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☆ Electric-vehicle startups set to extend blistering rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoJune 16 (Reuters) - Electric-vehicle startups from Nikola (NKLA.O) to Lordstown Motors (RIDE.O) were set on Friday to extend a blistering rally in their shares that has put the cash-strapped companies on track for hefty weekly gains. For instance Nikola, which has more than doubled in value this week, has a short interest of 15.7%, according to Refinitiv. The EV startups, meanwhile, have added over $500 million to their collective market value. Nikola shares were 20% higher before the bell on Friday at $1.65, on course to stay above the minimum level for the third straight session. Still, many challenges remain for the EV startups, evidenced by the year-to-date stock price declines of 35% and 75% seen at Nikola and Lordstown, respectively.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Nikola, Lordstown, Foxconn, Aditya Soni, Akash Sriram, Shounak Dasgupta Organizations: REUTERS, Nikola, Lordstown Motors, EV, U.S, Faraday, Nasdaq, Thomson Locations: Morgan, Bengaluru

During the streak, Tesla shares rose by more than 40%, boosting its market value to roughly $814 billion. The rally was kicked off by news of the adoption of Tesla's charging system by legacy U.S. automakers Ford (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N). Wedbush compared Tesla's share gains to Amazon, which for years defied many investor expectations that its stock would eventually fall. Tesla shares slumped in 2022, losing 65% of their value, and helping the shorts make a mint. The 13-day rally cost short sellers more than $7 billion in mark-to-market losses, taking year-to-date losses to nearly $12.7 billion, according to S3 Partners.

Persons: Tesla, Chavi Mehta, Aditya Soni, David Gaffen, Maju Samuel Organizations: Toyota, U.S, Ford, General Motors, America, Wall Street, Wedbush Securities, Amazon.com, GM, S3 Partners, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Canada's Bell deepens news industry gloom with 1,300 job cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The layoffs will mostly affect management and follow thousands of cuts in the media industry that has been wrestling with dwindling ad dollars, elevated levels of inflation and the ongoing shift from cable TV to streaming. The company expects Bell Canada's legacy phone revenue to decline by $250 million each year, while the news operation posts annual operating losses of $40 million. "Our industry is experiencing a major disruption," said senior executive Wade Oosterman in an internal memo seen by Reuters. The Canadian telecom industry has over recent years come under pressure from the government to bring down phone bills in a concentrated market. Affected employees will be informed this week, Bell said, adding that vacant positions were eliminated to minimize the impact on teams.

Persons: Bell, Wade Oosterman, Chrystia Freeland, Samrhitha Arunasalam, Aditya Soni, Shilpi Majumdar, Shinjini Organizations: Bell, Inc, Reuters, Google, Facebook, U.S, CTV, Canadian Finance, Canada, Thomson Locations: Canadian, London, Los Angeles, Washington, Ottawa, Bengaluru

☆ Manchester United shares hit two-month high on speculations over takeover bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 13 (Reuters) - Shares of Manchester United (MANU.N) jumped 13% to hit a two-month high on Tuesday after a report hinted that Qatar's Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani was likely to succeed with his takeover bid for the English football club. Qatar's Al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday that Sheikh Jassim, son of a former prime minister of the country, was poised to be announced as the preferred bidder of the Premier League soccer club, CNBC said. Manchester United declined a Reuters request for comment. New York-listed shares of Manchester United were trading at $23.07, after rising as much as 30% before the opening bell. The Glazer family is reportedly seeking 6 billion pounds ($7.5 billion), which would be a world record for any sports club or franchise, but neither bid is that high.

Persons: Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad, Thani, Qatar's, Sheikh Jassim, Molly Darlington, Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS, Sheikh Jassim's, Glazer, Medha Singh, Aditya Soni, Shinjini Organizations: Manchester United, English, Watan, Premier League soccer, CNBC, Reuters, Soccer Football, Manchester City, FA, REUTERS, Mail, Thomson Locations: Qatar's Al, Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain, New York, Bengaluru

☆ Manchester United shares climb on speculations over takeover bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 13 (Reuters) - Manchester United's shares (MANU.N) were up 15% in premarket trading on Tuesday after a report hinted that Qatar's Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani was likely to succeed with his takeover bid for the English football club. Qatar's Al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday evening that Sheikh Jassim, son of a former prime minister of the country, was poised to be announced as the preferred bidder of the Premier League soccer club, CNBC said. Manchester United declined a Reuters request for comment. New York-listed shares of Manchester United were up at $23.07, paring almost half their premarket gains on Tuesday. The Glazer family is reportedly seeking 6 billion pounds ($7.5 billion), which would be a world record for any sports club or franchise, but neither bid is that high.

Persons: Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad, Thani, Qatar's, Sheikh Jassim, Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS, paring, Glazer, Sheikh Jassim's, Medha Singh, Aditya Soni, Shinjini Organizations: Manchester United's, English, Watan, Premier League soccer, CNBC, Reuters, Manchester United, Daily Mail, Thomson Locations: Qatar's Al, . New York, Bengaluru

☆ Tesla shares jump on EV charging tie-up with GM
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 9 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O) shares jumped 5% on Friday on expectations that its electric-vehicle charging system would become an industry standard after General Motors (GM.N) joined cross-town rival Ford (F.N) in agreeing to use the Tesla Supercharger network. Already the world's most valuable automaker, Tesla was set to increase its market value by more than $30 billion to about $780 billion. Shares of General Motors, whose valuation is much lower at $49.8 billion but sells millions more vehicles annually, rose 3.5%. "We estimate Ford and GM combined could add another $3 billion to services EV charging revenue for Tesla over the next few years in another accretive poker move by Musk & Co," said analysts at Wedbush Securities, raising their price target on Tesla's shares to $300. They are expected to lag well behind EV market leaders Tesla and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) through 2028, according to data provided by AutoForecast Solutions.

Persons: Elon, Tesla, Aditya Soni, Shounak Dasgupta Organizations: General Motors, Ford, U.S, EV, GM, Musk &, Wedbush Securities, GM EV, Detroit, Volkswagen, AutoForecast Solutions, Thomson

☆ Apple's Vision Pro an impressive headset with few likely buyers, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

June 6 (Reuters) - Analysts lauded Apple's (AAPL.O) Vision Pro on Tuesday for its impressive technology, but warned that it will be a few years before the $3,499 augmented reality headset sees widespread adoption. That vision, analysts said, could take some time to materialize because the high price tag will likely dissuade most buyers and the product does not have any clear use beyond entertainment in a still nascent augmented reality (AR) market. "Apple proved they have a vision for the role AR technology could play for consumers ... and Vision Pro looked sleek/differentiated versus incumbents and performed with clear potential," Morgan Stanley analysts said. "However, the Vision Pro is not ready for mass consumption," they added, pointing to a bulky external battery pack and the lack of a "killer app", among other issues. The uncertainty regarding Vision Pro sales also drove a wide range of predictions on its expected shipments once the device goes on sale next year.

Persons: Tim Cook, Apple, Morgan Stanley, Harmeet Singh Walia, Walia, Christine Wang, James Cordwell, Aditya Soni, Shounak Dasgupta Organizations: Apple Watch, Vision, Meta, Apple, Facebook, Counterpoint Research, Vision Pro, KGI Securities, Credit Suisse, Thomson

☆ Apple to sell Vision Pro AR headset for triple Meta's top-line price
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/4] People use cameras as Apple's Vision Pro headsets are on display at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S. June 5, 2023. Apple's headset will be available early next year in the U.S. with more countries coming later in 2024. The Vision Pro has two hours of use with an external battery, which Apple said would reduce the weight on the user's head. Investors and tech fans alike are focused on how much Apple's view of the virtual reality market overlaps with Meta's. In addition to Meta, Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and ByteDance-owned Pico both recently released virtual reality devices.

Persons: Loren Elliott CUPERTINO, Apple, Alan Dye, Tim Cook, Walt Disney's, Mark Zuckerberg, there's, John Ternus, Apple's, Craig Federighi, Stephen Nellis, Yuvraj Malik, Dawn Chmielewski, Katie Paul, Peter Henderson, Aditya Soni, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Developers, REUTERS, Apple Inc, Pro, Apple, Vision, Reuters, Adobe, Microsoft, Unity, Meta, Sony Group Corp, Pico, Research, IDC, Mac Pro, Mac, Intel, Thomson Locations: Cupertino , California, U.S, Loren Elliott CUPERTINO , California, Bengaluru, Dawn, Los Angeles, New York

☆ US telecom companies say not in talks with Amazon for wireless services
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

June 2 (Reuters) - Major U.S. wireless carriers on Friday said they not in talks with Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) to offer low-cost wireless services to its Prime members. "AT&T is not in discussions with Amazon to resell wireless services," a company spokesperson said. Verizon spokesperson the company "is not in negotiations with Amazon regarding the resale of (Verizon's) wireless network. Brandon Nispel of KeyBanc Capital Markets said Dish Network, a relatively new entrant in wireless, could be the most likely partner for Amazon. They also rallied in May after a Wall Street Journal report that Dish was in talks to sell its wireless plans through Amazon.

Persons: Christopher Ali, Brandon Nispel, Michael Ashley Schulman, Yuvraj Malik, Aditya Soni, Tanya Jain, Akash Sriram, David Shepardson, Sheila Dang, Nivedita Bhattacharjee Organizations: Major U.S, Amazon.com Inc, Wireless, Bloomberg News, Amazon, Dish Network, Verizon, Mobile, Penn State University, AT, KeyBanc, Journal, U.S, Running, Capital Advisors, Thomson Locations: Major, Bengaluru, Washington, Dallas

☆ US telecom stocks fall on report Amazon in talks for wireless services
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Bloomberg News reported that Amazon was negotiating to get the lowest possible wholesale prices and could offer wireless plans for $10 a month or lower to Prime members through these partnerships. AT&T declined to comment, while T-Mobile said it was not in discussions with Amazon for inclusion of its wireless in Prime service. The details of the potential deals between Amazon and the wireless carriers were not immediately known. Dish's shares were an outlier in telecom stocks with a gain of 22%. The company's shares had also soared in May after a Wall Street Journal report that it was in talks to sell its wireless plans through Amazon.

Persons: Christopher Ali, Brandon Nispel, Yuvraj Malik, Tanya Jain, Akash Sriram, Aditya Soni, Sheila Dang, Nivedita Bhattacharjee Organizations: Verizon Communications Inc, Mobile US Inc, Inc, U.S, Bloomberg News, Amazon, Penn State University, Verizon, Mobile, KeyBanc, Markets, Dish Network Corp, Journal, Thomson Locations: Amazon, Bengaluru, Dallas

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) on Wednesday rounded off a strong March quarter for the sector that saw its three major players post net bookings growth of between 11% and 66%. The company said "NBA 2K23", "Grand Theft Auto V" and "Grand Theft Auto Online" were some of the top contributors to its net bookings growth in the reported quarter. The company forecast net bookings of more than $8 billion for next year, which was above analysts' estimates. "It (the GTA VI release) would be a watershed moment for the category of open-world games," said MoffettNathanson analyst Clay Griffin. "Tens and tens of millions of units would be sold immediately, and a new or completely refreshed GTA: Online would redefine what a modern 'metaverse' really looks like."

Musk revealed those plans on Tuesday at the company's annual meeting, an about-face for the celebrity executive who recently acquired social media platform Twitter. Musk told CNBC he did not yet have a "fully formed strategy" for Tesla advertising. Tesla spent $151,947 on advertising in the U.S. in 2022, according to advertising intelligence firm Vivvix, which measured ads across places including TV, social media, Web banners and billboards. Diaz-Ortiz is a former Twitter manager who has written books about the social media company. Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Tesla shareholder Globalt Investments, sees Musk's embrace of advertising as a positive.

☆ Disney's Iger may have to add slowing growth to his turnaround checklist
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Disney is also embroiled in a legal fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over state efforts to control Disney World. The media and entertainment giant's Disney+ streaming service is expected to add a net 1.3 million subscribers in the second quarter, compared with additions of 7.9 million a year ago, according to Visible Alpha. "Star Wars" spin-off "The Mandalorian" was Disney+'s most in-demand series both in the U.S. and worldwide during the quarter, according to data provider Parrot Analytics. The streaming unit's operating loss is expected to widen to about $750 million from a loss of nearly $670 million a year earlier. That would mark the slowest growth since the second quarter of 2021, as the company's cable business also takes a hit from an ad market slowdown.

☆ Lyft rattles Wall Street as margins suffer in race with Uber
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Lyft Inc shares (LYFT.O) tumbled nearly 20% on Friday as the ride-hailing company's strategy to claw back market share from rival Uber (UBER.N) with lower fares stoked concerns about a hit to its profit margins. At least 16 analysts slashed their price targets on a stock that has widely underperformed the market this year. The company's market capitalization was set to decline by nearly $800 million to about $3.3 billion, a far cry from the over $24 billion valuation it commanded in its 2019 stock market listing. "This looks like an Everest-like uphill battle ahead for Lyft in our opinion," said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. Lyft shares underperform Uber'sReporting by Aditya Soni; Editing by Saumyadeb ChakrabartyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. electric-vehicle startups are expected to report another quarter of dwindling cash reserves next week, piling pressure on a group of companies that are struggling to ramp up production and have few options for funding in a turbulent economy. Lucid Group (LCID.O) kicks off first-quarter earnings for the group on Monday, with the company expected to report a 36% sequential slide in cash reserves, according to Visible Alpha. Rivian Automotive (RIVN.O), meanwhile, will likely report on Tuesday that its cash balance fell by 6.8% to $10.78 billion from the preceding quarter, per a Visible Alpha estimate. Fisker Inc (FSR.N) and Nikola (NKLA.O), both of which report earnings on Tuesday, are expected to see their cash reserves decline by 5% and 15%, respectively, according to Visible Alpha. Its earnings in an unscheduled release on Thursday showed Lordstown's cash balance fell 11% sequentially.

☆ Qualcomm amplifies chip gloom with 'sobering report'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc's (QCOM.O) shares sank nearly 8% premarket on Thursday after the chip designer signalled it would take longer for its crucial smartphone market to rebound from a post-pandemic slump. Qualcomm's quarterly revenue outlook was the second time a chip firm has underwhelmed Wall Street this week. "While we believe investors were expecting a miss, this was admittedly a somewhat sobering report," said Bernstein analysts, among the 13 brokerages that cut price targets on Qualcomm's stock. Qualcomm did not name the modem customer, but analysts pointed to Apple, which will report results after markets close. Automotive revenue jumped 20% and the internet-of-things unit reported in line sales, indicating that Qualcomm's efforts to diversify away from the smartphone market were on track.

Hardware sales are set to decline over 7% to $71.93 billion in the second quarter, according to 23 analysts polled by Visible Alpha. Mac sales, which account for nearly a tenth of Apple's revenue, likely fell by a quarter, while revenue from flagship iPhone is estimated to have declined by over 3%. Davidson, who expects iPhone sales there to rise. That would mark its second lowest growth rate since at least the first quarter of fiscal 2017. He expects Apple to have added 30 million users to its active installed user base - the number of active Apple devices in the world.

☆ Edtech Chegg slumps on revenue warning as ChatGPT threatens growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 2 (Reuters) - What's the cost of students using ChatGPT for homework? For U.S. education services provider Chegg Inc (CHGG.N), it could be nearly $1 billion in market valuation. Chegg forecast current-quarter revenue below estimates and signaled that the usage of viral chatbot ChatGPT was pressuring customer growth, sending its shares 44% lower in premarket trading on Tuesday. We now believe it's having an impact on our new customer growth rate," said Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig. "We fear Chegg could start to lose mind-share before CheggMate fully rolls out," Thill said.

☆ Intel climbs as Wall St cheers early signs of recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TD Cowen analysts said the company "was not out of the woods yet but this was a starting point." Intel's market capitalization is set to rise by nearly $8 billion to more than $130 billion, if premarket gains hold. "We see gross margin pressured for the foreseeable future reflecting aggressive process and new product spend as well as IFS (Intel Foundry Services) investment," Oppenheimer said. Intel posted its biggest quarterly loss in the first quarter as it ramped up production and investments in manufacturing plants. Reporting by Eva Mathews and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon's cloud warning rattles investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 28 (Reuters) - Growth in Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) lucrative cloud business is slowing and investors are worried. Shares fell 4% on Friday as Amazon's cloud business slowed in April after posting its weakest quarterly growth since the company began breaking out the unit's sales in 2015. The results are in contrast to those of Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Azure cloud business, which grew at 27%. Still, analysts were largely upbeat about Amazon's cloud prospects, with about 17 raising their price targets on the stock, compared with the 10 that lowered their view. "Amazon is the clear market share leader in cloud computing and they will remain that way," Sundaram said.

☆ Facebook-parent Meta soars as AI powers return to growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company is set to add nearly $60 billion to its market valuation, if premarket gains hold. The rally also lifted other tech companies from Snap Inc (SNAP.N) and Pinterest Inc (PINS.N) to Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) by as much as 3.3%. "If you want to be treated and valued like a growth stock, you need growth! And this is precisely what Meta delivered returning to growth... just as questions around a potential recession get louder," Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik said in a note. "Year of efficiency (now) paves the way to AI offense," Roth MKM's Rohit Kulkarni said.

☆ 'AI All-Star' Microsoft's rosy earnings spark rally in tech stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant was set to add nearly $160 billion to its market value and replace Saudi Aramco (2223.SE) as the world's second-most valuable company, if premarket gains hold. Microsoft's results bode well for an industry that has laid off tens of thousands of workers recently as demand fades in the face of a sagging economy. The Windows maker's earnings call on Wednesday underscored the growing importance of AI, with CEO Satya Nadella referring to 50 times in a 60-minute event. "Given the significant head start OpenAI has over other generative AI engines and Microsoft has over its hyperscaler (large-scale data center) competitors, we believe that Azure may gain share as generative AI continues to proliferate into many more corners of software and the economy," D A Davidson analyst Gil Luria said. Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

April 25 (Reuters) - Star host Tucker Carlson's abrupt exit from Fox News is likely to hit short-term ratings but could nudge more mainstream advertisers to consider a network they have snubbed for being too partisan, investors and analysts said. News of his departure on Monday wiped nearly $1 billion from the market valuation of the network's parent company, Rupert Murdoch-controlled Fox Corp (FOXA.O). "It's a huge deal," said Matthew Tuttle, head of Tuttle Capital Management, an investment firm that is betting against Fox shares. The conservative-leaning Carlson's prime-time show was the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on Fox News - the most-watched U.S. cable news network. It's likely that advertisers who were seeking that audience may have limited other options for conservative news viewership without skewing too conservative."

☆ Tesla raises 2023 spending forecast as it races to ramp up output
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 24 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) raised its capital expenditure forecast for 2023 on Monday as the automaker ramps up output at its factories to take advantage of the rising interest in electric vehicles. The company, led by Elon Musk, said in a filing that it expects to spend between $7 billion and $9 billion this year, higher than its previous outlook of $6 billion to $8 billion. It maintained the spending outlook for the next two years at $7 billion to $9 billion. Achieving that goal will make Tesla twice the size of any automaker in history, accounting for roughly 20% of the global vehicle market. The company is also ramping up output at its factories in Berlin and Austin, and plans to open a gigafactory in Mexico as the EV behemoth pushes to expand its global output.

☆ Tesla shares sink as Musk signals more price cuts ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Tesla shares were trading at $168 before the bell, with at least 15 analysts lowering their price targets on the stock. "Facing a volatile macroeconomic backdrop and weakening demand, Tesla continues to prioritize units over near-term profits," said analysts at Canaccord Genuity. Musk suggested more cuts ahead, saying the company that has cut slashed prices six times so far this year will put sales growth ahead of profit in a weak economy. "Long-term we believe this (Tesla's price cuts) is the right strategy and leverages their cost leadership position. U.S. automakers ranging from Ford Motor Co (F.N) to startups such as Lucid Group Inc (LCID.O) fell between 0.7% and 2.8%.

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