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Bankruptcy trustee discloses plan to shut down Alex Jones’ Infowars and liquidate assets 2024-06-24 17:15:48+00:00 - A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee is planning to shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars media platform and liquidate its assets to help pay the $1.5 billion in lawsuit judgments Jones owes for repeatedly calling the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax. In an “emergency” motion filed Sunday in Houston, trustee Christopher Murray indicated publicly for the first time that he intends to “conduct an orderly wind-down” of the operations of Infowars’ parent company and “liquidate its inventory.” Murray, who was appointed by a federal judge to oversee the assets in Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, did not give a timetable for the liquidation. Jones has been saying on his web and radio shows that he expects Infowars to operate for a few more months before it is shut down because of the bankruptcy. But he has vowed to continue his bombastic broadcasts in some other fashion, possibly on social media. He also had talked about someone else buying the company and allowing him to continue his shows as an employee. Murray also asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez to put an immediate hold on the Sandy Hook families’ efforts to collect the massive amount Jones owes them. Murray said those efforts would interfere with his plans to close the parent company, Free Speech Systems in Austin, Texas, and sell off its assets — with much of the proceeds going to the families. On Friday, lawyers for the parents of one of the 20 children killed in the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, asked a state judge in Texas to order Free Speech Systems, or FSS, to turn over to the families certain assets, including money in bank accounts, and garnish its accounts. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble approved the request, court records show, prompting Murray’s emergency motion. The parents, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was killed in the shooting, won a $50 million verdict in Texas over Jones’ lies about the shooting being a hoax staged by crisis actors with the goal of increasing gun control. In a separate Connecticut lawsuit, Jones was ordered to pay other Sandy Hook families more than $1.4 billion for defamation and emotional distress. Referring to the families’ collection efforts, Murray said in the Sunday court filing that “The specter of a pell-mell seizure of FSS’s assets, including its cash, threatens to throw the business into chaos, potentially stopping it in its tracks, to the detriment” of his duties in Jones’ personal bankruptcy case. “The Trustee seeks this Court’s intervention to prevent a value-destructive money grab and allow an orderly process to take its course,” Murray said. Murray also asked the judge to clarify his authority over Jones’ bank accounts. As part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, his ownership rights of FSS were turned over to Murray. Jones has been continuing his daily broadcasts in the meantime. It was not immediately clear when the bankruptcy judge would address Murray’s motion. Bankruptcy lawyers for Jones, Heslin and Lewis did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday. Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut lawsuit, said they supported the trustee’s new motion. He also said the families were disappointed with the motion filed Friday in the Texas court by Heslin and Lewis, which he said would “undercut” an equitable distribution of Jones’ assets to all the families. “This is precisely the unfortunate situation that the Connecticut (lawsuit) families hoped to avoid,” Mattei said. The families in both lawsuits, who have not received anything from Jones yet, appear likely to get only a fraction of what Jones owes them. Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, according to the most recent financial filings in court. Free Speech Systems has about $6 million in cash on hand and about $1.2 million worth of inventory, according to recent court testimony. On June 14, Lopez, the bankruptcy judge, approved converting Jones’ personal bankruptcy case from a reorganization to a liquidation, which Jones requested. Lopez also dismissed the reorganization bankruptcy case of FSS, after lawyers for Jones and the Sandy Hook families could not agree on a final bankruptcy plan. The bankruptcy cases had put an automatic hold on the families’ efforts to collect any of the $1.5 billion, under federal law. The dismissal of the FSS bankruptcy meant the families would have to shift those efforts from the bankruptcy court to the state courts in Texas and Connecticut where they won the legal judgments. Jones and Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022, the same year that relatives of many victims of the school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators won their lawsuits. The relatives said they were traumatized by Jones’ hoax conspiracies and his followers’ actions. They testified about being harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, some of whom confronted the grieving families in person saying the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One parent said someone threatened to dig up his dead son’s grave. Jones is appealing the judgments in the state courts. He has said that he now believes the shooting did happen, but free speech rights allowed him to say it didn’t.
As Trump eyes a running mate, what kind of choice will he make? 2024-06-24 17:03:18+00:00 - Those wondering who Donald Trump will choose as a running mate won’t have to wait too much longer. To the extent that the former president’s assurances reflect reality, the Republican has said he intends to make his announcement to coincide with his nominating convention — which begins three weeks from today — and he’s apparently made his decision. In fact, the presumptive GOP nominee was asked over the weekend whether he’s settled on a vice presidential choice. “In my mind, yeah,” he replied, though he quickly added that the person has not been notified. Around this time eight years ago, with two weeks remaining before Trump’s first nominating convention, an incredible number of prominent Republican senators and governors, including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, publicly withdrew from consideration, making it explicitly clear that they did not want to join Trump’s ticket. At the time, the future president’s stranglehold on GOP politics was tenuous — many of the party’s powerbrokers saw him as a likely loser — and ambitious Republicans saw value in keeping Trump at arm’s length. Conditions have obviously changed considerably, and would-be vice presidents are tripping over each other in the hopes of scoring points with a man who might very well return to the White House in six months. I won’t pretend to have any special insights into who’ll get the nod, but NBC News reported late last week that the list appears to have narrowed. As former President Donald Trump zeroes in on a vice presidential running mate, two top finalists are emerging: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. In interviews with NBC News, more than a dozen sources wired into the process described an intensifying debate over the strengths and weaknesses each candidate would bring to the ticket. The report added that Rubio, who’s participated in a clumsy audition, “remains in contention,” though his chances have apparently been jeopardized by “doubts about his enthusiasm for the job and concerns about navigating a constitutional hang-up that would require Trump or Rubio to establish residency in another state.” Each member of this trio, by the way, was a former Trump critic who became a Trump sycophant. Stepping back, part of what makes the so-called “veepstakes” process so interesting is the rarity of the broader circumstances: In American politics, it’s extremely unusual for someone to be elevated to national prominence based on the decision of one individual, but that’s precisely what’s poised to happen. The 2024 process is also of particular interest because former Vice President Mike Pence is being replaced. (If I were seeking a job, and I learned that my prospective employer endangered the life of my predecessor, I’d be inclined to pull my application.) But this also seems like a good time to review the three-category framework I write about every four years. As I see it, running mates nearly always fall into one of three categories: A “summer“ running mate is announced around the time of the candidate’s major-party convention, and the choice is made to unify a divided party. A “fall“ running mate is made around the same time, but the motivation behind the choice is the general election: Candidates choose a “fall” to help them win the presidency. A “winter“ running mate is one in which the presidential nominee expects his or her vice president to help with governing after Inauguration Day. I’ve always seen the categories themselves as value-neutral, and there have been good and bad running mates in each grouping. What’s more, we’ll occasionally see a running mate who falls into more than one category. But the framework often helps clarify matters. Lyndon Johnson in 1960 and George H.W. Bush in 1980, for example, were classic “summer” picks, intended to bring competing party constituencies together. I’d argue that Pence probably belonged in this category, too. Some recent “fall” picks would probably include John Edwards in 2004, Jack Kemp in 1996, and Sarah Palin in 2008. (Ironically, each of these tickets lost.) As for “winter” running mates, Dick Cheney in 2000 is a classic example, and I’d make the case that Joe Biden in 2008 probably falls into the same category. So what can we expect from Trump? The answer isn’t altogether obvious: The presumptive GOP nominee isn’t overly concerned about party unity, Nikki Haley’s recent vote totals notwithstanding, and he doesn’t care enough about governing to prioritize post-election policymaking. That suggests he’ll make a choice with Election Day considerations in mind, though even on this point, Trump appears to be working from the assumption that his success is a given. We'll get an answer soon enough, but while we wait, Vice President Kamala Harris recently shared an assessment with Politico, “What we know is that Donald Trump wants an enabler. He doesn’t want a governing partner. He doesn’t want another Mike Pence, and I think that is clear," the California Democrat said. "The litmus test is, are they going to be absolutely loyal to Trump over country or their oath of office, or, frankly, the American people?” Watch this space.
WWE, Indiana Sports Corp. teaming to bring Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and WrestleMania to Indianapolis 2024-06-24 17:02:07+00:00 - WWE and Indiana Sports Corp. are teaming up to bring the sports entertainment company’s three largest stadium events, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and WrestleMania, to Indianapolis. The companies announced on Monday that the partnership, the first of its kind, will see the Royal Rumble held on Feb. 1, 2025 at Lucas Oil Stadium. A two-night SummerSlam and two-night WrestleMania will also be held at the stadium in future years. WWE, which is part of TKO Group Holdings, says that WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble have a combined economic impact of more than $300 million. The agreement also includes WWE television shows, Raw, Smackdown and NXT, as well as WWE live events taking place at arenas in locations including Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Evansville throughout the partnership. “For over four decades, our city’s sports strategy has brought in millions of visitors and priceless hours of international brand-building media coverage,” Patrick Talty, president of Indiana Sports Corp., said in a statement. “This partnership with WWE continues to push that strategy forward in new and exciting ways.” Indiana Sports Corp., which was founded in 1979, has hosted more than 500 national and international sporting events, including Super Bowl XLVI, the College Football Playoff National Championship, Men’s & Women’s NCAA Final Fours and 11 Big Ten football championship games. These events have led to more than $4 billion in direct spending in the community in total, according to the company.
UK finances are a mess and Tories and Labour keeping public in the dark, says IFS 2024-06-24 17:02:00+00:00 - Britain’s public finances are in a mess. Difficult decisions loom once the election is over. But the public is being kept in the dark about what might happen. That, put briefly, was the gist of what the Institute for Fiscal Studies had to say about the Conservative and Labour party manifestos. The thinktank was also pretty dismissive about the plans of the smaller parties: the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and – in particular – Reform UK. The IFS analysis is relatively simple. Debt as a share of national income is at its highest since the early 1960s. Taxes are close to the record level reached in the aftermath of the second world war. Spending has increased by more in the past five years than ever before under a Conservative government. Yet, the thinktank says, public services – everything from the NHS to prisons – are visibly struggling. And fresh cuts of between £10bn and £20bn will be on the way for unprotected Whitehall departments if the party elected on July 4 wants to reduce debt and avoid raising taxes. The Conservative plan involves tax cuts of £17bn, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion, and by cutting £12bn from the welfare bill, mainly by slowing the increase in claims for disability benefit. The IFS says this equates to 1.6 million people losing an average of £7,500 a year each, and would be politically hard to achieve. Judging by the opinion polls, there is no prospect of the Conservatives forming the next government and the only question is the scale of the party’s defeat. Inevitably, the focus in the last week or so of the campaign will be on what Labour will do. The IFS is sceptical that faster than expected growth will lead to higher tax revenues and so spare Rachel Reeves from making tough choices. Stronger growth would certainly help. The IFS says that if growth exceeds the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts by 0.5 percentage points a year – which it says is unlikely but not inconceivable – that would strengthen the public finances by £30bn annually. But it says Reeves also needs to plan for what she might do if growth turns out to be 0.5 points weaker. 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 shadow chancellor says sticking to the fiscal rules is non-negotiable, but as the IFS director, Paul Johnson, pointed out, to prevent debt from growing in the absence of a sizeable growth dividend, the next government would need to run a primary budget surplus: collecting more in tax than it spends on everything apart from debt interest. This is rare in the UK and, says Johnson, “not necessarily a recipe for a happy electorate”. The last chancellor to run a primary surplus was Gordon Brown a quarter of a century ago. Johnson thinks it unlikely that Reeves will cut spending, which leaves the choice between tweaking the fiscal rules, raising taxes by more than already laid out in the manifesto, or both. As the IFS notes, opposition parties that win elections tend to raise taxes in their first budget.
Trump’s dangerous statements about the FBI take center stage at documents hearing 2024-06-24 16:46:02+00:00 - After holding an unnecessary hearing Friday on the lawfulness of special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is holding more hearings this week in Donald Trump’s classified documents case. At one of them, on Monday, she’ll consider whether to stop the former president from making dangerous statements about law enforcement. The judge is a wild card, and it’s never clear what she’ll do. The judge is a wild card, and it’s never clear what she’ll do. But whatever happens at the hearing, and however (and whenever) she rules on the issue, Smith’s latest court filing ahead of the hearing is remarkable for highlighting the damning record that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has amassed across several court cases. “Every court to have examined the issue has recognized the threat caused by the long-standing and well-documented dynamic between Trump’s comments and the predictable response from some of his supporters,” Smith wrote in his filing Friday, citing several rulings from courts in Washington and New York. Monday’s hearing stems from Trump’s statements falsely suggesting that law enforcement agents who executed the Mar-a-Lago search warrant were out to kill him and his family. “Trump knew that this was false, and he intended that his comments would inflame his listeners; indeed, that was the whole purpose,” the special counsel wrote to Cannon ahead of the hearing. “Comments like those create an immediate threat to the safety of law enforcement professionals — men and women who dedicate themselves to enforcing the law and protecting the American public every day, and who are entitled to do their work without fear of violent retribution,” added Smith, who asked Cannon to prohibit further statements that “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to the law enforcement professionals involved in the case.” Smith isn’t formally seeking a gag order but rather wants the judge to restrict the defendant’s statements by modifying his release conditions. As I wrote previously, the special counsel’s success is not guaranteed here, partly because Cannon may latch onto First Amendment concerns and seek more specificity about threats in this case than the special counsel can or will offer. Her comments and questions at the hearing may provide clues about where she’s headed — and whether she’ll stand in contrast to the courts who have taken action to protect the integrity of their proceedings. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.
The Top 3 Sectors Poised For Growth This Summer 2024-06-24 16:44:00+00:00 - The 2nd quarter and first half of 2024 are rapidly coming to a close, setting the market up for its summer adventure. The latest read on earnings expectations is positive and suggests the market will continue to rise. Not only are S&P 500 NYSEARCA: SPY earnings expected to accelerate from the prior quarter, but the consensus estimate for Q2 reported by Factset is holding up under revisions, and the forecasts for the year and next year are rising. In this scenario, the S&P 500 could continue to rise through the end of next year, assuming no change in the trend. This is a look at the three sectors with the hottest growth outlook going into the Q2 earnings reporting season and the stocks set up to drive them higher by year-end. Get XLC alerts: Sign Up Communications Services is the Hot-Ticket Item This Quarter Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund Today XLC Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund $85.00 +0.06 (+0.07%) 52-Week Range $62.82 ▼ $85.63 Dividend Yield 0.62% Assets Under Management $19.21 billion Add to Watchlist Communications Services NYSEARCA: XLC will be the hot-ticket item this quarter and the remainder of the year. The sector is expected to grow by 18.25% in Q2 and 21% for the year, with both estimates rising. Because the bar is set low for many companies within the index, estimates may continue rising this year. However, the bulk of the gains will be posted by only two companies, so targeting them may be better than an index-tracking ETF. Those two companies are Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META and Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL, which account for nearly 50% of the portfolio and are forecast to grow their earnings by 60% and 27%. Among the differences in their outlooks is that Meta Platforms will see more significant top-line growth and substantially wider margins. Another difference is that Meta Platform’s analysts have been lowering the bar while Alphabet’s has raised its. Both could produce outperformance in this scenario, but it would be more significant for Google. Analysts rate both stocks at Moderate Buy, and price target revisions have led them higher this year. However, Meta Platform's price targets were trimmed over the last quarter and may not rise again without a solid report. Meanwhile, legacy communications companies like Verizon NYSE: VZ are expected to post a small single-digit top-line advance and margin contraction. Technology Sector: AI Is Driving Big Gains for Some Companies Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund Today XLK Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund $222.42 -5.99 (-2.62%) 52-Week Range $159.50 ▼ $232.59 Dividend Yield 0.58% Assets Under Management $79.61 billion Add to Watchlist The Technology Sector NYSEARCA: XLK is expected to post the 3rd largest earnings gain for the quarter, about 17%, and the 2nd largest for the year, 18.8%, suggesting steady high-teens growth for the remainder of the year. This estimate is rising on revisions for most top-ten holdings, a who’s-who list of today’s leading AI players. The sector is heavily concentrated in Microsoft NASDAQ: MSFT and Apple NASDAQ: AAPL, which account for nearly 45% of the index, but all of the top 10 contribute to the outlook. The #1 pick for earnings growth in this sector is NVIDIA NASDAQ: NVDA. Analysts are forecasting another 110% top-line growth on top of the 100% growth posted last quarter and margins to widen. Earnings are expected to grow by 130% and substantially improve the balance sheet and cash position. Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ: AMD will also have a good quarter if overshadowed by legacy businesses. Analysts forecast sequential and YoY acceleration to 6.7% top-line growth and wider margins, and the bar may be low due to recent revisions. Healthcare Has a Healthy Outlook for Growth Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund Today XLV Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund $147.09 +0.28 (+0.19%) 52-Week Range $122.59 ▼ $148.27 Dividend Yield 1.35% Assets Under Management $39.37 billion Add to Watchlist The Healthcare Sector NYSEARCA: XLV has only a middling outlook for the year but is expected to post the 2nd strongest earnings growth this quarter and for annual earnings growth to double this year to next. The leading stocks in this group are Eli Lilly NYSE: LLY, UnitedHealth NYSE: UNH, and Johnson & Johnson NYSE: JNJ, accounting for roughly 35% of the holdings. The leading driver of the growth is Eli Lilly due to its position in the GLP-1 market. It is expected to post 20% top-line and 30% bottom-line growth this year, with revenue to advance 30% next year and earnings 50%. UNH and JNJ are expected to post growth in the single-digit range this year and accelerated low-double-digit growth next. Before you consider Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund, 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 Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund wasn't on the list. While Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund currently has a "hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Perkins is overhauling its 300 restaurants. Here's the new look and menu. 2024-06-24 16:42:00+00:00 - Perkins, a chain that started 66 years ago as a pancake house, is getting an overhaul, with the company rebranding under the name Perkins American Food Co. and adding a new look and menu items to its almost 300 locations around the U.S. The rebrand includes a new logo, with the Perkins name written in a vintage-type script, as well new menu items such as the double bacon avocado crunch burger, Perkins President Toni Ronayne told CBS MoneyWatch. The company has also developed a new proprietary burger seasoning as a way to add more flavor to its menu, with Ronayne noting the ingredients are being kept secret. Perkins is adding new menu items including some double-decker burgers, like this double bacon avocado crunch burger. The chain, with about 300 locations, is also rebranding as Perkins American Food Co. Perkins The rebrand comes amid tougher competition for restaurant chains as American consumers have grown more budget-conscious after two years of high inflation. Other chains are also revamping their menus or adding new offerings in order to attract inflation-weary diners, such as McDonald's adding a $5 value meal this month and Cracker Barrel refreshing its menu with items like green chili cornbread. Perkins' new look will tap into what the chain is calling a "vintage fresh" look, with its restaurants aiming to usher in an "Americana vibe," Ronayne said. "Guests are really looking forward to an opportunity to enjoy American classics — they want a piece of nostalgia," Ronayne told CBS MoneyWatch. "It's a slice of yesterday in a place that feels like today." The 66-year-old chain is revamping its identity with a new name and logo. Formerly called Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, the company will now be known as Perkins American Food Co. Perkins The first redesigned restaurant will open in Orlando, Florida, later this year, she added. The company is developing a smaller-footprint location that will be about 1,500-square feet in size, versus its traditional restaurant size of more than 6,000 square feet, which could help it expand into smaller towns, Ronayne said. The company is also working on bringing more of its bakery items to its meals, although the details are still under wraps, she noted. Perkins will debut other double-decker burgers, such as a "breakfast burger," which includes a fried egg layered between the beef patties and the bun. One of Perkins' new double-decker burgers, which the restaurant chain is adding to its menu under a rebranding plan. Perkins Customers "want to understand they are getting quality and abundance" when they dine at Perkins, Ronayne added. "Consumers are definitely concerned around value and how they are spending their money, and they are wanting to make sure they are heaving the right experience and stretching their dollars as much as they can." About 80 of Perkins' 300 locations are company-owned, with the rest operated by franchisees. Founded in Cincinnati, most of Perkins' locations are in Midwestern states including Minnesota and Iowa, although it has locations in states from Arizona to Wyoming.
U.S. Steel Stock: Betting on EPS Cut and Merger Uncertainty? 2024-06-24 16:02:00+00:00 - American integrated steel producer United States Steel Co. NYSE: X lowered its adjusted Q2 EBITDA guidance on June 17, 2024. However, the stock reaction was minimal, as shares continued to chop around in a tight range. Investors are waiting for the Japanese steel producer Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel to close, but the deal has been postponed at the request of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). United States Steel Today X United States Steel $36.27 -0.38 (-1.04%) 52-Week Range $22.26 ▼ $50.20 Dividend Yield 0.55% P/E Ratio 10.64 Price Target $38.78 Add to Watchlist The DOJ is reviewing documentation related to the deal to determine whether to let it go through or block it. Judging by the activity in its underlying stock price, the market appears convinced the deal will be blocked. However, the upside to $55 from its current levels of around $36 presents dramatic upside potential if the deal closes in December 2024. This could be a calculated opportunity for long-term investors. Get United States Steel alerts: Sign Up U.S. Steel operates in the basic materials sector and competes with steel producers, including Nucor Co. NYSE: NUE, Steel Dynamics Inc. NASDAQ: STLD, and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. NYSE: CLF. Nippon Steel Offers $14.1 Billion to Acquire U.S. Steel in December 2023 On December 18, 2024, U.S. Steel agreed to be acquired by Nippon Steel Corporation (NSC) for $55.00 per share, a 40% premium, in an all-cash deal valued at $14.1 billion. NSC would honor all collective bargaining agreements in place with the United Steelworkers Union, and U.S. Steel would retain the name and headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This decision was made after U.S. Steel field buyout offers from several parties, including Cleveland-Cliffs. Cleveland-Cliffs Has Been Stalking U.S. Steel To Merger and Urges Competing steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs had made several public offers to merge with U.S. Steel and opposed NSC's acquisition. Cleveland-Cliffs made an initial offer for $31.50, then a 50/50 cash and stock deal, and raised the offer to $35.00 per share at the end of July 2023. Cleveland-Cliffs went public about its attempt to acquire U.S. Steel and provided “compelling” reasons for U.S. Steel to accept the deal. Nippon Steel Delays the U.S. Steel Acquisition Until the End of 2024 At the request of the U.S. DOJ, Nippon Steel voluntarily postponed the closing of the U.S. Steel deal by three months. While U.S. Steel shareholders have approved the deal, it's facing bipartisan pressure, opposed by the Biden administration and former President Donald Trump. The deal was scheduled to close in September 2024 but was pushed to December 2024. Rolled Steel Prices Have Tumbled 37% in 2024 Meanwhile, rolled steel prices have tumbled by 37% since the deal was announced in December 2023. This has caused all steel producer stocks to sell off sharply, and the underlying stocks of its competitors reflect the dramatic sell-off. Cleveland-Cliffs stock is trading down 27.5% year-to-date (YTD). Nucor shares are down 9.5% YTD. Olympic Steel Inc. NASDAQ: ZEUS stock is down 31% YTD. X Stock is in a Descending Triangle Pattern The daily candlestick chart for X shows a descending triangle pattern. The descending trendline commenced at the $48.07 peak on March 6, 2024, as it capped bounces to the flat-bottom lower trendline support at $36.16. X is nearing the apex point as a decision needs to be made to either break out through the upper descending trendline or break down through the flat-bottom lower trendline. The daily relative strength index (RSI) is turning back down at the 41-band. Pullback support levels are at $35.60, $32.47, $29.84, and $28.05. Nucor’s Lowered Guidance Softened the Blow of U.S. Steel’s Guidance On June 14, 2024, steel producer Nucor cut its guidance for Q2 2024 earnings. The company cited weaker earnings due to mostly lower average selling prices and softer volumes. The EPS guidance was cut by over 50% to $2.20 and $2.30 versus $5.81 in the year-ago period and $3.00 consensus estimates. Ironically, NUE bounced from a gap down to $149.12 to close up to close at $154.79. The market was apparently expecting an even worse guidance cut. This likely softened the blow for U.S. Steel’s Q2 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance cut. U.S. Steel Guidance Had No Reaction On July 17, 2024, U.S. Steel issued in-line guidance for Q2 2024 of EPS 76 cents to 80 cents versus 77 cents consensus analyst estimates. However, they lowered Q2 adjusted EBITDA to $425 million, down from its previous guidance of $425 to $475 million. U.S. Steel stated that the lowered guidance represents stable demand for flat-rolled steel products used domestically despite volatile steel prices. A European steel producer restarted its temporary idled blast furnace to accommodate improving customer demand. Challenging market conditions are negatively affecting the tubular segment's performance. U.S. Steel analyst ratings and price targets are at MarketBeat. Before you consider United States Steel, 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 United States Steel wasn't on the list. While United States Steel currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Hollywood Sharpens Aim at Online Pirates 2024-06-24 16:00:07+00:00 - In recent years, Hollywood has become much better at hunting pirates. Just last week, five men were convicted of operating Jetflicks, an illegal streaming site that federal prosecutors said offered a stolen lineup of TV shows and movies that was larger than the combined catalogs of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon’s Prime Video. But thieves are also getting better, moving operations overseas and taking advantage of the rising popularity of streaming to steal more content. So entertainment companies — already under pressure from Wall Street to improve streaming economics — are intensifying their antipiracy efforts, hiring a former F.B.I. official to lead the drive and renewing a push for federal legislation to combat online thievery overseas. The companies, which include Netflix, Disney, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery, are also expanding their piracy policing to include live sports. On Monday, the Motion Picture Association, a trade group that represents those companies and others, said it had hired Larissa L. Knapp, a 27-year veteran of the F.B.I., as its top pirate chaser. In her time at the bureau, Ms. Knapp served in senior positions in national security, counterterrorism, intelligence and cybersecurity. She got her start at the F.B.I. as a special agent investigating computer hacking and intellectual property crimes and ultimately became the bureau’s fourth-highest-ranking official and highest-ranking woman.
C.E.O.s Are Frustrated. That Doesn’t Mean They Embrace Trump. 2024-06-24 15:49:22+00:00 - When the White House chief of staff, Jeffrey Zients, met with dozens of top executives in Washington this month, he encountered a familiar list of corporate complaints about President Biden. The executives at the Business Roundtable, a group representing some of the country’s biggest corporations, objected to Mr. Biden’s proposals to raise taxes. They questioned the lack of business representation in the Cabinet. They bristled at what they called overregulation by federal agencies. While the meeting was not antagonistic, it was indicative of three and a half years of executive grousing about Mr. Biden. Business leaders have criticized his remarks on “corporate greed” and his appearance on a union picket line. They chafe at the actions of officials he has appointed — particularly the head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, who has moved to block a series of corporate mergers. A number of prominent figures in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street — including the venture capitalists David Sacks and Marc Andreessen, and the hedge fund magnate Kenneth Griffin — have grown increasingly vocal in their criticism of Mr. Biden, their praise of former President Donald J. Trump, or both.
Two-thirds of green energy projects in Great Britain fail to clear planning stage 2024-06-24 15:44:00+00:00 - Two-thirds of applications to build renewable energy projects in Great Britain have failed to get through the planning stage over the past five years, hampering efforts to shift towards clean electricity generation. A study of Britain’s “renewables pipeline” found that 63% of mooted projects were either abandoned, refused planning permission, or an application was withdrawn or ultimately expired between 2018 and 2023. The remainder of the applications were either approved or revised, according to the research by the consultancy Cornwall Insight. Renewable energy developers have bemoaned the difficulty in gaining planning permission for projects – from offshore windfarms to onshore solar and battery storage developments – and waiting times to connect to Britain’s electricity grid of more than a decade. The research found no region of Great Britain had a success rate higher than 20% of projects gaining planning permission. Cornwall Insight said “speculative and duplicate applications” were in part to blame, citing reports that “phantom” energy projects were holding back efforts to decarbonise the grid. Last year, a report commissioned by Centrica, the owner of British Gas, claimed that some developers were applying to connect projects to the grid that did not even have land rights or planning consent applications. National Grid and Ofgem, the industry regulator, have attempted to remove “zombie projects” – those that have been approved but have stopped being developed – from the connections queue. The problem has also been blamed for years-long delays to new housing schemes. Lucy Dolton, the assets and infrastructure manager at Cornwall Insight, said: “It’s clear that an increasing number of the applications submitted are speculative, raising the numbers in the connections queue, and creating obstacles for projects that are mostly ready to connect.” The amount of electricity generated by the UK’s gas and coal power plants fell by 20% last year to its lowest level since 1957. Renewable energy provided the single largest source of power at 42%, although gas power plants still accounted for 31%. The Conservatives have set a goal to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2035, while Labour is targeting 2030. Both parties have pledged to slim down the planning regime if they win next month’s general election. The Conservatives have promised to speed up the average time it takes to sign off a big infrastructure project from four years to one year. 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 Labour has said it will update planning policies and fund extra planning officers. The party has made energy policy a central pillar of its election campaign. It has pledged to set up a state-owned company, Great British Energy, and set targets to double onshore wind, quadruple offshore wind and triple solar power by 2030 in an effort to ultimately hit the UK’s legally binding commitment to reach net zero by 2050. However, the party was also accused of making the “mother of all U-turns” in February, dropping a plan to invest £28bn a year in green energy. Dolton added: “The total capacity of projects in the grid connection queue is currently well in excess of what is necessary for net zero generation capacity. However, considering the lengthy process for projects to progress through planning and gain grid connections, and the current volume of projects that are unsuccessful, the amount of this capacity that will ultimately connect could be much lower than the pipeline of projects suggests.” Campaigners have argued that allowing renewable developments on a relatively small proportion of extra land could make a significant difference. Research by Friends of the Earth and the University of Exeter this year found that England could produce 13 times more renewable energy than it did now, while using less than 3% of its land.
GitLab Stock: Pioneering the AI-Powered DevSecOps Platform 2024-06-24 15:36:00+00:00 - GitLab Today GTLB GitLab $44.10 +0.28 (+0.64%) 52-Week Range $40.19 ▼ $78.53 Price Target $67.70 Add to Watchlist Software development platform provider GitLab Inc. NASDAQ: GTLB stock is in a slump, trading down 30% year-to-date (YTD) and nearing 52-week lows. While the artificial intelligence (AI) trend is causing AI-related stocks to surge, GitLab stock has clearly been left out. The company has been a pioneer in the development, security, and operations (DevSecOps) platform segment. GitLab has been implementing more AI features to enhance its platform. GitLab operates in the computer and technology sector, competing with DevOps platform providers, such as Microsoft Co. NASDAQ: MSFT, Oracle Co. NYSE: ORCL, and Atlassian Co. NASDAQ: TEAM. Get GitLab alerts: Sign Up What is DevOps? DevOps are software platforms that help enable collaboration and automation processes between software development and IT operations teams. DevOps enables continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), as well as infrastructure management and automated testing capabilities to enhance and streamline the software development lifecycle. This helps to speed up software development and delivery, improving quality and maintaining accountability. DevOps platforms help to alleviate silos, reduce operational costs and bolster agility and scalability with software development. GitLab: Evolving into DevSecOps Security is usually something that's considered after software is developed and operational. However, this is one of the reasons for the proliferation of security breaches. GitLab took an approach that weaves security into the development process, and thus DevSecOps was born. GitLab integrates AI-powered security testing tools throughout the CI/CD pipeline, enabling security practices throughout the entire software development lifecycle. DevSecOps is an evolution of DevOps that makes security an essential cornerstone of the development process. GTLB Stock Breaks Down From the Rectangle Channel The daily candlestick chart on GTLB demonstrates what a rectangle channel breakdown looks like. GTLB was trading in a sideways range between the $59.45 upper trendline resistance and $52.04 lower trendline support for nearly 3 months. The breakdown occurred on May 30, 2024, as shares collapsed through the lower trendline support heading into its fiscal Q1 2025 earnings release. Despite the solid quarterly top and bottom line performance, GTLB continued to sell off after rejecting a bounce attempt at $46.96. The daily relative strength index is attempting to bounce again off the oversold 30-band to form a divergence bottom. This pattern occurs when consecutive bounce attempts occur at higher levels. Pullback support levels are at $41.61, $40.19, $37.40, and $34.74. GitLab Achieves Top and Bottom Line Beats in Fiscal Q1 2025 GitLab reported fiscal Q1 2025 EPS of 3 cents, beating analyst estimates by 7 cents. Consensus estimates called for an EPS loss of 4 cents. Revenues climbed 33.3% YoY to $169.19 million, beating $165.89 million consensus estimates. Operating cash flow was $38.1 million, and non-GAAP adjusted free cash flow was $37.4 million. The company raised fiscal Q2 2025 EPS of 9 cents to 10 cents, beating 5 cents consensus analyst estimates. Revenues are expected to be between $176 million to $177 million versus $176.75 million. GitLab raised fiscal full year 2025 EPS to 34 cents to 37 cents, up from previous guidance of 19 cents to 23 cents, versus 21 cents consensus estimates. Full-year revenues were raised from $733 million to $737 million, up from previous estimates of $725 million to $731 million versus $731.42 million consensus estimates. GitLab CEO Cites the AI Difference with Its Platform GitLab Co-Founder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij commented, “GitLab continues to differentiate our platform with AI-driven software innovations that are streamlining how customers build, test, secure, and deploy software.” Sijbrandij added, “Our results show that customers see the value of our end-to-end DevSecOps platform, which enables them to leverage AI throughout the software development lifecycle and enhance productivity while creating better and more secure code.” GitLab Customer Base Expanded in Double-Digits GitLab saw its customers with over $5,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) grow 21% YoY to 8.976. Customers with over $100,000 ARR grew 35% YoY to $1,025. Dollar-based net retention was an impressive 129%. Total remaining performance obligations (RPO) grew 48% YoY to $681.2 million, while calculated Recognized Potential Obligations (RPO), an estimate for future revenue from customer contracts, rose 34% to $436.1 million. GitLab'sBusiness Highlights in the Quarter GitLab had many highlights in the quarter. They announced an integration with Google Console, which helps improve developer experience and lowers context switching across GitLab and Google Cloud. The company was awarded the 2024 Google Cloud Technology Partner of the Year in Application Development. Launched GitLab Duo Chat, enabling customers to integrate AI throughout the software development lifecycle using a single natural language chat interface. The company released GitLab 17, which features an end-to-end AI add-on called GitLab Duo Enterprise to secure AI capabilities across the development cycle. GitLab also launched the AI Transparency Center so customers can understand how it upholds ethics and transparency in its AI-powered features. GitLab analyst ratings and price targets are at MarketBeat. With a $67.70 consensus price target, GTLB has a 54.49% upside. Before you consider GitLab, 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 GitLab wasn't on the list. While GitLab currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Fearing Losses, Banks Are Quietly Dumping Real Estate Loans 2024-06-24 15:30:59+00:00 - Some Wall Street banks, worried that landlords of vacant and struggling office buildings won’t be able to pay off their mortgages, have begun offloading their portfolios of commercial real estate loans hoping to cut their losses. It’s an early but telling sign of the broader distress brewing in the commercial real estate market, which is hurting from the twin punches of high interest rates, which make it harder to refinance loans, and low occupancy rates for office buildings — an outcome of the pandemic. Late last year, an affiliate of Deutsche Bank and another German lender sold the delinquent mortgage on the Argonaut, a 115-year-old office complex in Midtown Manhattan, to the family office of the billionaire investor George Soros, according to court filings. Around the same time, Goldman Sachs sold loans it held on a portfolio of troubled office buildings in New York, San Francisco and Boston. And in May, the Canadian lender CIBC completed a sale of $300 million of mortgages on a collection of office buildings around the country.
Shopify Stock: Buy-the-Dip Strategy Validated as Growth Soars 2024-06-24 15:22:00+00:00 - Buying stocks on a pullback, rather than chasing at new highs, is what's coined as a “Buy-the-dip” strategy. Usually, this strategy pays off long term, but in some cases, the payoff can be immediate when the market senses a bargain too good to last. This has been the case for popular e-commerce platform operator Shopify Inc. NYSE: SHOP after its stock plummeted by nearly 30% following its Q1 2024 earnings report. Once Shopify shares bottomed at $56.31, the stock managed to rise for 12 straight days, indicating the initial sell-off was an overreaction. Shopify operates in the computer and technology sector and competes with digital marketplace e-commerce platforms, including Amazon.com Inc. NASDAQ: AMZN, Block Inc. NYSE: SQ, and Etsy, Inc. NASDAQ: ETSY. Get Shopify alerts: Sign Up Shopify is the All-In-One Platform for Online Stores Shopify Today SHOP Shopify $64.31 -0.72 (-1.11%) 52-Week Range $45.50 ▼ $91.57 Price Target $76.39 Add to Watchlist Shopify offers an all-in-one e-commerce platform enabling businesses to build and manage a digital storefront complete with user-friendly tools, payment processing, logistics, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) powered by Affirm Holdings Inc. NASDAQ: AFRM, and custom design templates. Having fully integrated functions in one platform under subscription plans makes it cost-effective and efficient for merchants to use Shopify. Its artificial intelligence (AI) tools enable merchants to auto-write product descriptions and set the tone like "Sophisticated." Catering to Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMB) While Shopify doesn't provide stats on the percentage of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) on the platform, it is generally understood that most of the merchants are. The monthly subscription plans range from $39 up to $2,300 a month, catering to SMBs and enterprises. Annual prepaid plans are available at a discount to the monthly rates. In Q1 2024, Shopify added a web performance dashboard, email capture at point-of-service (POS) checkout, and additional embedded AI tools. While most Shopify merchants are on its digital marketplace platform, it also enables merchants to grow offline in-store business as well with its POS products. Large Businesses are Also Accommodated Enterprise-level brands are also flocking to Shopify. Its Shopify Markets Pro is an add-on service that enables companies to enter global markets to help increase global presence and sales. It automates critical functions like calculating and collecting duties and import taxes, automates conversion rates, and provides express shipping, post-purchase customer support, and fraud protection. Large enterprises like Overstock.com launched in less than 100 days, while Bark Box is expected to launch in 2025. Earnings Were Robust in Q1 2024 Based on the reaction, you’d think Shopify had bombed their Q1 2024 earnings results, but quite the contrary. Shopify reported Q1 2024 EPS of 20 cents, which beat consensus estimates by 3 cents. Revenues grew 23.4% YoY to $1.86 billion, beating $1.84 billion consensus analyst estimates. Gross profit rose 33%, and free cash flow margin doubled to 12% YoY. Double Digit Growth Metrics Throughout the Quarter Merchant Solutions revenue climbed 20% YoY to $1.4 billion, driven by the continued penetration of Shopify Payments, its payment processing service, and the growth of GMV. Gross merchandise volume (GMV), which represents the total value of all the products sold during the quarter, grew 23% YoY to $60.9 billion. It’s office line GMV rose 32% YoY. Subscription Solutions revenue grew 34% YoY to $511 million, driven by the growth in the number of merchants and higher subscription prices. Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) grew 32% YoY to $151 million. Business-to-business (B2B) GMV rose 130% YoY after doubling in 2023. Guidance was Soft for Q2 2024, Causing Shares to Plummet While the earnings for Q1 were impressive, Shopify provided soft guidance for Q2 2024. Revenues are expected to grow in the high-teens YoY, translating into a YoY growth rate of low to mid-twenties when adjusting for the 300 to 400 bps impact from the sale of its logistics businesses. Gross margin is expected to fall by 50 bps sequentially. GAAP operating expenses will be up a low-to-mid single-digit percentage rate, sequentially translating from 45% to 46%. Stock-based compensation (SBC) is expected to be around $120 million, and capex around $5 million. Shopify President Harley Finkelstein was upbeat: “You're seeing the strongest version of Shopify in our history. Our outstanding Q1 performance is clear proof of our dedication to the new shape of Shopify, our commitment to operating with a consistent team size, and our focus on building for the long term to deliver both growth and profitability.” SHOP Stock Forms a Rounding Bottom Pattern The daily candlestick chart for SHOP depicts a rounding bottom pattern. SHOP gapped down from $75.30 to $64.86 after its earnings release. This sets the gap-fill price levels. SHOP continued to sell off until it made a final bottom at $56.31 on May 28, 2024. For the next 12 days, SHOP rose higher and peaked at $68.21 on June 14, 2024, before leveling off. The daily relative strength index oscillated from the oversold 30-band to peak near the 65-band before pulling back down towards the 50-band, where it is attempting to coil. Pullback support levels are at $64.20, $60.03, $56.31, and $53.88. The Analysts Sound the Upgrade Bells Shopify MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.15 out of 5 Analyst Rating Moderate Buy Upside/Downside 18.8% Upside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability -1.05 News Sentiment 0.87 Insider Trading N/A Projected Earnings Growth 32.79% See Full Details Analysts were all over the place about Shopify’s performance after earnings. On May 9, 2024, Piper Sandler upped its rating to Neutral with a $63 price target. JMP Securities raised its rating to Outperform with an $80 price target. On May 22, 2024, Goldman Sachs raised its rating to Buy with a $74 price target, up from $64. On June 6, 2024, Moffit Nathanson cut its rating to Neutral with a $65 price target. On July 11, 2024, JP Morgan starts coverage with an Overweight rating and a $74 price target. On June 14, 2024, Evercore ISI raised its rating to Outperform with a $75 price target. This was the rally's final day, as shares peaked at $68.21 before tipping over to retest the $64.20 gap-fill level. Shopify analyst ratings and price targets are at MarketBeat. The consensus price target is 17.46% higher at $76.39. Before you consider Shopify, 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 Shopify wasn't on the list. While Shopify currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
‘It’s All Happening Again.’ The Supply Chain Is Under Strain. 2024-06-24 15:18:50+00:00 - Stephanie Loomis had hoped that the chaos besieging the global supply chain was subsiding. The floating traffic jams off ports. The multiplying costs of moving freight. The resulting shortages of goods. All of this had seemed like an unpleasant memory confined to the Covid-19 pandemic. No such luck. As head of ocean freight for the Americas at Rhenus Logistics, a company based in Germany, Ms. Loomis spends her days negotiating with international shipping carriers on behalf of clients moving products and parts around the globe. Over the last few months, she has watched cargo prices soar as a series of disturbances have roiled the seas. Late last year, Houthi rebels in Yemen began firing on ships entering the Red Sea en route to the Suez Canal, a vital artery for vessels moving between Asia, Europe and the East Coast of the United States. That prompted ships to avoid the waterway, instead moving the long way around Africa, lengthening their journeys by as much as two weeks. Then, a severe drought in Central America dropped water levels in the Panama Canal, forcing authorities to limit the number of ships passing through that crucial conduit for international trade.
3 Stock Market Sectors Poised for Momentum in Q3 2024-06-24 15:14:00+00:00 - As headlines continue to be dominated by technology and semiconductor stocks, with AI advancements propelling companies like NVIDIA NASDAQ: NVDA to new heights, investors might find promising opportunities in more traditional, defensive sectors. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF NYSE: XLF, Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE: XLU, and Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSE: XLI are setting up for potential momentum higher as the third quarter approaches. While these sectors may not be as exciting as the tech giants, they offer solid diversification and promising setups for traditional investors. Get XLI alerts: Sign Up So, let’s take a closer look at these three sectors, which are building bases ahead of potential significant directional moves in the third quarter. Utilities ETF XLU: Analyst Ratings and Price Target Insights Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund Today XLU Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund $69.74 +0.35 (+0.50%) 52-Week Range $54.77 ▼ $72.90 Dividend Yield 2.95% Assets Under Management $13.83 billion Add to Watchlist The XLU seeks to mirror the performance of the Utilities Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index. This sector includes companies from industries such as electric utilities, multi-utilities, independent power producers, energy traders, and gas utilities. YTD, the XLU has seen a solid performance, up 9.5%. After a month-long pullback, falling nearly 5% from its 52-week high, the ETF has pulled back into a potential support zone near its rising 50-day SMA. It is now attempting to make a higher low, signaling a potential breakout higher, continuing its higher timeframe uptrend. The sector ETF's holdings have an aggregate rating of Moderate Buy based on 310 analyst ratings covering 31 companies, representing 99.7% of the portfolio. The aggregate price target for XLU holdings is $73.21, ranging from $61.89 to $84.48, and forecasts a modest upside of 5.5%. Industrial Sector Insights: XLI's Moderate Buy Ratings and Price Targets Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund Today XLI Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund $123.07 +0.10 (+0.08%) 52-Week Range $96.11 ▼ $126.39 Dividend Yield 1.31% Assets Under Management $18.40 billion Add to Watchlist The XLI aims to reflect the performance of publicly traded equity securities in the Industrial Select Sector Index. This index includes companies in the aerospace and defense industry, industrial conglomerates, machinery, road and rail, air freight and logistics, commercial services and supplies, and professional services. Despite lagging the benchmark and overall market’s YTD gains of almost 15%, with YTD gains of nearly 8%, the XLI is consolidating above all key SMAs and remains in a higher timeframe uptrend. This lengthy consolidation near its 52-week highs suggests a breakout higher could lead to a significant upward movement. The ETF has a 1.31% dividend yield and a net expense ratio of 0.09%. Holdings in XLI have an aggregate rating of Moderate Buy based on 731 analyst ratings covering 50 companies, constituting 88.4% of the portfolio. The aggregate price target for XLI holdings is $130.96, ranging from $101.12 to $155.33, and it predicts an almost 7% upside. Its two top holdings include General Electric NYSE: GE and Caterpillar NYSE: CAT. XLF Holdings: Moderate Buy Ratings and 5% Upside Forecast Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund Today XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund $41.59 +0.26 (+0.63%) 52-Week Range $31.35 ▼ $42.49 Dividend Yield 1.68% Assets Under Management $38.30 billion Add to Watchlist After displaying relative strength in the first quarter, the financial sector, represented by the XLF, underperformed in the second quarter, with the ETF down 1.4% for the period. Several weeks ago, a double top pattern seemed all but confirmed for the XLF. However, after weeks of consolidating, the XLF might be gearing up for a bullish move and potential outperformance in Q3. The ETF has reclaimed critical simple moving averages (SMAs), such as the 50-day and 20-day. In the penultimate week of the quarter, the XLF outperformed the leading semiconductor sector, closing up 1.3%. XLF holdings have an aggregate rating of Moderate Buy based on 809 analyst ratings covering 50 companies, making up 94.7% of the portfolio. The aggregate price target for XLF holdings is $43.26, ranging from $35.62 to $49.55, which forecasts an almost 5% upside for the ETF. Promising Setups: Financial, Utilities, and Industrial Sectors for Q3 As the third quarter approaches, the financial, utilities, and industrial sectors appear poised for potential upward momentum. While tech and semiconductor stocks continue to capture headlines, these more traditional sectors offer promising setups for investors seeking diversification and stability. The XLF, XLU, and XLI ETFs each present unique opportunities for growth and income, backed by solid fundamentals and favorable technical setups. Investors might want to consider these sectors as part of a balanced portfolio strategy, keeping an eye on their performance and critical support levels as the quarter progresses. Before you consider Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund, 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 Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund wasn't on the list. While Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund currently has a "hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Reddit: Poised for Growth with Data Licensing and OpenAI Deal 2024-06-24 15:00:00+00:00 - Social media forum Reddit Inc. NYSE: RDDT made headlines during the 2021 meme stock frenzy as its popular wallstreetbets forum led small investors into shares of GameStop Co. NYSE: GME, fueling its historic short squeeze. The company went public through an IPO on March 21, 2024, rising to a $74.90 peak the following day and falling to a low of $37.35 just a few days later. Shares have stabilized for the time being, especially as a meme stock resurgence appeared to be spawning again on the return of Roaring Kitty or Keith Gill to humanoids. Reddit operates in the computer and technology sector, competing with social media platform operators like Meta Platforms Inc. NASDAQ: META, Snap Inc. NYSE: SNAP and Pinterest Inc. NYSE: PINS. Get Reddit alerts: Sign Up Reddit Generates Revenues Through Advertising and Data Content Licensing Traffic generates revenues for the company which collects most of its revenues from advertisers. However, data content licensing is another revenue stream that Reddit is seeking to grow. In February, Reddit announced its first data content licensing deal with Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ: GOOGL Google to use its content to train its AI models like Gemini. The deal is speculated to be worth $60 million. OpenAI and Reddit Partnership is a Win-Win Deal A deal with artificial intelligence (AI) developer OpenAI may result in a windfall. On May 16, 2024, Reddit announced its partnership with OpenAI. Enhanced Reddit content will be brought to ChatGPT through access to Reddit’s Data API. This will enable real-time and unique content from Reddit to be featured. Reddit's data would be accessible to OpenAI to help train various AI models. It could enable Reddit to monetize its content through data licensing, especially with other AI and data collection companies. Reddit will integrate new AI-powered features for content creators, modes and redditors. Reddit will build on OpenAI’s platform of AI models. OpenAI will also become a Reddit advertising partner. Reddit content and information will be used in ChatGPT as it will help more audiences discover Reddit. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also a shareholder in Reddit. RDDT Stock is in a Descending Triangle Pattern The daily candlestick chart for RDDT demonstrates a descending triangle pattern. The descending trendline formed at the $69.59 peak on June 12, 2024. The upper trendline was formed by connecting the lower highs on the candlesticks that were met on bounce attempts. The flat-bottom lower trendline formed at $54.45 as it has held many breakdown attempts. RDDT stock is nearing the apex point where a breakout or breakdown can form. The daily relative strength index is relatively flat around the 49-band. Pullback support levels are at $54.45, $50.38, $48.25 and $45.05. Reddit Improving Adjusted EBITDA While Revenues Are in Hypergrowth Reddit reported its first earnings report as a publicly traded company on May 7, 2024. The company reported an EPS loss of $8.19 per share, which was actually 56 cents more than consensus estimates. Adjusted EBITDA was $10 million compared to a loss of $50.2 million in the year-ago period. Revenues surged 48.4% YoY to $243 million, handily beating $214 million consensus analyst estimates. Revenues took a strong spurt in Q1 over Q4 2023, which saw 25% YoY growth. The increase in new users drove this, while ad pricing was softer. Reddit Metrics are Experiencing Hypergrowth Reddit grew its daily active users (DAU) to 80 million. Reddit experienced strong growth in the United States, while most of the social media platforms are experiencing a plateau or minor growth. Its monthly active users (MAUs) grew to more than 500 million. Raising Forward Revenue Guidance for Reddit Reddit raised its Q2 2024 revenue guidance to $240 million to $250 million versus $227.47 million consensus analyst estimates. Reddit expects to generate an adjusted EBITDA of zero to $15 million. Over 16 analysts started coverage for Reddit after the IPO. Reddit’s User Base Grew 37% YoY in Q1 2024 Reddit CEO Steve Huffman presided over the company's first earnings conference call. Huffman noted that they will answer questions on the conference call and then a few more on Reddit's subreddit after the call. Reddit's user base grew 37% in Q1 2024, covering over 80 million DAUs and 300 million users weekly. The company's goal is to make Reddit faster, safer and easier to use. Its new web platform, Shreddit, has grown users by 100% and operates twice as fast. The company continues to invest in AI and machine learning (ML) to improve relevance, moderation and engagement. International Growth with AI and Machine Translation and User Economy Growth Reddit is using machine translation to unlock its mostly English corpus and grow international users. To motivate users to create content, Reddit is looking to bolster user economy referring to a family of features enabling users to spend and earn money on Reddit. CEO Huffman elaborated, “Launching soon is a revamped version of user awards and Reddit Gold, which is our virtual currency that enables both of these things. And our developer platform, third party developers will be able to push the boundaries of what subreddit can be, and we're excited with the early progress here. For example, wallstreetbets has livestock tickers for training stocks and a number of sports subreddit have built live scoreboards to track gain.” Before you consider Reddit, 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 Reddit wasn't on the list. While Reddit currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Inside Out 2 becomes biggest film of the year on second week of release 2024-06-24 14:56:00+00:00 - Inside Out 2 has continued to outperform expectations at the box office, taking $100m domestically over its second weekend – a drop-off of just 35% from its wildly successful opening weekend. The film is now on a global total of $724m, marginally ahead of Dune 2, which made $711m over its entire run in cinemas. Pixar’s sequel to the 2015 animated hit also scored the best-ever second weekend score in the US – behind The Avengers ($103m) but ahead of Barbie ($93m). The $200m-budgeted film, directed by Kelsey Mann, looks set to hit the $1bn mark within the fortnight, which would make it the first film of the year to do so. However, it will face competition from A Quiet Place: Day One, out this weekend, which will take away premium-priced Imax screens, as well as Despicable Me 4 a week later. That film is already out in Australia and Argentina before a slow expansion worldwide. Inside Out 2 is now out in all key markets except Japan. Hopes are high that the peak summer season can lift the box office out of concerning early doldrums, with much resting on releases such as Twisters, starring Glen Powell, and Deadpool & Wolverine. That film, whose R-rating in the US may cap its potential earnings, is the first superhero movie of the year; a deficit widely credited with exacerbating the financial slump. Later in the year, sequels such as Joker 2, Gladiator 2 and Venom 4 are predicted to provide a fourth-quarter boost.
London Tunnels moves IPO plan to Amsterdam in blow to UK markets 2024-06-24 14:19:00+00:00 - London Tunnels, which aims to convert an abandoned underground network into a tourist attraction, has ditched plans to float in the capital, instead opting to list in Amsterdam. The company aims to make the Kingsway exchange tunnels, a network of 8,000 sq metres under Holborn in central London, into a new attraction that will bring in 2 million visitors a year. The group revealed on Monday that it hoped to raise £30m by listing on Euronext Amsterdam, saying it could make the most of the size and scale of the equity and capital markets of Europe by listing in the Dutch capital. The decision comes after the company sent papers to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in January outlining its intention to float in the capital. At the time, its chief executive, Angus Murray, said: “This unique set of tunnels, owned by a British company, built by the British government, for the defence of Britain, that can further enhance London’s reputation as a leading tourist destination, should be listed in London.” The change of heart by the company is the latest blow to the LSE after a number of high-profile companies opted to list in Europe and the US ahead of London in recent months. In May, the Paddy Power owner, Flutter, announced its decision to switch its primary listing to New York, while the UK chip designer Arm opted to list on Wall Street last August after the government failed to convince it to float in London. However, this has been partly offset by big players such as the fashion retail company Shein and Raspberry Pi announcing plans to list on the LSE. The Kingsway tunnels were built in the early 1940s to shelter up to 8,000 people during the blitz but were never used for this purpose. Instead, the Special Operations Executive, responsible for organising espionage and sabotage operations in German-occupied Europe, moved in during the final two years of the war and is thought to be the inspiration for the Q branch in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. The tunnels later housed the first secure transatlantic telephone cable, which ran a hotline that connected the White House and the Kremlin during the cold war, before ownership was transferred to British Telecom (BT) in 1981. 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 London Tunnels has agreed to buy the site from BT next year and intends to open the attraction in 2027, including exhibits celebrating the history of the tunnels, as well as reinstating the city’s deepest London bar, which closed in the 1980s. However, the float prospectus lists a number of risk factors to the project, including the warning that plans could be delayed if it cannot get the full planning permission it needs. Last month, it secured the planning green light from the City of London Corporation but is still awaiting planning signoff from the London borough of Camden. The list also includes risks around whether the structural integrity of the tunnels is affected by their age, the possibility that the removal of asbestos from the tunnels may take longer than expected, and that the company may be unable to complete the acquisition of the leasehold on the agreed date of 30 June next year. Explaining its decision for moving the listing, London Tunnels said it could meet the £20m to £30m needed over the first few years of development. It added that it would then look to raise a further £120m in debt and equity to make the tunnels operational.
Why These 3 Stocks Are Getting Upgraded by Analysts 2024-06-24 14:18:00+00:00 - Whenever analysts choose to upgrade a stock, investors could benefit from attempting to reverse engineer the reasons behind the boost for the specific stocks these analysts picked. Because reputations—and jobs—are on the line, these analysts are often careful to boost the stock, so they typically have strong reasons to believe there is an upside in the stock they recommend. Today, three stocks earned Wall Street’s favor despite showing market bearish price action. However, that only strengthens the analyst recommendation, as analysts don’t often boost stocks that have sold off recently. These stocks include none other than Nike Inc. NYSE: NKE, Enphase Energy Inc. NASDAQ: ENPH, and even United Airlines Holdings Inc. NASDAQ: UAL. Each of these stocks has a strong fundamental tailwind that pushes them closer to where these analysts want to see them, but the story doesn’t end there. There will be other reasons that will become clear in just a bit as to why investors should start paying attention to these companies moving forward. Get United Airlines alerts: Sign Up Nike Stock Price Drops, but Its Quality Remains Unshaken NIKE Today NKE NIKE $97.17 -0.01 (-0.01%) 52-Week Range $88.66 ▼ $123.39 Dividend Yield 1.52% P/E Ratio 28.58 Price Target $114.81 Add to Watchlist Nike's shares have sold down to only 79% of their 52-week highs, which fits the Wall Street description of a bear market. As any 20% or more sell-off would qualify as a bearish trend, Nike stock is far from being a stock that commands Wall Street's attention, yet it did. It is beyond the scope of research why those at J.P. Morgan Chase decided to boost Nike’s valuation up to $116 per share. Still, investors could anchor that the bank calls for a 19.3% upside in Nike stock from where it trades today. NIKE MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.53 out of 5 Analyst Rating Moderate Buy Upside/Downside 17.9% Upside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength Strong Sustainability -3.82 News Sentiment 0.53 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 5.05% See Full Details Analysts at Oppenheimer took their targets a step further, pushing Nike stock’s potential ceiling as high as $120 a share, daring the company to recover by as much as 23.4% from today’s price. But analysts aren’t the only ones feeling bullish on Nike stock. Markets aren’t shy about letting investors know what they think about Nike stock, as their message couldn’t be more precise. Trading at a 28.6x P/E ratio would place Nike stock at an approximate 125% premium to the consumer discretionary sector, now valued at an average P/E ratio of 12.7x today. Despite the sell-offs in Nike stock, the market is still valuing it as if nothing ever happened, and this gives these analysts the confidence they need to boost the stock in the middle of bearish price action. Enphase Stock’s Growth is Coming Whether Fossil Fuels Like it Or Not Enphase Energy Today ENPH Enphase Energy $108.02 +1.35 (+1.27%) 52-Week Range $73.49 ▼ $192.22 P/E Ratio 56.26 Price Target $136.55 Add to Watchlist Wall Street analysts are now forecasting up to 132% earnings per share (EPS) growth for Enphase stock, a bold move by any measure. Warren Buffett's decision to invest heavily in the energy sector, completing a nine-day buying streak in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. NYSE: OXY, backs these claims. Enphase’s business is in solar energy, so how can a bullish view of oil prices help Enphase stock become a top pick? The answer is in the price of oil itself. If even Buffett expects oil to rise, then more expensive fuel will likely make alternative energy sources (like solar) a more attractive proposition. Enphase Energy MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.87 out of 5 Analyst Rating Hold Upside/Downside 26.7% Upside Short Interest Bearish Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability -1.16 News Sentiment 0.21 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 132.03% See Full Details Knowing this, analysts at HSBC saw it fit to boost their valuations for Enphase stock to a high of $166 a share. To prove these analysts right, Enphase will need to rally by as much as 55.6% from where it sits today. This upside, while bold, is made realistic by the fact that the stock is now trading at only 55% of its 52-week high price. Knowing these inevitable trends, markets feel as comfortable paying a premium price for this stock today. Enphase stock’s 55.6x P/E ratio will be head and shoulders above the energy sector’s average P/E valuation of 13.6x today. On a price-to-book (P/B) basis, the stock also gets a lot of credit from markets, as its 14.8x multiple blows past the energy sector’s 3.4x average valuation. United Airlines Shorts Retreat On Recent Travel Uptick United Airlines Today UAL United Airlines $49.18 +1.00 (+2.08%) 52-Week Range $33.68 ▼ $58.23 P/E Ratio 6.08 Price Target $70.89 Add to Watchlist The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported a record daily number of passengers in May 2024. Because United Airlines holds roughly 9.7% of the domestic U.S. travel market share, more passengers could translate into more profits. How much more? Wall Street analysts suggest that EPS could grow by as much as 15% in the next 12 months, and those at Citigroup held nothing back when updating their valuation models for United Airlines stock. United Airlines MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.91 out of 5 Analyst Rating Moderate Buy Upside/Downside 43.0% Upside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability -5.87 News Sentiment 0.71 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 15.01% See Full Details Seeing a ceiling of up to $96 a share directly dares the stock to jump by nearly 100% from where it trades today. Because the stock traded down to 83% of its 52-week high, it is starting to gain more momentum despite its recent sell-offs, a good sign in backing analyst projections today. The U.S. consumer is also looming on the hopes of the Federal Reserve (the Fed) cutting interest rates this year, which could help boost travel consumption and accelerate travel trends. According to the CME’s FedWatch tool, these potential cuts could come as soon as September 2024, giving investors – and analysts – a more reasonable timeline to draw out. Before you consider United Airlines, 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 United Airlines wasn't on the list. While United Airlines currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here