Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Etsy — The online merchandise platform saw shares rebound 3% after a steep sell-off last week. Etsy announced last Wednesday that it is cutting 11% of its workforce , or approximately 225 employees, as the company looks to restructure its business and streamline costs against a “very challenging” macro and competitive environment. Netflix — The stock added 3% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Netflix to $550 from $475 per share. The bank cited renewed confidence in the streaming giant’s return to content spending and “execution on growth initiatives including paid sharing and advertising.” Oil stocks — Oil companies broadly rose as crude prices jumped more than 2% on concerns of supply disruptions. Valero Energy added 3%, while Marathon Petroleum and Diamondback Energy gained more than 2%. U.S. Steel — The steelmaker jumped 26.5% after Japan’s Nippon Steel beat out rivals to buy the company for $14.9 billion in cash. The $55-per-share deal price is 142% above U.S. Steel’s price on Aug 11, the last trading day before Cleveland-Cliffs offered $35 per share for the company. SolarEdge — Shares tumbled more than 5% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the company to sell from neutral. The firm cited further downside risk to earnings and margin uncertainty. SunPower — The solar company plunged more than 33% after filing a delayed 10-Q form for the third quarter on Monday. The company disclosed liquidity concerns and “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue.” Goldman Sachs had already downgraded the firm to sell from neutral in a Sunday note. Adobe — Adobe shares rose about 1% as the company called off its plan to buy cloud-based design tool Figma for $20 billion due to regulatory pushback. Adobe said in a regulatory filing that it will pay Figma a $1 billion breakup fee. VF Corporation — Shares lost nearly 8% after the apparel company disclosed a cyber incident from Dec. 13 in an 8-K filing. The company said the incident would likely result in a material impact on its business. Coupang — The South Korea-based e-commerce platform fell 3.7% after it announced plans to acquire online luxury platform Farfetch. The deal will give Farfetch access to $500 million in capital and turn the company private. Shares of Farfetch fell nearly 35% before trading was halted. Liberty Media Formula One — The racing series dropped more than 1% after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight, calling the stock a ” victim of its own success .” Structure Therapeutics — The U.S. listed shares of Structure Therapeutics plunged 34% even as the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company said its obesity drug can reduce weight and blood sugar. Snap — Shares added 1.6% after Guggenheim upgraded them to buy from neutral. The firm also raised its price target to $23 from $9, suggesting 35% upside potential from Fridays’ close. Analyst Michael Morris is forecasting revenue growth to outperform in 2024 as digital ad trends strengthen. Nio — Shares jumped more than 6% after the company entered a $2.2 billion share subscription agreement with Abu Dhabi-based CYVN Holdings, expanding its ownership in Nio to 20.1%. — CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Samantha Subin, Yun Li and Michelle Fox contributed reporting
Morgan Stanley’s decision Tuesday to boost its price target on XPO Logistics (XPO) to $65 a share, from $45, could signal a “new king” in the trucking-and-logistics industry, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said — even though he’s long been partial to Old Dominion (ODFL). Shares of XPO were trading down around 1% Tuesday morning, at roughly $72.80 a share. Meanwhile, Cramer also said Tuesday that we could be in a “golden age of natural gas,” on the heels of the Investing Club’s move last week to add to its position in oil-and-gas producer Coterra Energy (CTRA). (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Morgan Stanley’s decision Tuesday to boost its price target on XPO Logistics (XPO) to $65 a share, from $45, could signal a “new king” in the trucking-and-logistics industry, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said — even though he’s long been partial to Old Dominion (ODFL).
Shares of XPO were trading down around 1% Tuesday morning, at roughly $72.80 a share.
Meanwhile, Cramer also said Tuesday that we could be in a “golden age of natural gas,” on the heels of the Investing Club’s move last week to add to its position in oil-and-gas producer Coterra Energy (CTRA).
(See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.)
As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.
THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER. NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Shanton Alcaraz from the Salvation Army Northwest Division gives bottled water to Eddy Norby who lives in an RV and invites him to their nearby cooling center for food and beverages during a heat wave in Seattle, Washington, U.S., June 27, 2021.
Karen Ducey | Reuters
Multnomah County in Oregon is suing oil and gas companies Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and related organizations for the damages caused by the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome. Multnomah County said these and other fossil fuel companies and entities operating in the region are significantly responsible for causing and worsening the deadly heat event.
“The combined historical carbon pollution from the use of Defendants’ fossil fuel products was a substantial factor in causing and exacerbating the heat dome, which smothered the County’s residents for several days,” Multnomah County alleges, according to a written statement released Thursday.
Multnomah County is seeking $50 million in actual damages, $1.5 billion in future damages, and an estimated $50 billion for an abatement fund to “weatherproof” the city, its infrastructure and public health services in preparation for future extreme weather events.
Starting on June 25, 2021, Multnomah County had three consecutive days where the heat reached 108, 112 and 116 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Each of those days was about 40 degrees above the regional average and were the hottest days in the County’s recorded history.
The heat event is called a heat dome which is a weather event caused by a high-pressure system that in this case prevented cooler maritime winds to blow and also prevented clouds from forming.
The heat caused the deaths of 69 people, and property damage and was a draw on taxpayer resources, Multnomah County says.
Multiple climate scientists researched the cause of the heat dome and all said that the event was caused by excessive carbon dioxide emissions released by the burning of fossil fuels, the plaintiff says.
“The heat dome that cost so much life and loss was not a natural weather event. It did not just happen because life can be cruel, nor can it be rationalized as simply a mystery of God’s will,” the lawsuit reads. “Rather, the heat dome was a direct and foreseeable consequence of the Defendants’ decision to sell as many fossil fuel products over the last six decades as they could and to lie to the County, the public, and the scientific community about the catastrophic harm that pollution from those products into the Earth’s and the County’s atmosphere would cause.”
“This lawsuit is about accountability and fairness, and I believe the people of Multnomah County deserve both. These businesses knew their products were unsafe and harmful, and they lied about it,” Pederson said in a written statement announcing the lawsuit. “They have profited massively from their lies and left the rest of us to suffer the consequences and pay for the damages. We say enough is enough.”
The plaintiffs allege the defendants committed negligence and fraud and created a public nuisance.
Bill Forte from North Sky Communications works on a fiber optic line during a heat wave gripping the Pacific Northwest in Lake Forest Park, Washington, U.S., June 26, 2021.
Karen Ducey | Reuters
“There are no new laws or novel theories being asserted here. We contend that the Defendants broke long-standing ones, and we will prove it to a jury,” Jeffrey Simon, a partner at Simon Greenstone Panatier, said in a statement.
“We will show that the normal use of fossil fuel products over time has imposed massive external, unpriced and untraded social, economic and environmental costs on the County. We will show that they were aware of this price, and instead of fully informing the public, they deceived us. And we will ask a jury to decide if it is fair to hold the polluters accountable for these avoidable and rising costs,” Worthington said in a written statement.
“We are confident that, once we show what the fossil fuel companies knew about global warming and when, and what they did to deny, delay and deceive the public, the jury will not let the fossil fuel companies get away with their reckless misconduct,” Worthington said.
“Suits like these continue to waste time, resources and do nothing to address climate change,” a spokesperson for Exxon told CNBC. “This action has no impact on our intention to invest billions of dollars to leading the way in a thoughtful energy transition that takes the world to net zero carbon emissions.”
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group for the oil and gas industry, defended its constituents’ work making energy available to consumers and, like Exxon, called the lawsuit unproductive.
“The record of the past two decades demonstrates that the industry has achieved its goal of providing affordable, reliable American energy to U.S. consumers while substantially reducing emissions and our environmental footprint,” Ryan Meyers, senior vice president and general counsel for API, told CNBC in a statement. “This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless lawsuits against our industry is nothing more than a distraction from important issues and an enormous waste of taxpayer resources. Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not the court system.”
Legal counsel for Chevron called the lawsuit unproductive and unconstitutional.
“Addressing the challenge of global climate change requires a coordinated policy response. These lawsuits are counterproductive distractions from advancing international policy solutions,” Theodore Boutrous, Jr. of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, told CNBC in a statement. “The federal Constitution bars these novel, baseless claims that target one industry and group of companies engaged in lawful activity that provides tremendous benefits to society.”
People sleep at a cooling shelter set up during an unprecedented heat wave in Portland, Oregon, U.S. June 27, 2021.
Maranie Staab | Reuters
Shell said it is working toward a low-carbon future and does not see a lawsuit as productive.
“The Shell Group’s position on climate change has been a matter of public record for decades. We agree that action is needed now on climate change, and we fully support the need for society to transition to a lower-carbon future. As we supply vital energy the world needs today, we continue to reduce our emissions and help customers reduce theirs,” a Shell spokesperson told CNBC.
“Addressing climate change requires a collaborative, society-wide approach. We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change, but that smart policy from government and action from all sectors is the appropriate way to reach solutions and drive progress,” Shell said.
ConocoPhillips and the Western States Petroleum Association told CNBC they don’t comment on active litigation.
BP, Motiva, Occidental Petroleum, Space Age Fuel, Valero Energy, Total Specialties USA, Marathon Petroleum, Peabody Energy, the Koch Industries, and McKinsey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stocks are climbing — the S & P 500 notched its highest close since February on Thursday. Tech stocks in particular have been a bright spot despite the market volatility brought on by the banking crisis, with the Nasdaq up around 16% so far this year — beating the S & P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But investors still have to contend with uncertainty as analysts continue to warn of a recession this year. The U.S. Federal Reserve, too, expects the banking crisis to trigger a mild recession later this year, according to Fed documents . But could be opportunities amid the chaos, with a number of companies trading at steeper discounts on a price-to-earnings basis than they have in recent history. A price-to-earnings ratio is the current share price of a stock divided by its earnings per share. Forward P/E incorporates a company’s forward-looking, estimated earnings per share from Wall Street analysts. Stock screen CNBC Pro screened for stocks in the S & P 500, Nasdaq Composite and MSCI World for cheap stocks with big upside. They met the following criteria: Stocks trading at a lower forward price-to-earnings ratio relative to their average five-year forward P/E multiple; “Buy” ratings from at least 40% of analysts covering them; Upside to average price target of 30% or more. A slew of U.S.-listed energy and tech stocks appeared on the screen. Energy names such as Exxon Mobil and Marathon Petroleum turned up, as well as some in renewables such as First Solar and Enphase Energy . First Solar and Broadwind Energy stood out for having among the highest potential upside on the list at 175% and 250%, respectively. Broadwind was trading at a higher discount to its average five-year forward P/E multiple, at -65%. Shares in the small Cicero, IL.-based company, which makes equipment for the energy industry, are up over 100% over the year to date, getting a boost from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Of the stocks on CNBC’s screen, Valero Energy is trading at the steepest discount at 95%. It had a buy rating of nearly 70%, and possible 52% upside. Three stocks had a 100% buy rating: electronic components maker Bel Fuse , Broadwind and pharmaceutical firm Harrow Health. The global stocks under MSCI World included mostly airlines, banks and financial services firms, as well as automakers. Qantas Airways and Lufthansa were trading at the steepest discounts at -73.6% and 68.7%, respectively. Lufthansa had the highest upside in the global list at 74.9%.
