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https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/26/shares-of-autodesk-gain-analysts-raise-price-targets.html

ADSK

Autodesk

Shares of Autodesk gain; analysts raise price targets

Shares of Autodesk gained more than 8 percent Friday as analysts raised their price targets after better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and improved guidance. Wedbush increased its price target to $60 from $57 after Autodesk's earnings, which were released Thursday. Canaccord Genuity boosted its price target to $65 from $60. Both firms maintained their neutral or hold position, respectively. Autodesk was most recently trading at $68.56, higher than the above mentioned price targets. The software company reported earnings of 5 cents per share on revenue of $551 million. Analysts projected a loss of 13 cents on revenue of $512 million, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus. The company presented strong third-quarter and fiscal 2017 guidance, projecting ranges of $470 million to $485 million and $2 billion to $2.05 billion, respectively. Shares of Autodesk have gained about 13 percent so far this year. ADSK YTD

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/12/stocks-making-big-moves-wynn-resorts-starbucks-autodesk-ge-delta.html

ADSK

Autodesk

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Wynn Resorts, Starbucks, Autodesk, GE, Delta & more

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Wynn Resorts , Las Vegas Sands — Shares of the casino operators jumped after Reuters reported that China will endow Macau with a slew of policies aimed at diversifying the gaming hub's economy. Wynn Resorts gained 9.5% while Las Vegas Sands traded 5% higher. Starbucks – Shares of the coffee chain jumped 1.9% after J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral and hiked its 12-month price target to $94 per share from $90 per share. The firm said it met with Starbucks management and "sensed a new confidence." J.P. Morgan said it expects sales momentum to continue. Autodesk — Shares of the software company fell 1% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to an underweight rating. The firm said that after the stock's roughly 12% gain in the last month there isn't a lot of upside ahead. General Electric – Shares of the troubled conglomerate rose 4.3% after a new UBS analyst assumed coverage on GE with a buy rating. The buy rating represents an upgrade in the firm's opinion of GE, as the previous analyst had a neutral rating. Ciena – Shares of the optical networking company surged 20.4% after reporting revenue that beat expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter. Ciena earnings $968 million, topping estimates at $964.3 million, according to Refinitiv. The company issued guidance in the mid-range of estimates. The company's earnings fell short of expectations. Delta Air Lines — Delta shares rose 2.9% after the airline giant issued 2020 guidance that topped analyst expectations. The company said it expects earnings to range between $6.75 per share and $7.75 per share. That's above a Refinitiv estimate of $7.03 per share. Bill.com – Shares of fintech company Bill.com soared a whopping 61.4% on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The company sells software services to small and medium sized business to help with payment processes and was priced at $22 per share prior to its market debut. The stock is now above $35 per share. Charles Schwab — The firm's stock rose 3% after an analyst at Compass Point upgraded Charles Schwab to buy from neutral, citing compelling earnings growth over the long haul after it acquires TD Ameritrade . Lululemon – The athletic wear brand's stock dropped 3.7% after Lululemon reported third-quarter results that beat on the top and bottom lines but provided fourth-quarter guidance that, at best, may just meet Wall Street's expectations, according to a FactSet survey of analysts. Lululemon, one of the hottest stocks of the year, is up over 80%. It forecast fourth-quarter earnings between $2.10 a share and $2.13 a share while analysts expected $2.13 a share. Peloton – Shares of the exercise equipment maker fell 3.7%, as the stock headed toward its third straight day of losses since noted short seller Andrew Left, founder of Citron Research, said the stock could drop to $5 per share. – CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald, Fred Imbert and Pippa Stevens contributed to this report.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/after-hours-buzz-urbn-adsk-hrb-more.html

ADSK

Autodesk

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Urban Outfitters, Autodesk, H&R Block, Boeing, Caterpillar & more

People outside at an Urban Outfitters store in New York City. Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Tuesday: Shares of Caterpillar dropped 3 percent and Boeing 's stock fell more than 2 percent in extended trading amid concerns about President Trump's plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. Shares of Urban Outfitters plunged more than 5 percent after hours. The clothing retailer announced earnings per share and revenue that beat estimates, but its gross margin came in below expectations. The year-over-year margin rate dropped significantly, primarily due to delivery and logistics expenses. It cites guaranteed delivery dates and penetration of international and furniture shipments as reasons for the increased expenses. Autodesk stock surged 8 percent in extended trading. The software company announced earnings and revenue that surpassed Wall Street expectations, but first-quarter guidance was light. H&R Block stock gained more than 8 percent in the extended session. The tax preparation company's EPS and revenue were better than expected, and the company reported a loss-per-share that was 13 cents smaller than estimated. Ross Stores shares fell nearly 6 percent after the bell. The discount retail chain reported earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations, but guidance for the upcoming quarter was weak. CEO Barbara Rentler said that the retail environment is competitive and they hope to do better, but continue to take a "prudent" approach with guidance. Shares of AeroVironment plummeted more than 9 percent after hours. The technology company reported revenue that beat estimates and EPS that fell 9 cents below the consensus. Bluegreen Vacations shares rose more than 2 percent after hours. The vacation rental company reported revenue that fell slightly below estimates but beat on EPS by 82 cents. This is the company's first earnings report since its IPO in December. Sunrun stock fell more than 8 percent in extended trading. The solar energy equipment supplier beat estimates on revenue but missed EPS estimates by 13 cents. Bojangles ' stock rose nearly 5 percent after hours. The regional fast-food chain reported EPS and revenue that beat Wall Street estimates. Same-store sales for the quarter were down 3.1 percent though, with guidance for the upcoming year predicting same-store sales to remain flat or grow very slightly. Shares of Editas Medicine fell nearly 6 percent after the bell. The pharmaceutical company reported a loss per share of 84 cents and revenue of $3.6 million, disappointing analysts. Korn/Ferry shares gained nearly 4 percent after hours. The search and recruiting firm announced EPS that beat estimates by 12 cents and revenue that also surpassed expectations. ABM Industries stock dropped nearly 7 percent in extended trading. The facility management provider reported earnings and revenue that were in line with estimates but guidance was weak. The company attests its light guidance to the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/21/subscription-model-helps-autodesk-revenue-beat-estimates.html

ADSK

Autodesk

Subscription model helps Autodesk revenue beat estimates

Autodesk reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue, as the maker of computer-aided design software benefits from its switch to a cloud-based subscription model. The company's shares rose about 3 percent in after-market trade as it also raised its full-year revenue growth forecast. Chief Executive Carl Bass said the company is making progress in its transition to a more recurring, subscription-based business, adding about 121,000 subscriptions in the third quarter. Subscription revenue rose 15 percent in the quarter. Autodesk raised its revenue growth forecast to 9-10 percent from 7-9 percent for the year ending Jan. 31. The company forecast full-year adjusted profit of $1.15- $1.18 per share. Analysts on average were expecting full-year profit of $1.19 per share on revenue of $2.47 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Autodesk's flagship AutoCAD software is used by construction, engineering and manufacturing companies to design and simulate real-world performance of their products. The company said it expected to add 325,000-375,000 net subscribers on a net basis this year, up from its earlier forecast of 200,000-250,000 net additions. Autodesk's net income fell to $10.7 million, or 5 cents per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 31, from $57.6 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned 25 cents per share, above analysts' average estimate of 22 cents per share. Revenue rose 11 percent to $618 million, breezing past analysts' average estimate of $601.9 million. The stock closed at $58.41 on the Nasdaq. Up to Thursday's close, stock had gained about 16 percent this year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/13/lightning-round-autodesk-ariad-pharma-and-more.html

ADSK

Autodesk

Lightning Round: Autodesk, Ariad Pharma & more

It's that time again! The Lightning Round bell has rung, and Jim Cramer gave his take on a few favorite audience stocks: Autodesk : "It had a great quarter and I feel like we missed it, frankly. I was waiting for a pullback, but it was a really really good quarter. I liked it." Chicago Bridge & Iron : "There was a slam job that was done and I didn't really appreciate it. But the problem is that this is deeply linked with the West Texas and brent oil and as that complex goes down the stock will go down too." Eastman Kodak Co : "No, I haven't liked the quarter. It wasn't so good. Since they came public I tried to find a good reason to own it and I don't have one." Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc : "Here's the problem on that one. This is one that I have not liked, it's a very speculative stock... It's a speculative stock that I am not in favor of, but that doesn't mean you can't own it." Affymetrix : "This company has over time teased a lot of people into doing great things, and then disappointed them with their DNA technology. But I do believe in personalized medicine, therefore I am not going to go against the stock." DCT Industrial Trust : "DCT is interesting ... but I always default to Federal Realty ." ---------------------------------------------------------- Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: Apple & oil—what you need to know Cramer: Oil drop produces winners Cramer: This stock is ready to roar ---------------------------------------------------------- Western Refining : "I don't want to touch anything in the oil patch right now." FMSA Holdings : "We got out of the sand game. People hated that we told them to sell, sell, sell. But you know what? That's the way it works in this business."

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-microsoft-mattel-f5-draftkings-clorox-and-more.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Microsoft, Mattel, F5, DraftKings, Clorox and more

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Corning — Shares of the tech and specialty glass company rallied 11.1% after beating on the top and bottom lines of its quarterly results. Corning earned 54 cents per share on revenue of $3.71 billion. Wall Street expected earnings of 52 cents per share on revenue of $3.59 billion, according to Refinitiv. DraftKings — The sports-betting stock jumped 5.2% following an upgrade to overweight from equal weight from Morgan Stanley. The firm said in a note that DraftKings was likely to be one of the long-term winners in the competitive online gambling space. F5 — Shares of the cloud security company slid 8.4% following current quarter guidance issued by F5 that fell below analysts' expectations. The company also cut its full-year outlook, citing supply chain issues. Mattel — The toy stock jumped 4.3% after Mattel announced that it had won back the license to make toys based on the Walt Disney princess lineup. The company had lost the license to rival Hasbro in 2016. Microsoft — Shares of Microsoft climbed 2.8% after the company gave an upbeat forecast for the current quarter on continued growth in cloud services revenue. It also reported a quarterly profit of $2.48 per share, beating analysts' estimates by 17 cents, as well as revenue that beat forecasts. Automatic Data Processing — Shares of ADP dropped 8.9% despite the payroll firm reporting better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings. The company earned $1.65 per share, topping estimates of $1.63 per share, according to Refinitiv. ADP also beat Wall Street's revenue forecasts. Kimberly-Clark Corporation — The consumer products maker's shares fell 3.3% after issuing weaker-than-expected guidance on earnings and revenue. The company beat expectations for per-share earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter, however. Boeing — The aerospace company's shares dropped 4.8% after it reported a much wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and missed on revenue. It also said it took a $3.5 billion pretax charge on its 787 Dreamliners after production issues delayed its delivery of the planes for the last 15 months. Moderna — Moderna shares added 1.5% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to hold from sell, mainly on valuation. Deutsche noted the shares "now both through our prior price target and discounted cash flow and at a more reasonable c$65bn valuation." Rollins — Rollins' shares fell 4.9% after the company reported quarterly earnings or 13 cents per share. That was slightly lower than analysts' expectations of 15 cents per share, according to FactSet. The pest control company also reported a revenue beat for the quarter. Clorox — Shares of the cleaning products company fell 5.6% after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to underperform, noting that pandemic-era sales growth may reverse. The firm said that if growth slows, Clorox could have difficulty navigating inflation in its supply chain. — CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-in-the-premarket-boeing-att-vf-corp-starbucks-more.html

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Automatic Data Processing

Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: Boeing, AT&T, VF Corp., Starbucks & more

Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket: Boeing (BA) – Boeing reported a quarterly loss of $15.25 per share, which included $8.3 billion in charges relating to the 737 Max and a delay in the 777-X program, among other factors. Boeing's revenue came in above Wall Street forecasts. Separately, EU regulators have cleared the MAX for a return to service in Europe. Boeing shares slipped 2.4% in premarket trading as of 7:49 a.m. ET. AT&T (T) – AT&T beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines, and also added a greater-than-expected number of post-paid phone subscribers. Separately, AT&T was hit with a $1.35 billion lawsuit by Seattle-based Network Apps, which accused AT&T of stealing its device synchronization technology following the end of a joint venture between the two companies. Shares of AT&T fell 2.5% in the premarket. VF Corp. (VFC) – The maker of Vans sneakers and North Face outerwear beat estimates by 3 cents a share, with quarterly earnings of 93 cents per share. Revenue was essentially in line with estimates. VF also raised its forecast, as work-from-home consumers embrace its leisurewear. The company's shares slid 3.5% in premarket trading. Automatic Data Processing (ADP) – The payroll processing company reported quarterly earnings of $1.52 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 a share. Revenue also came in above forecasts. ADP also raised its full-year forecast. ADP shares slipped 1% in the premarket. Blackstone (BX) – The private-equity firm reported distributable earnings per share of $1.13, compared to a consensus estimate of 89 cents a share. Its results were helped by a jump in the value of its private-equity portfolio amid gains in the overall market. Nasdaq (NDAQ) – The exchange operator reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for its latest quarter, helped by a surge in trading volumes. Microsoft (MSFT) – Microsoft earned $2.03 per share for its latest quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 a share. Revenue topped estimates as well. Microsoft's Azure cloud computing unit had a particularly strong quarter, with revenue rising 50% from a year earlier. Shares rose 1.16% in the premarket. Starbucks (SBUX) – Starbucks came in 6 cents a share ahead of estimates, with quarterly profit of 61 cents per share. The coffee chain's revenue fell shy of analysts' forecasts as global comparable-store sales fell more than expected. Separately, Starbucks announced the departure of Chief Operating Officer Rosalind Brewer, who will leave to become the Chief Executive Officer at Walgreens (WBA). Starbucks shares fell 2.7% in premarket trading. GameStop (GME) – The video game retailer's stock is surging once again in premarket trading, adding to the 685% it had already gained during 2021 amid a surge in buying by retail investors and a "short squeeze." The latest surge follows a one-word tweet by Tesla CEO Elon Musk about the stock late yesterday that took note of its 2021 jump. Texas Instruments (TXN) – Texas Instruments reported quarterly profit of $1.64 per share, 30 cents a share above estimates. The chip maker's revenue was also above forecasts. It also gave an upbeat current-quarter revenue forecast, helped by strong demand for chips used in personal electronics. Its shares dropped 2.8% in the premarket. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) – AMD beat estimates by 5 cents a share, with quarterly earnings of 52 cents per share. The chip maker's revenue came in above consensus as well. AMD saw strong demand for chips used on gaming consoles, personal computers and data centers, and it also gave an upbeat 2021 sales forecast. AMD shares fell 2.8% in premarket trading. Capital One (COF) – Capital One reported better than expected profit and revenue for its latest quarter, helped by smaller provisions for credit losses. The company's shares rose 3% in the premarket. Southwest Airlines (LUV) – Southwest is making another round of voluntary leave offers to workers, according to a memo first reported by Bloomberg News. The airline said it remains overstaffed in many areas as the pandemic continues to hurt travel demand. Southwest's shares fell 1.5% in premarket trading. Allstate (ALL) – Allstate is selling most of its life insurance business to private equity firm Blackstone (BX) for $2.8 billion. The deal is expected to close during the second half of 2021. Las Vegas Sands (LVS) – Las Vegas Sands named Robert Goldstein Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, following the Jan. 11 death of company founder and CEO Sheldon Adelson. Goldstein, who will appear on CNBC's "Power Lunch" Thursday at 2 p.m. ET, had been serving as acting CEO of the casino operator since Adelson first went on medical leave. The company's shares fell 1.1% in the premarket. Sanofi (SNY) – The French drugmaker will be helping Germany's BioNTech (BNTX) produce more of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer (PFE). The collaboration is an effort to reduce vaccine shortfalls in the European Union. Target (TGT) – Target and Levi Strauss (LEVI) announced an expansion of their partnership, launching "Levi's For Target Home Collection" featuring home décor and lifestyle items.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/27/social-investing-gets-a-boost-from-an-unlikely-source-activists.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

Social and sustainable investing gets a boost from an unlikely source: Wall Street activists

"I actually have wanted to run a proxy contest with an all-female, diverse, ethnic slate ... I think we'd win, hands-down," Bill Ackman said. "This is hugely important – I think this is a new paradigm for smart investing," Robbins told a crowd at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Summit last week. Several high-profile activists – including Cliff Robbins of Blue Harbour Group and Barry Rosenstein of Jana Partners – see environmental and social factors as profit plays. watch now Wall Street's activist investors, once known for pushing for extreme cost-cutting or just about anything that would boost the bottom line, are starting to use their money to promote a different kind of corporate action: social and environmental change. They are doing this, they say, not only as a matter of moral responsibility, but for their original mission of generating better returns for their clients. Socially responsible investing, long the bastion of faith-based activists and civic do-gooders, can now count several high-profile activists — including Clifton Robbins of Blue Harbour Group and Barry Rosenstein of Jana Partners – among its acolytes. This kind of investing is known as "ESG" for environmental, social and governance factors. Assets under management in U.S.-based socially responsible investing strategies climbed to $8.72 trillion at the start of 2016, roughly 20 percent of all investment under professional management and an increase of 33 percent from the start of 2014. Those numbers — published every two years by US SIF: the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, a Washington, D.C., trade group whose members include numerous mutual and pension funds — are likely higher given the growing interest in the space. While research remains limited, early academic analysis from Harvard Business School finds firms with an emphasis on environmental and social issues have a significantly higher annualized return. 'A new paradigm' In an annual speech to hedge fund leaders last Tuesday, Robbins, Blue Harbour's chief executive, said that social and environmental considerations have become integral to how the fund's partners decide where to invest its $3 billion in assets. "This is hugely important – I think this is a new paradigm for smart investing," he told the crowd at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Summit last week. "Now when I'm calling up a CEO three months after we make an investment, in addition to saying: 'Where are we on the spin-out? Where are we on the balance sheet? Where are we on the margins?' I'm saying, 'Where are we on that commitment you made to me to make the board more diverse?'" Known as "the friendly activist," the Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund prides itself on having never sued or run a proxy contest against a company since Robbins first founded the firm in 2004. Instead, Blue Harbour has made a name for itself through meticulous work with company management, a process Robbins considers "one of the most important" in determining whether to invest. That simultaneous focus on both management and ESG was recently put to the test when the fund accrued a 4 percent stake in software company Open Text, according to David Silverman, managing director at Blue Harbour who quarterbacks the fund's ESG efforts. For an industry infamous for its lack of gender diversity, Open Text's decision to appoint Madhu Ranganathan as chief financial officer this month came as welcome news to the Blue Harbour team. "Open Text just added a new CFO who happens to be a woman of diverse background ... we think she's going to be a great CFO," Silverman told CNBC. "That's important at a tech company, as more broadly in the industry there have been issues of diversity and inclusion." While taking steps to diversify a company's management or board may have its own ethical benefits, Silverman reiterated that Blue Harbour's focus on ESG stems from financial interest. It's those types of company-specific ESG concerns, he said, which can help concentrated activists unlock previously hidden value. But Blue Harbour isn't the only activist fund integrating socially responsible investing into fund management. Barry Rosenstein, founder of Jana Partners. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Rosenstein's Jana Partners also has been exploring the space, most recently hiring former BlackRock fund manager Dan Hanson to oversee a new fund targeting companies on issues like climate change and wage inequality, according to a Reuters report. Jana is recruiting several social activists (and rock star Sting) to pool cash for the fund – expected to be called Jana Impact Capital – in its effort to put pressure on companies they feel can be better corporate citizens. In kicking off its latest push into socially responsible investing, the $5 billion hedge fund teamed up with the California State Teachers' Retirement System (or CalSTRS), which controls roughly $2 billion in Apple equity, to urge the iPhone maker to develop new settings to help parents control children's time on mobile devices. Jana believes could easily fix what the firm sees as a pernicious problem of young people getting addicted to the tech giant's phones. "This should be an easy fix for Apple," Rosenstein told CNBC in January. "There's no question that it needs to be more responsive to children's needs and children's activities." The fund manager added that he's received "hundreds and hundreds" of letters and emails from parents supporting his position, which reflects the need for a fix. "There's overwhelming agreement in the general public about the need for this," he said. Higher returns A forthcoming paper from Harvard Business School has given investors early hope that these types of investments could lead to more than good public relations. Part of the problem in determining whether firms with a focus on ESG outperform peers is parsing out which companies are "for real," according to Harvard Business School professor George Serafeim, who leads the school's research and curricula center on corporate sustainability. For those who can pull it off, the rewards appear to be starting to show. Serafeim and his colleagues found that firms scoring in the top quintile of the total quintile of the total MSCI KLD index – a list of 400 U.S. securities with exposure to companies with ostensibly good ESG ratings – post significant, 2.16 percent higher annualized stock returns. This outperformance, his research finds, is driven solely by firms at the top quintile of a custom-designed materiality index, with companies in the top quintile of the index outperforming the market by 6.47 percent annually. "How can you say you've factored in ESG issues when you been invested in energy companies for years and yet have not had a single conversation about capital expenditure on emission?" Serafeim told CNBC. "What we have learned is that some of the ESG issues are actually financially material. ... Hedge funds are recognizing that, from the deep value perspective, this is a very useful lens." Source: Hedge Fund Research, Inc. So many companies now identify sustainability issues as strategically important that the "materiality" of the reported sustainability investments for firm value is harder to determine, Serafirm said. For example, ESG issues for large internet and data companies like Facebook and Google – such as data privacy and employee diversity – are material issues. In contrast, for household and personal product companies like Procter & Gamble and Unilever, packaging life cycle management and supply chain impacts are more material. However, Harvard's early research shows that of the more than 2,000 companies examined, those that drill down on firm- or industry-specific, "material" ESG issues significantly outperform. A work in progress

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/02/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-cvs-clx-el-grmn-yum-adp-more.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: CVS, CLX, EL, GRMN, YUM, ADP & more

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: CVS Health – CVS reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.48 per share, 7 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also beat forecasts. The company's results got a boost from higher sales of prescription drugs at its stores, among other factors. Clorox – Clorox beat estimates by 6 cents a share, earning $1.37 per share for its latest quarter. The household products maker also saw revenue beat estimates, but did see its profit margins impacted by higher commodity costs. Estee Lauder – The cosmetics company earned an adjusted $1.17 for its latest quarter, beating consensus forecasts by 10 cents a share. Revenue also beat estimates and the company gave an upbeat 2018 forecast as well. Garmin – The maker of GPS devices reported quarterly profit of 68 cents per share, 12 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also topped estimates amid strong growth across categories like fitness, aviation, marine, and outdoor. Molson Coors – The beer brewer fell 30 cents a share short of estimates, with adjusted quarterly profit of 48 cents per share. Revenue also fell short amid what the company calls weak U.S. industry conditions. Yum Brands – The parent of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell came in 22 cents a share above estimates, with quarterly earnings of 90 cents per share. Revenue beat estimates, but comparable-store sales did not. Automatic Data Processing – The payroll processor edged out estimates by a penny a share, with quarterly profit of $1.45 per share. Revenue exceeded forecasts, as well, and the company raised its full-year earnings forecast. Generac – The maker of power generators for homes and businesses reported adjusted quarterly profit of 74 cents per share, 11 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also beat Street forecasts, powered by a better than 20 percent increase in organic sales. Humana – Humana's Medicare Advantage business helped the health insurer beat estimates by 17 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $3.36 per share. Revenue beat forecasts, and the company raised its full-year guidance. Apple – Apple came in 6 cents a share ahead of estimates, with quarterly profit of $2.73 per share. Revenue also above Street forecasts. Apple also increased its quarterly dividend by 16 percent to 73 cents per share, and announced a $100 billion stock buyback program. IPhone shipments did come in slightly below consensus forecasts for the quarter. Xerox – CEO Jeff Jacobson and most of the company's board will step down as part of a settlement with major Xerox shareholders Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason. The settlement comes after Icahn and Deason won a court order temporarily blocking the office equipment maker's plan to sell a controlling stake to Japan's Fujifilm. Snap – Snap posted an in-line loss of 17 cents per share for its latest quarter, but the Snapchat parent's revenue missed forecasts and its forward guidance and daily active users were weaker than estimates as well. That follows a redesign of the Snapchat app that's received a mixed reaction. Gilead Sciences – Gilead fell 19 cents a share shy of estimates with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.48 per share, and the biotech company's revenue also fell short of Street forecasts. The results were hurt by a bigger than expected drop in sales of Gilead's hepatitis C drugs. T-Mobile US – T-Mobile reported quarterly profit of 78 cents per share, 7 cents a share above estimates, with the wireless carrier's revenue also above forecasts as it added more subscribers. Mondelez International – Mondelez edged out consensus estimates by a penny a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 62 cents per share. The snack maker also saw revenue come in above forecasts and Mondelez said it says "encouraging" growth prospects. Amazon.com – Amazon is planning new benefits for Prime members who shop at its Whole Foods unit, according to sources who spoke to CNBC. Among them: An additional 10 percent off already-discounted products at the supermarket chain. Shutterfly – Shutterfly lost 69 cents per share for its latest quarter, smaller than the 93 cent a share loss predicted by Wall Street analysts. The online photo service's revenue topped estimates and Shutterfly boosted its guidance for the full year. Tesla – Tesla was sued by Utah-based Nikola Motor for patent infringement involving the automaker's Tesla Semi, its electric heavy duty truck. Nikola said the design is "substantially" similar to the patented design used in its Nikola One truck. Novartis – The drugmaker won Food and Drug Administration approval for use its cell therapy treatment Kymnah for patients with lymphoma. Juniper Networks – Juniper reported quarterly profit of 28 cents per share, 2 cents a share above estimates. The networking gear maker seeing revenue above forecasts, as well. Juniper also raised its current quarter forecast as demand from its data center customers increases.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/cramer-remix-what-trumps-endgame-with-china-could-really-be-about.html

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Automatic Data Processing

Cramer Remix: What Trump’s endgame with China could really be about

watch now Eli Lilly: Encapsulating market sentiment? An employee works on the production of insulin pens at the factory of the US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in Fegersheim, France. Frederick Florin | AFP | Getty Images While markets were tepid on Monday ahead of a historic summit between the United States and North Korea, Cramer noticed a separate pattern taking hold on Wall Street. "While the market certainly looked comatose, we're witnessing some tremendous breakouts all over the place, breakouts that typically would be held back by the gravitational pull of profit-taking or higher interest rates or, yes, politics," he said. Strangely enough, Cramer didn't see many of those bearish theories meaningfully weighing on stocks in Monday's session. Instead, analysts took to the tape to raise their price targets on stocks of companies they thought needed value-related boosts, he said. Cramer pointed to Eli Lilly . Until recently, shares of the pharmaceutical company had been toiling in the low $70s after several of its latest earnings reports had failed to impress investors. But over the past several months, the stock has been "sneaking up, seemingly for no good reason," Cramer noted. That, he said, prompted J.P. Morgan's pharmaceutical industry analyst to issue a very positive note on the drugmaker. We're sorry, Jack Dorsey Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square Mike Segar | Reuters It's no secret that Cramer has long thought that Jack Dorsey, the CEO of both Twitter and Square , needs to stop splitting his time between the two companies. The "Mad Money" host would go from questioning how Dorsey could run two companies at once to calling him a "part-time CEO," arguing that he should focus on running one company, not two. "And you know what? I was dead wrong," Cramer said Monday. "Jack Dorsey has been doing a dynamite job at both companies. And because I'm a big believer in accountability, I've gotta tell you: Dorsey deserves a lot more credit than he's been getting." In a sweeping mea culpa, Cramer admitted that Dorsey has pulled off running two separate, complicated companies at the same time: Twitter, a sprawling social media play, and Square, a tech company trying to disrupt old-line payment systems. On the Brink's? Cramer also commended Doug Pertz, the CEO of Brink's , for his hands-on leadership. When shares of the cash management company were in the house of pain at the end of May, Pertz didn't sit quietly and let it happen. "In one bold move, on the last day of May, Brink's got its groove back: the company announced a major acquisition," Cramer said. "They snapped up an outfit called Dunbar Armored, one of their main competitors, and Wall Street absolutely loved this deal." Shares of Brink's, whose ubiquitous armored trucks offer cash-based businesses a secure mode of transportation for their earnings, vaulted 16 percent in a single session after the news broke. "In one fell swoop, Brink's changed the narrative: rather than being a broken momentum stock, which was what it had become, this thing turned into an acquisition-fueled growth story," Cramer said. "However, the stock has been a real wild trader and as much as I like the Dunbar deal, this thing could be a lot more attractive on a pullback. And if you're patient, I think you'll get one." HP vs. ... HP? Finally, Cramer addressed a Wall Street theme that serves as both a blessing and a curse: "nothing in this business matters more than expectations,"he said. For him, few stocks exhibit this better than HP Inc. and HP Enterprise , the two halves spun out of the Hewlett-Packard breakup in 2015. When the split occurred, most market-watchers expected HP Inc., the personal computer and printing business, to be a slow-to-grow dividend play, and HP Enterprise, the hardware, software and information technology business, to drive HP's growth story. But what's happened has been quite the opposite. In the last two years, shares of HP Inc. have vaulted 78 percent while shares of HP Enterprise have gained just 45 percent. "The bottom line? This business loves upsetting expectations. HP Enterprise was meant to be the golden child here. HP Inc was meant to be an afterthought. Two and a half years after the breakup, though, and it's the other way around," Cramer said. "And even after its magnificent run, you know what? I'd still be a buyer of HP Inc here." Lightning round: Not so secure about ADT?

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/31/adp-ceo-says-bill-ackman-proxy-fight-is-water-under-the-bridge.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

ADP CEO calls Ackman proxy fight 'water under the bridge,' says two have 'collegial, professional relationship'

Automatic Data Processing President and CEO Carlos Rodriguez and activist investor Bill Ackman have resolved their differences since Ackman lost a proxy fight against the payroll giant, Rodriguez said Wednesday. "It's all water under the bridge," the CEO told CNBC in an interview with "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer. "We listened very carefully to what Bill had to say. In fact, I've been in touch with him, so we have, I think, what I would call a collegial and professional relationship." In an August 2017 interview with CNBC, Rodriguez slammed Ackman, saying the Pershing Square chief reminded him of a "spoiled brat." In November, Ackman slammed back, calling ADP "very inefficient." The battle ostensibly came to an end when Ackman lost his bid for a seat on ADP's board, though he remained a shareholder. But on Wednesday, Rodriguez brushed the contentious back-and-forth under the rug. "I don't think there's any disagreement about the potential that ADP has. It's really about pace," the CEO said. "You can always move a little bit faster, so there's nothing wrong with someone pushing us to move quicker and have a little more of a sense of urgency." For Rodriguez, the results speak for themselves. Just this morning, ADP delivered a strong earnings beat on the top and bottom lines and raised guidance due to a number of economic tailwinds. "As a matter of fact, [Ackman] did call to congratulate me" on winning the proxy fight in November, Rodriguez told Cramer. "I think it's a good, productive relationship now." Rodriguez also said that the current economic environment is "practically perfect" for ADP, the country's largest payroll processor. The company's high effective tax rate will be reduced by corporate tax cuts, raising the potential for a dividend boost for ADP. In addition, better economic activity, slightly higher inflation and rising interest rates are all boons for the administrative colossus, the CEO said. Rodriguez said that ADP's data is also signaling wage inflation, another positive economic catalyst. But the CEO was focused on a broader trend that is changing what many consider to be the fabric of the American workforce. "The nature of the workforce is changing and gig workers are one of the factors," Rodriguez said. "The most popular image that people have of that is Uber and people kind of working on the side, but it's really across the whole economy. There's approximately 35 million people who work as independent contractors or get a 1099, and ... they need help in terms of compliance, they need help with managing their finances, and the employers who use them as independent contractors need that help as well. So it opens up a whole new market for us in addition to the W-2 employees, which are our traditional source of business." Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Rodriguez said Ackman called to congratulate him on winning the proxy fight.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/07/deepfake-ai-trump-impersonator-highlights-election-fake-news-threat.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

Anti-election meddling group makes A.I.-powered Trump impersonator to warn about 'deepfakes'

Artificial intelligence (AI) is getting frighteningly close to being able to mimic humans, and advances in the technology could be a major risk for democracies worldwide. That's the worry held by the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, a U.S.-European organization looking at combating interference in Western elections by hostile foreign actors. It was set up last year by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark's former prime minister and ex-secretary general of NATO, and Michael Chertoff, former U.S. secretary of homeland security, and is part of Rasmussen's political foundation, the Alliance of Democracies. Members include former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and ex-Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Using technology developed by London-based AI firm ASI Data Science, the pro-democracy group focused its attention on a new phenomenon in online communities known as "deepfakes," computer-generated video or audio made to look or sound as though someone is doing or saying something they have not. ASI gained attention earlier this year for its work with the British government on spotting and removing online Jihadist propaganda. The commission and ASI recently developed an online quiz where users can listen to audio from human impersonators of President Donald Trump — including the voices of comedian Alec Baldwin on "Saturday Night Live" and award-winning Trump impersonator John Di Domenico — alongside algorithm-generated audio mimicking Trump's voice repeating their lines. The idea is that, if people think computer-generated audio sounds anything like Trump, there's nothing to stop malicious actors exploiting the technology to influence opinion during an election. Results from the quiz showed that, out of 267 people, more respondents thought that the AI-powered deepfake audio was closer to Trump than any of the human voice samples — more than 90 percent of people, for instance, found the algorithm-generated version more convincing than Baldwin's Trump impersonation on SNL. The quiz is part of a campaign to raise awareness of deepfake technology and its ability to create convincing renditions of political figures as big as Trump. While interference in elections believed to be led by the likes of Russia and Iran has mainly taken the form of coordinated political influence campaigns on social media and fake news, the commission thinks that new advances in AI could prove worrisome come 2020, when the U.S. votes for a new leader. Deepfakes: 'The next generation of disinformation' Deepfakes come in the form of visual and audio representations that are meant to replicate a celebrity and put words in their mouth or superimpose them onto the body of another person. They first gained notoriety through pornography, with users of the forum site Reddit using the technology to replace the faces of adult entertainers with those of famous actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Maisie Williams. People used an app called FakeApp, built on top of TensorFlow, Google's open-source platform for developing AI algorithms, to create deepfakes for porn. More frivolous examples of the technology's use include inserting actor Nicolas Cage's face into various other movies, including "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Man of Steel." But experts are worried the nascent phenomenon could be a threat to democracy. "We see deepfakes as the next generation of disinformation," Eileen Donahoe, a member of the commission and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, told CNBC in an interview. She said that governments were "not prepared" for interference in previous elections, making the risk of deepfakes being used in future votes even more worrying. High-profile votes including the U.K. Brexit referendum and the U.S. presidential election were plagued by claims of Russian meddling. Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live." NBCU Donahoe said she was especially concerned by the prospect of Russia utilizing the technology, and the potential for other "authoritarian-leaning" governments following the country's lead. "The concern is that there will be a growing movement globally to undermine the quality of the information sphere and undermine the quality of discourse necessary in a democracy," she said. "The endgame is to erode confidence in democracy as a form of governance, and this erosion of quality in the information sphere is the new tactic." The quiz is an attempt to utilize the viral nature of the internet. Social media platforms like Facebook are littered with quizzes and tests aimed at drawing users in — they proved to be part of reason for Facebook's engulfment in a scandal over the improper sharing of user data. The debacle began with the developer of a quiz app sharing the data of 87 million people's profiles with controversial political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Explaining why the commission chose Trump as the subject of the quiz, Donahoe said: "He already has set the stage for people to be concerned about the erosion of trust in information." She suggested the project "takes advantage" of Trump's protests about fake news and disinformation. Viral news site Buzzfeed recently tapped into this idea, creating a fake public service announcement using FakeApp to combine altered footage of former President Barack Obama speaking, with comedian and filmmaker Jordan Peele uttering the words. But that process was no mean feat. Rendering of the footage to make it look smoother "took more than 56 hours of automatic processing," BuzzFeed's David Mack reported at the time. To create the audio component of deepfakes is even more arduous, John Gibson, director of data science consulting at ASI Data Science, told CNBC. "There's a difference between the visual and audio components of this," he said in an interview. "The visual stuff is actually dead easy." He added: "In order to create sound that is persuasive, you need to create huge quantities of information per millisecond, and the technology there is just a little bit less developed." The project used two hours of audio of Trump speaking, and took a matter of days to be put together. "It was a little toy that we put together fairly quickly," Gibson said. The commission and ASI will return to their Trump-imitating AI audio model to create a new one that sounds even more convincing, he added, and are spending around $650 per day on computing power toward improvements. "Now that the project with the commission is properly rolling, we're going back to scratch and building a much better model that today sounds a lot like a robot, but will rapidly supersede the quality of the first model in the quiz," Gibson said. Political ramifications There doesn't yet seem to have been a concrete example of a deepfake being used to imitate a political figure — and certainly not one as high-profile as Trump. But the commission is convinced the phenomenon will become a problem, and is aiming to push awareness, particularly ahead of the U.S. 2020 presidential election. "You can imagine what the political consequences will be at time when billions of people are connecting on networks at the palm of their hands," Nina Schick, an advisor at the commission, told CNBC in an interview. Schick said she was "surprised" the technology was not deployed during this year's U.S. midterm elections. The November contest was affected by some interference, with Facebook claiming that Russia's Internet Research Agency — an organization that has been dubbed a "troll farm" — may have been tied to numerous accounts that tried to sway public opinion ahead of the vote. She added that, at the moment, the barrier to entry for anyone to create deepfake content is "still relatively high." But the ease of access to open-source platforms and rising computing power mean that powerful foreign states like Russia might not be the only actors with the ability to influence elections. "Technology is evolving really, really quickly, and without a doubt potentially malign actors will be putting a lot of resources into this, to the extent that in about 12-18 months time you'll be able to create pretty convincing deepfakes on an app," Schick said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/11/us-regulator-shelves-reform-on-voting-in-board-fights-sources.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

US regulator shelves reform on voting in board fights: Sources

The U.S. securities regulator has shelved a proposed Obama-era reform that would have given shareholders in companies more freedom to vote for their preferred candidates during contested board elections, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The proposal made by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) two weeks before President Donald Trump's election victory would have changed how shareholders vote during activist investor-led fights for board seats, an issue that has divided companies and investors for years. SEC officials have said publicly in recent months that the proposed rule-change remains a priority, raising hopes among activist investors who have pushed for changes, including Pershing Square Capital Management's William Ackman, that the SEC will finalize and implement the rule soon. However, several people familiar with the matter told Reuters the Commission's new boss Jay Clayton has in fact shelved the proposal, in what will be a disappointment for many investors who say the current system favors company management in board fights. Right now, shareholders voting remotely have to choose from a full slate of board directors nominated by the management or a competing set of nominees provided by an activist investor. Unlike in many countries such as Canada and Australia, U.S. investors cannot mix and match from these competing lists unless they send a representative to vote in person at the annual meeting. According to the SEC, the vast majority of votes in the United States are cast remotely, so such constraints can influence who ultimately ends up controlling the board and company strategy. Activist investors say the present system works against them because shareholders are more likely to play it safe and vote for the management list, even if they like some of the activists' candidates. Companies say changing the rules would spark more disruptive and harmful activist-led fights. In October 2016, the SEC under Clayton's predecessor Mary Jo White proposed the so-called "universal proxy" rule allowing shareholders to remotely vote from a mix-and-match list. But Trump's victory subsequently saw the Republican party, which is eager to loosen rules it says are deterring firms from going public, take over the SEC with Republican Commissioner Michael Piwowar becoming acting chair in January 2017 until Clayton's appointment in May 2017. The people, who declined to be named because internal SEC discussions are private, said the "universal proxy" proposal was dead for the foreseeable future. They said it was unlikely Clayton, a political independent who leans toward the right, would support the rule given he has said his priority is to boost company listings. While Piwowar, who strongly opposed the rule, finished his term this month, Clayton's vote would likely still be necessary to finalize the changes, one of the people said. For a rule change to pass, the majority of commissioners must vote for it. Hester Peirce, the other Republican commissioner, told Reuters she had "not come to any conclusions" on the issue and would need to review all the industry comments before doing so. The proposal is still on the agency's official long-term agenda, but has fallen off a list of its 12-month priorities drawn-up in March. While some senior SEC officials would like to reprise the rule, this is unlikely to happen under the current administration, the people said. Clayton declined to comment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/04/eu-signs-new-trade-deal-with-vietnam-as-hanoi-benefits-amid-trade-war.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

Trump threatened Hanoi on trade, but Vietnam just teamed up with the EU on a big new deal

European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom (L), and Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh (R) sign the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in Hanoi on June 30, 2019. Tien Tuan | AFP | Getty Images Vietnam and the European Union on Sunday inked a first-of-its-kind trade deal that will eliminate 99% of tariffs on goods imported from the Asian developing nation to the bloc. As the ongoing U.S.-China tariff battle upends global trade, many countries are worried about suffering ill effects. The EU-Vietnam deal demonstrates, however, that Hanoi is poised to come out of the era as one of the great beneficiaries. And even though U.S. President Donald Trump suggested recently that Vietnam could be his next major tariffs target, the new deal is likely to provide economic cushion for the Southeast Asian nation. In fact, the European Union described the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement as "the most ambitious free trade deal ever concluded with a developing country." "From Vietnam's perspective, enhanced access to the EU market could not come quickly enough," said Brian Harding, deputy director and fellow at the Southeast Asia Program of think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. Vietnam is currently the EU's 16th largest trade partner the trading bloc's second-largest trading partner among Southeast Asian countries, according to the European Commission. In 2018, the country exported $42.5 billion worth of goods and services to the EU. The value of imports from the region reached $13.8 billion, official data shows. The Vietnamese government said on Sunday that the EVFTA would boost EU exports to Vietnam by 15.28% and those from Vietnam to the EU by 20.0% by 2020. That'll be the latest addition to Hanoi's increasing tally of strong bonds with the global trading system. "Vietnam is taking extraordinary steps to accelerate economic growth by making difficult domestic reforms and actively seeking new markets," Harding explained. The country now has "preferential access to the EU, Canada, and Mexico," Harding said, adding that he therefore expects "further growth in Vietnamese exports to these economies." A winner amid the US-China trade war Vietnam's economy is now one of the fastest growing economies in the region, and it's mostly supported by robust domestic demand and export-oriented manufacturing, according to the World Bank. watch now Hanoi has come out on top as the the largest beneficiary of diversions resulting from the trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. In a June report produced by Nomura, the Japanese investment bank estimated that Vietnam gained a 7.9% increase in its gross domestic product from new business seeking alternatives amid the ongoing tariff battle Specifically, the products that have experienced the greatest increase in exports from the Southeast Asian nation are phone parts, furniture, and automatic data process machines, according to Nomura. All of those are goods traditionally exported from China to the United States. "Vietnam is clearly benefiting from the trade war and is emerging as an alternative favorite for companies," said a report produced by Dezan Shira & Associates in April. Harding echoed that assessment, adding that, among the many Southeast Asian countries trying to take advantage of the trade war, "Vietnam has clearly been the winner." Hanoi's American trade ties The increase in Vietnamese exports can also be largely attributed to free trade agreements the country has strategically entered into over the last few years. That includes the multinational Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is the updated version of the now-defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership. When Trump pulled out of the 12-nation TPP, apparently resigning the deal to history's wastebasket, Hanoi was deeply disappointed, according to Harding. Still, he told CNBC, Vietnam has nevertheless benefited significantly from the reworked 11-party pact, especially from having access to Canadian and Mexican markets. Storm clouds may be gathering, however, Harding warned. A surging U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam means the Southeast Asian country should be worried because there "is clearly a risk for the overall relationship, given President Trump's perspective on bilateral trade balances." Ky Anh town in the central province of Ha Tinh. Hoang Dinh Nam | AFP | Getty Images The U.S. Commerce Department announced on Tuesday that it will impose duties of up to 456% on certain steel imported from Vietnam, specifically referring to steel products that are made in South Korea or Taiwan and then shipped to Vietnam for minor processing and final exportation to the United States. In fact, Trump recently upped the rhetoric on Hanoi, telling an interviewer that "Vietnam is almost the single worst — that's much smaller than China, much — but it's almost the single worst abuser of everybody." Hanoi now seemingly has a target on its back, but Harding said the country isn't at risk of White House-induced economic disaster. "If Trump does begin to talk seriously about tariffs, Vietnam will not be caught off guard," he said, adding that the government there has "navigated the Trump administration quite well." Mutual benefits While the new trade deal apparently represents a solid victory for Vietnamese exporters, it also signals that Europe is serious about diversifying its trade relationships. The bilateral trade and investment negotiations between the EU and Vietnam were launched in 2012 and finalized in 2018. That pact, along with the bloc's recent deal with Southeast Asian city-state Singapore, makes for for what EU officials described as "stepping stones to a greater engagement between the EU and the region." Looking at the bigger picture, Southeast Asia is the EU's third-largest trading partner after the U.S. and China, so any free trade advancements in the region are significant for the bloc. Gantry cranes stand next to containers at Tan Cang-Hiep Phuoc Port in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Bloomberg | Getty Images

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/10/adp-ceo-bill-ackman-reminds-me-of-a-spoiled-brat.html

ADP

Automatic Data Processing

ADP CEO unleashes on Ackman, calling hedge fund activist trying to remove him a 'spoiled brat'

The CEO of payroll processing company ADP on Thursday likened activist investor Bill Ackman's moves against his leadership to that of a "spoiled brat" who "doesn't know what he's talking about." Carlos Rodriguez of Automatic Data Processing made his comments on CNBC after Ackman's Pershing Square took an 8 percent stake in the payroll company and nominated three people, including Ackman, to the ADP board. Rodriguez said Ackman had requested an extension to the nomination deadline, citing vacation plans and the fact that he "simply wasn't ready." "It kind of reminds me a little bit of a spoiled brat in school asking the teacher for an extension for their homework," Rodriguez said on "Squawk on the Street" in an interview with David Faber. Rodriguez said Ackman requested a 30- to 45-day extension on the nomination deadline, then revised it down to a week, but then added he might need more time after that. ADP revealed last Friday that Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management took an 8 percent stake in the company, mostly in derivatives. Rodriguez said Ackman called him to lay out "a series of reasons why" Rodriguez should not be CEO. "I honestly can't make heads or tails of what's going on," Rodriguez said. "What it feels like is I'm negotiating with someone about buying a used car. And this is not a used car. This is a company that has 58,000 employees, $50 billion market cap and a lot of shareholders that we have of responsibility toward." Rodriguez said the company is in the process of scheduling a meeting with Ackman in "early September." The two men attended Harvard together, but despite suggestions they may be friends, Rodriguez said he met Ackman "once, 31 years ago in college" and is not on "his holiday greeting card list as far as I can tell." Last week, Omega Advisors Chairman and CEO Leon Cooperman, who served on ADP's board for two decades through 2012, told Ackman not to interfere with the payroll processor's operations. Rodriguez was named CEO in 2011. "This is a quality management that has done a great job over many years for the shareholders," Cooperman wrote in an email to Ackman. The email was obtained by CNBC's Scott Wapner. "The idea that you can tell these guys how to run their business doesn't strike me as intelligent or appropriate." Rodriguez said ADP was open to ideas Ackman had for improving the business, but noted that the activist's information so far seemed to come mostly from "disgruntled, former employees." "I'm directly saying he doesn't know what he's talking about," Rodriguez told CNBC on Thursday. "Frankly we haven't heard any ideas yet because he wasn't ready to share his ideas, but should he have come up with something or stumbled on some kind of idea that would enhance the value of ADP, of course we're going to listen to him." Shares of ADP came off session lows to trade about 0.3 percent lower at midday Thursday after the interview. Shares are down nearly 9 percent for the month. In a statement Friday, ADP compared it six-year stock performance under Rodriguez to Pershing Square's hedge fund returns from 2012 to 2016. "Since Carlos Rodriguez became CEO nearly six years ago, ADP's total shareholder return of 202% is well in excess of the S&P 500 TSR of 128% - and is many multiples of Pershing's TSR of 29%." Ackman has stumbled recently with high-profile bets on Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Chipotle Mexican Grill . — CNBC's Tae Kim and Angelica LaVito contributed to this report.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/22/after-hours-buzz-herbalife-autozone-more.html

AZO

AutoZone

After-hours buzz: Herbalife, Autozone, & more

Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Monday: Herbalife rose nearly 4 percent in extended-hours trading after Fox Business Network reporter Charles Gasparino said that activist investor Carl Icahn had not sold his stake or his option position, contrary to rumors from Barron's report that came just before the closing bell. Auto parts retailer Autozone edged lower in extended-hours trading after the firm reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue as a strengthening U.S. economy encouraged new vehicle purchases rather than repair existing ones. Yahoo continued to fall in extended-hours trading after earlier losing more than 5 percent on downgrades by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Bernstein. Alibaba declined more than Yahoo in after-hours trading. Shutterfly gained in after-hours trading on news that private equity firm Silver Lake was in Dresser-Rand fell slightly in extended-hours trading after Germany's Siemens agreed to buy the U.S. oilfield equipment maker for $7.6 billion in cash, a relatively high price in an effort to increase its presence in the U.S. shale oil and gas industry. Apple edged lower in extended-hours trading on rumors that the firm might discontinue Beats music streaming, after gaining during the day on record iPhone sales of more than 10 million units in the first three days of the new models' launch.

https://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/26/midday-movers-google-autozone-macys-more.html

AZO

AutoZone

Midday movers: Google, AutoZone, Macy's & more

Barnes & Noble fell after the nation's largest bookstore chain reported an 8 percent drop in quarterly revenue. Google gained. Its Motorola unit started selling its $179 Moto G cheap smartphone today, more than a month ahead of schedule. Jos. A. Bank rose after Men's Wearhouse offered $1.5 billion, or $55 a share, for its rival. In October Jos. A. Bank offered to buy Men's Wearhouse for $2.3 billion, or $48 a share. Jos. A. Bank said it would review the offer and respond in due course. Take a look at some of Tuesday's midday movers: Take Two Interactive Software declined lower after it said it was buying back all of Carl Icahn's shares. Three directors nominated by the activist investor resigned. Weatherford gained after the oil-services company agreed to pay $253 million to settle longstanding charges brought by U.S. regulators. Aeropostale said it has adopted a poison pill that will be triggered if a stockholder buys 10 percent of the company. Last week, shareholder Crescendo Partners urged the teen-clothing retailer to sell itself. Macy's hit another record high. Zack's upgraded the department store retailer to neutral from under perform, citing management strategies, particularly its promotional initiatives. JA Solar Holdings fell after the solar company posted a quarterly loss. It forecast lower shipments to China in the current quarter. AutoZone fell after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to neutral from buy, citing valuation. Children's Place rose after the retailer said third-quarter earnings jumped 12 percent as lower expenses offset a slide in sales. The company raised the lower end of its earnings guidance for the year. (Read More: ) —By CNBC's Rich Fisherman. Questions? Comments? Email us at marketinsider@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/23347530

AZO

AutoZone

AutoZone Profit Rises as Margins Improve

AutoZone, the largest U.S. auto parts retail chain, posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday, helped by improved profit margins and sales to the commercial sector. AutoZone, which does not release formal earnings forecasts, said it remains optimistic in its outlook despite a deceleration in sales from the prior quarter. "We view this (earnings-per-share) beat as distinctive in a retail tape characterized by earnings shortfalls," Goldman Sachs analysts Matthew Fassler said in a note to clients. Net income rose to $106.7 million, or $1.67 per share, in the fiscal second quarter ended Feb. 9, from $103 million, or $1.45 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3 percent to $1.34 billion. Analysts on average expected Memphis, Tennessee-based AutoZone to report earnings of $1.62 per share and revenue of $1.35 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Shares rose 2.7 percent to $120.50 in thin premarket trading. U.S. sales to retail customers rose 1.9 percent to $1.1 billion, while U.S. commercial sales to repair shops rose 3.4 percent to $156.1 million. Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter said AutoZone reported a good quarter in a tough environment. "While we would expect gross margin improvement to moderate going forward against tougher comparisons, the second consecutive quarter of stronger commercial sales points to continued traction in the arena, an important driver for the company and the stock," Balter said in a note to clients. Sales at AutoZone's U.S. stores open at least a year, a key retail measure known as same-store sales, declined 0.3 percent in the quarter. U.S. auto parts retailers have faced tough conditions in recent quarters, with high gasoline prices and a slowing economy forcing some of their customers to choose between performing minor car maintenance and buying food and fuel. Earlier this month, Advance Auto Parts, the No. 2 chain behind AutoZone, posted lower quarterly earnings due to higher interest costs and slower sales to customers who do their own car repairs. O'Reilly Automotive, which is in talks to acquire rival CSK Auto Corp , said last week that a slower U.S. economy would weigh on sales this year, and it gave what it called a conservative forecast for same-store sales. Cid Wilson, director of research at research firm Kevin Dann & Partners LLC, said in a note that AutoZone's results indicate the company "may be doing a better job of weathering the economic storm than its competitors," AutoZone's gross profit as a percentage of sales rose to 49.9 percent in the quarter from 49.2 percent a year earlier due to cost cutting. AutoZone opened 28 stores and replaced two during the quarter. It had 4,000 stores in the United States and 128 in Mexico at the end of the quarter.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/22094680

AZO

AutoZone

AutoZone Profit Rises 7%, Topping Estimates

AutoZone Tuesday posted a better-than-expected 7 percent increase in first-quarter profit, helped by the sale of higher-profit products, sending shares of the largest U.S. auto parts retail chain up about 12 percent. Net income at the company , whose largest shareholder is hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, was $132.5 million, or $2.02 per share, in its fiscal quarter ended Nov. 17, up from $123.9 million, or $1.73 per share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates had expected $1.91 a share. Kevin Dann analyst Cid Wilson, who has a "buy" rating on the stock, called the results "impressive." "AutoZone is no longer losing market share to archrival Advance Auto Parts, which is allowing AutoZone to focus on profitability," he said in a research note. Net sales at the Memphis, Tennessee-based company rose 4.5 percent to $1.46 billion, above the $1.44 billion analysts had expected. Total retail sales rose 3.6 percent while commercial sales increased 4.3 percent. Sales at U.S. stores open at least one year, a key retail measure known as same-store sales, increased 1.3 percent. Wilson had expected a same-store sales result in the range of a decline of 1 percent to an increase of 1 percent. He said the results were impressive "given the maturity of AutoZone stores as well as the current economic environment that is negatively impacting nondiscretionary accessory sales." AutoZone had 4,096 stores in the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico as of Nov. 17, up from 3,912 at the same point last year. AutoZone shares were up $12.10, or 11.2 percent, at $119.97 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange after climbing as high as $121.20.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/20829573

AZO

AutoZone

AutoZone Profit Misses Forecasts on Slower Demand

AutoZone, the largest U.S. auto parts retail chain, posted weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings as high gas prices curtailed demand, sending shares lower. Net income for the fourth quarter rose 1.7% to $217.2 million, or $3.23 per share, from $213.5 million, or $2.92 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average expected $3.25 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Sales in the quarter ended Aug. 25 rose 3.3% to a little over $2 billion, shy of the $2.03 billion analysts had expected. Domestic sales at stores open at least a year, a key retail measure known as same-store sales, slipped 0.2% for the quarter. That was below the 1.3% increase for Advance Auto Parts , the No. 2 U.S. retail chain, for the second quarter ended July 14. Retail sales in the quarter rose 2.7% while commercial sales increased 0.5 percent. AutoZone opened 53 stores and replaced three others in the quarter, while closing one in the United States. It also opened 13 stores in Mexico. At the end of August, the Memphis, Tenn.-based company had 3,933 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, and another 123 in Mexico. Hedge fund manager Edward Lampert is AutoZone's largest shareholder.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/29686041

AZO

AutoZone

Lightning Round OT: AutoZone, Kinder Morgan and More

Harte-Hanks : Sell HHS, Cramer said. National Fuel & Gas : Go with Kinder Morgan Energy instead. Cramer said KMP is a better company, and he likes the 9.7% dividend yield. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners O'Reilly Automotive : Take profits on O'Reilly, Cramer said. The stock has already had a good run. The same goes for AutoZone. But Monro Muffler Brake could run to $26. AutoZone Monro Muffler Brake Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website? madcap@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/18797359

AZO

AutoZone

AutoZone Third-Quarter Earnings Rise 5%

AutoZone, the largest U.S. auto parts retail chain, posted a 5% rise in quarterly earnings Tuesday as sales at existing U.S. stores edged higher. Net income increased to $151.6 million, or $2.17 per share, in its fiscal third quarter ended May 5, from $144.4 million, or $1.89 per share, a year earlier. Sales rose 4% to $1.47 billion. Analysts, on average, expected Memphis, Tennessee-based AutoZone to report earnings of $2.15 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Sales at domestic stores open at least one year, a key retail measure known as same-store sales, rose 0.4% in the quarter. AutoZone had nearly 3,900 domestic stores and 110 stores in Mexico at the end of the quarter. At its domestic stores, sales to retail customers rose 3.8% to $1.23 billion in the quarter, while sales to commercial customers such as body shops fell 0.4% to $169.2 million. AutoZone repurchased 1.9 million shares for $244.8 million in its third quarter at an average price of $128 per share.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/40129999

AZO

AutoZone

Stocks to Watch: AutoZone, Alcoa and More ...

Stocks plunged Thursday, led by technology, following disappointing results from Cisco, and troubles with European debt. The Dow Jones Industrial Averagefell about 90 points after a lackluster trading session on Wednesday that ended with all the major indexes eking out gains. So which individual stocks are worth watching today? Here are six that are on the move: AutoZone Inc The automotive parts retailer was trading at an all-time high Thursday with the shares up nearly 1 percent. -----------Urban Outfitters Inc The clothing retailer's price target was lowered to $41 from $44 at RBC Capital. The firm also cut earnings estimates for 2010 and 2011, while citing a more conservative view on the gross margin. ----------- 99 Cent Only Stores The discount retailer was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank. The price target remained $18 with the shares up about 3 percent. -----------RadioShack Corp The electronic retailer was downgraded to equal-weight from overweight at Barclays Capital. The firm also cut the price target to $22 from $26. The investment management company was upgraded to buy from hold at Citi. The firm also increased the price target to $210 from $180. ------------Alcoa Inc The aluminum company was downgraded to market perform from outperform at BMO Capital. ______________________________ Get the latest stock picks on the CNBC Stock Blog, and see what analysts and others are watching before the bell each day at Analyst Watch.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/43149341

AZO

AutoZone

What's On: AutoZone, QR Energy and AIG's Re-IPO

Here's what's up on Tuesday's Squawk on the Street: --Results from AutoZone. See if those numbers can drive the stock higher. --Plus, the CEO of QR Energy. See how he's hoping to power his company to the next level. There's a lot happening in his sector these days — see where he stands. --But the big story of the day will be AIG. We'll have a special report starting at 10:30am ET. We'll cover the re-IPOing of the stock, details on the best way to get in, the winners, the losers, we'll compare the new AIG to the old AIG ... and debate whether the stock is a buy or a sell. --The Street Poll asks if you think AIG should still be considered "too big to fail" and should be bailed out if it ever gets in trouble again. Share your opinion. --Outside of AIG, will the shorts be circling LinkedIn like a bunch of sharks surround a hunk of meat in the ocean? We're talking about the short trade, and a lot of Wall Streeters are licking their chops. _________________________ Squawk on the Street comes to you live from the New York Stock Exchange each weekday morning at 9 a.m. ET.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/22101064

AZO

AutoZone

Stocks On The Move: Verizon, Autozone...

Autozone (AZO) popped 19%. The largest U.S. retailer of automobile parts soared after quarterly profit beat estimates. Jamba Inc. (JMBA) popped 9%. The smoothie stock behind "Jamba Juice" surged after it cut a deal to make bottled juice with Nestle. – Karen Finerman says she’s not excited. Sanderson Farms (SAFM) popped 7%.The third- biggest U.S. poultry producer said Q4 profit more than doubled on higher chicken prices. Activision (ATVI) popped 7%. The videogame maker soared higher after it agreed Monday to sell a controlling stake to Vivendi and create the world's largest videogame maker. Rio Tinto (RTP) popped 2%. The Chinese steelmakers and the government are studying a joint bid for Rio Tinto to counter a $134 billion offer from BHP Billiton. Chimps. A Japanese study suggests young chimpanzees have a powerful memory that performs far better than that of adult humans. In a report published in the journal "Current Biology," the chimps beat university students in both speed and accuracy in a multiyear study. DROPS (stocks that slid lower) Walgreen (WAG) dropped 2%. Same-store sales rose 4.4% in November at the pharmacy chain - but it wasn’t enough to impress the Street. – Guy Adami expects negative news from this company. Research in Motion (RIMM) dropped 3%.Monday’s downgrade by a Morgan Keegan analyst still weighed on the Blackberry maker's shares. Echostar (DISH) dropped 5%. Speculation mounted that the satellite television operator had entered the U.S. government auction for wireless spectrum. If that speculation turns out to be true, it would rule out any chance of merger talks with AT&T, as regulations prevent any two bidding parties from holding merger talks. – Guy Adami recommends buying DISH as a trade with a stop-out below $38. Dona Chepa. "Dona Chepa," the granddaughter of a Kentucky Derby winner has the worst record ever for a thoroughbred horse with a 0-128 record. Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) dropped 13%. The maker of clothing under brand names ranging from Calvin Klein to Sean John forecast an annual profit below expectations. – Jeff Macke explains it’s a tough time to be selling to department stores. XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) dropped 5%. A Goldman Sachs analyst said to unload shares of the satellite radio company, with or without a deal. – I see nothing good in this stock, says Guy Adami. ______________________________________________________ Got something to say? Send us an e-mail at fastmoney-web@cnbc.com and your comment might be posted on the Rapid Recap! Prefer to keep it between us? You can still send questions and comments to fastmoney@cnbc.com. Trader disclosure: On Dec. 4, 2007, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s Fast Money were owned by the Fast Money traders; Macke Owns (ATVI), (DIS), (SWY); Najarian Owns (TSL) Options, (XMSR) Options, (YHOO) Options; Finerman's Firm And Finerman Own (GS); Finerman's Firm Owns (JWN), (KSS), (WMT), (YHOO); Finerman's Firm Owns (MSFT) Options, (BIIB) Options; Finerman's Firm Is Short (IJR), (IYR), (IWM), (SPY), (MBI), (LEN); Finerman's Firm Is Short (MDY) And Owns (MDY) Puts; Finerman's Firm Owns (HD) And (HD) Puts, Finerman Owns (HD); Finerman's Firm Is Short (LEH) And Owns (LEH) Puts; Finerman's Firm Owns Russell 2000 Puts; Vivendi Owns 20% Of NBC Universal, The Parent Company Of CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/01/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-impacted-college-enrollment.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

College enrollment is down because of the pandemic—and community colleges have been hit the hardest

While many predicted that students might opt to ride out the pandemic by taking community college courses to save money and stay closer to home, community colleges actually saw the largest dip in enrollment. Community college enrollment decreased by 7.5%, while public four-year schools saw relatively little change. Most recent data from the National Student Clearing House , which analyzes data from 3.6 million students from 629 colleges, indicates that undergraduate college enrollment is down 2.5%. "Many colleges aren't releasing their numbers publicly, and we won't see the IPEDS data from this year for two years," says higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz, referencing the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System which is collected by the Department of Education. However, "There have been significant decreases in college enrollment." The United States is now entering its eighth month of combating Covid-19 — and the country's colleges continue to be impacted. Some public four-year universities have even seen an increase in the size of their student body. For instance, this semester Purdue University reported the largest student body in the school's history — 46,114 students, including 35,122 undergraduates and 8,925 incoming students. Purdue's vice provost for enrollment, Kristina Wong Davis, says the increase is part of a multiple-year trend. "We've had larger classes in every recent year, not just this one," she says. "For eight straight years, we've had no increase in tuition and fees. That, coupled with a reputation for quality, especially in science and engineering, has generated a lot of interest from our own state and across the country." In contrast, the City University of New York public university system, which includes seven community colleges, has seen a dip in enrollment. "Our enrollment tally is not final yet, as several of our colleges are on different academic calendars, offer rolling admissions or delayed their commitment dates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic," says Frank Sobrino, CUNY's director of media relations over email. "That said, through late August, we had seen a 4.4% decline compared to last year." The National Student Clearing House data indicates that college enrollment has decreased by 11.2% among international students, 7.7% among Native American students, and 6.3% among both Black and White students. Kantrowitz predicts that the dip in enrollment will likely "be a short-term disruption, allowing a return to a close to normal situation in a year or two" and adds that the decrease in international students was to be expected. "First-year [international] students are unable to arrive in the U.S. because U.S. embassies and consulates are not conducting visa interviews and our borders are still mostly closed," he explains.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/04/what-is-black-wall-street-history-of-the-community-and-its-massacre.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

'Black Wall Street': The history of the wealthy Black community and the massacre perpetrated there 100 years ago

TULSA, OKLAHOMA - JUNE 18: The Black Wall Street Massacre memorial is shown June 18, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Black Wall Street Massacre happened in 1921 and was one of the worst race riots in the history of the United States where more than 35 square blocks of a predominantly black neighborhood were destroyed in two days of rioting leaving between 150-300 people dead. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) This week, the nation's eyes will turn to Tulsa, Oklahoma as the city commemorates the 100th anniversary of one of its most tragic and shameful events, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. In attendance will be President Joe Biden, as well as politician Stacey Abrams and musician John Legend. A century ago, thousands of Black Tulsa residents had built a self-sustaining community that supported hundreds of Black-owned businesses. It was known as "Black Wall Street." This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a tragic event perpetrated on Black Wall Street that has been described as "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history." The incident, which is estimated to have claimed the lives of as many as 300 people (the vast majority being Black), devastated a neighborhood that had grown over the previous 15 years to become one of the wealthiest enclaves for Black Americans in the country. Still, for many Americans, the June 1, 1921 massacre and the history of Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" neighborhood represented a gap in their knowledge of American history, at least until recently. In fact, when a depiction of the massacre appeared in the opening scenes of 2019's "Watchmen", a popular fictional HBO series that debuted in October and drew from the real-life events of 1921, many viewers reported that they initially believed they were witnessing fictional events. Another fictional HBO show, "Lovecraft Country," also drew from the real-life massacre for a 2020 episode, further stoking the national conversation about an event that had once been seemingly ignored by history. Historians say the history of "Black Wall Street" and the massacre that occurred there (much like the Juneteenth holiday) have generally not been taught in U.S. schools over the past century, even in Oklahoma, where the racist incident was only added to statewide school curriculums in February 2020. Here's a look at how Tulsa's Greenwood District grew to become a haven for Black entrepreneurs at the beginning of the 20th century — and how 24 hours of racist violence destroyed much of what thousands of Black residents had built there, only for that tragic event and the people it affected to be unjustly ignored by history, for the most part, for decades afterward. Entrepreneur O.W. Gurley and the founding of 'Black Wall Street' A black and white photograph of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, OK, with residents walking by shopfronts, before 1921. Source: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Families of Anita Williams Christopher and David Owen Williams By 1921, Tulsa's Greenwood District was one of the wealthiest Black communities in the U.S. and a center of Black wealth. The community of roughly 10,000 residents was thriving and supported Black-owned banks, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores and luxury shops, along with offices for Black lawyers and doctors. Because Tulsa was still very much racially segregated at the time, the Black residents mostly patronized Black-owned businesses, which helped the community thrive. In fact, the community was so self-sustaining that it's now estimated that every dollar spent in the Greenwood District circulated within the neighborhood and its businesses at least 36 times, according to historians. The district's success actually inspired Black author and orator Booker T. Washington to coin its nickname, which he originally called "Negro Wall Street," but which later became known as "Black Wall Street," according to the Greenwood Cultural Center. That being said, the Greenwood District was far from a utopia. Even though many Black residents owned successful businesses and lived in relative luxury, historian Scott Ellsworth has pointed out that many others were poor and lived in "shanties and shacks." The Tulsa massacre Historians note that many of the Greenwood District's Black residents had moved to the area to escape the virulent racism of the Deep South. However, while Greenwood's "Black Wall Street" was a self-sustaining enclave for Tulsa's Black community, it was also only blocks away from predominantly white neighborhoods that remained unwelcoming to their Black neighbors. What's more, racist violence was on the rise in the U.S. at the time. Just two years before the Tulsa Massacre, the nation endured the Red Summer of 1919, when at least 25 riots and incidents of mob violence erupted in major cities across the U.S., killing hundreds of people, most of whom were Black. Those pre-existing racial tensions set the stage for a bloody day of racist violence that erupted over a nearly 24-hour period, ending June 1, 1921, after an armed white mob descended on the Greenwood District. The mob attacked black residents and businesses in the neighborhood, leaving 35 city blocks "in charred ruins," according to the Tulsa Historical Society. In the skirmishes, as many as 300 people (mostly Black) were killed and hundreds more were injured, while thousands of Tulsa's black residents lost their homes and businesses. The violence had been sparked by an incident in the preceding days involving a young African-American shoe-shiner named Dick Rowland, who rode in an elevator operated by a young white woman named Sarah Page. While reports of exactly what happened in the elevator vary, it is widely believed that Rowland accidentally came into contact with Page (perhaps stepping on her foot, or tripping and falling into her, according to different reports), causing her to scream. One witness who heard the scream called the police, who eventually arrested Rowland on May 31. Meanwhile, after a Tulsa Tribune newspaper article falsely claimed that Rowland had assaulted Page, rumors about the incident ran wildly and some accounts even falsely claimed he had raped the woman, according to The New York Times. (Local law enforcement later admonished the Tribune for publishing an "untrue account" that helped to incite the violence, according to the Tulsa World.) Tulsa's Black residents, fearing that Rowland would be lynched by an angry mob (a horrifically regular occurrence that's estimated to have happened thousands of times in the U.S. during the Jim Crow Era) after he received threats on his life, gathered in front of the city's courthouse where he was being held. A confrontation broke out between black and white groups at the courthouse, both of which were armed, resulting in shots being fired. After that initial skirmish, Black residents retreated to the Greenwood District, while groups of white vigilantes reportedly spread throughout Tulsa attacking any Black people they encountered, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. On the morning of June 1, a mob of over a thousand white people overran the affluent Black neighborhood, attacking and shooting residents. The white mob looted and burned most of the neighborhood, firing on residents who tried to defend themselves but were outgunned by the attackers, some of whom reportedly had machine guns, surviving eyewitnesses later reported. Some survivors even said that the attackers flew over the area in private airplanes, from which they shot at Black residents and dropped firebombs on buildings. Billowing Smoke during Tulsa Race Massacre, Alvin C. Krupnick Co., June 1921. Universal History Archive | Universal Images Group via Getty Images The Oklahoma Historical Society reports that the violence trailed off later in the morning, upon the arrival of troops from the National Guard, though much of the neighborhood was already in ruins by that point. However, other reports suggest that the National Guard and the Tulsa police arrested Black residents instead of their attackers, and that some troops even joined in the attack, according to The New York Times. In the end, more than 1,200 homes were reportedly burned, leaving most of the Greenwood District's 10,000 residents homeless. Over 6,000 of them were rounded up into internment camps by the local government and forced to live in tents, in some cases for months after the massacre. In 2019, archaeologists in Tulsa discovered what they believed to be one site likely used as a mass grave to bury many of those who died in the massacre. Smoldering Ruins of African American's Homes following the Tulsa Massacre, USA, Alvin C. Krupnick Co., June 1921. Universal History Archive | Universal Images Group via Getty Images Meanwhile, Rowland was eventually exonerated, but an all-white grand jury decided not to charge any white residents in the wake of the violence, which mostly blamed on Black residents, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. For many years after the massacre, there was some argument over whether the incident should be referred to as a massacre or a "riot." Early reports referred to the incident as the "Tulsa Race Riot," with the Tulsa Historical Society noting that such terminology may have been used for insurance purposes, as a riot would not have required insurance companies to pay out benefits to Black residents whose homes and businesses were burned. The Greenwood District after the massacre

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/12/tuition-at-community-colleges-is-3660-a-year-on-average.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

Tuition at community colleges is $3,660 a year on average—but here's how much students actually pay

Community colleges have long been an important stepping stone for Americans interested in continuing education. The most recent figures from National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicate that there are approximately 8.7 million students in the United States studying at public two-year colleges, or community colleges. Over the past several decades, the cost of earning a college diploma has increased dramatically, and community colleges are not immune. According to the College Board's 2018 Trends in College Pricing Report, sticker prices at public two-year institutions are more than twice as high in 2019 as they were in 1989. During the 2018 - 2019 school year, the reported tuition at public two-year schools is an average $3,660. Hill Street Studios | Getty Images But in reality, many students end up paying far less in tuition. Published tuition costs do not account for scholarships, grants and tax benefits. The College Board broke down what the average net price of college is today — taking scholarships and grants into account — and found that students typically pay less than the published price. Between 2009 and 2019, the average published tuition and fees at public two-year colleges increased by $930 (about 34% after adjusting for inflation) but the average combined grant aid and tax benefits also increased by over $1,300 (almost 50%) during that period. In fact, according to the College Board, "56% of independent students and 50% of dependent students at public two-year colleges did not pay any part of their tuition and fees." Overall, more than half of community college students received enough grant aid to cover their tuition and fees. The average grant aid and tax benefits provided to full-time students at public two-year institutions is about $4,050, which means the net tuition and fees to attend these schools is -$390. This is one reason why many students choose to attend one or two years of community college before transferring to a traditional four-year college.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/08/lightning-round-hertz-plug-power-more.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

Lightning Round: Hertz, Plug Power & more

Are you ready skeedaddy???!!! It's time for the Lightning Round. Cramer makes the call on viewer favorites. Medidata Solutions (MDSO): It's a cloud solutions based company, said Cramer. I'm a buyer at current levels. Hertz Global (HTZ): The industry turned down, said Cramer, but I still think there's great value here.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-after-hours-alphabet-gilead-and-more.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Alphabet, Gilead and more

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell: Shares of Alphabet dropped more than 3 percent in extended trading on Monday despite beating on its top and bottom lines. The Google-parent company's earnings per share were $12.77, well above estimates of $10.82. The company earned $39.28 billion in revenue, beating the $38.93 billion estimated by Wall Street. Alphabet, however, reported declining advertising prices and rising costs, which spooked investors. The company reported that cost per click, which measures how much it charges advertisers, dropped 29 percent year-over-year as it faces growing competition from Amazon. Alphabet also reported capital expenditures just north of $7 billion for the period, posting a much more expensive quarter than the $5.63 billion in capex that was projected. Gilead Sciences shares fell more than 3 percent after the bell Monday following a mixed earnings report. The biotech company posted earnings of $1.44 on revenue of $5.8 billion. Analysts estimated earnings of $1.70 on revenue of $5.5 billion. Shares of Seagate Technology rose more than 5 percent after market close after posting better-than-expected earnings. The technology company generated $2.72 billion in revenue, matching analyst expectations. Earnings per share were $1.41, beating the forecast of $1.27.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/06/these-are-the-10-best-community-colleges-in-the-country.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

These are the 10 best community colleges in the country

The biggest educator of college students in the United States is community colleges. In fact, 41 percent of all U.S. undergraduates study at a community college. WalletHub ranked over 700 schools from the American Association of Community Colleges to find the 10 best institutions. The schools were evaluated on cost, educational outcome and career outcome. The top-ranking schools are mostly in rural locations, enroll small student bodies and have low student-to-teacher ratios. Over half of the top 10 community colleges on Wallethub's list serve large Native American populations. Leech Lake Tribal College tops the list as the best community college and 88 percent of the study body identifies as Native American.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/12/exec-uses-life-savings-to-start-an-online-yoga-community.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

Exec uses life savings to start an online yoga community: 'I'm going to make an investment in myself'

Excelling in college and getting a good job was the only path Boston native Caroline Vo, now 36, felt she could follow. "I come from Vietnamese immigrant parents: It was very much ingrained that you go to school, work hard, get good grades, and then you go to college, get a good job, and kind of find your way," she explains. More from Grow: Why there are 1.3M more open jobs than there are unemployed people Teen cookie entrepreneurs who made over $12K donated $8K to Covid relief 48% of workers think they don’t earn enough to save for retirement: How to start Vo attended American University's Kogod School of Business, studying business administration with a specialization in marketing and management. After graduating, she says, "I interviewed with a company and I secured a job and then worked my way up the corporate ladder to get that high-paying salary." Even as Vo worked her way into new roles and jumped to different companies, she felt stuck. "It was actually a constant struggle for me to fit in," she says. "I didn't feel like I had an authentic voice. ... I did that for about 10 years before I quit." She left her job in April of 2018 and ended up in Houston, Texas, creating a company where she could share the art of mindfulness to the world. First, though, Vo needed to reset.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/29/stock-market-dow-futures-seen-lower-amid-earnings-season-worries.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

Dow tumbles more than 200 points in wild session, S&P 500 closes in correction territory

Stocks closed lower on Monday, giving up sharp gains from earlier in the day in a wild session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average travel more than 900 points. The S&P 500 closed in correction territory, down 10 percent from its recent high. Traders blamed the possibility of more U.S.-China tariffs coupled with a drop in tech shares for the decline. The Dow fell 245.39 points to 24,442.92, erasing a 352-point gain, as Boeing dropped 6.6 percent. At the lows of the day, the Dow was down 566 points before coming back shortly before the close. The 30-stock index also briefly dipped into correction territory. The closed 0.7 percent lower at 2,641.25 after gaining more than 1 percent earlier in the day. The benchmark is now down 10.2 percent from its high reached at the end of September. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6 percent to 7,050.29 as shares of Amazon got pounded. "I think this is an old-fashion tech wreck," said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. "Investors are reassessing growth prospects for next year." Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. is planning on slapping tariffs on more Chinese products if upcoming talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping falter. Both countries have already implemented levies on billions of dollars worth of each other's goods. Amazon and Netflix rolled over throughout the day, capping the stock market's gains; the stocks were down 6.3 percent and 5 percent, respectively. These losses offset strong gains from bank shares. J.P Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo both climbed more than 1 percent, while Goldman Sachs gained 1 percent. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) surged 1.8 percent.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/21/the-best-and-worst-community-colleges-in-the-us-in-2018.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

The best and worst community colleges in the US in 2018

For many students, community college provides a secondary education at a more attainable and affordable price. But just like major universities differ in terms of what you get for what you pay, some community colleges stack up better than others. WalletHub's 2018 Best and Worst Community Colleges Study looked at 715 schools listed as member institutions in the American Association of Community Colleges (the study notes that due to data limitations, it could not include all member schools). WalletHub then looked at 17 metrics, including factors like cost of in-state tuition and fees, per-pupil spending and student faculty ratio, from across three key dimensions: cost and financing, education outcomes and career outcomes. Ultimately, schools were ranked on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the best community college. Topping WalletHub's list of the best community colleges is Arkansas State University-Mountain Home, with a total score of 66.13. The school boasted high rankings across all three key dimensions, particularly in the education outcomes category. Coming in second is Stella and Charles Guttman Community College in New York City. Its high ranking was likely due to its top spot in the cost and financing category. Rounding out WalletHub's top three is the State Technical College of Missouri, which boasts an impressive number one ranking in education outcomes and a number two ranking in career outcomes. Here are the top five best community colleges in the U.S., according to WalletHub's study: 1. Arkansas State University-Mountain Home Location: Mountain Home, Arkansas Score: 66.13 2. Stella and Charles Guttman Community College Location: New York, New York Score: 65.28 3. State Technical College of Missouri Location: Linn, Missouri Score: 64.71 4. Alexandria Technical & Community College Location: Alexandria, Minnesota Score: 64.16 5. Northland Community and Technical College Location: East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls, Minnesota Score: 64.07 Meanwhile, falling to the very bottom of the list is Eastern Gateway Community College, located in Ohio. This school had poor rankings across all three key dimensions, earning it an overall score of 27.21. The second worst community college, according to WalletHub, is Hudson County Community College in New Jersey, followed by Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, in Wisconsin. Here are the five worst community colleges in the U.S., according to WalletHub's study: 1. Eastern Gateway Community College Location: Steubenville and Youngstown, Ohio Score: 27.21 2. Hudson County Community College Location: Jersey City, New Jersey Score: 27.72 3. Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College Location: Hayward, Wisconsin Score: 29.92 4. Denmark Technical College Location: Denmark, South Carolina Score: 30.35 5. Bladen Community College Location: Dublin, North Carolina Score: 32.33 Don't miss: Best states and cities for small business, graded from A+ to F (Hint: 5 states did stellar and 2 flunked) Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/24/naj-austin-built-two-inclusive-communities-for-people-of-color-when-they-needed-it-most-ho.html

AVB

AvalonBay Communities

In a devastating year for people of color, founder Naj Austin built community across time and space

When Naj Austin opened the doors of Ethel's Club, a social and wellness space designed for people of color, in November 2019, she intended the Brooklyn, New York, clubhouse to be a physical gathering place for professionals and creatives to connect in person. After all, its name honors Austin's late grandmother, a community organizer who hosted energizing events of all sizes from her home. Just a few months later, in March 2020, those in-person connections would no longer be possible, as state and city officials shut down businesses and limited gatherings in an effort to curb Covid-19's spread. Within four days of physically closing, however, Austin and her team launched a digital membership model "to keep connection and community alive." The club, which had 300 members in Brooklyn, added another 400 creatives and professionals around the world to its base. Throughout 2020, the community has provided virtual gathering sessions centered around wellness, healing and connection for Black, Latino and communities of color hit hardest by the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus. The clubhouse offered free grieving sessions after George Floyd's killing sparked a resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests; over 1,000 people signed up within a day. Having already banked $1 million in fundraising earlier in the year, by October, as Ethel's Club grew to 1,500 members, Austin debuted Somewhere Good, a social platform for people of color launching in January. Growing two young businesses designed for marginalized individuals when they needed it most has kept Austin going this year; and in turn, the spaces she helped build have provided ways to cope with the devastation of 2020. "With this year — the pandemic, the election, the re-uprising of Black Lives Matter — we were fed very intense things through our digital devices," Austin tells CNBC Make It. "One thing I've taken away from our wellness practices in the digital clubhouse is the idea of creating rituals or practices that keep you joyful, empowered and away from negative activity." Here, she reflects on a year that's presented immense opportunity amid turbulent times, and her hopes of how it will fuel her work into 2021. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Reaching accomplishments in a challenging year "I don't now if survivor's guilt is the right term, but there's such a gravity of loss in the world. It's hard to feel proud and excited in what we've been able to accomplish in this time. My family has been healthy, I've been healthy, my team and their family have been healthy. It's a strange feeling to have, especially as an early-stage startup founder when others have had to shut down their business, lay off staff or can't raise capital. It sucks. That's definitely hard to reckon with and one of the biggest topics I talk about with my therapist — how to navigate these feelings as a founder, but also as a sister, daughter, girlfriend and just person who is alive right now." What she's most proud of accomplishing in 2020 "I'm so proud to continue to create space where people can go to feel better, more connected, to find a job or even to find a friend. Every day we find something new someone has discovered through what we've built. That's kept me going in times of chaos. We're providing solace and good energy. I'm incredibly proud of that." The hardest lesson she learned this year "I'm a Type-A over-planner. I had everything built out until 2022, and obviously, 98% of that had to change. But the lesson I took from that is there's nothing wrong with planning and having a vision, but don't get so stuck down in the minutiae. I've learned to lean into spontaneity and have less strict boundaries around myself. But I've also had to learn the idea of protecting my energy and space." Her morning routine "This year I set a goal to journal more. It started as every morning and night, until I realized that was too much, so I decided to stick with once a day and go from there. Instead of picking up my phone first thing every morning, I'll journal whatever thoughts are in my head to set my intentions for the day. I started doing that a month ago and have done it maybe 12 times, so I'm working toward that habit. I know when I do it, I feel better instead of waking up to see whatever horrible news happened overnight. I get to infuse my take on the world first thing in the day." Living and working from home "I rearranged my entire house to make space for calmer moments. I made sure my bedroom was a dedicated sleep space. I created a reading space where the only thing I can do when I sit there is read or journal; I moved my chargers from that area and can't bring my phone, computer or iPad. There are only two spaces in my home where I can work, and if I'm not there, I can't be working. "Not everyone needs those harsh lines, and obviously I wasn't perfect at the beginning. But after doing it for six months, you quickly learn how to embed and abide by those rituals." Her 2021 career goals "I want to spread the idea that marginalized people deserve space made for them. I'm always striving toward that goal. I think another professional goal is to always be a better manager and founder. I'm constantly reading and unlearning things I thought to be true but aren't. As we grow, I've been able to bring on new people who can bring out a better internal work structure. "And personally, I want to make more time to be intentional. "In 2020 we've all done a lot, and people haven't had a lot of grace for themselves and others navigating the strange world we live in now. So give yourself grace in terms of what your resolutions look and feel like. We're living through a pandemic. Waking up every day and doing what we planned on doing is already hard enough." The best book she read this year "All About Love: New Visions" by bell hooks "It goes hand in hand with what I've mentioned: Being kind to yourself and making space for yourself is crucial to being alive." What's on her 2021 reading list

https://www.cnbc.com/id/49285667

AVY

Avery Dennison

Stocks to Watch: FB, MAR, UPS, COST & More

Facebook - The social network has reached the 1 billion user mark and is launching a new ad campaign in conjunction with that milestone. Marriott - The hotel operator reported third quarter profit of $0.44 per share, 4 cents above estimates, with revenue also beating consensus. However, Marriott’s current quarter guidance of $0.52 — $0.56 per share falls short of the $0.57 consensus estimate. UPS - RBC Capital has cut its rating on the delivery service's shares to "sector perform" from "outperform," saying slower economic growth will keep a lid on earnings and that domestic margins are unlikely to expand further. Costco - The retailer reported a September same-store sales increase of 6 percent, slightly above analyst estimates. Applied Materials - The company is planning to cut 900 to 1,300 jobs, representing about 6 percent to 9 percent of its global workforce, by the end of fiscal 2013’s third quarter. The biggest maker of chipmaking equipment says the restructuring will free up to $190 million annually. 3M - 3M has terminated its agreement to buy Avery Dennison’s consumer product unit. 3M did not provide a reason, but the Justice Department had threatened to sue to stop the deal on anti-trust grounds. Unilever - The consumer products giant is considering various options for its Skippy peanut butter brand, including a possible sale. eBay - Nomura Securities has upgraded the online auction site's shares to "buy" from "neutral," citing increased margins at its PayPal unit. NuVasive - The medical device maker cut third quarter revenue guidance. It cites aggressive competition, especially from physician-owned distributorships. Hewlett-Packard - HP shares will bear watching once again today, following Wednesday’s 13 percent drop. That followed CEO Meg Whitman’s statement that HP’s turnaround effort will take longer than expected. Whitman is appearing on CNBC’s "Squawk On the Street" at 9 a.m. EDT. Sprint Nextel - Baird has downgraded Sprint shares to "underperform" from "neutral." Limited - The retailer saw same-store sales rise 5 percent in September, slightly above estimates of 4.7 percent. Questions? Comments? Email us at marketinsider@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/49275654

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Avery Dennison

After-Hours Buzz: MAR, AMAT, NUVA & More

3M and Avery Dennison - The two companies have terminated the definitive agreement under which 3M would have purchased Avery’s office and consumer products business. (Click here for after-hours quotes.) Marriott - The hotel chain posted earnings of 44 cents a share on revenue of $2.73 billion, topping expectations for 40 cents a share on sales of $2.65 billion. But the company handed in a weaker-than-expected current-quarter profit guidance. Still, shares gained in extended-hours trading. (Click here for after-hours quote.) (Read More: Stocks Log Gains on Economic Data; H-P Skids) Applied Materials - The tech company announced it will cut 6 to 9 percent of its global workforce, affecting 900 to 1,300 positions. Shares edged lower in extended-hours trading. (Click here for after-hours quote.)

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100117844

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Avery Dennison

WRAPUP 3-3M, Honeywell step up deals amid economic uncertainty

* 3M in $860 million deal to buy Ceradyne * Honeywell to pay $525 million for majority of Thomas Russell * Moves follow talk that sellers' price expectations declining * Ceradyne shares surge 42.9 percent; 3M, Honeywell also gain (Updates share movements) By Scott Malone Oct 1 (Reuters) - 3M Co and Honeywell International Inc signed separate takeover deals to further diversify their broad lineups of industrial goods at a time of uncertainty for the world economy, the large U.S. manufacturers said on Monday. 3M said it would pay $860 million to buy industrial ceramics company Ceradyne Inc , the biggest takeover deal for the maker of products ranging from Post-It notes to films used in television screens since it named Inge Thulin chief executive officer in February. Honeywell announced plans to pay $525 million in cash for a 70 percent stake in privately held Thomas Russell Co, which makes equipment used in natural gas production. Big U.S. manufacturers including General Electric Co have invested heavily to boost their exposure to that sector amid a surge in U.S. natural gas production driven by advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technology. The announcements come less than two weeks after the CEOs of both Honeywell and 3M separately said that a worrisome world economic outlook was making it easier to negotiate acquisitions by tempering expectations of what companies would fetch. 3M's shares were up 1.5 percent, despite some analysts' concerns that it may not have gotten Ceradyne for a bargain, paying a 43 percent premium on its Friday closing price, said Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau. "The valuation is pretty full on this one," Windau said. "But it does fit nicely with 3M and what their fundamental business is, and that is the materials sector. It makes a lot of sense for them." S&P Capital IQ analyst Richard Tortoriello said 3M had paid a fair price for Ceradyne, whose shares were down about 9 percent this year as of Friday. Ceradyne stock was up 42.9 percent at $34.92 in early afternoon trading, just below the $35 offer price from 3M, whose shares gained 1.5 percent to $93.79. Honeywell rose 2 percent to $60.94. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Reuters Insider: 3M buying Ceradyne For a story on the 3M deal For a story on the Honeywell deal ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> MANUFACTURING M&A ON THE RISE The deals come despite a host of worries sapping corporate confidence. Among them are concerns the U.S. fiscal cliff that could force sharp year-end spending cuts by the federal government, Europe's debt crisis and slowing growth in Asia. In response, U.S. industrials have stepped up their pace of dealmaking. So far in 2012, they had announced $50.93 billion in mergers as of Sunday, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier. During that time, the overall pace of U.S. dealmaking has declined 23.1 percent to $593.49 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. "When times are bad and everybody is uncertain about the future, that is the right time to buy," Honeywell CEO Dave Cote said last month, reasoning that acquisitions made in boom times are more likely to be overvalued. Serial buyers, such as 3M and Honeywell, tend to study takeover targets for an extended time before making an offer, moving only when they feel they will be able to negotiate a price that matches their valuation models, said analyst Brian Langenberg of Langenberg & Co. "If the asset makes sense and the price makes sense, you go for it," Langenberg said. Not every company in the sector is looking to bulk up, though. Tyco International Ltd on Monday completed its three-way breakup, with the remaining parent company focused on commercial fire and security products, with its former consumer alarm business now trading as ADT Corp and its former water operations rolled into Pentair Inc . FEWER, BUT LARGER, 3M DEALS Thulin told investors on Sept. 19 that he would seek fewer but larger deals than his predecessor, George Buckley, but he held to the company's long-term goal of making $1 billion to $2 billion in acquisitions per year. The company has yet another large deal in the works - it is working to overcome U.S. regulators' objections to its planned $550 million takeover of Avery-Dennison Corp's office products business. 3M said its deal would reduce earnings by 5 cents per share in the first 12 months following closure, which it expects in the fourth quarter. Analysts have forecast 2013 earnings of $6.93 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Focusing on larger deals may be a more effective way of increasing the size of 3M, which analysts expect to generate $30 billion in revenue this year. Ceradyne would add $476.7 million to that total, and boost its presence in the aerospace sector, where 3M is currently a small player. Meanwhile, Honeywell's UOP arm has the right to buy the remaining 30 percent of Thomas Russell, at a price linked to the business's operating income. Decade-old Thomas Russell should generate 2012 revenue of about $425 million, Honeywell said. Analysts expect revenue of $38.11 billion this year from Honeywell, which also makes aircraft electronics and building control systems. Honeywell said it expected its deal to have no effect on 2012 profit and to boost 2013 earnings. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Tim Dobbyn) ((scott.malone@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 617 856 4342)(Reuters Messaging: scott.malone.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: USA MANUFACTURING/DEALS

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100117507

AVY

Avery Dennison

WRAPUP 2-3M, Honeywell step up deals amid economic uncertainty

* 3M in $860 million deal to buy Ceradyne * Honeywell to pay $525 million for majority of Thomas Russell * Moves follow talk that sellers' price expectations declining * Ceradyne shares surge 42.9 percent; 3M, Honeywell also gain (Adds analyst comments, background) By Scott Malone Oct 1 (Reuters) - 3M Co and Honeywell International Inc signed separate takeover deals to expand their broad lineups of industrial goods at a time of uncertainty for the world economy, the large U.S. manufacturers said on Monday. 3M said it would pay $860 million to buy industrial ceramics company Ceradyne Inc , the biggest takeover deal for the maker of products ranging from Post-It notes to films used in television screens since it named Inge Thulin chief executive officer in February. Honeywell announced plans to pay $525 million in cash for a 70 percent stake in privately held Thomas Russell Co, which makes equipment used in natural gas production. Big U.S. manufacturers including General Electric Co have invested heavily to boost their exposure to that sector amid a surge in U.S. natural gas production driven by advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technology. The announcements come less than two weeks after the CEOs of both Honeywell and 3M separately said that a worrisome world economic outlook was making it easier to negotiate acquisitions by tempering expectations of what companies would fetch. Despite those assertions, 3M seems not to have gotten Ceradyne for a bargain, paying a 43 percent premium on its Friday closing price, said Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau. "The valuation is pretty full on this one," Windau said. "But it does fit nicely with 3M and what their fundamental business is, and that is the materials sector. It makes a lot of sense for them." S&P Capital IQ analyst Richard Tortoriello said 3M had paid a fair price for Ceradyne, whose shares were down about 9 percent this year as of Friday. Ceradyne stock was up 42.9 percent at $34.91 in morning trading, just below the $35 offer price from 3M, whose shares gained 1.9 percent to $94.16. Honeywell rose 2.4 percent to $61.19. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Reuters Insider: 3M buying Ceradyne For a story on the 3M deal For a story on the Honeywell deal ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> MANUFACTURING M&A ON THE RISE The deals come as worries about the U.S. fiscal cliff that could force sharp year-end spending cuts by the federal government and as Europe's debt crisis and slowing growth in Asia are sapping corporate confidence. In response, U.S. industrials have stepped up their pace of dealmaking. So far in 2012, they had announced $50.93 billion in mergers as of Sunday, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier. During that time, the overall pace of U.S. dealmaking has declined 23.1 percent to $593.49 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. "When times are bad and everybody is uncertain about the future, that is the right time to buy," Honeywell CEO Dave Cote said last month, reasoning that acquisitions made in boom times are more likely to be overvalued. Serial buyers, such as 3M and Honeywell, tend to study takeover targets for an extended time before making an offer, moving only when they feel they will be able to negotiate a price that matches their valuation models, said analyst Brian Langenberg of Langenberg & Co. "If the asset makes sense and the price makes sense, you go for it," Langenberg said. Not every company in the sector is looking to bulk up, though. Tyco International Ltd on Monday completed its three-way breakup, with the remaining parent company focused on commercial fire and security products, with its former consumer alarm business now trading as ADT Corp and its former water operations rolled into Pentair Inc . FEWER, BUT LARGER, 3M DEALS Thulin told investors on Sept. 19 that he would seek fewer but larger deals than his predecessor, George Buckley, but he held to the company's long-term goal of making $1 billion to $2 billion in acquisitions per year. The company has yet another large deal in the works - it is working to overcome U.S. regulators' objections to its planned $550 million takeover of Avery-Dennison Corp's office products business. 3M said its deal would reduce earnings by 5 cents per share in the first 12 months following closure, which it expects in the fourth quarter. Analysts have forecast 2013 earnings of $6.93 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Focusing on larger deals may be a more effective way of increasing the size of 3M, which analysts expect to generate $30 billion in revenue this year. Ceradyne would add $476.7 million to that total. Meanwhile, Honeywell's UOP arm has the right to buy the remaining 30 percent of Thomas Russell, at a price linked to the business's operating income. Decade-old Thomas Russell should generate 2012 revenue of about $425 million, Honeywell said. Analysts expect revenue of $38.11 billion this year from Honeywell, which also makes aircraft electronics and building control systems. Honeywell said it expected its deal to have no effect on 2012 profit and to boost 2013 earnings. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) ((scott.malone@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 617 856 4342)(Reuters Messaging: scott.malone.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: USA MANUFACTURING/DEALS

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100116969

AVY

Avery Dennison

WRAPUP 1-3M, Honeywell set takeovers to expand product lines

* 3M in $860 million deal to buy Ceradyne * Honeywell to pay $525 million for majority of Thomas Russell * Moves follow talk that sellers' price expectations declining * Ceradyne shares surge 43 percent; 3M, Honeywell also gain By Scott Malone Oct 1 (Reuters) - 3M Co and Honeywell International Inc signed separate takeover deals to expand their broad lineups of industrial goods at a time of uncertainty for the U.S. economy, the top U.S. manufacturers said on Monday. 3M said it would pay $860 million to buy industrial ceramics company Ceradyne Inc . This is the biggest takeover deal for the maker of products ranging from Post-It notes to films used in television screens since it named Inge Thulin chief executive officer in February. Honeywell announced plans to pay $525 million in cash for a 70 percent stake in privately held Thomas Russell Co, which makes equipment used in natural gas production. Big U.S. manufacturers including General Electric Co have invested heavily to boost their exposure to that sector amid a surge in U.S. natural gas production driven by advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technology. The announcements come less than two weeks after the CEOs of both Honeywell and 3M separately said that a worrisome world economic outlook was making it easier to negotiate acquisitions by tempering expectations of what companies would fetch. "If the asset makes sense and the price makes sense, you go for it," said independent analyst Brian Langenberg. Ceradyne shares were up 43 percent at $34.94 in early trading, just below the $35.00 offer price from 3M, whose stock gained 1 percent to $93.32. Honeywell rose 1.7 percent to $60.74. FEWER, BUT LARGER 3M DEALS Thulin told investors on Sept. 19 that he would seek fewer, but larger, deals than his predecessor, George Buckley, but he held to the company's long-term goal of making $1 billion to $2 billion in acquisitions per year. The company has yet another large deal in the works - it is working to overcome U.S. regulators' objections to its planned $550 million takeover of Avery-Dennison Corp's office products business. Meanwhile, Honeywell's UOP arm has the right to buy the remaining 30 percent of Thomas Russell, at a price linked to the business's operating income. The decade-old Thomas Russell company should generate 2012 revenue of about $425 million, Honeywell said. Honeywell said it expected its deal to have no effect on 2012 profit and to boost 2013 earnings. 3M said its deal would reduce earnings by 5 cents per share in the first months following closure. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) ((scott.malone@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 617 856 4342)(Reuters Messaging: scott.malone.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: USA MANUFACTURING/DEALS

https://www.cnbc.com/id/43811262

AVY

Avery Dennison

IBM, Dollar Reversal Help Stocks Recoup Yesterday's Losses

A big day for earnings this morning. While there were a number of beats especially outside the financial industry, but some companies weren’t ready to show full optimism on the state of the U.S. economy. Global companies like Coca-Cola and Stanley Black & Decker showed little growth in their U.S. markets. Label maker Avery Dennison warned on its Q2 outlook, citing its customers “became more cautious about consumer sentiment and the impact of rising retail prices to offset inflation.” And Wells Fargo’s CEO John Stumpf noted that the economic recovery “continues to be slower than expected.” Big Earnings Day for Financials For just the 5th time since its IPO in 1999, Goldman Sachs missed estimates ($1.85 vs. $2.27 consensus), and the stock continues to hit a 2-year low. CEO Lloyd Blankfein noted that “certain of our businesses had disappointing results.” Revenues fell 18 percent (more than expected) on a 53 plunge in fixed income, currency and commodities trading revenues. Although equities revenues grew 19 percent, the firm noted the “challenging environment” resulting from lower trading activity and volatility that reduced its commissions and fees. Additionally, expenses dropped 23 percent after “implementing expense reduction initiatives.” Following the disappointing results, Goldman’s stock is trading at its lowest level since April 2009. Bank of America also continues to hit new 2-year lows after reporting a record quarterly loss due to its previously-announced settlement related to its mortgage business. However, results were inline with Street expectations, with the improvement of credit quality enabling the bank to release $2.4 billion of its previously-set aside loan loss reserves. Loan growth continued to be absent, with loans falling 2 percent in the quarter. Wells Fargobeats estimates ($0.70 vs. $0.68 consensus) as credit quality improved. On the positive side, loan charge-offs fell 12 percent from the prior quarter. The bank also reduced their loan loss provision by $1 billion, which also helped its results. However, the bank’s net interest margin moved lower, as interest rates remained low. Additionally, lending was still down, as loans fell almost 3 percent from a year ago. Pricing Power Gives a Boost: Coca-Cola trades at a 12-year high after beating estimates by a penny. Stronger-than-expected sales were led by a 6 percent rise in worldwide volumes, with all the growth coming from outside North America. Particularly strong were the 24 percent volume growth in China and 17 percent growth in Russia. Although North America volumes were flat, the beverage maker was able to realize higher prices to offset its higher commodity costs. Mosaic handily beats Q4 estimates ($1.52 vs. $1.38 consensus). Revenues surged 54 percent on solid fertilizer demand and strong pricing. Elsewhere: No blues for Big Blue. On the heels of its report, IBM jumps to a new historic high and is accounting for 40% of the Dow’s gain this morning. The tech giant beat estimates ($3.09 vs. $3.03 consensus) as revenues jumped 12 percent amid double-digit growth across all its major regions. More important, IBM provided a better-than-expected 16 percent growth in all-important signings and raised its full-year outlook to “at least $13.25” — higher than the Street’s current expectation of $13.21. Stanley Black & Decker Q2 earnings topped estimates ($1.46 vs. $1.26 consensus). Revenues were inline with estimates, growing 11 percent. Strong Asia and Latin America sales offset weakness in the U.S. and Europe. The tool maker also raises its full-year outlook to $5.15-$5.40, mostly above $5.15 consensus. However, the firm cut its organic sales growth forecast by 1 percentage point to up 4-5 percent due to poor weather conditions in the U.S. last quarter and continued weakness in Europe. _____________________________ Bookmark CNBC Data Pages: _____________________________ _____________________________ Want updates whenever a Trader Talk blog is filed? Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/BobPisani. Questions? Comments? tradertalk@cnbc.com

https://www.cnbc.com/id/35140203

AVY

Avery Dennison

Futures Add to Gains on GDP Growth

Stocks were pointing decidedly higher Friday after the government said the economy grew at an even faster pace than expected. Gross domestic product growth came in at 5.7 percent for the fourth quarter of 2009, exceeding already-optimistic estimates of 4.6 percent. While much of the growth was attributed it to inventory rebuilds, the number impressed investors enough to have futures pointing to an increase of about 0.5 percent at the open. But barring an outsized rally Friday, Wall Street's major averages will conclude their third-consecutive losing month of January, though the losses will pale in comparison to 2009 when both the Dow and the S&P 500 lost almost 9 percent for the month. Stock index futures were higher earlier on upbeat earnings from two tech heavyweights. Both Microsoft and Amazon.com exceeded expectations with their latest reports — Microsoft on the strength of the Windows 7 introduction and Amazon doing so thanks in large part to a dominant holiday shopping season. Microsoft gained 1.4 percent while Amazon rose nearly 3 percent in premarket trading. There's more economic news after the bell: At 9:45 am the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index arrives. It is forecast to come in at 57.2 for January compared to December's 58.7 reading. At 9:55 am, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index is likely to have edged higher to 73.0 for this month compared to December's final reading of 72.5. Elsewhere, Nokia shares were nearly 1 percent higher after Goldman Sachs raised the company's price target after Thursday's earning surprise. Goldman kept Nokia at a "neutral" rating. In early earnings news, former Dow component Honeywell reported profit of 81 cents a share, a penny ahead of expectations, but its shares edged lower. Mattel beat analyst estimates on strong sales from its Fashionista Barbie and Hot Wheels lines. The pace of earnings reports undergoes its usual Friday slowdown, but there also will be reports from Avery Dennison, Chevron, Fortune Brands, and Newell Rubbermaid .

https://www.cnbc.com/id/24070440

AVY

Avery Dennison

Dow Drops 2.3% for Week After GE Jolt

Stock closed sharply lower Friday as General Electric's earnings miss cast a gloomy haze over earnings season and consumer confidence hit a 26-year low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 2 percent to close at 12325.42, while the S&P 500 dropped 2 percent to 1332.83 and the Nasdaq skidded 2.6 percent to 2290.24. For the week, the Dow is off 2.3 percent, the S&P 500 is down 2.7 percent and the Nasdaq has fallen a whopping 3.4 percent. General Electric plunged 13 percent after the conglomerate reported an unexpected 6 percent drop in earnings and missed expectations as the economic slump and credit crunch squeezed profits across the board, though a lot of the problems were concentrated in the financial unit. Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on GE to "neutral" following the report (GE is the parent of CNBC and CNBC.com.) GE's decline, in percent terms, was the largest since Black Monday in 1987, when the stock shed 17.5 percent. The drop has shaved $46.9 billion off GE's market cap since yesterday. Nearly 366 million GE shares changed hands today, the largest daily volume on record. Still, GE's jolt to the market wasn't seen as an omen of more bad things to come. "The only perception that has changed today is the perception of GE's ability to forecast their own earnings," said Michael Cohn, chief investment strategist at Atlantis Asset Management. "My feeling is that this market is actually acting very resilient for the amount of bad news it’s had to shake off over the last month or so," said Michael Cohn, chief investment strategist at Atlantis Asset Management. As long as the Dow stays in a range of 11700 to 12700, Cohn said, there isn't much cause for concern. Industrials and techs led the decline Friday, with the S&P 500 industrial index finishing down 4.8 percent, followed by the S&P information-technology gauge, which dropped 3 percent. Besides GE, engine maker Cummins, uniform manufacturer Cintas and adhesive-label maker Avery Dennison were among the biggest decliners among industrials. And, with other blue-chip companies due to report earnings next week, the GE surprise sparked concerns that this was just the beginning of the bad news. The Nasdaq fell more sharply than the Dow or S&P 500 as technology stocks were hammered by concerns about a slowdown in IT spending. Standard & Poor's cut its rating on networking-gear maker Cisco amid indications that customers are delaying orders. In the chip sector, Caris cut its price target on Nvidia and AMD's technology chief resigned, with no indication that the company plans to find a successor. Among tech companies reporting earnings next week: Intel is due on Tuesday; IBM and eBay on Wednesday; Nokia and Google on Thursday; and, Xerox on Friday. In today's episode of As the Yahoo Turns, Yahoo executives were said to be meeting to discuss alternatives to a Microsoft -- or now, Microsoft-News Corp. -- bid, the Wall Street Journal reported. Still, many insiders view a Microsoft deal sans News Corp. will be the most likely outcome, according to the paper. Financials, already pretty beaten up, handled the GE news pretty well for most of the day, though the S&P financial index finished down 1.8 percent amid jitters ahead of next week's earnings from the sector. JPMorgan is slated to report on Wednesday, Merrill Lynch on Thursday and Citigroup on Friday. CIT Group , a GE rival in leasing and financing, fell 4.6 percent. Washington Mutual dropped 4.1 percent after Goldman Sachs said the largest U.S. savings and loan may have to set aside $14 billion this year for credit losses, a statistic that prompted the brokerage to take the rare move of recommending that investors sell short WaMu stock. WaMu reports earnings on Tuesday. Elsewhere on the earnings front, increased demand for cancer drugs helped Genentechbeat analysts' earnings target but sales of all four of its big brand-name drugs, including Avastin, fell short of forecasts. In economic news, consumer sentiment fell to a 26-year low, according to a report from the University of Michigan. U.S. import prices rose 2.8 percent in March; excluding oil, all other import prices jumped 1.1 percent, the biggest increase on record. Airlines continue to face troubles, as American Airlines, owned by AMR , canceled another 570 flights Fridayand another low-cost carrier, Frontier Airlines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. But unlike other airlines filing for bankruptcy in recent weeks, Frontier said it plans to keep running while it reorganizes. Ailing home-goods retailer Linens 'n Things is also expected to file for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Earlier this week, rival Bed Bath & Beyond reported its earnings dropped 16 percent and issued a disappointing outlook as the housing slump continued to take a toll on home-related retailers. On Tap for Next Week: MONDAY: Retail sales, business inventories TUESDAY: J&J, Intel, WaMu earnings; Empire State manufacturing; PPI WEDNESDAY: Coke, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, eBay, IBM earnings; mortgage applications; housing starts; CPI; industrial production; crude inventories; Beige Book; Fed's Yellen, Plosser speak THURSDAY: Merrill Lynch, Nokia, Pfizer, Capital One, Google earnings; jobless claims; Philly Fed report; leading indicators; Fed's Kohn, Fisher speak FRIDAY: Caterpillar, Citigroup, Honeywell, Xerox earnings; Fed's Lacker, Rosengren speak Send comments to cindy.perman@nbcuni.com.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/23049911

AVY

Avery Dennison

Lightning Round: China Life, American Express, JetBlue and More

Cypress Semiconductor : CEO T.J. Rodgers said on Mad Money that the business was going well, but the stock hasn’t kept up. Cramer needs to find out more before making a decision on CY. Infosys : Not as good as Accenture , according to Cramer. Akamai : Cramer is bullish on Akamai, but stressed that he should have liked it Wednesday, before it announced a spike in profit. China Life : Good, but not Cramer’s favorite Chinese play. He would rather buy Gushan or China Mobile, but sanctioned China Life nonetheless. American Express : AMEX has “lost its way,” said Cramer. His financial pecking order goes Hudson City first, then Wells Fargo and Wachovia . Triumph : “I cannot get behind that stock, not one bit.” JetBlue : Sell, sell, sell. “I don’t want to be there at all,” Cramer said. ITT Education : After putting up better numbers, Cramer prefers Apollo Group .

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/24/ny-ebola-case-shakes-global-markets.html

AVY

Avery Dennison

US stock futures mildly lower as Amazon disappoints

U.S. stock-index futures fell Friday, paring weekly gains, amid disappointing earnings from Amazon and after the first confirmed case of Ebola in New York City prompted worries about the potential spread of the virus. Amazon dropped sharply in early New York trading after the online retailer offered a weak sales outlook for the important holiday quarter and third-quarter results came in below estimates. Microsoft rose after the software titan posting better-than-expected quarterly revenue; Procter & Gamble climbed after the household products maker reported quarterly results and said it would split its Duracell battery business into a separate company. The U.S. dollar edged lower against other global currencies and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note declined 4 basis points to 2.236 percent. Asian equities were mixed after official data released by China Friday showed new home prices falling 1.3 percent on year in September, the first annual drop in nearly two years. In Europe, meanwhile, markets traded lower on the Ebola news. Concern about Ebola persisted, with a doctor who worked with Ebola patients in West Africa in an isolation unit in New York City on Friday after testing positive for the virus, making him the fourth person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States and the first in the nation's biggest city. On the data front, new home sales for September are due at 10 a.m. ET.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/29/heres-how-to-best-invest-in-your-employers-stock.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Here's how to best invest in your employer's stock

When public safety technologies company Axon wanted to change the performance incentives for its CEO, Rick Smith, the company took it one step further. Now, the company's employees are able to participate in an aggressive compensation plan that's tied to the public company's goals. The plan mirrors the same incentives Smith is working towards. The new plan began in January. All employees received at least 60 stock units in the plan, while employees with compensation of $100,000 and up could increase their participation rate. The plan's goal is to take a typical stock grant, a restricted stock unit, and "supercharge" that, according to Axon Chief Financial Officer Jawad Ahsan. That includes a 3-times multiplier for risk, which is also multiplied by nine years, the length of the program. For an employee, that means a $1,000 RSU could convert to a $27,000 XSU, or eXponential stock unit. Provided the company hits all its milestones over that nine-year horizon – including market capitalization, revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) targets – that $1,000 could ultimately be worth $135,000, Ahsan said. More from Personal Finance: Your benefits at work can help your family save in 2020 Here are some smart investing strategies in any market Your health insurance costs are about to go up next year The introduction of the plan has changed the way employees engage with the company's goals, he said. "Employees started getting a lot more creative about how we can expand beyond our core law enforcement market," Ahsan said. Axon's compensation plan changes were initially inspired by the incentives Tesla gives to CEO Elon Musk. Tesla also provides its employees with an equity compensation plan, according to public disclosures. If you think you need to work at one of these companies to get those kinds of benefits, think again. Many companies offer restricted stock plans, stock options and employee stock purchase plans. The key is to know what is available to you, said Emily Cervino, head of industry relationships and thought leadership at Fidelity. "Stock compensation can be a great way for employees to generate wealth and share in the economic appreciation of their company," Cervino said. "But you really need to understand what you have in order to make the most of it."

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/08/how-tuesdays-election-will-impact-the-stock-market-watch-the-republican-portfolio-names.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

How Tuesday's election will impact the stock market — Watch the 'Republican portfolio' names

The fact that the midterm election will soon be over may be enough to spark a rally for stocks, but investors may also cheer the prospect of Washington gridlock as the best outcome for the market. Republicans look set to win back the House of Representatives in Tuesday's elections. The outcome in the Senate could also be a Republican majority, but that relies on a number of very close races. Either way, there will likely be no consensus between Congress and the White House. The potential results of gridlock "I think there will be things about gridlock the market likes. There will be things about gridlock the market doesn't like," said Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James. "As a whole, the most important outcome is getting it in the rearview mirror so we know what we're dealing with." Democrats currently control the White House and both houses of Congress. In the Senate, the two parties each have 50 seats, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. What the market would like about a Republican-controlled Congress is potentially less spending by the Biden administration on a new infrastructure plan and any taxes associated with it. But the market will not like a battle over the debt ceiling that could emerge next year if Democrats don't try to resolve it in the lame-duck session later this year. "The biggest negative for the market is headline risk, and the biggest headline risk is the debt ceiling," said Tom Block, Washington policy analyst at Fundstrat Global Advisors. "Raising the debt ceiling just allows the Treasury to pay the bills that have been accrued. We all know that at the end of the day we're going to pay our bills." The debt ceiling caps the amount of money the government can borrow, and it has been raised dozens of times, sometimes after a big fight. "If you are a Republican, you are scared to death of the debt ceiling. ... You know if you vote to increase the debt ceiling, it is going to be used against you," Block said. With respect to market sectors, strategists say that the traditional domestic energy sector may get a boost if the Republicans are in control of Congress. Further, health- care companies could benefit from GOP opposition to price controls. Meanwhile, defense and cybersecurity may benefit from more spending under Republicans. On Monday, clean energy names were hit while oil and gas shares rose. The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF slipped about 1%, and the Invesco Solar ETF was down 1.3%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, which tracks the oil and gas names in the S & P energy sector, was up 1.7%. Historically, stocks rise after midterms Mills of Raymond James said the market in general should get some relief from the sheer fact that the election is over. From Nov. 1 in a midterm election year to the following November, the S & P 500 has always gone higher. But according to CFRA Research, in those November-to-November years when the presidential party lost the majority in one or both houses, the gains were smaller. In general, history shows that the best returns on average have been when a Democratic president faced a divided Congress. The returns in those years averaged 13.6%, but they dropped to 13% when both the House and Senate were controlled by Republicans. CFRA's data shows when Democrats controlled Congress under the party's president, stocks averaged a 9.1% gain. Meanwhile, under a Republican president, the stock market on average gains 4.9% when Democrats control Congress, and the market gains 7.3% with a split Congress. Finally, when there would be a Republican in the White House, and the party also controlled the House and Senate, the S & P 500 averaged a 12.9% gain. "The market might actually like a Republican-controlled Congress because there's a likelihood that whatever the Republican House pushes through the Senate might sign off on," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. But strategists also note that the GOP may not get too far pushing through their agenda because President Joe Biden will still have the power to veto the legislation. GOP win in 2022 and beyond? Strategas Research says the stock market is signaling that Republicans may sweep the election . The firm constructed portfolios that should do better or worse depending which party has control. Its Republican portfolio, which contains stocks from sectors like energy, as well as law- and immigration-enforcement firms, has outperformed and was signaling 75% odds of a GOP sweep as of Monday's close. But more important, Strategas says the size of the potential Republican win in the House could set the stage for the next election, and keep the GOP in control there through the next election. Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas, estimates the Republicans could gain 27 seats, bringing the total to a historically high 240 seats. He said the GOP portfolio he constructed has risen on gains in energy infrastructure and biotech shares. "The Republican gain in the House could be so large that it takes a Democratic sweep off the table in 2024, and the market can kind of see that," he said. "Drug pricing is not going to get worse and financial regulation is not going to get worse." Piper Sandler strategists agree. "A big GOP night could make a Democratic sweep in 2024 a long shot, which could kill Medicare for All/the public option or any legislation putting a price on carbon for the foreseeable future," wrote Andy Laperriere, Piper Sandler's head of U.S. policy research. Some of the companies in the Strategas Republican portfolio are Axon Enterprise, Johnson & Johnson , The Williams Cos , Huntington Ingalls Industries , ConocoPhillips and OSI Systems . Strategas also notes that gridlock would result in less spending, and therefore a less inflationary environment. So iShares 1-3 Year Treasury ETF (SHY) is in its Republican portfolio. Yields move opposite prices, so bond yields should fall in a less inflationary environment. Close Senate races Political strategists say the Senate is too close to call, but it appears to be leaning Republican. "From a statistical standpoint, it's really close but that doesn't mean the results will be close," said Mills. Mills said even if Democrats hold the Senate, the Republican-controlled house would be busy with its own agenda. "I think highest on the list is a continued 'get tough' on China approach," he said. Both parties may find common ground on that topic, and the sector most affected would be technology. Mills said national security advisor Jake Sullivan has discussed expanding protections for U.S. biotechnology and clean energy technologies. The Biden administration last month imposed export restrictions on semiconductors manufactured in China by U.S. companies. There are clear stock market winners from a Republican victory, at least in the House. "I think overall people would view it as positive for energy," said Mills. He said chances would be improved for easier permitting for oil and gas production and a domestic energy agenda favored by Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has sided with Republicans on some issues. That could benefit pipeline and energy services companies. Some companies may find the change in government more challenging. "Republicans going after 'woke corporations' is likely to be a major theme over the next few years," said Laperriere. "If they have the majority, hearings targeting Big Tech, Wall Street (over ESG), and companies like Disney are likely. Much of this will be headline risk, though tech regulation could potentially win bipartisan backing." "If Republicans win a majority in the House, Biden's [Build Back Better] agenda, including any significant tax hike is dead in the water," he said. Laperriere, in a note, wrote that tech, small cap and financial firms are most vulnerable to higher taxes and tougher regulations, and they could benefit from a Republican Congress. "If Republicans have both chambers, they are more likely to preserve expensing (rather than amortization) of R & D costs, extend full expensing of equipment, and perhaps prevent the limitation on net interest expense from tightening," Laperriere added.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/06/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-in-the-premarket-herbalife-gitlab-textron-and-more.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: Herbalife, GitLab, Textron and more

Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket: Herbalife Nutrition (HLF) – Herbalife tumbled 9.8% in premarket trading after the nutrition and health products company announced a $250 million convertible note offering. Herbalife plans to use the proceeds to repurchase existing debt and for general corporate purposes. GitLab (GTLB) – GitLab shares surged 18.7% in the premarket following better-than-expected quarterly results for the maker of development operations software, with a smaller loss than analysts had anticipated and sales that exceeded consensus estimates. GitLab also issued an upbeat outlook. Textron (TXT) – Textron rallied 9.6% in the premarket after the company's Bell unit won a U.S. Army contract to provide next-generation helicopters. The contract could potentially be worth about $70 billion over a period spanning decades. AutoZone (AZO) – AutoZone beat top and bottom line consensus for its latest quarter, with the auto parts retailer also reporting a larger-than-expected rise in comparable-store sales. AutoZone has been benefiting from consumers investing in their existing cars amid still-high vehicle prices. Signet Jewelers (SIG) – The jewelry retailer reported quarterly profit of 74 cents per share, well above the 31 cents a share consensus estimate. Revenue beat consensus estimates as well. Signet's same-store sales decline of 7.6% was in line with analysts' estimates. The stock surged 8.1% in premarket action. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) – The bank's stock rose 1.5% in the premarket after Morgan Stanley double-upgraded it to "overweight" from "underweight," pointing to a variety of factors including growing market share for the company's Consumer & Community Bank and improved operating leverage. Royal Caribbean (RCL) – Royal Caribbean lost 2.1% in premarket action after a double-downgrade to "underweight" from "overweight" at J.P. Morgan Securities. The analyst report is generally upbeat on the outlook for cruise stocks but notes that Royal Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to a less favorable market for raising capital given the timing of its future financial commitments. Axon Enterprise (AXON) – Axon fell 2.7% in premarket action after the Taser maker announced a $500 million convertible notes offering. General Electric (GE) – General Electric was upgraded to "outperform" from "perform" at Oppenheimer, which also set a price target of $104 per share. The report is upbeat on GE's aviation and power operations, among other factors. GE shares rose 1.4% in the premarket.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-tesla-meta-dr-horton-and-more.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Tesla, Meta, DR Horton and more

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Tesla (TSLA) – SEC filings show CEO Elon Musk sold nearly $4 billion in Tesla shares in the days following his purchase of Twitter. Tesla shares added 1.5% in the premarket. Meta Platforms (META) – The Facebook parent's shares rallied 4.3% in premarket trading after the company announced it was laying off 13% of its workforce, or more than 11,000 workers. DR Horton (DHI) – The home builder's stock slid 3.1% in the premarket after it missed top and bottom line estimates for its latest quarter. It also said it would not provide guidance due to housing market uncertainty. Walt Disney (DIS) – Walt Disney tumbled 7.4% in the premarket after missing top and bottom line estimates for its latest quarter. Disney's profits took a hit from higher costs at its Disney+ streaming service, and the company plans to cut marketing and content budgets. Affirm Holdings (AFRM) – Affirm Holdings plunged 12.2% in premarket trading after the buy-now-pay-later firm reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss. Affirm has been particularly popular among buyers of Peloton bikes, and is seeing an impact from slowing Peloton equipment sales. Upstart Holdings (UPST) – Upstart plummeted 23.8% in premarket action after the AI-driven lending platform issued a much weaker-than-expected revenue forecast for the current quarter, citing challenging economic conditions. AMC Entertainment (AMC) – AMC reported a quarterly loss of 22 cents per share, smaller than the 26 cents loss anticipated by analysts, and revenue topped consensus. CEO Adam Aron said AMC's results were impacted by soft box office results in the latter part of the quarter. AMC fell 3.9% in premarket action. Lucid Group (LCID) – Lucid slid 8.3% in the premarket after saying it may raise up to $1.5 billion through stock sales to fund the electric vehicle maker's operations. Axon Enterprise (AXON) – Axon rallied 8.5% in premarket trading after the Taser maker reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for the third quarter. It also raised its full-year outlook, citing robust demand. Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) – Sprouts Farmers Markets staged an 8.2% off-hours rally on better-than-expected third-quarter results. The organic products grocer also raised its full-year forecast, saying it benefited from an increasing emphasis on health and wellness by consumers.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/06/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-textron-charter-estee-lauder-signet-and-more.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Textron, Charter, Estee Lauder, Signet and more

Beechcraft King Air turboprop aircraft are seen on the assembly line at the Textron Aviation Inc. production facility in Wichita, Kansas, on Thursday, June 7, 2018. Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Textron – Shares of Textron jumped 5.25% after the company won a U.S. Army contract that could be worth $70 billion to provide next-generation helicopters. Charter Communications – Charter Communications fell 4.29% after analysts at Citi added a negative catalyst watch to the company heading into its analyst day. Paramount -- Shares of media company Paramount slipped 6.97% after the CEO said it projects fourth quarter advertising revenue to be lower than the third quarter. It also weighed on other media names such as Disney, which shed about 2%. Estee Lauder – Estee Lauder's stock added 2.41% after Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of the cosmetics company to a buy from a hold rating, saying the stock should benefit when China eases Covid-19 restrictions. Signet Jewelers – Shares of Signet Jewelers surged 20.23% after the company announced earnings results that beat Wall Street's expectations before the market open Tuesday. General Electric – Shares of the industrial giant rose 0.73% after Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to outperform from perform. The Wall Street firm said several factors are boosting confidence in the stock next year, including a planned spinoff of its health care division and strong momentum for its aviation business. NRG Energy – Shares of NRG Energy slid 15.08% in midday trading after the company announced it will acquire Vivint Smart Home for $12 per share, or $2.8 billion. NRG said it plans to complete its existing $1 billion share repurchase program over the near term, and expects to use excess free cash flow to fund the Vivint acquisition, reduce acquisition-related debt, and maintain its common stock dividend growth policy. Enphase – Shares of Enphase slid 7.77% a day after the company reached a new all-time high. Meta Platforms – The Facebook parent company saw shares fall 6.79% after an Oversight Board report found a special-track content review platform for VIPs and businesses promoted an unequal system that offered "certain users greater protection than others," potentially prioritizing Meta business concerns over the protection of safe and fair speech. SVB Financial Group – Shares of SVB Financial slid 4.29%, reaching a 52-week low earlier in the day. The bank was downgraded on Monday by Morgan Stanley to underweight from equal weight. Morgan Stanley also cut its price target to $186 from $253, implying 11% downside from Monday's close. Autozone – Autozone's stock dropped 2.27% after reporting its inventory increased 17.6% over the same period last year. However, the automotive replacement parts retailer's earnings-per-share and revenue beat Wall Street's expectations Lucid Group – Shares of Lucid Group fell 8.27% as investors worry about how higher interest rates and a tighter economy will hit the electric automaker's growth. SL Green Realty – Shares of SL Green Realty slumped 6.57% to a 52-week low after analysts at BMO Harris downgraded the company to market perform from outperform, citing demand uncertainty. Goldman Sachs – Shares of Goldman Sachs slipped 2.32% after a Reuters report said the bank plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on buying or investing in bargain crypto companies after the collapse of FTX hit valuations. Royal Caribbean – The cruise line dropped 3.01% following JPMorgan's double-downgrade to "underweight" from "overweight." The firm noted the cruise line was in a less favorable position compared to competitors due to its financial commitments. Axon Enterprises – The Taser maker fell 7.92% after announcing a $500 million convertible notes offering. Herbalife Nutrition – Shares of Herbalife slumped 25.41% after the company announced a $250 million convertible debt offering, the proceeds of which will be used for general corporate purchases and to buy back existing debt. Semiconductor stocks – Semi stocks Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia fell 4.55% and 3.75% respectively amid a broader selloff in the Nasdaq. GitLab – Shares of GitLab rose 9.44% after the company reported better-than-expected earnings with a smaller loss than Wall Street anticipated. The company also issued a rosy outlook. — CNBC's Yun Li, Alexander Harring, Samantha Subin and Michelle Fox contributed reporting

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/15/stocks-are-giving-some-clues-that-there-could-be-a-republican-congressional-sweep-strategas-says.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Stocks are giving some clues that there could be a Republican congressional sweep, Strategas says

The stock market may be signaling Republicans are about to sweep Congress. Investments that would do well under Republicans are edging higher and outperforming those in a hypothetical Democratic portfolio, particularly in the past week, according to Strategas. That could be signaling that the market is sniffing out more potential for Republicans in mid-term elections to regain the Senate, once thought as a long shot, according to Dan Clifton, head of policy research at the firm. Strategas creates Democratic and Republican portfolios to identify investments that have the most to gain or lose, based on the election outcome. The firm uses the two baskets as a diagnostic tool to measure how financial markets view the election. "This basket was giving the Republicans 80% odds all spring and then through the summer it fell, and the Democrats had a better chance of winning," said Clifton. "The Republicans bottomed out right around Sept. 7 and have been rallying ever since." Strategas watches the portfolios relative to the S & P 500 and to each other to identify what investors are pricing in about the elections. The Republican portfolio peaked relative to the Democratic one on May 3, the day after the leaked report of the impending Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade. One sector that has been emblematic for the Biden administration has been renewable energy, and those stocks and ETFs have lost ground since mid-September. At the same time, odds for a Republican sweep on Nov. 8 have risen. For instance, the iShares Global Clean Energy Fund fell 4.8% this past week and 23.2% over the past month. Individual solar and other renewable names are also down sharply, like First Solar, which is in the Strategas Democratic portfolio. Republicans have been expected to win control of the House of Representatives, but the Senate was expected to stay in Democratic hands until recently. "For awhile it was 65% for a Democratic Senate, but it's now 50/50," Clifton said. Clifton said his portfolios are pointing to a 60% chance of a Republican sweep, while betting markets are at 50/50. The investments in the Democrat portfolio include HMOs and hospitals, in addition to renewable energy. "If the Democrats win, they'll be overcoming 100 years of history, and they're going to claim they have a mandate," he said. "They're going to do the child tax credit, Medicare expansion and renewable energy." Both parties would increase defense spending, but Republicans may do more but be more frugal in other areas, he said. "If the Republicans sweep...from a macro perspective it allows limits on government spending. It helps the Fed do its job on inflation," Clifton said, noting bond yields could go lower. Other areas include fossil fuel energy, infrastructure and immigration related stocks, like private prisons. Clifton said Thursday's very hot consumer price index was important, and the Republican rebound really started when the previous CPI report was released in September. Consumer prices were up 8.2% on an annual basis in September, after rising an also higher-than-expected 8.3% in August. "This election is about inflation, crime and other issues that are working towards the Republicans' benefit," said Clifton. The Strategas Republican portfolio "has really been on the move since the last inflation report...It put in a low Sept. 7 and outperformed by 5% as of Thursday's close," he said. Among the holdings in the Republican portfolio are companies that would benefit from distribution and transportation of oil and gas, like Enterprise Products Partners. Companies are also included that would benefit from more border enforcement and security, such as Axon Enterprise . There are also companies that would be winners if Republicans are able to take tax increases off the table. That would include a global tax and tax increases on multinationals. Winners from that perspective might include Monolithic Power Systems . Strategas expects gridlock if Republicans win even just one house of Congress, and that would limit spending, which is viewed as less inflationary. Investments that benefit from less inflation include iShares 1-3 year Treasury ETF , since bond prices rise when interest rates fall. Defense plays such as Lockheed Martin are also included, as are pharmaceutical companies including Johnson and Johnson. The Democratic portfolio was helped in the spring and summer by the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. Polls show a majority of Americans disapproved of that ruling. That portfolio holds investments that benefit from inflation, like the ProShares Ultra Short 20+ Year Treasury ETF . Utilities like NextEra were included as a hedge against inflation. Democrats could increase broadband and water funding in another infrastructure bill if they were to sweep, so the portfolio contains stocks such as Northwest Pipe. Democrats would favor continuing aid to Ukraine, including spending for drones and missiles. Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings is included for that reason. The child tax credit legislation would help consumers and that could boost stocks such as retailer Children's Place . Democratic health care policies could boost names like Molina Healthcare. "The market is increasingly pricing in a Republican sweep. To do that, you need to find 51 Senate seats and the Republicans really had no path to 51," Clifton said. He noted that Georgia GOP candidate Herschel Walker has plummeted in polls, but lately Pennsylvania is the state he is eyeing for a possible Republican win. "It's now riding on Pennsylvania. It was riding on Georgia," he said. Democratic candidate lieutenant governor John Fetterman is running against Republican Mehmet Oz for Senate in Pennsylvania. Fetterman's health has been an issue since he suffered a stroke in May, but the candidate says he will have no problems serving. Clifton said an interview that Fetterman did with NBC News last week did not come off well and may have hurt him. Fetterman is leading by just 3.4 percentage points in a consensus of polls, according to Real Clear Politics. "The big X factor in my opinion is whether there's going to be an indictment of former President Trump before the election," said Clifton. "The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Trump, which Trump is probably going to ignore, and when he ignores it they are going to refer him to the Justice Department." Clifton said that could concern some Republican voters, who could also be unhappy with reports that Trump had ordered the removal of classified documents that the government was requesting .

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/22/cramer-remix-apple-could-decline-no-matter-what-it-announces-monday.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Cramer Remix: Apple could decline, no matter what new products it announces on Monday

watch now Apple plans to reveal new products on Monday and there might not be enough to go around to satisfy everyone, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Friday. "Apple could announce something totally mind-blowing and I bet its stock would still go down because the bears are spoiling for a fight, and after the recent run, I think that they've got the upper hand," the "Mad Money" host said. On the agenda is the iPhone maker's much-anticipated video streaming service. Cramer said the company will need to keep making moves to bulk up the services it offers and continue building a subscriber base. "I want them to buy Dexcom and Tandem Diabetes so they can offer diabetics a blood sugar monitor-slash-insulin pump that can be controlled from you cell phone," he said. "I like this idea better than one more video channel, but if Apple's working on a multi-media bundle I could see why that's intriguing." Don't sweat this yield curve inversion A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ahead of the opening bell, January 4, 2019 in New York City. Following a strong December jobs report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 350 points at the open on Friday morning. In a television interview on Friday morning, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said he believes there is 'no recession in sight.' Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images An inverted yield curve is not an automatic signal that a recession is around the corner and investors should be aware that there are bargains on the market, even if the economy is slowing down, Cramer said. Three-month Treasury yields surpassed 10-year Treasury notes Friday and the major U.S. indexes stumbled as the S&P 500 finished its worst day since January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average , pushed by bank stocks, dropped 459 points and the lost 1.9 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.5 percent during the session . Cramer blamed the selling in large part on computer algorithms because yield curve inversions in the past have preceded recessions, most recently in 2007. But he said the machines have no way of differentiating one stock from another. "People act like this automatically signals that we're going into a recession, but it might signal nothing more than the fact that the Fed should never have tightened in December," the "Mad Money" host said. "We're headed into another week where I think the inverted yield curve will embolden the bears ... [but] the Fed just took us one rate hike too many and now we're all paying the price." Cramer suggested that investors "stay the course," and concerned investors should stick with stocks that have the safest dividend yields "and get ready to ride through these troubled waters." Read his game plan for the March 25 trading week here Assisting air traffic controllers Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Iridium Communications , the global satellite communications services provider, is gearing up to launch Aireon, a joint venture with four other air navigation companies. The new enterprise was designed to track airplanes in real time. "They're now almost ready to launch their service to track every airplane and let air traffic controllers give more efficient service," Iridium CEO Matthew Desch said. "It's not just about safety. It's about efficiency." Catch the interview here Going public The Lyft Driver Hub is seen in Los Angeles, California. Lucy Nicholson | Reuters Lyft , the ridesharing company set to hit public markets Friday, will be a good stock to buy in the short term but it has challenges in the long run, Cramer said. "I think Lyft is exactly the kind of stock that can work in this slower growth environment, but you need to be careful with these fresh-faced IPOs," the host said. "Short term, I'm betting this turns out to be a good trade, but as a longer-term investment I'm more skeptical." In evaluating the tech company, Cramer highlighted pros and cons about Lyft as it looks to continue taking market share in the growing transportation-as-a-service business. He predicted the company will be worth $21.5 billion and the stock could sell between 3.8 to 4.8 times next year's sales. "I think the stock can go to $75 before it starts getting expensive relative to its peers, but for all we know it will go to $75 immediately after it starts trading. After that, I think you need to get more cautious." More here Get off the couch Chris Rondeau, CEO of Planet Fitness Adam Jeffery | CNBC Planet Fitness, the "Judgement Free Zone" gym chain that caters to casual gym goers, has fine-tuned its plan to get people off the couch for the right price and the right environment, CEO Chris Rondeau said. The gym is tailored to be welcoming and comfortable for the first timers. The stock is up nearly 25 percent in 2019 and more than 76 percent in the past year. "We have a very streamlined business model," he said. "We don't have the pools and the daycare and the juice bars and the rock walls. We have tons of cardio, tons of circuit training equipment. So we clean, clean, clean, and pay attention to the member." Click here for his interview with Cramer Going public John MacDougall | AFP | Getty Images On Thursday, a new IPO cycle was born with Levi's return to public markets. The initial share price weighed at $17 and grew as much as 30 percent during the session. This year's anticipated lineup includes, among others, Pinterest, Airbnb, and rival ride hailing services Lyft and Uber. Other flotsam and jetsam IPOs will be sprinkled in between those launches, Cramer said. The big funds might get overloaded and things could go "terribly awry" and "downhill," the host warned. Cramer explains his thoughts here Cramer's lightning round: I don't get why this stock is down so low

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/14/stock-analyst-calls-of-the-week-dicks-sporting-goods.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Here are the best analyst calls of the week on Wall Street including Dick's and an advertising play

Mannequins stand next to merchandise displayed for sale at a Dick's Sporting Goods store in West Nyack, New York. Craig Warga | Bloomberg | Getty Images (This story is part of the Weekend Brief edition of the Evening Brief newsletter. To sign up for CNBC's Evening Brief, .) Here are some of the best analyst calls on Wall Street this week: Goldman Sachs - Dick's Sporting Goods, Buy rating Goldman Sachs called Dick's Sporting Goods its "most out of consensus" idea in its specialty retail coverage this week. The firm remains bullish on the company with a buy rating and said that while the company's sales have been choppy the last few years it expects momentum to continue heading in to 2020. The analyst said Dick's direct-to-consumer initiatives from the major brands could take share from retailers among other things. 30% of analysts have a buy rating on Dick's according to TipRanks. "Following the past ~2-3 years of choppy sales trends, DKS returned to positive comp growth in 2Q19 and we expect this momentum to continue (healthy consumer, improved apparel/footwear in-stocks, access to better/exclusive product, and a return to growth in the Hardlines category). The overall athletic environment appears healthy (rational promotions, innovation from brands) and management's efforts to drive better traffic/conversion (more differentiated experiences and better service) seem to be taking hold." Guggenheim - Nextstar Media & Gray Television, Buy ratings As the presidential election season gets underway, Guggenheim said there are two stocks investors can use to take advantage of what's expected to be record spending on political advertising. The firm told clients this week "all signs" point to advertising topping $10 billion, leaving buy-rated Nextstar Media and Gray Television as beneficiaries. Both media companies operate local television stations around the country. "All signs point to another record political cycle in 2020 with total political advertising topping $10bn (up ~15% from $8.7bn during the 2018 midterm cycle). We have broken down station group market overlap within (competitive Presidential states, U.S. Senate races, and gubernatorial races). Our takeaways are two-fold: 1) all data to date supports a robust 2020 political cycle and 2) we believe NXST and GTN are best positioned for the 2020 Presidential cycle. Nexstar remains our top pick among local TV broadcasters heading into 2020, followed by Gray." Jefferies - Focus Financial Partners, Buy rating This week, Jefferies initiated Focus Financial Partners with a buy rating. The company assists registered investment advisers and investment-management teams start their own wealth management firms within the partnership of Focus. Jefferies said the company was a "growing segment" in the wealth management business and a $20 trillion industry. The firm also noted that it's "early" but Focus continues to attract and recruit "partner firms" at a rapid rate. "Unlike traditional asset managers, the RIA business is largely focused on wealth preservation as opposed to beating benchmarks. While the value proposition of a traditional asset manager has been getting tougher to defend, the ~$20T advisor-mediated industry is an attractive and growing segment of the market. Layer in the need to add capabilities to effectively scale as well as offer transition assistance, and FOCS has found a true need in the marketplace. The ability to provide expertise across a wide spectrum of services ranging from back office and consulting service to technology investment and M&A has attracted over 60 partner firms since inception. We believe FOCS is still very much in the early innings of its growth trajectory enabling $50M+ RIA firms to continue growing at above average rates." JMP Securities - Axon Enterprise, Outperform rating JMP Securities initiated coverage of Axon Enterprise this week with an outperform rating. The company develops technology and weapons products for law enforcement and civilians. JMP said the company's "strong" brand and "solid" reputation in the law enforcement community give Axon a "dominant platform" for growth. The firm added it was impressed as the company continues its transition from a business based on electroshock weapons to a business that provides a broader array of technology options to law enforcement agencies. "We initiate research coverage of Axon Enterprise with a Market Outperform rating and a price target of $89. Our research suggests that AAXN is still in the early stages of its transformation from a business based on electroshock weapons to a business that provides a broad suite of technology solutions to law enforcement agencies. The company's strong brand and solid reputation with law enforcement provide AAXN with a dominant platform from which to grow." Stifel - MongoDB, Buy rating

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/21/shares-of-taser-rise-after-atlanta-police-dept-buys-body-cameras.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Shares of Taser rise after Atlanta Police Dept buys body cameras

Shares of Taser International rose 4 percent in late-session trade after the firm announced the Atlanta Police Department will purchase 1,015 body cameras from Taser's subsidiary Axon. "We view the announcement as a positive as the [body-worn camera] program with the [Atlanta PD] had been delayed on several occasions over the past two years as Atlanta-based competitor, Utility, had sought help from local courts to block the deal after losing the contract to Taser," Dougherty analyst Jeremy Hamblin told CNBC. Dougherty has a "buy" rating on TASR and a $34 per share price target, nearly 29 percent upside from Tuesday's close of $26.42.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/06/taser-hopes-to-score-big-body-camera-deal-with-nypd.html

AXON

Axon Enterprise

Taser hopes to score big body camera deal with NYPD

Having notched big sales of body cameras to the police in Chicago, Minneapolis and Baltimore, Taser International has its sights set on an even bigger prize — the New York City Police Department. Taser Axon Body Worn Police Camera Source: Michael Luciano The NYPD recently completed a 15-month pilot program of 54 officers in six precincts using Taser body cameras and a system from privately held rival Vievu, and now the agency is preparing a wider test involving about one-fourth of the city's precincts. Taser also has been awarded camera contracts in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. "We've been laser focused on winning the biggest agencies on to our platform," Taser co-founder and CEO Rick Smith told analysts Wednesday during the company's first-quarter earnings call. "We may not win every opportunity, but we're certainly winning a dominant share." Taser's Axon body camera and services segment has been a lucrative business for the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company and could drive growth for years to come as more police departments purchase the equipment. But a patent infringement lawsuit filed by a small competitor could potentially prove costly for Taser. In January, Digital Ally of Lenexa, Kansas, sued Taser in federal court alleging patent infringement and seeking "a permanent injunction barring Taser from selling its infringing Axon products with Signal technology." The Kansas company is asking for monetary damages "in an amount no less than a reasonable royalty as well as its lost profits for Taser's infringement." "We patently deny the frivolous accusations by Digital Ally and we'll address their claims appropriately in the courtroom," Taser said in a statement provided to CNBC. Digital Ally couldn't be reached for comment. Taser stock climbed about 4 percent on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected results . The stock is beating the broader market year-to-date, but is down nearly 50 percent from a year ago and was lower by more than 1 percent Friday. Taser said it shipped more than 8,000 cameras in the quarter ended in March. Overall, Axon revenues were up 51 percent year-over-year, while the Taser weapons segment revenues grew almost 20 percent. Operating expenses soared 66 percent in the quarter, leading some analysts to caution investors. "We've never denied the opportunity for Taser or its competitive advantages, but we worry investors aren't thinking through the impact of operating expenses spend to get there," Oppenheimer analyst Andrew Uerkwitz said in a research note Thursday. The analyst lowered his full-year 2017 estimates for Taser. Taser Axon Body Worn Police Camera Source: Michael Luciano Meanwhile, Taser has been careful not to comment specifically on the NYPD program in order to avoid running afoul of what CEO Smith previously termed "pretty stringent guidelines" for vendors participating in the bidding process. Winning the expanded pilot contract would be significant for Taser and also could set the stage for the company to ultimately land a larger deal with the NYPD, which has a sworn force of about 36,000 officers. "The next phase of the body camera pilot program will be to identify 20 precincts and deploy 20 cameras in each of these," an NYPD spokesperson wrote in response to an inquiry. "For this purpose we will be using cameras from a projected 1,000 supply we plan to obtain this summer. The request for proposal process for supply body cameras to the NYPD is still in the evaluation/review stage." Last year, the Los Angeles Police Department — the nation's second largest police force — negotiated a five-year, $31.2 million deal with Taser. The agreement includes body cameras for 7,000 uniformed officers as well as stun guns made by Taser. Several L.A. City Council members have voiced concerns about the costs of the camera initiative, but L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti convinced the Council to fund the program, and full deployment is now expected in late 2018. The Boston Police Department also is aiming to launch a pilot program consisting of 100 cameras later this month or in early June. The vendor selection hasn't been finalized. watch now

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/06/us-justice-department-will-sue-to-stop-halliburton-baker-hughes-merger--source.html

BKR

Baker Hughes

US Justice Department will sue to stop Halliburton, Baker Hughes merger - source

The U.S. Justice Department will file a lawsuit as soon as this week to stop oilfield services provider Halliburton Co from acquiring smaller rival Baker Hughes Inc , a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The antitrust lawsuit could potentially scupper the deal that was first announced in November 2014 to combine the No. 2 and No. 3 oil services companies. Since then, oil prices have fallen by more than 55 percent. Faced with opposition from the Justice Department, the companies may either cancel the planned tie-up or fight the government in court. The deal is one of several that antitrust enforcers have rejected as illegal during the recent wave of mergers of large, complex companies. Share prices for Baker Hughes closed down 5.1 percent at $39.36 Tuesday while Halliburton ended up 1.2 percent at $34.40. Halliburton and Baker Hughes both declined comment. The two sides had been discussing asset sales aimed at saving the deal, which was originally valued at $35 billion but is now valued at about $25 billion based on the decline in Halliburton shares. If the deal collapses due to antitrust concerns, Halliburton must pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee, according to regulatory filings. The proposed deal also has hit headwinds in Europe, where the European Union's competition authority was concerned that the proposed merger would reduce competition and innovation in more than 30 product markets. Regulators in Australia also flagged concerns about the massive tie-up. As far back as July 2015, Reuters reported that there were concerns in the U.S. government that the merger would lead to higher prices and less innovation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/01/halliburton-baker-hughes-set-to-terminate-35b-deal-source.html

BKR

Baker Hughes

Halliburton and Baker Hughes scrap $28B merger

watch now Oilfield services provider Halliburton and smaller rival Baker Hughes announced the termination of their $28 billion merger deal on Sunday after opposition from U.S. and European antitrust regulators. The tie-up would have brought together the world's No. 2 and No. 3 oil services companies, raising concerns it would result in higher prices in the sector. It is the latest example of a large merger deal failing to make it to the finish line because of antitrust hurdles. "Challenges in obtaining remaining regulatory approvals and general industry conditions that severely damaged deal economics led to the conclusion that termination is the best course of action," said Dave Lesar, chief executive of Halliburton. The contract governing Halliburton's cash-and-stock acquisition of Baker Hughes, which was valued at $34.6 billion when it was announced in November 2014, and is now worth about $28 billion, expired on Saturday without an agreement by the companies to extend it, Reuters reported earlier on Sunday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Halliburton will pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee by Wednesday as a result of the deal falling apart. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit last month to stop the merger, arguing it would leave only two dominant suppliers in 20 business lines in the global well drilling and oil construction services industry, with Schlumberger being the other. "The companies' decision to abandon this transaction — which would have left many oilfield service markets in the hands of a duopoly — is a victory for the U.S. economy and for all Americans," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement on Sunday. The European Commission also previously expressed concerns that the deal might reduce competition and innovation. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, which enforce U.S. antitrust law, have filed lawsuits to stop an unusually high number of deals in the past 18 months. Lynch said last month that the number of big and complex deals being proposed made it "a unique moment in antitrust enforcement." The collapse of Halliburton's acquisition of Baker Hughes comes as both companies struggle to cope with the impact that lower energy prices are having on their clients. Last week, Baker Hughes reported a bigger-than-expected first-quarter loss and warned that the rig count globally would drop steadily through the end of the year because of fewer new projects.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/oil-company-baker-hughes-is-cautiously-optimistic-on-energy-outlook.html

BKR

Baker Hughes

Energy company Baker Hughes is 'cautiously optimistic' on the outlook for demand

Energy services firm Baker Hughes sees energy demand recovering in the second half of 2021, chief executive Lorenzo Simonelli said this week. "We are cautiously optimistic," he told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick on Monday. He noted that some countries are still in coronavirus-related lockdowns, which decimated demand in 2020 and can weigh on fuel sales in the first part of the year. However, he expects demand to start recovering in the second half of the year, due to the vaccine rollout and improving economic situation. The chief executive's views were in line with OPEC's January report on the oil market, which said vaccinations provide some "upside optimism," and that its 2021 forecasts "assume a healthy recovery in economic activities." The alliance expects global oil demand to increase by 5.9 million barrels per day to an average of 95.9 million bpd. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency predicts that world oil demand will recover to 96.6 million bdp this year. It lowered its forecast slightly citing surging Covid cases and fresh lockdowns. While vaccines put fundamentals on a stronger growth trajectory, it will take more time for demand to fully recover, the IEA said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/baker-hughes-halliburton-in-talks-to-sell-to-carlyle-report.html

BKR

Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes, Halliburton in talks to sell assets to Carlyle: Report

Baker Hughes and Halliburton are in talks to sell a package of oilfield-service assets to the Carlyle Group, a U.S.-based private equity firm, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The sale could be valued at more than $7 billion and, while the talks between the three are not yet exclusive, they are far along, the Journal said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/27/baker-hughes-shares-fall-after-big-earnings-miss.html

BKR

Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes shares fall after big earnings miss

An operator for Baker Hughes conducts a wireline survey on a Chesapeake Energy natural gas rig in the North Texas Barnett Shale near Burleson, Texas. Baker Hughes shares have suffered mightily over the past year, plunging 33 percent, and CEO Martin Craighead said in a statement there could be more trouble ahead. The company reported a first-quarter earnings per share loss of $1.58, much larger the expected loss of 34 cents. Revenue came in $2.67 billion, also below estimates. Baker Hughes ' stock rose about 2.5 percent Wednesday after the oilfield services giant posted a much bigger-than-expected quarterly loss. "In the second quarter, we forecast the North America rig count to fall 30 percent compared to the first quarter average. For the second half of the year, we project the U.S. rig count will begin to stabilize, although we do not expect activity to meaningfully increase in 2016. Conversely, the international rig count is predicted to drop steadily through the end of the year as we see limited new projects in the pipeline," he said. The results from Baker Hughes, which is to be bought by bigger rival Halliburton , come three days ahead of a deadline set by the companies to get regulatory approval for the deal. BHI in the last year — CNBC's Juan Aruego and Reuters contributed to this report.

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/20/halliburton-baker-hughes-see-tough-2015-as-drilling-slows.html

BKR

Baker Hughes

Halliburton, Baker Hughes see tough 2015 as drilling slows

Oilfield service providers Baker Hughes and Halliburton posted better-than-expected quarterly profits on resilient demand, but warned that a fall in drilling activity due to weak oil prices would hurt results in 2015. Global oil prices have tumbled almost 60 percent since June, hitting five-year lows as growing production and tepid global demand caused a supply glut, prompting oil producers to scale back spending. Halliburton, which is buying Baker Hughes in a $35 billion deal, said it took a $129 million restructuring charge in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 to "temper the impact of anticipated activity declines." The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States fell by 55 to 1,366 last week, the second-sharpest weekly drop in 24 years, according to data released by Baker Hughes on Friday. Still, strong year-end sales and previously signed contracts at both the companies shielded fourth-quarter results from impact of the slowdown in drilling activity. Halliburton's shares were up 2 percent in premarket trading, while Baker Hughes was up 1 percent. "While market demand ended up being more resilient in the fourth quarter than many had predicted, the recent declines seen in rig counts will clearly affect results in 2015," Baker Hughes Chief Executive Martin Craighead said in a statement. Oilfield services leader Schlumberger said last week it would lay off 9,000 workers worldwide and warned that the oil price drop was likely to have a "significantly more dramatic" impact on North America than on the rest of the world. The company, like Halliburton and Baker Hughes, reported a better-than-expected profit on Thursday, largely helped by an 18.5 percent jump in revenue from North America. Baker Hughes said on Tuesday that revenue from North America rose 20 percent to account for half of overall sales. Halliburton said revenue from North America rose 24 percent, making up for more than half of fourth-quarter revenue. Baker Hughes's total revenue rose 13 percent to $6.64 billion, while Halliburton's revenue rose about 15 percent to $8.77 billion. Baker Hughes's fourth-quarter adjusted profit was $1.44 per share, much higher than the average analyst estimate of $1.07, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Halliburton's adjusted profit from continuing operations was $1.19 per share, above the average analyst estimate of $1.10.

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/20/the-associated-press-baker-hughes-to-lay-off-7000-workers-planning-for-downturn.html

BKR

Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes to lay off 7,000 workers, planning for downturn

HOUSTON (AP) — Oil services company Baker Hughes Inc. will lay off about 7,000 workers as it prepares for a downturn in orders because of the plunge in crude prices, the company said Tuesday. The layoffs represent about an 11 percent cut to the 62,000-plus workers Baker Hughes says it employs worldwide. The announcement came in a conference call after the Houston-based company exceeded analysts' estimates with a record $663 million in net income in the fourth quarter of 2014, more than double its earnings during the same period of the prior year. Leading the growth was the company's North American division, which posted revenue of $3.3 billion. However, the company expects a "sharp drop in product sales" because of the plummeting price of crude, chief financial officer Kimberly Ross said during Tuesday's call. Prices have fallen by nearly half in just six months, with major benchmarks trading below $50 a barrel. Last week, Baker Hughes reported the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. tumbled by 74 to 1,676. With activity in the oil fields in decline, "we're approaching this year one quarter at a time," Ross said. The world's largest oil services provider, Schlumberger Ltd., said last week it would reduce its workforce by 9,000 employees. Oil services rival Halliburton had announced in November it would acquire Baker Hughes for $34.6 billion. It said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter net income rose to $901 million from $793 million a year earlier. Houston-based Halliburton said last month that it would cut about 1,000 employees from its workforce in the Eastern hemisphere due to the tough market environment. A company spokeswoman said the cuts had nothing to do with the Baker Hughes acquisition.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/apple-art-apple-stores-host-augmented-reality-iphone-art-walks.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

Apple took us on a surreal walk through San Francisco, looking at digital art on an iPhone

Kif Leswing/CNBC San Francisco looks different through an iPhone XS Max — it's still a city, but now there are floating balls of fabric, speech bubbles, and words popping out from the trees and buildings. For more than two hours on Sunday, I ambled through the streets of San Francisco, taking in several art pieces scattered around the city by Apple. But the art wasn't actually physically on the ground — instead, it was digital art, mere 1s and 0s, attached to several significant locations around the city, and viewed through the camera and display of an Apple iPhone. The walk, which launched on Saturday, is a new program at Apple stores called "AR[T]," which is a play on words on augmented reality, a technology that uses cameras and machine learning to place digital objects in the real world. Apple has developed software for iPhones called ARKit. Apple CEO Tim Cook has called the technology "big and profound." The hope among technologists is that augmented reality can be the next big computing platform, and companies like Facebook , Google , and Microsoft are also investing heavily in augmented reality technologies. "I think in AR's early days when it's still trying to find its footing, user traction and killer apps, these types of organized initiatives by tech giants can slowly push the ball forward," Mike Boland, chief analyst of ARtillery Intelligence said. "Apple is particular has invested a lot in AR and is banking certain parts of its future hardware lineup on AR, so these ARt walks are both a move to accelerate AR traction and to continue feeling out the demand signals and what will resonate with consumers." "I have been working in augmented reality for the past 3 years and I am convinced it will be the medium in which we will experience most of the arts in the future," said artist Sebastian Errazuriz, who was not involved in the project with Apple, but who has made similar public art in augmented reality. "Augmented reality will prove to be as huge an invention as electricity. We will all live augmented reality lives," he continued. The walk Kif Leswing/CNBC The AR[T] walk I attended started from Apple's flagship store in Union Square in San Francisco. It's available at six Apple stores in major cities, including New York, Hong Kong, and Paris. Over about two hours, we walked from the store to an alley, across Market Street to Yerba Buena Gardens, and to a historic church and back. I was lucky to be able to make a reservation on Apple's website — most sessions through the end of the month are already full. Of the six sessions scheduled at the store for next weekend, all are booked as of Monday. However, when I arrived, there was plenty of space. There were only five of us when we departed the store, including a store employee who came along for the walk on his free time. We were led by two Apple employees with a separate store manager checking in during the walk to troubleshoot our path. If there are open slots in a walk, Apple stores will accommodate people who are there, an Apple representative said, so even if you can't get a reservation, it still may be worth seeing if there are open spaces. The walk is guided by an Apple store employee and everyone gets to borrow an iPhone XS Max and pair of Beats Solo headphones for the trip. You can't use your personal iPhone. Each one of the the Apple-loaned iPhones has a non-public AR[T] app installed that enables you to access the experiences. There's a bit of a ritual to see the art. The tour guide turned each experience on and off from an iPad Pro, and also led discussions about what we saw. We'd walk to a location, like Maiden Lane, a cute little alley in downtown San Francisco. Then, we were told to find and point our phones at a "marker" like a sign, which allows the phone to place digital objects and creatures in the real world by giving the phone a point to orient the graphics around. Once you scan the marker — feeling a little haptic pulse when it's locked in — then you get a few minutes to walk around and experience the art. At the end of each art piece, the guide asked us to all put our loaner phones together, then the guide would press buttons on his iPad, and all the phones would shut off, turn to black, and we'd be asked to put it in our pockets so we could walk to the next location. The art John Giorno's "Now at the Dawn of My Life" Kif Leswing/CNBC The draw for the ART walks is six pieces of art selected by the New Museum, a modern art museum based in New York. The art is often interactive and sometimes challenging, although at times you're reminded that augmented reality is a nascent medium that artists and other creators are still learning how to use. Seven artists, including Nick Cave, John Giorno and Pipilotti Rist, made six pieces for the walk. The first piece we saw was by Cave, and it included creating and customizing a floating ball of digital cloth that walks with you down the alley. At the end, you point your phone towards the sky, and through its screen you can see a giant man with a bowl for his head standing on top of a building. Bowl Man sucks up all the cloth balls, and he changes color. Another piece, by Cao Fei, places a little factory on the ground with a series of conveyor belts moving boxes into the distance. That piece was designed to be interactive — we could pinch or stretch individual boxes, or press a switch that reversed the flow of the boxes. Kif Leswing/CNBC In "This Is It," a short fairy tale is presented through a portal accessed by putting your phone up to a tree. Other pieces were less successful. One of them, called "Now at the Dawn of My Life" by Giorno, involved the words from a poem floating on a rainbow pathway through a park, which was difficult to navigate on a crowded Sunday while looking through a smartphone. Our guide mentioned we didn't want to be the people engrossed in our phones running into other people, but that's exactly who we were as we tried to experience the art. Apple's ART walk isn't the first time that a tech company has sponsored a piece of digital art placed into the real world through augmented reality technology. In 2017, Snap placed a giant Jeff Koons balloon animal in Central Park that could be viewed through Snapchat. That artwork was "vandalized" by Errazuriz, the graffiti artist, who placed a similar balloon animal in the same spot covered with graffiti tags, arguing at the time that corporations "should pay rent" in augmented reality and that citizens "should choose to approve what can be geo-tagged to our digital public and private space." "As the technology becomes ubiquitous during the next couple of years, it will be important to stay alert to the permissions and responsibilities we allow for geo-located AR content in the future. So far Apple has proven trustworthy and responsible, I believe in them and their mission," Errazuriz said to CNBC on Monday. The walks aren't the only augmented reality-related programming Apple is scheduling at its stores. There's a Cave piece that's available in all stores, and a separate class to learn how to make augmented reality experiences. The walks will run at least through the end of 2019.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/entrepreneur-sends-fake-dog-testicles-to-gop-senators-to-protest-shutdown.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

An entrepreneur is sending fake dog testicles to Republican senators and Vice President Mike Pence to protest the government shutdown

Entrepreneur Gregg Miller is fed up with the government shutdown, so he is sending every Republican senator and the vice president a pair of testicular canine implants. Yes, fake dog balls. And he swears it's not a stunt. "As God is my witness on my mother's grave, so help me almighty God, it has nothing to do with being a publicity stunt," Miller said. His protest is just one example of how businesses big and small are trying to get in the shutdown fray. Shutdown-themed merchandise has flooded online stores like Cafe Press, while corporations such as Kraft Heinz have sought to leverage their brands to help struggling government workers. About 800,000 federal employees are going without pay as the shutdown drags on. Miller is the founder of Neuticles, which is based in Oak Grove, Missouri, and sells testicular implants for neutered dogs. He has sold over a half million pairs — or one million balls— over the past 25 years. Miller invented the product after his bloodhound, Buck, was neutered. He wanted Buck to maintain his "God-given look," and Miller believed more people would be willing to neuter their pets if they had a product to make their pets look whole. He was right. Neuticles has made him a millionaire. Now, the businessman has angrily turned his attention to Washington, D.C, where lawmakers and President Donald Trump are at odds over whether to fund the construction of a wall on the southern border. Trump has refused to sign any bill that lacks wall funding, while Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have said they won't approve a measure with money for a barrier. Miller admits he does not like Trump, even calling him a "madman." As the shutdown has dragged on – it entered its 34th day Thursday – he is preparing to send his product to all 53 Senate Republicans, plus Vice President Mike Pence, with the message: 'We are demanding that you gain testicular fortitude and have enclosed a pair of Neuticles to help achieve the necessity to stand up against the sole interests of this rogue president." "My intention and actions on this isn't necessarily based on the shutdown that Trump created," Miller said, "but I'm looking ahead because impeachment is imminent." (Any impeachment trial to remove Trump from office would happen in the Senate, but there are no signs, in fact, that impeachment is imminent.) Other businesses are getting mixed up in shutdown politics, too. Shutdown merchandise is hitting the online market, although it's not clear how well it is selling. Cafe Press provided a list of new designs to CNBC, but it did not release sales figures. "I survived the Trump shutdown and all I got was a crappy t-shirt," reads one design. Another says: "Bros before furloughs." CNBC reached out to a website called UncleSamShirt about a shutdown tee it's selling which caricatures the president's hairstyle. "Not sell much," was the reply.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/09/cheniere-energy-cracks-into-chinas-booming-natural-gas-market.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

Cheniere taps China's booming natural gas market, signing first-ever US long-term LNG contract

The Asia Vision LNG carrier ship at the Cheniere Energy terminal in this aerial photograph taken over Sabine Pass, Texas, Feb. 24, 2016 Cheniere Energy announced it has signed the first-ever long-term deal between an American natural gas exporter and a Chinese state-owned energy company, a major step forward for the U.S. gas industry. China is the fastest growing market for liquefied natural gas, a super-cooled form of the fuel that allows it to be shipped overseas in liquid form. Earlier this week, the U.S. Energy Information projected LNG will soon dominate America's natural gas exports, which have mostly been shipped by pipe to Canada and Mexico. China's LNG imports are booming as it aims to reduce its use of coal to generate electricity and power its massive industrial sector. The nation's reliance on coal-fired generation is a big contributor to China's notoriously poor air quality. Energy giant China National Petroleum Corporation agreed to purchase 1.2 million tons per year from Cheniere's Sabine Pass export terminal on the Texas-Louisiana border. In 2016, China imported 26.1 million tons of LNG, up 32.6 percent from the previous year, according to IHS Fairplay. That year, Australia supplied about half of those imports, while Persian Gulf monarchy Qatar accounted for about 20 percent of those supplies. The two countries, the world's top LNG exporters, benefit from long-term contracts with big buyers in East Asia. Most of the gas shipped from the upstart American LNG industry has been on the short-term spot market. "We are pleased to announce these LNG contracts with China National Petroleum Corporation, an important global energy player in one of the largest and fastest growing LNG markets worldwide," Cheniere President and CEO Jack Fusco said in a statement. Cheniere is currently the only company operating a fully operational LNG export terminal in the Lower 48 United States. Dominion Energy 's Cove Point terminal on the Chesapeake Bay will start up commercial service next month. The Cameron LNG terminal and Freeport LNG facility are scheduled to open later this year on the Gulf Coast. The news is also a boon to the Trump administration. The U.S. Commerce Department reached an agreement with Chinese authorities in May that cleared the way for state-owned companies to negotiate long-term contracts with U.S. LNG exporters, something Beijing had been hesitant to do. Some market-watchers doubted the agreement would lead to actual shipments, but Cheniere's deal with CNPC moves the ball forward. A portion of shipments are scheduled to begin this year. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy cheered the announcement and its impact on the state economy on Friday. "This is great news for working families in Louisiana," Cassidy said in a statement. "From the wellhead to the liquefaction facility, people in Louisiana will benefit from selling more American-made energy."

https://www.cnbc.com/id/45304977

BALL

Ball Corporation

City of London Re-Starts Legal Bid To Evict St Paul's Protestors

The Occupy London Stock Exchange camp caused controversy and much soul searching two weeks ago when first the Cannon Chancellor of the cathedral, Giles Fraser, resigned in protest at proposed legal moves to evict the demonstrators and then the Dean of the cathedral, the Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, resigned over his handling of the affair. The Bishop of London the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, then took the decision to allow the camp to stay where it was until at least the New Year. In a statement released on its website, the Corporation of London said its Planning & Highways committee decided at a meeting on Tuesday morning to re-commence the legal process to move tents off the highway at St Paul’s after hearing legal advice on its Highways Act responsibilities – and the needs of other City users including disrupted businesses. Stuart Fraser, Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation, said after the meeting: “We paused legal action for two weeks for talks with those in the camp on how to shrink the extent of the tents and to set a departure date – but got nowhere. “So, sadly, now they have rejected a reasonable offer to let them stay until the New Year, it’s got to be the courts. We’d still like to sort this without court action but from now on we will have to have any talks in parallel with court action – not instead.” The Corporation claimed it was receiving reports about vulnerable people, cases of late-night drinking and “other worrying trends,” “Lawful protesters who stand or walk are a regular part of London. But tents, equipment and now, increasingly, quite a lot of mess, is not what a highway is for and others are losing out.” In one of the more embarrassing incidents for the authorities, a City of London police officer was discovered in the camp by his colleagues last week after a night of heavy drinking to celebrate passing a firearms examination. He had earlier been thrown out of the Savoy Hotel in central London where he was due to be staying overnight and, according to press reports, wandered up to the enacampment where demonstrators took pity on him and gave him a tent in which to sleep. Members of the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp tweeted their disappointment that the Corporation of London had chosen to "break off the process of dialogue" but appeared less than surprised. A notice to tent users is likely to follow on Wednesday. The decision comes on the one month anniversary of the demonstrations and less than 24 hours after a number of Occupy London Stock Exchange protestors were said to have disrupted the annual Lord Mayor of London’s Guildhall reception at which the Prime Minister is the guest speaker. Seven people were charged with a number of public order offences relating to the demonstration outside the Guildhall, which saw demonstrators don evening suits and ball gowns along with pig masks. The legal move also comes within hours of police moving in to clear the Occupy Wall Street protest camp in Zuccotti Park in New York. The police action started at around 1 a.m. New York time, and before 4 a.m., city sanitation workers had completely cleared the park of tents. A recorded message from an NYPD vehicle kept repeating that protesters had to vacate the park "temporarily." Streets in New York's financial district were being reopened Tuesday morning as workers in the financial district were beginning to arrive in commuter buses. Sanitation workers were hosing down Zucotti Park. Earlier, New York sanitation workers threw protesters' makeshift camps into a dumpster while police told protesters that they could return to the park. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said protesters could use the park but must follow the rules — which do not allow for tents and sleeping bags, regulations that essentially make Zuccotti off limits for the prolonged encampment staged by the protesters. "The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day," Bloomberg said in a statement. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protestors, making it unavailable to anyone else." Occupy London Stock Exchange protestors said they planned to demonstrate outside the US Embassy in London on Tuesday afternoon to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/06/private-equity-sports-investments-neared-2-billion-in-2021-nba-hot.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

Private equity invaded sports in 2021 with nearly $2 billion in deals, and the NBA was in high demand

Ballboys wear gloves while handling warmup basketballs as a precautionary measure prior to an NBA game between the Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena on March 9, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Todd Kirkland | Getty Images U.S. stocks made a ton of money for investors in a decade-long bull market that lasted through the end of last year. But those returns pale in comparison to the windfall from sports investing, particularly in the National Basketball Association. The NBA has the highest price return compared to other leagues, as basketball's globalization has expanded to other markets, including its more than $5 billion China operation and the newly launched $1 billion NBA Africa venture. Between 2002 and 2021, the average price return for an NBA team was 1,057% compared to 458% returns on the S&P 500, according to estimates from PitchBook. But other sports offered solid returns, too. PitchBook estimates Major League Baseball clubs offered a 669% price return from 2002 to 2021, and the National Hockey League returned 467%. Now, private equity investors are rushing in for a piece of the action. PitchBook's 2021 private equity breakdown estimated over $1 trillion in total deals last year, and roughly $2 billion of that was spent purchasing equity stakes in U.S. sports franchises. Investors are attracted to "the overall professionalization of sports," said Wylie Fernyhough, PitchBook's private equity lead analyst. "It was certainly the beginning," Fernyhough said of PE sports deals in 2021. "We're going to see a lot more deals going forward." NBA teams getting growth capital Sports leagues including the NBA and Major League Soccer started allowing private equity to invest early in the pandemic. But Major League Baseball was the first league to eye private equity money. In a 2019 interview with CNBC, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred explained, "Franchise values have escalated, the capital structures in the clubs have become more complicated. The idea of having a fund that would essentially be a passive equity investor in a club or clubs is one that is helpful in terms of facilitating sale transactions in clubs." Firms including Arctos Sports, Dyal Capital Partners, RedBird Capital and Sixth Street established funds to buy minority shares in teams in 2021, attracted to the economic moat around sports leagues, including the increasing value of media rights and global expansion. This is where the NBA is most attractive. Tennis, motorsports, and golf are considered the most global sports, but basketball is creeping up with its growth outside the U.S. Benjamin Chukwukelo Uzoh 2nd R of Rivers Hoopers of Nigeria vies with Wilson Nshobozwa of Patriots Rwanda during the opening game of the the inaugural Basketball Africa League BAL in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda, May 16, 2021. Cyril Ndegeya | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images In 2019, the NBA announced the Basketball Africa League, run by its NBA Africa entity. Friction remains from a 2019 dispute involving team executive Daryl Morey, but NBA China is still operating, and games are streaming on Tencent. The league is targeting India's massive population of more than one billion, too. In addition, the league's WNBA operation lured a $75 million raise last week that a source told CNBC's Kevin Stankiewicz values the league at $1 billion. The WNBA will use those funds to grow the women's game. Factoring in the established global footprint and "younger fans on average," Fernyhough called buying minority stakes in NBA clubs a "gigantic" opportunity. "I think there are a lot of reasons to be bullish on the NBA," he added. Chris Lencheski, chairman of private equity consulting company Phoenicia, agrees. "The NBA has a clear, more straightforward, and well-defined path to a global consumer than just about every other major league that's stick and ball related," he said. "And eventually," Lencheski added, "within the next 20 years, you'll have supersonic travel, which will allow an NBA team to travel within three hours anywhere in the world. So, it's easy to see a Madrid versus the New York Knicks. And the NBA, by the nature of their product, is perfectly suited for that." Gerry Cardinale, chief executive officer of Redbird Capital Partners LLC, stands for a photograph next to a 10-foot-tall statue of the Incredible Hulk in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Griselda San Martin | Bloomberg | Getty Images Inside the PE deals NBA teams, including the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, and San Antonio Spurs, sold stakes to private equity firms in 2021. Reports have Arctos taking a 13% stake in the Warriors, a franchise valued at $5.6 billion, according to Forbes. Using that valuation, Arctos' shares in the Warriors are worth more than $700 million. "NBA teams are trading at more expensive valuation because they are expecting to grow more over the next decade or so," Fernyhough said. "You just have to make sure it's done at the right price." PitchBook estimates Arctos raised roughly $3 billion to buy stakes in sports clubs, including NBA and NHL teams, as well as in the Fenway Sports Group, which owns the MLB Boston Red Sox and NHL Pittsburgh Penguins. Dyal, once a division of Neuberger Berman Group, took a minority stake in the Atlanta Hawks. RedBird, run by former Goldman Sachs executive Gerry Cardinale, made a splash with its $750 million investment in Fenway Sports Group. In addition, Ares Management Corporation invested $150 million in MLS franchise Inter Miami CF. Private firms make money on the funds by collecting management and incentive fees. Fernyhough estimates most of the stakes sold in NBA teams is for growth capital, allowing clubs to expand franchises, including upgrades to facilitates. The NBA doesn't allow private equity to own more than 30% in teams, with a maximum of 20% ownership for one fund. Fernyhough said there are no "ownership accoutrements" with PE stakes. Instead, those perks – like courtside seats – are reserved for limited partners like Michael Dell, who buys direct. MLS has similar rules to the NBA, with a minimum investment of $20 million. MLB doesn't have a set limit but evaluates investments on a deal-by-deal basis. There is a tax deduction known as "roster depreciation allowance," allowing sports owners – even limited partners – to delay paying taxes on revenue earned from clubs. Former MLB commissioner Bud Selig mastered this tax loophole while owning a baseball team. "We've seen these pro sports franchises go from something that was a trophy asset for rich guys to show off their wealth and be a part of an elite club to something that runs like a business," Fernyhough said. General view at the start of the between the Atlanta Falcons v New York Jets, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - October 10, 2021. Matthew Childs | Action Images via Reuters Watch the Broncos to see if the NFL embraces PE While private equity has invaded the NBA, MLB, and NHL, the National Football League remains on the sidelines. The NFL is contemplating adding the capital safety nets, but it could take a while to figure out its plans. The NFL has more important concerns to address, including the Class Action complaint former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed last week. That lawsuit claims Dolphins owner Steven Ross offered Flores $100,000 to lose games – a violation of a federal law known as the "sports bribery act." The forthcoming Denver Broncos sale will be telling. According to industry sources, the NFL could allow a private equity firm to get in on that transaction and obtain minority shares. Sports bankers estimate the Broncos sale could fetch $4 billion. That would be a record amount paid for a U.S. sports club, surpassing the $2.2 billion private equity tycoon David Tepper spent to buy the Carolina Panthers in 2018. Fernyhough said the league would likely approve an established fund if private equity is allowed in the NFL deal. "The NFL is not likely going to let allow some new firm or group to come in and buy stakes of it," he said. watch now

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/the-10-places-vying-to-become-the-best-restroom-in-the-us.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

The 10 places vying to become the best restroom in the US

Chicago's Barrio restaurant Source: Chicago's Barrio restaurant There's an award for everything – even the title of America's Best Restroom. This year, ten public loos around the U.S. will compete for the title, featuring special features like disco balls, fresh flowers, classical music and elaborately decorated walls. The annual competition draws attention to public restrooms that are super clean, visually appealing, innovative and uniquely designed. It also suggests that spending time, attention and money on restrooms can be its own reward. "No matter the industry, public restrooms have a significant impact on customers' overall perception of your business and their inclination to return," said Sean Mulcahey, marketing manager at Cincinnati-based Cintas, the cleaning supply and services company that hosts the annual contest. "The contest highlights the role clean restrooms play in elevating a good business into a great one," he added. Through September 18, the public is invited to vote on which of this year's ten finalists will take the throne as 2018's top restroom. The prize: $2,500 in restroom cleaning services, along with bathroom bragging rights. 'Awe and Serendipity' Bryant Park Restroom, New York Source: Bryant Park Corporation Restored and revitalized to the tune of $8.9 million, New York City's once dilapidated Bryant Park is now a gathering spot with cafes, restaurant and a full schedule of events year-round. The nine-acre location's improvements extend to the restrooms, which sport full-time attendants, fresh flowers, and classical music. There are also Toto fixtures, automatic seat covers, Italian marble, glass mosaic details and coffered ceilings. "Visitors' reactions to the bathrooms can be best described as awe and serendipity, mainly because they encounter an experience not typically found in public facilities," said Dan Biederman, Executive Director, Bryant Park Corporation. In the wild National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, Florida J.N. "Ding" Darling | National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, FL The 6,400-acre J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge is home to 245 species of birds and is teeming with mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians and other wildlife. The outdoor adventure extends inside to refuge restrooms that immerse visitors in an underwater scene, including life-size animal sculptures on the walls and photographic tile murals of mangrove scenes. No surface goes to waste: Bathroom stalls showcase professional bird photography. Refuge officials say the lush imager and the entertaining animal sculptures help turn a nature call into a "nature enthrall." Hobbits go here. You can too. Green Bay Botanical Gardens, Hobbit House Patio Source: Amenson Studio In Wisconsin, the children's garden area at the Green Bay Botanical Garden is home to a fun restroom facility nicknamed the "Hobbit House." Built into the hillside to minimize heating and cooling needs, the loo incorporates local boulders and offers visitors a great view of the garden. "The Stumpf Hobbit House Restroom is a really fun place to 'go', but it is also environmentally sustainable," said garden spokeswoman Aubrey Brennan, "It's equipped with energy efficient features" like water efficient plumbing, energy-saving hand dryers and a green roof, Brennan said. Classy commodes for cool events Morgan Manufacturing, Chicago Source: Morgan Manufacturing, Chicago The massive restrooms at Morgan Manufacturing, in the West Loop of Chicago, match the industrial elegance of the 32,000 square-foot event space. Sleek, oversized lavatories have glistening chandeliers made from repurposed pipes and crystals as well as leather ottomans, walls covered in mirrored subway tiles—and white marble stalls. A fiesta-worthy restroom Mi Vida, Washington, D.C. Source: Mi Vida, Washington, D.C. The hot pinks, cool blues and other colors from the vibrant Mexican color palette featured in the décor at Mi Vida restaurant in Washington, D.C. make their way into the restrooms. The fiesta-worthy lavs have hand-stenciled floors in the Mexican folk-art tradition and aqua-grey penny tile ceilings, a paperless sink system with a cool cascading stream of blue light. "In general, our restroom designs are extensions of the spaces they adjoin," explains Michael Reginbogin, co-founder and design director of KNEAD Hospitality + Design, Mi Vida's restaurant and design firm. "We spare no expense when it comes to the finishes and plumbing fixtures - similar to how we build all of our restaurants." California Dreaming in a cool commode Dream Hollywood Hotel, Hollywood, CA Source: Dream Hollywood Hotel, Hollywood, CA

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/20/bill-gates-on-exciting-climate-start-ups-a-lot-of-them-will-fail.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

Bill Gates on climate tech start-ups: 'A lot of them will fail,' but only 'a few dozen' need to succeed

Bill Gates is excited about how many new climate tech start-ups have popped up in recent years. He also thinks that plenty of them won't last. "The number of companies working on these things is very exciting," Gates said on Wednesday, in a virtual session of the World Economic Forum. "Some of them will fail. A lot of them will fail. But we only need a reasonable number, a few dozen of them, to make it through and that's what we have to accelerate." Deep-pocketed investors have poured money into the climate tech industry in recent years. More than 3,000 climate tech start-ups launched between 2013 and the first half of 2021, with more than $222 billion in funding in that same time span, according to research published by PwC in December. Gates, currently the fourth-wealthiest person in the world, is one of those investors: His private-public fund Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is currently raising up to $15 billion for clean tech projects. And he's seemingly fine with many of those projects eventually going under — because, he said, it could only take a few dozen success stories to make a significant contribution in the fight against climate change.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/21/microsoft-activision-deal-what-next-for-video-game-ma-activity.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

After Microsoft's record Activision Blizzard deal, analysts say these video game stocks could be the next targets

It's not every day you see a near- $70 billion takeover deal in the headlines, but Microsoft set the bar high with its plan to buy Activision Blizzard . Here, analysts share their thoughts on which video game firms could become the next M & A targets. This is not the last we've seen of consolidation in the $180 billion video game industry, according to analysts. Tech titans including Microsoft , Meta (Facebook), Google , Amazon , Apple and Netflix are spending huge amounts of cash to capitalize on the growth of gaming in the coronavirus pandemic. And investors don't anticipate the stream of high-profile mergers and acquisitions in the space will slow down anytime soon. From Take-Two's almost $13 billion acquisition of Zynga , to Netflix breaking into gaming with a deal to buy a small video game studio called Night School Studio, dealmaking in the sector looks set to reach new heights in 2022. "It's safe to say that 2022 will be a big year when it comes to M & A activity — and we're just getting started," Adrian Montgomery, CEO of Canadian games media company Enthusiast Gaming , told CNBC. So who will be the next big M & A target in gaming? It's the multibillion-dollar question. Here's what analysts are saying. Content is king After Microsoft's announcement Tuesday that it will purchase Activision for a record $68.7 billion , shares of several top game publishers got a boost, as speculation over the next potential takeover target grew. Electronic Arts rose almost 6%, while Take-Two was up 1%. In Europe, France's Ubisoft surged nearly 12% and Poland's CD Projekt gained around 2%. Analysts say the key thing that potential buyers will be looking for is content. To quote an old adage from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates: " Content is king ." It's a crucial part of Microsoft's thinking — the company is seeking new first-party Xbox titles to convince people to buy its gaming subscription products. Michael Pachter, managing director of equity research at Wedbush, said he thinks Ubisoft is among the potential firms vulnerable to a takeover approach. "They have good franchises and a long history," he told CNBC by email. EA is a "good candidate," but its "concentration of sports titles" could make it more difficult for a company to acquire, Pachter said — EA is known for its popular FIFA soccer games and the Madden NFL football franchise. "The license agreements would probably reset upon change of control," he explained. However, Neil Campling, global tech, media and telecom analyst at Mirabaud Securities, thinks this could make EA a prime target for a company like Disney , which already has a foothold in sports media with its ESPN division. "Just imagine if Disney could combine ESPN with all the virtual versions of the sports?" Campling said. The company could also integrate gaming and sports into its Disney+ streaming platform, he added, and Disney and EA have already collaborated on a number of "Star Wars" titles. Meanwhile, Netflix could be interested in buying Bandai Namco , according to Campling. The Japanese studio is known for major franchises including Pac-Man, Tekken and Dark Souls, and owns the video game rights to Dragon Ball Z. It's also set to release a fantasy game co-produced with the creator of Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, called Elden Ring. "All of these properties would fit nicely into Netflix as we see it," Campling said. There has also been industry speculation about whether Square Enix , another Japanese gaming firm, could be bought out by a larger rival , such as Sony or Microsoft, though the company previously pushed back on reports it had received M & A interest. Targeting the masses with the 'metaverse' There's also Roblox , the game creation platform, which analysts believe is a key player in the " metaverse " — a concept companies like Microsoft and Facebook parent company Meta are trying to bring to life. Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at Ampere Analysis, said Roblox's $44 billion market value means it may be too pricey for another company to buy. "You'd have to bet on smaller deals rather than something like a Roblox," he said. As for who could be a potential buyer, Harding-Rolls said: "At the smaller end it could be a cross-section of companies including pure-play games companies. At the $20 billion upwards range, I think you're looking at the biggest tech companies." Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester, said the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal shows how large corporations are waking up to the size of the video game sector. "We're seeing companies increasingly eye the gaming space as a future proofing strategy," he said. With the metaverse, companies are looking to target the masses with their vision for a virtual world in which users can work, play and interact with each other, according to Proulx. Data from Forrester shows that 36% of online adults in the U.S. played games in their spare time in 2021, while for the Gen Z audience the number was much higher, at 60%. "It's not just about gaming anymore, it's about immersive entertainment — and that's the real appeal to a more mass audience." Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters. Dado Ruvic | Reuters

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/25/cramer-remix-these-tech-titans-arent-breaking-the-bank--let-them-spend.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

Cramer Remix: These tech titans aren’t breaking the bank - let them spend

Large-cap technology companies continue to invest like crazy. But most of Wall Street doesn't like it. But CNBC's Jim Cramer said it's not a bad thing. "Throughout this earnings period I've been struck by just how oblivious many investors are to the new tech food chain and how valuable it is" the "Mad Money" host said. He pointed out how Amazon Prime has racked up 100 million viewers. YouTube adoption and cloud building are causing Alphabet to buy billions of dollars in capital equipment to meet the demand of YouTube, as capital expenditures increased by 121 percent compared with last year. "When you're looking at tech, you want innovative companies with so many opportunities that they don't want to just save the money or shell out big dividends," Cramer said. And while many investors are abandoning the big tech sector as the 10-year Treasury hits 3 percent, Cramer said he will not. "The next time you blanche when you see insane levels of spending from these tech titans, remember, they're doing it for a reason," he said. "This spending is necessary, imperative even, if these companies are going to keep generating phenomenal sales and amazing earnings growth, which is exactly what we want them to do. They're doing what they're supposed to do, people. Don't run from it, embrace it."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/02/working-in-japan-robots-might-solve-labor-problems.html

BALL

Ball Corporation

Robots might solve Japan's labor problems

Pepper, a humanoid robot developed by SoftBank Group Corp., moves around on its own to guide passengers at sushi shop in Tokyo, Japan. When Tetsuya Sawanobori finished grad school about a decade ago, he decided to start his own business. He set up a restaurant in Japan, following in the footsteps of his grandparents and uncle. A year later, he stopped. "I realized it's very hard," Sawanobori told CNBC. With few holidays, and working on average 16 hours a day, he said he was "exhausted, and that's why I gave it up." "Right now, especially in the food service industry, they have a serious lack of labor because people tend to avoid these kinds of jobs, doing daily, repetitive" tasks, he said. "It's very hard and overwhelming for people ... they usually work very long, like 12 hours, or some people work 15 hours a day." He explained that the situation is becoming more severe as Japan's population continues to shrink, putting more pressure on active workers. Long office hours, often seen as a measure of hard work, have become a cultural norm in post-war Japan, where decades of economic growth led to the country's emergence as the world's third-largest economy. Starting in the 1990s, that growth slowed — but the long hours remained. The problem of "overwork" is serious enough that Japan's business community and the government are working to address the issue. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for the government to examine plans to hire more skilled foreigners; meanwhile, many industries are turning to robots as a way around the labor shortfall.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/04/bank-of-america-raises-sp-500-outlook-to-tie-highest-2024-forecast-on-wall-street.html

BAC

Bank of America

Bank of America raises S&P 500 outlook to tie highest 2024 forecast on Wall Street

Bank of America is now one of the biggest bulls on Wall Street. Savita Subramanian, BofA Securities head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy, raised her S & P 500 year-end target to 5,400 from 5,000, seeing another 5% upside from current levels and a 13% gain for the full year in 2024. Her new forecast is tied with UBS for the highest among sell-side strategists, and is also about 5% higher than the average projection of 5,032, according to the CNBC Pro Market Strategist Survey , which rounds up the targets from the top 14 Wall Street strategists. .SPX 1Y mountain S & P 500 Bank of America hiked its forecast after companies showed that profit margins have held up despite big swings in interest rates and inflation. "We see potential for improved margin stability from here as companies shift from global cost arbitrage and free capital-driven growth to efficiency/productivity," Subramanian said. Still, the strategist said her bullish conviction has cooled after the strong leg up to start the year. The S & P 500 has rallied about 8% this year and scored consecutive record highs. Subramanian noted that the advance in the S & P 500 has been "stubbornly narrow," with four stocks driving 45% of the February gains. "We expect leadership to broaden as the gap between earnings growth of the Magnificent 7 and the rest of the S & P 500 begin to narrow," she said. But for all the optimism, the strategist also said a pullback is likely on the short-term horizon, if history is any guide. She noted that since 1929, 5% pullbacks have occurred on average three times a year and 10% corrections have occurred once per year. In the current environment, there has been no meaningful drop for four months, she said. However, a rally late in the year is also possible as the market tends to advance after Election Day as uncertainty is removed, she added.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/12/bank-of-america-bac-earnings-4q-2023.html

BAC

Bank of America

Bank of America shares fall after company reports lower fourth-quarter profit, hit by regulatory charge

Bank of America shares fell 1.1% Friday after the firm reported declining fourth-quarter earnings amid hefty one-time charges. Here's what the company reported compared to Wall Street expectations, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv: Earnings per share: 70 cents, adjusted vs. 68 cents expected. 70 cents, adjusted vs. 68 cents expected. Revenue: $22.1 billion vs. $23.74 billion expected. Bank of America said its net income fell to $3.1 billion, or 35 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, down more than 50% from $7.1 billion, or 85 cents per share, a year ago. The bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said it was hit by a pretax charge of $1.6 billion in the quarter related to the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate. The results also included a special $2.1 billion fee charged by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The fee is tied to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Excluding items, the company said it earned 70 cents per share, which outpaced analysts' expectations. However, revenue of $22.1 billion fell short of Wall Street's estimates for the first time in two years and was down 10% from the year-ago period. "We reported solid fourth quarter and full-year results as all our businesses achieved strong organic growth, with record client activity and digital engagement," CEO Brian Moynihan said in a statement. "Our expense discipline allowed us to continue investing in growth initiatives. Strong capital and liquidity levels position us well to continue to deliver responsible growth in 2024." The nation's second-largest bank posted a $1.1 billion provision for credit losses, up $12 million from the same quarter last year. Bank of America said its net interest income decreased 5% to $13.9 billion due to higher deposit costs and lower deposit balances, which more than offset higher asset yields. The bank was supposed to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of higher interest rates last year, but it has underperformed its peers because the lender had piled into low-yielding, long-dated securities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Those securities lost value as interest rates climbed. Revenue from consumer banking dipped 4% to $10.3 billion, while sales and trading revenue went up 3% to $3.6 billion. Bank of America stock is down 2.6% this year after a mere 1.7% gain in 2023. The S&P 500 financial sector gained 10% last year. Don't miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-big-bank-savings-accounts-2024/

BAC

Bank of America

CNBC's best big bank savings accounts of 2024

Best at Bank of America Bank of America Advantage Savings Learn More Annual Percentage Yield (APY) 0.01%, with option to increase if a Preferred Rewards member Minimum balance $100 to open Monthly fee $8 per month, with options to waive. New account holders get the first six months with no monthly fees Maximum transactions Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Excessive transactions fee $10 when you make over 6 withdrawals in a month Overdraft fees Overdraft protection when you link your savings account to your checking account Offer checking account? Yes Offer ATM card? Yes, if have a Bank of America checking account Terms apply. Pros Earn cash back on select deals at stores, restaurants and more through BankAmeriDeals® Save money from everyday purchases through Bank of America's Keep the Change® program Get rewarded for having big balances through Bank of America's Preferred Rewards program Access Erica® for customized and real-time virtual financial assistance Bank of America has a vast network of ATMs No monthly maintenance fee for first six months on new accounts Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Cons Has monthly maintenance fees Higher-than-average minimum deposit to open an account Low APY (and option to earn higher is high threshold) Learn More View More Who's this for? The Bank of America Advantage Savings account stands out because of the special rewards programs you can access if you use a Bank of America credit card or open a Bank of America checking account in tandem with your savings account. Account holders can earn up to 15% cash back on select eligible purchases at stores, restaurants and more with BankAmeriDeals® when using a Bank of America debit or credit card. The Bank of America Advantage Savings account requires a $100 opening deposit. There's an $8-per-month maintenance fee that is waived for the first 6 months for new account holders. Customers can avoid paying the monthly fee after the intro period by maintaining a minimum daily balance of at least $500, linking their savings account to their Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking® checking account or becoming a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member. Students under 24 who are enrolled in school may also qualify for a waiver. There are three tiers to the Bank of America's Preferred Rewards program, and your 3-month average daily balance across your Bank of America deposit and Merrill Lynch/Merrill Edge investment accounts determines which tier you qualify for. You must also have an eligible Bank of America personal checking account to qualify. The tiers include Gold, Platinum and Platinum Honors, and there's a $20,000 minimum balance required. If you qualify and enroll in the Preferred Rewards program, you're also eligible for an elevated APY, ranging from 0.02% to 0.04% depending on which tier. Otherwise, the standard APY is 0.01%. To improve your savings habits, consider enrolling in Bank of America's Keep the Change® program, which allows account holders to round up their debit card purchases and deposit the difference into their savings account each day. Through the Bank of America mobile app, customers can access Erica® for customized and real-time virtual financial assistance. The bank has over 4,000 branches and 16,000-plus ATMs throughout the country. A withdrawal limit fee of $10 is applied for each withdrawal over 6 per month, and there is overdraft protection when you link your savings account to your checking account. Best at Wells Fargo Way2Save® Savings Learn More Annual Percentage Yield (APY) 0.15% Minimum balance $25 to open Monthly fee $5 per month, with options to waive Maximum transactions Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Excessive transactions fee Each withdrawal over the 6 per month limit will be assessed Overdraft fees Overdraft protection when you link your savings account to your checking account Offer checking account? Yes Offer ATM card? Yes, if have a Wells Fargo checking account Terms apply. Pros Wells Fargo is the largest brick-and-mortar bank in the nation, by number of branches Encourages automatic saving through Save As You Go® Monthly maintenance fee can be waived with automatic transfers into your savings Low minimum deposit to open an account Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Cons Has monthly maintenance fees Low APY Learn More View More Who's this for? With about 5,400 physical locations and over 13,000 ATMs, Wells Fargo Bank is the largest brick-and-mortar bank in the nation by the number of branches. For those looking to open an account at a bank with the most opportunity for in-person access, Wells Fargo is your best choice. Wells Fargo offers two different savings accounts: the basic Way2Save® Savings and the elevated Platinum Savings. CNBC Select chose Way2Save as the better savings account option because it has a lower minimum daily balance requirement to avoid the monthly service fee ($5 per month for Way2Save and $12 per month for Platinum). To avoid these fees, account holders must either maintain a $300 minimum daily balance or set up their choice of automatic transfers from their checking to their savings: $25 in total, $1 each business day per month or at least one Save As You Go® transfer. With Save As You Go, it's easy to set aside cash. Wells Fargo automatically transfers $1 of a customer's funds from their linked Wells Fargo checking account to their Way2Save account for each qualifying transaction that is a non-recurring debit card purchase or online bill payment using Wells Fargo Online® Bill Pay. To accelerate completing your savings goals, you can set up additional automatic transfers from your checking account each month. There is a $25 minimum opening deposit for this savings account, and those who link a Wells Fargo checking account can opt for overdraft protection. The APY on this account is currently 0.15%. Best at Chase Bank Chase Premier Savings℠ Annual Percentage Yield (APY) 0.01%, with option to increase up to 0.05% Minimum balance $0 Monthly fee $25 per month, with options to waive Maximum transactions Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Excessive transactions fee $5 when you make over 6 withdrawals in a month Overdraft fees N/A Offer checking account? Yes Offer ATM card? Yes, if have a Chase checking account Terms apply. Pros Chase Bank has a vast network of ATMs Users have the option to earn a higher APY Monthly maintenance fee can be waived by linking to a checking account No minimum deposit to open an account Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Cons Has monthly maintenance fees Low APY (although option to earn higher) View More Who's this for? If you are looking for a broad network of ATMs to avoid any out-of-network fees and want a chance to earn a slightly higher APY, consider the savings accounts offered by Chase. Chase Bank has nearly 4,900 branches and 16,000 ATMs. Like Wells Fargo, Chase offers two brick-and-mortar savings accounts: the standard Chase Savings℠ and the Chase Premier Savings℠. CNBC Select ranked the latter as one of the best because you can earn better interest rates (what Chase calls "relationship rates") on higher balances by linking your savings to a Chase Premier Plus Checking℠ or Chase Sapphire℠ Checking and making at least five transactions in a month using your linked checking account. If you don't link your Chase Premier Savings account to a Chase checking account, the APY is 0.01%. But the APY creeps up slightly if you do have a linked account. For example, you can earn 0.02% APY if you also have a Premier Plus Checking or Chase Sapphire Checking account. By linking to a checking account, you also avoid the monthly $25 service fee that comes with the Chase Premier Savings. Otherwise, there's a daily minimum balance of $15,000 required. There is no minimum deposit required to open an account. If you choose to link a Chase Sapphire Checking account, you can take advantage of Sapphire℠ Banking perks, which include special access to sports and entertainment events and early ticket sales. Chase also has an automatic savings program where customers can get help reaching their set savings goals in the bank's mobile app. There is a $5 savings withdrawal limit fee when you make over six withdrawals in a month, including those made at a branch or at an ATM. This fee is waived with a balance of $15,000 or more in the account at the time of withdrawal. Best at U.S. Bank U.S. Bank Standard Savings Account Learn More Annual Percentage Yield (APY) 0.01% Minimum balance $25 to open Monthly fee $4 per month, with options to waive Maximum transactions Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Excessive transactions fee N/A Overdraft fees Overdraft protection when you link your savings account to your checking account Offer checking account? Yes Offer ATM card? Yes, if have a U.S. Bank checking account Terms apply. Pros Lower-than-average fees for a brick-and-mortar savings account Low monthly maintenance fee, plus option to waive with $300 minimum daily balance Low minimum deposit to open an account Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Cons Has monthly maintenance fees (although lower than others) Low APY Learn More View More Who's this for? If you want a simple, no-frills and low cost savings account at a big bank, U.S. Bank's Standard Savings Account is for you. With about 2,700 branches and 4,500 ATMs, U.S. Bank has a smaller physical presence than the other national banks on this list, mostly across the Midwest and Western parts of the U.S. However, as its name suggests, the Standard Savings Account is a straightforward option if you live near a U.S. Bank location. Potential savers can open an account with a $25 minimum deposit. The monthly maintenance fee is $4 a month. The fee is waived for account holders who have a $300 minimum daily balance, a $1,000 average monthly collected balance or are under 18. The APY offered is 0.01% on all balances, and you can take advantage of overdraft protection when linking your savings account to your U.S. Bank checking account. Best at Citibank Citi® Savings Account Learn More Annual Percentage Yield (APY) 3.85% Minimum balance None Monthly fee $4.50 per month, with options to waive. Maximum transactions Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Excessive transactions fee N/A Overdraft fees Overdraft protection when you link your savings account to your checking account Offer checking account? Yes Offer ATM card? Yes Terms apply. Pros Low monthly maintenance fee, plus option to waive with $4500 minimum daily balance No minimum deposit to open an account Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Higher APY relationship rates are available Cons Low APY Has monthly maintenance fees (although lower than others) Learn More View More Who's this for? The Citi® Savings Account is ideal for those who appreciate robust digital banking features but still want access to physical branches. Citibank is the nation's third-largest bank but has far fewer branches than some competitors, with only about 700 branches in the U.S. Customers have access to over 65,000 surcharge-free ATMs in the U.S. and can take advantage of a range of online banking features, including mobile check deposit, hassle-free transfers and easy online bill payments. Citi stands out for offering a higher APY than its brick-and-mortar competitors, with a 0.05% APY for basic customers and the potential to earn up to 1.01% APY depending on your Citi account tier. There is no minimum deposit required to open an account. Customers can avoid paying the low monthly fee by maintaining a minimum daily balance of at least $500 or linking their savings account to their checking account and either making one enhanced direct deposit and one qualifying bill payment per statement period or maintaining a $1,500 average monthly collected balance. Best at PNC Bank Virtual Wallet® Learn More Annual Percentage Yield (APY) 3.50% APY on select Virtual Wallet Growth accounts with relationship rates. Minimum balance Varies depending on Virtual Wallet account Monthly fee Ranges from $7 to $25 depending on Virtual Wallet account, with options to waive Maximum transactions Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Excessive transactions fee N/A Overdraft fees Overdraft protection offered by your Reserve and Growth accounts Offer checking account? Yes Offer ATM card? Yes, if have a PNC Bank checking account Terms apply. Pros New account holders can earn a welcome bonus of up to $200 Virtual Wallet includes individual checking and savings accounts that work together Earn cash or points through PNC Purchase Payback® program Reimbursable non-network ATM fees Account holders can choose the Virtual Wallet best for them Options to waive monthly maintenance fee Higher APY relationship rates are available Up to 6 free withdrawals or transfers per statement cycle Cons Has monthly maintenance fees Have to call PNC Bank to find out APY offered in your area Learn More View More Who's this for? PNC Bank is a large brick-and-mortar bank with approximately 2,300 branch locations and nearly 18,000 PNC and PNC Partner ATMs. It stands out on our list for its savings account option called Virtual Wallet®, which uses innovative online tools to make it easy to see how you're managing your money day to day. The account is best for those who want to do all their banking in one place as it rewards you for combining your savings and checking into one. New account holders can earn a welcome bonus of up to $400 depending on what type of Virtual Wallet they open. The three choices include Virtual Wallet, Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend and Virtual Wallet with Performance Select. The simple Virtual Wallet has basic account features while the two other options offer more premium rewards. For those enrolled in school, there is also a Virtual Wallet Student option. All of the above Virtual Wallet options include individual accounts that work together: Spend, Reserve and Growth. Spend is your everyday checking account, Reserve your interest-bearing checking account / primary overdraft protection account and Growth is your long-term savings account / secondary overdraft protection account. Higher "relationship" interest rates are available on your Growth savings account. The monthly service charges range from $7 to $25, depending on the type of Virtual Wallet you have and can be waived depending on minimum balances in your Spend + Reserve checking accounts (required balances and minimum deposits vary according to the type of Virtual Wallet you have). Virtual Wallet account holders can make free transactions at approximately 9,000 PNC-owned ATMs, and if you end up using a non-PNC ATM, some fees are reimbursed. Through the PNC Purchase Payback® program, customers can also earn cash back or points on purchases made using their PNC Bank Visa® Debit Card which is automatically issued when they sign up for Virtual Wallet. The customized rewards program has offers available from participating merchants depending on your shopping habits. Though you can open a Virtual Wallet account online, being a brick-and-mortar bank, PNC also welcomes customers to visit their local branch to open an account and offers a coupon printout of the welcome bonus that savers can bring with them to redeem. For current APY information, call 1-888-PNC-BANK (1-888-762-2265). If you're looking for a more straightforward account, PNC Bank also offers a Standard Savings Account. Common savings account terms you should know Annual Percentage Yield (APY): The amount of interest an account earns in a year. The amount of interest an account earns in a year. ATM networks: ATMs can either be in-service or out-of-network, depending on which bank you have. When you make a transaction at an ATM that is outside your bank's network, then a fee will most likely be applied by both the ATM operator and your bank. ATMs can either be in-service or out-of-network, depending on which bank you have. When you make a transaction at an ATM that is outside your bank's network, then a fee will most likely be applied by both the ATM operator and your bank. Overdraft protection: Any negative checking account balances are automatically covered when linked to a savings account. Why trust CNBC Select? At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every brick-and-mortar savings account review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of banking products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best big bank savings accounts. Our methodology To determine which big bank savings accounts are best, CNBC Select analyzed dozens of U.S. savings accounts offered by the largest national banks and credit unions. We narrowed down our ranking by only considering those savings accounts that come from big banks with broad availability, offering access to at least 700 physical branches and over 4,000 non-fee ATMs in the U.S. While the accounts we chose in this article are from the largest banks, we compared each savings account on a range of features, including its fees, opportunities to earn higher interest rates, customer service and any other special offerings or programs. We also considered factors such as insurance policies, users' deposit options, other savings accounts being offered by the same bank and customer reviews when available. All of the accounts included on this list are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. Note that the interest rates and fee structures for brick-and-mortar savings accounts are subject to change without notice. Product and feature availability vary by market so they may not be offered depending on where you live. Most brick-and-mortar banks require you to enter your zip code online for the correct account offerings. Any return on your savings depends on the associated fees and the balance you have in your brick-and-mortar savings account. To open a savings account, most banks and institutions require a deposit of new money, meaning you can't transfer money you already had in an account at that bank. Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/23/buy-these-small-cap-stocks-with-strong-fundamentals-bank-of-america-says.html

BAC

Bank of America

Buy these small-cap stocks with strong fundamentals, Bank of America says

It has been a tough year thus far for small-cap stocks, but Bank of America has some fresh ideas for finding value in the space. Despite a bounce this month, the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks has slipped a fraction this year while the large-cap S & P 500 has climbed almost 7%. Against that underperformance, Bank of America strategist Jill Carey Hall recently screened for small-cap value names with strong fundamentals. She scanned the Russell 2000 for profitable stocks that are in the top 20th percentile on one or more valuation metrics, including price-to-book, price-to-earnings and enterprise value-to-sales ratios. Beyond that, they also must fall within the top 40th percentile on average across all of the indicators. Here are 10 stocks that passed Bank of America's screen: Online ticket platform Vivid Seats landed in the top quintile on both the ratio of price to free cash flow and price to trailing earnings. The stock has struggled recently, slipping more than 5% this year after losing more than 13% in 2023. After those losses, Wall Street sees a rebound ahead. The average analyst polled by FactSet has an overweight rating and price target implying shares can jump more than 78% in the next year. One of those bullish analysts is Ryan Sigda of Craig-Hallum. He initiated coverage of the stock earlier this month with a buy rating. "We think the company's competitive moat continues to increase with its unique loyalty program, investments into platform expansions ... , and TAM expansions," he wrote to clients, referencing the company's total addressable market. Retailer Urban Outfitters is another consumer name that passed the screen. The stock placed within the top 20% of the Russell 2000 when looking at the enterprise value to sales ratio. Urban Outfitters has bucked the downtrend among small-caps this year, with shares up more than 22% in 2024 after surging nearly 50% last year. URBN .RUT YTD mountain Urban Outfitters vs. the Russell 2000, year to date But Wall Street foresees a pullback, with the average price target of analysts surveyed by FactSet showing shares could fall more than 5%. The typical analyst also has a hold rating on the stock. Automotive electronics supplier Visteon also made the list, faling in the top quintile for enterprise value to sales. The stock has underperformed both small caps and the broader market this year, dropping more than 6%. Earlier this month, the Michigan-based company reported weaker revenue for the fourth quarter than Wall Street expected. Visteon also offered soft sales guidance for the full year. Still, analysts expect Visteon to rebound. The average analyst has an overweight rating and price target implying upside of almost 27%, according to FactSet.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/02/bank-of-americas-top-long-and-short-ideas-for-the-first-quarter.html

BAC

Bank of America

Here are Bank of America's top long and short ideas for the first quarter

As the new year kicks off, Bank of America is laying out some of its top long and short ideas for the first quarter. Stocks are coming off a breathtaking year that saw a return to growth-oriented names after a gruesome 2022. The S & P 500 rallied 24% while the Nasdaq Composite surged 43% for its best year since 2020 as Wall Street bet big on artificial intelligence. Here are some of the firm's top picks: Bank of America is optimistic on Humana in the new year despite some market concerns about the health insurance company's path to $37 in earnings per share in 2025. The firm's price target implies 40% upside from Friday's close, with analyst Kevin Fischbeck viewing a potential merger with Cigna as "validation of the core growth story ahead." On the financial front, Bank of America projects about 17% upside for shares of Citigroup as Wall Street obtains greater visibility into the company's core earnings trajectory. Recent cost-cutting and efficiency measures should also boost investor confidence and offer a potential tailwind for the stock, wrote Ebrahim Poonawala. "We believe Citigroup (C) shares offer a compelling risk/reward given the potential for idiosyncratic EPS levers 'self-help' that should lead to an improved ROTCE (return on tangible common equity) on the back of CEO Jane Fraser's actions to transform the franchise," he wrote. Automotive seating company Lear and railroad operator Union Pacific also made Bank of America's list of long ideas for the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Wall Street firm highlighted underperform-rated Tractor Supply as a potential short idea for the first quarter. Analyst Jason Haas recently downgraded shares, citing a post-pandemic reversion in the farming industry, a deflationary commodity cycle and declining herd sizes. "Although the company is well positioned in the farm & ranch store industry, we're concerned that soft discretionary demand and deflation will suppress earnings growth in the near-term," he said. The firm's $171 price target implies 20% downside from Friday's close. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/19/how-blackrocks-rick-rieder-would-reimagine-the-60/40-portfolio-with-todays-higher-rates.html

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Bank of America

How BlackRock’s Rick Rieder would reimagine the 60/40 portfolio with today’s higher rates

The balanced portfolio — which typically allocates 60% of assets toward stocks and 40% to fixed income — could use a rethink in today's higher rate environment, according to BlackRock's Rick Rieder. "For 30 years, fixed income was a hedge," said Rieder, the asset manager's global chief investment officer of fixed income, in a phone call with CNBC. The circumstances have changed since then, as the Federal Reserve set off on its policy-tightening campaign in March 2022, eventually leading to a fed funds target rate of 5.25% to 5.5%. Central bank policymakers, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, have been adamant about the " lack of further progress " on inflation this year, suggesting that rates will likely stay high for awhile. That in his view could call for a fresh approach to the traditional 60/40 asset allocation, which aims to offer diversification but hit a rough patch in 2022 when bonds and equities suffered price declines. "How you build balance in a portfolio and how you use fixed income has to be different," Rieder said. A 60/30/10 split Rather than a 60/40 split toward equities and fixed income, Rieder said he would consider a 60/30/10 allocation if he were to build a balanced portfolio. That is, he'd maintain a 60% allocation toward stocks, but keep 30% of the portfolio in "higher income, shorter duration" assets. Duration is a measurement of a bond's price sensitivity to fluctuations in interest rates, and issues with longer maturities tend to have greater duration. Rieder said he would commit the remaining 10% toward other holdings including bespoke private credit and some alternatives. An asset class that fits the bill in the "higher income, shorter duration" bucket would be highly rated collateralized loan obligations, Rieder said. "You can create real yield that's in the [6% range] for a triple A asset without taking a lot of long-term interest rate [risk]," he added. So-called CLOs are securitized pools of floating-rate loans to businesses, which can include loans to non-investment grade borrowers. The AAA-rated tranches are the least risky in the CLO space, as they are first to get paid in the event a company goes bankrupt. CLO exchange-traded funds recently came under Bank of America's coverage , and strategist Jared Woodard noted that floating-rate loans have bolstered the performance of CLOs in a higher-for-longer rates backdrop. In addition to these assets, Rieder likes European investment-grade credit as a U.S. dollar investor. "They are super high quality, and you get a nice yield of 5.5% to 6%," he said. "The big secret is that people underestimate that cash flow really works, income really works, and if you're not taking a lot of risk, it becomes a good supplement to your portfolio," Rieder said.

https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-sole-proprietorship-business-credit-cards/

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Bank of America

Best sole proprietorship business credit cards

Best for cash back Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card Learn More On Chase's secure site Rewards Earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business Welcome bonus Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening Annual fee $0 Intro APR 0% for the first 12 months from account opening on purchases; N/A for balance transfers Regular APR 18.49% - 24.49% variable Balance transfer fee Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater Foreign transaction fee 3% Credit needed Good/Excellent Terms apply. Pros No annual fee Free employee cards Simple cash-back program Special financing offer for purchases Cons 3% fee charged on purchases made outside the U.S. Learn More View More Who's this for? The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card is ideal for sole proprietors who value simplicity because it offers a generous flat cash-back rate on all purchases and has no annual fee. Standout benefits: All purchases earn at least 1.5% cashback. This allows sole proprietors to focus on what matters to their business instead of spending time navigating a complicated rewards program. [ Jump to more details ] Best for travel rewards Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Learn More On Chase's secure site Rewards Earn 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases in select categories each account anniversary year (travel; shipping purchases; internet, cable and phone services; and advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines), 1X point per $1 on all other purchases Welcome bonus Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Annual fee $95 Intro APR None Regular APR 21.24% - 26.24% variable Balance transfer fee Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater Foreign transaction fee None Credit needed Good/Excellent Terms apply. Read our Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card review. Pros Free employee cards Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase TravelSM 1:1 point transfer to leading frequent travel programs No fee charged on purchases made outside the U.S. Generous welcome bonus worth up to $1,000 Cons $95 annual fee No introductory 0% financing offers for purchases or balance transfers Learn More View More Best for premium benefits The Business Platinum Card® from American Express Learn More On the American Express secure site Rewards Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com and 1X points for each dollar you spend on eligible purchases. Also, earn 1.5X points (that's an extra half point per dollar) on each eligible purchases at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year. Welcome bonus Earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of card membership Annual fee $695 Intro APR N/A Regular APR 19.49% - 28.49% variable Balance transfer fee N/A Foreign transaction fee None Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees, terms apply. Pros Enroll to receive up to $400 in annual statement credits on Dell purchases (up to $200 semi-annually), up to $360 with Indeed, up to $150 with Adobe and up to $120 on wireless telephone purchases Get 35% points back when you use points to purchase all or part of an airline fare, up to 500,000 bonus points back per calendar year American Express Global Lounge Collection Breeze through security with CLEAR® Plus where available and get up to $189 back per year on your membership when you use your card. (subject to auto-renewal) Up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for incidental fees charged by your one selected, qualifying airline to your card Cons $695 annual fee No introductory 0% financing offers Learn More View More Who's this for? The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is one of the best options for sole proprietors who value luxury travel benefits such as airport lounge access and automatic hotel elite status. Standout benefits: This card offers a long list of travel benefits, including access to over 1,400 airport lounges and an annual airline fee credit of up to $200 for incidentals, like baggage fees and seat upgrades. Cardholders can enroll to receive Hilton Gold status, Marriott Gold status and premium rental car privileges with National, Avis and Hertz. Terms apply. [ Jump to more details ] Best for 0% intro APR U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card Learn More Rewards Earn 5% cash back on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Rewards Center, 3% cash back on eligible purchases at gas stations and EV charging stations, office supply stores, cell phone service providers and restaurants, 1% cash back on all other eligible net purchases Welcome bonus Earn $500 in cash back. Just spend $4,500 on the account owner's card in the first 150 days of opening your account. Annual fee $0 Intro APR 0% for 15 billing cycles on purchases and balance transfers Regular APR 19.24% - 28.24% (Variable) Balance transfer fee Either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater Foreign transaction fee 3% Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees, terms apply. Pros No annual fee $500 welcome bonus offer No limit on cash back earned Interest-free period for the first 15 billing cycles on purchases and balance transfers Annual $100 statement credit for recurring software subscription services Cons 3% foreign transaction fee Learn More View More Best for bad credit Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured credit card Learn More Information about the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication. Rewards Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases Welcome bonus None Annual fee $0 Intro APR None Regular APR 28.49% variable Balance transfer fee 4% of each transaction (minimum $0) Foreign transaction fee 3% Credit needed Poor/No credit history Terms apply. Pros No annual fee Bad credit may qualify Opportunity to transition to an unsecured card for qualified cardholders Flexible redemption options Cons $1,000 minimum security deposit No welcome bonus No introductory 0% financing offers for purchases or balance transfers Learn More View More More on our business credit cards for sole proprietors Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card The Ink Business Unlimited card is a rewarding cash-back business card with an unusually generous welcome bonus for a no-annual-fee card. Rewards 5% cash back on Lyft rides (through Mar. 31, 2025) 1.5% cash back on all other purchases Welcome bonus Earn a $750 cash bonus after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening the account. Annual fee $0 Notable perks New Ink Business Unlimited cardholders receive an intro 0% APR on purchases for 12 months (after that, a variable 18.49% to 24.49% APR applies). This is an excellent offer that makes financing important business purchases more affordable. You can add employee cards for no additional fee and take advantage of benefits such as purchase protection, extended warranty protection, roadside dispatch and travel and emergency assistance services. If you have an eligible Ultimate-Rewards-earning card, like the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, the cashback earned with this card can be converted into transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. [ Return to card summary ] Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card The Business Platinum Card® from American Express U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card The U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card packs a lot into a no-annual-fee business card. Not only does it offer a competitive intro APR offer, but it also has a strong welcome bonus and great cash-back rates. Rewards 5% back on prepaid hotels and rental cars booked through the U.S. Bank Travel Rewards Center 3% cash back on eligible purchases at gas and EV charging stations, office supply stores, cell phone service providers and restaurants 1% cash back on all other purchases Welcome bonus Earn $500 cash back after spending $4,500 on purchases within the first 150 days of account opening. Annual fee $0 Notable perks Cardholders can earn a $100 annual statement credit for recurring software subscriptions. To qualify, you need to make 11 consecutive monthly payments for an eligible software service, such as QuickBooks or FreshBooks. [ Return to card summary ] Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured credit card The Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured credit card is a solid cash-back card in and of itself but shines in comparison to other secured cards. Rewards 1.5% cash back on all purchases Welcome bonus None Annual fee $0 Notable perks The required minimum deposit to open this card is $1,000 and your credit line is equal to the amount you deposit. It also has a handful of travel insurance perks including, up to $100,000 in travel accident insurance, lost luggage assistance and emergency ticket replacement. [ Return to card summary ] FAQs Can a sole proprietor get a business credit card? A small business owner who is a sole proprietor is eligible for business credit cards. Many business card applications allow you to use your social security number as your business tax ID and don't require you to have an LLC or other complicated business structure. Can I use my EIN to get a business credit card? You can use an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor. However, most business cards for sole proprietors require a personal guarantee, so reviews of your personal credit history and income are part of the application process. Do business credit card applications verify personal income? Most small business card applications require you to provide your personal income and social security number. The card issuer can use this information to determine your credit limit and whether you can afford the card's monthly payments. Bottom line Sole proprietors are eligible for most types of small business credit cards, including cards that earn cash-back, travel rewards and offer no-interest intro periods. You'll usually need a good to excellent credit score to qualify for the most rewarding cards, but if you have a lower credit score, some of the easiest business credit cards to get only require an average or fair credit score. Why trust CNBC Select? At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every business credit card article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best business credit cards for sole proprietors. Subscribe to the CNBC Select Newsletter! Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox. Sign up here. Our methodology To determine which business cards offer the best value for sole proprietors, CNBC Select analyzed dozens of major small business credit cards. We compared each card on a range of features, including the annual fee, rewards, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR and foreign transaction fees. We also considered additional perks, the application process and how easy it is to redeem points. Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date. For rates and fees of The Business Platinum® Card from American Express, click here. Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/17/wall-street-pushes-out-rate-cut-expectations-sees-risk-of-no-action-until-2025.html

BAC

Bank of America

Wall Street pushes out rate-cut expectations, sees risk they don't start until March 2025

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the "Federal Reserve's Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 6, 2024. If there was any doubt before, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has pretty much cemented the likelihood that there won't be interest rate reductions anytime soon. Now, Wall Street is wondering if the central bank will cut at all this year. That's because Powell on Tuesday said there's been "a lack of further progress" on lowering inflation back to the Fed's 2% target, meaning "it's likely to take longer than expected" to get enough confidence to start easing back on policy. "They've got the economy right where they want it. They now are just focused on inflation numbers. The question is, what's the bar here?" said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "My sense is they need two, probably three consecutive months of inflation numbers that are consistent with that 2% target. If that's the bar, the earliest they can get there is September. I just don't see rate cuts before that." With most readings putting inflation around 3% and not moving appreciably for several months, the Fed finds itself in a tough slog on the last mile toward its goal. Market pricing for rate cuts has been highly volatile in recent weeks as Wall Street has chased fluctuating Fed rhetoric. As of Wednesday afternoon, traders were pricing in about a 71% probability that the central bank indeed most likely will wait until September, with the implied chance of a July cut at 44%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch gauge. As for a second rate cut, there was a tilt toward one in December, but that remains an open question. "Right now, my base case is two — one in September and one in December, but I could easily see one rate cut, in November," said Zandi, who thinks the presidential election could factor into the equation for Fed officials who insist they are not swayed by politics.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/14/higher-rates-raising-downside-risks-for-regional-banks-warns-bank-of-america.html

BAC

Bank of America

Higher rates raising ‘downside risks’ for regional banks, warns Bank of America

The danger of higher rates for longer following the latest hot inflation reading raises the "downside risk" for regional banks, according to Bank of America. Rate cut expectations moved out to later in the year after a hotter-than-expected January consumer price index raised concern that the Federal Reserve's road to its 2% inflation target could be a bumpy one. According to the CME FedWatch Tool , markets are now assigning a greater chance of an easing cycle starting in May or June, instead of in March. At the same time, the 10-year Treasury yield topped 4.3% on Tuesday, a level it last reached in December. It eased slightly on Wedneaday to 4.25%. US10Y 1Y mountain U.S. 10-Year Treasury For regional banks, a move higher in bond yields is especially risky as institutions would have to mark losses in their Treasury holdings, an event that led to Silicon Valley Bank going under last March. "Fewer and later Fed rate cuts pose downside risk to bank stocks," analyst Ebrahim Poonawala wrote in a Tuesday note. "We are especially concerned about the failure of the broader market to project the trajectory of interest rates – a consistent theme since the Fed began raising interest rates in March 2022." "We worry about the risk from no rate cuts in 2024 and a far more elevated level of interest rates across the UST yield curve," Poonawala added. The SPDR S & P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) ended Tuesday's session down by 4.2%, and has dropped more than 10% this year. KRE YTD mountain SPDR S & P Regional Banking ETF "Fundamentally it has the potential to lead to a worse-than-expected credit cycle, squeeze net interest margins (= downside risk to EPS outlooks), while pressuring capital levels due to [mark-to-market] losses on bonds," Poonawala wrote. Net interest margin is the difference between the interest banks earn on loans and pay on deposits. Meanwhile, mark-to-market losses on bonds are generated when the current value of an asset is lower than what the institution paid to acquire them. Instead, the analyst said it prefers larger-cap banks with lower commercial real estate exposure such as JPMorgan , Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon . In the regional sector, the firm said it prefers Truist , U.S. Bancorp and First Bancorp (Puerto Rico) , among others. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/28/the-sp-500s-valuation-is-in-the-95th-percentile-vs-history-bofa-says-not-to-worry.html

BAC

Bank of America

The S&P 500's valuation is in the 95th percentile vs. history, but Bank of America says investors shouldn't worry

The S & P 500 might seem expensive at the moment, but this shouldn't spook investors, according to Bank of America. "The one bear case that I hear a lot that I want to try to debunk is just the idea that the market is too expensive … the market today is such a different animal" compared to previous decades, equity strategist Savita Subramanian said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. "Nobody is talking about the fact that we keep revising GDP higher and earnings are still surprising." These days, the S & P 500 is higher quality and has lower earnings volatility than prior decades, Subramanian pointed out in a Wednesday note to clients. She added that the index has shifted from being heavily concentrated in manufacturing, financials and real estate companies in 1980 to more innovation-oriented tech and health care. Although Subramanian said statistical valuation models matter in the long term and do imply lower returns over the next decade, near-term factors, such as sentiment and earnings surprises, suggest the broad market will likely continue to climb, reaching a year-end value of 5,500. .SPX 1Y mountain S & P 500 performance. "It's hard to be bullish based on valuation: the S & P 500 is statistically expensive on 19 of 20 metrics and is trading at a 95th percentile price to trailing earnings ratio based on data back to 1900," Subramanian wrote in the note. "But at a basic level, we question the validity of comparing an index to its younger selves, especially today's S & P 500." The S & P 500 has added 6.2% so far this year, continuing its bull run from 2023 when it soared 24.2% on the back of artificial intelligence-related hype and huge gains by major technology stocks. But while sentiment is broadly bullish, Subramanian pointed out that pension funds have the lowest allocation to public equity in 20 years, which implies that the U.S. isn't necessarily in a "bull market where everybody is euphoric on stocks." Instead, she noted that investors are piling into just a few widely loved stocks. "We're still in this wall of negativity, this wall of worry," Subramanian said on CNBC on Wednesday. "Folks are hiding out in certain themes like AI, which has obviously been a great story, but I think there's more to go in terms of GDP-sensitive companies actually coming back to life."

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/10/these-stocks-should-outperform-as-buybacks-pick-back-up-bank-of-america-says.html

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

These stocks should outperform as buybacks pick back up, Bank of America says

A flood of company buybacks won't necessarily save the S & P 500 from its disappointing 2022 performance, but certain share repurchase programs can boost some beaten-down names, according to Bank of America. The major averages started 2022 on a negative foot as companies juggle a Federal Reserve pivot, rising interest rates and 40-year-high inflation. The S & P 500 is down about 4%, and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite is off by more than 8% this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 1.6% in 2022. "Some expect this earnings season's market volatility to be quelled by the resumption of buybacks after company's blackout periods end. But the relationship between S & P 500 buybacks and index performance since 1986 is ... minimal," said Savita Subramanian, equity and quant strategist at Bank of America. Stock buybacks have been a common practice over the last several years, with companies looking to return value to shareholders in ways other than paying dividends. Buybacks reduce the outstanding shares of a company. In turn, they can push a stock's per-share price higher, because some common metrics used to evaluate a stock price are spread across fewer shares, making the stock look more attractive. While an increase in buybacks doesn't correlate to overall S & P 500 performance, single stocks can get a lift, according to Bank of America. "Companies that repurchase shares at inexpensive valuations tend to outperform," Subramanian said. "So if buybacks pick up, and perhaps they should since close to half of stocks in the S & P 500 trade at 10+% discount to 2021 levels, history suggests that buybacks at low multiples are more likely to outperform," she said. Bank of America screened for companies that are aggressively buying back stock, as their outstanding shares have diminished since a year ago. DuPont de Nemours ' shares outstanding are down 29% year over year as the company continues its share repurchase program. HP Inc . and Charter Communications have seen their shares outstanding shrink 13% and 11%, respectively in the past 12 months. Nucor , Capital One Financial , Synchrony Financial , Autozone and Oracle have repurchased enough stock for their shares outstanding to decline 10% in the past year. Bank of New York Mellon and Seagate Technologies have seen there shares outstanding decline 9% and 8%, respectively, as the firms continue to buy back stock. — with reporting from CNBC's Michael Bloom. A sign is posted in front of the Oracle headquarters in Redwood Shores, California, Dec. 9, 2021. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

https://www.cnbc.com/id/41427306

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

Charlie Don't Surf at BNY Mellon

The group alleges that Bank of New York Mellon was overcharging pension funds and falsifying currency trades on a system called 'Charlie'—to the tune of at least $20 million. Various states —and their respective attorneys general—are now getting involved. Mellon is an enormous bank, with a market capitalization of nearly $40 billion, but one that tends to stay away from the spotlight. In 2009, and again in 2010, as the financial crisis raged, Bank of New York Mellon was voted the safest bank in the United States by global finance magazine. Global Finance also ranked Bank of New York Mellon as the number one custody bank in the world. Custody banking is supposed to be a very boring business. Custodian banks principally hold assets in safekeeping, as well as to arrange settlement for securities transactions, and to provide certain administrative and reporting functions. So allegations of this nature would be unwelcome news for any bank—but it may be especially bad for Mellon, given the reputation they've so carefully cultivated. The precise mechanics of the trading scheme are somewhat complicated, but what they amount to is allegations that Bank of New York Mellon exchanged currency at a far more favorable rate than their clients ultimately received in the trade, creating a windfall of ill-gotten gains. Falsified reports were then allegedly created to obscure the timing, rates, and profits from the trade. What's more, profits from foreign-exchange in Mellon's asset servicing unit represent a significant percentage of their revenue. "Bank of New York Mellon generated 2009 revenue of $4.26 billion for its asset-servicing unit, including $757 million from foreign-exchange and other trading activities, the latest full-year figures available. The $4.26 billion figure was more than half of the bank's total 2009 revenue, though the 2009 total included an unusual one-time item. Asset servicing typically accounts for about a third of the bank's revenue." It's too early to say how this story will shake out—but it's not good news for one of the most conservative players in the bank sector. Shares of BNY Mellon were trading fractionally lower at the time this story went to post. ______________________________________________ Questions? Comments? Email us atNetNet@cnbc.com Follow NetNet on Twitter @ twitter.com/CNBCnetnet Facebook us @ www.facebook.com/NetNetCNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/id/16036494

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

CNBC's Pisani On Mellon/Bank of New York Deal

Mellon Financial Corp and Bank of New York will be merging in a deal most on the Street feel makes good sense. BK shareholders will get 0.9434 shares of the new company while Mellon shareholders will receive 1 share. The combined company will be the world's largest asset custodian and corporate trustee. It will also will be 11th largest financial institution in the U.S. As always there are cost reductions (about $700 million a year--an 8.5% of combined expense base according to to RBC Capital). Bottom line: more scale in a business where scale--acquiring assets to manage--is paramount.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/11/bitcoin-btc-price-hits-48k-amid-support-from-bny-mellon-mastercard.html

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

Bitcoin blows past $48,000 to hit another record high as major financial firms warm to crypto

Bitcoin's price soared past the $48,000 level for a second time this week, hitting a fresh all-time high as Bank of New York Mellon said it would provide custody services for digital assets. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency hit an intraday record of $48,297 at roughly 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, according to data from industry site CoinDesk. It was last trading up by more than 7% to around $47,913. BNY Mellon, America's oldest bank and a major custody provider, said Thursday that it would begin financing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The company will eventually allow crypto assets to pass through the same financial network it currently uses for more traditional holdings like U.S. Treasury bonds and equities. "BNY Mellon is proud to be the first global bank to announce plans to provide an integrated service for digital assets," Roman Regelman, CEO of asset servicing and head of digital at BNY Mellon, said in a statement Thursday. "Growing client demand for digital assets, maturity of advanced solutions, and improving regulatory clarity present a tremendous opportunity for us to extend our current service offerings to this emerging field."

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/23/david-katz-says-this-bank-is-a-top-pick-after-the-dip-in-financials.html

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

Value investor David Katz says this bank is a top pick after dip in financials

Value investor David Katz told CNBC on Wednesday he thinks the pullback in financials has created a buying opportunity, suggesting the sector still has plenty of tailwinds from the expanding U.S. economy. Financials are the third-best performers in the S & P 500 this year, trailing only energy and real estate. While they are up about 23% year to date, financials have fallen more than 4% in the past month as Wall Street rotated back into growth. For comparison, the iShares S & P 500 Growth ETF is up over 5% in the past month. Katz, in an interview on "The Exchange," said he believes the renewed strength in growth stocks is a bit of an "outlier." "Coming out of recessions, typically value significantly outpaces growth. Since last September, value has done exceptionally well versus growth. We still think we're in the early innings of that, so you're getting a breather now," said Katz, president and chief investment officer of Matrix Asset Advisors . "We think, on a six- to 12-month basis, that value still has some very good upside opportunities." In particular, Katz said he feels investors now have an attractive level to add exposure to financials following the sector's recent weakness. He pointed to Bank of New York Mellon as one especially promising stock. "They've got so many other things going for them that even if rates stay relatively low, they're still making a great deal of money," Katz said of financials broadly. "An improving economy means, ultimately, there's going to be more lending and it also means their loan portfolio, their bad debt expenses, is going to go down significantly." "We think they're in a good place, and we do think that they're going to be allowed to raise their dividends and buy stock back, so when rates rise, that's just going to be the icing on the cake," Katz added. The investor said he likes BNY Mellon's valuation, with shares trading slightly under 12 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. "They benefit significantly by any sort of rise in rates. If and when the Fed does raise rates — we know it will happen at some point — they have hundreds of millions of dollars that they're not getting on their money market business that will fall right into the bottom line," Katz said. BNY Mellon shares have declined about 4% in the past month. The stock is up more than 16% year to date. "It's selling around its tangible book value. Rarely do you get a good financial institution at that sort of price," Katz said. David Katz, CIO of Matrix Asset Advisors. Adam Jeffery | CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/id/44019510

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

Bank of New York Puts Charge on Cash Deposits

Banks typically welcome deposits as cheap funding that they redeploy into loans and investments, but BNY said the recent flood of cash is affecting its capital ratio and insurance fees. "The transient nature of these new deposits prevents us from investing our balance sheet to cover the costs incurred from sudden and significant increases in U.S. Dollar Deposits with BNY Mellon," the bank said in a letter sent this week to clients. The bank urged clients to reduce their deposit balance and "to consider a variety of cash investment options to minimize any effect on you." The fee will apply to certain accounts holding greater than $50 million "per client relationship." Traders cited this as fueling demand for U.S. Treasury billsand pushing one-month bill rates near zero. BNY Mellon said the fee of 0.13 percentage point will take effect on Aug. 8 on certain deposits whose monthly average balance is greater than $50 million. "Recent market events such as the Greek debt crisisand the uncertainty created by the handling of the U.S. debt ceiling have caused many of our clients to alter their cash management strategies," BNY Mellon said.

https://www.cnbc.com/select/what-are-am-best-ratings/

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

A.M. Best ratings evaluate insurance companies' financial strength — here's what you need to know about these scores

What is A.M. Best? An insurer has to be financially healthy to be able to pay out claims. As an independent credit rating agency, A.M. Best translates balance sheets and other data into letter grades that can be understood by consumers, investors and others in the insurance industry. A.M. Best reviews and rates over 16,000 insurance companies globally, from household names to niche providers. Grades range from A+ to D, and each grade may also have a notch (or an additional "+") to indicate its strength within that grade. For example, an A+ company with an outstanding ability to meet its obligations would be categorized as A++. A.M. Best's grades are relevant to all kinds of insurance. A life insurance policy, for example, may not pay out for decades. So it's important for a life insurance company to be in good financial standing for the long haul. Northwestern Mutual, New York Life and MassMutual all received A++ ratings from A.M. Best in 2023. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights As the largest life insurer by market share in the U.S., Northwestern Mutual is an established choice with a proven record. And, it offers a number of types of policies across the country. MassMutual Life Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights MassMutual has been in business for over 170 years, and carries the highest ratings for financial security from AM Best. There are also companies that issue homeowners and auto insurance policies with A++ ratings, including State Farm, Geico, Travelers and USAA. State Farm Auto Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights State farm is one of the largest auto insurers based on market share and has an excellent reputation for customer satisfaction. It offers 13 discounts, including ones for safe driving and young drivers. Terms apply. Read our State Farm Auto Insurance review. Geico Auto Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights Geico coverage and services are available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and there are 16 different types of discounts available. In addition to the standard coverage options, Geico offers various optional add-ons, such as emergency roadside assistance, rental car reimbursement and mechanical breakdown insurance. Terms apply. Read our Geico Auto Insurance review. Pros Lowest average rates Inclusive coverage options, including high-risk drivers Available nationwide Cons High premiums for high-risk drivers Fewer branches for in-person services Learn More View More Travelers Auto Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights Travelers auto insurance policies are affordable and backed by the sixth largest company for car insurance by market share according to the NAIC. The company also offers a number of discounts to customers, including discounts for bundling, owning a hybrid or electric car, and good student discounts. USAA Auto Insurance Learn More Cost The best way to estimate your costs is to request a quote App available Yes Policy highlights USAA's auto insurance is available in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and some international locations. In addition to low rates and coverage options for unique circumstances, such as for active-duty members, customers have access to an intuitive mobile app. Terms apply. How does A.M. Best rate insurance companies? A.M. Best grades insurers' credit in several categories, including their ability to meet their short- term, long-term and ongoing financial obligations. It's best known for its financial strength ratings (FSRs), however, which look at a company's ability to meet all of its policy and contract obligations. According to A.M. Best, the ratings are predictions based on balance sheet strength, performance, business profile information and other data. As such, they're not a guarantee of future performance or meant as investment advice. To calculate ratings, A.M. Best says its analysts make "quantitative and qualitative evaluations of balance sheet strength, operating performance, business profile and enterprise risk management" and bring their findings to a committee, which votes on a rating recommendation. What is the A.M. Best rating scale? A.M. Best grades insurance companies on financial health by assigning them letter grades ranging from A+ to D. These grades can also include a notch to further distinguish financial strength within a grade. An A+ company with superior financial strength, for example, would be graded as A++. And a B company with less solvency could be graded as B-. These are the grade categories, based on A.M. Best's belief in a company's ability to meet ongoing obligations. Superior : Rating: A+, Notches: A++ : Rating: A+, Notches: A++ Excellent : Rating: A, Notches: A- : Rating: A, Notches: A- Good : Rating: B+, Notches: B++ : Rating: B+, Notches: B++ Fair : Rating: B, Notches: B- : Rating: B, Notches: B- Marginal: Rating: C+, Notches: C++ Rating: C+, Notches: C++ Weak : Rating: C, Notches: C- : Rating: C, Notches: C- Poor: Rating: D An Under Review modifier, or "U," may also be added to a company's grade if there is a potential for a near-term change to its score, usually within the next six months. The Under Review marker can imply positive or negative results. Under review with positive implications: There is a reasonable likelihood the grade will be raised as a result of recent information. There is a reasonable likelihood the grade will be raised as a result of recent information. Under review with negative implications: The company is facing unfavorable financial or market conditions and has a good possibility of a rating downgrade. The company is facing unfavorable financial or market conditions and has a good possibility of a rating downgrade. Under review with developing implications: There is still uncertainty as to the outcome of the review. How to use A.M. Best's ratings FSRs distill a lot of financial information into an accessible format, providing an important metric you can use to evaluate an insurance company. To ensure a score is current and accurate, get it from the A.M Best website directly. Major carriers like State Farm and Allstate have numerous subsidiaries for property, auto and other insurance categories and A.M. Best grades each separately. Make sure you're looking at the right one. Look beyond the score to the factors that led A.M Best to give a company its grade and notch to see if they concern you. Review an insurer's grade over time for an idea of its long-term financial health. Look at scores from other credit rating agencies for comparison, including S&P Global and Moody's. FSRs shouldn't be the sole reason to purchase or switch to a particular carrier, especially since they don't consider rates and terms for a specific policy. They also don't address customer satisfaction — the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Complaint Index, J.D. Power's customer satisfaction ratings and the Better Business Bureau's grades are more helpful there. Shop for your next homeowners insurance policy Subscribe to the CNBC Select Newsletter! Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox. Sign up here. Bottom line A.M. Best creates ratings for the insurance industry, including a measure of a company's ability to pay claims and meet financial obligations, called its financial strength rating. It's another factor you can use to decide which insurance company is a good fit for you. Why trust CNBC Select? At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every insurance review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of insurance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date. Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/33426913

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

Russia Drops $22.5 Billion Suit Against BNY Mellon

Russia on Thursday dropped a $22.5 billion lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon stemming from a decade-old money laundering case involving one of its former executives. Bank of New York Mellon agreed to pay $14 million in court costs, the bank and Russia's federal customs service said in a joint statement. The customs service formally asked the Moscow Arbitration Court to close the case and the court agreed, bank spokeswoman Natalya Miroyevskaya said from the courtroom. Thursday's agreement was anticipated after Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin announced in September that Russia had reached a settlement with the bank under which it would receive no less than $14 million for court costs.

https://www.cnbc.com/select/average-credit-card-balance-over-6000/

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

The average credit card balance is more than $6,000 — here’s how to pay yours off

Credit card balances in the U.S. have reached a 10-year high, according to Nov. 9 data from credit reporting bureau TransUnion. The average credit card account is now carrying a balance of $6,088, according to the agency, up 15% from this time last year. Total U.S. credit card debt reached a record $1.08 trillion in the third quarter of 2023, according to a separate report this week from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, highlighting the effects of both inflation and higher interest rates. The consequences of credit card debt Using a credit card can be a great way to protect your purchases and earn rewards. But paying off your credit card balance in full each month is critical. Your balance can grow quickly, negating any of the benefits of using the card — the average credit card had an interest rate of 21.19% in the summer of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve, up from 20.68% in the spring. Carrying a balance can also increase your credit utilization ratio, the amount of credit you have available compared to the amount you're using. This ratio accounts for 30% of your credit score, credit bureau Experian reports. Those with the highest credit scores tend to have credit utilization ratios in the single digits, according to Experian, while a ratio of 30% or higher can have a "pronounced negative effect" on your score. How to pay off credit card debt If you want to chip away at your credit card debt, here are some of the more effective methods to choose from. Debt snowball or debt avalanche method The debt snowball method focuses on making minimum payments on all your accounts and putting any extra money toward the card with the lowest balance. You'll then work your way towards tackling the largest balance. The idea is that paying off a balance in full — even if it's a small one — will help motivate you to keep going on your debt repayment journey. The debt avalanche strategy, meanwhile, tackles the debts with the highest interest rates first, then focuses on smaller balances. This method can help you save by eliminating the highest interest rates first. For either method to work, you first need to make a list of all of your debts with their interest rates and balances. Then decide which strategy is right for you and determine how much you can put toward paying off your balances each month. Apps like You Need a Budget (YANB) and PocketGuard can help you create a budget right from your phone. You Need a Budget (YNAB) Learn More Cost 34-day free trial then $99 per year or $14.99 per month (college students who provide proof of enrollment get 12 months free) Standout features Instead of using traditional budgeting buckets, users allocate every dollar they earn to something (known as the "zero-based budgeting system" where no dollar is unaccounted for). Every dollar is assigned a "job," whether it's to go toward bills, savings, investments, etc. Categorizes your expenses No Links to accounts Yes, bank and credit cards Availability Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android) Security features Encrypted data, accredited data centers, third-party audits and more Terms apply. PocketGuard Learn More Information about PocketGuard has been collected independently by CNBC Select and has not been reviewed or provided by PocketGuard prior to publication. Cost Upgrade to a Pocketguard Plus monthly subscription, for $12.99 per month, or a yearly subscription for $74.99 per year, which broken down equals $6.25 per month giving members an over all 50% savings. Standout features Taking into account your estimated income, upcoming expenses and savings goals, "In My Pocket" feature uses an algorithm to show how much you have available for everyday spending Categorizes your expenses Yes, but users can modify Links to accounts Yes, bank and credit cards Availability Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android) Security features Major bank-level encryption, PIN codes and biometrics like Touch ID and Face ID Terms apply. Debt consolidation If you feel like you're drowning in debt, a debt consolidation loan might be the solution. It essentially rolls all your balances into one monthly payment, typically with a lower interest rate. (The average 24-month personal loan carried 12.17% interest in the third quarter of 2023, according to Federal Reserve data, compared to 21.19% for credit cards.) This can make managing payments much simpler and enable you to pay off your debt faster. Not every applicant is approved for a debt consolidation loan, however, and you could face late fees and further damage to your credit score if you miss a payment. If you think debt consolidation is the right move, CNBC Select recommends Upstart for those with fair or average credit scores, and LightStream for those with good to excellent scores. Upstart offers personal loans with fixed interest rates, so you avoid any surprises. In addition, it doesn't charge an early payoff fee and allows users to pay creditors directly. It does charge an origination fee of up to 8%, which is deducted from your loan. Upstart Personal Loans Learn More Annual Percentage Rate (APR) 7.8% - 35.99% Loan purpose Debt consolidation, credit card refinancing, wedding, moving or medical Loan amounts $1,000 to $50,000 Terms 36 and 60 months Credit needed FICO or Vantage score of 600 (but will accept applicants whose credit history is so insufficient they don't have a credit score) Origination fee 0% to 12% of the target amount Early payoff penalty None Late fee The greater of 5% of monthly past due amount or $15 Terms apply. LightStream is a good option for those with good credit scores. It offers loans up to $100,000, with same-day funding available. In addition, LightStream doesn't charge origination, early payoff or late fees. LightStream Personal Loans Learn More Annual Percentage Rate (APR) 7.49% - 25.99%* APR with AutoPay Loan purpose Debt consolidation, home improvement, auto financing, medical expenses, and others Loan amounts $5,000 to $100,000 Terms 24 to 144 months* dependent on loan purpose Credit needed Good Origination fee None Early payoff penalty None Late fee None Terms apply. *AutoPay discount is only available prior to loan funding. Rates without AutoPay are 0.50% points higher. Excellent credit required for lowest rate. Rates vary by loan purpose. Balance transfer Another way to make headway on your debt is a balance transfer to a 0% APR credit card. During the introductory period, which can be as long as 21 months, these cards allow you to pay down your balance without interest. After the 0% APR introductory period ends, you'll be charged the card's normal interest rate on whatever balance remains, so make sure you can pay off your debt before that happens. There are some important things to consider, however: A missed payment could end the interest-free period prematurely. And, if you fall back into old spending habits, you risk getting even deeper into debt. There is also typically a fee to transfer a balance, usually between 3% and 5%. If you think a balance transfer card will fast-track your debt payoff, consider a card with no annual fee, a low balance transfer fee and a 0% introductory period that works for your timeline and budget. CNBC Select has chosen the Wells Fargo Reflect® Card for its no annual fees and long introductory APR period (with 18.24%, 24.74%, or 29.99% variable APR on purchases and qualifying balance transfers after that introductory period ends). For a balance transfer to qualify for the intro APR, it must be made within 120 days from account opening, and a balance transfer fee of 5% of the amount transferred applies ($5 minimum). Wells Fargo Reflect® Card Learn More On Wells Fargo's secure site Rewards None Welcome bonus None Annual fee $0 Intro APR 0% intro APR for 21 months from account opening on purchases and qualifying balance transfers. Regular APR 18.24%, 24.74%, or 29.99% Variable APR on purchases and balance transfers Balance transfer fee 5%, min: $5 Foreign transaction fee 3% Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees. Terms apply. We also recommend the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card as a top choice for balance transfers, with a generous four-month window from account opening to transfer balances and 21 months with 0% APR on balance transfers (and a regular variable APR between 18.24% - 28.99% after the introductory period ends). Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card Learn More On Citi's Secure Site Rewards None Welcome bonus None Annual fee $0 Intro APR 0% for 21 months on balance transfers; 0% for 12 months on purchases Regular APR 18.24% - 28.99% variable Balance transfer fee 5% of each balance transfer; $5 minimum. Balance transfers must be completed within 4 months of account opening. Foreign transaction fee 3% Credit needed Excellent/Good See rates and fees.Terms apply. Subscribe to the CNBC Select Newsletter! Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox. Sign up here. Bottom line With credit card balances at a ten-year high, it's worth looking at how much card debt you're carrying and weighing your options for paying it down. After all, cash back and bonus points don't really mean much if you're deep in the red. Why trust CNBC Select? At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every personal finance article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of financial products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date. Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/05/bitcoin-custody-us-bank-launches-service-as-institutions-race-to-cater-to-crypto-demand.html

BK

Bank of New York Mellon

US Bank launches bitcoin custody service as institutions race to cater to crypto demand

People wait in line outside of a mobile US Bank location on July 8, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen | Getty Images The race to cater to institutional investors who want to wager on cryptocurrency is heating up. U.S. Bank , the fifth-biggest retail bank in the nation, announced Tuesday that its cryptocurrency custody service is available to fund managers, CNBC was first to report. The offering will help investment managers store private keys for bitcoin , bitcoin cash and litecoin with assistance from sub-custodian NYDIG, according to Gunjan Kedia, vice chair of the bank's wealth management and investment services division. Support for other coins like ethereum is expected over time, Kedia said. The move is the latest sign that established financial players are beginning to accept cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class. In the realm of custody banks, which verify and safeguard trillions of dollars of traditional assets for money managers, major players including Bank of New York Mellon , State Street and Northern Trust have all announced plans to custody digital assets. "Our clients are getting very serious about the potential of cryptocurrency as a diversified asset class," Kedia said in an interview. "I don't believe there's a single asset manager that isn't thinking about it right now." Gunjan Kedia, vice chair of the bank's wealth management and investment services division. Courtesy: US Bank U.S. Bank, which was founded during the Civil War in 1863, is a top 10 player in custody with more than $8.6 trillion in assets under custody and administration, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. After a key regulator released a paper last year that established that national banks could custody crypto assets, Kedia surveyed the firm's biggest clients to determine if their interest was genuine. She found that interest in crypto was broad and not limited to niche players, and that clients wanted the bank to move quickly. "What we were hearing across the board, is that while every currency might not survive – there may not be room for thousands of coins— there's something about the potential of this asset class and the underlying technology that would be prudent for us to stand up support for it," she said. watch now

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/bed-bath-beyonds-chief-customer-and-technology-officer-resigns.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Bed Bath & Beyond's chief customer and technology officer resigns

A security guard stands next to a Bed Bath & Beyond sign at the entrance to a New York City store location. Bed Bath & Beyond's chief customer officer, Rafeh Masood, has resigned, marking the latest leadership change at the embattled retailer. Masood also held the role of chief technology officer. His resignation is effective as of Dec. 2, the company said in a regulatory filing. Bed Bath & Beyond said the departure is "not the result of any disagreement" with the company on any matter relating to its operations, practices or financial statements. It is the latest in a series of leadership changes at the company. In June, Bed Bath's board pushed out Chief Executive Mark Tritton and Chief Merchandising Officer Joe Hartsig. Its chief accounting officer resigned and the company eliminated the chief operating officer and chief stores officer roles this summer. Former CFO Gustavo Arnal died by suicide in September. Last week, Bed Bath appointed interim CEO Sue Gove, who stepped into the role after Tritton's departure, to the post permanently. Bed Bath is still looking for a new chief financial officer after tapping its chief accounting officer, Laura Crossen, as interim finance chief, earlier this fall. The shifts come at a critical moment for Bed Bath & Beyond, which is gearing up for the key holiday season and working to reverse dwindling sales and inventory strains. The company has closed stores, laid off workers and secured new financing as part of its turnaround efforts. Bed Bath's shares have swung dramatically this year, especially as the company got attention from meme stock traders and Ryan Cohen, an activist investor. Cohen, co-founder of Chewy, sold off his entire stake in August. Shares have fallen about 70% so far this year. If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/17/third-point-could-see-big-returns-from-small-changes-at-bath-body-works-.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Third Point could see big returns from small changes at Bath & Body Works

Business: Bath & Body Works is a specialty retailer of home fragrance, body care, soaps and sanitizer products. In August 2021, Bath & Body Works (formerly known as L Brands) completed the separation of its Victoria's Secret business. Activist Commentary: Third Point is a multistrategy hedge fund founded by Dan Loeb that selectively takes activist positions. Loeb is one of the true pioneers in the field of shareholder activism and definitely one of a handful of activists who shaped what has become modern day shareholder activism. He invented the poison pen letter in a time when a poison pen was often necessary, and as times have changed, he has transitioned from the poison pen to the power of the argument. Third Point has amicably gotten board representation at companies like Baxter and Disney, but also will not hesitate to launch a proxy fight if they are being ignored. Third Point expressed its concern with Bath & Body Works' executive compensation structure , noting that excessive awards have been made that are disconnected to important performance metrics. Additionally, Third Point expressed its concerns with the company's financial discipline , investor communication, and board composition, but noted that Bath & Body Works can resolve many of its issues through board refreshment. Finally, Third Point noted that if no satisfactory resolution is reached, it reserves the right to seek changes in board composition and/or take other measures at or before its next annual meeting. BBWI is a solid company and brand that has a long history of good performance and years of delivering 20%+ operating margins. During the Covid pandemic, the company gained customers and did well, but this year the tides have turned. The company has been in a leadership transition phase, and is facing a tough macroeconomic environment and made a series of execution missteps. On May 12, Andrew Meslow stepped down as CEO and board chair Sarah Nash was appointed as interim CEO. On Aug. 15, Chris Cramer resigned from the COO role and the company announced that it would not fill the position. Nash was awarded an astronomical $18 million compensation to serve as interim CEO despite her having been paid $700,000 annually to serve as chair. The president's salary was increased by 15% to $1 million and the company signed retention agreements with the president, CFO and head of human resources where they were paid an additional combined $4.2 million in equity. This is what Third Point was talking about in its 13D filing when it said it is concerned about executive compensation and excessive awards being made. To put it into context, one of BBWI's larger peers, Ulta Beauty , pays its CEO $8.5 million and its highest paid nonemployee director $300,312. On top of the leadership issues, the company bought back $1.3 billion in stock at about $49 per share prior to making multiple cuts in earnings guidance, which then sent the stock to $30 per share. And through this all, the company could have been communicating better to the market, as it does not even have an internal investor relations executive, which is unusual for a company of this size — particularly one whose stock price is struggling. On a positive note, on Dec. 1, Gina Boswell took over as the new CEO, after what seemed to be a comprehensive search to find a qualified executive. However, the missteps since the company spun off Victoria's Secret on Aug. 3, 2021, have clearly indicated that management needs better counsel from the board and members with experience in capital allocation, executive compensation, market communication; who will hold management accountable. I am not sure I have seen a board that needed shareholder representation more than this one. The good news is that this is a good company with a strong brand that under the right leadership will generate shareholder value. Third Point is not coming in here to make drastic changes and they certainly are not targeting a new CEO who appears to be qualified for the position. On the contrary, they are looking for board refreshment to support the new CEO and put her in the best position to succeed. The only negative to Boswell is that she has never been a public company CEO before. That is alright, it just means that it is even more important to have a strong board to advise and support her. That means a board that can guide capital allocation decisions, such as buying back shares at thoughtful prices; that has experience with investors and communicating with the market; and will be diligent about paying management fairly but not excessively. There is not a lot of change that is needed here, just continued refreshment of the board with experienced retail and personal care executives and directors with financial expertise. At this juncture, we would expect Third Point to seek board representation, support the new CEO and encourage hiring an IR person. We would love to see an industry director and a Third Point person added to the board, but we would not consider it a failure if Third Point decides not to take a board seat in deference to other qualified new directors. Third Point is known by many for confrontational activism and poison pen letters, but that is the Third Point of 15 years ago. The modern day Third Point succeeds at its activism through the power of argument and respect. So, we would expect this to end amicably. However, Third Point can still fight a proxy fight if necessary and they are as good as anyone at it. If pushed to the edge, we do not expect them to cave. The director nomination window opens on Feb. 11, 2023, so we have a couple of months to see how this plays out. Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and he is the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist 13D investments. Squire is also the creator of the AESG™ investment category, an activist investment style focused on improving ESG practices of portfolio companies.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/12/club-meeting-recap-stocks-down-tjx-fl-.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Jim Cramer says off-price retailer TJX could be 'eating the carcass' of Bed Bath & Beyond

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Friday's key moments. Stocks edge down More upside for TJX Stick with FL 1. Stocks edge down Stocks trended lower Friday morning amid the ongoing political stalemate over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, with the government hurdling towards a potential default by the end of the month. The market was also weighed down by continued uncertainty over the health of regional banks. The S & P 500 was headed for its second week of losses. But the Nasdaq was trying hold on to its weekly gains for a third straight week. Meanwhile, the S & P 500 Short Range Oscillator was hovering around minus 2%, meaning the market is not yet in oversold territory. But once it is, we'll be looking for fresh buying opportunities. 2. More upside for TJX TJX Companies (TJX) "could be eating the carcass of Bed Bath & Beyond for breakfast," Jim Cramer said Friday. In the wake of Bed Bath & Beyond's bankruptcy , TJX is poised to absorb much of the inventory from the discount home-goods chain. Jim predicted TJX stock, trading around $78 a share Friday, could soon break above $80. His comments came as TD Cowen raised its price target on TJX to $89 per share from $88, while reiterating its outperform (buy) rating on the stock. TJX is set to report fiscal year 2024 first-quarter results on Wednesday. 3. Stick with Foot Locker Jim said Friday he continues to bet that Foot Locker (FL) CEO Mary Dillon's restructuring plan for the sneaker retailer will pay off – but warned that turnarounds don't happen overnight. Citi lowered its price target on FL to $48 per share from $50, but maintained its buy rating. The firm also predicted a first-quarter earnings beat on lower costs when Foot Locker reports on May 19. "We believe the market is likely to look through any near-term choppiness given the improvements CEO Mary Dillon can drive," Citi analysts wrote in a note. Shares of Foot Locker were higher Friday, trading at nearly $39 apiece. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long TJX, FL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/18/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-wmt-ttwo-bbwi.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Walmart, Take-Two Interactive, Bath & Body Works and more

Sale signs inside the Bath and Body Works store in Edmonton. On Thursday, January 6, 2022, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Check out the companies making headlines before the bell Thursday. Walmart – Shares of the retail giant rose more than 1.5% in premarket trading after the company raised its full-year forecast and reported an almost 8% gain in sales for the fiscal first quarter, pointing to strength in its large grocery business that helped offset weaker sales in clothing and electronics. Walmart also reported stronger-than-expected adjusted earnings and revenue, according to Refinitiv. Take-Two Interactive Software — The video game company surged 14% after posting better-than-expected revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter. Take-Two Interactive shared a weaker-than-expected outlook, but signaled that a strong future gaming slate could fuel strong growth thereafter. Bath & Body Works — The retailer of body care and fragrance saw its stock surge nearly 10% in premarket after the company posted stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for the latest quarter. Bath & Body Works also raised its full-year earnings guidance. Boot Barn — The western footwear brand shed more than 13% before the bell. Boot Barn reported fiscal third-quarter revenue and guidance that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Cisco Systems — Shares of Cisco Systems lost 4% after the company reported a 23% decline in orders for the fiscal third quarter. Regional bank stocks — Shares of many hard-hit regional banks stocks rose before the bell, building on Wednesday's gains. PacWest , Western Alliance and Zions Bancorporation gained 7%, 3.9% and 1.3%, respectively. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF added more than 1%. Alibaba — The Chinese e-commerce company lost 1% after posting mixed results for the recent quarter. Revenue fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Alibaba also said it plans to list its cloud division. Micron Technology — The memory chipmaker's stock rose 2% on news that it plans to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Japan to foster dynamic random access memory chip production there. Synopsys — Synopsys added 2% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. The software company also shared stronger-than-expected revenue and earnings growth guidance for the full year. Sony — The stock added nearly 4% after the company announced it will begin assessing a partial spin-off of its financial services business. Sony would list shares of Sony Financial Group in about two to three years and still own about 20% of the business. — CNBC's Yun Li, Tanaya Macheel and Michelle Fox contributed reporting

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/25/third-points-dan-loeb-pens-a-pointed-letter-to-bath-body-works-what-could-happen-next.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Third Point’s Dan Loeb pens a pointed letter to Bath & Body Works – What could happen next

Activist Commentary: Third Point is a multi-strategy hedge fund founded by Dan Loeb. The fund selectively takes activist positions. Loeb is one of the true pioneers in the field of shareholder activism and one of a handful of activists who shaped what has become modern-day shareholder activism. He popularized the poison-pen letter at a time when the measure was often necessary. As times have changed, he has transitioned from the poison pen to the power of the argument. Third Point has amicably obtained board representation at companies like Baxter and Disney, but also will not hesitate to launch a proxy fight if the firm is being ignored. Third Point initially filed a 13D on Bath & Body Works ("BBWI") on Dec. 8, 2022, and expressed its concern with the company's executive compensation structure, its financial discipline, investor communication and board composition. On Feb. 22, Third Point sent a letter to BBWI's board announcing that it intends to nominate a slate of director candidates for election. Third Point believes that additional oversight is required on the board when it comes to corporate governance, executive compensation and shareholder rights. Would this have happened if an activist were on the board? We don't think so. As an example, in April 2019, ABB chairman Peter Voser stepped in as interim CEO of ABB. He did not receive any increase to his compensation as chairman and he received the same salary and short-term incentives as the prior CEO and no additional long-term incentive grants or benefits, except those legally required. He served as interim CEO for 11 months and received total compensation of $4.2 million, which was $3.3 million less than the prior CEO and $1.7 million less than the permanent CEO succeeding him. ABB was a $50 billion company at the time. BBWI is a roughly $10 billion company. Further, Voser did not have another full-time job back then. For the $4.2 million, he agreed to devote his full attention to ABB. One other thing – Lars Förberg, co-founder and managing partner of activist fund Cevian Capital was on the board of ABB at the time. Last May, BBWI's CEO Andrew Meslow stepped down from his position, citing health reasons . The board, chaired by Sarah Nash, named her as interim CEO. In its announcement, the company stated that Nash currently served as the CEO of privately held Novagard Solutions, a company that manufactures silicone coatings and sealants. As part of this appointment, BBWI agreed to increase Nash's annual compensation as chair of the company to $1,000,000 from $700,000 during the time she served as interim CEO. Additionally, the company agreed to pay her an annual base salary of $1,350,000 and a short-term performance incentive compensation target of 190% of her base salary for her work as interim CEO. The situation became egregious when the board, in addition, awarded her $18 million of restricted stock units on March 11, 2022. She would receive this $18 million regardless of how long she served as interim CEO. Ultimately, she served as interim CEO for a full seven months for the $18 million. Third Point also takes issue with the fact that the BBWI board does not designate Nash as an executive chair even though she is receiving $18 million in stock grants vesting over the next three years. Third Point believes that $6 million of compensation per year renders a director non-independent. We would tend to agree with that. Let's look at another example. Richard Dreiling is designated as the executive chair of Dollar Tree because he is paid a salary of $1 million per year and has stock options to acquire 2.25 million shares of stock at the company's all-time highest closing price, vesting over five years. Before negotiating that deal, the board reached out to shareholders owning more than 50% of their stock. The dominant theme from that outreach was that the company should do whatever was necessary to secure Dreiling's services as the company's top executive for a multi-year period. This is just good corporate governance. Having previously grown Dollar General from a $4.5 billion company to a $25 billion company in seven years as its CEO, Dreiling was imminently qualified for this position. He also did not have another full-time position, and Dollar Tree is a $30 billion company. Finally, Paul Hilal, founder and CEO of activist investor Mantle Ridge was on the board, brought on Dreiling and led the board in structuring and negotiating this entire arrangement. In contrast, the BBWI board did not appear to reach out to shareholders, did not have an activist or any shareholder representative on the board and seemed to enter an "arms-length" negotiation between Nash and the board she leads. That is how you reach an $18 million payment for seven months of work while holding on to your full-time job. So, Third Point is now going to make a books-and-records request under Delaware law to assess the information the board relied on to justify this payout. My guess is that the support for this decision will be underwhelming. The Nash-led BBWI board is now doing whatever it can to protect itself from having a shareholder representative on the board. And when I say, "whatever it can," I mean the very least the board thinks it has to do to win. We often see this in activist campaigns at companies with inexperienced and/or entrenched boards. In this case, the board is "refreshing" its membership by adding two new directors to the 12-person board. This allows the board to continue with business as usual, while at the same time enabling it to go before Institutional Shareholder Services and argue that there is no need for a Third Point representative on the board because it has been refreshed. However, when a board has egregious corporate governance practices, its members are the last people you want to appoint new directors. A board like this will need a lot more refreshment than just two additional directors. The company may also argue that it received an approval vote of over 95% on its most recent say-on-pay proposal in 2022. This vote was entirely focused on 2021 pay and did not include Sarah Nash as a named executive officer. Furthermore, ISS recommended voting "for" on say on pay, but also said that the $18 million Nash award and her overall compensation as interim CEO will be analyzed next year. Third Point's Loeb popularized the poison-pen letter at a time when it was needed. As times have changed, he has transitioned from the poison pen to the power of the argument. Third Point's letter to BBWI is evidence of that. Third Point has amicably obtained board representation at companies like Baxter and Disney, but the firm will not hesitate to launch a proxy fight if it isn't being heeded. Often the difference between amicable activism and confrontational activism is the response of the company. It is up to the company as to how adversarial this engagement gets. It is often difficult in activist campaigns to identify who is wearing the black hat and who is wearing the white hat. In this situation, it seems obvious. Large institutional shareholders and ISS will not condone egregious corporate governance. If this goes the distance, we believe Third Point will show the BBWI board how powerful a good argument is. Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist 13D investments.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/06/keybanc-says-former-meme-stock-bed-bath-beyond-will-fall-to-10-cents-after-bankruptcy-warning.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

KeyBanc says former meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond will fall to 10 cents after bankruptcy warning

Don't be surprised if beaten-down retail stock Bed Bath & Beyond falls even more from here, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets. Analyst Bradley Thomas reiterated his underweight rating on shares, slashing his price target by 95% to 10 cents from $2 after the retailer pre-announced disappointing quarterly results and warned that it could pursue bankruptcy protection. The new price target implies 94% downside from Thursday's close and reflects concerns that "creditors are in the best position to realize value from assets such as buybuy BABY," Thomas wrote. Shares were last down 10% before the bell Friday. KeyBanc isn't the only one turning more sour on the stock, which is already down nearly 33% since the start of the new year. Bank of America said in a note to clients Thursday that a successful turnaround is becoming increasing unlikely given the company's troublesome operating results. Meanwhile, Telsey Advisory Group suspended coverage, citing bankruptcy concerns and a miss of the firm's already low expectations for the retailer. "We do not see Bed Bath & Beyond as a strategic fit for any of the home furnishings retailers in our coverage group, but see interest from retailers in the company's Bed Bath & Beyond store leases, which are ~30,000 sq. ft. and generally in good locations," wrote analyst Cristina Fernández in a Friday note. Looking ahead, JPMorgan sees opportunities for both Target and Williams-Sonoma to takeover a share of Bed Bath & Beyond's sales, which could lift 2023 EPS estimates by 1% and 3.6%, respectively, and boost comparable stores sales. "Over the past few months, management has stemmed the bleeding, improved liquidity, and improved relations with these two stakeholders," wrote analyst Christopher Horvers. "That said, the macro and housing are deteriorating and we don't think BBBY is out of the dark." Bed Bath & Beyond shares have experienced a roller-coaster ride in recent years, as smaller traders on Reddit piled into the heavily shorted retailer. This led to a series of so-called meme stock rallies in 2021 and 2022. Those rallies never materialized, with stock losing 17.9% in 2021 and a whopping 82.8% last year. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/11/bed-bath-beyond-jumps-50percent-to-lead-last-gasp-rally-in-meme-stocks-amc-gains-15percent.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Bed Bath & Beyond jumps 68% to lead last gasp rally in meme stocks; AMC gains 21%

In this article BBBY AMC GME Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT A "Store Closing" banner on a Bed Bath & Beyond store in Farmingdale, New York, on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. Johnny Milano | Bloomberg | Getty Images A group of highly speculative stocks rallied double digits on Wednesday as retail investors pushed meme names up again in the new year after a dismal 2022. Bed Bath & Beyond skyrocketed a whopping 68.6% to trigger the trend Wednesday. Shares of GameStop , the original star of 2021's meme stock mania, climbed more than 7% , while AMC Entertainment soared over 21%. Meme stocks rallying one more time Stock Short interest % float Wed. Gain % off 52W high Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) 48.9% 68% -88% AMC (AMC) 21% 21% -77% GameStop (GME) 21% 7% -62% Source: FactSet The rally in Bed Bath & Beyond was initially triggered by news that it would lay off more employees in an attempt to reduce costs and stay in business. The home goods retailer told employees that it is eliminating the chief transformation officer role, which is held by Anu Gupta, on the same day it reported disappointing fiscal third-quarter results. Bed Bath & Beyond is approaching a potential bankruptcy, as its sales decline and losses grow. watch now

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/10/bed-bath-beyond-to-wind-down-canada-operations.html

BBWI

Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Bed Bath & Beyond to wind down Canada operations

Bed Bath & Beyond 's Canadian operations are going out of business, according to a court filing on Friday, two days after the retailer quickly raised cash to stave off a U.S. bankruptcy. The Canadian division, which operates 54 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 11 buybuy BABY stores, is insolvent, the filing posted on the website of consultancy Alvarez & Marsal showed. The Canadian business does not have the "capacity or ability to independently effect a recapitalization or restructuring of the Canadian operations without access to cash and the support" from the parent company and its lenders, according to the filing. Alvarez & Marsal has been appointed as a monitor of the business in the Canadian court case. The struggling retailer, which has been trying to avoid bankruptcy, raised about $225 million in an equity offering earlier this week and said it may get another $800 million over the next 10 months. Bed Bath & Beyond in January had raised doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern just months after it announced more than $500 million in new financing, as well as job cuts and 150 store closures. The Union, New Jersey-based home goods retailer, which shot to popularity in the 1990s as a go-to shopping destination for couples making wedding registries and planning for new babies, has seen demand drop off in recent years as its merchandising strategy to sell more store-branded products flopped. As of Nov. 26, the Bed Bath & Beyond banner in Canada had total assets of about $427.4 million and total liabilities of about $342.8 million, the filing showed. Buybuy BABY Canada had assets worth $52.7 million and liabilities of about $86.9 million.