Category: Stock Market News

Shares of Oasis Petroleum Inc. sank 11% on heavy volume Tuesday, after the oil and gas exploration and production company announced a public offering of common stock, and after a SunTrust Robinson Humphrey downgrade. The stock was the biggest decline on the NYSE, and volume of 43 million shares was about five times the full-day average, and enough to make the stock the most actively traded on major U.S. exchanges. The company said late Monday that it was selling 32 million shares of common stock to the public for gross proceeds of approximately $321.9 million, implying a per-share price of about $10.06. Separately, the company said late Monday it agreed to buy 20,300 acres in the Delaware Basin for $946 million, consisting of $483 million in cash and 46 million shares of common stock. SunTrust RH analyst Neal Dingmann downgraded Oasis to hold from buy, and slashed his stock price target to $11 from $14, citing the “hefty price” the company paid to enter the Delaware Basin. The stock has plunged 41% year to date, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has slipped 7.1% and the S&P 500 has climbed 19%.

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Shares of security-software firms Imperva Inc. , Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. , and Fortinet Inc. fell 3.5%, 0.3%, and 0.1%, respectively, in Tuesday morning trading, after analysts at JP Morgan downgraded the stocks. The analysts, led by Sterling Auty, now rate Imperva at underweight and both Check Point and Fortinet at neutral. Auty points to “sales execution issues” for Check Point and Imperva; he thinks it’s unlikely that Check Point will go back to “winning consistent market share” and worries about the web-application firewall aspect of Imperva’s business. Fortinet, meanwhile, has seen “turnover in the sales and marketing ranks” that has been weighing on results, Auty wrote. He noted that market-research firm Gartner now predicts core security spending to grow at a 6% annual clip through 2021, below a previous forecast for 6.5% growth. Imperva shares have risen 4.7% so far in 2017, compared with 40% and 25% rises for Fortinet and Check Point respectively. The S&P 500 is up 19% this year.

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Ethereum and litecoin spiked to records Tuesday as demand for cryptocurrencies reached a fever pitch while bitcoin, the most popular digital currency, took a breather. The value of ethereum soared 22% to $628.65, according to Coindesk. Litecoin surged 82% to $332.34, data from Coinmarketcap.com show. Meanwhile, bitcoin fell 0.9% to trade at $17,011 and Cboe bitcoin futures slid 2.2% to $18,140. With most experts still divided over the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies as an investment, some experts believe demand for bitcoin and its peers will continue to remain strong, propelling bitcoin to $20,000 in the near term.

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Verizon Inc. shares surged 1.9% in Tuesday morning trading, putting them on course to close at the highest level since January, after analysts at Instinet upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. “Better visibility into subscriber growth, rising average revenue per user, and cost control fuels our confidence earnings per share growth will resume in 2018,” wrote the analysts, led by Jeffrey Kvaal. He believes the company, which announced a new streaming arrangement with the NFL on Monday, could launch an over-the-top streaming service by the end of the year and has some advantages over its peers in doing so. “Unlike AT&T it need not bundle to reduce churn or be overly mindful of its existing video base as its pay-TV base is minimal relative to rivals,” he wrote. The firm raised its price target on Verizon shares to $61, from $47. Verizon’s stock has fallen 1.3% so far in 2017, compared with a 19% gain for the S&P 500 .

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Shares of Boeing Co. were surging early Tuesday, helping to power the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a triple-digit climb in morning trade. Boeing Co. was up more than 3% or $7.98 at $289, translating to a roughly 60-point rise for the Dow industrials , which was up 103 points, or 0.4%, at 24,485 in recent trade. A $1 dollar move in any one of the Dow’s 30 components equates to a 6.83-point swing in the price-weighted benchmark. Boeing’s move came as J.P. Morgan Chase raised its price target for the plane maker to $325 from $300 on Tuesday. Shares of Boeing have been the best performer among the Dow components, boasting a 86% year-to-date advance. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index were trading at break-even levels.

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Payments stocks on the whole have outperformed the market so far in 2017, and Goldman Sachs analysts wrote Tuesday that it’s hard to find value in the sector looking ahead to the new year. The Goldman analysts, led by Tien-tsin Huang, are “sticking with their preference” for companies that have heavy exposure to digital, money to make acquisitions, and opportunities for margin expansion. PayPal Holdings Inc. , Square Inc. , and Global Payments Inc. fit those characteristics, according to the analysts. However, they acknowledge that these stocks have “high valuations and low margin for error.” Therefore, the firm’s top picks for 2018 are Mastercard Inc. , which Goldman deems likely to “at least maintain earnings-per-share growth,” and FleetCor Technologies , which recently completed a “materially accretive acquisition.” Mastercard shares have gained 46% so far this year, while FleetCor’s stock is up 34%. The S&P 500 Index has risen 19% in that time.

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Shares of eBay Inc. are down 0.8% in Tuesday morning trading, though analysts at BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform. The analysts, led by Daniel Salmon, think that the company’s “promoted listing” product is doing better than expected due to its recent launch in several key international markets, including Canada. Salmon also believes that consensus estimates for eBay’s gross merchandise volume will rise as a result of the company’s new marketing campaign and its investments in machine learning. Finally’s he’s upbeat on eBay’s launch of a new site in China. He raised his target price to $45 from $40. eBay shares have gained 25% so far in 2017, compared with a 19% gain for the S&P 500 .

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U.S. stock indexes opened mostly higher on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve looks to start its two-day policy meeting. The Fed is expected to vote and pass its third rate hike for this year. The Dow and S&P 500 were trading in record territory shortly after the open. The S&P 500 was up 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2662. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 64 points, or 0.3%, to 24445. The Nasdaq Composite was 6 points lower at 6870.

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Pandora Media Inc. said Tuesday that Aimee Lapic will be its chief marketing officer, effective Dec. 13. Lapic was previously at Gap Inc. , where she was most recently CMO for Gap’s Banana Republic brand stores. “I’m incredibly excited to join Pandora at such a pivotal time in the company’s history,” Lapic said. “I can’t wait to help shape the next chapter by attracting and engaging listeners in innovative new ways.” Shares of the streaming music service, which were up 0.6% in premarket trade, have plunged 61.4% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 18.8%.

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Activision Blizzard Inc. shares gained 2.2% in premarket trading Tuesday after analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy from neutral and raised their price target to $73. The firm raised its 2019 and 2020 earnings estimates for the videogame publisher based on optimism for “non-recurring titles,” including Overwatch 2, Diablo, and a mobile game from the Blizzard division. Overwatch, launched in 2016, was a big success for Activision Blizzard, and while the company hasn’t confirmed a new installment, the team at Goldman Sachs thinks that one will come out in 2020. The analysts, led by Christopher Merwin, are also upbeat about the company’s potential to capitalize on the mobile-gaming market in China. Merwin estimates that mobile will account for 31% of Activision’s revenue in 2017, more than for its peers. He projects that the company will generate 68% of its revenue from in-game spending by 2019, including from mobile, console, and PC titles. Goldman Sachs also downgraded shares of publisher Ubisoft Entertainment to neutral and removed buy-rated Electronic Arts Inc. from its “conviction list.” Activision shares have gained 75% so far in 2017, compared with an 87% rise for Ubisoft and a 37% rise for Electronic Arts. The S&P 500 is up 19% this year.

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