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Taiwan Semi Offers Early Entry

Taiwan Semiconductor makes early move within a three-weeks-tight (might be 4wks tight at close). Trading a bit out of character, but maybe TSM has more tailwinds this time?

Latest Stories

  • 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.

  • Microsoft blows away Q2 expectations on cloud and personal computing strength

    Microsoft blew away Q2 2021 expectations on the strength of its cloud and personal computing businesses.

  • GameStop is worth more than $10 billion for the first time, and Elon Musk just gave it another boost

    GameStop Corp. shares experienced another volatile session and trading halts Tuesday, continuing a battle between short sellers and traders that gather on an internet message board.

  • 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.

  • Goldman Sachs warns of a dangerous bubble in these 39 stocks

    Goldman Sachs sounds the alarm on some very hot tech stocks.

  • AMD Earnings: What Happened With AMD

    AMD reported Q4 earnings after market close on January 26. As expected, the company's gross margin was flat YOY.

  • 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.

  • 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 debates… We also think solid 2020 financial results should give longer-term confidence…” 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 trends… 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.

  • Chipmaker AMD Beats Fourth-Quarter Sales, Earnings Goals

    Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices late Tuesday beat Wall Street's sales and earnings targets for the fourth quarter. But AMD stock wavered in extended trading on the stock market today.

  • AMD Beat Expected Earnings in the Fourth Quarter and Sees a Stronger 2021 Ahead

    The chip maker said it expects revenue of roughly $3.2 billion in the quarter and full-year sales growth of 37% over 2020. Analysts had predicted 20% growth for 2021.

  • From GameStop to BlackBerry, here's why the shorts are getting squeezed

    Top news and what to watch in the markets on Tuesday, January 26, 2021.

  • Retail trading frenzy sparks jitters for noted GameStop short-seller

    Short-seller Andrew Left does not usually smoke. Left, who has built a reputation by targeting companies he thinks are overvalued, is as convinced as ever that videogame retailer GameStop is a dying business whose stock price will fall sharply someday. GameStop did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

  • What Leon Black Got for Paying Jeffrey Epstein $158 Million

    (Bloomberg) -- Leon Black viewed Jeffrey Epstein as a “confirmed bachelor with eclectic tastes, who often employed attractive women.”The private equity titan was willing to overlook that Epstein had served 13 months in a Florida jail after soliciting an underage prostitute. That was partly because Epstein claimed the girl had lied about her age, while Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management Inc., believed in second chances, particularly for his well-connected friend.Thus continued a relationship between the men that was laid out in a report released Monday by law firm Dechert, commissioned by Apollo’s board after news stories about their financial ties. The investigation found that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 -- after the sex offender pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2008 -- for advisory services that helped expand the wealth of one of America’s richest men.The report made clear that Apollo never retained Epstein for any services and that he never invested in any Apollo-managed funds. Dechert found no evidence that Black, 69, was involved in any way of Epstein’s criminal activities, and the billionaire maintains he had no knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of underage girls. Still, the findings showed how the disgraced adviser’s knowledge of the tax system and skill managing the affairs of the ultra-rich helped Black save at least $1 billion, and potentially more than $2 billion.At the same time Apollo revealed details of the report, the company said Black would step down as chief executive officer. He’ll remain chairman.Tax SavingsThe Dechert report details a friendship going back to the 1990s, with Black impressed by Epstein’s ties to prominent figures in business, politics and science, including researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Black was a frequent visitor to Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, confided personal matters to him and visited his homes around the globe.Dechert also laid out the ways Epstein was useful to Black, who’s worth almost $10 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.The business arrangement started in 2012, according to the law firm, which reviewed over 60,000 documents.Black a few years earlier had set up a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT. These vehicles, which are popular with extremely wealthy Americans, are structured so that appreciation in assets placed in a GRAT can go to heirs without paying U.S. estate and gift taxes. But Black’s had a flaw and there was a risk of a tax assessment of $500 million, which could rise to $1 billion or more if it wasn’t resolved.Epstein offered what the report described as a “unique solution.” It was the first project Epstein worked on for Black and possibly the most valuable.In 2015, Epstein helped with another transaction designed to save Black’s children on taxes, known as a step-up basis transaction. The complicated arrangement, which took nine months to execute, involved loans between Black and trusts, and avoiding capital gains taxes for his beneficiaries. Epstein claimed the move saved $600 million.Yachts, PlaneEpstein, a Brooklyn native, was an enigma to many inside and outside of finance. He attended Cooper Union and New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences but left both without a degree. He briefly had a job at Bear Stearns Cos. and before his first arrest worked extensively for lingerie mogul Les Wexner. The L Brands founder severed ties with Epstein after his first conviction and later accused him of misappropriating “vast sums of money from me and my family.” But Epstein had helped Wexner with his finances and purchases such as real estate.He did many of those same things for Black.Epstein helped respond to audits, and advised on how to manage Black’s art, yacht and airplane, according to the Dechert report.“Epstein would get into the weeds on obscure issues about which otherwise highly competent Family Office employees were not knowledgeable,” the report said.One of Epstein’s contributions, according to the report, was convincing Black to focus on these issues, as well as meeting with his family and explaining how the estate was organized. He would prepare detailed “fire drill” plans, testing how Black’s estate would be taxed under different scenarios.‘Caustic Force’Black’s full-time staff didn’t always appreciate Epstein’s contributions. He was “generally a disruptive and caustic force within the family office,” the report said, one who “had a habit of overdramatizing even minor perceived errors.”Epstein would take credit for others’ ideas, while compiling long lists of his own suggestions. Many of his creative estate-planning schemes didn’t hold up under scrutiny. According to witnesses, including Black, “part of the challenge of working with Epstein was separating the good ideas from the bad ones.”“What’s bizarre to me is having Epstein in any way in charge of your estate planning,” said University of Richmond law professor Allison Tait. “He didn’t just leave this to his family office staff, who were likely highly competent.”But the payments racked up. Black paid Epstein $50 million in 2013, $70 million in 2014 and $30 million the following year. He made a $10 million donation to Gratitude America in October 2015, which was a charitable organization affiliated with Epstein.That sort of compensation is unusual. Estate planning attorneys and tax advisers are typically paid by the hour or by the transaction. IRS regulations forbid tax practitioners from charging contingent fees “in connection with any matter before the Internal Revenue Service.”But Epstein, with his atypical role and background, could avoid those rules, said Jay Soled, a Rutgers University professor who is also a practicing estate tax attorney. “This is a very unusual arrangement because he doesn’t really have training.”Beginning in 2016, “Black and Epstein’s professional and personal relationship deteriorated,” according to the report. One dispute was over a payment tied to the step-up transaction, with Black refusing to pay Epstein tens of millions of dollars that Epstein believed he had earned.Epstein pushed back on the issue through emails that invoked his friendship with the billionaire and referenced personal matters shared in confidence. Black held firm and at an April 2018 meeting it was determined that while Epstein had played a key role in the deal, the idea came from one of Black’s external lawyers.Black also thought that the amounts he was paying Epstein would be fully deductible on his tax returns -- because this is what Epstein told him -- and this wasn’t the case.Black’s last payment to Epstein was made in April 2017, and in 2018, Epstein repaid a portion of two loans that were outstanding to Black but never repaid the balance, according to the report. Black and Epstein stopped communicating in 2018, the year before Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors and later died in jail. His death was ruled a suicide.(Updates with external comment in 19th paragraph.)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.

  • Raytheon To Boost Dividend, Buy Back Shares As Earnings Beat

    Raytheon beat Q4 estimates and predicted increases in shareholder returns but gave mixed 2021 guidance.

  • Johnson & Johnson expects COVID-19 vaccine data next week

    Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said it expected to report eagerly-awaited data on its COVID-19 vaccine early next week, and that it would be able to meet the delivery target for doses to countries with which it had signed supply agreements. Public health officials are increasingly counting on single-dose options like the one being tested by J&J to simplify and boost inoculations given the complications and slower-than-hoped rollout of authorized vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc, which require second shots weeks after the first. The company forecast 2021 profit well above Wall Street estimates, and its shares rose 3.4% to $171.55.

  • Should you use a Monte Carlo simulation to determine if your retirement savings will last?

    In the old days, starting in 1994 with Bill Bengen’s seminal study, financial advisers estimated how long your portfolio might last using historical returns and a safe withdrawal rate. For those unfamiliar, Bengen’s research left us with the 4% rule, which is considered (rightly or wrongly) the holy grail of retirement planning in some circles. Then, starting in 2005, investment firms and advisers were given the green light to use something called Monte Carlo to predict your portfolio’s probability of success — success being the probability that your nest egg would adequately fund your desired standard of living throughout your retirement.

  • Massive internet outage hits U.S. East Coast taking down Gmail, Slack, and Amazon AWS

    Large swaths of the internet were down on Tuesday afternoon, as outages hit everything from Google's Gmail to Slack.

  • NYC Apartment Landlords Getting Burned in Gentrification Crash

    (Bloomberg) -- New York’s apartment investors are suddenly waist-deep in distress.By December, they were behind on $395 million of debt backed by mortgage bonds, almost 150 times the level a year earlier, according to Trepp data on commercial mortgage-backed securities. Tenants in rent-stabilized units owe at least $1 billion in rent and wealthier ones are fleeing the city, leaving behind vacancies and pushing newly-built luxury towers into foreclosure.For years, as crime dwindled and rent climbed in New York, investors gobbled up apartment buildings. But with the city’s economy and culture crushed by Covid-19, mounting job losses have derailed the gentrification boom and put financial pressure on landlords.“The people who specialize in mortgage workouts are the busiest people in New York real estate,” said Barry Hersh, a clinical associate professor of real estate at New York University.The developers who are in the most trouble pushed hard into Harlem and the Brooklyn hipster hubs of Crown Heights, Flatbush and Bushwick, squeezing out working-class residents by building new expensive units. Now, they’re grappling with eviction bans and new tenant protections as rent falls across New York.Colony 1209, a steel-gray apartment building, opened six years ago in the heart of Bushwick, an industrial vision of urban chic, with a billiards room and 24-hour doorman. The website pitched one bedrooms for $2,500 to “like-minded settlers” in the mostly Black and Hispanic neighborhood, which it called Brooklyn’s “new frontier.”Now Colony, renamed Dekalb 1209, faces foreclosure after owner Spruce Capital Partners defaulted on a $46 million mortgage. The five-year interest-only loan matured in October and was not extended, triggering the default, according to monthly filings by the loan’s servicer, Wells Fargo & Co.The lender is filing to repossess the building -- as soon as New York’s foreclosure moratorium expires -- while simultaneously discussing workout alternatives with the borrower. Spruce could not be reached for comment.Right before Covid hit, investors were willing to pay top-dollar for luxury buildings like Colony. They wanted alternatives to rent-regulated buildings, which saw values crimped by a 2019 law that banned tactics landlords depended on to convert rent-stabilized units to market-rate.“That was the bright spot until the pandemic happened,” said Victor Sozio, executive vice president at Ariel Property Advisors, a commercial brokerage firm in New York City.Plans ‘Stymied’Emerald Equities, a fast-growing condo conversion specialist, filed for bankruptcy in December on buildings in Harlem. In its filing, the company said its “well-laid plans were stymied” by the tenant-friendly law. Residents organized a rent strike, then collections plunged even more after the pandemic, driving Emerald to hand ownership to LoanCore Capital, which loaned $203 million for the project.Doug Kellner, an attorney for Emerald tenants, blames the current market troubles on New York’s eviction ban because it came without any accompanying financial support.“Everybody realizes that rent is the green blood that keeps a building operational,” Kellner said.Across the boroughs, rents are on a downward spiral, as landlords try to fill empty apartments with ever-sweeter tenant concessions -- only to see the number of vacant listings surge further.In Manhattan, available units nearly tripled in December from a year earlier, and the median rent plunged 17% to $2,800, according to data from Miller Samuel Inc. and Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Rents are down 11% in Brooklyn and 18% in Northwest Queens, where starry-eyed developers built glassy apartment fortresses along the waterfront for young midtown professionals.In some ways, investors may be better insulated than after the 2008 financial crisis. Lenders generally required bigger down payments and underwrote loans based on current rents rather than expectations for the future, said Shimon Shkury, Ariel’s president. If the vaccine works and college students and office workers start to return, so will the market, Shkury said.“I don’t think there will be as much distress as you think,” he said.Deregulating RentsLenders have already put $1.4 billion of commercial-backed multifamily debt on watchlists because of issues such as rising vacancies or impending maturities. That’s 19% of all outstanding debt, compared with 22% at the nadir of the financial crisis.The trouble will filter from highly-leveraged investors who expanded quickly to lenders with the most aggressive underwriting, says NYU’s Hersh.“There will be banks that go under,” he said.At the same time, the market for multifamily buildings has gone soft. The total dollar volume of New York City multifamily sales was $4.5 billion in 2020, a 61% plunge from 2018, before the pandemic or the new rent laws, according to a report by Ariel.Still, firms such Limekiln Real Estate Investment Management, see opportunities. The company made $224 million in New York multifamily loans in the second half of 2020, up from $9.3 million before the pandemic. It’s easier to extract better terms in a “lender’s market,” said Scott Waynebern, Limekiln’s president.“It’s tricky to find where the bottom is,” 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.

  • Dow Jones Futures: GME Stock Rockets On Elon Musk Tweet; Microsoft, AMD, Palantir Are Key Movers; Apple, Tesla On Tap

    Gamestop kept surging late on an Elon Musk tweet. Microsoft jumped late on earnings, while AMD and Palantir fell on news. Leading stocks struggled Tuesday.

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

    Restaurant bankruptcies continue to pile up.