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Stock futures pointed higher Friday as Wall Street returned for a shortened trading session following the Thanksgiving holiday. Retailers will be in focus on Black Friday, which marks the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season.
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Is this the beginning of the end for X, the social-media site previously known as Twitter?
In the last two days, major advertisers, ranging from IBM Corp. IBM, Apple Inc. AAPL, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. LGF.A, Walt Disney Co. DIS, even the European Union, have pulled their ads from X, after Elon Musk appeared to endorse antisemitic conspiracy theories and because these big spenders weren’t thrilled with the algorithm’s product placement nestled alongside pro-Nazi posts.
Earlier…
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Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
said Wednesday that it will offer Prime members primary care for $9 a month through its healthcare business One Medical.
The new One Medical membership includes unlimited round-the-clock virtual care nationwide, Amazon said. Prime members who sign up for the benefit can also schedule same-day or next-day in-person appointments at One Medical primary care offices, but they must use their insurance or pay out-of-pocket for office visits, the company said.
The $99 annual cost of One Medical for Prime members represents a $100 discount off the standard One Medical annual membership fee. Prime membership costs $139 a year.
The new offer comes as the e-commerce giant has been expanding its health services with Amazon Pharmacy and the online healthcare service Amazon Clinic as well as its $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical, which closed earlier this year. The company’s healthcare efforts could be an important driver of future sales, potentially generating an extra 1 percentage point of revenue growth in 2026, D.A. Davidson analysts wrote in a September research note.
Amazon is among several retailers pushing into the primary care business. Costco Wholesale Corp.
COST,
recently started offering members access to healthcare, including $29 virtual primary care visits, through a deal with online marketplace Sesame. Walmart Inc.
WMT,
has been setting up Walmart Health centers, providing primary care, dental care, labs and other services, inside some of its Walmart Supercenters.
Although One Medical has hundreds of locations scattered across roughly two dozen metro areas, it doesn’t have the same presence as some companies that have established healthcare services in their retail locations. CVS Health Corp.
CVS,
for example, has more than 1,100 MinuteClinic locations.
Amazon shares were roughly flat Wednesday morning and have gained 70% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX
has gained 14%.
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Going back decades, if you wanted to buy or sell a stock on the open market, you had to pay a 2% commission to buy and a 2% commission to sell. Then the advent of discount brokerage, led by Charles Schwab Corp.
SCHW,
made lower commissions available until eventually, with improved technology and efficiency, the entire industry changed to enable the average investor to avoid commissions completely.
But the internet hasn’t done much to reduce the cost of selling a home in the U.S. Sellers typically pay a 6% commission to a real-estate agent to list and sell a home, with the seller’s agent splitting that commission with the buyer’s agent. But all of that may change because of a verdict this week in a class-action lawsuit in federal court against the National Association of Realtors.
Aarthi Swaminathan covers the case, what may happen next and the implications for home sellers and buyers:
Quentin Fottrell — the Moneyist — works with three readers to answer tricky real-estate questions:
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell may have bolstered the case that the central bank is finished raising interest rates for this economic cycle. The federal-funds rate was left in its target range of 5.25% to 5.50%.
Jon Gray, the president of Blackstone Group, spoke with MarketWatch Editor in Chief Mark DeCambre and said he expected the Fed to succeed in bringing down inflation without pushing the U.S. economy into a deep recession.
Friday employment numbers: Jobs report shows 150,000 new jobs in October as U.S. labor market cools
FactSet
Normally, longer-term bonds have higher yields than those with short maturities. But the yield curve has been inverted for nearly a year, with 3-month U.S. Treasury bills
BX:TMUBMUSD03M
having higher yields than 10-year Treasury notes
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y.
There has been elevated demand for long-term bonds, as investors have anticipated a recession and a reversal in Federal Reserve interest-rate policy. When interest rates decline, bond prices rise and vice versa.
As you can see on the chart above, the yield curve was narrowing until mid-October. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes were close to 5% on Oct. 19, but they have been falling the past several days as the three-month yield has remained close to 5.5%.
In this week’s ETF Wrap, Christine Idzelis reports on where all the money is flowing in the bond market.
In the Bond Report, Vivien Lou Chen summarizes the action as investors react to the Federal Reserve’s decision not to change its federal-funds-rate target range this week and to other economic news.
For income-seekers looking to avoid income taxes, here’s a deep dive into municipal bonds, with taxable-equivalent yields and a deeper look at those within four high-tax states.
Getty Images
Ford Motor Co.’s
F,
credit rating was upgraded to an investment-grade rating by Standard & Poor’s on Monday. This takes about $67 billion in bonds out of the high-yield, or “junk,” market, as Ciara Linnane reports.
Courtesy Everett Collection
By now you have probably heard the term “Magnificent Seven” used to describe stocks of the tremendous tech-oriented companies that have led this year’s rally for the S&P 500
SPX
: Apple Inc.
AAPL,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
GOOG,
Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
and Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
With Tesla’s recent decline, that company is now the ninth-largest holding in the portfolio of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
SPY,
which tracks the benchmark index. Here are the top 10 companies held by SPY (11 stocks, including two common-share classes for Alphabet), with total returns through Thursday:
| Company | Ticker | % of SPY portfolio | 2023 total return | 2022 total return | Total return since end of 2021 |
| Apple Inc. |
AAPL, |
7.2% | 37% | -26% | 1% |
| Microsoft Corp. |
MSFT, |
7.1% | 46% | -28% | 5% |
| Amazon.com Inc. |
AMZN, |
3.5% | 64% | -50% | -17% |
| Nvidia Corp. |
NVDA, |
3.0% | 198% | -50% | 48% |
| Alphabet Inc. Class A |
GOOGL, |
2.1% | 44% | -39% | -12% |
| Meta Platforms Inc. Class A |
META, |
1.9% | 158% | -64% | -8% |
| Alphabet Inc. Class C |
GOOG, |
1.8% | 45% | -39% | -11% |
| Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B |
BRK.B, |
1.8% | 13% | 3% | 17% |
| Tesla Inc. |
TSLA, |
1.7% | 77% | -65% | -38% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. |
UNH, |
1.4% | 2% | 7% | 9% |
| Eli Lilly and Company |
LLY, |
1.3% | 60% | 34% | 115% |
| Sources: FactSet, State Street (for SPY holdings) | |||||
Five of these stocks (including the two Alphabet share classes) are still down from the end of 2021. SPY itself has returned 14% this year, following an 18% decline in 2022. It is still down 7% from the end of 2021.
Mark Hulbert makes the case that a decade from now, the Magnificent Seven are unlikely to be among the largest companies in the stock market.
More from Hulbert: These dividend stocks and ETFs have healthy yields that can lift your portfolio
A different market opportunity: India is seeing a multidecade growth surge. Here’s how you can invest in it.
The MarketWatch 50 series is back, with articles and video interviews starting this week, including:
MarketWatch/PayPal
After the market close on Wednesday, PayPal Holdings Inc.
PYPL,
announced quarterly results that came in ahead of analysts’ expectations, and the stock soared 7% on Thursday even though the company lowered its target for improving its operating margin.
In the Ratings Game column, Emily Bary reports on the positive reaction to PayPal’s new CEO, Alex Chriss.
A less enthusiastic earnings reaction: EV-products maker BorgWarner’s stock suffers biggest drop in 15 years after downbeat sales outlook
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Here’s more of the latest corporate financial results and reactions. First the good news:
And now the news that may not be so good:
AP
It might seem that some legal battles never end, but it took only a year from the collapse of FTX for the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, to be convicted on all seven federal fraud and money-laundering charges brought against him. The charges were connected to the disappearance of $8 billion from FTX customer accounts.
Here’s more reaction and coverage of the virtual-currency industry:
Want more from MarketWatch? Sign up for this and other newsletters to get the latest news and advice on personal finance and investing.
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November offers a false spring for streaming viewers.
After a slow couple of months, there’s suddenly an abundance of top-tier shows on the way, but don’t be fooled — the streaming scene is going to be largely bleak in the coming months, until productions fully ramp up sometime next year following the strikes that have crippled Hollywood.
Meanwhile, streaming costs keep rising (Netflix’s top tier is the first to cross the $20 barrier) and consumers are getting less for their money, with fewer new shows and smaller libraries, while streamers push subscribers toward ad-supported tiers that generate more revenue per user while providing a worse viewing experience. Still, all the ad-supported tiers cost less than $10 a month, meaning it may be time for budget-conscious consumers to suck it up and deal with commercials if they don’t want to break the bank.
Read more: Netflix is raising prices to get you to watch ads, and it will probably work
That’s why it’s even more important to examine which services you’re really willing to pay for. The days of subscribing to six streaming services — even though you might only regularly watch three — are over. But by adding and canceling services month to month, you can save money while still being able to watch your favorite shows (for example, instead of watching a 12-episode show that drops every week and paying for three months, subscribe for just one month once the show nears its end and binge it all at once).
Such a churn strategy takes some planning, but it pays off. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month.
Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget, rating the major services as a “play,” “pause” or “stop” — similar to investment analysts’ traditional ratings of buy, hold or sell, and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.
Here’s a look at what’s coming to the various streaming services in November 2023, and what’s really worth the monthly subscription fee:
The price of Apple TV+ has doubled in a little over a year, and in any other month, it’d be easy to argue it has priced itself out of the range of casual viewers. But Apple’s November lineup is so impressive that it’s actually somehow still a good deal.
The alt-history space drama “For All Mankind” (Nov. 10) returns for its fourth season, with an eight-year time jump after Season 3’s shocking finale. The Mars colony is now thriving, but tensions are rising over the mining of mineral-rich asteroids. Toby Kebbell (“Servant”) joins the cast, along with Daniel Stern and Tyner Rushing, who join holdovers Joel Kinnaman, Krys Marshall, Wrenn Schmidt and Coral Pena. It’s a fantastic and frequently thrilling series, and arguably Apple’s best drama.
And a challenger to that title is also coming back. “Slow Horses” (Nov. 29), the darkly funny thriller about a group of washed-up spies, returns for its third season. Gary Oldman stars as perpetually disgruntled spymaster Jackson Lamb, leading his team of misfits as they get dragged into an international conspiracy after one of their own is kidnapped. Based on the novels by Mick Herron, “Slow Horses” is smart and cynical, a terrific twist on traditional spy stories.
Then there’s “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” (Nov. 17), an action-conspiracy series about a ragtag group trying to expose a secretive organization that knows the truth about Godzilla and other kaiju creatures terrorizing the planet. Kurt Russell stars with his son, Wyatt (who plays his dad in flashbacks), along with Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe and Kiersey Clemons. The series is intended to slide right into the MonsterVerse that includes “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Kong: Skull Island” and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” and for anyone who grew up watching monster movies, this could be a lot of fun.
Apple
AAPL,
also has “Fingernails” (Nov. 3), a sci-fi romance movie starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson; “The Buccaneers” (Nov. 8), a “Bridgerton”-esque period drama based on the Edith Wharton novel about a group of rich American girls who hit London in the 1870s looking for suitable husbands; the holiday musical special “Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas” (Nov. 22); and a new version of the tear-jerking children’s classic “The Velveteen Rabbit” (Nov. 22).
Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese’s critically acclaimed “Killers of the Flower Moon” should hit Apple TV+ within the next month or two, after it completes its theatrical run, and Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, his theaters Nov. 22. It, too, will stream on Apple at an as-yet-undisclosed date in the coming months.
There are also new episodes every week of “Lessons in Chemistry” (finale Nov. 24), and “The Morning Show” (season finale Nov. 8). If that’s not enough, you could always catch up on “Foundation,” “Swagger,” “Platonic” or discover “Bad Sisters.”
Who’s Apple TV+ for? It offers a little something for everyone, but not necessarily enough for anyone — although it’s getting there.
Play, pause or stop? Play. Even though its price has soared, Apple is still cheaper than most, and it delivers value this month. (Remember, you can get three free months of Apple TV+ if you buy a new Apple device.)
After a fallow October, Hulu has a lot more to offer in November, continuing its strong year.
FX’s “A Murder at the End of the World” (Nov. 14) was pushed back from an August release date due to the Hollywood strikes, but it should fit better in a colder season anyway. From Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, the producers of Netflix’s cult favorite sci-fi series “The OA,” the limited series is an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery set at a billionaire’s secluded, snowbound retreat in Iceland. Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) stars as an amateur detective while Clive Owen (“Children of Men”) plays the mysterious tycoon.
A wintry setting also plays a key role in the fifth season of FX’s “Fargo” (Nov. 22), the latest installment in Noah Hawley’s noirish crime anthology. Juno Temple (“Ted Lasso”) plays a seemingly ordinary Midwestern housewife who’s not at all what she appears to be. She’s joined by an all-star cast that includes Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lamorne Morris and Dave Foley. Each season of “Fargo” is a quirky, violent delight, and this one looks no different.
Also: Disney officially plans to buy remaining Hulu stake from Comcast
Just to make things confusing, while both “A Murder at the End of the World” and “Fargo” are FX series, “Murder” will stream exclusively on Hulu, while “Fargo” episodes will first air on FX then stream a day later.
In an interesting experiment, director Baz Luhrmann has recut his 2008 romantic drama “Australia,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and turned it into a six-episode miniseries — renamed “Faraway Downs” (Nov. 26) — using extra footage shot during the original filming. The movie flopped in theaters, but Luhrmann says it should work better as a miniseries, saying “episodic storytelling has been reinvigorated by the streaming world.”
For more: Here’s what’s new on Hulu in November 2023 — and what’s leaving
Hulu also has “Black Cake” (Nov. 1), a generations-spanning family drama based on the bestselling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson; “Quiz Lady” (Nov. 3), a comedy movie about estranged sisters, starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh; and a handful of sports documentaries, including “The League” (Nov. 9), about Negro League baseball, and “Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story” (Nov. 15), hosted by Keanu Reeves.
Fresh off October’s addition of “Moonlighting,” Hulu is adding all eight seasons of another 1980s classic, “L.A. Law” (Nov. 3), along with a ton of holiday fare, including “Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights” and “Miracle on 34th Street” (both Nov. 1), and “Elf” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (both Nov. 23).
And don’t forget the season finales of “Welcome to Wrexham” (Nov. 15) and “Goosebumps” (Nov. 17), as well as next-day streams of network shows such as “The Golden Bachelor” and “Bob’s Burgers.”
Who’s Hulu for? TV lovers. There’s a deep library for those who want older TV series and next-day streaming of many current network and cable shows.
Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. If you’re on the ad-supported plan, it’s well worth it. But for the pricey, $18 ad-free plan, you may want to wait until December and see how some of these new series pan out.
Netflix just raised some prices again, but for most customers, it’s still a good value.
The critically acclaimed royal-family drama “The Crown” (Nov. 16) is back for the first half of its sixth and final season (four episodes drop this month, with the final six coming in December). Events pick up in 1997 after the marriage of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) ends, as Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) reflects on her legacy. There’s already controversy over how it’ll handle Diana’s tragic death.
Read more: Here’s what’s new on Netflix in November 2023 — and what’s leaving
Netflix
NFLX,
also has “The Killer” (Nov. 10) a “slick but conventional” thriller movie from director David Fincher, starring Michael Fassbender as a hit man on the run; “Squid Game: The Challenge” (Nov. 22), a reality competition show putting 456 players through challenges inspired by the hit Korean drama (minus the murders, presumably); “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” (Nov. 17), an anime version of the graphic novels and cult-favorite movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (which is also coming Nov. 1); “All the Light We Cannot See” (Nov. 2), a critically panned miniseries about a blind French girl and a German soldier in the final days of WWII, starring Aria Mia Loberti, Louis Hofmann and Mark Ruffalo; Season 5, Part 2 of the popular small-town romantic drama “Virgin River” (Nov. 30); and “The Netflix Cup: Swing to Survive” (Nov. 14), Netflix’s first livestreamed sporting event, with teams of Formula 1 drivers and PGA stars in a match-play golf tournament from Las Vegas.
There are also fresh episodes of “The Great British Baking Show” every Friday until its season finale Dec. 1.
Who’s Netflix for? Fans of buzz-worthy original shows and movies.
Play, pause or stop? Pause. “The Crown” and “The Great British Baking Show” are the top draws, but aside from those, there’s not a lot else to move the needle this month. However, if you can live with commercials, you can find value at $7.
Paramount+ has some interesting stuff in November. But is it enough to justify a subscription?
“Lawmen: Bass Reeves” (Nov. 5), joins the streaming service’s extensive slate of shows produced by Taylor Sheridan, telling the story of one of the Wild West’s most overlooked real-life heroes: Bass Reeves (played by David Oyelowo), who was the first Black U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi and overcame countless hurdles in enforcing the law in the era of Reconstruction. A marksman with something like 3,000 arrests to his name, Reeves was purportedly the inspiration for the story of the Lone Ranger. Say what you will about Sheridan’s formulaic shows, but he knows how to make a good Western. This should be worth a watch.
There’s also “The Curse“ (Nov. 10), an intriguing new Showtime series starring Nathan Fielder (“Nathan for You”) and Oscar-winner Emma Stone that puts a dark twist to an HGTV-like home-improvement show; and “Good Burger 2” (Nov. 22), a sequel to the 1997 cult-classic fast-food comedy starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.
On the sports side, Paramount has NFL football every Sunday, Big Ten and SEC college football every Saturday, and a full slate of UEFA Champions League soccer.
Who’s Paramount+ for? Gen X cord-cutters who miss live sports and familiar Paramount Global
PARA,
broadcast and cable shows.
Play, pause or stop? Pause. There’s decent value with a couple of promising new shows, especially when factoring in Paramount’s live sports and vast library of movies and network shows.
It’s a very skippable month for Max.
The Warner Bros. Discovery
WBD,
streaming service only has a handful of new originals to offer, including Season 2 of Issa Rae’s hip-hop comedy “Rap Sh!t” (Nov. 19), as Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (KaMillion) come to a crossroads on their road to fame; Season 2 of the biographical drama “Julia” (Nov. 16), starring Sarah Lancashire as iconic chef Julia Child as she and her husband return from France and face new challenges; “Bookie” (Nov. 30), a new comedy from Chuck Lorre (“Big Bang Theory”) and Nick Bakay about an L.A. bookie looking for new angles as the potential legalization of sports gambling threatens to upend his shady business; and Rob Reiner’s documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” (Nov. 11), delving into the life of the comedy legend.
Also: Here’s everything coming to Max in November 2023 — and what’s leaving
There are also a ton of holiday-themed shows from Food Network, HGTV and OWN; live sports on its free (for now) Bleacher Report tier that includes NBA and NHL games, college basketball and U.S. men’s soccer (Nov. 16 and 20); and new episodes of “The Gilded Age” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
Who’s Max for? HBO fans and movie lovers. And now, unscripted TV fans too, with a slew of Discovery shows.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. Max still has a great library, but the new offerings fall short. Even the ad tier isn’t worth it — try again another month.
“The Boys” spinoff “Gen V” ends its first season on Nov. 3, but fans of ultra-violent superheroes will be able to slide right into Season 2 of the hit animated series “Invincible” (Nov. 3), which returns to Prime Video after a two-and-a-half-year layoff. Based on the graphic novels by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, the very adult series picks up with Mark (Steven Yeun) still reeling from the revelations about his superhero father (J.K. Simmons) at the end of Season 1, while a new villain (voiced by Sterling K. Brown) appears on the scene. Annoyingly, Season 2 will be split in two, with four episodes in November and another four coming in early 2024.
More: What’s new on Amazon’s Prime Video and Freevee in November 2023
Amazon’s
AMZN,
streaming service also has “007: Road to a Million” (Nov. 10), an “Amazing Race”-like competition series hosted by Brian Cox where nine teams of two endure James Bond-inspired challenges around the globe to try to win a big cash prize, and “Twin Love” (Nov. 17), a reality dating show involving 10 sets of identical twins split into two houses.
Who’s Prime Video for? Movie lovers, TV-series fans who value quality over quantity.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s no a compelling reason to start a relatively pricey subscription now. That even goes for “Invincible” fans, who would be better off waiting until the second half drops and bingeing when all episodes are available. Splitting up eight episodes is ridiculous.
Tim Allen returns for Season 2 of “The Santa Clauses” (Nov. 8), as the jolly one continues his search for a successor. Eric Stonestreet joins the cast as the exiled “Mad Santa,” along with Gabriel Iglesias as Kris Kringle and Tracey Morgan as the Easter Bunny (because, of course!).
Meanwhile, Lil Rel Howry, Ludacris and Oscar Nunez star in the new family comedy movie “Dashing Through the Snow” (Nov. 17), and Danny Glover will play Santa in the Disney Channel original film “The Naughty Nine” (Nov. 23).
In non-holiday fare, Disney has three upcoming Doctor Who specials celebrating the iconic sci-fi series’ 60th anniversary. The first, “Doctor Who: The Star Beast” (Nov. 25), reunites David Tennant and Catherine Tate, as the Doctor and Donna Noble battle the villainous Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris), with the other two specials coming in December, when the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa of “Sex Education”) will be introduced.
There’s also 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (Nov. 3), and new episodes of “Loki” (finale Nov. 9), “Goosebumps” (finale Nov. 17) and “Dancing With the Stars.”
Who’s Disney+ for? Families with kids, hardcore “Star Wars” and Marvel fans. For people not in those groups, Disney’s
DIS,
library can be lacking.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. After a recent price hike, there’s just not enough to justify a subscription (unless your kids will absolutely melt down without it).
It’s a pretty bleak month for Peacock originals, with only the reality dating spinoff “Love Island Games” (Nov. 1); “Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain” (Nov. 17), the first movie from the “SNL” comedy trio; and Season 2 of the Paris Hilton reality series “Paris in Love” (Nov. 30).
It’s a bit brighter on the sports side, with Big Ten college basketball starting Nov. 6, Big Ten college football every Saturday, NFL Sunday Night Football and a full slate of English Premier League soccer, golf, motorsports and winter sports.
And on Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), Peacock will stream the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the National Dog Show and an NFL game, as the 49ers play the Seahawks.
Who’s Peacock for? Live sports and next-day shows from Comcast’s
CMCSA,
NBCUniversal are the main draw, but there’s a good library of shows and movies.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. The live-sports offerings are the only lure.
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Carmel Capital Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report) by 15.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 960 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.4% during the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 70,424 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634 shares in the last quarter. TimeScale Financial Inc. lifted its position in Amazon.com by 4.1% during the second quarter. TimeScale Financial Inc. now owns 9,436 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in Amazon.com by 7.1% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 500,010 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $65,181,000 after acquiring an additional 33,008 shares during the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Amazon.com by 0.7% during the second quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,079 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $5,225,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the second quarter valued at approximately $365,000. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $127.74 on Friday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12-month low of $81.43 and a 12-month high of $145.86. The stock has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 100.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $132.39 and a 200 day moving average of $125.38.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The e-commerce giant reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $134.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.54 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AMZN shares. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $150.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $184.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Sunday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.70.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Amazon.com
In other Amazon.com news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.48, for a total value of $69,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,750,889.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.55, for a total value of $534,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 560,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,828,198.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.48, for a total transaction of $69,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,520 shares in the company, valued at $14,750,889.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,408,645 shares of company stock valued at $55,208,288. Corporate insiders own 12.30% of the company’s stock.
Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company’s products offered through its stores include merchandise and content purchased for resale; and products offered by third-party sellers.
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Amazon shares rose in late trading Thursday after the company posted better-than-expected financial results for the September quarter.
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The Nasdaq Composite Index fell into its 70th correction in history on Wednesday, as surging long-term Treasury yields increased borrowing costs and weighed on stocks.
The interest rate sensitive Nasdaq
COMP
barreled higher in the year’s first half, in part on optimism about a potential Federal Reserve pivot away from rate hikes to fight inflation, but stocks have been under fire in recent months as the Fed dialed up its message that interest rates could will stay higher for longer.
The tech-heavy equity index fell 2.4% on Wednesday to close below the 12,922.216 threshold, marking a drop of a least 10% from its prior peak, which was set in mid-July at 14,358.02, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
That met the common definition for a correction in an asset’s value and is the Nasdaq’s 70th close in correction territory since the index’s inception in February 1971.
Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth Management, said the sharp rise in long-term Treasury yields has spooked investors, especially those in highflying, high-growth technology stocks where rising rates can be particularly corrosive.
Pavlik likened the dynamic to the spending power of a lottery winner hitting a jackpot when rates are at 2% versus someone who wins when rates are closer to 10%.
He also expects the 10-year Treasury yield
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y,
which rose to 4.952% Wednesday, to top out at 5.25% to 5.5% and likely complicate any recovery for the Nasdaq.
In the past 20 corrections for the Nasdaq, it took an average of three months for performance to improve, with index then gaining 14.4% on average a year later, according to Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Dow Jones Market Data
The damage on Wednesday was most acute in shares of highflying technology stocks, including Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
as shares skid 9.5%, after it reported earnings that were overshadowed by downbeat performance for its Google Cloud business. Spillover also hit shares of rival cloud computing giant Amazon.com Inc.,
AMZN,
with its shares slumping 5.6%
“You’re feeling the pressure in some big-name stocks,” Pavlik said. “But this too will, at some point, end. But concerns about the Fed are still in the forefront of everybody’s minds.”
The Nasdaq was still up 22.5% on the year through Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
was down 0.3% and the S&P 500 index
SPX
was up 9% in 2023, according to FactSet.
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Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,116 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,168 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $14,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMZN. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1,900.0% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC now owns 320 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Swaine & Leidel Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the first quarter worth $38,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the first quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Goodwin Investment Advisory increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1,225.8% in the second quarter. Goodwin Investment Advisory now owns 411 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.96% of the company’s stock.
In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $7,050,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 510,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,952,441. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.48, for a total value of $69,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,520 shares in the company, valued at $14,750,889.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 50,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $7,050,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 510,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,952,441. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,408,645 shares of company stock valued at $55,208,288 over the last ninety days. 12.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $174.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, September 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Amazon.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.21.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Amazon.com
Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $128.56 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $132.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.45. The company has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 101.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.24. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $81.43 and a twelve month high of $145.86.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The e-commerce giant reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 2.43%. The business had revenue of $134.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.54 billion. On average, analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.
Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company’s products offered through its stores include merchandise and content purchased for resale; and products offered by third-party sellers.
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report).
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Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 7.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,118,490 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 204,811 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises 2.4% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $406,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 701,550,877 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $79,275,249,000 after purchasing an additional 12,456,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 329,849,003 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $37,272,937,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121,516 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1,838.8% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 311,971,394 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $33,134,481,000 after purchasing an additional 295,880,050 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1,792.4% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 286,047,356 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $30,381,089,000 after purchasing an additional 270,931,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,309,180 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $17,031,683,000 after purchasing an additional 3,774,390 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.96% of the company’s stock.
In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 42,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.13, for a total value of $6,213,886.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,343,469.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.64, for a total value of $63,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,363,052.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 42,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.13, for a total transaction of $6,213,886.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,380 shares in the company, valued at $9,343,469.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,408,645 shares of company stock valued at $55,207,763 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.30% of the company’s stock.
Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $131.47 on Wednesday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $81.43 and a 52 week high of $145.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $134.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 103.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.24.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The e-commerce giant reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $134.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.54 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 2.43% and a return on equity of 9.14%. Equities analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Sunday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $174.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, September 26th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $176.00 to $174.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $192.00 to $204.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.26.
View Our Latest Analysis on AMZN
Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company’s products offered through its stores include merchandise and content purchased for resale; and products offered by third-party sellers.
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report).
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Nearly a year ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT 3 into the world, and investors got visions of dollar signs in their heads as they imagined the ways that artificial intelligence could make big money for businesses.
Wall Street’s now coming to terms with the fact that those sorts of paydays are going to take time. As investors have already seen from the past two quarters of earnings, AI has only really delivered financial benefits for a select few hardware companies so far — while spurring new costs for many others.
“The AI boom has already bifurcated into the contenders and pretenders,” said Daniel Newman, chief executive and principal analyst of Futurum Research. And while Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp. and Arm Holdings PLC
ARM,
have stirred up interest, Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
has established itself as far and away the greatest “contender,” with AI driving strong demand for its chips tuned for AI training.
Nvidia last quarter reported record earnings, including a 141% jump in revenue for its graphics chips used in AI infrastructure building up data centers. Nvidia, which reports near the end of earnings season on Nov. 21, posted record revenue of $13.5 billion last quarter and is expected to easily top that with $16 billion in the most recent quarter, a surge of 170% versus a year ago. Those estimates include $12.3 billion of revenue coming from data-center sales.
Other chip companies could post gains from AI as well, but to far lesser extents. Candidates include Broadcom Corp.
AVGO,
and system maker Super Micro Computer Inc.
SMCI,
as well as Marvell Technology Inc.
MRVL,
which last quarter told analysts that it expects to end the year at a revenue run rate of about $800 million this year from cloud/data-center chips related to AI.
“This is well above what we had outlined last quarter. Put this in perspective: This would put us at the run rate we had previously communicated for all of next year,” Marvel Chief Executive Matthew Murphy told analysts.
Super Micro is also riding the AI wave with its customized data-center servers that are designed to consume less power. But revenue in the September quarter is forecast to rise just 15% from a year ago and drop on a sequential basis, as supply constraints from Nvidia likely hampered Super Micro’s ability to meet all its demand.
Much as Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD,
and Intel Corp.
INTC,
want to be in the AI conversations with the graphics chips they hope will be used for AI data-center applications, they won’t see much of an impact yet from AI revenue. Plus, those companies are experiencing a slowdown in PC sales that may overshadow any small benefit from AI chips.
The AI boom in chips is clearly not providing enough of a boost to lift finances for the overall semiconductor sector, which is forecast to see earnings fall 3.3% in the third quarter and post a revenue decline of 0.6%, according to FactSet. The industry is being dragged down in part by Micron Technology Inc.
MU,
which reported a 40% drop in revenue and a whopping fiscal fourth-quarter loss in late September for the quarter ended Aug. 31, which is included in FactSet’s third-quarter data. Even so, the company called a bottom to the memory-chip downturn.
Read also: Micron’s AI focused chip won’t help financial results anytime soon.
“Most of the consumer-based tech is still struggling, [including] PCs, laptops and to a certain extent smartphones,” said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co. Wall Street has tempered expectations related to the impact of Apple Inc.’s
AAPL,
iPhone 15 launch on the quarter, as estimates call for an overall 1% drop in September-quarter revenue. Last quarter, Apple executives forecast that both Mac and iPad sales would be down by double-digits and that revenue performance would be similar to its June quarter, when revenue fell 1.3%
In addition, when asked about AI, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company views AI and machine learning “as core fundamental technologies that are integral to virtually every product that we build.” Those comments, though, can also apply to the bulk of tech companies, where AI is built into software as another layer to improve a product. Internet companies such as Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
and Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
GOOGL,
incorporate AI into their software and algorithms but don’t treat it as a specific, revenue-generating product.
Other software companies are building AI into their products as separate features or add-ons, but they are still in the early stages of seeing whether or not customers will pay more for them. Take Microsoft Corp.,
MSFT,
which has showed off Copilot, an extra AI feature for customers of Microsoft 365.
“[Microsoft] can distinguish itself by providing more details around its AI revenue
ramp since we don’t expect much information from Google, who really doesn’t seem
to have the monetization plan for Bard and AI-assisted search (SGE) ready to
articulate yet,” Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes said in a note to clients this week. He also noted that the cost of offering AI products to consumers is steep, and requires lots of investment.
“There are sophisticated issues to contend with for Microsoft, including balancing the potential for higher revenue from Copilots with the high costs per query and much-needed investment,” Reitzes said. “The balance of AI adoption vs. cost was implied when Microsoft guided to flat operating margins year over year for fiscal 2024.”
Earlier this year, the Information reported that OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and recipient of a hefty investment from Microsoft, has costs of up to $700,000 a day, because the massive amounts of computing power needed to run queries. In February, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Plus, for $20 a month, a service that will give subscribers access to its AI during peak times and faster response times.
Another example is Adobe Inc.
ADBE,
which has a few AI offerings, including a subscription service called Generative Credits, tokens that let customers turn text-based prompts into images. Another is Firefly, a generative AI service for images, and an AI option in Photoshop, currently called Photoshop Beta AI, to help users fill in images and other collaborative tools. Adobe did not provide any forecasts on potential revenue generation during its analyst day earlier this month.
Toni Sacconaghi, a Bernstein Research analyst, said AI could drive a massive increase in enterprise productivity, and companies could dramatically increase IT spending on servers in order to invest in productivity-enhancing AI. “However, we note that enterprise adoption appears to be in early stages,” he said in a recent note to clients, adding that it was feasible that spending on AI infrastructure could take money away from other IT projects in process. “We do worry that projected AI infrastructure build out may be occurring too quickly, necessitating a digestion period, which could result in a commensurate stock pullback in AI-related names.”
Overall, the information-technology sector itself is expected to see anemic revenue growth this quarter. The consensus on FactSet forecasts a meager 1.35% revenue uptick in the third quarter, with earnings growth of 4.65%. FactSet’s estimates for IT companies exclude internet companies like Meta and Alphabet, which are under the category of communications/interactive media services. That sector is expected to see sales growth of 12%, and earnings growth of 51%, thanks to a 116% boost in Meta’s net income, after it hit a low point in the year-ago quarter.
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
in the category of consumer discretionary/broadline retail, is forecast to see earnings growth of 109%, and revenue growth of 11%. Amazon’s cloud services business, AWS, is expected to also see a potential uplift from customers spending money on AI projects, according to a TD Cowen & Co. survey, in which 41% of respondents said they were “highly considering” allocating a budget for generative AI.
“This trend could bode well for Amazon’s AWS,” TD Cowen analyst John Blackledge said in a recent report, adding that he expects AWS revenue growth to reaccelerate in the second half of this year and in 2024, boosted by the move of additional workloads to the cloud, possibly including generative AI.
As companies build up their infrastructure, or their spending on cloud computing to add or improve AI capabilities, they are seeing higher costs, which is affecting margins — especially if revenue has slowed down, as it has in some sectors. Across both the broader S&P 500
SPX,
and the IT sector, earnings are lower than a year ago.
As Newman of Futurum pointed out, “AI stole the budget this year.” And that is a mixed bag for tech.
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Developing story. Check back for updates.
The numbers: Sales at U.S. retailers jumped a bigger-than-expected 0.7% in September in a sign households have enough buying power to keep the economy expanding.
The increase was spurred by strong demand at auto dealers and Internet stores. Higher gas prices also played a role, however.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.2% increase in sales.
Retail sales represent about one-third of all consumer spending and usually offer clues on the strength of the economy.
Yet September also falls between the busy back-to-school and holiday-shopping seasons and tends to reveal less about how consumers are doing.
Key details: Auto dealers posted a 1% gain in sales and helped to inflate the headline number. Auto sales account for about 20% of all retail sales.
Receipts at gas stations also rose nearly 1%, but that largely reflected higher gas prices. That’s not a good thing for households.
Retail sales advanced a still-robust 0.6% when car dealers and gas stations are set aside, which gives a better idea of consumer demand.
Sales at internet retailers stayed on a hot streak. They rose 1.1%.
Sales climbed 0.9%% at bars and restaurants. Restaurant sales tend to rise when the economy is healthy and Americans feel secure in their jobs. Sales decline during times of economic stress.
Over the past year, restaurant sales have surged 9.2% — more than twice as fast as inflation.
On the negative side of the ledger, sales fell at big-box electronics stores, clothing stores and home centers such as Home Depot
HD,
and Lowe’s
LOW,
Sales in August were also revised up to show a 0.8% increase instead of 0.6%.
Big picture: The retail sales report is the latest to suggest the economy is still expanding at solid pace and perhaps not decelerating as much as the Federal Reserve would like to help slow the rate of inflation.
Consumer spending has stayed fairly healthy because of rising wages and the lowest unemployment rate in decades. What’s more, incomes are finally increasing faster than inflation for the first time in a few years.
Yet higher interest rates are pinching households and businesses and are bound to slow the economy in the months ahead. If so, retail spending is also likely to soften.
Looking ahead: “Consumer spending shows little sign of flagging, especially when purchases increased on everything from durable goods, such as autos, to the least durable goods, food and drink at bars and restaurants,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
“As long as the jobs market remains healthy, consumers should have the cash and confidence to maintain spending.”
Market reaction: Before the markets opened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
and S&P 500
SPX
were set to open lower in Tuesday trades.
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Exxon Mobil Corp.
XOM,
is reportedly nearing a deal to buy energy-exploration company Pioneer Natural Resources Co.
PXD,
for $60 billion, a combination that could shake up Texas’ storied and oil-rich Permian Basin.
It’s also bound to attract attention from the Biden Administration’s antitrust enforcers, including Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, given the paramount political importance of oil and gasoline prices.
“You can be sure that the FTC will give this acquisition a serious look,” Stephen Calkins, former general counsel at the FTC told MarketWatch, adding that the agency has long paid special attention to the oil and gas industry at the behest of Congress, which has long been sensitive to anything that may increase prices at the pump.
Read more: Exxon near $60 billion deal to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources
The high cost of living after several years of historic inflation is one of President Joe Biden’s most important political vulnerabilities ahead of the 2024 election. A recent poll by Investors Business Daily showed only 24% of voters approve of his economic record.
The president has campaigned on gasoline prices specifically, telling an audience in Maryland last month, “I’m going to get those gas prices down again, I promise you.”
But any decision to challenge a merger must be based on the facts of the market in question and whether it would present a threat to competition that could lead to higher prices for consumers or other adverse effects.
Frederick Lawrence, director and energy analyst at Capital Alpha Partners told MarketWatch that there is much greater competition in the market for oil exploration and production, where Pioneer is a major player, than in other segments of the industry including gasoline stations, pipeline operators or refining.
Independent oil companies produce roughly 85% of natural gas and 65% of oil in the U.S., he said, and that fact will make it difficult for the Exxon acquisition to meaningfully reduce competition in oil exploration.
“People just think about big oil and they forget that there’s a very healthy independent community out there competing,” he said. “That said, this is Exxon Mobil we’re talking about, the 800 pound gorilla of the upstream oil value chain, so it’s important to acknowledge they’ll get more scrutiny.”
See also: Why gasoline prices are set to fall even as oil marches toward $100 a barrel
Investors should be prepared for the deal to take longer to consummate than a similar acquisition in another industry, Lawrence added, pointing to a recent deal between private equity firm Quantum and natural-gas producer EQT that was slowed because of additional information requests from the FTC.
The deal was ultimately consummated in August, nearly a year after it was announced.
Former FTC official Calkins said that investors should also be prepared for the FTC to get creative as it studies the deal, noting that Biden administration antitrust enforcers “have been receptive to unusual theories of competitive harm” and will study the impact of the merger on downstream businesses, like refiners and gasoline retailers.
The agency will also scour the deal for “any part of the business where there’s an anticompetitive story,” Calkins said, noting that large complex mergers often involve the transfer of a more obscure but valuable asset that could illegally boost an acquiring company’s market power.
Meanwhile, the FTC also has to contend with an already heavy workload, with ongoing cases against well-resourced companies like Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
“The FTC right now is doing a lot of litigating,” Calkins said. “There is a resources question of whether they have the ideal number of staff with the right skill set to add to their already full plate.”
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By Michael Susin
The U.K.’s communications regulator has referred the cloud market to the country’s competition watchdog for an investigation, alleging that certain features by market leaders Amazon and Microsoft could limit competition.
The Office of Communications regulator said Thursday that a market study found that high fees for transferring data, committed spend discounts and technical restrictions could make it difficult for customers to switch cloud provider or to use multiple providers.
“Some U.K. businesses have told us they’re concerned about it being too difficult to switch or mix and match cloud provider, and it’s not clear that competition is working well. So, we’re referring the market to the [Competition and Markets Authority] for further scrutiny, to make sure business customers continue to benefit from cloud services,” Ofcom’s director responsible for the market study, Fergal Farragher, said.
The regulator said Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft had a combined market share in the U.K. of 70% to 80% in 2022.
The CMA will now start an independent investigation to decide whether there is an impact on competition.
Neither Amazon nor Microsoft were immediately available for comment.
Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com
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It’s time to churn, baby, churn.
The streaming scene has changed significantly over the past year or so, and for the worse: more expensive, less new programming, smaller libraries of older shows. And it’s coming at a time when consumers are being increasingly pressed by higher costs on all fronts. Prices for Disney’s ad-free tiers are rising sharply in October, and Amazon will jack up prices early next year for those who don’t want to see commercials. So it’s time for consumers to once again reassess which services are really worth paying for.
There are three options if you don’t want your monthly streaming bill to look like your old triple-digit cable bill: bundle (you can save significantly with a Hulu-Disney+ package, for example), move to cheaper plans with commercials (ugh) or just drop the services you watch least. Pick a maximum monthly price ceiling and stick to it — at this point, most people don’t need more than two or three services anyway.
If you’re frustrated by paying more for less, and want to make a point, cancelling a service is the one way that companies will take notice. Streaming services hate churn (adding and dropping services month-to-month) because it lowers their subscriber base and forces them to raise their marketing costs to win you back. As a consumer, it’s really your only weapon.
Don’t like how Max keeps removing older shows? Dump it. Finding yourself watching less and less Disney+? Ditch it. It’s satisfying, it’s economical and you can always sign up again in the future.
One benefit of streaming services is they’re a lot easier to cancel than cable. With prices soaring, now’s the time to be brutal in winnowing your subscriptions. A churn strategy takes some planning, but it pays off. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month.
Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget, rating the major services as a “play,” “pause” or “stop” — similar to investment analysts’ traditional ratings of buy, hold or sell, and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.
Here’s a look at what’s coming to the various streaming services in October 2023, and what’s really worth the monthly subscription fee:
After a ho-hum past few months, Netflix
NFLX,
is rolling out a more robust lineup in October. Which is nice, because no other streaming service is.
After a two-year layoff, the French heist thriller series “Lupin” (Oct. 5) returns for its third season. Omar Sy stars as a master thief who’s now on the lam, and he carries the show largely on his charisma. It’s a fun one, and a welcome return for viewers.
But the big-name show of the month is “The Fall of the House of Usher” (Oct. 12), from horror hit-maker Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass”). The miniseries, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story, combines Gothic horror with a modern twist, as the corrupt CEO of a family-owned and scandal-plagued pharmaceutical company is forced to face demons from his past as his family members keep dying, one by one, in increasingly gruesome ways. The sprawling cast includes Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish, Carl Lumbly, Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Mark Hamill, Henry Thomas and Mary McDonnell. This should be one to watch, if for nothing else than to finally see a Sackler-like family get their comeuppance.
Also on the way: the seventh seasons of the raunchy animated adolescent comedy “Big Mouth” (Oct. 20) and the Spanish high school soap “Elite” (Oct. 20); “Pain Hustlers” (Oct. 27), a meh-looking satirical crime drama starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans as scheming pharmaceutical reps; and the nature documentary “Life on Our Planet” (Oct. 25), narrated by Morgan Freeman.
More: What’s new on Netflix in October 2023 — and what’s leaving
And you may have missed it, but Netflix snuck in a new season of “The Great British Baking Show” at the end of September. New episodes stream every Tuesday, and feature new co-host Alison Hammond, replacing Matt Lucas, who always seemed out of place.
Who’s Netflix for? Fans of buzz-worthy original shows and movies.
Play, pause or stop? Play. Between some good-looking new shows, fresh eps of the “Great British Baking Show” and recent additions such as “Sex Education” (though its final season is underwhelming) and HBO’s classic “Band of Brothers,” Netflix is once again a must-have.
After a dismal September, Max has a better October lineup, with Season 2 of the beloved pirate comedy “Our Flag Means Death” (Oct. 5), starring Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi as wildly different ship captains involved in a star-crossed romance; Season 2 of “The Gilded Age” (Oct. 29), Julian Fellowes’ “Downton Abbey”-esque costume drama set in 1880s New York high society, with a sprawling cast that includes Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Morgan Spector and Louisa Jacobson; and the fourth and final season of the DC superhero dramedy “Doom Patrol” (Oct. 12).
Notably, Warner Bros. Discovery’s
WBD,
Max is launching its live-sports tier — the unfortunately named Bleacher Report Sports — on Oct. 5, just in time for the MLB playoffs and upcoming NBA season. The add-on tier will be free for all subscribers through February, when its price will shoot up to $9.99 a month.
Also: What’s new on Max in October 2023 — and what’s leaving
This is also your last chance to watch a bunch of AMC shows that are getting a two-month promotional run on Max: “Fear the Walking Dead” Seasons 1-7, “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” Season 1, “Dark Winds” Season 1, “Gangs of London” Seasons 1-2, “Ride with Norman Reedus” Seasons 1-5, “A Discovery of Witches” Seasons 1-3, and “Killing Eve” Seasons 1-4 will all leave Oct. 31. Do yourself a favor and at least watch “Dark Winds.”
One more hidden gem to discover: Season 3 of the British rom-com “Starstruck,” which landed Sept. 28. It’s utterly charming and unwaveringly romantic, with literal LOL moments and some of the most swoon-worthy banter in recent years. Catch up with all three seasons, it’s an easy binge that’s well worth it.
Who’s Max for? HBO fans and movie lovers. And now, unscripted TV fans too, with a slew of Discovery shows.
Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. It’s an exceptionally weak month for streamers, but Max’s lineup — especially with the addition of live sports and its deep library — makes it one of the least weakest.
Prime Video has a fine lineup in October. Not great. Not terrible. But very OK.
“Totally Killer” (Oct. 6) looks to be a cleverer-than-most spin on a horror trope, as Kiernan Shipka (“Mad Men”) stars as a 17-year-old who travels back in time to 1987 to stop a serial killer before he can start a slaying spree that terrorized her mother (Julie Bowen).
Greg Daniels’ existential comedy “Upload” (Oct. 20) is back for its third season of rom-com exploits in a digital afterlife, thanks to uploaded consciousness. (Disclaimer: I liked Season 1, but can’t for the life of me remember if I ever watched Season 2, which doesn’t bode well, but perfectly fits this month’s “meh it’s OK” theme.)
Meanwhile, Amazon’s
AMZN,
free, ad-supported channel, Freevee, has the second season of “Bosch: Legacy” (Oct. 20), the “Bosch” spinoff starring Titus Welliver as a private investigator in L.A., while his daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz) charts her own path as a police officer. As gritty detective shows go, it’s solid.
Prime Video also has a decent lineup of NFL Thursday Night Football; “The Burial” (Oct. 13), a funeral-home drama movie starring Oscar-winners Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones; all 11 seasons of the classic sitcom “Frasier” (Oct. 1), just in time for the reboot on Paramount+; as well as new eps every week of “The Boys” spinoff “Gen V” and the season finale of “The Wheel of Time” (Oct 6).
See more: Everything coming to Amazon’s Prime Video and Freevee in October 2023
It’s also a good time to dig into Prime Video’s extensive library, before commercials come early next year. In an obnoxious move, rather than add an ad-supported tier at a lower price, Amazon will subject all subscribers to commercials — unless they pay an extra $3-a-month ransom. Commercials will be especially annoying on Prime’s more cinematic series, so watch great-looking shows like “I’m a Virgo,” “Dead Ringers” and “The English” interruption-free, while you still can.
Who’s Prime Video for? Movie lovers, TV-series fans who value quality over quantity.
Play, pause or stop? Pause. There’s no a compelling reason to start a subscription now, but if you already have one, there’s probably enough to watch.
After a hiatus of more than two years, Marvel’s “Loki” (Oct. 5) is finally back for its second season. The new season finds the eponymous god of mischief (played by Tom Hiddleston) bouncing across the multiverse in a battle for free will while trying to elude agents of the mysterious Time Variant Authority. Season 1 of “Loki” was one of Marvel’s better TV adaptations, and hopes are high that Season 2 can recapture that sense of chaotic fun. Owen Wilson returns as TVA agent Mobius, and Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) joins the cast, which also features Jonathan Majors as big bad Kang the Conqueror, which is… problematic. Disney is reportedly still planning for Majors to play a key role in “Loki” and the next phase of “Avengers” movies despite his arrest on assault charges earlier this year, which prompted troubling allegations of past physical and emotional abuse toward women. (“Loki” had already finished filming prior to his arrest.)
Disney also has “Goosebumps” (Oct. 13), about a group of high school friends fighting supernatural forces as they uncover long-buried secrets about their small town in this series adaptation of R.L. Stine’s hugely popular series of spooky novels. (It’ll also stream on Hulu.)
The “Star Wars” spinoff “Ahsoka” has its season finale Oct. 3, while ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” will stream every Tuesday.
Who’s Disney+ for? Families with kids, hardcore “Star Wars” and Marvel fans. For people not in those groups, Disney’s
DIS,
library can be lacking.
Play, pause or stop? Pause. The price of ad-free Disney+ jumps by $3 a month starting Oct. 12 — how much do you or your family really want to watch “Loki” and “Goosebumps”? It’ll be worth it for some, but an opportune time to cancel for others.
Hulu has been on a fantastic run since the start of summer, but all good things must end. And it happens to coincide with a $3-a-month hike to its ad-free subscription.
October’s lineup is weak, and heavily weighed toward Halloween-themed fare, such as Season 2 of FX’s spinoff anthology “American Horror Stories” (Oct. 26); the Stephen King thrillers “Rose Red” (Oct. 1) and “The Boogeyman” (Oct. 5); the Starz horror series “Ash vs. Evil Dead” (Oct. 1); the body-horror movie “Appendage” (Oct. 2); and “Goosebumps” (Oct. 13), a live-action adaptation of R.L. Stine’s bestselling kids’ book series (which will also stream on Disney+).
Non-horror shows include new seasons of Fox’s “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and “Bob’s Burgers” (all Oct. 2), and Season 2 of the comedy “Shorsey” (Oct. 27), the “Letterkenny” spinoff series about minor-league hockey that has a surprising amount of heart to go with its absolutely filthy dialogue.
For more: What’s coming to Hulu in October 2023 — and what’s leaving
As an added bonus, all five seasons of ABC’s 1980s detective-agency rom-com “Moonlighting” (Oct. 10), starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd, will stream for the first time ever (legally at least). If I remember correctly, there were some really high highs but also some really low lows — but it’ll be worth checking out, for nostalgia if nothing else.
There are also new eps every week of “The Golden Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” the season finale of “Only Murders in the Building” (Oct. 3) and the series finale of “Archer” (Oct. 11). And if you missed it, all three seasons of “Reservation Dogs” are there and just begging to be watched, or rewatched. (It’s about as perfect as a TV series could ever be, and the recently concluded Season 3 is the best thing I’ve seen this year.)
Who’s Hulu for? TV lovers. There’s a deep library for those who want older TV series and next-day streaming of many current network and cable shows.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. If you’re on the ad tier, this month might be tolerable, but it’s certainly not worth $17.99.
Twenty years after ending its 11-season run (with 37 Emmy wins), the classic sitcom “Frasier” (Oct. 12) is back. Sort of. Kelsey Grammar returns in this revival as the pompous Dr. Frasier Crane, who’s moved back to Boston to be closer to his adult son (played by Jack Cutmore-Scott), who doesn’t necessarily want him there. The cast is mostly new, though Bebe Neuwirth (as Frasier’s ex-wife Lilith) and Peri Gilpin (his radio producer Roz) will reportedly guest star. David Hyde Pierce (Niles) and Jane Leeves (Daphne) will not return, however, which is a bummer since that’s where much of the original show’s laughs came from (John Mahoney, who played Frasier’s father Marty Crane, died in 2018). The jury’s out on this one — while in theory, it could be a refreshing update to a nostalgic favorite, the trailer is not encouraging.
Paramount+ also has “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” (Oct. 6), a creepy prequel to the 2019 horror reboot; “Fellow Travelers” (Oct. 27), a decades-spanning queer love story starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey; and Showtime’s courtroom drama “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” (Oct. 6), the late director William Friedkin’s last film, starring Keifer Sutherland, the late Lance Reddick and Jake Lacy.
That’s on top of a live-sports lineup that includes SEC and Big Ten college football on Saturdays, NFL football every Sunday and UEFA Champions League soccer matches.
Who’s Paramount+ for? Gen X cord-cutters who miss live sports and familiar Paramount Global
PARA,
broadcast and cable shows.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s a good football lineup, at least.
It’s another slow month for Apple
AAPL,
highlighted by the miniseries “Lessons in Chemistry” (Oct. 13), based on Bonnie Garmus’ bestselling novel. Brie Larson stars as a woman in the 1950s whose dreams of becoming a scientist are scuttled by male chauvinism, and instead becomes the host of a TV cooking show, where she inspires housewives and fights the patriarchy. Apple is getting a reputation for getting big-name stars for prestige-type series, only for the shows to fizzle out and quickly be forgotten (like “Mosquito Coast,” “Hello Tomorrow” and “Dear Edward,” for starters). I have yet to see any marketing for this series, and it would not be a surprise for someone to ask six months from now: “Wait, Brie Larson was in an Apple show?”
There’s also a new documentary from Errol Morris, “The Pigeon Tunnel” (Oct. 20), about the life of spy-turned-writer David Cornwell, aka John le Carré; and “The Enfield Poltergeist” (Oct. 27), a four-part docuseries about the supposed real-life haunting that inspired “The Conjuring 2.”
Apple’s biggest title will be on Oct. 20 in movie theaters, with the wide release of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the spectacular-looking historical drama about a series of mysterious killings of Osage tribal members in Oklahoma in the 1920s, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro. There’s no streaming release date yet, but expect it to land on Apple TV+ after its theatrical run, possibly in November but more likely in December.
There are also new episodes every week of “The Morning Show,” “The Changeling” (season finale Oct. 13) and “Invasion” (season finale Oct. 25).
Who’s Apple TV+ for? It offers a little something for everyone, but not necessarily enough for anyone — although it’s getting there.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. Apple’s had a great year, but there’s just not a lot on right now. But there’s good stuff coming in November (Season 4 of “For All Mankind”) and December (Season 3 of “Slow Horses”).
Remember, you can get three free months of Apple TV+ if you buy a new iPhone, iPad or Mac. Strategically, if you buy an iPhone 15, and wait a bit to redeem the free trial, you’ll want it to extend into January.
It’s all about horror and sports for Peacock this October.
On the scary side, there’s Season 2 of the werewolf rom-com “Wolf Like Me” (Oct. 19), starring Josh Gad and Isla Fisher; “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (Oct. 27), a horror movie based on the videogame about a troubled security guard who starts working the night shift at a cursed pizza parlor, starring Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard; and the true-crime anthology “John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams” (Oct. 13).
On the sports side, Peacock has the Rugby World Cup (through Oct. 28), NFL Sunday Night Football, Big Ten and Notre Dame college football, English Premier League soccer, and a full slate of golf, motorsports and horse racing.
Meanwhile, the “John Wick” prequel miniseries “The Continental” ends Oct. 6.
Who’s Peacock for? Live sports and next-day shows from Comcast’s
CMCSA,
NBCUniversal are the main draw, but there’s a good library of shows and movies.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. The live-sports offerings are the only lure.
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Level Financial Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,185 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 1,900.0% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC now owns 320 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Swaine & Leidel Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in Amazon.com in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the first quarter worth $43,000. 57.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
In other Amazon.com news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.48, for a total value of $69,240.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,750,889.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Amazon.com news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.48, for a total value of $69,240.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,750,889.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 42,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.13, for a total value of $6,213,886.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 64,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,343,469.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,408,645 shares of company stock valued at $55,223,448. Corporate insiders own 12.30% of the company’s stock.
Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $127.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 100.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $134.87 and a 200 day moving average of $121.68. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.43 and a fifty-two week high of $145.86.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The e-commerce giant reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 2.43%. The company had revenue of $134.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.54 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMZN shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Amazon.com from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Amazon.com from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $161.30.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company’s products offered through its stores include merchandise and content purchased for resale; and products offered by third-party sellers.
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report).
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ABMN Staff
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Usually, the announcement of a CEO change at a struggling company brings optimism and maybe even a stock pop. Not for
Walgreens Boots Alliance
Its shares have tumbled since Rosalind Brewer announced on Sept. 1 that she was stepping down. That could present a buying opportunity if the company makes the “right” choice…
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The Federal Trade Commission is set to file an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
in September after the two sides could not reach a settlement over antitrust claims, according to a Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the matter. Members of Amazon’s legal team held a video call with FTC officials on Aug. 15 during a so-called last-rites meeting, but were unable to agree on concessions, the report said. Amazon declined comment on the report.
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Looking to spend your entertainment dollars wisely in September? Watch Hulu and read a book or two.
That pretty much sums up a hugely underwhelming lineup from streaming services, which burned through their best shows in the spring and have little to offer for the start of the traditional fall TV season. That’s not to say there aren’t a handful of promising shows — there are — but is one decent new show per service worth the price of multiple monthly subscriptions? Almost certainly not.
It’s…
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The U.S. Labor Day holiday will mark another milestone in the marathon to bring workers back to the office, but it won’t be a quick fix for landlords, according to Thomas LaSalvia, head of commercial real estate economics at Moody’s Analytics.
Employers from Facebook parent Meta
META,
to Goldman Sachs
GS,
recently laid out mandates for staff to return to the office more frequently, starting this fall, including the big one — the federal government.
“A lot of companies are saying that after Labor Day, ‘We expect more out of you,” LaSalvia said, referring to days in the office. Still, office attendance, he argues, likely only stages a fuller comeback if a job or promotion is on the line.
Amazon.com Inc.’s
AMZN,
Chief Executive Andy Jassy has been trying to drive home the point by warning staff to return at least three days a week, or face the consequences.
That could prove difficult, with Friday’s U.S. jobs report for August expected to show U.S. unemployment at a scant 3.5%, near the lowest levels since the late 1960s, even if hiring has been slowing. The labor market, so far, appears unfazed by the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate reaching a 22-year high.
It has been a different story for landlords facing a roughly 19% vacancy rate nationally and piles of debt coming due, especially for owners of older Class B and C office buildings with a bleak outlook or properties in cities with wobbling business centers.
See: San Francisco’s office market erases all gains since 2017 as prices sag nationally
As with shopping malls, LaSalvia said it’s largely a problem of oversupply, with many office properties at risk of becoming obsolete as tenants flock to better buildings and locations staging a rebirth. The trend can be traced in leasing data since 2021, with Class A properties in central business districts (blue line) showing a big advantage over less desirable buildings in the heart of cities (orange line).
Moody’s Analytics
“Little by little, we are finding the office isn’t dead,” LaSalvia said, but he also sees more promise in neighborhoods with a new purpose, those catering to hybrid work and communities that bring people together.
Another way to look at the trend is through rents. Manhattan’s Penn Station submarket, with its estimated $13 billion overhaul and neighboring Hudson Yards development, has seen asking rents jump 32% to $74.87 a square foot in the second quarter since the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Moody’s Analytics. That compares with a 2% bump in asking rents in downtown New York City to $61.39 a square foot for the same period.
The push for a return to the office also doesn’t mean a repeat of prepandemic ways. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that part-time remote work in the U.S. has stabilized around 20%-25%, in a late August report, but that’s still up from 2.6% before the 2020 lockdowns.
Furthermore, the persistence of remote work will likely add another 171 million square feet of vacant U.S. office space through 2029, a period that also will see tenants’ long-term leases expire and many companies opting for less space. The additional vacancies would roughly translate to 57% of Los Angeles roughly 300 million square feet of office space sitting empty.
“The fundamental reason why we had offices in the first place have not completely disintegrated,” LaSalvia said. “But for some of those Class B and C offices, the writing was on the wall before the pandemic.”
U.S. stocks were mixed Thursday, but headed for losses in a tough August for stocks, with the S&P 500 index
SPX
off about 1.5% for the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
2.1% lower and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP
down 2% in August, according to FactSet.
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