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Alibaba Group Holding shares gained 0.9% in Wednesday morning trade after analysts at Susquehanna initiated coverage of the stock with a positive rating and a $220 price target. Analysts led by Shyam Patil see room for Alibaba to grow its Tmall and Taobao advertising business. They estimate that just 15% of merchants on those platforms actively use marketing features, “pointing to the potential for material upside.” Susquehanna is also upbeat on the company’s efforts to grow its e-commerce operations outside of China and expand its cloud business. Alicloud is hitting an inflection point for profitability, Patil wrote, and could reach margins similar to those of Amazon.com Inc.’s AWS cloud business in the next few years. In e-commerce, Alibaba has roughly 75% market share in China, whereas Amazon only has an estimated 35% share of the U.S. market, Patil added. “We view Alibaba as the best way to play the secular growth of the internet in China,” he wrote. Patil became the 45th out of 48 Wall Street analysts tracked by FactSet to assign the company the equivalent of a buy rating. Alibaba shares have soared 94% so far in 2017, while the S&P 500 Index has gained 17%.

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Netflix Inc. could add more subscribers in the fourth quarter than analysts at PiperJaffray initially forecasted. PiperJaffray analyst Michael Olson analyzed Google search trends for Netflix and he said they suggest upside potential for both international and domestic subscriber growth. The analysis points to 14.8% year-over-year growth in domestic subscriber gains, compared with Olson’s previous model for 9.3% growth. International subscriber growth is expected to be 54.5%, compared with previously expected international subscriber growth of 38.7%. Olson said something similar last quarter before Netflix reported more subscribers than expected, and recently, MKM Partners analyst Rob Sanderson said Netflix has yet to reach it’s peak year for subscriber additions. “With only two months of data, the index may be less accurate than the full quarter correlation and standard error we have seen historically, so we would caution investors not to directly apply the growth rates, but look at them as a directional indicator,” Olson wrote. “Directionally, the data is positive and points to potential for fourth quarter subscriber upside.” Netflix shares have gained more than 48% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 17% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 22%.

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Ford Motor Company is prepared to sign a partnership with Alibaba Group Holding [s:baba] which may enable the carmaker to sell its cars through Alibaba’s Tmall, according to a Reuters report. The arrangement could also allow Ford to test out “auto vending machines” in China, Reuters said, citing a source familiar with the matter. Ford’s chairman and CEO are expected to sign the arrangement on Thursday. Ford shares are down 0.3% in Wednesday morning trade, while Alibaba’s stock is up 0.6%. The S&P 500 Index is flat.

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Amazon.com Inc. said on Wednesday that its Prime Video app is now available for Amazon customers to download on Apple Inc.’s Apple TV streaming devices. The long-awaited move comes a day after Alphabet Inc. pulled its YouTube app from Amazon’s Echo Show and Fire TV streaming devices for a lack of a reciprocal agreement from Amazon to allow access to products and services. Amazon, for example does not carry Google Home, Chromecast or Nest devices. Shares of Amazon are up nearly 52% in the year to date, and Apple shares are up more than 45%. By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up more than 17% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 22%.

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U.S. stock-market indexes opened slightly lower Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq on track for a fourth consecutive session of declines. The weakness is mainly due to a continued selloff in the technology sector. The S&P 500 opened 3 points, or 0.1%, lower at 2,626. If the benchmark index ends lower, it would be the longest losing streak since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 13 points, or less than 0.1%, at 24,165. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 25 points, or 0.4%, to 6,737. If the tech-heavy index closes lower, it would be the longest losing streak since November 2016. Among the best performers on Wall Street, shares of DaVita Group Inc jumped after news that UnitedHealth Group had agreed to buy the physician group for about $4.9 billion in cash.

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Analysts at Evercore on Tuesday initiated Netflix Inc. shares with an in-line rating and a $210 12-month price target, which represents a 14% premium to current trading levels. Lead analysts Vijay Jayant and Anthony DiClemente expect Netflix’s total forecasted return to be in line with that of their coverage universe. “Many aspects of the Netflix story are no longer debated,” the two analysts wrote in a note to investors. “The platform has reached near ubiquity with the help of an effective original content strategy, and a global mass market has emerged with streaming becoming the consumer’s preferred way to consume video content. As many of these views have become consensus, our focus in this report is on what we believe to be the key controversies that are central to the story today.” Those key controversies, as laid out by Jayant and DiClemente, are: How big the international opportunity is, the timetable to maturity and its potential profitability; whether U.S. price increases can continue to drive the upside as the market matures; and the two consider Netflix’s valuation to be the elephant in the room. Shares of Netflix are up nearly 49% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 17% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 22%.

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Johnson Controls International PLC said Wednesday it will raise its quarterly cash dividend by 4% to 26 cents a share, from 25 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable Jan. 12 to shareholders of record on Dec. 18. At Tuesday’s stock closing price of $37.13, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 2.80%, compared with the implied yield for the S&P 500 of 1.91%. The said it has paid a consecutive dividend since 1887. Shares of the diversified industrial technologies company, which were still inactive in premarket trade, has lost 9.9% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 17.5%.

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Vera Bradley Inc. shares rose 4.8% in Wednesday premarket trading after the accessories company reported third-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Net income totaled $359,000, or a penny per share, down from $8.78 million, or 24 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was 23 cents per share. Revenue was $114.1 million, down from $126.7 million last year. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 14 cents and sales of $115.0 million. Same-store sales including e-commerce were down 7.4%, which the accessories company says reflects a 6.9% same-store sales decline and an 8.6% decline in e-commerce sales. Same-store sales were hurt by both store and e-commerce traffic, but partially offset by one new full-line store and seven factory outlets. The FactSet consensus was for a 4% decline. Vera Bradley sees fourth-quarter revenue of $127.0 million to $132.0 million and EPS of 30-to-33 cents. The FactSet estimate is for sales of $138.7 and EPS of 30 cents. Vera Bradley shares are down more than 41% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 18.9% for the period.

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Square Inc. shares are rising 2% in premarket trading Wednesday after CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted overnight that the company was “turning on bitcoin for a lot more Cash app folks right now.” A separate tweet from company’s Square Cash account said that capabilities would be going to “more of our most active customers.” Square said in November that it had started to allow a small number of users of its Square Cash peer-to-peer payments app to buy and sell bitcoin through the platform. Square shares have soared 176% so far in 2017, compared with a 17% gain for the S&P 500 . The price of Bitcoin has risen 1231% in that time.

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Shares of H&R Block Inc. fell 1% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the tax preparation company reported a fiscal second-quarter loss that widened from a year ago, as seasonal expenses increased. The net loss for the quarter to Oct. 31 was $153.6 million, or 74 cents a share, compared with a loss of $146.2 million, or 68 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding discontinued operations, the loss per share was 71 cents. The FactSet consensus for per-share losses was 72 cents. The company said about half of the increase in losses per share was a result of a reduction in share count. Revenue increased to $140.9 million from $131.3 million, above the FactSet consensus of $131.7 million. “Seasonal expenses increased in the second quarter, but we expect to continue last year’s improved financial performance this fiscal year, targeting modest revenue growth and margins consistent with the prior year,” said Chief Financial Officer Tony Bowen. The stock has gained 14.4% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has climbed 17.5%.

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