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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Santa Clara, California-based Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is expected to report second-quarter earnings on July 28 after the close of market. Year-to-date, AMD stock is up nearly 34% — which technically means it is in a bull market. By comparison, the widely followed iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) is up about 14%.Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com Although chip stock like AMD were among those shares that sold off rapidly in the novel coronavirus triggered selloff during February and March, most chip stocks have had a remarkable comeback since hitting 52-week lows in late March. In fact, on March 18, AMD shares hit a 2020-low of $36.75. Now, they are around $61. Put another way, they are up an eye-popping 58%. If you were enough to invest $1,000 in the company then, you'd now have about $1,600.Today, I'd like to take a closer look at the outlook for the company for the rest of the year. We're in the midst of a busy earnings season. Many semiconductor stocks will report earnings in the coming weeks. Weaknesses in their fundamental metrics or even a potential warning by one of the large-caps for future quarters could affect the overall industry. However, in the long-run, I remain bullish on the future of the semiconductor industry and AMD shares.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsTherefore, investors should regard any dip in price as an opportunity to buy AMD stock. And here's why. Semiconductor Industry Is ImportantSemiconductors are the brains inside electronic devices. Chips are used in a wide range of products in computing, telecommunications, gaming, transportation, military systems and healthcare. They are typically behind technology innovation, and as a result, shares of semiconductor companies usually act as a bellwether for the technology sector as a whole. * 10 Cybersecurity Stocks We Need Now More Than Ever In turn, InvestorPlace readers are likely to be familiar with how the semiconductor industry is cyclical. During periods of high demand, upturns occur. There may also be supply shortages, which lead to higher prices and revenue growth. Thus, profits of chip companies may ebb and flow dramatically. It's never easy to know whether the downside of a given cycle might take longer than previously expected.At present, the current health and economic environments in the U.S. and globally present an array of uncertainty. For most semiconductor companies, China is both a consumer and a supplier. China consumes more than 50% of all semiconductors made worldwide. Furthermore, many U.S. technology companies either have manufacturing plants in China or use Chinese companies in their supply chains. Therefore, outlook form both the U.S. and China will be important in the rest of the year.Yet, in the coming years, new frontiers in technology — such as the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, and 5G — will likely turbocharge many semiconductor shares, including AMD stock.That said, the company's two main competitors are Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). Therefore, potential shareholders may also want to pay attention to these two stocks. What to Expect from Q2 EarningsAdvanced Micro Devices was founded in 1969 as a Silicon Valley startup focusing on leading-edge semiconductor products. Today, it has grown into a global chip company with a focus on developing high-performance computing and visualization products. It is also number 460 on the Fortune 500 company list.In late April, the company released Q1 results. It had revenue of $1.79 billion, operating income of $177 million and net income of $162 million. Moreover, diluted earnings per share came at 14 cents compared to diluted earnings per share of 1 cent year-over-year and 15 cents in the prior quarter. Finally, gross margin was 46% — up 5 percentage points YOY and 1 percentage point quarter-over-quarter, primarily driven by Ryzen and EPYC processor sales.The company reports in two segments: * Computing and Graphics (revenue was $1.44 billion, up 73% YOY and down 13% quarter-over-quarter); * Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom (revenue was $348 million, down 21% YOY and 25% sequentially).In total, Q1 revenue was 40% YOY primarily driven by higher Computing and Graphics segment revenue. Yet, revenue was down 16% quarter-over-quarter due to lower revenue in both segments.That said, CEO Dr. Lisa Su had this to say about the company's performance:"We executed well in the first quarter, navigating the challenging environment to deliver 40 percent year-over-year revenue growth and significant gross margin expansion driven by our Ryzen and EPYC processors. While we expect some uncertainty in the near term demand environment, our financial foundation is solid and our strong product portfolio positions us well across a diverse set of resilient end markets…. Our strategy and long-term growth plans are unchanged."So when Advanced Micro Devices reports next week, the Street would like to see strong revenue numbers. It'd also like to get a better feel for the outlook in the rest of the year. The Bottom Line on AMD StockWe are entering a busy earnings season. As a result, and given the recent stellar increase in the prices of many semiconductor stocks, there may likely be short-term volatility and profit-taking in the sector.However, long-term investors can regard any dip in AMD stock, especially toward the $50-level, as a good opportunity to buy into the shares. Its 52-week price range has been $27.43-$59.27.During the bull run of the past decade, semiconductor stocks have been essential drivers of the broader technology sector's upside. I believe a similar story will likely unfold in this decade, too.And in 2-3 years, I expect AMD stock to reach $100.Tezcan Gecgil has worked in investment management for over two decades in the U.S. and U.K. In addition to formal higher education in the field, she has also completed all 3 levels of the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) examination. Her passion is for options trading based on technical analysis of fundamentally strong companies. She especially enjoys setting up weekly covered calls for income generation. As of this writing, Tezcan Gecgil 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 Why Advanced Micro Devices Stock Belongs in Long-Term Portfolios appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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Heritage Capital President and CIO Paul Schatz joins Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita to break down the latest market action as tensions between the U.S. and China grow.

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(Bloomberg Opinion) — Oil’s recovery is being hit from both sides. Benchmark Brent crude prices have risen by 128% from their April low, remaining above $40 a barrel since the middle of June. But rising supply and faltering demand bode ill for those who want oil prices to keep climbing.The OPEC+ group of oil producers, who have implemented unprecedented output cuts since May, will soon begin to relax their restraint, adding more crude to a market that is also seeing the first signs of recovery in North American production.The group of 23 oil producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, confirmed they would reduce the size of their output cuts to 7.7 million barrels a day from the start of August, which would add almost 2 million barrels to daily production levels. Some of that increase should be offset by deeper reductions from members who failed to cut what they promised in May and June, as long as they deliver on their promises this time.Most of this extra OPEC+ crude won’t reach the global market, according to Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. Instead, it will be used to meet a seasonal spike in domestic demand for electricity to run air conditioners, as fewer citizens travel to Europe to avoid the scorching temperatures across the Arabian Peninsula.But that’s not the only source of rising crude supply. North American production is also starting to recover from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last week’s data from the Energy Information Administration showed the first week-on-week increase in U.S. crude production since March (after correcting for the impact of Tropical Storm Cristobal, which tore through the Gulf of Mexico in June and briefly took out more then half a million barrels a day of production). Shale fracking crews have been getting back to work too, bringing new wells into production while reactivating bores that were idled during the pandemic. The number of wells fracked in July is expected to show its first monthly gain this year, according to industry consultants Rystad Energy.Canadian oil sands companies are also slowly ramping up output as local refinery demand recovers, although they lag far behind their southern neighbors. But it’s not just rising supply that will put pressure on crude prices. The hoped-for recovery in oil demand is running into trouble as well.After a record purchasing spree in April, when crude prices were at rock bottom, China’s oil buying has eased off. The amount of oil held in storage tanks in Shandong province, home to the country’s independent refiners, has risen by 28% since mid-May and is close to hitting a five-month high. And there is still a huge backlog of vessels waiting off the coast to discharge their cargoes. Some have been there for two months.Meanwhile, processing rates at China’s independent refineries started to ease from record levels in mid-June. And massive floods across the country may reduce its demand for gasoline and oil by as much as 5%, according to consultants Facts Global Energy, although the disruption should be short-lived.In the U.S., the crucial summer driving season is shaping up to be a miserable one as far as fuel consumption is concerned. The recovery in gasoline demand stalled shortly after the Memorial Day holiday. Now vacation states, like Florida and California, are seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases, with record numbers of daily infections and rising death tolls. That’s limiting travel and hitting demand for both gasoline and jet fuel.Data from TomTom Traffic Index show that street congestion in cities like Miami, Los Angeles and Houston is still less than 40% of pre-pandemic levels — good news for drivers, bad news for gas stations. Only in northern cities, like New York and Chicago, are traffic levels picking up again.In European cities, congestion has plateaued, or even fallen again after climbing when lockdowns were eased. Some of that may reflect people leaving the cities to take holidays, as congestion has remained higher in coastal cities like Nice in the south of France.In Asia, which is generally seen as recovering much more strongly than other parts of the world, the rise in traffic congestion is patchy, to say the least. Second-tier cities, like Shenzhen in the chart below, are seeing busy streets. But in Beijing, Singapore, Mumbai and Manila, traffic delays are still only around 40% of pre-pandemic levels, suggesting there are far fewer vehicles on the roads.The recovery in air travel has also come to a halt. The number of commercial flights has plateaued at little more than 50% of levels seen at the start of the year, according to figures from Flightradar24.All of these figures paint a picture of crude being squeezed between rising supply and a stagnating demand recovery. That’s going to make the oil bulls uncomfortable, since the next major move in prices looks more likely to be down than up.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg. Previously he worked as a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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As I discussed earlier this month, it's hard to tell what's next for Nio (NYSE:NIO) and Nio stock. On the bull side, things may be just getting warmed up. After beating Wall Street's quarterly delivery forecast, it's clear this Chinese electric vehicle (EV) name could become a formidable player in its home market. Even as rivals like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) have gained massive market share in China.Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com On the bear side, you can argue it's momentum, FOMO, and other non-fundamental factors driving Nio shares right now. With Tesla's recent success, investors have piled into any stock associated with EVs. Not only this stock, but names like Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) and Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) as well.But, all have pulled back from their recent highs. If the "Tesla factor" diminishes, and investors take profit, shares in the non-Tesla EV names could take a breather in the near term. In other words, going short is starting to look tempting.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsEven so, betting against the major EV names remains a high-risk move. Even as each of them trades at a more-than-frothy valuation.Why? If and when ebullience for Tesla does a 180, expect big declines across the board for electric vehicle stocks. But, in the meantime, the "EV story" (that electric vehicle makers are fast making legacy car makers irrelevant) still holds. In other words, this "too hot to touch" EV stock could not only bounce back to recent highs, but head even higher. Cracks in the Bull Case for Nio StockWith EV stocks surging earlier this month, you'd think that the Chinese EV market is red hot right now. But, based on a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, this isn't exactly the case. According to WSJ, "new-energy vehicle" (which includes hybrids) sales fell 33% in June. * 10 Cybersecurity Stocks We Need Now More Than EverGranted, the premium market (where Tesla and Nio operate) saw gains. But, with not just Tesla, but legacy car makers like BMW (OTCMKTS:BMWYY) entering the scene, the company has its work cut out for them.In short, unless Chinese EV demand rapidly catches up, it's hard to say whether Nio stock can grow to their valuation. And, if results in the coming quarters fall short of expectations, shares of the company could fast fall back to the single-digits.With this in mind, there's good reason why most analyst price targets remain far below where shares trade today. Yet, while there's potential for shares to fall back from today's prices to prior price levels (under $5 per share), the short case for Nio stock is no slam-dunk. Despite Rich Multiple, Shares May Be Reasonably PricedWith the company still largely in the development stage, it's a tough stock to value. Traditional valuation metrics, like price-to-sales and price-earnings may not be relevant. It's tomorrow's potential, not today's results, that people are buying when they enter a position in Nio stock.So, what could Nio be worth down the road? Recently, InvestorPlace Markets Analyst Luke Lango ran the numbers. Based on his calculations, Lango estimates the company could be generating $1.50 per share in earnings by 2030. Assigning shares a market-average multiple, and discounting back to 2020, he estimates shares to be worth around $12.25 per share at present.In short, the stock today isn't overvalued, or undervalued, but accurately priced given its upside potential. So, what's the trade then?Depends on how you look at it. If you are bullish on Nio stock, waiting for shares to pull back, then buying (Lango's recommendation) may be the way to go.If you're bearish, you could make quick profits entering a short position at today's prices. As Robinhood traders and other speculators take profit, shares could fall back to $5 per share as the "EV bubble" takes a breather.Yet, there's no guarantee going short today will pay off. As seen over the last few months it's the story, not valuation or fundamentals, driving Nio stock. And the next page has yet to be written. Bottom Line for Nio StockIt's safe to say EV stocks are in the midst of a bubble. And, while some shrewd traders may be able to make quick gains shorting at today's valuation, covering at lower prices as EV exuberance cools, this name in particular isn't the strongest short opportunity.Granted, you can make a pretty strong bear case for Nio shares. As this commentator wrote back in May, the company's partnership with a Chinese municipality may mean the stock's underlying value is could be as little as $1.30 per share.But, given the recent strong results coming out of Tesla, the EV bubble could continue. So, what's the verdict? Nio stock could head lower short term, but it's still too risky to go short.Thomas Niel, contributor to InvestorPlace, has written single-stock analysis since 2016. As of this writing, Thomas Niel 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 Nio Could Head Lower, But Be Careful Going Short appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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