Investors this week are gearing up for a busy week of earnings, economic data reports and the Federal Reserve’s July monetary policy meeting.

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Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Pfizer Inc…

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“June quarter results likely to outperform consensus estimates on the back of better than expected hardware sell-in. We currently forecast June quarter revenue and EPS of $55.1B and $2.18, 7% and 8% above current consensus estimates, respectively,” said Morgan Stanley.

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Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) shareholders are probably feeling a little disappointed, since its shares fell 3.4…

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Prior to the renaissance of online-sports gambling, Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ:PENN) was primarily known as an owner and operator of regional casino properties. That was a highly profitable venture until the novel coronavirus kept gamblers away from crowded casinos, which in turn put pressure on the price of PENN stock.Source: Casimiro PT / Shutterstock.com While the traditional casino business was hit hard by lockdowns and social distancing, e-commerce thrived during the first half of the year. The gaming industry had to adapt to this new environment or risk being put out of business.Penn National Gaming is adapting and making the best of a challenging situation. Sure, PENN stock can be viewed as a "reopening trade," as America's restrictions on in-person gambling are gradually being lifted. An equally strong argument, however, can be made that Penn National is a compelling wager on online sports gambling with strong breakout potential.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips A Closer Look at PENN StockIt's difficult to predict exactly when the stock's breakthrough moment will occur. Yet, based on its historical price action, we can at least discern the price point that needs to be breached.The bulls have made several runs for the $38 level this year. However, each and every time, the bulls were rejected, and the share price fell quickly. It's frustrating, no doubt, but that's the name of the game. as sometimes it takes many attempts before a resistance level is finally breached. * 10 Cybersecurity Stocks We Need Now More Than Ever What the bulls need now is an increase in the daily trading volume of PENN stock as well as upward momentum in the share price. But once that $38 price point is broken with conviction, it's off to the races, and $45 should be the bulls' next target. Reopenings Will Drive GrowthWhile the headline story should be the online-sports angle, I would be remiss to ignore the possibility of PENN stock benefiting from the reopening of the economy. After all, the fact that America's casinos are being allowed to open again should be eventful for Penn National Gaming and its stakeholders. Penn National Gaming's recovery in this domain will take place on a state-by-state basis.To provide a couple of examples, we can observe that not long ago, the company announced two significant reopenings. One was the Plainridge Park Casino, located in Massachusetts. The other was Maine's Hollywood Casino Bangor.After these two reopenings, 37 of Penn National's 41 gaming and racing properties are now up and running. So the company is not quite back to its pre-pandemic levels yet. Nevertheless, the owners of PENN stock should be encouraged by the progress that's being made. Gambling Hasn't Gone AwayAlthough the novel coronavirus kept people out of casinos, not everyone has stopped gambling. They're just doing it differently now. During the shutdowns, some bored people were introduced to online gaming, and now that market is thriving.Penn National Gaming still has its 41 gaming and racing properties and 19 states, but the company isn't wholly relying on in-person gambling. The acquisition of a 36% stake in sports-gambling website Barstool Sports proves that Penn National Gaming is ready and willing to adapt to shifts in gambling trends.When warrants are factored into the equation, Penn National Gaming's stake in Barstool Sports could conceivably increase to 50%. It's a savvy move, as Barstool Sports has 66 million monthly active users, along with almost 100 million followers on social media.Through this partnership, Penn National Gaming plans to introduce Barstool Sportsbook, a sports-gambling app, this fall. There will also be Barstool Bets, a service designed to provide gambling advice and news.This collaboration will undoubtedly expand Penn National Gaming's customer base. Just as importantly, it will keep the company in-line with recent gaming trends. If online betting is the future of gambling, then Penn National Gaming is getting ahead of the curve. The Bottom LinePenn National Gaming's investment in Barstool Sports is the smartest move that the company could make right now. Thus, PENN stock's breakout is probably coming soon as the shift to online sports betting has plenty of momentum.David Moadel has provided compelling content – and crossed the occasional line – on behalf of Crush the Street, Market Realist, TalkMarkets, Finom Group, Benzinga, and (of course) InvestorPlace.com. He also serves as the chief analyst and market researcher for Portfolio Wealth Global and hosts the popular financial YouTube channel Looking at the Markets. As of this writing, David Moadel did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG * America's 1 Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner * Revolutionary Tech Behind 5G Rollout Is Being Pioneered By This 1 Company * Radical New Battery Could Dismantle Oil Markets The post Penn National's Barstool Stake Will Take It to Another Level appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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Las Vegas Strip casinos are facing new furloughs and layoffs amid the coronavirus, as Las Vegas Sands reports a 97% decline in revenue. Moody’s Vice President Adam McLaren joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman to discuss.

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Avalara bounced off its 50-day line with earnings due in early August

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Yahoo Finance’s Adam Shapiro breaks down the stocks to watch Friday.

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Loreen Gilbert, WealthWise Financial CEO, joins The Final Round to join The Final Round to highlight why she is shifting from growth to value stocks.

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Last Tuesday, Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) reached a temporary $650 million deal with its creditors to reduce its fleet, which would save roughly $80 million a month. Hertz stock holders cheered, sending shares of the bankrupt company up almost 30% within a matter of minutes.Source: aureliefrance / Shutterstock.com These gyrations were just the latest in a months-long saga. Despite declaring bankruptcy on May 22, Hertz has seen a resurgence in retail investor interest. Since then, 125,000 investors on Robinhood, a popular phone-based trading app, have rushed to buy stock in the highly indebted company. As younger, risk-seeking investors have shaken up the market, Hertz has come to signify the dangers of investing in the Robinhood era.How did this happen, and what should investors do?InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Hertz Stock: How Did a 102-Year-Old Company Go Bankrupt?In 2012, Hertz acquired Dollar Thrifty for $2.3 billion to compete with larger rival Avis Budget (NASDAQ:CAR). The acquisition saddled Hertz with an ever-growing pile of debt. By 2020, the company held almost $19 billion directly and through a series of financial contracts. * 10 Growth Stocks to Buy for Long-Term FIRE Investors Before the coronavirus pandemic, Hertz's house of cards was already on the verge of collapse. The near shut down of the travel industry in March and April finished the job."All the money spent on overpriced mergers and acquisition, the questionable fleet management," said Glenn Reynolds, co-founder of research firm CreditSights, "it caught up with them."Yet, investors held out for hope. Despite repeated warnings from analysts, retail investors piled into Hertz shares at record rates, pushing the stock from 56 cents on May 26 to $5.53 on June 8. Pump and Dump, Robinhood StyleInvestors jumping into valueless companies is nothing new. From the boiler rooms of the 1980s, to the pump and dump schemes of the 2000s, stock promoters have often found an audience looking to make a quick profit.How did these schemes work? Stock promoters would often quietly buy up shares of micro-cap companies and then release positive news articles on blogs or websites. The most sophisticated con-artists would also make large buy orders with their own money to temporarily boost share prices.These schemes often temporarily fooled investors and algorithms alike, creating miniature feeding frenzies over worthless companies. In the hysteria, promoters would quietly sell their shares, leaving unwitting investors holding the bag. A Case of Mistaken Identity: ZOOM vs. ZMWith the democratization of investing through Robinhood and other free-to-trade apps, stock bubbles have increasingly happened without the help of stock promoters.In early March, shares of OTC company Zoom Technologies (OTCMKTS:ZOOM) underwent an extreme case of mistaken identity. Company shares, with the ticker ZOOM, rose 1,800% before the SEC froze trading. Investors were presumably trying to buy shares of video-conference company Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM). When the hapless OTC company resumed trading two weeks later under the new ticker ZTNO, prices fell back under $1.Other cases of mistaken identity have happened before. According to the New York Society of CPAs, mistaken identities in stock tickers cost investors $1 million annually. But as trades like ZOOM/ZM become more common, the impact will undoubtedly rise*.Source: Data courtesy of WSJ Markets Hertz Becomes the Center of AttentionConsidering this backdrop, it's hardly surprising that stock in Hertz became an attraction for return-hungry investors. The day after Hertz's bankruptcy, 11,000 new Robinhood investors bought shares. And just like investors in pump-and-dump schemes of decades before, traders got swept up as interest grew.In a self-reinforcing cycle, shares continued to rise as more investors piled in, causing even more significant gains. In the weeks following Hertz's bankruptcy, shares shot up 900%.Professional investors watched in horror. With a high debt load and multiple senior creditors, Hertz was unlikely to have any cash left for common shareholders. "We moved our Base Case to $0 after the equity issuance was cancelled," Morgan Stanley automotive analyst Adam Jonas wrote on June 22. "The company may exhaust available cash to run the business by the end of 2020, potentially leaving the equity with little or no residual claim."Eventually, the warnings of professional analysts proved right. As the flow of new investors dried up, Hertz's shares started to falter. By July, HTZ had sunk back to $1.45, wiping out $580 million of investor capital. Where Robinhood Day Traders Leave Regular InvestorsHow did the market get Hertz wrong? A lack of sellers was undoubtedly a key factor.Sudden spikes in share prices make short-selling risky, even for professional traders. No short-seller ever wants to find themselves in a "short squeeze," a situation where rising prices force traders to cover positions at a loss. With no investors willing to sell, markets begin to lose price discovery: the ability of markets to work out a stock's value. As day trading becomes cheaper and more prevalent, investors should expect higher volatility in big-name stocks.So what can investors do? Here are three essential tips. First, don't get caught up in the mania. It's tough to sit still, especially when you're watching others make money. But it's the right thing to do. Second, don't short-sell companies in the news; even famed short-seller Carson Block won't short Tesla because of its upside risk. "Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent," famed economist John Maynard Keynes once quipped. And finally, invest for the long term. The Hertz saga might have been the most recent speculation case to unnerve experienced investors, but it's certainly not going to be the last.*While it's impossible to know how much Robinhood investors lost in fees and slippage due to the trading platform's opaque disclosures on payment for order flow, we do know that the confusion generated $100 million of trading in ZOOM shares. Slippage rates in OTC stock companies can be as high as 5.5%, suggesting in losses approaching $5.5 million in the worst case. At 0.5% slippage, $500,000 would still have been lost.Tom Yeung, CFA, is a registered investment advisor on a mission to bring simplicity to the world of investing. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG * America's 1 Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner * Revolutionary Tech Behind 5G Rollout Is Being Pioneered By This 1 Company * Radical New Battery Could Dismantle Oil Markets The post What Hertz Stock Says About the Perils of Investing in the Robinhood Era appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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