Most Bought By Hedge Funds

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Yahoo Finance
Netflix's stock sinks as CEO sees 'tough competition' from Apple, Disney
Netflix tumbled as the company’s CEO acknowledged intensifying competition in the streaming media space.
Bloomberg
Your Weekend Reading: Takin’ It to the Streets
(Bloomberg) -- Want to receive a daily news briefing, including this weekend edition, in your inbox every day? Sign up hereMillions of people took to the streets to demand leaders gathering next week at the United Nations do something about climate change. Germany quickly put $60 billion toward new green initiatives, but Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro plans to defend himself in the face of widespread criticism over his handling of the Amazon fires. The good news is that there’s evidence cleaner energy can be profitable and investors want more of it. The bad news is that time is running out.What you’ll want to read this weekendIt’s been a crazy week for the money markets. But as stocks rise, there are signs the U.S. economy may be getting better.Respiratory illnesses from vaping have topped 500 in the U.S., and a seventh person has died. There’s also a race on to contain tainted Zantac.Mary Barra is remaking GM for a future of electric and self-driving cars. China currently owns that market.The Trump administration is trying to strip California of its authority to mandate cleaner cars and has watered down former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act to the point that many policy holders have insurance that barely covers anything at all.Retire, reboot and become an entrepreneur. Seriously. Climate change is adding to the risks of retiring.What you’ll need to know next weekBritain’s top court will rule on the suspension of Parliament. India’s prime minister travels to Texas for a “Howdy Modi” rally. Israel holds talks to form a government, without Netanyahu. The Emmys are awarded Sunday. Robert de Niro has a chance. The Rugby World Cup continues in Japan. There’s beer.What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg WealthHow to invest $1 million and help save the Earth. From the obvious, like electrified vehicles and solar plants, to the obscure, like more sustainable coffee roasting. To contact the author of this story: David Rovella in New York at drovella@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
In Strike at GM, Old Grievances Get Retooled for a New Era
(Bloomberg) -- As the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors Co. nears a second week, the issues in dispute are similar to those that sparked strikes in the past: health care, wages and the company’s commitment to invest in U.S. facilities. The conflicts stretch all the way back to Dec. 30, 1936, when GM employees — led by UAW Local 174 President Walter Reuther — stopped production at plants in Flint, Michigan, and Cleveland. They were protesting low wages and conditions that included 12- to 14-hour shifts, six days a week, often in oppressive heat on fast-moving assembly lines. But instead of walking out, they sat down in the factories, and there they stayed for 44 days.In the ensuing eight decades, there would be dozens of contract negotiations, concessions on both sides and strikes — including the current one that’s sent 46,000 GM workers to the picket lines for the first time in 12 years. Here’s a look back at some of the actions that set precedents in the past.1937: On Feb. 11, 1937, the sit-down strikes end as GM becomes the first of Detroit’s Big Three automakers to recognize the UAW as the representative of its manufacturing employees. The first contract provides higher wages and improved conditions in the plants. Chrysler also recognizes the UAW after a sit-down strike at its Detroit plants.May 1937: Trying to organize workers at Ford Motor Co., Reuther and other UAW supporters pass out leaflets on a pedestrian bridge leading to the company’s River Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford security men attack and beat them in a confrontation that becomes known as the Battle of the Overpass. Pictures of the attack by a Detroit News photographer, who smuggles them past the security guards, help spur support for the union, but Henry Ford balks at recognition.April 1941: A strike at the River Rouge plant halts operations for 10 days. Henry Ford's wife, Clara, helps persuade him to negotiate with the UAW, and the first contract is signed in June.1945-46: Reuther, now a UAW vice president and head of the GM Department, wants a 30% pay increase to help workers in the aftermath of World War II. He also wants GM to implement the raise without increasing vehicle prices. The company says no, so Reuther demands that it “open its books” to show it can afford both. GM refuses again and offers the equivalent of a 10% raise, with higher prices. The union rejects the offer and on Nov. 21, 1945, begins what will be a 113-day national strike. President Harry Truman appoints a board to make recommendations based on postwar wage-price policy; the panel says GM can boost pay by 19.5 cents an hour, or about 17.5%, without raising prices.Ultimately, the company and union agree on an 18.5 cent-a-hour increase. While this is well below Reuther’s 30%, the negotiations are “extraordinarily significant,” says Harley Shaiken, currently a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley, because Reuther puts GM on the defensive and “captures the imagination of the public,” setting the stage for more favorable contracts in 1948 and 1950.1946: UAW members elect Reuther to be the fourth president of the union.1948-50: In 1948, GM agrees to increase wages, with future adjustments based on changes in the government’s consumer price index and in national productivity — a deal the New York Times says may set a “pattern for the industry.” A year later, Ford becomes the first U.S. automaker to negotiate a pension plan with the UAW as part of a 30-month contract: $100 a month for each eligible worker. Ford agrees to pay the cost and to administer the plan jointly with the union. Chrysler agrees to the $100 benefit during contract talks but refuses to pay for it until after a strike in 1950 that lasts about 100 days.The Chrysler agreement covers three years; GM and the UAW will later negotiate a five-year pact that includes a pension plan, along with new and improved medical and other benefits. The provisions in what will be known as the Treaty of Detroit do set the tone for industry contracts for the next 30 years.1970: Reuther dies in an airplane crash on May 9, and Leonard Woodcock becomes the fifth UAW president. In September, he leads a strike against GM that lasts for 67 days, stopping production across the automaker’s facilities. The final contract includes higher wages, a plan that allows workers to retire with a pension after 30 years and payment of drug and Medicare costs for retirees. 1977: Douglas Fraser becomes the last of the UAW's founding fathers to serve as president.1979: UAW membership begins to decline after peaking at around 1.5 million in the 1970s.1979-81: Fraser leads negotiations with Chrysler on wage and benefit concessions that — along with loan guarantees from the U.S. government and help from lenders, dealers and suppliers — allow the automaker to avert bankruptcy, “We went to the membership for ratification three times in 13 months, and each contract was worse than the previous one,’’ Fraser said in a 2001 BusinessWeek interview. “We really didn't know if [Chrysler] was going to survive.”Ford and GM also will ask for concessions in the 1980s, as Japanese auto companies take an increasing share of U.S. car sales and the UAW’s focus in contract negotiations shifts to job security. Meanwhile, the UAW organizes a new Volkswagen assembly plant in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, that produces small cars. (Slowing sales will cause Volkswagen to close the factory in 1988.)1982: Honda Motor Co. opens the first Japanese-owned auto plant in the U.S. to build Accord cars. The UAW reaches an agreement with management that the company will remain neutral on a possible unionization vote at the Marysville, Ohio, factory.1983: Owen Bieber becomes the seventh UAW president and seeks more labor-management cooperation with the Big Three.1985-86: The Canadian branch of the UAW secedes from the parent union in anger over concessions to GM, Ford and Chrysler. The UAW withdraws its National Labor Relations petition for a unionization vote at Honda's Ohio plant.1995: Stephen Yokich, a strike leader whose mother famously pushed his stroller on a picket line when he was 22 months old, becomes the eighth UAW president.1998: As the auto industry becomes increasingly global, and companies seek to better manage parts inventories to contain costs, more than 9,000 workers strike a GM metal-stamping plant and a parts-supply facility in Flint, Michigan. The ripple effect of the more-than-50-day work stoppage eventually halts output across the automaker's North American operations, cutting $1.2 billion from GM’s profits, the company says in reporting third-quarter results. 2002: Ron Gettelfinger is elected the ninth UAW president.2005-11: Turmoil roils the industry: the Great Recession, soaring gasoline prices, car sales near a 30-year low, plant closings, layoffs, bankruptcies and government bailouts at GM and Chrysler, along with a drastic restructuring at Ford. The 2007 contracts create a two-tier wage system that pays new hires about half what more senior employees earn and shifts billions of dollars in retiree health-care obligations from the auto companies to union-run funds. In 2011 negotiations, Bob King, elected the UAW’s 10th president the previous year, says workers must be rewarded for the $7,000 to $30,000 each gave up since 2005 in surrendering raises, bonuses and cost-of-living adjustments, along with other concessions. The final agreements provide signing and additional bonuses, higher hourly pay for entry-level employees and other benefits. GM, Ford and Chrysler (now majority-owned by Fiat SpA) commit to adding jobs and investing in American plants. “We made important gains for our members,” King says after GM workers approve their contract.2014-15: Dennis Williams is elected the 11th president in 2014. In 2015, some rank-and-file members criticize him for accepting a bear hug from Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne at an event to kick off contract talks. Workers overwhelmingly vote down the initial deal Williams signs off on with the automaker — the first such rejection of a national proposal since 1982, according to the Detroit Free Press. Members later approve an agreement that includes greater concessions from the company, including a path to senior-level pay for entry-level workers.2018: Gary Jones becomes the 12th UAW president in June 2018. In August 2019, FBI agents raid his home and the home of Williams, his predecessor, as part of an investigation into corruption involving the union related to illegal use of training-center funds. A UAW spokesman has called the search unwarranted and said the union is cooperating with the investigation. Sept. 16, 2019: Some 46,000 UAW workers strike GM over issues that include health-care benefits, use of temporary workers, the tiered pay scale and investment in American operations. Sources: Bloomberg News, UAW archives, contemporary news reports, Bloomberg Law, Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University\--With assistance from Chester Dawson.To contact the authors of this story: Melinda Grenier in New York at mgrenier1@bloomberg.netEugene Reznik in New York at ereznik5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Peter HallFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Zacks
ETFs in Focus as Netflix Bags Global Rights for Seinfeld
Netflix boosts its content portfolio with the new show. We highlight the ETFs that can gain from this move.
Bloomberg
Warren, Sanders Add Trips to UAW Picket Lines After Worker Pleas
(Bloomberg) -- Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have scheduled trips to Detroit next week, after striking auto workers criticized the presidential candidates for their absence from picket lines.More than 46,000 General Motors Co. workers walked off the job Sunday after their contract expired. Those workers are the exact kind of voters Democrats will need to defeat President Donald Trump in crucial swing states like Michigan in next year’s election.But as of Friday, only two major Democratic candidates — Tim Ryan and Amy Klobuchar — had joined workers protesting at GM facilities.Others have tweeted support for the United Auto Workers from campaign stops in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early primary states, denouncing GM for canceling health-care coverage for unionized employees during a contract impasse.“Where are these people at?” said Daniel Rider, a 46-year-old GM worker as he picketed in front of the GM headquarters in downtown Detroit Thursday.“They want help from the union. They come to the union for us to vote for them,” said Rider, who works at the GM powertrain plant in Romulus, Michigan, and gives $10 a month to a United Auto Workers political action committee.“Where are they at now when General Motors is putting their foot on our neck?” he said.As Rider spoke, Joe Biden was holding a fundraiser in Chicago. Warren was going to Iowa. And Sanders was rallying supporters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.GM plants and their workers are concentrated in places including Ohio and Michigan -- crucial states to win a presidential election but not on the early primary calendar.Since 46,000 unionized GM workers walked off the job on Sunday, only two major candidates have joined them on the picket lines. Ryan, a congressman whose Ohio district was battered by job losses when GM idled its Lordstown plant, has been tweeting from union halls and factories across Ohio and Michigan since Monday.Kobuchar, a Minnesota senator, took coffee and doughnuts to striking workers at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant on Thursday.Klobuchar is on a tour of the “Blue Wall” states — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — that were supposed to ensure Hillary Clinton a victory in 2016 but all went for Trump. Those states all have auto assembly or supplier plants, but do not have early primaries.But until Friday, other Democrats were lending support primarily though social media.Asked Thursday night in Iowa City if she would support the striking employees in person, Warren said: “I hope I get a chance to, but I’ve already joined them online. I’ve already sent my support. And I think that’s what we ought to be doing all across this country. We need to stand with the workers.”Warren will now go to Detroit on Sunday, and Sanders next Wednesday, their campaigns said. Details on both visits were still being finalized.Eddie Vale, a Democratic strategist who works for labor unions, said if he were advising a presidential campaign, he would drop everything to make a visit possible. “When there is an active strike and workers are on the line, you go and support them.”The irony, Vale said, is that candidates are talking about labor issues more than any time in recent memory.Health care has become a central issue in the campaign -- even to the extent that Biden and Sanders have been in a months-long debate about whose plan is better for unionized workers.Warren has promised she’ll nominate a union leader as labor secretary, and that a union representative would be present at trade negotiations.“I’m surprised there hasn’t been more action, and I’m not sure why not either,” said Laura Bucci, who studies labor unions and politics at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “Strikes are really hard, and kind words mean something, but a physical presence would mean something more.”One possible complicating factor, Bucci said, is a corruption investigation swirling around top UAW officials. As the union was negotiating a new contract last month, federal agents were executing search warrants on UAW offices and the homes of its president, Gary Jones, and his predecessor.Trump, too, has largely kept his distance. After reports Tuesday that Trump was actively working to mediate the dispute, the White House denied involvement.Workers say they’re getting plenty of support from members of Congress and singled out Representatives Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib.“At the local level, out at the plants, politicians have been showing up left and right,” said Stephanie Carpenter, a 22-year GM worker from Trenton, Michigan. “We’re not playing around, so you -- yeah, you -- better show your faces, you better support us, because come election day, we’ll clean house.”Carpenter, 44, supported Sanders in 2016 but said she’s still looking at other candidates this year. Asked why more Democrats aren’t on the picket lines, she vented her frustration at Trump.“Why isn’t Trump here? He’s our president. He wants to be involved,” she said. “Why isn’t he standing out here on this picket line saying, ‘Make an agreement. Let’s go. Let’s get busy.’”“I don’t see no Secret Service pulling up anytime soon, do you?”(Updates with newly scheduled Detroit visits by Sanders and Warren.)\--With assistance from Laura Litvan and Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou.To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.net;Gabrielle Coppola in Detroit at gcoppola@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max BerleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
GM’s Offer of a Lifeline for Lordstown Had a Catch: Lower Pay
(Bloomberg) -- When General Motors Co. made a deadline-day offer for a new labor contract to the United Auto Workers last week, it came with a gift. The company was prepared to build batteries in an Ohio town that’s been sweating the prospect that half a century of car-making will come to an end.But there was a catch. GM and an as-yet-unnamed battery supplier for its next-generation electric vehicles would offer wages similar to what the automaker pays non-assembly workers who top out at $17 an hour, according to people familiar with the proposal. Senior-level plant staff make roughly $30 an hour. The shortfall is one of several reasons the union rejected GM and went on strike.For the UAW, who builds electric vehicles and how much they earn is an existential issue. Negotiators are already trying to get a better deal for temporary and less-tenured workers who don’t make the top assembly wage -- part of a tiered-pay system set up to rebuild union ranks in the wake of the recession. If it caves to GM again, the UAW fears it will be chasing wages for a generation.Read more: In Strike at GM, Old Grievances Get Retooled for a New EraThere are also grave concerns with essentially incentivizing GM to plow money into plants making battery cells and packs -- which may require less labor and likely use more non-union sub-assembly components -- at the expense of unionized factories making engines and transmissions for gas-burning autos.Big StakesThe implications are much bigger than just the future of Lordstown, where GM idled a car plant in March, much to the chagrin of President Donald Trump. The project GM has planned is to make batteries for some of the 20 electric models the company has vowed to sell globally by 2023, potentially including the electric trucks that were part of its offer to the UAW. It’s a key component of GM’s transformation and will employ a lot of workers, one of the people said.GM has reason to view its offer as a gift. Right now, GM buys batteries for its Chevrolet Bolt electric car from South Korean supplier LG Chem Ltd. The UAW doesn’t represent those workers.The largest producer of electric vehicles is Tesla Inc., whose Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has vehemently and publicly opposed the UAW. A Tesla employee who called for forming a union at the company’s assembly plant in 2017 claimed assembly workers there made between $17 and $21 an hour, though they also are compensated with stock options.A union-represented battery plant in Lordstown would position the union for the electric age. But rather than see the offer as a way to add new members for decades to come, the UAW fears spend it will spend that time fighting to restore the level of pay and benefits won over the past 80 years.The battery factory would not be located in GM’s idled Lordstown assembly plant. GM wants to go forward with a plan to sell the facility to a venture overseen by fledgling electric-vehicle maker Workhorse Group Inc.The Union’s WorriesThe UAW already has reservations about electrification. In a white paper published earlier this year, the union estimated 35,000 jobs at engine and transmission plants could be wiped out as electric vehicles become the norm. It’s worried that assembly of electric vehicles, which require fewer parts, will be a drag on jobs.“The production of new EV components could shift business and employment to non-auto companies that lack a large U.S. manufacturing base,” UAW researchers wrote in the white paper. “This could undermine auto job quality by shifting work to employers with no history of manufacturing labor relations or to companies more likely to import components.”There is a similar issue, though much less contentious, at GM’s so-called Poletown plant that straddles the line between the traditionally Polish town of Hamtramck and Detroit. GM also has offered to build new electric vehicles there, which would give the factory life after January, when the company ceases production of the sedans it’s been making. If the union agrees, Hamtramck would make a line of battery-powered pickups and SUVs.Orion PrecedentWhile assemblers in Hamtramck would be covered by GM’s main contract, the company would likely want to include provisions to pay some workers at a lower wage, the people said. The automaker already has a subsidiary called GM Subsystems Manufacturing LLC that makes battery packs in Brownstown, Michigan, and does non-assembly work in other plants, such as handling of parts and materials. Those workers top-out at $17 an hour.The Chevy Bolt plant in Orion, Michigan, has such a deal in place, along with GM’s plant in Lansing making Chevy Camaro muscle cars and Cadillac sedans.For all its concerns, the UAW does see building electric vehicles as a possible lifeline for a union that’s seen membership fall precipitously from its peak in the 1970s.Electric vehicles “could be an opportunity to re-invest in U.S. manufacturing to produce the vehicles of the future under high-road working conditions,” UAW researchers wrote in the white paper. “But this opportunity will be lost if components are imported from other economies or shifted to low-road employers that pay wages below U.S. manufacturing standards.”\--With assistance from Dana Hull.To contact the reporter on this story: David Welch in Southfield at dwelch12@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Chester DawsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Zacks
Roku Unveils Streaming Devices Roku Express & Roku Ultra
Roku (ROKU) launches new devices that are expected to strengthen its footprint in the increasingly crowded video-streaming space.
Bloomberg
Hold That Recession: U.S. Indicators Are Trouncing Forecasts
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy is outperforming expectations by the most this year, offering a fresh rebuttal to last month’s resurgent recession fears fueled by the trade war and a manufacturing slump.The Bloomberg Economic Surprise Index has reached an 11-month high after four indicators released Thursday, including existing home sales and jobless claims, each surpassed expectations. The gauge continued to advance after swinging to positive from negative on Tuesday for the first time this year. The data also pushed a similar measure produced by Citigroup Inc. to the highest level since April 2018.“It says things are getting better,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group in Minneapolis “There’s a definitive change in the growth profile and there’s an acceleration in growth. It’s interesting how pessimistic the attitudes still are among investors, yet when you look at surprise indexes, you would think people would feel better about growth. There’s a disconnect.”The readings are signaling a somewhat brighter mood about the world’s largest economy after some indicators and markets stoked fears last month of a quicker ending to the record-long economic expansion.Federal Reserve policy makers on Wednesday highlighted the economy’s strength even as they moved forward with their second-straight interest-rate reduction to guard against elevated risks to the expansion. Investors are growing more upbeat too, lifting U.S. equity benchmarks back near records this month.Paulsen also noted similar surprise upbeat readings in other parts of the world, including Europe and Japan.St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, asked Friday about rising surprise indexes, pointed to mixed readings and diverging sectors. “We have a very strong labor market that’s underpinning good consumption growth in the U.S., the household sector is generally doing well,” he told Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM. He said other parts of the economy are seeing weakness with global growth slowing and Europe “teetering on recession.”Thursday’s raft of U.S. data included the Labor Department’s report on initial filings for unemployment benefits, which matched the most optimistic estimate in Bloomberg’s survey and were just above historically low levels.Elsewhere, the unchanged reading on the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators -- a barometer of future growth -- compared with projections for a decline.In addition, an industry report on August existing home sales sailed above all forecasts following a report Wednesday showing the strongest pace of housing starts since 2007, signaling that residential construction may add to economic growth in the third quarter for the first time since the end of 2017.Within manufacturing, the Philadelphia Fed’s index of manufacturing business activity in September topped estimates Thursday as factories continued to expand at a moderate pace. On the other hand, the New York Fed’s Empire State factory index was more downbeat earlier this week.To be sure, several better-than-forecast data points don’t amount to an all-clear sign for the economy. American business is still reluctant to ramp up capital investment against a backdrop of trade policy uncertainty and tepid global demand.The chances of recession in the next 12 months are up to 35% from 20% at the end of last year, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists earlier this month. Forecasters still project 2.2% GDP growth this year and 1.7% in 2020.Recession concerns grew last month after President Donald Trump announced more tariffs on Chinese goods, prompting a retaliation, while the stock market slumped and a key part of the Treasury yield curve inverted -- a traditional harbinger of recession.“People got overly pessimistic about the U.S. economic outlook,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wells Fargo & Co. Now, he says, “the message is growth is slower, yes, but the risk of recession is grossly overstated. As long as the Fed continues to do the right thing” by cutting rates a couple more times.“A year from now we’ll look back and say, yes, we pivoted to slower growth and job growth slowed, but there is still a lot going right with the economy,” he said.(Adds comment from Fed’s Bullard in eighth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Kearns in Washington at jkearns3@bloomberg.net;Steve Matthews in Atlanta at smatthews@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, Vince GolleFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Market Realist
Fed Rate Cut: Why Cooperman Feels It’s Unnecessary
Some prominent market personalities, such as Leon Cooperman, chair and CEO of Omega Advisors, feel that the Fed's rate cut decision was unnecessary.
Investing.com
StockBeat: Roku Shares Clobbered as Analyst Says Sell
Investing.com - Roku shares were hit hard Friday after a Wall Street analyst rated the stock a sell and slapped it with a $60 price target.
Simply Wall St.
Have Insiders Been Selling Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE:PLAN) Shares This Year?
We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly...
Bloomberg
Roku Has Worst Day in Months as Fear of Competition Looms Again
(Bloomberg) -- Roku Inc. shares suffered their second double-digit percentage drop of the past three trading days on Friday, as concerns over competition once again pressured a stock that has quadrupled since December.Shares of the the video-streaming platform company sank as much as 18% in midday trading, its biggest one-day percentage loss since November, dropping on volume that already eclipsed its daily average volume over the past three months. The stock was trading at a six-week low, and on track for a weekly drop of more than 25%.With the decline, Roku has lost about 35% of its value since a record close hit earlier this month. Even with the drop, however, shares remain up more than 300% from a December low as investors see the company as a major beneficiary to a shift toward streaming video.Friday’s decline was sparked after Pivotal Research Group started coverage on Roku shares with a sell rating and Street-low price target of $60, a target that represents downside of more than 55% from the company’s Thursday close.Analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak wrote that shares were “dramatically overvalued” after the 2019 rally, and that he sees “dramatically more competition emerging.”Pivotal’s comments spoke to an issue that also weighed on Roku on Wednesday, after Facebook Inc. debuted a new model of its Portal video device that will have access to some streaming services, and Comcast Corp. said its Xfinity Flex box would be included with Internet-only subscriptions.Wlodarczak sees such developments as a harbinger of things to come. He anticipates “dramatically more competition,” including from “big boys” like Comcast, whose plan “will inevitably be copied by other distributors”, and “likely drive the cost of [over-the-top video-streaming] devices to zero.”These rivals have “massive leverage,” he wrote, and are likely to make growth “much more difficult.”This bearish view is a minority opinion. Pivotal is only the second firm to recommend selling Roku shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, compared with the stock’s nine buy ratings and the five firms with a neutral view on the stock.As occurred following the week’s previous drop, Roku bulls defended the name as shares declined. Needham analyst Laura Martin called it “the gold-standard pure play” of video streaming, one that was “underscored by flawless (our word) execution” and a continually expanding total addressable market.The firm reiterated its buy rating and $150 price target in a note to clients. “Even if Roku’s hardware sales went to zero TOMORROW,” the financial downside “would be minimal” as it accounts for just 5% of its gross profit, Martin wrote (emphasis in original).Separately, Oppenheimer on Friday affirmed its outperform rating despite the “pending SVOD war,” referring to streaming video on demand. “Roku’s U.S. strategy play-book should allow fast international market share,” the firm wrote. “Many new services are playing catch-up in a crowded market, with limited scaled platforms to add [subscribers].”The firm raised its price target to $155 from $120, and was at least the second firm this week to boost its view on Roku’s international potential, following a similar move from Guggenheim on Wednesday.Currently, analysts expect full-year revenue growth of about 48% for 2019, and 36% growth in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. According to a Bloomberg MODL forecast, Roku is expected to have about 36.2 million active accounts at the end of 2019.To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm, Morwenna ConiamFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Market Realist
Rivian: Is Amazon’s Order Bad News for Tesla?
Amazon placed a bulk order for 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian. Amazon plans to phase out its current diesel vehicles in a systematic manner.
Zacks
New Strong Buy Stocks for September 20th
New Strong Buy Stocks for September 20th
Market Realist
MS: Model Y, Pickup Truck to Drive Tesla’s Market Share
Yesterday, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas provided his thoughts on Tesla while maintaining his rating and target price on its stock.
Zacks
Western Digital to Offload IntelliFlash Business to DDN
Western Digital's (WDC) focus to ensure its products deliver high quality storage solutions across all emerging data-driven technologies bodes well. Also, ongoing expansion of product portfolio bodes well for the top line.
Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: NRG Energy, American States Water, BCB Bancorp, Customers Bancorp and First Bancorp
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: NRG Energy, American States Water, BCB Bancorp, Customers Bancorp and First Bancorp
Zacks
Autonomous Driving Space Gains Steam: Stocks in Focus
Here we discuss few stocks well poised to capitalize on their ongoing initiatives in self-driving space.
Zacks
Will a Rush of Streaming Services Wipe Out Cable Providers?
Is the onset of streaming services spelling doom for cable providers? Let us have a look.
Market Realist
The Tesla-Porsche Battle Is Heating Up
Since Porsche launched the Taycan, Tesla has been trying to prove its supremacy in terms of various features. It recently revealed its upcoming Plaid Mode.
Zacks
Mobile Game Dominance War Intensifies: ATVI & Others to Watch
Activision Blizzard's (ATVI) upcoming Call of Duty: Mobile is expected to provide it a competitive edge in the crowded mobile games space.
Zacks
Count on These 3 Video Game Stocks for Superb Gains
This is an opportune moment to grab video game stocks as new releases this fall could be game changers in boosting revenues.