Today Albemarle (ALB) announced that it would sell $1.75 billion in ADRs to fund capital spending during the collapse in lithium prices. The offer will be for a mandatory convertible preferred with a 7% to 7.5% coupon. The plunge is a reaction to the company having to do a capital raise at the bottom for the lithium market
Back on February 20, I posted a video recommending a buy of Novo Nordisk (NVO). In the video, “Buy GLP-1,” I said that the stock, along with Eli Lilly (LLY) was riding the momentum of increased sales of GLP-1 drugs, originally developed to treat diabetes, as weight-loss drugs. Buy, I said, despite the huge run-up in the shares, because new trials and analysis of existing data were pointing to expanded uses for the drugs. Today, Novo Nordic announced exactly the kind of news that I had talked about.
Today’s Quick Pick is Stripe. Stripe isn’t public yet but will likely go public in late 2024 or in 2025. This is an alert to prepare for this IPO. Stripe started in 2011 and is the “Paypal of its time.” I use both platforms and I find Stripe the more powerful and more user-friendly payment platform. Stripe recently did a private, series H deal that valued the company at $65 billion. Paypal, its major competitor (along with Square), has a market cap of $65 billion. I think this will be a very hot, oversubscribed IPO share you can make a quick profit by flipping the shares on IPO day. The recent Series H offer means that Stripe probably won’t go public until the last half of 2024, at the earliest, or more likely 2025. Which give you time to get your ducks in a row in order to put in a bid for some shares in the offering. Talk to your broker now to ensure you sign all the right paperwork and meet eligibility requirements for IPO offers. If you get that started now, you’ll be able to place an order for IPO shares when they’re available. Stripe revenue is at $14 billion with about 19% of the market share versus 42% for PaylPal. The company has just turned EBITDA profitable, a major milestone. This is an appealing IPO and something to start preparing for even though it may be a little ways down the road.
Although I’m selling Natura out of my portfolio and my penny stock list, I do want to keep exposure to global beauty sector, however. I like the high margins and I like the correlation between sales of beauty products and rising incomes in developing economies. My pick for this iteration of my penny stock list is L’Occitane International (LCCTF)
Yesterday, February 28, development-stage biotech Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) announced results from a Phase 2 training of its GLP-1 weight-loss drug candidate that that showed the potential for the VK2735 compound two move to be best in class in the $36.5 billion (revenue) market for GLP diabetes-control and weight-loss drugs. I will add Viking Therapeutic to my Volatility Portfolio and to my Jubak’s Picks Portfolio today, February 29, with a target price of $150.
Yesterday, Thursday, February 22, Nvidia (NVDA) gained 16.40% at the close after beating Wall Street expectations on earnings and revenue after the market close on Wednesday. And then raising guidance for the rest of 2024. But what most interested me on Thursday were what tech stocks Nvidia carried higher with it–and which stocks it didn’t.
Well, optimistic analysts just weren’t optimistic enough about Nvidia’s (NVDA) fourth quarter 2023 earnings. The company reported adjusted earnings of $5.16 per share on revenue of $22.1 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $4.60 a share and revenue of $20.4 billion.
After yesterday’s earnings report–the company beat Wall Street estimates for the quarter–and radically lower guidance for next quarter and the rest of 2024–total billings for next quarter will grow by just 2% to 4% and revenue for all of 2024 will grow by just 15% to 16% from 2023–shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) took a big hit right between the eyes. The stock fell 28.44% at the close and lost $104.12 a share to $261.97. What do I recommend? I’d say “buy” with a couple of caveats. Why buy?
Lynas, one of the largest producers of rare earth minerals outside of China (and one of only two non-Chinese processors of rare earth minerals) is my sixth Penny stock pick for my Special Report.
I expect the market reaction to Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings report, to be released after the close on Wednesday, February 21, to tell investors a lot about the short-term direction of this stock market. We’re likely to learn more, however, from the reaction to an Nvidia beat rather than from an earnings miss.
Can you hear the barkers yelling to the crowd? It’s Wall Street analysts rushing to raise their target prices for Nvidia (NVDA) ahead of next week’s quarterly earnings report. On February 21, after the close, Nvidia is expected to report earnings of $4.18 share, up from $0.65 a share in the quarter a year ago, on revenue of $20.5 billion. And even though the stock is up 47% for 2024 as of the February 15 close and up 219% for the last year, Wall Street analysts are rushing to increase their target price on the shares.
