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How a Jack Dorsey-backed bitcoin miner uses a volcano in Kenya to turn on the lights in rural homes 2024-04-20 15:12:00+00:00 - watch now HELL'S GATE, Kenya — Two-and-a-half hours northwest of Nairobi by car, a small group of bitcoin miners set up shop at the site of an extinct volcano near Hell's Gate National Park. The mine, tucked away on the edge of Lake Naivasha, is operated by a startup called Gridless and consists of a single 500-kilowatt mobile container that, from the outside, looks like a small residential trailer. Backed by Jack Dorsey's Block , Gridless electrifies its machines with a mix of solar power and the stranded, wasted energy from a nearby geothermal site. It's one of six mines run by the company in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia, powered by a mix of renewable inputs and working toward a broader mission of securing and decentralizing the bitcoin network. Gridless runs Gridlesin Hell's Gate operates on geothermal power. MacKenzie Sigalos "Most people think about bitcoin and the price of bitcoin and how they can save value in it or maybe spend it," Gridless CEO Erik Hersman told CNBC during a visit to the Kenyan mine earlier this year. "That doesn't happen without the bitcoin miners and us being globally distributed." Decentralization is a key feature of bitcoin, because it means the network isn't controlled by any entity and can't be shut down — even if a government disapproves. Bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies are created through a process known as proof-of-work, in which miners around the world run high-powered computers that collectively validate transactions and simultaneously create new tokens. The process requires heaps of electricity, leading miners to seek out the cheapest sources of power. While there are more than a dozen publicly traded miners, thousands of smaller, private operations are also competing to process transactions and get paid in new bitcoin. That includes individual miners in countries from Venezuela to Lebanon, and can involve a single mining rig in a kitchen or several hundred thousand of them in an industrial-grade datacenter. Gridless runs a geothermal-powered bitcoin mine in Hell's Gate on the shore of Lake Naivasha. MacKenzie Sigalos Wherever the operation, bitcoin mining is a volatile business, because so much of the economics depends on the price of the cryptocurrency. Since losing 60% of its value in 2022, bitcoin has come roaring back, hitting a record above $73,000 in March, before pulling back a bit in recent weeks. Much of the rally has been tied to the launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S., as well as optimism surrounding the so-called halving that took place late Friday. That event occurs every four years and is designed to cut the reward for bitcoin miners in half, reducing the pace at which new bitcoins enter the market. Prior halving events have been followed by big run-ups in the cryptocurrency. "Bitcoin is effectively unbreakable at this point," said Adam Sullivan, CEO of Core Scientific , a bitcoin miner based in Texas. "Bitcoin is at a point where it is more profitable to continue supporting the network than to try and break it." Analysts at Deutsche Bank wrote in a note on April 18 that they expect the geography of crypto mining to shift after the halving as slimmer profit margins force miners to seek cheaper and more reliable forms of energy. The analysts wrote that the U.S. currently accounts for 40% of mining, with Russia at 20% and China at 15%. "Latin America, Africa and the Middle East have caught the attention of crypto miners due to their lower energy costs," they wrote. Bitfarms, based in Toronto, is now operating in Argentina, while Marathon Digital , headquartered in Florida, has expanded into the United Arab Emirates and Paraguay. Hersman, 48, was raised in Kenya and Sudan, where his parents were linguists. Before getting into bitcoin mining, he and his two co-founders, Philip Walton and Janet Maingi, spent years building internet connectivity infrastructure in rural and urban Africa. Gridless runs bitcoin mines in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia on a mix of renewable energy sources. The company's site in Hell's Gate operates on geothermal power. MacKenzie Sigalos In early 2022, the trio began brainstorming creative solutions for the divide between power generation and capacity, and the lack of access to electricity in Africa. They landed on the idea of bitcoin mining, which could potentially solve a big problem for renewable energy developers by taking their stranded power and spreading it to other parts of the continent. In Africa, 43% of the population, or roughly 600 million people, lack access to electricity. Gridless now has eight full-time staffers and manages much of its operations remotely with its software. Turning lava into bitcoin Hell's Gate is a deep and winding canyon that is home to cheetahs, zebras, and giraffes and rimmed by cliffs, volcanoes and thick bush. The area is covered in ash, and sulfuric plumes of steam will periodically emit from the ground, a reminder of the surrounding, smoldering volcanic craters that wiped out some of the native Maasai tribe in the mid-19th century and threatened others who dared to take up residence there. Gone are the days of fatal eruptions and spewing lava. Instead, an elaborate, labyrinthine piping system and volcanic plugs comprise multiple geothermal power stations. A drilling hole at the Olkaria geothermal power station in Hell´s Gate National Park. Getty Images/Michael Gottschalk Volcano-powered bitcoin mining isn't new. Iceland, El Salvador and other countries have been harnessing geothermal energy to mine bitcoin. To make the conditions work for miners, the businesses need the combination of a buy-in from local authorities, cheap and abundant power and some infrastructure, said Nic Carter, founding partner of Castle Island Ventures, which focuses on blockchain investments. "If you have those three ingredients, it can work, but sometimes, it's the nation state, or a national, state energy company doing it," Carter said. He pointed to the Middle East, which is getting into flare gas mining as an example of state-level actors entering the business. "In some cases, it's with the explicit blessing of the nation state like Bhutan, and then in Texas, it's just with very favorable local regulators and local conditions," he said. Africa is home to an estimated 10 terawatts of solar capacity, 350 gigawatts of hydro and another 110 gigawatts of wind. Some of this renewable energy is being harnessed already, but a lot isn't because building the specialized infrastructure to capture it is expensive. Even with 60% of the best solar resources globally, Africa only has 1% of installed solar PV capacity. Enter bitcoin miners. Bitcoin gets a bad rap for the amount of energy it consumes, but it can also help unlock these trapped renewable sources of power. Miners are essentially energy buyers, and co-locating with renewables creates a financial incentive to bolster production. "As often happens, you'll have an overage of power during the day or even at night, and there's nobody to soak that power up," said Hersman. He said his company's 50-kilowatt mining container can "take up whatever is extra throughout the day." Steam tubes at the Olkaria geothermal power station in Hell´s Gate National Park. Getty Images/Michael Gottschalk "Within any second or minute, we are going up and down on a certain number of miners that are running," Hersman said. "It might be down to 50 kilowatts, then up to 300 kilowatts, then down to 200 kilowatts, and then up to another level — and that will happen all day and all night." According to the International Energy Agency, in Africa's rural areas, "where over 80% of the electricity-deprived live, mini-grids and stand-alone systems, mostly solar based, are the most viable solutions." Demand from bitcoin miners on these semi-stranded assets is making renewables in Africa economically viable. The power supplier benefits from selling energy that previously had been discarded, while the energy plants will sometimes lower costs for the customer. At one of the Gridless pilot sites in Kenya, the hydro plant dropped the price of power from 35 cents per kilowatt hour to 25 cents per kWh. The buildout of capacity is also electrifying households. Gridless says its sites have powered 1,200 houses in Zambia, 1,800 in Malawi and 5,000 in Kenya. The company's mines also have delivered power for containerized cold storage for local farmers, battery charging stations for electric motorcycles and public WiFi points. "It's not really sexy," Hersman said. "It's a mining container made from a shipping container. It's got a bunch of dumb machines sitting in it running the same equation over and over again, but it's actually what secures the network."
Can the W.N.B.A. Make Money? 2024-04-20 12:00:03+00:00 - After the Indiana Fever made Caitlin Clark the W.N.B.A.’s No. 1 draft pick this week, the team’s ticket prices soared. The basketball star’s long-distance shots and huge following have landed her on “Saturday Night Live,” attracted interest from sponsors like Nike and sold out jerseys at a rapid pace. In exchange for Clark’s once-in-a-generation talent, the W.N.B.A. will pay her … $76,535. News of the paltry first-year salary has ignited a countrywide debate that even President Biden weighed in on, commenting that “even if you’re the best, women are not paid their fair share.” It also highlighted a hard truth that largely goes unspoken about the W.N.B.A. and many women’s sports leagues: They aren’t profitable. The simplest reason the W.N.B.A. isn’t paying Clark more is that the league brings in just $200 million annually and relies on the N.B.A. for some of its funding. The N.B.A., by contrast, brings in about $10 billion.
Americans’ New TV Habit: Subscribe. Watch. Cancel. Repeat. 2024-04-20 09:02:05+00:00 - Early last year, Josh Meisel and his wife wanted to watch a new buzzy Peacock drama, “Poker Face,” starring Natasha Lyonne. But Mr. Meisel, a scientist who lives outside Boston, did not subscribe to Peacock. He paid for half a dozen other streaming services and was reluctant to sign up for another. So he and his wife made a pact. If they weren’t watching “Poker Face” anymore after two weeks, they would cancel Peacock. Sure enough, they lost interest and canceled. And then he realized: Why stop there? In the weeks that followed, Mr. Meisel, who is 39, cut loose Max, Apple TV+ and Hulu. He eventually resubscribed to Hulu and Apple TV+ when there were shows the couple wanted to watch — Hulu for “The Bear,” Apple TV+ for “Slow Horses” — but canceled both again after they finished watching a new season.
A bitcoin halving is imminent. Here's what that means. 2024-04-19 21:46:00+00:00 - The fallout from Arkansas' "right to mine" bitcoin law The fallout from Arkansas' "right to mine" bitcoin law The fallout from Arkansas' "right to mine" bitcoin law Bitcoin is expected to go through a "halving" within the next day or two, a preprogrammed event that could impact production of the world's largest cryptocurrency. A halving, which occurs about every four years, was designed by bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, to effectively reduce by half the reward that miners of the digital token receive. The idea is that by cutting in half the amount bitcoin miners currently make for their efforts, fewer bitcoins will enter the market, creating more scarcity of the cryptocurrency. That's sparked some speculation that the halving could cause a surge in demand and push up the price of bitcoin, which has already risen almost 50% since year start. Much of the credit for bitcoin's recent rally is given to the early success of a new way to invest in the asset — spot bitcoin ETFs, which were only approved by U.S. regulators in January. Here's what to know about bitcoin's "halving." What exactly is bitcoin "halving"? Bitcoin miners get a fixed reward when they successfully validate a new block on the bitcoin blockchain. That reward is currently 6.25 bitcoin, worth about $402,000, based on today's trading price for the token. After the halving, miners will receive 3.125 bitcoin for achieving the same goal. As a result, the rate at which new bitcoins enter the market should also fall, slowing the supply of coins. According to limits set by Satoshi Nakamoto, only a maximum of 21 million bitcoins will ever exist, of which more than 19.5 million have already been mined, leaving fewer than 1.5 million left to be created. When was the last bitcoin halving? The last such event happened in May 2020, when bitcoin's price stood at around $8,602, according to CoinMarketCap. By May 2021, the value of bitcoin had surged almost seven-fold to almost $57,000. When will the next halving occur? Halving is scheduled to occur regularly after the creation of every 210,000 "blocks" — where transactions are recorded — during the mining process, that are added to the blockchain. While there aren't any set calendar dates for this to occur, it generally works out to roughly once every four years. The latest estimates expect the next halving to occur sometime late Friday or early Saturday. What do expert say could happen with bitcoin's price after the next halving? Some believe that it will be a non-event for bitcoin's price because the cryptocurrency has already experienced a big run-up this year. "Investors, traders and speculators priced-in the halving months ago," said Nigel Green, the CEO of financial services firm deVere Group, in an email. "As a result, a significant portion of the positive economic impact was experienced previously, driving up prices to fresh all-time highs last month." Still, others say that bitcoin could get a bump, at least longer-term. Growing demand due to the new ETFs, combined with the supply shock of the next halving, could help push bitcoin's price even higher, said Bitwise senior crypto research analyst Ryan Rasmussen. "We would expect the price of bitcoin to have a strong performance over the next 12 months," he said. Rasmussen notes that he's seen some predict gains reaching as high as $400,000, but the more "consensus estimate" is closer to the $100,000-$175,000 range. What is the halving's impact on bitcoin miners? Miners will likely be pressed to become more energy efficient, or may need to raise new capital, experts said. In its recent research report, Bitwise found that total miner revenue slumped one month after each of the three previous halvings. But those figures had rebounded significantly after a full year, thanks to spikes in the price of bitcoin as well as larger miners expanding their operations. Time will tell how mining companies fare following this next looming halving. But Rasmussen is betting that big players will continue to expand and utilize the industry's technology advances to make operations more efficient. —With reporting by the Associated Press.
Trump Media tells Nasdaq short sellers may be using "potential market manipulation" in DJT shares 2024-04-19 21:30:00+00:00 - Trump Media & Technology Group is alerting the Nasdaq exchange that its stock — trading under the ticker DJT, after former President Donald Trump's initials — may be the victim of "potential market manipulation" due to short-selling activity. The letter, which was sent Thursday to Nasdaq CEO Adena T. Friedman, claims that some traders are relying on so-called "naked" short selling, which is when an investor shorts a stock without first borrowing the shares. It's a practice that is effectively banned in the U.S., with regulators requiring trading firms to make sure that traders have the securities on hand to complete a short sale. The complaint comes after a wild ride for Trump Media's stock since going public last month on the Nasdaq exchange. The shares lost two-thirds of their value from an initial peak, slicing billions of value from the fledgling media business, whose primary asset is the social media service Truth Social. While Trump Media has regained some of that lost ground, rising 28% this week, some investors had complained on Truth Social that they suspected short sellers were contributing to the decline. "Reports indicate that, as of April 3, 2024, DJT was 'by far' 'the most expensive U.S. stock to short,' meaning that brokers have a significant financial incentive to lend non-existent shares," Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, wrote to April 18 letter to the Nasdaq CEO. Nunes asked for Nasdaq to "advise what steps you can take to foster transparency and compliance by ensuring market makers are adhering" to regulations that block naked short selling. Shares of Trump Media rose $3.19, or 9.6%, to $36.38 on Friday. The agencies that would regulate naked short selling include the Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA, the financial industry regulatory authority that oversees broker-dealers, as the latter companies are those that execute short sale trades on behalf of customers. Nasdaq is "committed to the principles of liquidity, transparency and integrity in all our markets," the said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, the stock exchange said. "We have long been an advocate of transparency in short selling and have been an active supporter of the SEC's rules and enforcement efforts designed to monitor and prohibit naked short selling," it added. Short selling versus "naked" short selling Short selling, which is legal, occurs when a trader borrows shares of a stock they believe will lose value, and then immediately sells the shares on the market for cash proceeds. Later on, if the stock price falls, the trader purchases that stock at the lower price, and then returns the shares to their trading firm from where they were originally borrowed. The short seller's goal is to purchase the stock at a lower price than the borrowed shares, to pocket the difference in value. But "naked" short selling, which is illegal in the U.S. if it is done intentionally, skips the step where the trader borrows shares of the stock, meaning that the investor sells shares they do not possess. Naked shorts can lead to large declines in a target company's stock price, while also undermining market confidence, according to law firm Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto. There's currently a shortage of stock available to borrow to make a short sale against Trump Media shares, Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3 Partners, wrote to CBS MoneyWatch. The stock has seen increased short selling this year, but also recent short covering, which is when a trader purchases the stock to cover the trade, he added. Still, it's impossible to tell from public data whether any naked short selling occurring, he added. That's because so-called "fail-to-deliver" data, which tracks when an investor in a trading contract fails to make good on their end, could be related to long positions as well as short sales, he pointed out.
Walmart joins other big retailers in scaling back on self-checkout 2024-04-19 17:40:00+00:00 - Target, Dollar General reducing self-checkout lanes Target, Dollar General reducing self-checkout lanes 00:52 Walmart is joining the ranks of retailers rethinking self-checkout, with the industry giant in the process of removing the self-service lanes at a store in Missouri. The return to registers staffed by humans at the Walmart store in Shrewsbury, a suburb of St. Louis, comes a month after Target announced only those buying 10 items or less could use the self-checkout lane at its stores, and Dollar General reduced self-checkout at thousands of its locations. The latter removed the option entirely at 300 locations most-impacted by shoplifting. Retailers are pulling back, but not abandoning self-checkout, according to Neil Saunders, managing director, retail, at GlobalData. "They are trying to see how does this play a role in the future, but it's not going to be the same thing they've done for decades, where it's a free-for-all, and anyone could use it," he told CBS MoneyWatch. There is a lot more caution." Walmart cited customer feedback as among the factors in its decision to remove the self-checkout kiosks at its store in Shrewsbury. "As part of our announced plans for additional investments and improvements to stores across the country, we're converting the self-checkout lanes at our 7437 Watson Road store in Shrewsbury, MO., to traditional checkout lanes," a Walmart spokesperson emailed CBS MoneyWatch. "We believe the change will improve the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the chance to provide more personalized and efficient service." Self-checkout increased in popularity among retailers and customers during the pandemic, allowing shoppers to limit their contact with others and helping to relieve a labor shortage that made staffing registers more difficult. Still, as the pandemic wound down, many shoppers returned to their former habits, and the appeal of self-checkout lost some of its allure. "It's a very love-hate technology. A lot of customers see it as a deterioration of the service, and they have to do more of the work. So it's not good for driving customer loyalty, " Saunders noted. Still, rising theft — part of what retailers call "shrink" — is the primary reason self-checkout is being ditched in some stores and restricted in others, according to Saunders. "Self-checkout is an area of the store people can steal things," said the analyst, who noted that shoppers also make genuine mistakes, such as not scanning items properly. "Retailers are very actively trying to reduce it, or in Target's case put more restrictions around self-checkout to try to reduce the losses they incur from it." Costco in November added more staff in self-checkout areas after finding that non-members were sneaking in to use membership cards that didn't belong to them at self-checkout. Costco said shrink had increased in 2023 "in part we believe due to the rollout of self-checkout." Another approach is adding a receipt-scanning gate at self-checkout areas, which Safeway has done at multiple locations in California, in addition to shutting down self-checkout entirely in some stores.
Online gambling casts deepening shadow on pro sports 2024-04-19 17:16:00+00:00 - The legalization of online sports betting in many U.S. states has proved a boon for the gambling industry, as well as generated billions in local tax revenue. But the explosive growth in wagering has also had a less savory effect that experts say threatens the integrity of professional sports: a surge in players breaking league rules and placing bets, sometimes on their own teams and personal performance. The most recent incident happened this week when the NBA permanently banned former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter after an investigation found that he shared information about his health status with other bettors and that he had previously bet $54,000 on basketball games. Earlier this year, meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani became the center of a MLB gambling probe centering on the player's former interpreter. And the NHL last fall suspended Ottawa Senator Shane Pinto for 41 games for violating the league's gambling rules. In 2023, 11 different pro athletes were caught engaging in sports gambling, the Athletic has reported, including NFL players from the Detroit Lions who were suspended for an entire season. Such scandals, including at the collegiate level, have proliferated since the Supreme Court in 2018 cleared the way for states to legalize online sports betting. And while there are steps league officials can take to mitigate the issue, experts see no panaceas. Should leagues ban "prop" bets? A player proposition bet — or player props — is a wager on a given player's in-game performance in a particular category, like home runs, touchdowns, strikeouts or shots on goal. Experts said player props are susceptible to being manipulated because a player's actions in a game can dictate the outcome of bet. In the Porter case, the NBA investigation found that he had provided information about his health to another part, who used that knowledge to place an $80,000 prop wager that Porter would underperform in a March game against the Los Angeles Clippers. "I do expect some of these leagues to react by wanting to ban player prop bets," said John Holden, a business management professor at Oklahoma State University. "And that looks like an easy fix, but it might make it harder to fix the underlying problem." The major sports leagues all have restrictions on athletes placing bets, and similar bans are also written into players' union contracts. Some rules bar players from wagering on any sport, while others only ban someone from betting on the sports they play. Yet league officials also send a mixed message, Andrew Brandt, a sports law professor at Villanova University, told CBS MoneyWatch. On one hand, sports leagues have signed multi-million brand marketing deals with betting platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel; on the other, the leagues are also telling players they cannot financially gain from the sports betting craze, Brandt said. "The message to players is you cannot bet," he said. "But essentially the leagues are saying 'Do as I say, not as I do'." To be sure, gambling incidents involving athletes remain relatively rare in the sports world. Pinto was the NHL's first ever gambling-related suspension, and MLB has been scandal-free since Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life in 1989. But sports fans should expect more gambling controversies as additional states legalize sports betting, experts said. "The NBA kind of got lucky this time," Brandt said. "They got a player that's not well known. Toronto isn't even a good team — they're not going to the playoffs, so league officials]can just remove him and declare their sport to be full of integrity."
U.S. sanctions two entities over fundraising for extremist West Bank settlers who attacked Palestinians 2024-04-19 15:48:00+00:00 - The Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions against two entities that have been accused of fundraising for extremist Israeli-occupied West Bank settlers connected to violence against Palestinians, as well as the founder of a group whose members regularly attack Palestinians. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement that Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich "generated tens of thousands of dollars for extremists responsible for destroying property, assaulting civilians, and violence against Palestinians." "Such acts by these organizations undermine the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank," he added. "We will continue to use our tools to hold those responsible accountable." The Treasury Department said the two entities, Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich, have been accused of raising money for settlers Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai, who have both already previously been sanctioned. Levi is alleged by the U.S. to have led settlers in repeatedly assaulting Palestinian and Bedouin civilians in the West Bank, threatening them if they didn't leave their homes. Levi and the settlers, according to the State Department, "burned their fields and destroyed their property." Chasdai, according to the U.S., allegedly led a riot, setting cars and buildings on fire in the West Bank. The rampage resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian. The announcement came as the West Bank has been seeing some of its worst violence perpetrated by extremist settlers against Palestinians since the war in nearby Gaza began. There has been friction between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose far-right government has responded angrily to previous sanctions imposed against West Bank settlers. The fundraising campaigns established by Mount Hebron Fund for Levi and by Shlom Asiraich for Chasdai generated the equivalent of $140,000 and $31,000, respectively, according to U.S. Treasury. The penalties are intended to block them from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them. Additionally, the State Department is designating Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of Lehava, an organization whose members have assaulted Palestinian civilians. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the organizations "undermine the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank. We will continue to use our tools to hold those responsible accountable." In February, Mr. Biden issued an executive order targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been accused of attacking Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in the occupied territory. Richard Escobedo contributed to this report.
Comprehensive Analysis of PayPal Stock 2024-04-19 15:45:00+00:00 - S&P 500 4,967.23 DOW 37,986.40 QQQ 414.65 North Carolina medical marijuana sales begin at Cherokee store Ukrainian and Western leaders laud US aid package while the Kremlin warns of 'further ruin' Biden sees a $35 price cap for insulin as a pivotal campaign issue. It’s not that clear-cut 'Civil War’ continues box-office campaign at No. 1 Hawaii lawmakers take aim at vacation rentals after Lahaina wildfire amplifies Maui housing crisis Conservative Brazilians laud Elon Musk at rally in support of ex-president Bolsonaro
Intuitive Surgical Stock Can Trend Much Higher This Year 2024-04-19 14:59:00+00:00 - Key Points Intuitive Surgical is in an uptrend because it is the leading medtech and outpaces expectations. The forecast for growth is good and supported by a global backlog in procedures. Margin is widening and driving improvements in shareholder equity. 5 stocks we like better than Intuitive Surgical If you wonder if Intuitive Surgical NASDAQ: ISRG stock can trend higher this year, it can. The med tech business is growing, and Intuitive Surgical is the industry leader and outperforming expectations. The takeaway from the Q1 results is the same as last quarter and last year: industry normalization is compounded by the widening use of DaVinci systems and deepening penetration of existing markets. The combination is juicing the top and bottom lines, leading the analysts to raise their targets and paving a path to new all-time high share prices. Get Intuitive Surgical alerts: Sign Up Intuitive Surgical Had a Good Quarter Intuitive Surgical had a good quarter on all levels. The company reports solid double-digit growth above expectations and wider margins with no impact from COVID. The takeaway is that business is growing under its influence and without headwinds, providing a clear path to improving shareholder value. The company reported $1.89 billion in revenue for a nearly 12% YOY gain that outpaced consensus by 100 basis points. The strength was driven by a 16% increase in procedure volume aided by a 90% increase in ion bronchoscopy procedures and a 14% increase in the installed machine base, which provides leverage to growth. Instruments & Accessories led the revenue growth segmentally, up 18%, but a slight decline in Systems offset this. Systems fell by 2% due to the mix of end-users. Services grew by 10%. The company experienced cost pressure along with its growth but was able to manage it and leverage bottom-line results. The cost of revenue grew only 10.2% compared to the 11.8% top-line gain and was compounded by a similar strength in operating margin. Operating costs rose only 7%, leaving the GAAP net income up 53%, GAAP earnings up 51%, and adjusted earnings up 22% and 560 bps better than the consensus forecast reported by Marketbeat. Intuitive Surgical doesn’t give guidance but shows momentum and is building leverage. However, during the conference call, the company executives mentioned an industry-wide backlog of procedures that should continue to drive results this year. Analysts Raise Price Targets for Intuitive Surgical Intuitive Surgical Today ISRG Intuitive Surgical $366.34 -6.29 (-1.69%) 52-Week Range $254.85 ▼ $403.76 P/E Ratio 66.13 Price Target $396.17 Add to Watchlist Analysts liked what they saw in the ISRG Q1 earnings report and are issuing favorable revisions. The few tracked by Marketbeat.com include a single price target reduction to $440, which is well above the current action and the consensus. The range of new targets runs from a near-consensus of $375 to $436, assuming 1% to 18% of upside. The high end of the range was also set recently and adds another 600 bps of upside to the outlook. Analysts rate this stock at a consensus Moderate Buy and have been firm and steady in that view for more than twelve months. Insider selling may be a headwind for the market. In Q1 2024, insiders sold en masse and may continue to sell as the share price advances. However, insiders own a tiny 0.90% of the company and participate in share-based compensation, so no significant red flags are raised, given the quality of the results. The institutions would be a more substantial concern; they own about 84% of the stock, but their activity is light and has helped support the market over the last year. Intuitive Surgical Stock Falls to Support Intuitive Surgical’s stock price broke out to a new high recently and is now receding to retest for support at the critical level. Assuming the market takes advantage of the opportunity, ISRG stock should begin to rebound soon. The critical support target is near the previous highs at $358, which is only a short fall away. If the market doesn’t support this stock at $358, it could fall below the critical level and move as low as $300 before rebounding. Before you consider Intuitive Surgical, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Intuitive Surgical wasn't on the list. While Intuitive Surgical currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Alibaba Stock Analysis: Insights, Trends, and Future Predictions 2024-04-19 13:37:00+00:00 - S&P 500 4,967.23 DOW 37,986.40 QQQ 414.65 North Carolina medical marijuana sales begin at Cherokee store Ukrainian and Western leaders laud US aid package while the Kremlin warns of 'further ruin' Biden sees a $35 price cap for insulin as a pivotal campaign issue. It’s not that clear-cut 'Civil War’ continues box-office campaign at No. 1 Hawaii lawmakers take aim at vacation rentals after Lahaina wildfire amplifies Maui housing crisis Conservative Brazilians laud Elon Musk at rally in support of ex-president Bolsonaro
Salesforce Stock Analysis: Deep Dive into CRM Market Performance 2024-04-19 13:30:00+00:00 - S&P 500 4,967.23 DOW 37,986.40 QQQ 414.65 North Carolina medical marijuana sales begin at Cherokee store Ukrainian and Western leaders laud US aid package while the Kremlin warns of 'further ruin' Biden sees a $35 price cap for insulin as a pivotal campaign issue. It’s not that clear-cut 'Civil War’ continues box-office campaign at No. 1 Hawaii lawmakers take aim at vacation rentals after Lahaina wildfire amplifies Maui housing crisis Conservative Brazilians laud Elon Musk at rally in support of ex-president Bolsonaro
Bargain Hunting: 3 Stocks With RSIs That Scream Oversold 2024-04-19 12:59:00+00:00 - Key Points Salesforce was trading at an all-time high just a few months ago, and analysts expect it to get back there in the coming weeks. Adobe also has significant potential, with some analyst price targets calling for a 50% rally. Lamb Weston's run was interrupted by a mismanaged internal software update, but this has all the signs of being a temporary drop. 5 stocks we like better than Adobe There's nothing better than feeling you've found a bargain or are getting a good deal, and it's no different when it comes to stocks. One of the most popular technical indicators for helping to do this is the Relative Strength Index (RSI). Every stock has one. It works by considering a stock's recent performance over the past 14 trading days and spitting out a number ranging from 0 to 100. An RSI reading of more than 70 suggests overbought conditions, while a reading below 30 indicates oversold conditions. The more extreme the reading, the more pronounced the suggested market condition. Get Adobe alerts: Sign Up With equities, in general, having turned down for some of their worst weeks of the year so far, many previously high-flying stocks have RSI readings verging on the oversold. For example, the benchmark S&P 500 index has gone from having an RSI reading in the upper 60s at the start of the month to one now in the lower 30s. Investor sentiment has cooled considerably after a surprise uptick in inflation, but there are no reasons to be panicking just yet. If anything, this selloff will be a healthy correction in what's otherwise a solid uptrend that still has a ton of room left to run. With that in mind, let's take a look at 3 stocks with particularly appealing RSI readings that point to entry opportunities. Salesforce Today CRM Salesforce $270.37 -1.55 (-0.57%) 52-Week Range $190.57 ▼ $318.71 Dividend Yield 0.15% P/E Ratio 64.37 Price Target $307.87 Add to Watchlist Having tagged an all-time high as recently as February, tech titan Salesforce is the perfect example of a high-performing stock that's become rapidly oversold in the past few weeks. An RSI reading of 29 confirms its oversold status, as do the multitude of analyst updates on the stock this month alone. Stifel Nicolaus and the Needham & Company team have reiterated their Buy rating on Salesforce shares. Just last week, the Royal Bank of Canada rated them Outperform and boosted their price target to $350. This week alone, JMP Securities and Wolfe Research have done the same, both reiterating their Outperform rating on Salesforce shares, with Wolfe giving them a street-high price target of $365. Considering Salesforce closed just above $270 last night, that's pointing to an upside of some 35%, and investors should be getting excited. Adobe Today ADBE Adobe $465.02 -8.16 (-1.72%) 52-Week Range $331.89 ▼ $638.25 P/E Ratio 44.46 Price Target $620.72 Add to Watchlist Though it hadn't managed to top 2021's high, Adobe is another tech titan that had a multi-year rally cut short last month. Since logging more than 130% in gains from 2022's low through February of this year, its shares have been on the back foot. They're currently down 25% and have an RSI reading of just 32. However, like with Salesforce, they've had a run of analyst upgrades that all point to the same thing; this is starting to become a serious buying opportunity. Over the past few weeks alone, Evercore ISI, Royal Bank of Canada, and Mizuho have reiterated their Outperform rating on Adobe shares. So, too, has Oppenheimer, DA Davidson, and Piper Sandler, the latter giving Adobe a $700 price target that's only become more appealing. From the $473 that Adobe closed at on Thursday night, that points to a targeted upside of almost 50%. Not bad for a $210 billion company, right? Lamb Weston Today LW Lamb Weston $81.00 +0.71 (+0.88%) 52-Week Range $77.41 ▼ $117.38 Dividend Yield 1.78% P/E Ratio 10.81 Price Target $117.40 Add to Watchlist Last up is Lamb Weston, one of the world's largest food producers and makers of frozen French fries. Their shares were verging on an all-time high last quarter when a botched internal software implementation wreaked havoc on their earnings. This is quite a rare event for a company to have to deal with, but the effect on Lamb Weston's shares has been enormous. The transition from one enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to another did not go smoothly and instead resulted in a temporary loss of visibility into distribution-ready inventories. This meant customer orders went unfinished on a scale that contracted Lamb Weston's margins to the extent that $72 million was shaved off their net income for fiscal Q3. Shares fell as much as 30% from their pre-earnings peak but are already consolidating and starting to turn north once again. This has helped lift the stock's RSI from extremely oversold conditions in the mid-teens, but at 28, it's still looking like a bargain. A run of Buy and Outperform ratings from analysts in recent weeks has only strengthened the likelihood of this being a temporary, albeit embarrassing, blip, and investors should watch for a potential and rapid bounce back. Before you consider Adobe, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Adobe wasn't on the list. While Adobe currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
3 Magnificent Seven Stocks Outperforming the Rest 2024-04-19 12:48:00+00:00 - Key Points As earnings season begins, anticipation builds for several members of the Magnificent Seven as performance disparities widen. Notably, Tesla and Apple have severely underperformed and faced challenges in 2024. Ahead of upcoming earnings, three Magnificent Seven members have displayed relative strength and resilience amidst the market's selloff. 5 stocks we like better than Meta Platforms As the year's second quarter gets well underway, we're gearing up for earnings season, where significant players in the market will be unveiling their first-quarter results. This year presents a distinct shift from the previous one. In 2023, the market was propelled by what was dubbed the "Magnificent Seven" - a select group of global tech giants dominating the scene. Their dominance was fueled by their significant market share and advancements in AI, cloud computing, online gaming, and cutting-edge hardware and software. These seven stocks outperformed and infused the market with a substantial dose of confidence. However, the situation has changed as we reach the four-month mark of 2024. The disparity in performance among the seven members is striking. Tesla, one of the members, is down nearly 40% and is the worst performer in the S&P 500. Apple is in correction territory and is rapidly approaching bear market territory, with its stock down 13.5%. And Nvidia, despite being up 70% on the year, has retreated 13% from its 52-week high. Get Meta Platforms alerts: Sign Up Despite the underperformance of several Magnificent Seven members, three of them have stood out for their remarkable resilience in recent weeks. These companies have managed to maintain their positions in the market, showcasing their ability to weather market storms and their potential for higher moves if the market were to stabilize in the short term. 3 Magnificent Seven Members Showcasing Resilience Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Today GOOGL Alphabet $154.09 -1.92 (-1.23%) 52-Week Range $102.63 ▼ $160.22 P/E Ratio 26.57 Price Target $158.41 Add to Watchlist Shares of Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL have displayed remarkable relative strength and resilience in recent weeks, with its stock only off from its 52-week high by roughly 2%. The broader tech sector, however, has fallen almost 6% from its 52-week high. The search engine giant has a moderate buy rating based on thirty-three analyst ratings and is among the most upgraded and followed names. While the overall market trades below key Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), GOOGL has maintained its position near highs and is consolidating above rising SMAs, making it a potential breakout candidate should the market firm up. The company is expected to report earnings on April 25 after the market closes, and the anticipation for its performance is high. Amazon.com Similar to GOOGL, shares of Amazon NASDAQ: AMZN have shown resilience and strength recently amidst the broader market’s selloff. While the market and the tech sector have fallen in recent weeks, AMZN has firmly maintained its position, up almost 18% on the year and nearly 2% over the previous month. While the stock has pulled back slightly from its 52-week high, its uptrend remains intact as it aims to put in a higher low above its rising 50-day SMA. The stock is a firm favorite amongst analysts, possessing a buy rating based on forty-five ratings. Impressively, the stock's consensus price target forecasts an additional 13.16% upside. Like GOOGL, should AMZN continue to display relative strength to its sector and the overall market, it might continue to outperform and even achieve new heights should the market firm up and catch a bid. The online retail and web services giant will report its first-quarter earnings on April 30th. Meta Platforms Inc. Meta Platforms Today META Meta Platforms $481.07 -20.73 (-4.13%) 52-Week Range $207.13 ▼ $531.49 Dividend Yield 0.42% P/E Ratio 32.29 Price Target $519.53 Add to Watchlist Meta’s turnaround and recovery have been nothing short of remarkable. Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META is up over 140% from its 52-week low, and adding to its impressive gains in 2023, it's up an additional 42% so far in 2024. Since its bottom and turning point in late 2022, the stock has risen almost 400%. Even though META has been one of the top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 this year, significantly outperforming the market and sector, analysts are still forecasting additional upside for the stock based on the consensus $519.53 price target. META is one of the most upgraded stocks, with a moderate buy rating based on forty-three analyst ratings. After the market closes, the company will report its earnings next week, on Apri 24. Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list. While Meta Platforms currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Stock market today: S&P 500 slides for 5th straight day 2024-04-19 05:47:00+00:00 - US stocks finished largely in the red on Thursday as April's doldrums lingered in the market. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 0.2% to notch its fifth straight session of declines, its longest losing streak of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) hovered just above the flatline, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slipped 0.5%, extending tech's recent slump. Stocks have struggled amid concerns inflation is no longer cooling and the Federal Reserve could ease back on interest rate cuts. Fed officials fueled those worries on Thursday, with Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic reiterating that he doesn’t expect to lower rates until the end of the year. That has put corporate earnings center stage as investors watch closely how well reports match up with high expectations. TSMC's (TSM) latest quarterly results were a mixed bag: The Taiwanese chip giant cautioned on its growth outlook this year outside of its memory chips business, sending the stock over 5% lower. The company, however, flagged "insatiable" appetite for AI as it posted a quarterly profit beat. The earnings spotlight now shifts to Netflix, the first of the megacap tech companies to report. The streaming leader's financial update is seen by some as the first real test for stocks this earnings season, given the megacaps are still playing a big part in pushing markets higher. US bond yields, a recent headwind for stocks, picked up again on Thursday. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) was up, trading near 4.65%. After the market close, Netflix (NFLX) reported first quarter earnings that showed more subscriber additions than expected but a slightly lower revenue guidance than hoped for the current quarter. Shares slipped more than 3% in after-hours trade.
Netflix reports strong subscriber gains but Q2 revenue forecast disappoints 2024-04-19 04:27:00+00:00 - Netflix (NFLX) reported first quarter earnings that beat across the board on Thursday with another 9 million-plus subscribers added in the quarter. However, disappointing second quarter revenue guidance dragged the stock more than 3% lower in after-hours trading. Subscriber additions of 9.3 million beat expectations of 4.8 million and follows the 13 million net additions the streamer added in the fourth quarter. The company had added 1.7 million paying users in Q1 2023. Notably, the company said it will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers starting next year, along with average revenue per member, or ARM. "As we’ve evolved our pricing and plans from a single to multiple tiers with different price points depending on the country, each incremental paid membership has a very different business impact," the company said. Revenue beat Bloomberg consensus estimates of $9.27 billion to hit $9.37 billion in the quarter, an increase of 14.8% compared to the same period last year, as the streamer leaned on revenue initiatives like its crackdown on password sharing and ad-supported tier, in addition to the recent price hikes on certain subscription plans. Netflix guided to second quarter revenue of $9.49 billion, a miss compared to consensus estimates of $9.51 billion. Netflix's stock has been on a tear in recent months with shares currently trading near the high end of its 52-week range. Wall Street analysts had warned how high expectations heading into the print could serve as an inherent risk to the stock price. Earnings per share (EPS) beat estimates in the quarter with the company reporting EPS of $5.28, well above consensus expectations of $4.52 and nearly double the $2.88 EPS figure it reported in the year-ago period. Netflix guided to second quarter EPS of $4.68, ahead of consensus calls for $4.54. Profitability metrics also came in strong with operating margins sitting at 28.1% for the first quarter compared to 21% in the same period last year. The company previously guided to full-year 2024 operating margins of 24% after the metric grew to 21% from 18% in 2023. Netflix expects margins to tick down slightly in Q2 to 26.6%. Free cash flow came in at $2.14 billion in the quarter, above consensus calls of $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, ARM ticked up 1% year over year — matching the fourth quarter results. Wall Street analysts expect ARM to pick up later this year as both the ad tier impact and price hike effects take hold. On the ads front, ad-tier memberships increased 65% quarter over quarter after rising nearly 70% sequentially in Q3’23 and Q4’23. The ads plan now accounts for over 40% of all Netflix sign-ups in the markets it's offered in. Story continues FILE PHOTO: Netflix reported first quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo (REUTERS / Reuters) Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com. For the latest earnings reports and analysis, earnings whispers and expectations, and company earnings news, click here Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Why Ultra-High-Yield Dividend Stock Medical Properties Trust Is Skyrocketing This Week 2024-04-19 04:19:00+00:00 - Shares of Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) were skyrocketing 25.1% this week as of the market close on Thursday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The big jump was due to two positive announcements from the company last week. On Friday, April 12, Medical Properties Trust reported the sale of its interests in five Utah hospitals to a joint venture (JV) with an investment fund for around $1.1 billion. Medical Properties Trust owns roughly 25% of the JV. The same day, the healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) declared its quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share -- unchanged from the previous quarter. Why investors liked Medical Properties Trust's news so much Much of Medical Properties Trust's value proposition to investors stems from its ultra-high-yield dividend. Some investors were likely worried that the REIT would cut its dividend payout for the second time in nine months. That didn't happen, allowing shareholders to breathe a big sigh of relief. Even better, the sale of the Utah hospitals further fortifies Medical Properties Trust's balance sheet. This deal came on top of another sale announced on April 9 of five facilities in California and New Jersey to Prime Healthcare for a total of $350 million. These transactions improve the likelihood that Medical Properties Trust can continue to pay its dividend at current levels. Is Medical Properties Trust stock a buy now? Medical Properties Trust's latest updates arguably give investors a reason to be cautiously optimistic about the company. The stock could continue to be highly volatile, though. Medical Properties Trust isn't out of the woods just yet. Most investors will be better off avoiding the stock for now. However, the healthcare REIT's dividend yield of nearly 12.2% combined with the potential for a sustained rebound could be tempting to aggressive investors. Should you invest $1,000 in Medical Properties Trust right now? Before you buy stock in Medical Properties Trust, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Medical Properties Trust wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $514,887!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. Story continues See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 15, 2024 Keith Speights has positions in Medical Properties Trust. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Ultra-High-Yield Dividend Stock Medical Properties Trust Is Skyrocketing This Week was originally published by The Motley Fool
Why Genuine Parts Stock Jumped Today 2024-04-18 23:59:00+00:00 - Shares of automotive and industrials parts maker Genuine Parts (NYSE: GPC) jumped on Thursday even though it's normally a sleepy stock. The company reported financial results for the first quarter of 2024 and raised its full-year profit guidance, which is why Genuine Parts stock was up 12% as of 11 a.m. ET. Investor confidence is on the rise In Q1, Genuine Parts' sales increased by less than 1% to $5.8 billion and its earnings per share (EPS) plunged by 17% to $1.78. Some investors might be surprised that these numbers were met with such enthusiasm today. But there's a good explanation. With a company as mature as Genuine Parts, nobody expects torrid top-line growth. But investors do monitor profits and the company delivered higher profits than expected in Q1. Because of this, management raised full-year profit guidance. For 2024, Genuine Parts had expected EPS of $8.95 to $9.15. Now it expects EPS of $9.05 to $9.20. This small boost in profit guidance boosted investor confidence. For context, Genuine Parts stock had been trading near a multiyear low valuation because investors were worried. GPC PE Ratio Chart This incredible dividend is still very safe Genuine Parts has paid and increased its dividend for 67 straight years now. That makes it a Dividend King and its reliability as an income investment is something investors have come to appreciate. The company pays out less than half of its earnings as dividends right now, giving assurance that the dividend is still quite safe and there's room for future increases. With Genuine Parts doing better than expected right now, that only further bolsters expectations that this will remain a top dividend stock for the foreseeable future. Should you invest $1,000 in Genuine Parts right now? Before you buy stock in Genuine Parts, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Genuine Parts wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $514,887!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 15, 2024 Jon Quast has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Genuine Parts Stock Jumped Today was originally published by The Motley Fool
Americans lose millions of dollars each year to wire transfer fraud scams. Could banks do more to stop it? 2024-04-18 22:56:00+00:00 - Americans are losing millions of dollars every year to criminals who steal money from their bank accounts through fraudulent wire transfers. Some U.S. senators are now pressing major banks for answers about what they are doing to stop the scammers. In a letter to JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, first reported by CBS News, the Senate Banking Committee wrote, "Banks should make consumers whole for unauthorized transactions," including "fraudulently induced transactions" like wire transfers, where "a consumer was deceived or manipulated into initiating a transfer." That's what several Chase bank customers interviewed by CBS News said happened to them. New York City resident Jennifer Davis said she lost $25,000 to a wire fraud scam. "I was horrified," Davis said. "I was horrified. I was devastated. This was stolen from me and this is a crime." Andrew Semesjuk of Connecticut said he lost $15,000. "Their job is to protect our investments," Semesjuk said. "Otherwise, what's the point of putting it with a bank?" Florida resident Nikki Kelly said she lost $48,000 from a business account. "My life has just basically been destroyed," said Kelly. The story of Karen Roe, another Florida resident, is typical. She was in the hospital for a medical procedure last year when her phone rang. The caller ID said Chase Bank, she said, and when she answered, a man identified himself as working for the bank. "'We need to verify a transaction that's been processed on your account,'" Roe quotes him as saying. Roe says he told her it was a $71 transaction at a Walmart in New Mexico. She told him it wasn't her. "I said, 'absolutely not.' I said, 'I'm in Orlando. I'm not in New Mexico. I haven't been to New Mexico,'" Roe recalled. Next, she says, the man claimed someone was trying to wire-transfer money out of her account and told her he could stop the transaction, but first he needed to verify her identity over the phone. "He said that he was going to send an authentication code to make sure that it's me on the other end of the phone," Roe said. She read him back the code, but later discovered it had not been a step taken to verify her identity. Instead, the scammers used that code to authorize a wire transfer out of her account to their own. Roe said they stole $27,000 she'd earned from running her countertop installation business. It was gone in a matter of seconds. The theft left her stunned. "It totally rocked my world," Roe said. On top of that, the crooks also stole an additional $19,000 from an account she managed for a nonprofit industry group, leaving her facing questions from members of the group as to how the theft had happened. "That wasn't even my money. That was the members' money," Roe said. "And I just was sick, was sick to my stomach." Chase investigated the theft and in a letter to Roe acknowledged she was "the victim of a scam." But the bank contended the wire transfers were "authorized" and said Chase had "received calls verifying the wires as valid" with someone "providing (her) debit card number and pin," and further said, "we processed it as you instructed." Roe told CBS News she feels unfairly blamed. "They're not taking responsibility for what is happening to their customers," she said. Chase told CBS News it does reimburse customers "for unauthorized transactions" if it decides a customer had no part to play in the transaction. But in Roe's case, and those of the other victims CBS News interviewed, Chase said it would not reimburse their money because Chase had determined their transactions were "authorized" — despite the victims reporting to law enforcement they were conned. "They just left me high and dry," said Davis. "I don't understand." Consumer experts say the problem is the federal law that protects consumers in other banking transactions, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, or EFTA, generally exempts wire transfers, meaning banks don't have to reimburse those losses. The National Consumer Law Center argues that loophole in regulations should be closed to encourage banks to tighten their security procedures. "If they knew that they were going to be on the hook and that they were going to have to reimburse consumers, I think they would have stronger security procedures," said NCLC senior attorney Carla Sanchez-Adams. In a previous hearing on the subject, Senator Sherrod Brown, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, said consumers need better protection. "It's on the companies. People should be able to have an expectation their money is safe," said Brown, a Democrat from Ohio. The committee is asking the four banks to provide five years' worth of information, including how many people reported being victims and just how much money was lost. A CBS News analysis of consumer complaints reported to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows complaints about domestic wire fraud to JP Morgan Chase were more than four times higher in 2023 as compared to 2020, going from 88 complaints to 355. All four banks declined to comment on the Senate Banking Committee's letter. Chase told us it continues to "make significant investments to protect customers from fraud and scams" and help them spot tactics used by criminals. But in testimony before the Senate last year, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that it was "unreasonable" to ask banks to "subsidize" criminal activity and that the government and police should do more to stop and prosecute criminals who run wire transfer fraud scams. Chase provided CBS News with the following statement and tips for consumers: "Consumers should always be suspicious of people asking them for passcodes, access to their device, or money to prevent fraud. Banks won't make these requests or ask that you send money to yourself, but scammers will." – Chase spokesperson Scam prevention tips: Scammers can "spoof" phone numbers. The caller ID can say the call or text is from your bank even though it's not. They do this to trick people into providing their personal or financial information or to get them to send money Remember, even if your caller ID says a call or text is from Chase, it could be a scam. When in doubt hang up and call us directly If you want to be sure you are talking to a legitimate representative of your bank, call the number on the back of your card or visit a branch Consumers should protect their personal account information, passwords and one-time passcodes Banks will never call, text or email asking for you to send money to yourself or anyone else to prevent fraud Always double check who you are sending money to - once you send money, you might not get it back. To learn more about common scams and ways to protect yourself, visit: www.chase.com/security.
Netflix forces Wall Street to focus on profit and revenue with decision to stop reporting subscriber numbers in 2025 2024-04-18 22:24:00+00:00 - The best way to get investors to stop focusing on something is to stop telling them at all. Netflix said Thursday it will no longer report quarterly membership numbers and average revenue per membership starting in the first quarter of 2025. This is a significant change for the company and for the so-called "streaming wars," which have largely been defined by a race for customers. Netflix wants investors to judge the company by the same metrics executives view as "our best proxy for customer satisfaction," the company said in its quarterly shareholder letter. Namely: revenue, operating margin, free cash flow, and the amount of time spent on Netflix. It's also a signal Netflix's second wave of subscriber growth may be ending. The company announced it added 9.3 million subscribers in its first quarter as its global password sharing crackdown and introduction of a less expensive advertising tier took hold. (The ad tier costs $6.99 per month in the U.S., as opposed to its $15.49 standard plan). The company said subscriber growth in the second quarter will be lower than in the first quarter due to "seasonality." That may be the start of a longer period of slowing subscriber additions, as most freeloading password sharers are now paying customers. ARM, which Netflix defines as "streaming revenue divided by the average number of streaming paid memberships divided by the number of months in the period," rose just 1% year over year in the quarter. Netflix shares fell 4% in after-hours trading, in part because of a weaker full-year revenue growth outlook than some analysts estimated. Netflix forecast revenue growth of 16% in the second quarter but just 13% to 15% for the full year. Investors typically don't like less transparency. It's particularly notable Netflix is cutting back on granular membership information, which the company used to pride itself on, including by offering regional breakdowns that were more specific than all of its competitors. Apple and Amazon have never offered quarterly subscriber information for its streaming services. Still, forcing Wall Street to focus on revenue and profit, rather than user growth, is also evidence of Netflix's maturity as a company. For more than a decade, Netflix has been viewed as a disruptor to legacy media. Now, about five years into "the streaming wars," Netflix is the dominant incumbent. "In our early days, when we had little revenue or profit, membership growth was a strong indicator of our future potential," Netflix said in its shareholder letter. "But now we're generating very substantial profit and free cash flow (FCF). We are also developing new revenue streams like advertising and our extra member feature, so memberships are just one component of our growth." "In addition, as we've evolved our pricing and plans from a single to multiple tiers with different price points depending on the country, each incremental paid membership has a very different business impact," the company added. Netflix has the luxury of focusing on profit, revenue and free cash flow because the company's finances are far healthier than most legacy media companies. Year-over-year revenue climbed 15%. Operating income grew by 54%, and operating margin rose by 7 percentage points to 28%. These gains far outpace companies such as Warner Bros. Discovery , Disney , Paramount Global and Comcast 's NBCUniversal, which have money-losing (or barely profitable) streaming services and declining traditional TV businesses. That calls into question whether other media companies will follow Netflix's lead and stop reporting subscriber numbers for their streaming services. Many of the legacy media companies haven't started their password sharing crackdowns like Netflix. That may mean they have more growth to come, which investors would likely want to see. "We've evolved and we're going to continue to evolve," said co-CEO Greg Peters during the company's earnings call. "It means that the historical math we used to do is increasingly less accurate" in assessing the state of the business, he added. Disclosure: Comcast NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC. WATCH: Netflix's quarterly subs performance 'really impressive,' says Evercore's Mark Mahaney