Tag: Stocks

The “Amazon Effect” has forced all retailers to step up their “omnichannel” game or face extinction. The ominichannel phenomenon is the ability to compete through brick and mortar and online by redesigning distribution networks and streamline supply chain operations to best serve customers on and offline.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday the Justice Department is right to be looking into Amazon’s practices as part of its antitrust review of big technology companies.

“I think if you look at Amazon, although there are certain benefits to it, they’ve destroyed the retail industry across the United States so there’s no question they’ve limited competition,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box. ”

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OK, so you aren’t a retailer, but what if you are a REIT that houses retailers?  An omnichannel strategy isn’t a choice.  What about if you are a REIT, who is housing J.C. Penny? I would say you are no better off than the retailer.

Washington Prime Group Inc. is a retail REIT and a recognized leader in the ownership, management, acquisition and development of retail properties.  Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and manages quality properties in compelling markets.

2019 has been a bad year for most mall REITs. With the number of U.S. store closures on pace to hit a record this year, investors have soured on owners of retail real estate, particularly owners of mid-tier malls.

The carnage worsened over the past week. Shares of Washington Prime Group (NYSE:WPG) and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:PEI) both tumbled more than 10% between last Wednesday and the end of trading on Monday. (Both REIT stocks recovered a bit on Tuesday.) The main catalyst was a report that came out on Thursday evening indicating that J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) had hired advisors to study options for restructuring its debt.

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If you connecting the dots, then you know what’s happening to both Washington Prime Group (NYSE:WPG)

and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:PEI)

They are both getting Amazoned.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Four months ago, an Ethiopian Airlines crashed killing 149 passengers and eight crew members on board shortly after takeoff. The incident was the second deadly crash of the new Boeing planes in less than five months. A Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 plunged into the Java Sea shortly after taking off from Jakarta in October, killing all 189 people on board.

Immediately after the Ethiopian Airline crash, Ethiopia, China and Indonesia, Caribbean carrier Cayman Airways, Comair in South Africa and Royal Air Maroc in Morocco temporarily grounded their Boeing MAX 8s as a precautionary measure.  This was shortly followed by all 737MAX 8 planes around the world being grounded.

The chart suggested price would fall to the daily demand at $360.

The culprit, Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), suspected of reacting to errant sensor data, the solution, a software update.  Today, all 737MAX 8 planes around the world remain grounded.

After Boeing (BA) missed second-quarter earnings expectations by wide margin Wednesday, CEO Dennis Muilenburg stood by expectations that the troubled 737 Max would return to service early in the fourth quarter.

“If any of the timeline assumptions change significantly from a start-of-the-fourth-quarter return to service, then we’ll have to evaluate alternatives,” Muilenburg said. “And those alternatives could include different production rates, they could include a temporary shutdown of the line — not something we want to do, but an alternative that we have to prepare for, I think, is a smart part of our thorough and disciplined process here to make sure we’re covering all scenarios.”

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Price did bounce off the daily demand at $360.

but because the woes continue the zone was breached and now the chart suggests, price could fall down to the support level at $300.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

The US and China have been negotiating for months, bring the Equity Markets along for the ride in hopes that a deal will be made.  But it’s not only the Equity Markets hoping for a deal.  The biggest economy in Europe is also hoping for a deal.

Germany is only expected to grow at a rate of 0.5% this year, according to the latest economic forecasts by the European Commission. It will be the second-worst economy across the EU in terms of growth, just behind Italy.

Germany’s industrial crisis is worsening, the economy is at risk of recession and a raft of mounting troubles mean the chance of a near-term turnaround are fading.

Trade tensions, weaker demand abroad and the travails of the car industry have built up over the past year to take a toll on the engine of Europe’s economy. They’ve dragged manufacturing into its deepest slump in seven years, and some of the nation’s biggest corporate names from BASF SE to Daimler AG and Continental AG have had to come to terms with a new reality for business.

As one of the world’s biggest exporters, Germany is paying a high price for the slowdown in global trade. The economy is forecast to grow the least in six years in 2019. 

The question for Germany is how bad the downturn, once expected to be temporary, will become.

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This year the DAX has bounced off of the monthly demand at 10400 and no has been hovering in the monthly supply at 12400.  However, the bullish monthly candle looks like the DAX once to go higher, which in turn will means breaching the monthly supply zone. 

Thus, I will be watching for any signs of weakness for a potential reversal if and only if price closes below the major support/resistance level at 12200.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. produces, distributes, and markets value-added frozen potato products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. The company offers frozen potatoes, sweet potatoes, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand name, as well as various customer labels. It serves retail and foodservice customers; grocery, mass, club, and specialty retailers; and businesses, independent restaurants, regional chain restaurants, and convenience stores, as well as educational institutions.

I have never heard of Lamb Weston Holdings until yesterday. Yesterday they reported their fourth quarter earnings and the stock fell after they announced slower sales for the fiscal year of 2020.

“For fiscal 2020, we believe the overall operating environment will continue to be generally favorable,” Tom Werner, president and CEO said in a press release. “While we expect that increased spending to upgrade enterprise-wide information systems will temper earnings growth this year, we believe that these near-term investments to improve operating efficiencies, and our continued focus on executing on our strategies, will have us well-positioned to generate sustainable top- and bottom-line growth and create value for our shareholders over the long term.”

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Needless to say, the chart suggests price is going down to the weekly demand at $50.50.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. operates as an integrated medical and wellness cannabis operator in the United States. It cultivates, processes, markets, and/or dispenses a range of cannabis products, such as vape oils and concentrates.

Yesterday, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter to Curaleaf for illegally selling cannabidiol (CBD) induced product online to treat various ailments such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, etc.

While the news shook the weak hands out, those who held on saw their return for that day only down 5% after being down 14%.

Seaport analyst Brett Hundley views the FDA letter as a “non-event” for the company and believes the stock sell-off is premature. The analyst reiterates a Buy rating on Curaleaf stock, with a price target of $11.00, which implies nearly 50% upside from current levels.  Hundley commented, “We view any weakness in CURLF shares as near-term buying opportunities for investors.

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An FDA warning letter also known as a FDA Form 483 is issued to manufacturers or other organizations that has violated some rule in a federally regulated activity.  However, a Form 483 doesn’t mean the end of the world, just formalizes their observation in order for the manufacturer to address the issue(s) found, usually within 15 days.

So Brett Hundley might be right…the FDA letter being a “non-event.”  However, the chart suggests to wait for price fall a bit more, to the daily demand at $5.75 before going long.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Snap has been on a tear since Feb. 5^th, when they reported their fourth quarter earnings. During the earnings call, Snap posted a narrower-than –expected loss, communicated that the number of daily active users (DAUs) have stabilized and their Collection Ads, which enable a business to showcase four products in a single Snap, drove over twice the return on ad spend versus Q4 2018.

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Yesterday, Snap Inc. shares spiked in after-hours trading when they reported adding 13 million DAU in the quarter for a total of 203 million DAUs.  Snap is still reported a net loss, but it’s less than a year ago and they beat the Wall Street’s estimates.  Thus, it’s all about the DAUs at this stage because they more eyeballs the can keep engaged, the more ad revenue they will generate.

Spiegel said in prepared remarks that the company is “seeing early positive results following the rollout of our new Android application.” Snap saw more than 10 percent increase in the retention rate of people who open Snapchat for the first time, and on the majority of Android devices with new users, Snapchatters are sending 7 percent more Snaps compared to the old version, “which we believe is an important leading indicator of their long-term retention,” Spiegel added.

Citing a redesign of the Snapchat app, which was controversial among users, as well as the Android rebuild, the CEO said, “Following last year’s substantial product evolution we believe that we are now better positioned for long-term success. Today, more than 75 percent of the 13–34-year-old population in the United States is active on Snapcaht, making us larger than services like Facebook and Instagram among this audience, and demonstrating the broad-based appeal of our service.”

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However, the chart suggests that the run up this year may soon reverse at the daily supply at $17.50.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Halliburton issued their second-quarter earnings report today.  The beat the expectations on earnings, but was short expectations on sales.

“International revenue increased 6% sequentially, confirming our expectation of high single-digit international growth for all of 2019. Momentum is building internationally and activity improvement should continue into 2020,” said eff Miller, Chairman, President and CEO. “Both of our divisions made meaningful contributions to growing North America revenue and margins in the second quarter. We are successfully executing our strategy of controlling what we can control and managing our business to perform well in any market conditions.”

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That was enough for the stock to receive a couple of upgrades.  Citigroup’s Scott Gruber reiterated a Buy rating and $33 price target and Stephens analyst Tommy Moll reiterated an Overweight rating and $45 price target on the stock, highlighting Halliburton’s ability to deliver “higher margins in North America despite macro headwinds.”

But here’s the problem, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) is lagging the S&P 500,

and Halliburton is lagging the XLE

Although oil has risen since January lows, it’s still below $60.  Thus, there isn’t a lot of incentive for the producers to produce because they are marginally making a profit, so don’t have a lot of need for the service companies such as Halliburton.

Thus, despite the upgrades, the chart suggest to short Halliburton at the weekly supply at $25.25

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.