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  • Lifestyle
    TheStreet.com

    5 Things You Should Never Say When Car Shopping

    Car salespeople are trained to quickly evaluate you, your taste in cars and your economic profile, industry experts caution. Saying this to a car salesperson would "give them a hand up when it comes time to close the sale," says Scot Hall, a former car salesman and now executive vice president of operations for Swapalease, which matches leaseholders with car shoppers looking to take over a lease. As a salesperson, "you're always looking for a commitment," says Robert Crow, who sold Infinitis for over five years before becoming a real estate agent.

  • A record high for the Nasdaq ‘would all come crashing down,’ says Trump in a tweet, ‘including your jobs, stocks, and 401(k)s,’ if Biden wins presidency
    Business
    MarketWatch

    A record high for the Nasdaq ‘would all come crashing down,’ says Trump in a tweet, ‘including your jobs, stocks, and 401(k)s,’ if Biden wins presidency

    President Donald Trump’s latest tweet touts record gains for the Nasdaq Composite Index and suggests a rebound in the market from coronavirus -induced lows is in jeopardy if former Vice President Joe Biden, and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, wins the 2020 election.

  • Sorrento’s New COVID-19 Test Could Be a Game Changer, Says 5-Star Analyst
    Business
    TipRanks

    Sorrento’s New COVID-19 Test Could Be a Game Changer, Says 5-Star Analyst

    Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE) enjoyed yet another stellar day. Sure, there have been plenty of good weeks so far in 2020 – shares are up by a resounding 190% year-to-date. And according to H.C. Wainwright analyst Ram Selvaraju, there’s plenty more to come.Selvaraju reiterated a Buy rating on SRNE shares and boosted his price target to $30. If the market plays nice with Selvaraju’s forecast, investors could be adding a massive 207% to their portfolios over the next 12 months. (To watch Selvaraju’s track record, click here)That’s an extremely bullish call, so what lies behind it? Last week, Sorrento announced it had inked a licensing deal with Columbia University for an innovative new COVID-19 test. The university has given Sorrento the rights to a fast, one-step diagnostic test that samples saliva and can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 30 minutes.COVI-TRACE – the test’s name – will be marketed by Sorrento. What sets it apart from other diagnostic products is that all testing materials are held in a single tube, eliminating the need for any laboratory equipment. The advantages are obvious, as this means the test is mobile and can be used in various settings - either on site, for point-of-care or even for home testing.With the number of COVID-19 cases spiking, laboratories across the country are finding it difficult to meet the demand. As a result of the current backlog, average turnaround times for test results are reportedly between several days to over a week. Selvaraju expects Sorrento to file for EUA certification immediately. The 5-star analyst said, “We believe that the incentive to facilitate the large-scale and indeed ubiquitous deployment of the COVI-TRACE test is extremely high and governments worldwide may seek to implement this in their respective regions. Our current assumptions viewed in this context may be considered conservative—we utilize a $15 price per test (payable on a cash basis, which obviates the reimbursement part of the equation) and anticipate that roughly 56.5 million such tests could be conducted at peak annually, resulting in total sales of roughly $1 billion."Overall, only one other analyst has thrown the hat in with a review of the high-flying biotech over the past three months. The extra Buy provides Sorrento with a Moderate Buy consensus rating. At $27, the average price target implies upside potential of 181%. (See Sorrento stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for healthcare stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

  • Business
    MarketWatch

    Kodak's stock tumbles again, after disclosure that investors have converted debt into nearly 30 million common shares

    Shares of Eastman Kodak Co. were down 24% in afternoon trading Monday, putting them on track for a third straight double-digit percentage decline, after the digital printing and film company, which is getting into the pharmaceutical-ingredients business, disclosed that holders of convertible notes were exercising their right to convert those notes into common stock. The stock has now dropped 50% since skyrocketing sixteenfold in three days to $33.20 on July 29, after the Trump administration announced on July 28 that Kodak had received a $765 million loan as part of a Defense Production Act directive to loosen the reliance on foreign sources for pharmaceutical ingredients. In an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Kodak said the holders of the 5.00% convertible notes due 2021, which were issued in May 2019, are converted a total of $95 million of the notes into 29.9 million shares of Kodak common stock, on July 29. That would imply a value of $3.175 per converted share, while the stock was currently trading at $16.58. On July 27, Kodak granted Chief Executive James Continenza options to buy Kodak stock at various strike prices, which are now all in the money, to "protect" him from dilution of his share holdings, in case the convertible debt issued in May 2019 were converted into stock. Kodak's stock has now rallied nearly fourfold (up 256.6%) year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.0%.