Category

Stock

Category

Affirm stock price has done well in the past few months and is hovering near its highest point since February. After plunging to $30.9 in April, it has jumped by 150% as investors see it as a major beneficiary of the ongoing economic softness in the United States.

Affirm is benefiting as US inflation rises

A report released earlier this month showed that the US inflation and the unemployment rate were rising. Hiring has largely stalled, resulting in a 4.2% unemployment rate. At the same time, core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy prices, rose to 3.1%.

These tough economic times have led to a Buy Now, Pay Later boom in the United States. Companies like Affirm and Klarna are often seen as better shopping options because they don’t charge interest for their most basic shopping options. 

The most recent results showed that Affirm was still in its growth phase. Its gross merchandise value jumped by 36% to $8.6 billion, leading to a revenue of $783 million, up by 36% from the same period last year. 

The tough economic challenges saw the company add 1.8 million new customers to its platform. 

Therefore, analysts believe that Affirm will publish strong numbers in the fourth fiscal quarter. The average estimate is that Affirm’s revenue rose to $837 million in the second quarter, a 27% annual increase. Chances are that the final figure will be much higher than what analysts estimate.

Analysts also expect the company to continue its profitable turn. The average estimate is that the earnings per share (EPS) will be 43 cents, a big increase from a loss of 14 cents per hour.

Historically, stocks react to the headline numbers after a company releases its results. However, these numbers are usually backward-looking, which explains why investors focus more on the guidance.

In Affirm’s case, analysts expect the management to guide towards a first quarter revenue figure of $858 million, up by  22% from last year.

Most importantly, the company is expected to experience annual growth rates of over 20% in the next few years, a good thing for a company that was started over a decade ago and one that operates in a highly competitive industry.

The other thing that will impact its stock price will be the trends in delinquencies, especially now that the economy is slowing.

The other risk is the view that the company is now fairly valued. Its current stock price is slightly higher than the average estimate by Wall Street analysts.

Affirm stock price analysis 

AFRM stock chart | Source: TradingView

The AFRM stock price tends to have major swings whenever it releases its financial results, and it may happen on Thursday, too.

The daily chart shows that the AFRM stock price bottomed at $30 in April this year and has now surged by over 150%.

Its results come as it is nearing the important resistance level at $82.43, its highest level in February this year.

The stock has found a major barrier at the resistance point at $79.68, inside the ascending channel that connects the highest and lowest levels since June.

Therefore, the stock’s outlook is bullish as ling as bulls manage to push it above the resistance at $79.68. Such a move will lead to more gains, possibly to $82.43. 

The alternative scenario is where the AFRM stock price retreats and retests the 50-day moving average at $63.

The post Affirm stock price forecast ahead of earnings: buy or sell? appeared first on Invezz

Boeing stock price has rebounded in the past few months as the company has received major orders and largely avoided the tariff backlash that many analysts were expecting. BA was trading at $235, close to its highest point since January and 81% above the lowest level this year.

Boeing order book is growing

Boeing stock price has rebounded this year as it has largely remained out of trouble and its turnaround has continued. It has resumed boosting its 737-MAX planes, and airlines have continued to place large orders, a sign o growing confidence. 

The most recent large order came this week when Korean Air placed a purchase bid for 103 jets. Most of these orders are 737-10s, followed by 787-10s, and 777-9s. 

Boeing also received an order from Cathay Pacific and Gulf Air. Most importantly, media reports indicate that Chinese airlines are considering a large order of 500 planes, to be divided between Boeing and Airbus. 

Boeing’s smaller backlog than Airbus could play to its advantage because it means faster delivery times. Besides, despite some major accidents, Boeing continues to manufacture safe aircraft.

BA published strong results

The most recent results showed that Boeing was making progress in its operations. It is now making 38 737 planes per month, a trend that will continue in the coming months.

Its revenue rose by 35% to $22 billion in the second quarter, bringing the first half figures to  $42 billio.  

Boeing reported a net loss of $642 million during the quarter. While this was a big number, it was a big improvement to the $1.4 billion it lost in the same period last year.

Boeing’s revenue jumped because of its strong delivery numbers. Its deliveries rose to 150, while the defense, space, and security revenue soared by 10% to $6.6 billion.

Boeing ended the last quarter with a backlog of 5,900 planes worth over $522 billion and a defense, space, and security of $74 billion. Its backlog in the defense segment is higher than that of several pure-play defense contractors.

There are other reasons to consider buying Boeing. First, the company has not made any major negative headlines in the past few months. The only major issue was the Air India crash, which involved a Boeing plane. On the positive side, investigators largely exonerated the company.

Boeing stock will likely continue thriving as long as it stays out of trouble, allowing the management to continue executing the turnaround.

Second, Boeing has improved its balance sheet in the past few years. It ended the last quarter with $23 billion in cash and marketable securities, down from $23.7 billion in Q1, while its consolidated debt reduced to $53.3 billion.

Third, there is a risk that the US will block sales of aircraft manufacturing parts to China, further hindering progress of its domestic manufacturing capacity.

Finally, the current BA stock price of $234 is lower than the average analyst estimates of $247. That is a sign that investors expect it to continue rising eventually.

Boeing stock price technical analysis 

BA stock price chart by TradingView

The daily chart shows that the BA stock price has been in a strong uptrend in the past few weeks, moving from a low of $129 in April to  the current $234. It recently crossed the important resistance level at $187, its highest swing in February.

The stock has remained constantly above the 50-day moving, a sign that bulls are in control. It is also forming the highly common bullish flag pattern.

Therefore, the stock will continue rising as bulls target the next important resistance level at $250, followed by the psychological level at $300.

The post Here’s why the Boeing stock price could surge soon appeared first on Invezz

UnitedHealth stock price has been on a roller-coaster in the past few months. It initially peaked at $620 in December last year and then plunged to a low of $235 this year, erasing billions of dollars in value.

Most recently, the UNH stock price rebounded after Warren Buffett announced a huge stake in the company, a sign that he expects the business to recover eventually.

Why UNH stock pulled back this week

There are two main reasons why the UnitedHealth Group stock price has pulled back this week. First, the decline is happening as the momentum surrounding the Buffett acquisition faded. Historically, investors buy a stock or other assets after a major event and then start to exit as the hype fades. 

A good example of this is what happened on Friday when the stock market surged after Jerome Powell delivered a dovish speech. While this was a welcome thing, the stocks and the crypto market reversed and crashed this week.

UNH stock price has also crashed after the latest revelation that the ongoing Department of Justice investigation is more than what analysts were expecting. 

Bloomberg noted that the DOJ was investigating the company regarding its prescription management services known as OptumRx,  and the reimbursement process for its doctors. 

The investigation was initially reported by the WSJ in May last year, which noted that the department was looking into its Medicare Advantage, an industry that it dominates.

In addition to this, the company is also facing antitrust investigations, while the Federal Trade Commission has sued it and its competitor PBS of driving insulin prices. UNH calls this suite baseless and vowed to defend itself. 

The most recent results showed that the company‘s revenue jumped to $116 billion in the second quarter from $98 billion in the same period last year. However, its margins and profitability narrowed during the quarter, with the earnings from operations falling to $5.2 billion. 

Most importantly, the company also re-established its guidance for the year. It now expects to make between $445 billion and $448 billion this year and earnings per share of at least $14.65.

Meanwhile, analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to $325, and maintained its overweight rating. Its $325 forecast is higher than the current $300 and lower than the average analysts’ estimate of $328. 

The most likely scenario is where the stock will remain under pressure during the ongoing investigations and rebound when it demonstrates that these challenges are now behind it.

UnitedHealth Group stock analysis

UNH stock chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that the UNH stock price peaked at $620 in December and then crashed to $233. It has now rebounded to $300 as investors cheer Warren Buffett’s investment. 

Most recently, there are signs that it has formed an island reversal pattern, which happens when an asset forms a gap and consolidates. That is a sign that it may attempt to fill the gap it made after the Berkshire accumulation. A complete recovery will be confirmed when it moves above the 100-day moving average at $335.

Read more: Insiders are buying UnitedHealth stock on the crash: should you follow suit?

The post UNH stock analysis: buy or sell UnitedHealth after the DoJ investigation news appeared first on Invezz

The crypto market rally has resumed in the past few days, with altcoins like Solana (SOL), Cronos (CRO), Numeraire (NMR), and Livepeer (LPT) leading the way. 

Solana price has risen in the last 7 days, while CRO soared by 140% in the same period. NMR and LPT jumped by 145% and LPT by 38%. Other top-performing tokens were Raydium, Bedrock, Catizen, and Hyperliquid. 

Why the crypto market rally is happening

Bitcoin and the crypto market rally are happening as investors cheer the latest NVIDIA earnings, which demonstrated that the artificial intelligence industry is booming. Its revenue jumped by 56% to $46.7 billion, helped by the data center segment that made over $41.1 billion. 

NVIDIA earnings always have an impact on the stock and crypto market because of its size and market share in the artificial intelligence industry, where its GPUs are used by the top hyperscalers like Microsoft and Google. 

The crypto market rally is also happening as investors remain optimistic that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates as soon as the September meeting. Jerome Powell and other Fed officials like John Williams, Christopher Waller, and Michele Bowman have all sounded supportive of cuts.

The stock and the crypto industry do well when the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates or when it is leaning towards doing that. 

Additionally, these tokens are rising because Bitcoin has found substantial support at the key point at $110,000. It has resisted moving below that level and was trading at $112,000 on Thursday. That sends hope that it may rebound, and possibly hit its all-time high, a move that would boost the altcoin market. 

The cryptocurrency market rally was because of the activity in the derivatives market. Open interest rose to over $204 billion in the last 24 hours, while liquidations dropped to $256 million. A jump in open interest and fewer trades being liquidated are bullish factors for the industry. 

However, there is a risk that the ongoing rebound is a dead-cat bounce, which is a temporary rebound whenever an asset is in a downtrend. Unfortunately, some of the recent surges in crypto have been these dead-cat bounces. 

Crypto specific reasons for the rally

Meanwhile, there were crypto-specific reasons why they jumped. For example, the Numeraire price jumped sharply after JPMorgan allocated $500 million to its network, one of the biggest allocations in the crypto industry. NMR also jumped as the amount of staked assets jumped to over $14 million. 

CRO price surged after Trump’s media company created a new firm whose only task will be to accumulate Cronos. The goal is to buy CRO tokens worth over $6 billion, a significant amount for a cryptocurrency worth over $9 billion. 

The risk for the Cronos price is that it has become highly overbought and could be at risk of mean reversion.

Solana price roared as demand for the staked SSK ETF continued, and hopes that the SEC will approve spot Solana ETFs later this year. As with Ethereum, these funds will likely attract substantial inflows from American investors. 

Livepeer price soared because of the rising participation rate in the network. It crossed the important resistance point at 50.4%, which is significant as that is where protocol inflation start to taper. 

The post Crypto market rally: why are altcoins like SOL, CRO, NMR, LPT rising? appeared first on Invezz

The Xiaomi stock price remained in a tight range this week as the recent momentum faded. It was trading at HKD 52.75 on Thursday, down by over 13% from its highest point this year, putting it into a correction zone. Will it resume the uptrend?

Xiaomi business is thriving

Xiaomi Corporation has silently become one of the biggest technology companies in the world. It has done that by disrupting the biggest companies like Apple and Samsung. 

Xiaomi has achieved that by targeting customers in China and the emerging markets, especially in India. Its brands like Redmi and Poco are known for having flagship quality at an affordable price. 

The company is now challenging Tesla, a company that disrupted the electric vehicle industry. It has already launched two hit vehicles and raised over $5 billion earlier this year to expand the business. 

The most recent results showed that Xiaomi’s business was thriving. Its revenue rose by 30% in the second quarter to RMB 116 billion, with its adjusted net profit growing by 75% to RMB 10.8 billion. 

Xiaomi’s two core businesses continued growing. The smartphone and its IoT segment made RMB 94.7 billion, up by 14.8% from the same period last year. 

Most only, the EV, AI, and other initiatives segment made RMB 21.3 billion, a 233% annual increase. Importantly, its gross margin of 26.4% was higher than the smartphone one of 21.6%.

The company believes that it is in its early days of growth, especially in the EV business, where it is initially focusing on the domestic market. It plans to start selling its EVs in Europe by 2027, where it plans to take on more established brands like Tesla and Volkswagen. 

The challenge, however, is that selling EVs in Europe will not be easy since its manufacturing plants are in China. As such, its EVs in Europe would face tariffs of up to 48%. The bloc has imposed a base tariff of 10% and levies ranging from 35% to 38% on other countervailing measures. 

Why the Xiaomi shares have stalled 

The Xiaomi stock price has remained under pressure in the past few months because of concerns that the smartphone business was slowing. This is happening because consumers are not replacing their phones as frequently as they did a while ago. 

In the past, it was common for customers to buy smartphones as soon as a new, upgraded model came out. Today, most of them stay with their phone until something breaks. Xiaomi now hopes to grow its market share in China by 1% each year. 

Xiaomi’s stock price has also stalled because of concerns about its valuation, which is higher than that of other companies in the industry. It P/E ratio of 25 is much higher than that of other top companies like Li Auto and BYD. 

Additionally, there are concerns that its EV ventures will meet with the reality of higher competition from other popular brands like XPeng and Nio.

Xiaomi stock price technical analysis

Xiaomi stock chart | Source: TradingView

The daily timeframe chart shows that the Xiaomi share price has slumped from a high of H$61.50 in July to the current H$52.75. It formed a double-top pattern at $59.50 and a neckline at $36. Most recently, the stock has dropped below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). 

Xiaomi stock has also formed a bearish flag pattern. Therefore, it will likely remain under pressure in the coming days. If this happens, it will drop to $40 and then bounce back later this year. 

The post Here’s why the Xiaomi stock price rally has stalled appeared first on Invezz

Meituan share price imploded today, Aug. 28, reaching its lowest level since September last year. This crash was a continuation of a downtrend that started in October last year, when it peaked at $217. It has now plunged by 52% to the current $103. 

Meituan share price crashes as pricing war continues

Meituan’s stock price plunged to its lowest level in months after the company’s results showed that its profit nosedived in the second quarter of this year.

Its revenue jumped by 11% to RMB 91.8 billion, continuing a trend that has been going on for years as demand for food and grocery deliveries jumped. Revenue also rose as the company boosted its marketing and incentives.

However, the company’s profits were almost wiped out. Its profit for the period slumped to RMB 365 million, down by 96.8% from what it made in the same period last year.

Meituan’s main issue has been the rising competition in the country, especially from JD, which launched a similar service recently. 

JD has embarked on a major expansion spree in the country by offering substantial discounts in a bid to capture market share. Most analysts and executives believe that these discounts, including those by Alibaba’s Ele.me,  are not sustainable. In a statement, Meituan said:

“Due to the irrational competition which started this quarter, operating profit decreased by 75.6% year over year to RMB3.7 billion, and operating margin decreased by 19.4 percentage points year over year to 5.7%.”

Most notably, Chinese officials have intervened to reduce the downward spiral at a time when the country is battling with deflation. They also mandated these companies to improve the living conditions of their couriers. 

In a statement, Meituan said that it has now expanded its occupational injury insurance coverage to all couriers. It is also offering summer heat subsidies and expanded its critical illness fund. While good, all these activities are expensive and affecting its profitability.

Will the Meituan stock recover?

Meituan share price has plunged in the past few months, and chances are that the downtrend will continue for a while. It is unlikely that its profit situation in China will improve in light of the current profitability issues. 

On the positive side, Meituan is making an effort to boost its growth. For example, the Instashopping platform is seeing strong demand as the number of InstMarts has jumped to over 50,000. It is also gaining market share in the in-store, hotel, and travel businesses.

Most importantly, Meituan is also expanding its business in the international markets through its Keeta product. The challenge is that even these markets are highly competitive. 

The most likely scenario is where the Meituan share price remains under pressure for a while and then rebound, possibly in 2026 as the situation stabilizes.

Meituan stock price analysis

Meituan stock chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that the Meituan share price has plunged in the past few months. It has moved from a high of $216 in October to $102 today. The recent plunge happened as it formed a descending triangle pattern. 

Meituan stock has remained below the 50-day and 100-day moving averages. Also, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved below the oversold level, while the percentage price oscillator (PPO) has moved below the zero line. 

Therefore, the stock will continue falling as sellers target the support at $95. The alternative scenario is where it rebounds and retests the resistance at $115 and then resumes the downtrend.

The post Meituan share price has imploded: will it recover or fall further? appeared first on Invezz

Cambricon stock price has gone vertical this year and is now hovering at its all-time high. It jumped to a high of CNY 1,600, much higher than the year-to-date low of CNY 521.

Consequently, its market capitalization has jumped to CNY 664 billion, which is equivalent to over $92 billion. It had a market cap of below CNY 80 billion last year.

Why the Cambricon share price has soared 

Cambricon stock has surged because of the ongoing artificial intelligence tailwinds. This is notable since it is one of the top manufacturers of AI chips in the country. It also makes terminal intelligent processor smart chips and accelerator cards, and intelligent computing cluster systems. 

Donald Trump has helped to boost the Cambricon stock price by imposing export restrictions on NVIDIA, AMD, and other semiconductor companies. 

This, in turn, has pushed Beijing to push its local companies to invest more and build products that are competitive. As such, the country has not been very welcoming to NVIDIA’s H20 chips that are known to be less competitive. 

Beijing has been investigating these chips to see whether they have a backdoor that the US government can leverage. While NVIDIA has rejected the claim, the Trump administration has pushed it to do that so that it can track their locations. 

NVIDIA recently announced that it would pull H20 chips from the Chinese market and is now pressing the administration to allow it to sell more advanced chips there. The Trump administration will take a 15% cut from these profits. 

Cambricon, which is a state-owned firm, has use the trade tensions with the United States to gain market share in China by selling its cips to companies like Alibaba and Tencent. This is notable since China is the biggest market for these chips. 

Cambricon’s chips are less advanced than those that NVIDIA makes. However, the company is investing in R&D to bridge the gap. 

History shows that Chinese companies eventually catch up with their American rivals. A good example of this is in the electric vehicle industry, where companies like Byd and XPeng are making vehicles that are equally or even better than those made by Tesla and Rivian.

The Cambricon stock price rally is also being driven by retail investors, many who lack safer places to save their money now that the real estate market has collapsed. 

However, the risk is that the company has become highly overvalued, as it overtook Kweichow Moutai to become the most valued onshore company.

Cambricon stock price technical analysis 

Cambricon share price chart | Source: TradingView

Technical analysis shows that the Cambricon stock price has gone parabolic in the past few months. This surge has pushed it above the crucial resistance level at CNY 817, its highest level in March this year.

The risk, however, is that the stock has moved much higher than the crucial moving averages. For example, it is trading at CNY 1,600, while the 100-day moving average is at 749 and the 200-day EMA is at 638.

Therefore, there is a risk that the stock will crash because of a concept known as mean reversion, where it drops and moves back to the moving average.

The other risk is that the stock has become highly overbought, with the Relative Strength Index and the Stochastic Oscillator moving to extreme levels. As such, there is a risk that it may drop soon as investors start to take profits.

The post Cambricon stock price surged: here’s why it may crash soon appeared first on Invezz

SentinelOne stock price has imploded in the past few months, even as the cybersecurity industry has continued to grow this year. S peaked at $29.26 in December last year, reaching a low of $15.40 in April. It was trading at $17.15 as traders waited for its earnings.

SentinelOne earnings ahead

SentinelOne is a top company offering AI-powered cybersecurity solutions to clients like Aston Martin, Norwegian Airlines, Uber, Hitachi, Samsung, and ServiceNow. 

Its main platform is known as Singularity, which offers unfettered visibility, detection, and autonomous agents. This platform has grown rapidly in the past few years as demand for cybersecurity solutions has soared.

Data compiled by SeekingAlpha shows that the annual revenue rose from $93.1 million in 2020 to over $821.5 million last year. However, the main challenge is that the company has continued to lose money.

SentinelOne’s net loss stood at over $288 million last year. Its trailing twelve-month (TTM) net loss jumped to over $4265 million. 

The most recent results showed that the company’s revenue rose by 23% to over $229 million, with its annual recurring revenue surging by 24% to $948 million. This growth happened as more companies moved into its platform. 

The next important catalyst for the company will be its upcoming financial results. Analysts expect the upcoming results to show that its quarterly revenue will be $242 million, up by 21.73% from the same period last year. This forecast is in line with what the company guided in the last results.

SentinelOne’s earnings per share (EPS) is expected to come in at minus 19 cents, up from 22 cents. 

While its second quarter results are important, the SentinelOne stock price will react to its forward guidance for the third quarter. Its Q3 revenue is expected to be $255 million, up by 21% from the same time last year. 

Judging by other companies in the space like Okta and Palo Alto Networks, odds are that its guidance will be higher expectations. 

A key challenge is that SentinelOne stock price is still overvalued based on the rule-of-40 model. This is a common approach that looks at its revenue growth and its margins. 

SentinelOne’s business is expected to grow by 22% this year, while the non-GAAP operating margin will be between 2% and 4%. Assuming it hits the upper side of the range, then it has a rule-of-40 multiple of 26%, much lower than the key point at 40. 

On the positive side, the rule-of-40 metric based on the free cash flow (FCF) of 24% gives it a figure of 46%.

SentinelOne stock price technical analysis

S stock chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that the SentinelOne share price has crashed in the past few months, moving from a high of $29.25 in November to a low of $15.40. 

It has remained below the 50-day and 100-day moving averages, a sign that the bearish trend is continuing. On the positive side, it has formed a double-bottom pattern at $15.40, whose neckline is at $21.3.

The Percentage Price Oscillators (PPO) has formed a bullish crossover pattern. Therefore, the stock will likely rebound and possibly hit the 100-day moving average at $18.40. A drop below the support at $15.40 will invalidate the bullish outlook.

The post SentinelOne stock price forecast ahead of earnings: buy or sell? appeared first on Invezz