Tag: computers

Nvidia’s stock looks to snap losing streak as earnings optimism builds

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Nvidia Corp.’s earnings are drawing nearer, and yet another analyst is feeling upbeat heading into the upcoming report.

KeyBanc analyst John Vinh hiked his price target on Nvidia’s stock
NVDA,
+7.31%
to $620 from $550 Sunday, writing that despite tight supply, Nvidia could see strong AI demand and incremental capacity drive upside. Nvidia is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter earnings after the close of markets on Wednesday.

“Given the pushout of [Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s]
AMD,
+2.31%
MI300X, we believe Nvidia has been able to source increased [chip on wafer on substrate] capacity at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
TSM,
+1.44%,
” Vinh said.

Read: Nvidia earnings to offer first true glimpse of the AI windfall

Shares of Nvidia rallied more than 5% to an intraday high of $456.56 in Monday trading, after having logged declines in each of the prior three sessions for a total loss of 1.5%. The shares are up more than 210% on a year-to-date basis, compared with a 39% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index
SOX,
a 14% rise in the S&P 500
SPX
and a 28% surge in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP
over the same span.

In addition, Nvidia plans a fall launch of its L40S GPU for small to medium-sized model training and inferencing with competitive performance versus its A100. That debut will be significant given tech restrictions related to China.

“Given L40S meets the performance threshold of export restriction and doesn’t require CoWoS packaging, combined with favorable pricing (est. $7K-$8K/GPU), we expect this lineup can incrementally fulfill some of the pent-up GPU demand in the near term, particularly in China,” said Vinh, who has an overweight rating on the stock.

Read: ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks are losing some of their shine, but their bonds are doing fine

Vinh raised his fiscal second-quarter revenue forecast to $12.7 billion and upped his earnings outlook to $2.49 a share. His prior expectations were for $11.1 billion and $2.05, respectively.

He also now forecasts fiscal third-quarter revenue of $14.8 billion and earnings per share of $3, up from prior projections of $12.4 billion and $2.34, respectively.

Read: Nvidia gets more good news from Big Tech, even as AI spending ‘may not lift all boats’

Of the 50 analysts who cover Nvidia, 43 had buy-grade ratings, six had hold ratings and one had a sell rating, along with an average price target of $432.99.

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August 21, 2023
The iPhone 15 could help Apple clinch a title it’s never held before

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In a dreary smartphone market, Apple Inc. could do something it’s never done before.

The consumer-electronics giant has a chance to finish the year as the global leader in smartphone shipments for the first time, according to analysts at Counterpoint Research.

Read: ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks are losing some of their shine, but their bonds are doing fine

Consumers continue to hold on to their smartphones for longer, one reason that the Counterpoint team expects overall shipments to fall 6% this year, to 1.15 billion units. That would be the lowest level in a decade.

“But we’re watching [the fourth quarter] with interest because the iPhone 15 launch is a window for carriers to steal high-value customers,” Jeff Fieldhack, Counterpoint’s North America research director, said in a release.

With a big base of current iPhone 12 owners due for upgrades, “promos are going to be aggressive, leaving Apple in a good spot.”

Counterpoint notes that premium smartphones have been picking up share within the market and called out China as a region where that trend holds true. Apple
AAPL,
-0.12%
focuses on the premium market and is expected to debut its next lineup of devices, the iPhone 15 family, in September, and sales likely will begin later that month or in early October.

Don’t miss: Meta’s stock joins Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia shares in correction territory as tech-stock boom fizzles

Projections from Counterpoint put Apple the closest its ever been to capturing the top spot. “We’re talking about a spread that’s literally a few days’ worth of sales,” Fieldhack said. “Assuming Apple doesn’t run into production problems like it did last year, it’s really a toss-up at this point.”

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
005930,
+0.45%
was the market leader in shipments last year, and it held the top spot in the first quarter of this year.

Read on: Red flags waving for tech stocks as AI bounce fades, China fears escalate

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August 21, 2023
Expectations for Nvidia’s earnings are massive. Will they even matter?

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When Nvidia Corp. last reported quarterly results, the chip maker forecast record revenue that was far above anything it had put up before. In response, investors sent the stock into orbit. On Wednesday, the latest round of earnings for the company will be a test of Nvidia’s status as the darling of the AI investment boom, and a test of whether it can deliver on its own lofty expectations.

The results will also be an update of tech demand overall, after businesses tightened their IT budgets following worries about an economic slowdown. But even with Nvidia’s
NVDA,
-0.10%
stock up more than 200% so far this year and expectations rising just as much, some analysts still say there’s room for shares to go higher, despite supply-side logjams.

Barclays said that Nvidia, whose chips analysts say will help power AI technology in the days to come, has “monopolized the economics of the AI boom, with no clear competitor close behind.” They added that “cloud capex budgets are being funneled towards AI.”

Signs that Nvidia might be falling behind on meeting chip demand have started to emerge. But as businesses rush to mark their territory, or potential territory, in the world of AI, Wedbush analysts have asked whether Nvidia’s results and forecast would even matter, as today’s production constraints turn into tomorrow’s sales.

“We don’t think NVDA results/guidance need to hit the high end of expectations,” Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson said in a research note on Friday.

“With demand for AI training having lifted substantially in the past quarter and with no other silicon supplier now capable of providing part volumes within an order of magnitude of NVDA’s output, we believe any unfilled demand will just be pushed into forward quarters fueling future sales and (earnings per share),” he continued.

Synovus analyst Daniel Morgan was also bullish on Nvidia’s business targeted toward data centers, as those facilities try to integrate generative AI and large language models. And within Nvidia’s gaming segment, he said the company’s new Ada Lovelace graphics-processing unit ecosystem “appears to be seeing a high level of success in retail.”

Still, the longer a stock runs higher, the harder it can fall. And Nvidia’s $1 trillion valuation, Morgan said, “is not for the faint-hearted.”

This week in earnings

Along with Nvidia, China search giant Baidu Inc.
BIDU,
-3.63%
reports, as the nation’s economic rebound sputters. And if more businesses are still cautious about cloud spending, or shifting spending to AI, the mood could filter through to results from Splunk Inc.
SPLK,
+0.35%
and Snowflake Inc.
SNOW,
+0.47%.
Peloton Interactive Inc.
PTON,
+1.59%,
Workday Inc.
WDAY,
+0.16%
and Marvell Technology Inc.
MRVL,
+0.05%
also report.

The call to put on your calendar

Zoom and offices: If even Zoom is calling some of its workers back to the office, what could that possibly mean for its results on Monday and the business of videoconferencing? Zoom Video Communications Inc.
ZM,
+1.42%
hasn’t been spared from the wave of tech-industry layoffs, and the company is trying to branch out from its pandemic-mainstay video-call platform, and harnessing its technology to handle phone calls and customer contact centers. Benchmark Research analyst Matthew Harrigan, in a note last week, said he still liked Zoom’s prospects, even though he wasn’t expecting “much instant gratification.” “We do expect AI to crystallize as a significant positive for Zoom even as it navigates through customer pushback on using customer data to train AI models off privacy concerns,” he said.

The numbers to watch

Sales, forecasts and inventories from retailers: Last week, Target Corp.
TGT,
+0.85%
reported what one analyst called “the definition of mixed results,” while another said the results amounted to “Recessionary trends without the recession.” Sales of essentials like groceries, as they have over the past year, helped Walmart Inc.’s
WMT,
+1.44%
results, but management said that consumers were still feeling the pain from inflation, which for some shoppers over the past year has left little room for much beyond the basics.

In the week ahead, we’ll get results whole bunch of retailers that don’t sell basics — like department stores Macy’s Inc.
M,
+0.53%
and Kohl’s Corp.
KSS,
+3.53%
; clothing chains Nordstrom Inc.
JWN,
+0.47%,
Gap Inc.
GPS,
+2.17%,
Urban Outfitters Inc.
URBN,
+2.00%
; shoe retailer Foot Locker Inc.
FL,
+0.60%
and beauty-products chain Ulta Beauty Inc.
ULTA,
+1.40%.
Those retailers will report as prices for some things start to come down, or at least not rise as fast, and as some economists overcome their recession fears. But remarks from executives could offer some sense of the impact from higher borrowing costs and the return of student loan payments, and how much they’ll be able to bank on the back-to-school season and wealthier — and more carefree — consumers.

Dollar-store Dollar Tree Inc.
DLTR,
+0.44%
will also report results, as low-income consumers suffer more under inflation and deal with the end of pandemic-era supplemental food assistance. Off-price retailer Burlington Stores Inc.
BURL,
+1.43%
reports as well, after Ross Stores Inc.
ROST,
+5.01%
Chief Executive Barbara Rentler said that while its low- and moderate-income shoppers were still hurting, shoppers overall “responded well to our improved value offerings throughout our stores.”

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August 20, 2023
Nvidia, Lowe’s, Dollar Tree, and More to Watch

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The majority of second-quarter earnings season is over, with a handful of major technology and retail names left to report this week. Economists will be focused on any news from an annual gathering of monetary policy thinkers and practitioners in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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August 20, 2023
Palo Alto Networks earnings, outlook top Street expectations as SEC cyberattack reporting rule drives demand

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Palo Alto Networks Inc. shares rallied Friday after hours as the cybersecurity company topped expectations with its latest earnings, as well as with its forecasts for profit and billings, outlining that new reporting rules and AI-backed adversaries are driving adoption.

The stock
PANW,
+1.02%
was rallying more than 9% in the extended session, following a 1% gain in the regular session to close at $209.69.

Palo Alto Networks forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.15 to $1.17 a share on revenue of $1.82 billion to $1.85 billion and billings of $2.05 billion to $2.08 billion. Analysts were estimating $1.11 a share on revenue of $1.93 billion and billings of $2.04 billion for the first quarter.

For the year, the company expects $5.27 to $5.40 a share on revenue of $8.15 billion to $8.2 billion on billings of $10.9 billion to $11 billion. Analysts tracked by FactSet had been projecting $4.98 a share on revenue of $8.38 billion and billings of $10.81 billion for the year.

The company defines billings as “total revenue plus the change in total deferred revenue, net of acquired deferred revenue, during the period,” and is a metric used to account for subscriptions.

On the extended call with analysts, Nikesh Arora, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said that while strong fourth-quarter results did not come as a surprise, what did come as a surprise was the speed of adoption of its Cortex XSIAM AI-driven security platform, especially now that regulators are going to start requiring quick disclosures for material cyberattacks.

Palo Alto Networks reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $227.7 million, or 64 cents a share, compared with $3.3 million, or a penny a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation expenses and other items, were $1.44 a share, compared with 80 cents a share in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $1.95 billion from $1.55 billion in the year-ago quarter, while billings rose 18% to $3.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast $1.29 a share in adjusted earnings on revenue of $1.96 billion and billings of $3.18 billion.

The company launched XSIAM in October, and set a goal of booking more than $100 million in the first year. Arora said that in less than a year, XSIAM has already brought in $200 million, indicating that interest in applying AI to enhance security is “very high.”

In late July, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new rules requiring companies to disclose cyberattacks within four days of making the determination the intrusion has a material effect on results.

“Our customers have told us loud and clear that the legacy products powering their stacks are no longer working and they need to reduce by an order of magnitude,” Arora told analysts. “This becomes increasingly important with the new SEC rules detailing that all public companies will be required to report material breaches within four business days.”

On the call, Lee Klarich, Palo Alto Networks chief product officer, told analysts that it wasn’t long ago that the average time between an initial hack and stealing data was about 44 days. Now, that can happen in a matter of hours, which is a huge problem, Klarich said, noting that attackers are adopting AI to perform attacks.

“On average the industry is able to respond and remediate attacks in about six days: That doesn’t work,” Klarich said. “And even more challenging now with the SEC new rules of being able to disclose within four days, none of the math adds up.”

Five years ago, Palo Alto Networks was already in the middle of an M&A spree to transform itself from a firewall company to a multiproduct security platform, and showed no signs of slowing down until August 2021, when the company decided to report earnings without announcing an M&A deal, after having acquired 14 companies over the previous three-and-a-half years.

Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
-0.10%,
which also has a huge stake in AI, reports results after the bell on Wednesday.

Palo Alto Networks is a new entrant to the S&P 500 index
SPX,
having got t en the nod in June. As of Friday’s close, Palo Alto Networks shares have gained 50.3% year to date, compared with a 12.4% gain on the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security exchange-traded fund
HACK,
a 13.8 % gain on the S&P 500, and a 27% rise on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP.

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August 18, 2023
‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks are losing some of their shine, but their bonds are doing fine

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The so-called Magnificent Seven grouping of technology stocks lost some of its luster this week after four of the seven moved into correction territory, meaning their stocks have fallen at least 10% from their recent peaks.

The corporate-bond market, in contrast, seems to like all seven names.

The group is made up of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
-0.65%,
Apple Inc.
AAPL,
+0.28%,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-0.13%,
Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
-0.10%,
Amazon. com Inc.
AMZN,
-0.57%,
Google parent Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
-1.89%

GOOG,
-1.80%
and Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-1.70%.

One caveat: Tesla has no outstanding bonds. In the past, the electric-car maker issued convertible bonds, but they have all been converted into equity.

The group is credited with helping drive the stock market’s gains in the first half of the year, driven by excitement about artificial intelligence. But the rally has stalled in recent weeks as investors have fretted over the potential for U.S. interest-rate increases, surging Treasury yields and China worries, with property developer Evergrande filing for U.S. bankruptcy protection late Thursday.

On Thursday, Meta followed Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia into correction territory, as MarketWatch’s Emily Bary reported. Tesla, meanwhile, is in a bear market, meaning it’s down more than 20% from its recent peak.

Read: Have AI stocks like Nvidia reached bubble territory? Here’s what history can tell us.

The following series of charts from data-solutions provider BondCliQ Media Services show how many bonds each company has issued by maturity and how they have traded as the stocks have pulled back.

The first chart shows that Microsoft has by far the most bonds, mostly in the 30-year bucket. The software and cloud giant has more than $50 billion in long-term debt, according to its 2023 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Outstanding Magnificent Seven debt by maturity bucket.

Source: BondCliQ Media Services

This chart shows trading volumes over the last 10 days, divided by trade type. The green shows customer buying, while the red is customer selling. The blue shows dealer-to-dealer flows. Microsoft, for example, has seen almost $1.3 billion in customer buying from dealers in the last 10 days and $960 million in customer sales to dealers.

Magnificent Seven debt trading volumes (last 10 days).

Source: BondCliQ Media Services

This chart shows that every name in the group has enjoyed better net buying in the last 10 days, with Microsoft leading the way.

Net customer flow of Magnificent Seven debt (last 10 days).

Source: BondCliQ Media Services

This chart shows spread performance over the last 50 days for an intermediate-term bond from each of the seven issuers. Most have tightened or remained steady over the period.

Historical spread performance of Magnificent Seven debt.

Source: BondCliQ Media Services

Read also: Red flags waving for tech stocks as AI bounce fades, China fears escalate

Apple’s stock entered correction Wednesday upon falling more than 10% from its July 31 peak of $196.45. The company sells mainly discretionary products, and right now “consumers are still being pinched” and thinking more carefully about where they spend their money, according to Matt Stucky, senior portfolio manager for equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.

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August 18, 2023
SoftBank looking to buy remaining 25% stake in Arm from its Vision Fund: report

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SoftBank Group Corp. is reportedly in discussions to purchase the 25% stake in chip designer Arm Ltd. that is held by its Vision Fund 1, ahead of a highly anticipated IPO.

Reuters reported Sunday that Japan’s SoftBank
9984,
+0.37%
— which owns 75% of Arm — is negotiating a deal with VF1, the $100 billion investment fund it created in 2017, and noted that a deal could give VF1 investors a big boost after years of meager returns. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. are among VF1’s largest investors.

SoftBank is planning to launch a long-awaited initial public offering for British chip designer Arm as soon as September. That will likely be the biggest IPO of the year on Wall Street, aiming to raise $8 billion to $10 billion at a valuation around $60 billion to $70 billion.

A number of large tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
-0.11%,
Intel Corp.
INTC,
+0.61%
and Nvidia Inc.
NVDA,
-3.62%,
are reportedly in the mix to be anchor investors in Arm’s IPO.

Last week, SoftBank reported its tech-heavy Vision Funds turned a quarterly profit for the first time in 18 months

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August 13, 2023
Home Depot, Target, and More to Watch This Week

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Home Depot, Target, Cisco, Deere, Walmart, and More Stocks to Watch This Week

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August 13, 2023
Nvidia’s stock drops below key uptrend tracker, snapping longest streak above it in 6 years

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Nvidia Corp.’s stock chart now shows that the stunning uptrend investors in the semiconductor maker have enjoyed this year amid all the artificial-intelligence hype may have ended.

But as history suggests, after a long uptrend, rather than a new downtrend, investors may have to endure some whipsaw action within a relatively static trading range over the next several months before the uptrend resumes.

The stock
NVDA,
-0.72%
slumped 4.7% on Wednesday to close at $425.54, which was 10.4% below the July 18 record close of $474.94, following a downbeat earnings report from Super Micro Computer Inc.
SMCI,
+3.47%,
which counts Nvidia as a key supplier.

Many on Wall Street believe a correction is defined by a decline of at least 10% to up to 20% from a significant recent peak. A drop of 20% or more is thought of as a bear market.

But perhaps more important for chart followers, the stock closed below the widely followed 50-day moving average for the first time since Jan. 6, 2023. The 50-DMA had extended to $429.03 on Wednesday.

FactSet, MarketWatch

On Thursday, the stock bounced 0.5% in morning trading but held below the 50-DMA, which extended to $429.68, according to FactSet. Despite the recent correction, the stock was still up 192.6% year to date, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index
SOX
has climbed 43.7% and the S&P 500
SPX
has advanced 17.2%.

Read: Nvidia is ‘domination’ and could unlock $300 billion in AI revenue by 2027, analyst says.

The 50-DMA is used by many chart watchers as a short-term trend tracker. If the stock is above that line, it is viewed as being in an uptrend. The most time spent above that line, the stronger the uptrend.

Until Wednesday, Nvidia’s stock closed above the 50-DMA for 146 consecutive trading sessions, according to FactSet data, which is the second-longest stretch since it went public in January 1999.

The record stretch above the 50-DMA was 255 sessions, a streak that ended on Feb. 23, 2017, while the second-longest stretch of 143 sessions ended on Oct. 28, 2020.

After the stock snapped the super-50-DMA streak in 2020, it waffled around the line and was little changed for the next several months before resuming the uptrend with a big spike.

As an uptrend takes a several-month pause after the 50-DMA breaks, the 200-DMA becomes strong support.

FactSet, MarketWatch

As the chart above shows, after the 50-DMA broke, investors set their sights on the 200-DMA, which many view as a dividing line between longer-term uptrends and downtrends. In this case, despite a one-day dip below the 200-DMA in mid-March 2021, the line acted as strong support.

And after the record super-50-DMA streak, the stock seesawed around the line, while having a slightly negative bias for the next few months, before the uptrend resumed in force.

After the 50-DMA break, the 200-DMA was never threatened.

FactSet, MarketWatch

This time, the stock never really threatened the 200-DMA.

In the current technical situation, one of the downside levels to keep an eye on is the bear-market threshold of 20% below the July closing high, which comes in at $379.95. Another level to watch is the 200-DMA, which currently extends to $269.63 and has been rising by $1.65 a day over the past 10 days.

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August 10, 2023
The long-simmering rumor of Apple buying Disney is resurfacing as Bob Iger looks to sell assets

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Analysts got to the point early and often during a conference call late Wednesday: What are Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger’s M&A plans, particularly following reports that former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, now co-CEOs of Blackstone-backed Candle Media, have been retained in a “consulting capacity” to decide ESPN’s fate?

There is even the unthinkable, unsinkable decades-old rumor floating about again: Could Apple Inc.
AAPL,
-0.90%
acquire Disney
DIS,
-0.73%,
as one Hollywood executive floated to the Hollywood Reporter?

The prospect of an Apple-Disney combo seems far-fetched in a heated regulatory climate, where the Federal Trade Commission is attempting to crack down on Big Tech acquisitions, but it could happen should Disney sell off assets and Apple gobbles up Disney’s direct-to-consumer business that includes streaming service Disney+, some media analysts speculate. Apple could conceivably even buy ABC, which reportedly is on the block. But the path is long and circuitous.

Yet the rumors persist, dating back to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ reverence for the Disney brand, and the increasingly overlapping businesses of both companies over the years.

When pressed by analysts during a conference call late Wednesday, Iger declined to discuss the future of Disney’s structure or possible asset sales. When asked if Disney might “plausibly” be snapped up by one company — read Apple — an exasperated Iger said he would not “speculate” on the sale of Disney to a technology company or anyone else, given the current global stance of regulators. The FTC has aggressively challenged mergers from the likes of Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-1.17%
and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
-2.38%,
with limited success.

Since Iger hinted at the potential sale of Disney’s assets in an interview with CNBC last month, rumors have swirled around ESPN.

ESPN and related properties likely could command at least one-third of Disney’s current depressed market cap of about $150 billion, say some media watchers, though Iger has denied ESPN is for sale. He has acknowledged “the sports leader” is seeking “strategic partners” — possibly with the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL — to generate revenue. Late Tuesday, ESPN stuck up a deal with Penn Entertainment Inc.
PENN,
+9.10%
to create ESPN Bet, a digital sportsbook to launch in the fall in 16 states.

Read more: Penn dumps Barstool for ESPN-branded sports-gambling service

Another possible property being dangled is ABC. But with rights to the NBA Finals and two Super Bowls in the next eight years, it is unclear who would acquire the network and how Disney would replace lucrative sports revenue.

Other properties on the block include cable channels Freeform and Disney Channel, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

“If an asset sale happens, will the proceeds be deployed into fortifying its balance sheet or beefing up its remaining operations?” Rick Munarriz, senior media analyst at The Motley Fool, said in an email.

Disney, which is in the midst of a $5.5 billion cost-cutting campaign, is exploring several avenues to prop up sales as linear TV ads shrink, Disney+ subscriptions decline and attendance at Walt Disney World wanes.

Read more: Disney posts smaller streaming loss amid cost-cutting moves, stock slips

Shares of Disney are trading at half their highs from a few years ago, in large part because of dwindling sales and profits at ESPN and Disney’s other cable networks.

Enter Mayer, who previously ran Disney’s strategic planning group for years and engineered a trifecta of mega deals: The acquisition of the aforementioned Pixar Animation Studios from Steve Jobs for $7.4 billion in 2006, the purchase of Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009, and the acquisition of Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012. Mayer also led the $71.3 billion acquisition of 20^th Century Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019, which has drawn mixed reviews.

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August 9, 2023
Disney to Significantly Raise Prices of Disney+, Hulu Streaming Services

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Disney to Significantly Raise Prices of Disney+, Hulu Streaming Services

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August 9, 2023
Roblox Misses on Earnings. The Videogame Stock Sinks.

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Roblox Stock Falls Sharply. Blame the Wider Loss.

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August 9, 2023
Pence qualifies for first Republican debate: Here’s who else will be on stage.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence has become the eighth, and perhaps final, candidate to qualify for the first Republican presidential primary debate, setting up a possible prime-time clash with Donald Trump.

That face-off with Trump is not certain, however, because the former president has not yet confirmed whether he will take part in the event.

Several other GOP hopefuls, meanwhile, have also qualified for the debate. Here’s a look at details including who’ll be on stage and when and where the debate will be held.

When and where is the debate?

The first debate of the GOP primary season will be held Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, the same city that will host the party’s 2024 convention. The two-hour debate is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. Eastern time and is being hosted by Fox News.

Fox News parent Fox Corp.
FOX,
+5.56%

FOXA,
+5.59%
and News Corp
NWS,
+0.73%

NWSA,
+0.84%,
parent of MarketWatch publisher Dow Jones, share common ownership.

Besides Pence, who has qualified?

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Trump have all met the debate requirements.

Other GOP hopefuls including former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez have not yet made the cut.

Now read: Here are the Republicans running for president in 2024, before their first debate later this month

Also read: Mike Pence says inflation is 16%, but CPI is 3%. This is his logic.

What are the requirements for the Milwaukee debate?

For the first debate, a candidate needs to have at least 1% support in three high-quality national polls or in a mix of state and national polls and must have secured at least 40,000 unique donors.

Getting on stage for the second debate will be tougher. That contest, scheduled for Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, will require candidates to have at least 3% support in two national polls, or in one national poll as well as two polls from four of the early-voting states. Candidates must also have at least 50,000 unique donors, as the Associated Press has reported.

Now read: Republican Party raising qualification bar for second presidential primary debate

What has Trump said about attending the debate?

Playing his cards close to the vest, the former president is asking his supporters whether he should be in Milwaukee on Aug. 23. In an email on Saturday, Trump said he thinks it’s “sort of foolish” for him to attend, given his outsized polling lead.

“Hopefully, former President Trump has the courage to show up,” Pence’s communications adviser Devin O’Malley said in a statement on Tuesday.

Read next: Pence, Trump attorney offer conflicting claims over what Trump said ahead of Jan. 6

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August 8, 2023
Palantir announces $1 billion buyback program, stock rises after earnings

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Palantir Technologies Inc. matched expectations with its latest quarterly results Monday while announcing a new $1 billion buyback authorization.

The software company posted its third quarter in a row of GAAP profitability, recording second-quarter net income of $28 million, or 1 cent a share, whereas Palantir
PLTR,
-1.15%
racked up a net loss of $179.3 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling GAAP earnings per share of 1 cent.

Palantir logged adjusted earnings per share of 5 cents, in line with the FactSet consensus.

Revenue rose to $533 million from $473 million and also met the FactSet consensus. The company notched $232 million in commercial revenue, up 10% from a year before, along with $302 million of government revenue, up 15%.

After initially falling following the report, Palantir shares rose 2.6% in after-hours trading.

“We continue to see unprecedented demand,” Chief Revenue Officer Ryan Taylor told MarketWatch. That includes both “top-of-funnel” conversations with new customers and others expanding their use of Palantir software, as momentum builds for the company’s artificial-intelligence offerings.

Taylor added that Palantir’s U.S. government work has “never been stronger.”

See also: Palantir is ‘the Messi of AI,’ says analyst who thinks its stock can jump 45%

Palantir also announced that its board of directors has approved a stock-buyback program of up to $1 billion. The move comes as the company posted $285 million in adjusted free cash flow during the first half of the year and finished the second quarter with $3.1 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet.

“Our cash flow, balance sheet and the authorization of a billion-dollar buyback show what we believe in for the future of this company,” Chief Financial Officer David Glazer told MarketWatch. The belief is that “AI is a massive opportunity.”

Added Chief Executive Alex Karp in a shareholder letter: “The scale of the opportunity that lies ahead has increased significantly in recent months. And we intend to capture it.”

He noted that the company is in talks with more than 300 additional enterprises about using Palantir’s AI platform, “all of which are searching for an effective and secure means of adapting the latest large language models for use on their internal systems and proprietary data.”

For the third quarter, Palantir expects $553 million to $557 million in revenue, along with GAAP profitability. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $553 million,

Palantir also expects to report GAAP net income for its fourth quarter. It further models upwards of $2.212 billion in full-year revenue, while analysts were looking for $2.210 billion.

Shares of Palantir are up 180% so far this year.

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August 7, 2023
Palantir announces $1 billion buyback program, stock rises after earnings

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Palantir Technologies Inc. matched expectations with its latest quarterly results Monday while announcing a new $1 billion buyback authorization.

The software company posted its third quarter in a row of GAAP profitability, recording second-quarter net income of $28 million, or 1 cent a share, whereas Palantir
PLTR,
-1.15%
racked up a net loss of $179.3 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling GAAP earnings per share of 1 cent.

Palantir logged adjusted earnings per share of 5 cents, in line with the FactSet consensus.

Revenue rose to $533 million from $473 million and also met the FactSet consensus. The company notched $232 million in commercial revenue, up 10% from a year before, along with $302 million of government revenue, up 15%.

After initially falling following the report, Palantir shares rose 2.6% in after-hours trading.

“We continue to see unprecedented demand,” Chief Revenue Officer Ryan Taylor told MarketWatch. That includes both “top-of-funnel” conversations with new customers and others expanding their use of Palantir software, as momentum builds for the company’s artificial-intelligence offerings.

Taylor added that Palantir’s U.S. government work has “never been stronger.”

See also: Palantir is ‘the Messi of AI,’ says analyst who thinks its stock can jump 45%

Palantir also announced that its board of directors has approved a stock-buyback program of up to $1 billion. The move comes as the company posted $285 million in adjusted free cash flow during the first half of the year and finished the second quarter with $3.1 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet.

“Our cash flow, balance sheet and the authorization of a billion-dollar buyback show what we believe in for the future of this company,” Chief Financial Officer David Glazer told MarketWatch. The belief is that “AI is a massive opportunity.”

Added Chief Executive Alex Karp in a shareholder letter: “The scale of the opportunity that lies ahead has increased significantly in recent months. And we intend to capture it.”

He noted that the company is in talks with more than 300 additional enterprises about using Palantir’s AI platform, “all of which are searching for an effective and secure means of adapting the latest large language models for use on their internal systems and proprietary data.”

For the third quarter, Palantir expects $553 million to $557 million in revenue, along with GAAP profitability. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $553 million,

Palantir also expects to report GAAP net income for its fourth quarter. It further models upwards of $2.212 billion in full-year revenue, while analysts were looking for $2.210 billion.

Shares of Palantir are up 180% so far this year.

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August 7, 2023
Apple’s Tim Cook explains why he won’t showboat around AI

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““We tend to announce things as they come to market, and that’s our M.O.””

— Apple CEO Tim Cook

If Apple Inc.’s Thursday earnings call sounded a bit different than other recent ones from Big Tech players, perhaps that was due to a noticeable lack of artificial-intelligence discussion.

In fact, AI didn’t come up at all on Apple’s
AAPL,
-0.73%
call until an analyst brought up the topic in the question-and-answer portion, commenting that Apple executives “don’t talk too much” about their AI strategy or investments, unlike many tech peers.

See also: Apple sees sales decline for third quarter in a row — and says performance could be similar this quarter

“If you take a step back, we view AI and machine learning as core fundamental technologies that are integral to virtually every product that we build,” Chief Executive Tim Cook replied. AI helps power recently announced software features like live voicemails and the ability to replicate your voice digitally, as well as somewhat older features like automatic crash detection and fall detection.

AI technology has been “absolutely critical to us,” Cook said, and Apple has “been doing research across a wide range of AI technologies, including generative AI, for years,” something the company plans to continue.

But don’t necessarily expect Apple to start showboating around its AI efforts going forward: Cook said that Apple’s “M.O.” simply is to announce products when they’re ready for consumers.

“Apple’s reticence in being dragged into the AI hype is on-brand,” Forrester principal analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said in emailed comments. “A maniacal focus on what Apple does for its customers and not how it does it is rooted so deeply in the brand’s DNA.”

In all, there were just six mentions of AI or artificial intelligence on Apple’s earnings call, all of which came during the Q&A exchange with Deutsche Bank analyst Sidney Ho. Compare that to 90 mentions of those terms on Alphabet Inc.’s
GOOG,
+0.10%

GOOGL,
+0.05%
earnings call last week, 73 mentions on Microsoft Corp.’s
MSFT,
-0.26%,
and 62 mentions on Meta Platforms Inc.’s
META,
-0.36%,
according to MarketWatch’s review of transcripts provided by AlphaSense/Sentieo.

Read: Microsoft and Google can’t stop talking about AI, and this chart proves it

Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+0.55%,
which joined Apple in posting results Thursday, falls somewhere in the middle. The topic of AI garnered 34 mentions on Amazon’s call.

Whereas Apple has been consistent with its scant mentions of the technology, Amazon executives have been ramping up the rhetoric: AlphaSense/Sentieo data shows just one AI mention on the earnings call Amazon held in February 2022, and then no mentions until the term came up 12 times on its April 2023 call. Volume was of course up considerably from there on Thursday’s call.

See also: The ‘stabilization’ of AWS may have been the most significant number for Amazon’s earnings

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August 3, 2023
Apple sees sales decline for third quarter in a row — and says performance could be similar this quarter

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Apple Inc. saw revenue fall slightly in the latest quarter, and its management expects similar performance in the current period.

The tech giant on Thursday posted sales of $81.80 billion for the fiscal third quarter, matching the FactSet consensus but marking a decline from the $82.96 billion seen a year before. Apple logged $39.67 billion in revenue for its iPhone business, down from $40.67 billion a year before and below the FactSet consensus, which was for $40.24 billion.

Read: Apple dubbed the most ‘boring’ buy-rated stock — and that’s actually a good thing

Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri expects Apple’s
AAPL,
-0.73%
overall September-quarter revenue performance to be similar to what was seen in the June quarter. He anticipates that year-over-year iPhone and services revenue will accelerate from the June quarter, while the Mac and iPad businesses could post double-digit declines relative to a year earlier due to tough comparisons to that period.

Shares of Apple fell 2% in after-hours action. The latest quarter marked the third in a row of revenue declines.

Apple recorded $5.79 billion in June-quarter iPad revenue, down from $7.22 billion a year before and below the FactSet consensus, which called for $6.44 billion. Mac revenue came in at $6.8 billion, down from $7.38 billion a year earlier but ahead of the consensus view: Analysts were modeling $6.26 billion in Mac revenue.

The company saw $8.28 billion in revenue within its wearables, home and accessories business. That compared with a year-before total of $8.08 billion. The FactSet consensus was for $8.31 billion.

Services revenue increased to $21.21 billion from $19.60 billion, while analysts were projecting $20.73 billion.

See more: Apple savings account racks up $10 billion in deposits since April debut

Despite “a challenging smartphone market in the U.S. currently,” Chief Executive Tim Cook said on the earnings call that Apple was seeing “some really good signs in most places in the world.”

He called out strength in emerging markets, where Apple did “exceptionally well” in the latest quarter. In China, the company swung to 8% revenue growth after logging a 3% decline in revenue during the March quarter.

Apple also disclosed a June-quarter revenue record in India, where it recently opened its first retail stores.

While Cook is “pleased” with Apple’s India growth, he also noted that the company’s current market share in the country is “very, very modest.”

“So I think that it’s a huge opportunity for us, and we’re putting all of our energies in making that occur,” he said.

The tech giant booked fiscal third-quarter net income of $19.88 billion, or $1.26 a share, compared with $19.44 billion, or $1.20 a share, in the year-prior period. Apple beat the FactSet consensus, which was for $1.20 in earnings per share.

Don’t miss: Apple has a juicy $40 billion opportunity ahead of it

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August 3, 2023
Shopify makes progress on free cash flow, but stock moves lower after earnings

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Shopify Inc. easily topped adjusted profit expectations for its latest quarter, though shares of the e-commerce marketplace were headed lower in Wednesday’s after-hours action.

The e-commerce company reported a comprehensive loss of $1.30 billion, or $1.02 a share, whereas it logged a loss of $1.21 billion, or 95 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

On an adjusted basis, Shopify
SHOP,
-7.44%
earned 14 cents a share, whereas analysts tracked by FactSet were anticipating 6 cents a share.

Don’t miss: Mastercard earnings bring latest signal of healthy spending

Revenue jumped to $1.69 billion from $1.30 billion a year prior, while the FactSet consensus was for $1.63 billion.

Gross merchandise volume, or the dollar value of orders facilitated through Shopify’s platform, came in at $53.5 billion. Analysts had been modeling $55.0 billion. The company also posted $31.7 billion in gross payments volume.

See also: Apple appears to be making rapid inroads in buy-now-pay-later

For the third quarter, Shopify anticipates a revenue growth percentage in the low-20s on a year-over-year basis. The company also expects free cash flow in the third quarter to exceed the first-half total.

Shopify generated $97 million in free cash flow during the second quarter, beating the $27 million FactSet consensus and bringing its first-half haul to $183 million. Analysts were expecting $96 million in free cash flow for the third quarter.

“We’re not just shipping products faster, but we are also expanding our global merchant base, all while improving our ability to generate greater free cash flow,” President Harley Finkelstein said in a release.

More from MarketWatch: PayPal’s stock falls as earnings beat, but a margin metric misses

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August 2, 2023
Amazon and Apple to headline Q2 earnings this week

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When Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. report quarterly results on Thursday, we’ll get a look at two big companies, with big expectations, trying to do smaller things — or at least less exciting things, or things that might be more inconveniencing to customers — to stay bigger.

For Apple
AAPL,
+1.35%,
D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte said, the focus will be on the iPhone, as always, as well as demand abroad and a new VR headset, as its stock hovers near record highs and its market value holds above $3 trillion. And he said that Amazon
AMZN,
+3.09%,
meanwhile, could face questions about the impact of cost cuts on e-commerce growth, and what AI could do to boost slower growth in its cloud business.

The results from those companies, which are big enough to make or break a single quarter’s worth for the S&P 500 Index
SPX,
+0.99%,
will follow those from the other tech giants like Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+2.31%
and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
+4.42%.
And they’ll arrive as Wall Street starts to get a tad more realistic about AI: Microsoft shares fell after management said the expansion of its AI capabilities would be “gradual” — and gradually more expensive.

D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte, in a research note this month, said Amazon, like other big tech companies, was taking more steps to control its costs. That might help margins, he said. But he said he’d be watching for any impact to e-commerce sales growth, following thousands of layoffs and pulling back on its expansion of Amazon Fresh.

Amazon began tacking on servicing fees onto some Amazon Fresh delivery orders this year. And Forte noted what he said were other tweaks to service: Charging for a home pickup of a defective smoke alarm that used to be free, and incentives to wait longer during Prime Day.

“In our view, Amazon is playing a ‘game of chicken’ and banking on other e-commerce companies not to offer a superior service, instead of its historical approach of working backwards with a customer-obsessed approach,” D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte said in a research note.

He added later: “We believe there is something to be said about the experience of having an Amazon-branded delivery vehicle show up at your house EVERY day. Having one show up once a week or twice is not the same.”

At Apple, Forte said in a separate note, the iPhone, whose sales were still solid, had turned into more of a consumer staple than a discretionary buy. He also said he’d be looking for more detail about the upcoming iPhone 15 — likely to be modestly fancier than previous iPhones — the recovery in China and growth in India. Apple last month also unveiled its Vision Pro VR headset — for $3,499. Forte said he had his doubts.

“We believe Apple will have to overcome a number of structural challenges to achieve mass adoption for its AR/VR headset,” he said.

This week in earnings

Apple and Amazon will report as more companies than normal report quarterly profit ahead of estimates, according to a FactSet report on Friday. For the week ahead, 170 S&P 500 companies report results, with four from the Dow, the repot said.

Results from Uber Technologies Inc.
UBER,
+3.28%
and DoorDash Inc.
DASH,
+4.20%
will offer an update on the gig economy and how far app-based deliveries can go, while results from Kraft Heinz Inc.
KHC,
-0.11%
will offer an update on food prices and how much they might ease from the highs seen in recent months.

With the “Barbie” movie lifting rival Mattel Inc.
MAT,
-2.40%,
results from Hasbro Inc
HAS,
-0.29%
during the week will offer a glance at the rest of the toy industry, where demand hasn’t exactly been great, and what entertainment options Hasbro has up its sleeve to keep apace with its archrival. Drug maker Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
-0.36%
reports, as does video-game maker Electronic Arts Inc.
EA,
+0.25%.
Starbucks Corp.
SBUX,
+0.47%
reports as well.

The call to put on your calendar

“Barbie,” the Hollywood strike and Warner Bros. Discovery: Mattel has said it wants to turn “Barbie” into a content franchise. Now we’ll hear what Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.
WBD,
+4.07%,
the media conglomerate that produced the film, thinks about the film’s results and its prospects, as studios increasingly pump out sequels or offshoots of well-known, established character universes like “Star Wars,” Marvel and DC. The company — which reports oversees Warner Bros. CNN, TNT and the streaming service Max — reports quarterly results on Thursday. But even as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” carry the parts of the entertainment industry that are still functioning through the Hollywood strike, Wall Street will likely be focused on contingency plans, and any sense of whether more viewers are turning to streaming with productions on pause.

The number to watch

Payments and crypto volumes: Results this week from trading app Robinhood Markets Inc.
HOOD,
+4.09%
and crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc.
COIN,
+2.23%,
along with PayPal Holdings Inc.
PYPL,
+2.71%
and Block
SQ,
+3.42%,
will land at the intersection of rebounding markets and job-market concerns.

UBS analysts predicted solid growth and cost control for Block, and “steady” e-commerce trends for PayPal. But BofA analysts said PayPal’s search for a new chief executive, following the announcement of Dan Schulman’s retirement at the end of the year, would become more important, adding that “we think investors should rightfully expect the CEO search to conclude in the near-term.” While Bitcoin’s rebound helped Coinbase, the company and others in the industry face the prospect of tougher regulations. Robinhood and PayPal report on Wednesday. Coinbase and Block report on Thursday.

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July 30, 2023
Palantir Stock Spikes After Analyst Says to Buy ‘The Messi of AI’

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Palantir Technologies

shares were getting a major boost Friday after Wedbush technology analyst Dan Ives launched coverage of the AI software company with an Outperform rating, setting a target price of $25. Ives contends Palantir is well-positioned to take market share in both the commercial and government analytics software markets.

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July 28, 2023