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Have the Brands Gone Too Far? Boston Marathoners Think So. 2024-04-03 13:00:15.697000+00:00 - Cathy Connor loves the Boston Marathon. She loves the camaraderie. She loves the mystique of the event, which dates to 1897 as the world’s oldest annual marathon. She loves the idea that she gets to run the same rolling course that has been conquered by greats like Kathrine Switzer, Meb Keflezighi and Des Linden. Ms. Connor, 58, loves the Boston Marathon so much that she has raced in it nine times. But there is one thing that she, and many of her fellow runners, do not love: the redesigned medal, which will be bestowed upon the 30,000 athletes who finish the 26.2-mile race on April 15. “It was kind of a letdown when I saw the picture,” Ms. Connor, a graphic designer from Pittsburgh, said in a telephone interview. “Why mess up a good thing? This isn’t a turkey trot.”

Dave & Buster’s Stock Value Is Unleashed, Not Too Late To Get In 2024-04-03 12:55:00+00:00 - Key Points Dave & Buster's is unleashing value for shareholders with growth, margin, cash flow, and share repurchases. The growth outlook is robust, and 2024 will be a pivotal year. Share count fell by 17.5% YOY and should fall another double-digit amount this year. 5 stocks we like better than Dave & Buster's Entertainment Dave & Buster’s NASDAQ: PLAY investors can cheer the CQ1 results because it affirms a story played out over the years. The company leaned hard into growth, revenue quality, profitability, and capital returns yet failed to increase its share price. Now, the company is in rally mode, aided by activist investors with a track record of success. The stock is up nearly 100% since the rally began, including a 5% post-release pop that confirms a bullish technical outlook Dave & Buster’s chart of weekly price action shows a clear, nearly text-book rally with a Bullish Flag Pattern consolidation. The 5% price surge confirms the pattern and suggests the rally will continue and could double from here. In that scenario, this stock could increase to $120 to $125 over time, and any price dips that occur along the way are likely buying opportunities. Get PLAY alerts: Sign Up Dave & Buster’s Long-Term Goals Are Strengthened Dave & Buster’s had a good quarter despite revenue and earnings falling short of the consensus. The results are better than feared due to the impact of weather, which was estimated to impact results that would have been materially better. Regardless, the company reported $599.1 million in net revenue, a gain of 6.3% over last year. The gains are due primarily to the extra week and new stores; comp sales are down 7% YOY. The margin news is solid. The company widened margin at all levels despite the deleveraging effect of weak comps and the cost of new store openings and remodels. The restaurant level operating margin widened by 80 bps and the operating margin by 130 bps, driving a 1000 basis point improvement in the GAAP net income and a 21% increase in adjusted earnings. The company didn’t give specific guidance for 2024 but did provide sufficiently bullish commentary to affirm the outlook for robust EBITDA growth over time. CEO Chris Morris described 2024 as a transformative year for the company due to an expected accelerated store count, blossoming international expansion, and accelerating remodels. In his words, the company’s resolve to achieve $1 billion in EBITDA is strengthened. The company expects to open nineteen new stores within twelve to eighteen months, four of which will be in overseas markets. The remodel tests that began last year were successful, and the new format will start rolling out system-wide this year. Dave & Buster’s Cash Flow and Capital Returns Add Value Dave & Buster’s efforts to improve cash flow include the balance sheet and debt. The company carries little debt with a net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.2X versus the 3.5X allowed by agreements, and carrying costs are declining. The company worked to narrow its spread and reduced estimated costs by $50 million annually. The result of operations and cash-flow management is the ability to repurchase shares aggressively. The company repurchased $300 million or 8.5 million shares in F2023, reducing the share count by 17.5%. Because the board approved an additional $100 million in repurchases, bringing the total allowed up to $200 million, aggressive repurchasing is expected to continue. Dave & Buster’s Is a Price-Multiple Expansion Play Dave & Buster’s is a high-valued restaurant play compared to some, but it still has ample room to run given its valuation compared to market leaders. The market-leading restaurant plays include Texas Roadhouse NASDAQ: TXRH and Darden Restaurants NYSE: DRI, which trade at significantly higher multiples. Darden is four handles above Dave & Buster’s 15X, and Texas Roadhouse is nearly double. The takeaway is that PLAY is a desirable stock and becoming more desirable by the quarter: capital flows into the market and should continue supporting higher share prices. The market for PLAY is up more than 6% in early premarket trading and above critical resistance. The move to a new high is bullish, and momentum should carry the market higher, but there is risk. If the market cannot sustain the new highs, it may become range-bound at current levels. As good as the outlook is, economic uncertainty still clouds the view, and it may keep prices from advancing until later in the year. Before you consider Dave & Buster's Entertainment, 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 Dave & Buster's Entertainment wasn't on the list. While Dave & Buster's Entertainment currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Banks Think Small Cap Stocks Need to Catch Up: 3 Winners 2024-04-03 12:54:00+00:00 - Key Points Now that large capitalization stocks have taken the lion's share of the momentum trade in the market, it is time for smaller names to take over. The rotation may benefit these three stocks, as they are outstanding growth stories for 2024, backed by fundamental trends. Analysts see double to triple-digit growth ahead, and price action is a sweet kicker. 5 stocks we like better than JPMorgan Chase & Co. The momentum trade has been exhausted by the large-capitalization stocks in the market, especially those in the technology sector, as names like Nvidia Co. NASDAQ: NVDA keep making new all-time highs. For this reason, quants at PGIM believe that Wall Street may soon rotate into small-capitalization stocks to squeeze further returns. As the soldiers follow the general, stocks like SolarEdge Technologies Inc. NASDAQ: SEDG, AB Electrolux OTCMKTS: ELUXY, and even Antero Resources Co. NYSE: AR were once falling behind and could now catch up to the broader indexes. Each was tied to its own set of economic tailwinds, and analysts and institutions had enough reasons to boost and buy them. Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. alerts: Sign Up Small businesses tend to outperform bigger ones during easing economic cycles. Now that the Federal Reserve (the Fed) is looking to cut interest rates in 2024, these small-capitalization names could help retail investors expand their wealth on the next wave of economic activity. SolarEdge: Oil’s Ugly Cousin Oil prices have finally broken out of their $80 a barrel ceiling, and analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. NYSE: GS believe it could go as high as $100 a barrel this year. Because the Fed could likely cut interest rates by May or June 2024, or so do traders think, according to the FedWatch tool in the CME Group Inc. NASDAQ: CME, commodities like oil are advancing in the expectation of an economic breakout. While most may run to energy stocks, others could spot the spillover opportunity in green energy stocks like SolarEdge. When oil becomes more expensive, alternative energy sources like solar become more attractive, which is where this stock comes into play. There must be a reason why analysts think its earnings per share (EPS) could grow by as much as 330% over the next 12 months. EPS typically drives stock prices and valuations; SolarEdge stock trades at only 22% of its 52-week high despite these growth projections, a gap to be filled by investors with enough stomach to buy a small name. Those at The PNC Financial Services Group Inc. NYSE: PNC had enough stomach, increasing their stock position by 41.5%, a roughly $585,000 purchase. More than that, analysts now have a $109 price target on the stock, calling for 55% upside from today’s prices. The Buffett Effect Hits Electrolux Interest rate cuts could also affect the future trends in mortgage rates. Historically, mortgage rates (namely the fixed 30-year rate) follow the overall credit market, where the Fed’s interest rate reigns king. Betting on the spur of new construction activity, as a result of added real estate demand from more accessible financing, Buffett bought homebuilding stocks like D.R. Horton Inc. NYSE: DHI and others. New homes put up for sale typically bring appliances with them, whether it is in the kitchen or others like air conditioning. With 35% of its sales coming from the North American market, Electrolux could represent a viable way for investors to ride the side effects of this real estate boom. This could be one of the reasons why Wall Street analysts expect more than 1,000% growth in earnings per share (EPS) in Electrolux for the next 12 months. More than that, the stock trades at only 50% of its 52-week high, which happens to be a price not seen since the financial crisis of 2008; even with this bearish momentum as of late, short interest in the stock dropped by 62.5% in the past month, opening the way for new buyers to come in. Antero Leading in Oil’s High The same oil trends helping renewable energy stocks like SolarEdge are the ones that could bring Antero Resources higher. Oil is now trading at $85 a barrel, a price not seen since October 2023, bringing the cost of Antero stock back to its October 2023 levels. At 96% of its 52-week high, the stock could break into a new prolonged uptrend if oil prices allow further expansion. Analysts and their 580% EPS growth projections could make this upward path a reality by showing Main Street where the juice is. As of March 2024, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. NYSE: JPM boosted their price targets for Antero stock to $32 a share, shooting for nearly 10% upside from today’s prices. Since oil has risen significantly since that last boost, investors could expect another round. Being the macro asset manager it is, the Vanguard Group increased its position in Antero by 0.6% in the last quarter, a roughly $3.7 million purchase. Before you consider JPMorgan Chase & Co., 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 JPMorgan Chase & Co. wasn't on the list. While JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Robinhood’s Credit Card Has Call Option Buyers Coming in Hot 2024-04-03 12:45:00+00:00 - Key Points Robinhood stock could be the clear winner in the financial sector in the coming months; it is an outlier next to peers like Charles Schwab. Analysts and markets are also behind Robinhood's potential rise, especially after the platform rolled out its newest retail product. Call option traders stampeded to buy in, in what could be hopes of higher prices ahead. 5 stocks we like better than KeyCorp Discount brokerages are here to stay, and Robinhood Markets Inc. NASDAQ: HOOD is one of the few that has earned the public’s heart, not to mention its capital. The company keeps adding new features to its platform, which was once considered for amateurs only. It now competes with The Charles Schwab Co. NYSE: SCHW and others. With the Federal Reserve (the Fed) looking to cut interest rates this year, financial stocks could soon lead the market into another leg higher. However, not all stocks in the sector are made equal. Robinhood has a unique advantage in making money from a younger, less wealthy audience, but there is a caveat. Get KeyCorp alerts: Sign Up In the United States, consumer sentiment readings have reached levels not seen since 2021. With this confidence comes new spending habits, along with looser budgets. Knowing this, Robinhood’s management rolled out the platform’s latest product: A credit card. Call option traders swept in not long after to go long on the potential upside. Perfect Timing by Robinhood Traders priced in these potential interest rate cuts to come in by May or June 2024, a trend investors can follow through the FedWatch tool at the CME Group Inc. NASDAQ: CME. This time window is now closing, meaning that Wall Street could be looking for the best places to rotate investment dollars. The financial sector could be one such place, as the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSEARCA: XLF outperformed the broader S&P 500 by more than 5% over the past 6 months. Momentum favors the bold, and expectations for Robinhood’s earnings per share (EPS) remain so. Analysts now predict that EPS could grow by as much as 30% in the next 12 months, which is above the security brokers & dealers industry average of 20%. Growing 10% faster than the industry is no small achievement for a $13.7 billion company, but it has its merits. With strengthening consumer financing trends ahead, new sign-ups for Robinhood’s credit card may come pouring in. Because members need to have “gold” status, this also comes with a stream of recurring (subscription-based) revenue for the platform. Wall Street Agrees, Robinhood’s a Winner Markets are typically picky about which stocks become outliers, and Robinhood stock is one of them. From a valuation standpoint, the stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings (forward P/E) ratio of 76.8x, which is above the security brokers and dealers industry's 13.4x multiple. Why would markets pay a 474% premium for a comparable stock? Perhaps the knowledge that a growing waitlist for the new credit card will bring EPS projections to reality. More than that, analysts at the JMP Group LLC NYSE: JMP and KeyCorp NYSE: KEY boosted their price targets for Robinhood stock. JMP thinks Robinhood could go as high as $25 a share, calling for 30% upside from where it trades today. KeyCorp has a similar 15% upside target on the stock, as it placed a $22 price target on it. As the stock trades at 93% of its 52-week high, investors can count Robinhood as a momentum trade. Next to one of its biggest competitors in the discount brokerage space, Charles Schwab, Robinhood also looks like a clear winner. Because Schwab stock trades at 16.1x, a nearly 80% discount to Robinhood. The saying “It must be expensive for a reason” applies here; one reason could be how Robinhood has adapted to the growing base of Gen-Z investors that Schwab hasn’t been able to quite capture. Numbers Drew Traders In Robinhood’s financials during the fourth quarter show a strong trend in the right direction. Revenues advanced by as much as 37% over the past 12 months, whereas Schwab eked out mid single-digits revenue growth in their past quarter. Fundamentally, Robinhood has the upper hand. Another way to compare these two competitors is through how much they are trusted with or assets under management. Robinhood grew its assets under custody by 65% over the past year, a figure that does not yet reflect the potential benefits of the new retail products rolled out. Schwab only grew its assets under custody by 20% over the year. While not a negative for the $120 billion behemoth, the growth story may be found in Robinhood instead. All of these trends made the perfect storm for call option traders to sweep in. MarketBeat’s unusual call option scanner caught a spike in volume for Robinhood after the credit card announcement was made, implying that participants may already be behind this coming upswing. Before you consider KeyCorp, 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 KeyCorp wasn't on the list. While KeyCorp currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Deeply Undervalued Weibo Stock Is Ripe for a Reversal 2024-04-03 12:00:00+00:00 - Key Points Weibo is ripe for reversal because it is deeply undervalued after years of downtrend. Analysts lowered their targets, but the market overextended and is now below the low end of the range. Weibo issued another special dividend and may begin regular payments soon, a catalyst for the market. 5 stocks we like better than Weibo Weibo NASDAQ: WB stock is deeply undervalued and ripe for a reversal. The stock is trading at only 5x its earnings, the lowest among China’s social media operators, and analysts see nothing but upside. Tepid results or not, China’s slow recovery or not, downward trending sentiment or not, this market has overextended and is set up to reverse. The price action following the Q4 results isn’t robust but shows support at a critical level, higher than the previous three bounces, aligning with the 6 and 30-day EMAs and a launch pad for higher prices. The question is whether the market will follow through on the signal or if Weibo remains range-bound until later in the year. Get Weibo alerts: Sign Up Weibo Struggled in Q4 But Is Set Up with Leverage for Recovery The primary negative in the Weibo story is that the recovery is unfolding slower than expected. The company grew in Q4 and outperformed the consensus by 150bps but is not expecting a significant acceleration soon, and whisper figures were hoping for more. Sluggishness in China’s economy is impacting internet traffic and consumer spending, which is not improving as hoped, and competition is rising. However, ad sales grew by 3%, compounded by a 5% gain in Value-added Services, with DAUs advancing 2%, reversing last year’s declines and setting the company to continue growing this year. Earnings were weaker than the consensus, but numerous one-offs made the figures hard to compare. Among them are logged benefits in the prior year and higher taxes this year, leaving the earnings down about a dime and 19 cents short of the consensus. The takeaway is that this company makes money and returns capital to shareholders. The board declared a special dividend worth 8.7% yield with share prices near long-term lows. The balance sheet is rock solid, so there are no red flags there. The company’s cash position is healthy at $3.2 billion, putting the total liability at 1.4x cash, 0.5x assets, and 0.24x equity. These ratios suggest the company could sustain its capital returns as a regular payment if it chooses to do so. The analyst chatter reflects that view, which is seen in the revisions. Analysts rate the stock at Hold but are lowering their price targets. The consensus figure is down more than 50% in the last 12 months but still assumes a substantial upside, and the market is trading below the low end of the analyst range. The single report tracked since the Q4 release is from Goldman Sachs, which set a target of $10.60. That’s more than 10% above the current action and high enough it may trigger technical buying. The low target is $9.80, about 5% upside. Weibo Institutional Activity Aligns with Bottoming The institutional activity is noteworthy because the group has been buying Weibo on balance for five consecutive quarters, and activity spiked in Q1 2024. The group owns 69% of the stock, and recent purchasers include Goldman Sachs, which increased its position by 200%. That purchase was made two weeks before the Q4 release and should show a profit now. Weibo’s largest shareholder is Alibaba Group, which accounts for nearly 40% of the total. The Technical Outlook: Weibo Is Bottoming After six years of downtrend and a 95% contraction in the share price, it looks like Weibo is bottoming. The stock hit bottom last year and has trended higher to align with a reversal pattern. The pattern is a Double-Bottom or irregular Head & Shoulders with a low near $8 and a baseline near $10.50. The market is poised to move up to the $10.50 region and may exceed that figure if another catalyst emerges. Among the potential catalysts is an expectation for central bank easing in the back half of the year that will signal an economic pivot globally. A move above $10.50 would confirm reversal and set the market up for additional gains. In that scenario, the next target for critical resistance is near $11.25. Before you consider Weibo, 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 Weibo wasn't on the list. While Weibo currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Royal Mail owner proposes second-class post deliveries every other weekday 2024-04-03 11:57:00+00:00 - The owner of Royal Mail has asked the industry regulator to let it reduce deliveries of second-class letters to just two or three days a week, cutting nearly 1,000 jobs and saving £300m a year in the process. Responding to Ofcom’s consultation on reforming the universal service rules amid declining letter volumes, International Distributions Services (IDS) proposed paring back the daily Monday-to-Saturday second-class service to “every other weekday”. IDS committed to continue delivering first-class letters from Monday to Saturday, which will relieve publishers and small businesses that have voiced concerns over potential “panicked” cuts. Ofcom had laid out a series of options for the future of the postal service, including cutting the service from six days to five or even three days, with a more expensive option retained to allow for next-day deliveries. Some of the options would have required altering legislation, which could have proved a slow process in a general election year. IDS said its suggestions would not require legislative change and it urged Ofcom to “act swiftly to introduce reforms by April 2025”. Under its proposals, a postal worker could deliver on a single route on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for example, and on another route on Tuesday and Thursday. The speed of the second-class delivery would then depend on when the letter was posted. First-class letters would probably be delivered using the network of Royal Mail vans used for parcels. Bulk business mail, including utility companies sending bills, would see their deliveries slowed to the second-class speed, arriving within three weekdays instead of two. Royal Mail said this solution offered “the choice of price and speed”. Consumers have seen stamp prices increase four times in two years, with the latest rise – from £1.25 to £1.35 for a first-class stamp and from 75p to 85p for second class – coming in on Tuesday this week. The company said the shake-up would cut 7,000 to 9,000 routes, take up to two years to implement and save £300m a year. It assured its heavily unionised workforce there would be no compulsory redundancies and that fewer than 1,000 voluntary redundancies would be required. Some roles may not be replaced. IDS was responding to a consultation by Ofcom on changes to the universal service obligation (USO), the remit held by Royal Mail to deliver nationwide at one price six days a week. The company is desperate to change the system in the face of declining letter volumes and increased competition in the parcels industry. It began lobbying for reform four years ago, and last year the government rejected its request to drop Saturday deliveries. IDS’s group chief executive, Martin Seidenberg, who this week poached the Heathrow executive Emma Gilthorpe to run Royal Mail, called the USO “unsustainable”. He said a network that two decades ago handled 20bn letters a year now handled 7bn. He said on Wednesday: “We have worked hard to come up with a proposal that is good for our customers, good for our people and would allow Royal Mail to invest in products and services that the UK wants … With no need for legislation there is no need to wait.” Ofcom has estimated that the cost of delivering the USO is between £325m and £675m a year. It has forecast that reducing the number of delivery days could cut costs by up to £650m. The Greeting Card Association, in its own submission to the Ofcom consultation seen by the Guardian, said stopping delivery of standard letters on Tuesdays or Wednesdays would be far less damaging than a previously mooted plan to drop Saturday deliveries. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The Liberal Democrats’ business spokesperson, Sarah Olney, dismissed Royal Mail’s proposals as “a slap in the face for families being asked to pay more for less” given the recent sharp rises in stamp prices. She said: “It risks creating a cost of postage crisis as people feel forced to pay for first-class stamps because second-class delivery days are being slashed.” Ofcom is expected to continue to discuss the proposals with industry and publish an update in the summer. Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported that Royal Mail was investigating claims that people had been wrongly fined after being sent letters with barcoded stamps, which were introduced in July. People have complained that they have had to pay £5 penalties to collect post because barcoded stamps were deemed to be counterfeit, even though they were bought from Royal Mail directly. On Tuesday night Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office minister, said he had held a meeting with Seidenberg to try to find the source of the problem. Royal Mail said it took the illegal production of counterfeit stamps seriously and that barcoded stamps had significantly reduced stamp fraud since their introduction.

4 Stocks with Surprisingly Large Short Interest 2024-04-03 11:45:00+00:00 - Key Points During bullish market periods, stocks with notable short interest often exceed expectations due to market strength and optimistic sentiment. Gap, On Holding, Global Foundries and Mobileye Global are large-cap companies with significant short interest. Despite impressive earnings and growth projections, some of these companies' stocks have been heavily shorted and declined significantly, while others have continued to rise along with the short interest. 5 stocks we like better than GAP As the overall market continues to break records and achieve new heights, speculation and optimism are rising. During such periods, stocks with unusually high short interest tend to outperform, as the overall market’s strength and bullish sentiment can overwhelm the fundamental reasons that caused bears to initiate short positions. Over the previous year, several high short interest favorites have emerged. Carvana Co. NYSE: CVNA, Affirm Holdings, Inc. NASDAQ: AFRM, and Upstart Holdings, Inc. NASDAQ: UPST are three stocks that have grabbed the headlines for quite some time due to their considerable short interest and periods of incredible rise. Get GAP alerts: Sign Up Recently, however, four large-cap household names have also seen their short interest rise to unusual levels: The Gap, Inc. NYSE: GPS, On Holding NYSE: ONON, Global Foundries Inc. NASDAQ: GFS and Mobileye Global Inc. NASDAQ: MBLY. Are some or all likely to experience an outlier move higher due to the short interest? Or could the bears be sitting pretty? Let’s take a closer look at each one. 1. The Gap Inc. Shares of apparel retail apparel giant Gap have been on an impressive run over the past year, with the stock up a whopping 161% over the previous year. Year-to-date, shares of GAP have climbed almost 26%, significantly outperforming its sector and the overall market. Considering its remarkable stock performance, it has a reasonably modest P/E of 19.6 and a dividend yield of 2.3%. While the company has impressed with its staggering stock performance and most recent earnings beat, the sentiment remains overwhelmingly bearish. GPS has a significant short interest of 16.12%, totaling 34.5 million shares sold short. Analysts are not bullish on the stock either, with a consensus Hold rating and price target predicting over 28% downside. 2. On Holding Another retail company, On Holding, which develops and distributes sports products worldwide, has significantly outperformed this year. Year-to-date, ONON shares are up 27%. The company, which is heavily in its growth phase, has a P/E of 126 and projected earnings growth of 40% for the entire year. With its impressive share performance and hefty valuation, bears have taken notice. The stock boasts a hefty 14.36% short interest, equal to 29.7 million shares sold short. However, that figure has declined by 10% month-over-month. 3. Global Foundries Global Foundries, which operates as a semiconductor foundry worldwide, has a P/E of 27.73, projected earnings growth of 110%, and has majorly lagged its sector and the market this year. Year-to-date, shares are down 15.79% and swiftly approaching bear market territory. Unsurprisingly, short interest remained unchanged month-over-month as the stock slid. It now approaches a significant support area and potential breakdown level near $50. As of Mar. 15, 15.88% of the float, or 12.5 million shares, was sold short. 4. Mobileye Global Inc. Mobileye is valued at $25.8 billion and operates in the field of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving technologies. The company reported earnings on Jan. 25, topped EPS estimates and reported revenue in line. For the full year ahead, the company has projected earnings growth of 358%. Analysts are bullish on Mobileye. Based on 18 analyst ratings, the stock has a Moderate Buy rating and price target that forecasts an impressive 38% upside. Notably, its consensus rating is higher than other auto/tire/truck companies, which have a consensus of Hold, and the S&P 500, which is also Hold. Despite analysts' bullish sentiment, the stock has failed to deliver so far this year, falling by over 25%. As a result, short interest has remained steady over recent months, averaging 20% short of the float. As of Mar. 15, 20.06% of the float was sold short. Will any of these high short interest stocks outperform? While the bullish market trends have favored some companies, driving substantial price increases and challenging the bears, others continue to navigate the complexities of investor skepticism and short interest dynamics. The capacity for stocks with high short interest to outperform or underperform is intricately linked to broader market forces, investor perceptions and the evolving stories of the companies themselves. So will market strength and positive investor sentiment help these high short interest stocks outperform? Or will the concerns about fundamentals– what drove investors to short the stock to begin with – prevail? Only time will tell. Before you consider GAP, 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 GAP wasn't on the list. While GAP currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

What Tesla’s Troubles Signal for the E.V. Revolution 2024-04-03 11:36:37.005000+00:00 - Tesla’s woes prompt an E.V. reassessment Wall Street has sounded the alarm for weeks that the transition to electric vehicles may be stalling, despite billions in government subsidies and huge investments by auto giants. Tesla’s latest sales figures suggest that the pullback may be worse than thought — and beyond one company’s ability to fix. Tesla’s numbers undershot forecasts. The car maker’s stock fell nearly 5 percent on Tuesday after it reported deliveries of 387,000 cars worldwide in the first quarter — the Evercore ISI estimate was 443,000 — in its first year-on-year quarterly decline since 2020. That has contributed to a more than 30 percent decline in Tesla’s stock, which has made it one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 this year.

UPDATE 4-Intel discloses $7 billion operating loss for chip-making unit 2024-04-03 05:55:00+00:00 - (New throughout, adds information about wafer outsourcing) By Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney April 2 (Reuters) - Intel on Tuesday disclosed deepening operating losses for its foundry business, a blow to the chipmaker as it tries to regain a technology lead it lost in recent years to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. Intel said the manufacturing unit had $7 billion in operating losses for 2023, a steeper loss than the $5.2 billion in operating losses the year before. The unit had revenue of $18.9 billion for 2023, down 31% from $63.05 billion the year before. Intel shares were down 4.3% after the documents were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). During a presentation for investors, Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said that 2024 would be the year of worst operating losses for the company's chipmaking business and that it expects to break even on an operating basis by about 2027. Gelsinger said the foundry business was weighed down by bad decisions, including one years ago against using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines from Dutch firm ASML. While those machines can cost more than $150 million, they are more cost-effective than earlier chip making tools. Partially as a result of the missteps, Intel has outsourced about 30% of the total number of wafers to external contract manufacturers such as TSMC, Gelsinger said. It aims to bring that number down to roughly 20%. Intel has now switched over to using EUV tools, which will cover more and more production needs as older machines are phased out. "In the post EUV era, we see that we're very competitive now on price, performance (and) back to leadership," Gelsinger said. "And in the pre-EUV era we carried a lot of costs and (were) uncompetitive." Intel plans to spend $100 billion on building or expanding chip factories in four U.S. states. Its business turnaround plan depends on persuading outside companies to use its manufacturing services. As part of that plan, Intel told investors it would start reporting the results of its manufacturing operations as a standalone unit. The company has been investing heavily to catch up to its primary chipmaking rivals, TSMC and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. (Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis and Max Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and David Gregorio)

Stock market today: Stocks slide as oil, yields touch 2024 highs 2024-04-03 05:31:00+00:00 - US stocks closed in a sea of red, but off of their session lows, as investors digested the possibility that an interest rate cut will come later than hoped. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed down about 1%, or nearly 400 points, setting the blue-chip index back from a bid to reach the key 40,000 level. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) shed about 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also slid nearly 1%. US bonds continued to struggle, as the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury (^TNX) rose to around 4.36%, hovering at its highest levels of 2024. Oil also jumped with crude prices (CL=F) rising to trade above $85 a barrel. Stocks have made a lackluster start to the second quarter after racking up a string of records in the first months of 2024. Hotter-than-expected manufacturing readings, which came alongside increases in prices paid, have given weight to growing doubts the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the first half of the year as the US economy shows surprising resilience. In economic news, the new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed job openings were marginally higher in February while hiring ticked up slightly. A pullback in health insurer stocks came after US regulators surprised the industry by failing to boost payments for private Medicare plans as usual. Humana (HUM) shares fell more than 13%, while CVS (CVS) shed roughly 7%. In single stock moves, Tesla (TSLA) stock stumbled about 5% after the company delivered fewer cars than expected in the first quarter.

UPDATE 1-GE completes three-way split, breaking off from its storied past 2024-04-03 02:10:00+00:00 - (Rewrites first paragraph, adds share price in paragraph 4, analyst quote in paragraph 15, background details throughout) By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Abhijith Ganapavaram CHICAGO, April 2 (Reuters) - General Electric on Tuesday completed its breakup into three companies, marking the end of the 132-year-old conglomerate that was once the most valuable U.S. corporation and a global symbol of American business power. The industrial giant's aerospace and energy businesses began trading on the New York Stock Exchange as separate entities more than a year after GE spun off its healthcare business. GE Aerospace has retained the GE symbol. The energy unit, GE Vernova, made its debut under the ticker symbol GEV. GE Aerospace shares were up about 2% at mid-afternoon. Vernova rose about 5%. The breakup culminates CEO Larry Culp's efforts to turn around a company that looked all but dead due to bad investments and the 2008 financial crisis that nearly bankrupted its most profitable business, GE Capital. When Culp, the first outsider to run GE, took the helm in 2018, the company was struggling with weak profits and a mountain of debt. Its stock had fallen nearly 80% from highs in 2000 and lost its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after over a century in the blue-chip stock index. The tumult prompted GE's board to oust two of his predecessors in less than two years. Culp's task to save the struggling conglomerate became more challenging when its lucrative jet engine business fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic as global air travel dried up. However, his focus on paying off debt by selling assets and improving cash flows by streamlining operations and cutting overhead costs ushered in a recovery. GE has slashed more than $100 billion of debt and quadrupled its free cash flow since 2018. Its market cap has grown by about $100 billion to $192 billion. "With the successful launch of three independent, public companies now complete – today marks a historic final step in the multi-year transformation of GE," Culp said on Tuesday. Story continues Culp, as the CEO of GE Aerospace, rang the NYSE opening bell on Tuesday, along with Vernova CEO Scott Strazik. GE was formed in 1892 after famed inventor Thomas Alva Edison merged Edison General Electric Co with a rival. In subsequent years, it has touched all parts of life - from bringing electricity to selling appliances to financing mortgages. After the split, it will be left with its aerospace business, which makes engines for Boeing and Airbus jets and generates more than 70% of its revenue from services. Analysts estimate the market value of GE Aerospace at more than $100 billion after the spinoff. It is benefiting from a surge in demand for aftermarket services because jet delivery delays by Boeing and Airbus are forcing airlines to fly older planes for longer. Last month, it forecast operating profit of about $10 billion in 2028. "We expect GE Aerospace's engine business flywheel to spin off decades of profitable growth," Nicolas Owens, equity analyst at Morningstar, wrote in a note. (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Richard Chang)

BYD, Nio, Li and XPeng Report Deliveries Rose In March 2024-04-03 00:07:00+00:00 - Back in 1995, BYD Company Limited (OTC: BYDDY) was a battery manufacturer. Today, BYD is China’s leading EV seller who even stole the quarterly crown of the EV king, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) during the last three months of 2023 as it became the world’s largest EV seller. The rise of BYD, as well as of startups, XPeng Inc (NYSE: XPEV), Li Auto Inc (NASDAQ: LI) and Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) is a reflection of China’s growing dominance on the EV front. March data During the first quarter, BYD sold 626,263 new-energy vehicles which represents a 13% YoY rise. This figure includes roughly 300,114 EVs and about 324,000 plug-ins. On Monday, the Tesla rival revealed that after slipping during the first two months of 2024, sales rose 46%. Moreover, BYD also reported exports also rose. New energy-vehicle sales nearly tripled overseas to 38,434 units, while plugin hybrids expanded 14% and pure battery EVs expanded 13%. Tesla is due to release delivery figures on Tuesday. By contrast, FactSet analysts forecast that Tesla delivered 457,000 vehicles. Bloomberg analysts fear Tesla is on track for the first YoY decline in deliveries since the pandemic spring of 2020. Back in January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk did warn of a notably slower growth this year. Also, Tesla stock is about 29% down year to date. Nio In March, Nio delivered 11,866 premium smart electric SUVs and smart electric sedans, representing a 14.3% YoY increase in vehicle deliveries. For the first quarter ended in March, Nio delivered 30,053 vehicles. Li Auto was even the first to reach a milestone. For the first quarter, Li Auto posted a 52.9% jump in deliveries. Li Auto delivered 80,400 units during the three months period. As for March alone, Li Auto delivered 28,984 vehicles, representing a 39.2% YoY rise. Moreover, this figure established Li Auto as the first Chinese emerging new energy automaker to reach a milestone of 700,000 cumulative deliveries as of end of March 2024. Story continues XPeng met its delivery guidance XPeng deliveries rose 20% to 21,821 vehicles during the first quarter, which falls within its previously guided range between 21,000-22,500 vehicles. This reprensents a YoY growth of 19.7%. In March, XPeng delivered 9,026 vehicles which is a 98.6% rise from February and 28.9% YoY increase. Together, Nio, Li and XPeng delivered about 132,000 vehicles during the first quarter, which represents a 30% YoY increase. Even besides BYD, Tesla also has this Chinese EV trio to worry about. DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended as investing advice. This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga's reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy. "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article BYD, Nio, Li and XPeng Report Deliveries Rose In March originally appeared on Benzinga.com © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Costco offers eligible members access to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs 2024-04-02 22:38:00+00:00 - Some Costco members may soon have less of a hankering for the retailer's popular $1.50 hot dog and soda meal. The warehouse club and health care marketplace Sesame are now teaming to offer access to a weight-loss program that includes clinically approved access to GLP-1 prescription drugs including Ozempic, Sesame said. As of April 2, Costco members can sign up for the service, which runs $179 for three months. It includes consultations with a clinician and a medically appropriate treatment program, which can include medications. "We are witnessing important innovations in medically-supervised weight loss," David Goldhill, Sesame's co-founder and CEO, said Tuesday in a news release. "Sesame's unique model allows us not only to make high-quality specialty care like weight loss much more accessible and affordable, but also to empower clinicians to create care plans that are specific to — and appropriate for — each individual patient." Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The development comes nearly six months after Sesame announced a partnership with Costco offering members virtual primary care for $29 in all 50 states. New York-based Sesame is geared to the uninsured and those with high deductibles who need to pay cash. It does not accept health insurance to help keep a lid on prices. The move by the big-box retailer follows similar steps by rivals. Amazon provides remote access to third-party health care providers and Walmart runs in-store medical clinics.

Disney's largest shareholder Vanguard reportedly backing management over Peltz in board fight 2024-04-02 22:37:00+00:00 - Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, speaks during the grand opening ceremony of Shanghai Disney Resort's Zootopia-themed attraction at Shanghai Disney Resort on December 19, 2023 in Shanghai, China. Disney's largest shareholder, index-fund manager Vanguard, plans to support management over Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners in Wednesday's board vote, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Institutional shareholders have until Wednesday to change their vote. Vanguard owns 7.8% of Disney shares. Blackrock , Disney's second largest shareholder with 4.2% of shares, is also supporting the incumbent board and CEO Bob Iger, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. It would be a significant blow to Peltz's ambitions to join Disney's board if both Blackrock and Vanguard's continue to back the media company's candidates. That would leave only State Street and Geode Capital Management, the company's third- and fourth-largest shareholders respectively, as unknowns. Through an arrangement with former Marvel Chairman Ike Perlmutter, Trian controls 1.8% of Disney shares, making it the fifth largest shareholder. Retail investors have until 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday to submit their vote by phone or online. Trian has won support from other, smaller shareholders, including Neuberger Berman and CalPERS. For its part, Disney has called in some of the most prominent names in the corporate and media world, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Star Wars creator George Lucas. Disney's shareholder meeting begins Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET. Vanguard declined to comment to CNBC. Read the full Bloomberg report here.

Intel shares fall after company reveals $7 billion operating loss in foundry business 2024-04-02 22:28:00+00:00 - Intel shares fell 4% at one point in extended trading on Tuesday after the company revealed long-awaited financials for its semiconductor manufacturing business, often called a foundry business, in a SEC filing. Intel said that its foundry business recorded an operating loss of $7 billion in 2023 on sales of $18.9 billion. That's a wider loss than the $5.2 billion Intel reported in its foundry business in 2022 on $25.7 billion in sales. This is the first time that Intel has disclosed how much revenue its foundry business does. Historically, Intel has both designed its own chips as well as doing its own manufacturing, and reported final chip sales to investors. Other American semiconductor companies such as Nvidia and AMD design their chips but send them off to Asian foundries — often Taiwan's TSMC — for manufacturing. Intel has been pitching investors under CEO Patrick Gelsinger on a plan where it would continue to make its own processors, but would also start an external foundry business to make chips for other companies. Intel's role as one of the only American companies doing cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing on American soil was a big reason why it secured nearly $20 billion in CHIPS act funding last month. Much of Intel's foundry revenue currently comes from its own operations, Intel said on Tuesday. Intel also restated its products divisions to report its costs as if it were a so-called "fabless" company that has to account for foundry as a cost. Intel said its newly-organized Products division, which mainly consists of processors for PCs and servers, reported $11.3 billion in operating income on $47.7 in sales in 2023. Intel said on Tuesday that it expected its foundry's losses to peak in 2024 and eventually break even "midway" between this quarter and the end of 2030. Intel previously said that Microsoft would use its foundry services, and that it has $15 billion of revenue for foundry already booked. "Intel Foundry is going to drive considerable earnings growth for Intel over time. 2024 is the trough for foundry operating losses," Gelsinger said on a call with investors on Tuesday. Intel said in a promo video that much of the lack of profitability for its foundry business was because of the "weight of past decisions," and separately, Gelsinger cited the company's past "slow" adoption of a technology called EUV, which is used to make the most advanced chips.

Wall Street firm forecasts more upside for 2 portfolio industrial stocks and upgrades another. Where we stand 2024-04-02 22:25:00+00:00 - A Wall Street firm on Tuesday struck a favorable chord on a trio of industrial holdings, reaffirming the Club's forecast for upside in shares of Stanley Black & Decker and Honeywell International . Eaton also received a well-deserved upgrade. Although the industrial sector has slumped with the broader market this week, the group experienced a solid run leading up to the second quarter. Through Tuesday, the sector has climbed nearly 24% over the past six months and 9.13% year to date, benefiting from a broadening rally outside of megacap tech stocks. In light of the upbeat Barclays note, here's a closer look at where analysts and the Club stand on Eaton, Stanley Black & Decker and Honeywell. ETN YTD mountain Eaton (ETN) year-to-date performance Barclays upgraded Eaton to a hold-equivalent rating from underweight and boosted its price target on the stock to $300 per share from $250. That implies a 4.7% decline from Eaton's close Tuesday. The generative artificial intelligence boom will lead to future sales growth for the electrical equipment provider as long as the current "data center mania persists," analysts wrote in a note to clients. They also raised their full-year 2024 earnings-per-share estimates to $10.31 from $10.28. The Barclays analysts said "it is safe to say" their underweight rating on Eaton shares since 2022 was not one of their "best calls" in their coverage universe, which consists of roughly two dozen industrial-focused companies. "The stock looks set to enjoy among the highest organic sales growth rates in [our coverage] in the next few years; this, coupled with the widespread perception that this growth is 'secular' in nature, means that a sharp valuation multiple compression may not occur for some time," they wrote. The Club took its stake in Eaton due in large part to its ability to benefit from the generative AI wave, as Barclays acknowledged in its upgrade. "I don't know why [analysts] had this as a sell," Jim Cramer said Tuesday. "They were obviously ill-informed. … Eaton is a part of this vast change in the grid that we've been talking about." Similar to the analysts, we think increased demand for electricity as more data centers pop up to support power-intensive AI computing workloads will benefit Eaton's business long term. The Club increased its Eaton's price target last month to $330 per share from $290, while affirming our buy-equivalent 1 rating. Eaton has been a strong performer since joining the portfolio in November , setting a series of all-time highs on its way to a 30.7% gain year to date. SWK YTD mountain Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) year-to-date performance Analysts raised Stanley Black & Decker's price target slightly to $107 per share from $105, implying a roughly 13% increase from Tuesday's close of $94.49. Barclays reiterated the firm's overweight rating and boosted full-year EPS estimates to $4.26 from $4.17. Barclays argued the worst is likely behind Stanley Black & Decker's crucial tools business, which is in the midst of 11 consecutive quarters of volume declines. Its brands include DeWalt, Craftsman, and Black & Decker. "We think 2023 will see trough Tools volume trends, and the company starts to make meaningful progress on inventory reduction," the analysts wrote. "As [free cash flow] expands substantially alongside inventory reduction, balance sheet leverage should fall, and the stock should re-rate higher as investors can look ahead to the earnings recovery." Barclays' view generally mirrors the Club's thesis, which is rooted in the company turning itself around from a variety of post-Covid overhangs. Stanley Black & Decker may also benefit from potential Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2024. Lower borrowing costs can increase activity in the housing sector, specifically the existing home market. This can lead to more demand for Stanley Black & Decker's offerings from do-it-yourself customers who want to buy tools for remodeling projects or various repairs. Our price target on the stock is $110 per share, which we set after its quarterly earnings results in August. We've also maintained a buy-equivalent 1 rating on the stock. HON YTD mountain Honeywell International (HON) year-to-date performance Honeywell's price target increased slightly to $232 per share from $230, implying a 15.9% gain from Tuesday's close. Analysts raised their full-year EPS estimates by a cent to $9.94, while maintaining their buy-equivalent rating on shares. The firm expects buybacks to accelerate and Honeywell to deploy more capital towards mergers and acquisitions. "HON will benefit from management moves to shift the business mix towards a higher growth portfolio," analysts argued. "We believe that its medium term margin guide will prove conservative in light of the scope for further operating improvement, and [free cash flow] conversion is rising." This is largely in-line with our take on Honeywell, though our price target remains at $230 per share. The Club reaffirmed our buy-equivalent 1 rating and price target after the company's Feb. 1 quarterly earnings release . At last week's Monthly Meeting, Jim emphasized his belief that Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur, who has been in the top job since June 2023, should look to reshuffle the industrial conglomerate's vast business portfolio. "Time for Kapur to declare what he wants his Honeywell to be," Jim said. "Whatever he wants will be better than what we have because it's increasingly looking like a leftover pastiche of industrials. But you do have to own it before he makes his move." One move may be to sell its personal protective equipment division, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday , citing people familiar with the matter. The company has hired advisors to look into options for that business, which could be worth more than $2 billion, according to the report. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long ETN, SWK, HON. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. The Honeywell International sign sits outside of the company's former global headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey. Daniel Barry | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Fairfax India Announces Hybrid Annual Shareholders' Meeting Details 2024-04-02 22:01:00+00:00 - Loading... Loading... NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, April 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fairfax India Holdings Corporation ("Fairfax India") FIH announces additional details regarding its upcoming hybrid annual shareholders' meeting. As disclosed in our annual meeting materials and on our website, the hybrid meeting will be held both in-person and virtually on April 10, 2024 and will commence at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, with the formal annual meeting and a presentation by Prem Watsa, Fairfax India's Chairman and Chandran Ratnaswami, Fairfax India's CEO, followed by a Q&A session, all of which will be webcast in real time. Following are additional details on how to access this webcast and submit questions in advance for the Q&A session. Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders will be able to attend and vote at the hybrid meeting both in-person and virtually through a web-based platform at https://web.lumiagm.com/490312167. Shareholders attending virtually are encouraged to access the webcast of the meeting early, access for which will commence at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Additional instructions may be found in Fairfax India's management proxy circular as well as in our virtual AGM user guide which has been posted on our website at: https://www.fairfaxindia.ca/wp-content/uploads/Fairfax-India-Holdings-Corporation-Annual-General-Meeting-2024-Virtual-Meeting-Guide.pdf. Shareholders are encouraged to vote by proxy in advance of the meeting by one of the methods described in the management proxy circular. Questions can also be submitted in advance of the annual shareholders meeting by e-mailing them to FairfaxIndiaAGM2024@shareholderservices.ca by no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on April 8, 2024. These questions, in addition to those being sent live through the platform during the meeting, will be received by Fairfax India's moderator, Jeff Stacey, Chairman and CEO, Stacey Muirhead Capital Management Ltd., who will facilitate the Q&A session. About Fairfax India Fairfax India is an investment holding company whose objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation, while preserving capital, by investing in public and private equity securities and debt instruments in India and Indian businesses or other businesses with customers, suppliers or business primarily conducted in, or dependent on, India. For further information, contact: John Varnell, Vice President, Corporate Affairs (416) 367-4755

CN files Shelf Prospectus Qualifying the Issuance of Debt Securities - Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) 2024-04-02 21:56:00+00:00 - Loading... Loading... MONTREAL, April 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN CNR CNI announced today that it has filed a shelf prospectus with Canadian securities regulators and a registration statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), pursuant to which CN may issue debt securities in Canadian and U.S. markets over the next 25 months. CN expects to use net proceeds from the sale of debt securities under the shelf prospectus for general corporate purposes, which may include the redemption and refinancing of outstanding indebtedness, share repurchases, acquisitions and other business opportunities. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities, nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. A copy of the shelf prospectus will be available on the Canadian Securities Administrators' web site, www.sedarplus.ca, or the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. It may also be obtained from the Corporate Secretary, Canadian National Railway Company, 935 de La Gauchetière Street West, Montréal, Quebec, H3B 2M9 (Telephone: 514-399-7091). About CN CN is a world-class transportation leader and trade-enabler. Essential to the economy, to the customers, and to the communities it serves, CN safely transports more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year. CN's network connects Canada's Eastern and Western coasts with the U.S. South through an 18,800-mile rail network. CN and its affiliates have been contributing to community prosperity and sustainable trade since 1919. CN is committed to programs supporting social responsibility and environmental stewardship. Contacts: Media Investment Community Jonathan Abecassis Stacy Alderson Director Assistant Vice-President Public Affairs and Media Relations Investor Relations (438) 455-3692 media@cn.ca (514) 399-0052 investor.relations@cn.ca

Who is Don Hankey, the billionaire whose insurance firm provided Trump a $175 million bond payment? 2024-04-02 21:56:00+00:00 - Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants in his New York civil fraud case on Monday posted a bond of $175 million, following a judge's ruling that they had for years misrepresented the value of his properties. The bond is underwritten by an insurance company run by a billionaire, who got his start making high-risk, high-interest loans to car buyers with poor credit. Don Hankey, the executive whose company provided the bond, is a little-known mogul who built his $7.4 billion fortune through car dealerships and providing subprime auto loans, according to Forbes magazine. That makes him richer than Trump, whom Forbes estimates is worth $6.4 billion, including his multibillion stake in the newly public Trump Media & Technology Group. Hankey, who told The Associated Press he has never met nor spoken with Trump, said his Knight Speciality Insurance company provided both cash and bonds as collateral for Trump's appellate bond. That bond is now essentially a placeholder that will guarantee payment if the judgment against Trump is upheld on appeal. "This is what we do at Knight Insurance, and we're happy to do this for anyone who needs a bond," Hankey told the wire service. Hankey didn't immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment. Who is Don Hankey? Hankey, 80, got started in the auto industry when his father bought a stake in a Ford dealership in Los Angeles in 1958. A teenager at the time, Hankey started out washing cars during the summer, but later stepped into a salesman role, he told the Los Angeles Business Journal last year. While Hankey was studying finance at the University of Southern California, his father died and his family lost its stake in the car dealership. But a few years after Hankey's graduation, his family repurchased the dealership with a $250,000 loan. How did Hankey get into the car loans business? After buying the dealership, Hankey courted buyers that other car sellers often rejected: subprime borrowers. His dealership provided the loans, unlike other car dealers which typically turn to banks to provide financing for auto purchases. Hankey told the Los Angeles Business Journal that his showroom was often filled with people arguing over terms they believed were unfavorable. "We had beefs going on, and at the same time people coming in, buying cars," Hankey said. "But it all worked. And you would think that somebody buying a car would hate to see somebody else arguing about a payment, but it didn't seem to matter." What other businesses does Hankey own? Hankey expanded beyond auto dealerships when he realized that there was demand for subprime auto loans outside of Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal. He incorporated Westlake Financial Services, which Forbes said now works with more than 30,000 car dealerships across the U.S. to provide auto loans to people with poor credit histories. Westlake is now part of the Hankey Group, which also oversees other financial services companies, including Knight Insurance Group, the enterprise that provided Trump's bond. Is Hankey a Trump supporter? Hankey told Bloomberg News he voted for Trump, but said that his support for the real estate developer didn't play into his decision to extend the bond. "Yes, I voted for him in the past, but this is a business deal and this is what we do," Hankey told the publication. "I have never met Donald Trump, nor talked to him on the phone." Axos Bank, in which Hankey is one of the biggest non-institutional investors, provided the funding to refinance Trump Tower and take out a $100 million loan in 2022, when the Trump Organization's real estate valuations were under scrutiny due to the New York fraud case, Bloomberg reported. Hankey told the publication he wasn't aware of the deal until after it was completed. How does the $175 million bond work? Appeal bonds are used when a defendant appeals a court ruling, which essentially freezes enforcement of the financial judgment as the legal process continues. Insurers typically provide the bond after they have proof of collateral and charge a fee, which ranges from 1% to 2% of the bond amount, according to insurance broker NFP. That means Trump could be paying as much as $3.5 million on an annual basis for the bond guarantee from Knight Insurance. If Trump wins his appeal of the ruling, he won't have to pay the state anything and will get his money back. "As promised, President Trump has posted bond. He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict," said one of Trump's lawyers, Alina Habba. —The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Will the soaring price of cocoa turn chocolate into a luxury item? 2024-04-02 21:54:00+00:00 - Chocoholics beware: Getting your fix, which is already pricey, is likely to get pricier. The Hershey Co. expects record-high cocoa prices as well as higher sugar costs to crimp its earnings growth, and it expects to offset the pain in part by raising prices, the candy giant said in February in reporting its latest financial results. "Given where cocoa prices are, we will be using every tool in our toolbox, including pricing, as a way to manage the business," CEO Michele Buck, president told analysts. Where are chocolate prices headed? Hershey raised candy prices for Valentine's Day and Easter in 2022, then increased the cost of chocolate more broadly in mid-2023 before in February rolling out small hikes on some grocery and food service items, Chief Financial Officer Steve Voskuil said in the earnings call. Price hikes are also in the works at Mondelez International, owner of Chips Ahoy! cookies and Côte d'Or, the Belgium chocolate brand. Mondelez also owns the nearly 200-year-old Cadbury brand, but outside the U.S., as Hershey acquired the U.S. license in 1988. "As we price away cocoa, chocolate will contribute to most of the pricing in '24," CFO Luca Zaramella told analysts in the food producer's latest earnings call. He suggested the coming price increases would be larger than average, but less than the up to 15% hikes in 2023. "Prices keep on going up for a third year in a row, particularly in chocolate," said Mondelez International CEO Dirk Van de Put. Sugar is rising as well, but the ingredient ate up less than 3.4 cents, or 2%, of the $1.79 that an average Hershey bar cost in 2023, according to the American Sugar Alliance, a national coalition of sugarbeet and sugarcane producers. American Sugar Alliance Expect to pay more for less In the U.S., Mondelez brand customers are responding to higher chocolate prices by waiting for deals and making less frequent purchases. "We see them downsizing, going to smaller formats and buying more of those," said the CEO, who also cited cuts to pandemic-era food benefits for low-income families as cutting into chocolate purchases. The executive's observations were amplified in recent findings by the National Confectioners Association (NCA). Americans spent $19.3 billion on chocolate at grocery and convenience stores last year, spending 5.8% more than the prior year for the treat, but buying 5.4% less in 2023 than they did the prior year, the trade group found. Sales promotions are a bigger driver as "fewer consumers perceive chocolate and candy to be as affordable as it has been traditionally," according to an NCA report. The industry's hurdles are playing out among major cocoa processors including Switzerland's Barry Callebaut and Blommer Chocolate Company — a subsidiary of Japanese cocoa processor Fuji Oil Holdings. Both are shutting down manufacturing plants and laying off workers. Barry Callebaut CEO told the German newspaper Handelsblatt in late February that the chocolate maker would cut about 2,500 jobs, or 19% of its workforce, within the coming 18 months. What's driving up chocolate prices? The price of cocoa, which is used to make chocolate, is at or near all-time highs on global markets, with costs having soared 150% from a year ago. The main reason for the spike — extreme weather. Torrential rains in the West African countries where most of the world's cocoa is grown have resulted in a production shortfall going on its third straight year. About three-quarters of the world's cocoa — the main ingredient in chocolate — comes from cacao trees in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. Severe winds brought dust that blocked the light needed for bean pods to grow in recent months, a season after heavy rainfall spread a rotting disease. A farmer points to cocoa pods, showing signs of black pod disease, on his property in the town of Kwabeng, Ghana, on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023. The disease is contributing to a cocoa shortage that is leading to higher chocolate prices. Paul Ninson/Bloomberg via Getty Images High cocoa prices remain a significant concern due to supply shortages from key producers Ivory Coast and Ghana, according to the International Cocoa Organization's market report for February. The group also expects significant declines in production due to unfavorable weather conditions and diseases in top-producing countries, noting that older trees are producing lower cacao yields. The impact of the record-high cocoa prices has not yet fully been felt by consumers, as companies hedge prices and contract for supplies up to a year ahead. Still, the rising cost of chocolate did catch the attention of one Minnesota shopper at Mackenthun's in Waconia. "Normally I would get M&M's for like $2.50 and now they're $4," Christy Schuth Ittel told CBS Minnesota before Easter. The increase didn't dissuade Ittel from her holiday candy purchases. "I will still buy it, for sure," she said. —The Associated Press contributed to this report.