Top Ranked Growth Stocks to Buy for December 24th

Reuters
U.S. judge rejects SEC bid to expand Rio Tinto fraud lawsuit on Mozambique coal business
The SEC filed a complaint against Rio in 2017 with allegations that it had fraudulently concealed the decline in value of the business. Rio had acquired Riversdale mining for $3.7 billion in 2011, on the premise it would be able to barge 30 million tonnes of coal per year down the Zambezi river, and rail a further 12-15 million tonnes of coal per year to port. But it failed to secure government approvals, and discovered the resource was lower than expected, still raising more than $5 billion in 2012 before impairing the assets as coal prices fell the following year, when Chief Executive Tom Albanese departed.
20h ago
Bloomberg
Balkans Extend Eurobond Dominance in East Europe With Sale Spree
(Bloomberg) -- International bond issuance from the Balkans is dwarfing sales from bigger countries in Eastern Europe.North Macedonia is the latest addition to a widening stream of sovereign issuance from the Balkan region, offering seven-year euro bonds on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the deal who asked not to be named as they are not authorized to speak publicly. Earlier deals from Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia have pushed the region’s international debt sales this year to more than half of the full-year average since 2010.Meanwhile, more developed countries further north, such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, are turning away from Eurobonds as they have deep domestic markets to tap into.The growing discrepancy is an extension of an almost decade-long trend. Foreign issuance from the Balkans has topped $10 billion every year since 2011, while sales from Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have been falling, barring a spike last year to help fund Covid-19 relief efforts.One reason for the shift is a turn toward debt self-sufficiency in Hungary and Poland, where borrowing in foreign currencies -- both by the state and households -- has left scars on the economy. With economic output more than double the Balkans, domestic saving rates are higher and more mature central banking has allowed officials to turn to asset-purchase programs to help fund budgets.North Macedonia is offering a benchmark-size bond due March 2028 at around 230 basis points above midswaps, according to the person. Slovenia has issued 2.5 billion euros ($3 billion) of debt in two transactions this year, Croatia priced 2 billion euros, and Serbia 1 billion euros.“Issuance on international markets is preferred by Balkan countries because their less-developed local capital markets do not allow for raising such big amounts of capital,” said Anton Hauser, a money manager at Erste Asset Management in Vienna. For investors, the “higher-yielding debt issued by Balkan countries is a kind of substitute for bonds issued by central European countries, which nowadays offer much lower yields,” he said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
FX Empire
Price of Gold Fundamental Daily Forecast – Firmer Yields Weighing on Prices Ahead of ADP Jobs Data
Today’s ADP Non-Farm Employment Change Report could move the gold market lower if the number comes in well above the 202K forecast.
1d ago
Bloomberg
What’s in the U.K. Budget as Sunak Targets Covid and Deficit
(Bloomberg) -- Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak unveiled his second U.K. budget as he tries to balance the need to prop up the economy while the coronavirus pandemic endures with efforts to begin reigning in the deficit.With the prospect of the economy fully reopening still months away -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set June 21 as the earliest that can happen -- here’s what the chancellor announced on Wednesday:More Covid AidSunak said his priority is to protect jobs through the pandemic, and promised to support people and businesses as lockdown measures are gradually lifted. He outlined 65 billion pounds ($90 billion) of new Covid support, bringing the total since the crisis began to 352 billion pounds. When capital spending announced at last year’s budget is included, the total fiscal stimulus rises to 407 billion pounds.He announced:An extension of the flagship furlough program, under which the state pays idled workers 80% of their usual wages, up to a maximum of 2,500 pounds a month. It was due to expire at the end of April but will be extended in full through the end of June, and state support will then be tapered over another three months.A fourth three-month grant for self-employed workers will be paid to cover February through April. It will be set at 80% of average trading profits and capped at 7,500 pounds. A fifth grant will also be paid, at a level that depends on the change in recipients’ turnover. More than 600,000 people who previously weren’t eligible will qualify for these grants.A six-month extension to the 20-pound a week uplift in Universal Credit social security payments, with equivalent support for working tax credit claimants in the form of a one-off payment of 500 pounds.An increase in the National Minimum Wage to 8.91 pounds/hour from April.A new program of loans of as much as 10 million pounds for struggling firms. The program replaces 3 existing plans, is open for businesses of any size, and the loans are 80% backed by the state.A three-month extension of the business-rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure, running through June. Then a nine-month, 2/3 discount for firms that remain closed, and a lower cap for those able to reopen. Sunak priced this measure at 6 billion pounds.A six-month extension in the temporary reduction of value-added tax for the hospitality and attractions sectors, which will now run through September. The rate is down to 5% from 20%. For the following six months, a discounted rate of 12.5% will apply.A three-month extension to the stamp duty holiday for the first 500,000 pounds of property sales. Then for three months, the holiday will apply to the first 250,000 pounds of a property purchase, before reverting to 125,000 pounds.TaxationThe chancellor also signaled there’s pain ahead as he tries to rein in a fiscal deficit that the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted will swell toward 355 billion pounds this tax year.“The amount we’ve borrowed is only comparable with the amount we borrowed during the two world wars,” Sunak said. “It is going to be the work of many governments, over many decades, to pay it back.”Sunak said it would be “irresponsible” to allow debt to rise unchecked, and announced a series of tax measures to take effect in future years.Corporation tax will rise to 25% in 2023 from 19% now. Sunak said the U.K. can do that and still retain the lowest level among the Group of Seven major economies. The chancellor introduced a small profits rate keeping the tax at 19% for businesses with profits of 50,000 pounds or less. There will be a taper above that so that only companies with profits of 250,000 pounds or more pay the full rate.The tax treatment of losses will be more generous for the next two years, allowing companies to claim more tax refunds.From next year, the thresholds at which people start paying different levels of income tax will be frozen until April 2026. Rises to 12,570 pounds and 50,270 pounds for the basic and higher thresholds will go ahead as planned next year.Sunak said he’d also freeze until April 2026 the inheritance tax thresholds, the lifetime allowance on pensions savings and the annual exempt amount in capital gains tax.From April 2022, the VAT registration threshold will also be frozen.There was also a “Super Deduction” sweetener to encourage companies to invest: For the next two years, companies that invest will be able to reduce their taxable profits by 130% of the amount they’ve invested.Alcohol and fuel duties were frozen.Leveling UpThere were several announcements that fed into the ruling Conservative Party’s “leveling up” mantra aimed at spreading prosperity nationwide:22 billion pounds of capital and loan guarantees to capitalize a new national infrastructure bank, with the aim of supporting 40 billion pounds of infrastructure investment. The bank will be located in Leeds.5 billion pounds of grants worth up to 18,000 pounds each to help nearly 700,000 eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality, accommodation, leisure and personal-care sectors reopen.The Treasury and other government departments will set up a new campus in Darlington.Eight freeports were announced for East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside.1 billion pounds of “Towns Deals” was announced for 45 locations.Funding in the budget of 1.2 billion pounds for the Scottish government, 740 million pounds for the Welsh government and 410 million pounds for the Northern Ireland executive.Other AnnouncementsSunak published an independent review into U.K. stock market listing rules as part of an effort to bolster the City of London post-Brexit.The world’s first sovereign green savings bond for retail investors. The funds raised will be earmarked for projects such as renewable energy and clean transportation.A mortgage guarantee program for 95% mortgages to help people get on the property ladder.1.65 billion pounds of funding for the U.K.’s Covid vaccination drive.55 million pounds to develop vaccines against new Covid variants and to study the effects of combinations of vaccines.375 million pounds for a new public-private fund to invest in fast-growing tech start-ups.A 520 million-pound ‘Help to Grow’ program to provide small and medium-sized businesses with subsidized management training, discounted software and technology advice.A 300 million-pound summer sports recovery package to get sports such as cricket, horse racing and tennis reopened.408 million pounds of funding for museums and the arts.126 million pounds for traineeships, and an increase to 3,000 pounds in the cash incentive for hiring apprentices.150 million pounds to help community groups take over struggling local facilities such as pubs and sports clubs.A new fast-track visa program to ease entry to the U.K. for highly-skilled researchers, engineers, scientists as well as those working in the financial technology and cyber sectors.The chancellor raised the contactless payments limit for credit and debit cards to 100 pounds from 45 pounds.The Bank of England will be given a new mandate to consider net zero targets.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
Barrons.com
Mortgage Rates Are Back Above 3%. Here’s Where They’re Headed Next.
Mortgage rates have risen past a psychological benchmark for the first time since they fell to historic lows during the pandemic. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.02% this past week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey—the first time since July that the rate has risen above 3%. “Since reaching a low point in January, mortgage rates have risen by more than 30 basis points,” wrote Freddie Mac’s chief economist, in a release.
6h ago
Bloomberg
Texas Watchdog Says Grid Operator Made $16 Billion Error
(Bloomberg) -- A firm hired to monitor Texas’ power markets says the region’s grid manager overpriced electricity for almost two days during last month’s energy crisis, resulting in $16 billion in overcharges.Amid the deep winter freeze that knocked nearly half of power generation offline, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as Ercot, set the price of electricity at the $9,000-a-megawatt-hour maximum -- standard practice during a grid emergency. But Ercot left that price in place days longer than necessary, resulting in massive overcharges, according to Potomac Economics, an independent market monitor hired by the state of Texas to assess Ercot’s performance. In an unusual move, the firm recommended in a letter to regulators that the pricing be corrected and that $16 billion in charges be reversed as a result.Potomac isn’t the first to say that leaving electricity prices at the $9,000 cap for so long was a mistake. Plenty of power companies at risk of defaulting on their payments have said the same. But the market monitor is giving that opinion considerable weight and could sway regulators to let companies off the hook for some of the massive electricity charges they incurred during the crisis.The Arctic blast that crippled Texas’s grid and plunged more than 4 million homes and businesses into darkness for days has pushed many companies to the brink of insolvency and stressed the power market, which is facing a more-than $2.5 billion payment shortfall. One utility, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, has already filed for bankruptcy, while retailers Griddy Energy LLC and Entrust Energy Inc. defaulted and have been banned from participating in the market.Retroactively adjusting the power price would ease the financial squeeze on some of the companies facing astronomical power bills in the wake of the energy crisis. EDF Renewable Energy and Just Energy are among those asking the Public Utility Commission to reset the power price for the days after the immediate emergency while others have also asked regulators to waive their obligation to pay until price disputes are resolved.“If we don’t act to stabilize things, a worst-case scenario is that people will go under,” said Carrie Bivens, the Ercot independent market monitor director at Potomac Economics. “It creates a cascading effect.”The erroneous charges exceed the total cost of power traded in real-time in all of 2020, said Bivens, who spent 14 years at Ercot, where she most recently was director of market operations before becoming its watchdog. “It’s a mind-blowing amount of money.”While prices neared the $9,000 cap on the first day of the blackouts, they soon dipped to $1,200 -- a fluctuation that the utility commission later attributed to a computer glitch. The panel, which oversees the state’s power system, ordered Ercot to manually set the price at the maximum to incentivize generators to feed more electricity into the grid during the period of supply scarcity. The market monitor argues that Ercot should have reset prices once rotating blackouts ended because, at the point, the emergency was over.It’s asking the commission to direct Ercot to correct the real-time price of electricity from 12 a.m. Feb. 18 to 9 a.m. Feb. 19. Doing so could save end-customers around $1.5 billion that otherwise would be passed through to them from electricity providers, Bevins said.But power generators that reaped substantial profits from the high prices during the crisis week are likely to push back. Vistra Corp. on Thursday submitted comments to the utility commission arguing against repricing. During a Texas senate hearing the same day, utilities South Texas Electric Cooperative and the Lower Colorado River Authority also voiced opposition.Texas Competitive Power Advocates, a trade association representing generators, said retroactively changing prices could discourage future investments in Texas’s electricity market. “Changing prices after the fact creates additional instability and uncertainty,” Michele Richmond, the group’s executive director, said in an email.Bivens acknowledged the market monitor isn’t typically in favor of repricing, but noted in her letter to the commission that the move wouldn’t result in any revenue shortfalls for generators. Instead, the new price would reflect the actual supply, demand and reserves during the period.“This isn’t some Monday morning quarterbacking,” she said in an interview. “Ercot made an error and we don’t let errors slide.”The utility commission on Wednesday adopted a prior recommendation made by the market monitor, voting to to claw back some payments to power generators for services they never actually provided during energy crisis. The commissioners also expressed support for capping the price of certain grid services -- a request made by several retailers -- but didn’t take action on it. Another commission meeting is scheduled for Friday.(Adds Entrust to list of defaults in fourth paragraph, Vistra opposition and trade group comment in 10th and 11th, and more on monitor letter in 12th.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1h ago
MarketWatch
Buzzy stock-market ETFs backed by Portnoy and Wood get crushed Thursday afternoon as the Nasdaq nears correction
Cathie Wood's flagship ARK Invest ETF and a VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment backed by Wall Street bro Dave Portnoy are down by at least 4%. The VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF was down 4.3% in Thursday afternoon trade, in its debut. Meanwhile, Wood's ARK Innovation deepened its slide into correction on Thursday, off 6.6%. Both ETFs focus on drawing interest from many of the growthy tech stocks which are in the market's crosshairs as bond yields rise, including electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc. . On Thursday, bonds took a leg higher after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he was watching the rise in rates but offered no concrete steps the central bank was taking to tamp down rate moves. The 10-year Treasury yield jumped by 7 basis points in afternoon action, hitting around 1.54% and accelerating a sell-off in stocks that are viewed as pricey and that don't offer a coupon. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down nearly 10% from its Feb. 12 peak, meeting the commonly used definition for a correction. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 400 points, or 1.3%, and nursing a 0.8% year-to-date gain. The S&P 500 index was down 1.6% and holding on to a 2021 gain of less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite was negative for the year, down 1.4%.
4h ago
Barrons.com
Oil Prices Spike on OPEC Surprise. How to Play It.
Oil prices shot as much as 5% higher on Thursday as OPEC and its allies agreed to extend most of their production cuts through April, a sign that high prices could be here to stay. Oil company stocks jumped, too, often much more than the commodity, because prices this high will give many of them operating leverage. Because capital costs are high in the industry, oil company margins expand considerably once prices rise above $50 and companies have fully paid for the cost of the equipment and labor they need to extract oil.
2h ago
MoneyWise
Your next stimulus check may be in jeopardy now
A new compromise would make millions of Americans ineligible for the third checks.
23h ago
Investor's Business Daily
Getting A Third Covid-19 Stimulus Check Just Got Tougher — But You Might Still Influence How Big Yours Is
Congress is nearing passage of the third economic stimulus check it will send out to you and other taxpayers as part of its Covid-19 relief bill.
1d ago
MarketWatch
Dow slides, Nasdaq hits three-month low after Powell struggles to soothe bond market
Stock benchmarks finished sharply lower Thursday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he was monitoring the recent rise in bond yields but added that the inflation expected this year was unlikely to last
1h ago
Bloomberg
Bitcoin Could Reach $1 Million or More, Kraken CEO Says
(Bloomberg) -- As the leader of crypto exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell is bound to be bullish on Bitcoin. Yet he’s projecting a disruptive future that would stretch the imagination of even the most ardent crypto fans.In a Bloomberg Television interview, Powell said Bitcoin could reach $1 million in the next decade, adding that supporters say it could eventually replace all of the major fiat currencies.“We can only speculate, but when you measure it in terms of dollars, you have to think it’s going to infinity,” he said. “The true believers will tell you that it’s going all the way to the moon, to Mars and eventually, will be the world’s currency.”The CEO also said San Francisco-based Kraken is considering going public, possibly next year.Extreme predictions are nothing new in the world of Bitcoin, where adherents stand to profit from convincing a wider audience that crypto is a legitimate asset class, rather than a speculative fad. The dollar remains the world’s reserve currency and is the benchmark for global trade, though its value has softened in the past year.Powell said Bitcoin bulls see it one day exceeding the combined market cap of the dollar, euro and other currencies.The dollar “is only 50 years old and it’s already showing extreme signs of weakness, and I think people will start measuring the price of things in terms of Bitcoin,” he said.The digital currency slipped 3% in early U.S. trading on Thursday, hovering around $49,000. Prices have surged almost 600% since the start of 2020 on the back of wider mainstream adoption, with bulls seeing it as both an inflation hedge and speculative asset.Critics argue that Bitcoin is in a giant, stimulus-fueled bubble destined to burst like the 2017 boom and bust cycle.Kraken benefits from higher prices as it reaps fees from increased trading. Bloomberg reported last month that the exchange was in talks to raise new funding, which would double the company’s valuation to more than $10 billion.“Personally, I think $10 billion is a low valuation,” Powell said. “I wouldn’t be interested in selling shares at that price.”The CEO did acknowledge the potential for wild market swings, saying prices can “move up or down 50% on any given day.” That kind of volatility has long been one of the negatives of Bitcoin, relegating the market to one of speculation, rather than a means of doing business.“If you are buying into Bitcoin out of speculation, you should be committed to holding for five years,” Powell said. “You have to have strong convictions to hold.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
9h ago
MarketWatch
10-year Treasury yield jumps above 1.50% Thursday afternoon after Powell refers to inflation's rise as transitory
U.S. Treasury yields Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he was monitoring the rise in bond yields and that he would be concerned if financial conditions did tighten. "I would be concerned by disorderly conditions in markets or persistent tightening in financial conditions that threatens the achievement of our goals," Powell said during a webinar hosted by The Wall Street Journal. The 10-year Treasury note yield climbed 7.1 basis points to 1.541%. Bond prices fall as yields rise. Many investors had said that if Powell didn't offer more explicit pushback on higher government bond rates, it could fuel Treasury market weakness. Powell stressed again that the Fed would be "patient" with higher inflation expected this year, saying it was likely to be a "one time" effect and not price gains that continue year-after-year.
4h ago
Bloomberg
Rishi Sunak Pours More Fuel On U.K.’s Scorching Housing Rally
(Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a fresh wave of support for home buyers across the U.K., adding further fuel to one of the economy’s only bright spots during the pandemic.The government postponed the deadline for a tax break on purchases for six months, and set out plans to enable buyers to put down a smaller deposit for their properties.The tax perk, which was due to end this month and allowed buyers to save up to 15 thousand pounds ($21,000), juiced the market during the lockdown that devastated other parts of the economy.Mortgage demand soared as buyers rushed to take advantage, and data this week showed annual home-price growth accelerated to almost 7% in February. But the extension merely staves off a cliff edge temporarily, and the market could suffer a setback once it ends.In his Budget on Wednesday, Sunak said the temporary level before so-called stamp duty kicks in will remain at 500,000 pounds ($698,000) until the end of June. It will then drop to 250,000 pounds before returning to its usual level of 125,000 pounds in October. U.K. homebuilders rose to session highs after the announcement.The three-month extension of the full benefit is likely to mainly benefit people who are already in the process of buying a home, rather than opening up the possibility of savings to new buyers, said Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International.“There is fairly limited time for it to make a difference for those not yet in the market,” she said. Still, property website Rightmove Plc estimates that an additional 300,000 transactions in England could beat the deadline at the end of June.Sunak also set out plans for government-backed mortgages that will allow house purchases of up to 600,000 pounds with only a 5% deposit.Lenders pulled similar low-deposit products from the market last year -- only eight were available in January, according to the Treasury. Sunak said lenders including LLoyds Banking Group Plc, Natwest Group Plc, Banco Santander SA, Barclays Plc, and HSBC Holdings Plc will be offering the mortgages from next month, with Virgin Money UK Plc to follow “shortly after.”(Updates with homebuilders, Rightmove estimates, lenders offering mortgages)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
MarketWatch
How to claim stimulus money on your 2020 taxes. ‘It’s really the only vehicle that you have right now’
36% of taxpayers said the Recovery Rebate Credit was the 'most confusing' part of taxes this year.
17h ago
Investopedia
Maxing Out Your 401(k) and What to Do Next
Max out your 401(k) each year, and be sure to get your 401(k) employer match, if you have one. And for you super savers, here are other ways to save for retirement.
1d ago
MarketWatch
Stock market crash? No, but rising bond yields are sparking a nerve-racking rotation below the surface
Despite the hashtags, the stock market is far from “crash” territory, as anyone with a working memory of last year's pandemic-inspired selloff would recall. But a rotation away from the market's recent leaders does appear to be under way.
50m ago
Bloomberg
Okta to Buy Security Software Maker Auth0 for $6.5 Billion
(Bloomberg) -- Okta Inc., a maker of identity-verification software, agreed to buy smaller rival Auth0 for about $6.5 billion in stock, seeking to solidify its position in the growing market for digital authentication security services.The deal price for closely held Auth0 is based on an Okta share price of $276.21, and the transaction is expected to close in the quarter ending July 31, according to a statement Wednesday. Last year, Auth0 raised $120 million in a round that was led by Salesforce Ventures and valued the Seattle-area company at $1.92 billion.Customers use San Francisco-based Okta’s security software to support workers who need to access corporate systems, students who must use remote-learning apps and consumers who are required to authenticate their identities online. Okta, which counts Microsoft Corp. as one of its main rivals, saw shares more than double last year as the pandemic-related shift to home-based working and learning boosted the need for users to securely get in to apps and networks.From March through July, Okta’s main product, called Identity Cloud, was used almost 16 billion times to access an app or website. The multi-factor authentication service saw usage nearly triple in the period compared with a year earlier, and it hit a single-day peak of 145 million unique logins, the company said last year.Okta shares dropped about 11% in extended trading Wednesday following the deal news and the company’s earnings report. The software maker gave a first-quarter revenue forecast that was on the low end of analysts’ projections.Auth0 will operate as an independent business unit within Okta and both companies’ products will be supported and developed going forward, Okta said, giving customers the ability to choose which one is the right fit.Other investors in Auth0 include K9 Ventures, Sapphire Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. Bessemer put in more than $90 million and amassed a 20.7% stake.Morgan Stanley advised Okta on the deal, and Qatalyst Partners served as financial adviser to Auth0, the companies said.In its fourth-quarter earnings report, Okta said sales jumped 40%. Profit excluding some costs was 6 cents a share for the period, topping the average analyst estimate for a loss of 1 cent.Still, for the first quarter, which ends in April, the company said it may post a loss of as much as 21 cents, wider than the 7-cent loss analysts expected, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. First-quarter sales will be $237 million to $239 million, compared with analysts’ average prediction of $239.3 million.(Adds details on Okta in fourth, fifth paragraphs; investors and earnings in final paragraphs.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
Benzinga
Tesla Megabull Ron Baron Says It Was 'Painful' To Sell 1.7M Shares
Longtime Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) bull Ron Baron acknowledged Thursday morning his fund Baron Capital sold 1.7 million shares of the electric automaker despite his long-held belief the stock has a path to $2,000. What Happened: Baron Capital invested $387 million in Tesla's stock back in 2014 and the position has grown to be worth $5.5 billion in February, Baron said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Over the past six months, the fund has sold 1.7 million out of its 8-million share position between $450 and $900 a share with an average price of $666.70. Baron said many of his friends were skeptical with his original 2014 thesis that Tesla's stock would return 20 times. "We persisted," Baron said. "And at the time we invested, it was unlikely in most people's opinions that electric cars were going to dominate." Related Link: Ark More Convinced On Tesla's Autonomous Strategy And Cathie Wood Says A New Price Target Is Coming Soon Why It's Important: The decision to authorize a sale of a stock he believes still has tremendous upside potential was due strictly to profit-taking as the stock's surge means it accounted for an outsized representation in the fund portfolio, Baron said. The fund also used some of the proceeds from the sale to pay down part of a line of credit. Baron said it was "painful" to sell close to 2 million shares of Tesla's stock as the company's prospects of eventually selling 20 million cars a year is a more realistic outcome. Tesla has so many opportunities ahead, such as the ability to monetize each of the 20 million cars sold by charging a monthly $100 fee for autonomous driving features. "That alone is worth the present price of the stock in 10 years," he said. See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock What's Next: The billionaire himself said he has not sold a single share he personally owns and is unlikely to do so "for another 10 years." Tesla's stock traded around $657 a share at publication time. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaExclusive: Grayscale CEO 'Wouldn't Rule Out' Future Bitcoin ETF Launch In US© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
8h ago
Reuters
Exclusive: India merchants almost halt exports to Iran as its rupee reserves fall - officials
Indian merchants have almost entirely stopped signing new export contracts with Iranian buyers for commodities such as rice, sugar and tea, due to caution about Tehran's dwindling rupee reserves with Indian banks, six industry officials told Reuters. "Exporters are avoiding dealing with Iran since payments are getting delayed for months," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading house. Iran's rupee reserves in India's UCO and IDBI Bank, the two lenders authorised to facilitate rupee trade, have depleted significantly and exporters are not sure whether they would be paid on time for new shipments, the dealer said.
10h ago

Symbol	Last Price	Change	% Change
GPI Group 1 Automotive, Inc.	149.78	-2.26	-1.49%
III Information Services Group, Inc.	3.6500	-0.0400	-1.08%
OMI Owens & Minor, Inc.	30.34	-1.55	-4.86%

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Owens & Minor, Inc. Price and Consensus

Owens & Minor, Inc. PEG Ratio (TTM)

Information Services Group, Inc. Price and Consensus

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Group 1 Automotive, Inc. Price and Consensus

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