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  • Results: Akamai Technologies, Inc. Exceeded Expectations And The Consensus Has Updated Its Estimates

    Results: Akamai Technologies, Inc. Exceeded Expectations And The Consensus Has Updated Its EstimatesAkamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) defied analyst predictions to release its second-quarter results, which were…

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  • Resolute Reports Preliminary Second Quarter 2020 Results

    Resolute Reports Preliminary Second Quarter 2020 ResultsUS $ * Q2 GAAP net income of $6 million / $0.07 per diluted share * Adjusted EBITDA of $37 million * Reduced debt by $191 million; liquidity up $47 million to $396 million * Successful ntegration of recently-acquired U.

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  • DuPont takes $2.5 billion charge tied to auto business, posts wider loss

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  • Bill Gates: We should be able ‘to manufacture a lot of vaccines in 2021’

    Bill Gates: We should be able 'to manufacture a lot of vaccines in 2021'Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates joins ‘Influencers with Andy Serwer’ to discuss his efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

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  • Qualcomm Pops 12% In After-Hours On $1.8B Huawei License Deal

    Qualcomm Pops 12% In After-Hours On $1.8B Huawei License DealQualcomm Inc.’s (QCOM) shares spiked 12% in extended market trading after announcing a $1.8 billion settlement agreement with Huawei Technologies and providing its revenue outlook for the current quarter.The stock surged to $103.83 in Wednesday’s after-hours trading as the world’s largest mobile chipmaker said it entered into a settlement agreement, as well as a new long-term, global multi-year patent license agreement with Huawei.Under the terms of the agreement, which includes a license granting back rights to certain of Huawei’s patents, covering sales beginning Jan. 1, Qualcomm expects to generate an estimated $1.8 billion in revenues. The company is poised to record royalty revenue from Huawei starting in its fourth fiscal quarter.Looking ahead, Qualcomm provided guidance for fourth-quarter adjusted revenue to be in a range of $5.5 billion and $6.3 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $5.78 billion. EPS in the current quarter is forecast to be in a range of $1.05 to $1.25. The guidance includes an impact of greater than $0.25 reflecting the reduction in handset shipments as a result of COVID-19, including a partial impact from the delay of a 5G flagship phone launch, the company added.“As 5G continues to roll out, we are realizing the benefits of the investments we have made in building the most extensive licensing program in mobile and are turning the technical challenges of 5G into leadership opportunities and commercial wins,” said Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf. “We delivered earnings above the high end of our range, continued to execute in our product and licensing businesses and entered into a new long-term patent license agreement with Huawei, all of which position us well for the balance of 2020 and beyond.”Qualcomm said that during the third quarter of fiscal 2020, it returned $843 million to stockholders, including $733 million, or $0.65 per share, of cash dividends paid and $110 million through repurchases of 1.6 million shares of common stock.Shares in Qualcomm have recouped all of this year’s earlier losses and are now up almost 6% year-to-date.Following the news, five-star analyst Kevin Cassidy at Rosenblatt Securities raised the stock’s price target to $130 (40% upside potential) from $105 and recommended investors own QCOM as a “5G pure play”.“In our view, management's strategy is playing out very well despite the COVID-19 driven uncertainties,” Cassidy wrote in a note to investors. “Considering the 5G traction and the Huawei agreement, we consider [our] 18 multiple [valuation] as conservative.”The rest of the Street is cautiously optimistic on the shares. The Moderate Buy analyst consensus is based on 11 Buys, 1 Hold and 2 Sells. Despite the recent rally, the $107.31 average price target implies 15% upside potential. (See Qualcomm stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Logitech Ramps Up Annual Profit Outlook As Q1 Income Leaps 75% Synaptics Snaps Up DisplayLink For $305M In All-Cash Deal; Top Analyst Lifts PT IBM Pops 5% in Extended Trading After Quarterly Profit Beats Expectations More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Apple Is Said To Face Multi-State US Probe Into Older iPhones * Quest Gets FDA Nod For Faster Covid-19 Testing; Analyst Flips To Buy Call * ServiceNow Drops 4% in After-Hours Despite 2Q Earnings Beat * FireEye Pops 18% As JPMorgan Lifts PT

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  • New head-turner for mortgage rates: 15-year loans at under 2%

    New head-turner for mortgage rates: 15-year loans at under 2%A lender that's offering 30-year loans at 2.5% now has an ultra-low 15-year mortgage.

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  • ServiceNow Drops 4% in After-Hours Despite 2Q Earnings Beat

    ServiceNow Drops 4% in After-Hours Despite 2Q Earnings BeatShares of ServiceNow (NOW) fell almost 4% in extended trading on Wednesday despite beating 2Q earnings estimates. Its dismal 3Q revenue outlook weighed on its stock. The company projects subscription revenues between $1.055 billion and $1.06 billion, which lags analysts’ estimate of $1.09 billion.Nevertheless, its 2Q adjusted earnings of $1.27 per share beat analysts’ estimates of $1.01. Moreover, revenues grew 28% to $1.07 billion year-over-year and surpassed Street estimates of $1.05 billion. Rapid digital transformation due to the coronavirus outbreak cushioned its top and bottom-line.Ahead of its earnings, on July 27, Needham analyst Jack Andrews lifted the price target to $481 (7.9% upside potential) from $440 and reaffirmed a Buy rating. He said that ServiceNow stands "well-positioned" to capitalize on accelerating digital transformations across large enterprises. On the same day, JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens also raised the price target to $460 (3.2% upside potential) from $350 and maintained a Buy.Currently, the Street has a Strong Buy analyst consensus on the stock. The average price target of $443.18 implies shares are more than fully priced. (See NOW stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Shopify Soars 10% On Earnings Beat AMD Gains 10% In After-Hours on 2Q Earnings Beat, Upbeat Guidance Seagate Drops 8% In Extended Trading On Earnings Miss, Weak Outlook More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Apple Is Said To Face Multi-State US Probe Into Older iPhones * Quest Gets FDA Nod For Faster Covid-19 Testing; Analyst Flips To Buy Call * Qualcomm Pops 12% In After-Hours On $1.8B Huawei License Deal * FireEye Pops 18% As JPMorgan Lifts PT

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  • Amazon, Apple, Facebook & Google CEOs testify before Congress tomorrow

    Amazon, Apple, Facebook & Google CEOs testify before Congress tomorrow Former Chief Economist for the DOJ Antitrust Division, George Hay, joins Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita to discuss his outlook on the big tech hearing tomorrow before Congress.

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  • Shell avoids loss with strong trading, wipes $17 billion off assets

    Shell avoids loss with strong trading, wipes $17 billion off assetsRoyal Dutch Shell avoided its first quarterly loss in recent history, helped by a booming trading business, but announced nearly $17 billion in impairment charges reflecting a pessimistic outlook for oil and gas prices. Shell had warned last month it was set to slash the value of its oil and gas assets by up to $22 billion as the coronavirus crisis hollowed out energy demand. “Shell has delivered resilient cash flow in a remarkably challenging environment,” CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement on Thursday.

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  • Coles and Wesfarmers share prices reach for new highs. Should you invest?

    Ladder climbing to higher target

    The share prices of 2 prominent members of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) have topped, or come close to, fresh highs in today’s trading.

    Shares in Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) rose by 1.98% to reach an all-time high of $18.54 before falling back to $18.46 at the close. Meanwhile, Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) surged as high as $47.31, just shy of its high, before falling back to $47.12 at the close. It’s also worth noting that Wesfarmers is still a shareholder in Coles Group, holding approximately 4.9% of total shares in the company.

    Despite no announcement coming from either company to spark this morning’s upward price movement, both have been strong performers throughout 2020.

    So, can the Coles and Wesfarmers share prices continue to outperform moving forward, or is this likely the peak?

    Why both are pushing higher

    Coles has undoubtedly benefitted from the panic-buying of groceries facilitated by COVID-19 lockdowns. According to the company’s latest trading update in April, the supermarket juggernaut improved its overall third-quarter sales by 12.9% to $9.2 billion.

    This overall revenue figure included a 13% improvement in its supermarkets business, which had its 50th consecutive quarter of sales growth.

    While the market is waiting in anticipation for Coles to report its full-year earnings next month on 18 August, today’s record share price is an indication that the company will showcase further revenue improvements in Q4. General second-wave fears and further lockdowns for Victoria over the past month will likely translate to further over-consumption at the checkout, and these macro trends are pushing the Coles share price higher.

    Wesfarmers has similarly seen sales rocket from its brands Bunnings Warehouse, Kmart, Target, and Officeworks, as consumers have opted to make home improvements and update their working from home setups.

    In a June trading update, Wesfarmers revealed second-half FY20 sales growth of 19.2% for Bunnings, 27.8% for Officeworks, and 68.7% for Catch.com.au. This saw the group’s retail businesses deliver total online sales growth of 89% in the first half of the 2020 calendar year.

    Wesfarmers will report full-year earnings on 20 August, but its red-hot share price arguably suggests the market is confident of further improvements in revenues for Q4 FY20.

    Should you invest?

    The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is a much-loved metric for ascertaining the overall expensiveness of a particular share and one of the first things I look at when researching a company.

    Coles is currently situated on a P/E ratio of 20.77. This is neck and neck with competitor, Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), which currently trades on a P/E of 19.57. It is, however, much lower than Wesfarmers’ P/E of 24.44. On this basis alone, Coles may be less expensive than Wesfarmers and therefore a better current buy for investors.

    However, I really like the diversity of businesses that Wesfarmers holds, particularly Bunnings, Officeworks and Catch. I think Officeworks will perform particularly well in Q4 due to many of its items being tax-deductible, and plenty of companies recently informing their employees that they will be working from home for the remainder of 2020. Its Catch eCommerce platform has also been a key beneficiary of COVID-19, offering discounted goods in a similar vein to Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN). And Bunnings is a timeless household Aussie name that almost always performs.

    The Wesfarmers dividend yield of 3.25% also edges out Coles’ yield of 2.28%, so if I had to pick one of these 2 blue-chip companies, I’m going with Wesfarmers. I like its diversity of businesses and, after all, it is still a shareholder in Coles, so I get the best of both worlds!

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    Toby Thomas has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET, Wesfarmers Limited, and Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Kogan.com ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

    The post Coles and Wesfarmers share prices reach for new highs. Should you invest? appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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