Author: therawinformant

(Bloomberg) — Bridgewater Associates former co-chief executive officer Eileen Murray escalated a feud over her departure, accusing the $138 billion firm founded by billionaire Ray Dalio of threatening to withhold her deferred compensation because she went public with gender discrimination allegations.Murray, 62, has been negotiating with the world’s biggest hedge fund for three months over her exit package — a fight that has dragged on because Bridgewater’s offer was less than what has been paid to men who left the firm and below the status of her position, according to one of Murray’s advisers. It was the third time since 2017 that the firm had offered her compensation that was lower than that of male colleagues of comparable levels, according to the person.In her suit, filed Friday in federal court in Connecticut, Murray says the firm told her in writing on July 14 that her public disclosures about her dispute with the company will lead to forfeiture of her deferred compensation, which she said could range from $20 million to $100 million. She called the firm’s attempt to withhold the deferred pay an “improper gambit to silence her voice” and a “cynical plan to intimidate and silence her.”Murray has joined several boards since she left Bridgewater in April, including being elected chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in June. She said that and other business opportunities required her to disclose the existence of her gender discrimination, unequal pay and breach-of-contract dispute with Bridgewater.Bridgewater didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Murray joined Bridgewater in 2009 and became co-CEO two years later. When she departed in April she was the lone woman among the top four non-investment executives at the firm, and the longest tenured other than Dalio.Murray also stands as a role model for women, the suit said, and she “feels a personal duty to uphold the principles of fair and equal treatment that she has publicly avowed for women in the workplace.”Bridgewater can play hardball with employees. In late 2017, the firm took two former staffers to arbitration, accusing them of stealing trade secrets. Earlier this month, arbitrators found the company brought the case in bad faith to slow the duo’s progress in opening their own money management firm, according to a filing in New York state court. Bridgewater said it accepted the panel’s decision.Bridgewater’s main hedge fund lost 20.6% in the first half of this year, and the firm said on Friday it’s planning job cuts because it won’t need the same number of support staff as more employees work from home and new technologies are changing the types of people it needs to serve clients.The case is Murray v Bridgewater Associates, 20-cv-1052, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut.(Updates with background from the suit in fourth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) defied analyst predictions to release its second-quarter results, which were ahead of…

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Does the July share price for Gravity Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRVY) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate…

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Gold prices finished the week on an up note, rising 0,75% and closing the week up more than 5%. Optimism in the US continues to fade as more workers now believe their temporary job losses will become permanent. US yields continued to move lower, helping to undermine the greenback, and paving the way for higher gold prices.

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(Bloomberg) — Intel Corp.’s decision to consider outsourcing manufacturing heralds the end of an era in which the company, and the U.S., dominated the semiconductor industry. The move could reverberate well beyond Silicon Valley, influencing global trade and geopolitics.The Santa Clara, California-based company has been the largest chipmaker for most of the past 30 years by combining the best designs with cutting-edge factories, several of which are still based in the U.S.Most other U.S. chip companies shut or sold domestic plants years ago, and had other firms make the components, mostly in Asia. Intel held out, arguing that doing both improved each side of its operation and created better semiconductors. That strategy is in tatters now, with the company’s factories struggling to keep up with the latest 7-nanometer production process.After Chief Executive Officer Bob Swan said Intel is considering outsourcing, the company’s shares slumped 16% on Friday, the most since March, when the stock market plummeted in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.“We view the roadmap missteps to be a stunning failure for a company once known for flawless execution, and could well represent the end of Intel’s computing dominance,” Chris Caso, an analyst at Raymond James, wrote in a research note on Friday.Swan says where a semiconductor is made isn’t that important. However, domestic chip production has become a national priority for China, and some U.S. politicians and national-security experts consider sending this technical knowhow overseas to be a potentially dangerous mistake.“We’ve seen how vulnerable we are,” John Cornyn, a top Senate Republican, said in June when U.S. lawmakers proposed an estimated $25 billion in funding and tax credits to strengthen domestic semiconductor production.Intel’s Xeon chips run computers and data centers that support the design of nuclear power stations, spacecraft and jets, while helping governments quickly understand intelligence and other crucial information.Many of these processors are made at facilities in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. If Intel outsources this work, it would likely be done by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which focuses on production and is currently the world leader. It’s based in Hsinchu, one of the closest Taiwanese cities to China, which considers the Asian island a rogue province rather than an independent country.“With the latest push out of process technology, we believe that Intel has zero-to-no chance of catching or surpassing TSMC at least for the next half decade, if not ever,” Susquehanna analyst Chris Rolland wrote in a research note. He thinks Intel should sell its plants to TSMC, although he says that’s unlikely.Over the years, Intel has spent tens of billions of dollars updating its factories, and all of Swan’s predecessors touted them as a crucial advantage that kept the company ahead of the rest of the industry. As the largest chip producer, Intel benefited from economies of scale and attracted the most experienced engineers and scientists.The rise of smartphones and other mobile devices changed all that. Intel dabbled in mobile chips, but never committed its best production and design to the area, preferring to prioritize its existing PC and server chip businesses. When smartphone sales took off, phone makers used other processors from companies like Qualcomm Inc. or they designed their own, like Apple Inc. And TSMC factories churned these components out.While Intel makes hundreds of millions of chips a year now, TSMC produces more than a billion annually. That’s given the Taiwanese company more experience to improve its factories, helping TSMC’s engineers overtake their Intel counterparts in technical execution.Read more: Intel’s Chipmaking Throne Is Challenged by Taiwanese UpstartSwan said on Friday that Intel’s products are still the best, despite the manufacturing delays. But by opening the door to outsourcing, the CEO endangers one of the last bastions of U.S. technology leadership.“By outsourcing leading edge technology, presumably to TSMC, Intel would give up what has been its main source of competitive advantage for 50 years,” Caso of Raymond James said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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An administrative court run by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday rejected Moderna’s arguments to invalidate a U.S. patent owned by Arbutus, sparking worries over its efforts to develop next-generation vaccines, including a coronavirus vaccine. Moderna said the court’s ruling relates to actions it took in response to “longstanding aggressive posture” taken by Arbutus against developers of nucleic acid-based therapeutics and began well before the development of mRNA-1273, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

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This big breakout in Silver is nothing more than a phenomenal warning for all traders and investors – BE WARNED: RISKS ARE SKYROCKETING HIGHER.

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Farnoosh Torabi, Financial Expert and Contributing Editor at NextAdvisor.com, joined Yahoo Finance’s ‘The Final Round’ to discuss the biggest mistakes young people make when planning for retirement and gives her advice for retirement planning amid market uncertainty.

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Sometimes, the markets remind us that we’re just not in charge. After a four-session run of gains, stocks have stumbled on the latest employment news. With reports in that initial jobless claims have increased for the first time since March, investors got spooked and stock prices tumbled. Major names, including Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, led the way.The new jobless claims hit 2.3 million, with 1.4 million of those applying for state unemployment insurance and over 900,000 applying for Federal aid made available the unemployed freelancers and other ineligible for state assistance. The numbers sparked fears that the economic recovery may be derailed by a second wave of COVID-19 infections and the re-imposition of strict lockdown policies.Against this backdrop, Wall Street pros remind investors not to panic and rush to a sell-off, pointing out that a select group of tickers still represent compelling opportunities. Using TipRanks’ database, we were able to find 3 stocks that have garnered analyst attention based on variety of strengths; from strong share appreciation to plenty of upside potential to strong niche positions. Let’s see how the details fall out.SmartFinancial (SMBK)We will start with SmartFinancial, a holding company for Tennessee’s SmartBank. The company provides the usual range of consumer and business banking services – bill payment, deposits, debit cards, e-banking, loans, mortgages – for customers in the eastern US. SmartFinancial has been beating earnings expectations in recent quarters, despite the coronavirus.The earnings start the story. SmartFinancial was forecast to report 29 cents per share in both Q1 and Q2 – but the results came in at 30 cents and 48 cents respectively. These quarters covered the start of the coronavirus crisis in the US, as well as the entirety of the first lockdown period. The company’s online banking services surged as customers were forced to stay home, and more than made up for lost brick-and-mortar business. Revenues in Q2 reached $29.26 million, just over the $29.22 million reported in the year-ago quarter.At the same time that revenues and earnings were beating the forecasts, SMBK shares were underperforming. The stock has lost 34% in the current market cycle, and failed to gain traction during the general market recovery that has been boosting stocks since March. The result is that SmartFinancial is now considered to be undervalued.Covering the stock for Raymond James, analyst Ammar M. Samma points out that “margin, operating expenses, and fee income all came in better than expected,” and goes on to say, “[We] believe the company's above-peer reserves, solid capital levels (8% TCE) and strong trends in both core results and COVID-19 related deferrals position it well. With shares trading below peers, we are now constructive on SMBK shares and believe we are at an attractive entry-point…”In line with his upbeat outlook, Samma upgrades SMBK to a Buy. His $18 price target suggests a 27% upside potential for the coming 12 months. Overall, SmartFinancial has two recent reviews, and both are Buys, making the analyst consensus view a Moderate Buy. Both analysts give the stock an $18 price target, so the price target matches Samma's. (See SmartFinancial stock analysis on TipRanks)MKS Instruments (MKSI)Our modern world depends on a wide range of technologies to keep things running smoothly, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Tech runs on machines, and machines need close monitoring to ensure their proper function – and that’s where MSK Instruments steps in. The company develops and manufactures the systems and process controllers the analytical, delivery, measurement, monitoring, and control devices that improve performance and productivity in manufacturing. MKS products are used in a wide range of industries, from semiconductors to health sciences to defense.This stock has attracted attention from Rosenblatt analyst Scott Graham, who wrote, “We believe the company is well-positioned to benefit from multiple, long-term secular trends in the Semiconductor market, improvements in industrial and consumer demand in its Advanced Markets businesses and leverage its cost acumen into material growth in earnings in 2021-22. We also expect MKSI to use its highly liquid balance sheet to enhance shareholder value with acquisitions.”Graham initiated his firm’s coverage of this stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $162. His target implies an upside for the coming year of 33%. (To watch Graham’s track record, click here)Overall, MKSI has a Strong Buy rating from the analyst consensus, based on 6 Buys and 2 Hold reviews. The stock’s average price target of $131.75 suggests a modest upside of nearly 9%. (See MKSI stock analysis on TipRanks)Shutterstock (SSTK)The second stock on our list, Shutterstock, is a familiar name in online marketing. The company offers customers a library of more than 200 million stock images and photos, and invaluable resource for marketers and designersThe stock’s performance has been choppy over the years, but in recent months Shutterstock has delivered for investors. SSTK has mostly recovered the value lost during February’s market crash, and is now within its pre-crash value. Shutterstock beat the Q1 earnings forecast, and by a wide margin – EPS came in at 13 cents, against the 7 cents expected.The company was so confident during 1H20 that it even reinstated its dividend, paying out 17 cents per share in both the first and second quarters. This gives a modest yield, of only 1.7%, but the important point here is that company management was comfortable restarting the payments during the pandemic crisis.Brad Erickson, 5-star analyst with Needham, notes that Shutterstock is both undervalued and well-positioned for growth. He writes, “We anticipate durable growth out of the ~$6 billion stock content industry, expect SSTK to at least maintain share, and foresee a brewing margin expansion narrative over the coming few years that will illuminate the company's underappreciated earnings power and cash generation potential.”Erickson was impressed enough by Shutterstock to initiate coverage with a Buy rating. He set a $50 price target, implying a one-year upside of 21%. (To watch Erickson’s track record, click here)The analyst consensus rating here is based on two recent reviews, including both a Hold and Erickson’s Buy. The average price target is $43.50, suggesting an upside of 6%. (See Shutterstock stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

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