Investment strategy - Thomson 158 Reuters

Barclays playbook for the election: Stocks that win under Trump or Harris

admin — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 11:30:43 +0000

The post Barclays playbook for the election: Stocks that win under Trump or Harris first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

What Warren Buffett’s recent moves say – and don’t say – about today’s market

admin — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 22:50:10 +0000

.

Source link

The post What Warren Buffett’s recent moves say – and don’t say – about today’s market first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

Billionaires poured millions of dollars into presidential super PACs in August

admin — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 19:39:39 +0000

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump (L), and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Reuters

The nation’s wealthy opened their wallets in August with a focus on election season, donating millions to the super PACs backing Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and Democrats and Republicans throughout the country, according to monthly reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday.

The largest single-contributor donations went to MAGA Inc., the super PAC backing Trump, with Wisconsin roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks, a prolific GOP megadonor, giving $10 million to the group.

Howard Lutnick, the CEO of the financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald, and Paul Singer, the president of Elliott Management, an investment management firm, both gave $5 million to MAGA Inc.

Annette Caldwell Simmons, the widow of businessman Harold Simmons, gave $2 million to MAGA Inc., while Warren Stephens, the CEO of investment bank Stephens Inc., gave $1 million.

On the Democratic side, tech entrepreneurs were the biggest donors to FF PAC, also known as Future Forward, a super PAC backing Harris’ presidential bid.

The biggest donors to the group in August were Facebook and Asana co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson and his wife, Erica.

Moskovitz donated $3 million to FF PAC, while Hastings, Jeff Lawson and Erica Lawson each gave $1 million.

Hastings, who is a major backer of Democrats, was one of the biggest Democratic donors to publicly call for President Joe Biden to step aside from his re-election campaign earlier this year.

The reports out Friday only included donations from Aug. 1 through Aug. 31, the first full month that Harris was the presumptive — and later official — Democratic presidential nominee.

Super PACs like FF PAC and MAGA Inc. are havens for prolific political megadonors like Hendricks, Lutnick and Hastings because, unlike campaigns and their affiliated committees, super PACs don’t have limits on how much individuals can donate.

Further down the ballot, Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC that boosts GOP congressional and Senate candidates, received two major donations in August of $5 million each from Jeff Yass, the co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, a trading group, and Richard Uihlein, the founder of shipping supply company Uline.

Yass and Uihlein are both major GOP megadonors who have given to Club for Growth and other conservative groups for multiple election cycles.

On the Democratic side, House Majority PAC, a group that boosts Democrats running for Congress, received $600,000 in August from Amos Hostetter Jr., the co-founder of Continental Cablevision, the biggest donation to the group for this filing period.

Hostetter has a history of donating to anti-Trump groups.

.

Source link

The post Billionaires poured millions of dollars into presidential super PACs in August first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

Why this top fund manager says the best investment this year is ‘the hedge against political cycles’

admin — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 15:00:01 +0000

A major exchange-traded fund and mutual fund manager finds the winning gold trade isn’t talked about as much as the artificial intelligence trade — but maybe it should be.

VanEck CEO Jan van Eck thinks the best investment this year is “the hedge against political cycles.” To him, that means investing in gold.

“It is quietly the best performing asset this year,” Van Eck told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” from the Future Proof conference in Huntington Beach on Monday.

Gold hit another record on Friday, its 37th record this year. As of Friday’s market close, it is up 28% since the start of the year.

Van Eck, whose firm runs the VanEck Gold Miners ETF, expects foreign investments in bullion will continue to give the commodity a boost. It should also help in lifting gold miners higher, which started the year lagging the commodity. But as of Friday, the VanEck Gold Miners ETF has started to outperform, up 31% this year.

“I think you own both because the miners, if they catch up at all, it’s going to rip,” he said.

As for the AI trade, van Eck says it’s “amazing” how investors refuse to give up on it.

“It’s like part of people’s model portfolios, or core portfolios, is to have this tactical overweight to semis. And some of our biggest clients actually bought on the dip over the last week or two,” the VanEck CEO said.

Last month, his firm launched the VanEck Fabless Semiconductor ETF. It’s a companion to its VanEck Semiconductor ETF that excludes companies that run their own foundries, such as Intel.

FactSet reports the new ETF’s top holdings as Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices as of Friday.

“Why spend billions of dollars on building the chips if you don’t have to?” van Eck said. “Nvidia doesn’t build its own chips. So that’s another kind of investment strategy.”

Since launching on Aug. 28, the VanEck Fabless Semiconductor ETF is up a half percent.

Disclaimer

.

Source link

The post Why this top fund manager says the best investment this year is ‘the hedge against political cycles’ first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

From frustration to excitement: The long, winding road of Alphabet’s self-driving Waymo unit

admin — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 14:54:23 +0000

Alphabet ‘s self-driving car unit Waymo is finally shifting into high gear. After years of heavy investment and losses, Waymo ridership is picking up momentum in its existing West Coast markets, and the company just inked an expanded partnership with Uber to bring its robotaxi service to the ride-hailing giant’s app in Atlanta and Austin, Texas, in early 2025. That will put Waymo in five markets, including Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Waymo and Uber are partners already in Phoenix. The ridership growth and deeper ties with Uber represent significant milestones for Waymo and its parent company, which has poured billions into the venture with seemingly little reward for investors. And the timing couldn’t be better: Waymo is flexing its muscles just weeks before electric vehicle pioneer Tesla is set to hold its hotly anticipated robotaxi event on Oct. 10. Currently, Waymo is the only commercial robotaxi service operating in the U.S. Tesla’s presentation will cast a spotlight on the broader state of autonomous driving technology, which has seen its fair share of hype and safety hurdles over the past decade-plus. While it remains a nascent industry, it’s increasingly clear Waymo will be a significant player in its evolving commercial future. “Waymo has been a big disappointment until this very day. I no longer feel it is,” Jim Cramer said shortly after the Austin and Atlanta expansion was announced last week. “This is a substantive reason to stay in Alphabet,” added Jim, who has in recent months expressed frustration with the Club stock’s performance and lamented not more aggressively trimming the position . Waymo has the potential to be “a very big business,” Jim said. GOOGL .SPX 1Y mountain Alphabet’s stock performance over the past 12 months compared with the S & P 500. A long road It’s been a long and winding road for Waymo since its inception in 2009 as Google’s self-driving car project. Seven years later, in December 2016, it graduated into a standalone company owned by Alphabet and housed in its Other Bets segment, a collection of more speculative ventures outside its core Google search engine, YouTube and cloud businesses. Its Waymo One rideshare service became available to the general public in Phoenix in 2020 . It launched with a waitlist in San Francisco in August 2023 before opening to everyone in the city three months ago. Paid service started up in Los Angeles in April . Now Atlanta and Austin are next up (currently, only Waymo employees can take rides in Austin). The robotaxi service now has about 700 autonomous vehicles on the road across its markets. Waymo has provided more than 2 million trips to date, and the pace is accelerating, which is good for revenue. Waymo doubled weekly paid rides to 100,000 in August from 50,000 in May, the company announced last month . Even before the recent Uber news, Morgan Stanley forecasted overall Waymo revenue to grow by 359% in 2024 and 109% in 2025 across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin. Adding into the mix Atlanta, a city of a half-million people, figures to boost the growth rate further. To be sure, Waymo is still small. TD Cowen estimates Waymo will generate gross bookings of $72 million in 2024 — merely 0.2% of Uber’s expected amount in the U.S., and 0.5% of Lyft ‘s, according to the analysts. Some estimates on Wall Street are higher than TD Cowen’s — Bernstein is at roughly $100 million, for example — but the takeaway is the same. Nevertheless, an improving revenue outlook at Waymo is welcome news for Alphabet investors, particularly those like Jim who had grown tired of heavy losses in the Other Bets unit dragging down the earnings of Google’s mature businesses. Other Bets had $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 — with an operating loss of $4.1 billion. Companywide revenue and operating income were $307 billion and $84 billion, respectively. Most of the revenue in Other Bets is generated by its life-sciences company Verily and GFiber, its WiFi and internet connectivity unit operating in some parts of the U.S, according to Alphabet . It’s difficult to nail down Waymo’s specific finances because Alphabet does not break out the specific companies inside Other Bets. Given that developing and deploying self-driving tech is expensive, Waymo’s losses at this stage are likely significant. But so is its long-term potential to make investors money. “It is arguably the most compelling long-term bet in terms of value creation,” Brad Erickson, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in an interview with CNBC. “There’s billions and billions of dollars of equity value creation opportunity there.” New funding Alphabet is leaning into that opportunity. In July, Alphabet announced a new multiyear investment in Waymo to the tune of $5 billion. Waymo has also garnered external support in previous years. In 2020, it landed $3 billion in its first round of external funding from investors including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and car dealer AutoNation , among others. It secured an additional $2.5 billion in 2021 . “This new round of funding, which is consistent with recent annual investment levels, will enable Waymo to continue to build the world’s leading autonomous driving technology company,” Alphabet’s then-CFO Ruth Porat said in July. Waymo can’t build the leading robotaxi business alone. Its deepening ties with Uber makes that clear. When Waymo first launched in Phoenix, users ordered a ride through the Waymo One app. That changed about a year ago , when Uber added Waymo vehicles to its app. If an Uber user calls for a ride within Waymo’s Phoenix operating zone, it might be matched with a self-driving car. A rider has to confirm the pickup. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Waymo One app is the lone way to summon a self-driving car. Atlanta and Austin will be different. In those cities, Waymo vehicles will only be available through the Uber app. And unlike in Phoenix, Uber also will provide some fleet management services such as cleaning and storage of the vehicles. “The fact that Waymo is choosing to enter new markets exclusively with Uber suggests positive traction in Phoenix, in our view, and speed to market advantages,” Bank of America analysts wrote in a note to clients Monday. Partnering with ride-hailing incumbents like Uber is crucial to making the business more economically viable, analysts say. The heart of that viewpoint is an important concept known as vehicle utilization, which measures the amount of time vehicles spend servicing passengers. Higher utilization means more customers are using the service, which eventually materializes into more profits to help cover costs on the depreciating vehicle asset. “Those cars cost a lot of money to put out on the road. So, if they’re not generating revenue, it’s a very poor use of capacity,” Erickson said. “The way you can generate almost instantaneous demand is to hook-in with Uber’s network.” And it’s a big one: Uber said it had 156 million monthly active consumers on its platform in the three months ended June 30. Uber had been developing its own self-driving technology before selling the unit to Aurora Innovation , known for its autonomous semi-truck venture , in 2020. That marked a clear strategy shift for Uber and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi toward partnerships like the one it has with Waymo. Uber also is working with Waymo competitor Cruise, which is owned by General Motors . Last month, Uber and Cruise entered into a multiyear partnership that could bring Cruise vehicles onto Uber’s platform as soon as 2025. Cruise will first need to relaunch its robotaxi operations after pausing them in October 2023 in the wake of a collision with a pedestrian. In that crash , a self-driving Cruise in San Francisco dragged a pedestrian about 20 feet after that person was first hit by a vehicle operated by a human driver. The incident underscored the safety challenges for autonomous vehicles, which remain a key risk for passengers, other drivers, as well as investors in the industry. Indeed, Waymo has had minor stumbles recently. The company recalled all of its 672 vehicles in June after a driverless Waymo vehicle hit a utility pole while attempting a low-speed pullover maneuver. In February, Waymo recalled 444 of its vehicles after two Waymo vehicles hit a towed pickup truck in Phoenix. In both recall scenarios, the company updated the vehicles’ software to fix issues. Earlier this year, U.S. safety regulators also opened a probe i nto Waymo’s performance. For its part, Waymo claims its vehicles make roads safer and in early September published a data dashboard showing statistics on how its cars have performed in Phoenix and San Francisco versus crash rate benchmarks for human drivers. In an interview on CNBC last week, Uber’s Khosrowshahi called Waymo the “leader” in driverless tech, touting the company’s safety record. And he suggested there’s more expansion on the horizon for autonomous taxis on the Uber platform. “I can’t predict timing, but this is a technology that is going to scale,” he said. Analysts and investors alike want to see how Waymo ridership trends in its new markets and whether the company’s rate of expansion into even more cities can accelerate. It’s unclear where Waymo may go after Austin and Atlanta, though it has mapped more than 25 cities, according to Morgan Stanley analysts. “Stepping back, if Waymo is to make meaningful strides and grow its reach in a reasonable time frame, it will have to accelerate this pace of city launches,” the Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a Sept. 5 note. Waymo spokesman Ethan Teicher declined to comment on any future plans, but did say, “We’re excited about Waymo One’s growth and the positive feedback we’re getting from our riders.” In the very near future, Tesla’s robotaxi event Oct. 10 will be a pivotal moment for the autonomous driving landscape and offer a refreshed look at Waymo’s standing in it. Any details Tesla provides on its current plan to commercialize a robotaxi service, including launch timing, will be especially notable. Competition is definitely coming, but Waymo has a good head start. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long GOOGL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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.

A Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar electric vehicle sits parked at an EVgo charging station in Los Angeles, California, on May 15, 2024.

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

Alphabet‘s self-driving car unit Waymo is finally shifting into high gear.

.

Source link

The post From frustration to excitement: The long, winding road of Alphabet’s self-driving Waymo unit first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

Cramer’s Lighting Round: Dominion Energy is a buy

admin — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 22:57:12 +0000

Dominion Energy’s year-to-date stock performance.

Dutch Bros’ year-to-date stock performance.

Dutch Bros: “I like Dutch Bros, I’m glad that they slowed their expansion…”

Super Micro Computer’s year-to-date stock performance.

LyondellBasell’s year-to-date stock performance.

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

.

Source link

The post Cramer’s Lighting Round: Dominion Energy is a buy first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

Cramer’s week ahead: New inflation data and earnings from Costco, KB Home

admin — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 22:46:51 +0000

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday walked investors through next week’s notable Wall Street action, pointing to quarterly reports from Costco and KB Home, as well as new economic data that could inform the Federal Reserve’s next decision about interest rates.

But regardless of the week’s events, Cramer said the Fed’s successful start to the easing cycle is leading the market in a positive direction.

“We’re in a rate cut cycle now, ok, it’s very different from, from the last couple years. So, the backdrop is now friendly. Don’t treat it with hostility, please,” he said. “When the Fed wants to be your friend, the best way to try to make money is by embracing the Fed’s friendship.”

Monday brings remarks from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, which Cramer said could provide more information about why the central bank cut rates by 50 basis points instead of a more modest 25. But he said the biggest event of the day will be initial data about sales of Apple‘s new iPhone, which some analysts said may disappoint. Cramer reiterated his “own it, don’t trade it” mantra on the stock.

On Tuesday, KB Home will post earnings and Cramer said he hopes the company can shed light on the state of the housing market, adding that it’s the “most intractable part of the now-waning inflationary economy.” Next year should be better for the homebuilder than 2024 because the Fed is lowering rates, he added. Also on Tuesday, computer developer Hewlett Packard will showcase some of its new artificial intelligence-enabled technology.

Semiconductor outfit Micron will report earnings on Wednesday along with Cintas, which supplies a range of materials, including uniforms, to businesses. Cintas may be able to provide information about the state of small businesses, Cramer said. He also pointed out that Micron’s stock has been crushed, and it could be a good buy here.

Retail grocery giant Costco reports on Thursday, and Cramer will be paying attention to which products are and aren’t selling. He noted that its stock has been performing well and said he thinks it will continue to do so.

On Friday, the Commerce Department will release the personal consumption expenditures price index, a key metric for the Fed as members weigh their next interest rate decision. Cramer said these figures will trigger “a whole new guessing game” on Wall Street about how many rate cuts — and by how many basis points — the Fed will implement, if at all, over the next few months.

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

.

Source link

The post Cramer’s week ahead: New inflation data and earnings from Costco, KB Home first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

RH CEO explains why his company doesn’t have a social media presence

admin — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 22:41:24 +0000

RH CEO Gary Friedman told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday why the upscale home furnishing retailer doesn’t have any official social media accounts, saying paid promotions by online influencers aren’t authentic.

“The great brands that stand the test of time, they earn it, right,” Friedman said. “They tell the truth. And, you know, having fake fans and people you pay talk about you on Instagram or TikTok or whatnot, it’s not the truth.”

Friedman conceded that social media has exploded, and “the digital visualization and connectivity is real.” However, he said that if consumers aren’t interested in our showing enthusiasm for the brand, RH should do better work, not pay others to talk about the company. He claimed that RH still has a solid presence online, but not because of paid influencing or social media marketing on the company’s part.

RH reported an earnings beat earlier this month, and its stock is up a little over 18% year-to-date. Formerly known as Restoration Hardware, the luxury retailer is expanding its national and global presence, with plans to open locations in London, Paris, Milan and Madrid. Friedman projected confidence about the future of his company and the housing market in general, noting that RH has bought back $3.7 billion in shares over the past several years.

He also discussed how higher tariffs could affect business, but suggested it may not be an obstacle particularly difficult to overcome. He said “supply chases demand,” and that RH is good at creating demand. Friedman noted that when tariffs increased in the past, the company moved a significant part of its upholstery business back to the U.S., adding that it has a sofa factory in North Carolina.

“You have to be flexible, you have to be fast,” Friedman said. “There’s always going to be obstacles like that.”

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

.

Source link

The post RH CEO explains why his company doesn’t have a social media presence first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

Middle East funds flowing into AI

admin — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 22:31:28 +0000

Power Lunch

CNBC’s Kate Rooney joins ‘Power Lunch’ to explain how sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East are shifting to AI investments.

01:46

a minute ago

.

Source link

The post Middle East funds flowing into AI first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.

Analysts say don’t chase Nike pop on new CEO: ‘There are probably no quick fixes’

admin — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 18:21:36 +0000

.

Source link

The post Analysts say don’t chase Nike pop on new CEO: ‘There are probably no quick fixes’ first appeared on Thomson 158 Reuters.