filled and to turn generally positive," according to TheFly. 

It also suggested a good tolerance generally.

Novavax is also currently conducting a large Phase 3 clinical study in the United Kingdom (U.K.), a Phase 2b safety and efficacy study in South Africa, and an ongoing Phase1/2 trial in the U.S. and Australia.Results from these trials are expected to come in as soon as early first quarter 2021, although timing could depend on transmission rates in the regions.