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Latest Stories

  • Is PayPal Stock A Buy Right Now Amid Bitcoin Boost? Here's What Earnings, Charts Show

    Top digital payments stock PayPal is one of the leading growth stocks in the current stock market. But is it a buy right now?

  • AMC Erases Pandemic Plunge After Shares Quadruple Premarket

    (Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.’s stock price briefly quadrupled Wednesday, erasing last year’s pandemic-induced slump amid optimism around a recent fundraising. The cinema operator is among a number of heavily shorted stocks rallying this week.The stock rose as much as 310% at the open of the regular trading session in New York, pushing it to the highest level since October 2018. AMC said Monday that $917 million in new funds would get it through the next six months as the industry battles the effects of Covid-19, which has shuttered venues around the world.Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Amine Bensaid said AMC is one of the names that’s been floated in social media for its high short interest, joining the likes of GameStop Corp.The gain “isn’t based on fundamentals and appears to be similar to the GameStop run-up driven by retail investors, yet could help ease a severe liquidity crunch if the company capitalizes on the jump and issues additional shares,” Bensaid wrote Wednesday.AMC shares pared some of their steepest gains, rising 248% to $17.24 as of 9:42 a.m. in New York. Nearly $4.5 billion in shares traded in the premarket session.Short interest as a percentage of free float was 12%, according to data from S3 Partners, down from 61% in December. In London, shares of Cineworld Group Plc, another favorite among short sellers, jumped as much as 21%. The U.K. firm competes with AMC’s Odeon unit in Britain.AMC’s bonds also continued their tear along with the shares, reaching record highs and leading the U.S. high-yield market on Wednesday. The notes due 2026 reached roughly 63 cents on the dollar, up from a low of 5 cents set in November, according to Trace bond trading data.(Updates share move throughout, adds analyst’s comment and bond trading.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.Âİ2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Another GameStop? Here Are the Next 10 Most Shorted Small-Caps.

    Highly shorted stocks are being targeted by some investors trying to force people who have bet the prices will fall into covering. Watch Dillard’s and AMC Entertainment.

  • Stock market news live updates: Stocks fall as traders await Fed decision, Boeing slides after quarterly results

    Investors awaited another batch of corporate earnings results and the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) January monetary policy decision.

  • Nancy Pelosi Buys Tesla Calls, Stands To Benefit From New Biden EV Plan

    The ability of members of U.S. Congress to buy and sell stocks has been controversial over the years. One of its most prominent members made some purchases in December that could benefit from the new Biden administration. What Happened: It was revealed over the weekend that Speaker of the House and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi purchased 25 call options of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). The purchases could have been done by Pelosi or her husband Paul, who runs a venture capital firm. The options were bought at a stake price of $500 and expiration of March 18, 2022. Pelosi paid between $500,000 and $1,000,000 for the options, according to the disclosure. Pelosi also disclosed that she bought 20,000 shares of AllianceBernstein Holdings (NYSE: AB), 100 calls of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and 100 calls of Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS). Tesla shares have risen from $640.34 at the time the calls were purchased to over $890 today. The call options were valued at $1.12 million as of Monday. Related Link: How The 2020 Presidential Election Could Impact EV, Auto Stocks Why It’s Important: The purchases by Pelosi are questionable as arguments could be made that the companies stand to benefit from new President Joe Biden’s agenda. Biden's push for electric vehicles, which could include lifting the cap on sales, would give buyers tax credits again and is advantageous for Tesla. The president has also suggested a possible cash-for-clunkers program that could incentivize customers for trading in used vehicles towards the purchase of an electric vehicle. Pelosi could now have a conflict as she works to pass clean energy initiatives from which her family could profit. Former U.S. Senator David Perdue, a Republican, was criticized for making numerous stock trades during his six years in Congress. Perdue was the most prominent stock trader from Congress, making 2,596 trades during his time served. Some of Perdue’s transactions came while he was a member of several sub-committees. The Justice Department investigated Perdue and found no wrongdoing. What’s Next: It's legal for members of Congress and their spouses to own stocks. The transactions have to be disclosed per the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act that was passed in 2012. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon is one member of Congress who has co-sponsored legislation to ban the adding of individual stocks by members of Congress. Both Merkley and Pelosi are Democrats. Pelosi’s transactions could push for more regulations concerning stock purchases by members of Congress. (Photo: Official U.S. Embassy photograph by Archibald Sackey and Courage Ahiati.) See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaCharging Infrastructure SPAC Plays: Is EVGo The Best Of The Bunch?Barstool Fund Nears M For Small Businesses And Is About To Get A Huge Boost From MichiganÂİ 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • 'Fighting 100 mini Mike Tysons': The powerful influence of Reddit trade

    Reddit and its r/wallstreetbets forum have become powerful, unpredictable forces in the market, sending certain stocks unexpectedly to the moon.

  • It isn’t just GameStop: Here are some of the other heavily shorted stocks shooting higher

    The dynamic that has seemingly contributed to a short squeeze in the stock of videogame retailer GameStop Corp. also appears to be affecting shares in a host of other heavily shorted companies.

  • BlackBerry Revival Rewards Watsa’s Patience With Huge Gain

    (Bloomberg) -- Day traders have pushed BlackBerry Ltd.’s share price to levels not seen in more than nine years. They’ve also given a jolt to a Canadian investment company that got crushed in last spring’s market crash.BlackBerry soared 22.6% to $23.19 as of 9:38 a.m. in New York on Wednesday, bringing its gain for the year to nearly 250%. That is repaying the patience of Prem Watsa and his Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which owns 8.3% of the software firm’s shares.Once the toast of the mobile tech world, BlackBerry failed to keep pace with competitors including Apple Inc. and the stock lost most of its value in 2010 and 2011. Around that time, Watsa, a value investor who has tried to model Fairfax after Berkshire Hathaway Inc., began building a large stake, which also includes convertible debentures with a conversion price of $6 each that could be turned into 55 million shares.The run-up in BlackBerry shares this year would drive a pretax gain of about $1.16 billion for Fairfax in the first quarter, Phil Hardie, a Toronto-based analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia, told clients in a note before markets opened on Tuesday. Hardie upgraded his recommendation on Fairfax’s shares to a buy-equivalent.Fairfax closed at C$488.94 on Tuesday. With a 12.7% gain as of Tuesday’s close, it’s the best-performing financial stock in the S&P/TSX Composite Index this year after being one of the worst in 2020 with a 29% drop.Scotiabank’s most bullish scenario for Fairfax “implies almost 50% upside and assumes that the stock sheds its valuation discount and trades at book value, with Fairfax locking in recent gains in BlackBerry through hedging or monetizing its position,” Hardie wrote. Fairfax didn’t respond to a request for comment.Watsa has been waiting for such a payoff for years. Fairfax even organized a bid to take BlackBerry private in 2013 -- the same year the latter changed its name from Research In Motion Ltd. -- then abandoned it in favor of a bond deal and management shakeup that brought in John Chen as chief executive officer.Despite an unrealized loss of $50 million on the investment as of 2019, Fairfax’s letter to shareholders last March made clear Watsa still believed in the CEO, who has focused BlackBerry on enterprise software. “We continue to support John Chen as he works diligently to make BlackBerry a growth company again,” Watsa wrote.The sudden rise has been partly fueled by Reddit forums and social media channels where retail speculators seek out unloved or heavily-shorted stocks like GameStop Corp., hoping to drive them up quickly.RBC Capital Markets downgraded its recommendation on BlackBerry to a sell-equivalent Tuesday, citing the torrid rally and unchanged fundamental outlook. Analyst Paul Treiber kept his price target at $7.50. Scotiabank also elected to cut BlackBerry’s stock rating to a sell-equivalent early Wednesday, as analyst Paul Steep calling the share run “overdone.” Still, shares are gaining about 11% in premarket trading Wednesday.Watsa, 70, founded Fairfax in 1985, following Warren Buffett’s strategy of using insurance float as a way to build an investment portfolio. With a market value of more than C$14 billion it’s a fraction of Berkshire’s size, though it’s more than twice as large as buyout firm Onex Corp.(Updates with Wednesday share move in second paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.Âİ2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Boeing Posts Massive Q4 Loss On Long List Of Charges; 777X Delayed

    Boeing reported a huge Q4 loss as the aerospace giant recorded $8.3 billion in charges and delayed the entry of its 777X jet.

  • Plug Power stock tumbles after upsized public offering prices at 11% discount

    Shares of Plug Power Inc. tumbled Wednesday, to pull back from a more than 15-year high, after the hydrogen-fuel company announced the sale of $1.8 billion worth of common stock to the public.

  • The big short: GameStop effect puts global bets worth billions at risk

    Global bets worth billions of dollars could be at risk as amateur share traders challenge the bearish positions of influential funds, inflating stock valuations and leaving the professionals looking at potentially hefty losses. Gone are the days when bruised retail investors fled after prominent hedge funds bet against a stock -- the GameStop effect is rippling across U.S. markets and spreading to Europe. But share price surges such as the 700% year-to-date jump in U.S. video game retailer GameStop could potentially wipe out billions of dollars of those short bets.

  • GameStop shares close 92% higher, market cap now above $10B

    GameStop (GME) shares gained another 92% today to close at a record $147.98 a piece in another clash filled session between reddit WallStreetBets and short sellers. The company’s market cap is now over $10 billion.

  • 2 Big Dividend Stocks Yielding at Least 7%; Raymond James Says ‘Buy’

    For investors seeking a strong dividend player, there are some market segments that are known for their high-yield dividends, making them logical places to start looking for reliable payers. The hydrocarbon sector, oil and gas production and mainstreaming, is one of these. The sector deals in a products that’s essential – our world runs on oil and its by-products. And while overhead for energy companies is high, they still have a market for their deliverables, leading to a ready cash flow – which can be used, among other things, to pay the dividends. All of this has investment firm Raymond James looking to the roster oil and gas midstream companies for dividend stocks with growth potential. "We anticipate the [midstream] group will add around ~1 turn to its average EV/EBITDA multiple this year. This equates to a ~20-25% move in equity value," Raymond James analyst Justin Jenkins noted. Jenkins outlined a series of points leading to a midstream recovery in 2021, which include the shift from ‘lockdown’ to ‘reopen’ policies; a general boost on the way for commodities, as the economy picks up; a political point, that some of DC’s more traditional centrists are unlikely to vote in favor of anti-oil, Green New Deal policies; and finally, with stock values relatively low, the dividend yields are high. A look into the TipRanks database reveals two midstream companies that have come to Raymond James’ attention – for all of the points noted above. These are stocks with a specific set of clear attributes: a dividend yield of 7% or higher and Buy ratings. MPLX LP (MPLX) MPLX, which spun off of Marathon Petroleum eight years ago as a separate midstream entity, acquires, owns, and operates a series of midstream assets, including pipelines, terminals, refineries, and river shipping. MPLX’s main areas of operations are in the northern Rocky Mountains, and in the Midwest and stretching south to the Gulf of Mexico coast. Revenue reports through the ‘corona year’ of 2020 show the value potential of oil and gas midstreaming. The company reported $2.18 billion at the top line in Q1, $1.99 billion in Q2, and $2.16 billion in Q3; earnings turned negative in Q1, but were positive in both subsequent quarters. The Q3 report also showed $1.2 billion in net cash generated, more than enough to cover the company’s dividend distribution. MPLX pays out 68.75 cents per common share quarterly, or $2.75 annualized, which gives the dividend a high yield of 11.9%. The company has a diversified set of midstream operations, and strong cash generation, factors leading Raymond James' Justin Jenkins to upgrade his stance on MPLX from Neutral to Outperform (i.e. Buy). His price target, at $28, implies a 22% one-year upside for the shares. (To watch Jenkins’ track record, click here) Backing his stance, Jenkins writes, “Given the number of 'boxes' that the story for MPLX can check, it's no surprise that it's been a debate stock. With exposure to inflecting G&P trends, an expected refining/refined product volume recovery, the story hits many operational boxes - while also straddling several financial debatesâ€Ĥ We also think solid 2020 financial results should give longer-term confidenceâ€Ĥ” Turning now to the rest of the Street, it appears that other analysts are generally on the same page. With 6 Buys and 2 Holds assigned in the last three months, the consensus rating comes in as a Strong Buy. In addition, the $26.71 average price target puts the upside at ~17%. (See MPLX stock analysis on TipRanks) DCP Midstream Partners (DCP) Based in Denver, Colorado, the next stock is one of the country’s largest natural gas midstream operators. DCP controls a network of gas pipelines, hubs, storage facilities, and plants stretching between the Rocky Mountain, Midcontinent, and Permian Basin production areas and the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. The company also operates in the Antrim gas region of Michigan. In the most recent reported quarter – 3Q20 – DCP gathered and processed 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day, along with 375 thousand barrels of natural gas liquids. The company also reported $268 million in net cash generated, of which $130 million was free cash flow. The company reduced its debt load by $156 million in the quarter, and showed a 17% reduction in operating costs year-over-year. All of this allowed DCP to maintain its dividend at 39 cents per share. Early in the corona crisis, the company had to cut back that payment – but only once. The recently declared 4Q20 dividend is the fourth in a row at 39 cents per common share. The annualized rate of $1.56 gives a respectable yield of 7.8%. This is another stock that gets an upgrade from Raymond James. Analyst James Weston bumps this stock up from Neutral to Outperform (i.e. Buy), while setting a $24 target price to imply 20% growth on the one-year time horizon. “[We] expect DCP to post yet another solid quarter on sequential improvements in NGL prices, NGL market volatility, and positive upstream trendsâ€Ĥ we are not capitalizing current propane prices and anticipate a solid, but more normalized pricing regime over the next 12-18 months. In our view, this will create a beneficial operating environment for DCP cash flows that is not currently reflected in Street estimates,” Weston noted. All in all, the Moderate Buy analyst consensus rating on DCP is based on 7 recent reviews, breaking down 4 to 3 Buy versus Hold. Shares are priced at $19.58 and the average target of $23 suggests an upside of ~15% from that level. (See DCP stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

  • Gamestop, memestocks, and the revenge of the retail trader

    Gamestop shares are set to rally 70% this morning when trading starts, extending a run that has perplexed market observers, irked hedge funds, and generally made crypto's recent gains appear soft and weak. Robinhood blew up the trading fee economy, and now along with a host of similar companies -- Public.com with its social focus, Freetrade in the UK, and so forth -- has made retail investing far more accessible than it was before to more folks. It's something that was noted by none other than the founder of Reddit Alexis Ohanian who shared some thoughts on Twitter.

  • AT&T Stock Wavers As 2021 Revenue Guidance Falls Short Of Estimates

    AT&T earnings and revenue for the December quarter fell from a year earlier but topped analyst estimates. AT&T stock wavered as 2021 revenue guidance came in below expectations.

  • First in the Family to Invest: How I Saved Almost $700K

    Growing up in rural Missouri, money was tight for Anthony Hammond. “I joke, I come from the type of family where they don’t read a will at the funeral, theyâ€Ĥ

  • Charging Infrastructure SPAC Plays: Is EVGo The Best Of The Bunch?

    Last week, EVgo became the latest charging infrastructure company to announce a SPAC deal to go public during a time that is seeing rapid adoption of electric vehicles and infrastructure. About EVgo: Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition Corp (NYSE: CLII) is bringing EVgo public in a deal that values the company at $2.1 billion. EVgo has over 800 locations for its fast-charging stations in 34 states, including 67 major metropolitan markets. The company has supported over 220,000 customers. EVgo has the largest public DCFC (direct current fast charging) network. The company is a partner with General Motors Company (NYSE: GM), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), Nissan, Lyft Inc (NASDAQ: LYFT) and Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER). Charging stations are hosted at retail locations like Albertsons, Wawa and Kroger (NYSE: KR). DCFC is the key that sets EVgo apart from competitors. DCFC made up only 5% of the market in 2019 and is expected to grow share to 40% by 2040. EvGo has 818 DCFC sites and 1,412 charging units. Related Link: 7 Current And Former SPACs That Could Be 2020 Election Plays Competitors: EVgo is the only charging partner engaged by multiple OEMs to build out the network. A deal with General Motors will see the company add over 2,700 additional fast-charging locations. EVgo also has a deal with Nissan that gives $250 charging credits to customers. The company is also the first charging network with integrated Tesla connectors. Going forward, over 770 connectors are being added to chargers to help Tesla customers. In the electric vehicle charging market, EVgo competes with Blink Charging (NASDAQ: BLNK), Electrify America, which is owned by Volkswagen (OTC: VWAGY) and ChargePoint, which is merging with SPAC Switchback Energy Acquisition Corp (NYSE: SBE). EVBox Group, which is going public with SPAC TPG Pace Beneficial Finance Corp (NYSE: TPGY), could also soon be a competitor as it seeks to enter the U.S. market. ChargePoint and EVBox both have hundreds of thousands of charging stations. EVgo is the leader in DCFC trailing only Tesla by the number of locations with fast charging stations. Chargepoint had 731 locations as of June, Electrify America had 438 and Blink was part of a combined group that had 140 DCFC. One notable difference between the competitors is an area of concern for EVgo. Despite its lead in the number of DCFC locations, EVgo has less connections than rivals due to an average of 1.7 per location. EVgo’s total of 1,338 ranked behind Electrify America’s 1,807 and ChargePoint’s 1,614. The industry average was 3.8 connections per charging location. EVgo is working on expanding the number of connections per location in the future with future spots having four, six or eight charging connectors. EVgo also prides itself in a 98% uptime rating. Customer satisfaction scores reflect the uptime with EVgo scoring an 8.5 out of 10 for customer satisfaction compared to 8.0 for Electrify America, 7.6 for ChargePoint and 7.0 for Blink Charging. Benzinga’s Take: There could be room for several charging infrastructure stocks to gain on the continued rollout of the additional thousands of stations promised by President Joe Biden. ChargePoint looks like it could be a big winner with its large number of stations and lead in the total number of DCFC connectors. EVgo could be a winner as it works with partners like GM and Tesla to rollout additional DCFC locations and add Tesla connectors going forward. Share Performance: CLII shares have more than doubled since announcing the deal. Switchback shares are up nearly 300% in the last year. Blink Charging shares are up over 2,000% over the last year. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaPalihapitiya Announces New PIPE Climate Investment: Who Could It Be?Âİ 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Michael Burry Calls GameStop Rally ‘Unnatural, Insane’

    (Bloomberg) -- Michael Burry’s bullish stance on GameStop Corp. in 2019 helped lay the foundations for an epic retail-investor frenzy. Now the famed fund manager is warning that the rally has gotten out of hand.“If I put $GME on your radar, and you did well, I’m genuinely happy for you,” Burry, best known for his prescient bet against mortgage securities before the 2008 financial crisis, said in a tweet on Tuesday. “However, what is going on now – there should be legal and regulatory repercussions. This is unnatural, insane, and dangerous.”Read more: How WallStreetBets Pushed GameStop Shares to the MoonBurry, whose investment firm reported owning a 2.4% stake in GameStop as of Sept. 30, said in an email interview on Tuesday that he’s now “neither long nor short.” He declined to comment on when he sold the stock.Burry became a household name after his mortgage trade was featured in “The Big Short.” He helped draw attention to GameStop in mid-2019 after his Scion Asset Management unveiled a 3.3% stake in the beleaguered video-game retailer and urged the company to buy back shares. Burry’s holding has been cited by some of the traders who’ve flooded online forums in recent weeks with posts imploring their fellow punters to buy.GameStop’s 642% surge since Jan. 12 has captivated Wall Street, elicited a tweet from Elon Musk and routed short sellers including Gabe Plotkin’s Melvin Capital and Andrew Left’s Citron Research. It has also spurred calls for a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, though legal experts say it’s difficult to prove chat-room posts are part of an illicit scheme to manipulate the market.Burry’s warning has so far done little to dampen retail investors’ enthusiasm: GameStop rose another 45% in pre-market trading as of 8:38 a.m. in New York, though it had more than doubled in overnight trading.How ‘Flows Before Pros’ Is Disrupting Stock Markets: QuickTake(Updates pre-market trading in final paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.Âİ2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • These restaurants have filed for bankruptcy and many more are at risk

    Restaurant bankruptcies continue to pile up.

  • Facebook’s Earnings Could Be a Reset for the Stock. Why It Could Move Higher From Here.

    Despite such challenges ahead, analysts are positive about Facebook’s fourth quarter, and the consensus earnings estimate is $3.54 a share on revenue of $26.41 billion, which implies that the top line will grow about 25% compared with the year-ago period. Ahead of Facebook’s fourth-quarter earnings, which it is set to report Wednesday after the closing bell, the stock has ticked up 3.4% this year. Facebook’s continued success as the advertising market rebounds is no surprise.