DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Thursday's analyst calls featured an upgrade to a car rental stock and a big downgrade to an airline. The bank also hiked his price target on the tech giant to $225 per share, implying upside of 23%. — Pia Singh 5:36 a.m.: Citi downgrades Spirit Airlines to sell Citi is throwing in the towel on Spirit Airlines . Week to date, Spirit shares are down nearly 60%. Spirit shares were down more than 4% in the premarket.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Hertz, Andrew Percoco, Percoco, — Pia Singh, Wamsi Mohan, Fred Imbert, Kirk Materne, Materne, Dan Dolev, Dolev, he's, CFRA, Kenneth Leon, Berkshire Hathaway, Leon, Ranjan Sharma, Sharma, bode, Adam Jonas, Jonas, Morgan, Stephen Trent, Trent Organizations: CNBC, flipside, Citi, Spirit Airlines, JetBlue, Bank of America, Apple Bank of America, Apple, Microsoft, ISI, Activision, Activision Blizzard, Mizuho, Fidelity National Information Services, Paramount Global, RedBird Capital, Warner Bros ., Comcast, Paramount's, Showtime, Paramount, JPMorgan, Grab Holdings, Hertz Global Holdings, Jan, Citi downgrades Spirit Airlines, Spirit, Airlines Locations: Berkshire, 1H24, Wednesday's

☆ Altman hiring is a major win for Microsoft, should drive further gains for stock, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

But even as the story continues unfolding, analysts already view Microsoft as well positioned coming out of the latest Silicon Valley spectacle. Ives, who reiterated his outperform rating and $425 price target for Microsoft, said the OpenAI board was "kids poker table and thought they won." "We view Microsoft now even in a STRONGER position from an AI perspective with Altman and Brockman at MSFT running AI," Ives wrote to clients Monday morning. Ives' price target is higher than the consensus on Wall Street of $403, according to LSEG, implying upside of slightly more than 9%. Materne has an outperform rating on the stock and a $432 price target.

Persons: Sam Altman, —, Altman, MSFT, Dan Ives, Ives, Satya Nadella, Greg Brockman, Brockman, outperforming, Oppenheimer, Timothy Horan, Bing, Horan, ISI's Kirk Materne, Materne, Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Nasdaq Locations: OpenAI, Redmond, Wash

☆ A recent slide in this cloud stock creates a buying opportunity, Evercore ISI says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The firm upgraded the technology stock to outperform from in line and increased its price target to $135 from $131. Analyst Kirk Materne said Oracle's 13% slide since mid-September presents investors with a strong buying opportunity, while the company will continue to grow its cloud segment. "We believe that the recent pullback after F1Q results creates a more compelling entry point for Oracle for those investors willing to take a 6-9 month view," Materne said. Despite its recent decline, Oracle shares are up roughly 35% for 2023. ORCL YTD mountain Oracle stock in 2023 — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

Persons: Evercore, Kirk Materne, Materne, —, Michael Bloom Organizations: ISI, Oracle, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

☆ UK blocks Microsoft's $69 bln Activision deal over cloud gaming concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The country's antitrust regulator said on Wednesday that Microsoft's commitment to offer access to Activision's multi-billion dollar "Call of Duty" franchise to leading cloud gaming platforms would not effectively remedy its concerns. The gaming company also reported quarterly results on Wednesday, a day earlier than scheduled, beating quarterly bookings estimates although that seemed to do little to allay investor concerns about Britain's move. Europe will decide on the Activision deal by May 22. The CMA said the cloud gaming market was forecast to be worth 11 billion pounds ($13.7 billion) globally by 2026. The CMA said Microsoft had an estimated 60%-70% of global cloud gaming services as well as competitive advantages including owning Xbox, PC operating system Windows and cloud provider Azure.

☆ Salesforce is having its best day since 2020 after blowout earnings report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Salesforce shares surged 12% on Thursday and headed for their biggest single-day rally since August 2020, after the cloud software vendor issued earnings and guidance that trounced analysts' estimates. After the close of regular trading on Wednesday, Salesforce reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.68 per share, 23% higher than the consensus among analysts polled by Refinitiv. Alongside the earnings report, Salesforce said it's working with Bain on a business review, and the company announced the elimination of the board's committee on mergers and acquisitions. Rangan, who recommends buying the stock, raised his 12-month price target for the second time in a week after the report. WATCH: Salesforce earnings highlight how expectation beats can move markets, says Kari Firestone

Search resuls for: "Kirk Materne"

5 mentions found