Since bottoming out in early April, shares of online talent search company Upwork (UPWK) have been on a relentless forward charge. Over the past 3 months, the stock has added a hefty 90% of muscle.Come to think of it, Upwork’s platform is one particularly suited to these uncertain times. With jobs getting slashed in every sector, Upwork’s gig economy model should be a defensive play in a cloudy macro climate.However, for BTIG analyst Marvin Fong, Upwork’s potential is "underappreciated.” Fong argues a “large TAM (total addressable market) and secular tailwinds will enable Upwork to grow revenue in excess of 15% over the next 5 years.”A recent 2020 Future Workforce Report (sponsored by Upwork) provides some clarity on the current state of the freelance industry. Among roughly 500 HR managers, 73% have indicated, that due to COVID-19 they will keep on, or intend to, hire freelancers. While the figure would imply that more than 25% of managers are cutting back on the hiring of independent talent, it stands up well against other trends. During the pandemic, 45% of those polled said they have frozen the hiring of new full-time personnel, while 39% have conducted layoffs. Furthermore, as a direct result of the pandemic, 47% said they plan on ramping up the use of freelancers.According to Fong, Upwork’s position as the world's largest freelancing matching platform, makes it ideally suited to benefit from the current paradigm.Fong said, “All in, despite recent price appreciation, we believe UPWK shares remain attractively valued trading at 6.1x our FY21 gross profit estimate. With the sector overall seeing strong performance, our updated regression analysis suggests the average e-commerce stock growing 15% (our 5-year projection for UPWK ) should trade at 6.8x gross profit. We would argue that UPWK is more attractively positioned than most companies given its leading market share and minuscule penetration rate relative to a TAM we estimate at $322B.”Accordingly, the BTIG analyst rates Upwork shares a Buy, along with a $16 price target. The implication for investors? Potential upside of 6%. (To watch Fong’s track record, click here)Looking at the consensus breakdown, Upwork’s 3 Buys and 1 Hold coalesce to a Strong Buy consensus rating. However, with an average price target of $13.25, the analysts anticipate shares dropping by 8% over the coming months. (See Upwork 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. More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Tesla China Sales Of Model 3 Vehicles Up 35% In June * Walgreens Plans To Expand 700 Stores Into Primary Care Clinics * Needham: These 3 Penny Stocks Are Poised to Double (Or More) * Moderna Completes Enrollment For Phase 2 Covid-19 Vaccine Study

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The latest analyst coverage could presage a bad day for The Valens Company Inc. (TSE:VLNS), with the analysts making…

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Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) by estimating…

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Fisker Inc. is planning to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, Reuters reported Thursday.What Happened Apollo Global Management Inc (NYSE: APO)-backed blank-check company Spartan Energy Acquisition (NYSE: SPAQ) is leading a bidding war to make a deal with the electric vehicles manufacturer that could fetch about $2 billion, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.Another electric vehicles company, Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ: NKLA), similarly went public last month through a merger with VectorIQ Acquisition. The company's shares are up more than 60% till-date since the listing.The electric vehicle and autonomous driving companies have seen increased interest from investors following the incredible surge in Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock.Fisker was founded by automotive designer Henrik Fisker in 2016, rebranded from his previous company Fisker Automotive. The company is best known for its electric luxury sports car "Fisker Karma."Price Action Spartan shares closed 38.7% higher at $14.99 in the regular session on Thursday. The shares were up another 13.7% in the after-hours session at $17.05.Image: Fisker IncSee more from Benzinga * Amazon Agrees To Pay Treasury Department To Settle Allegations Of US Sanctions Violations * Sony Acquires Minority Stake In Fortnite Maker Epic Games With 0M Investment * Elon Musk Says Tesla Autopilot Will Achieve 'Level 5' This Year(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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GeoVax Chairman & CEO David Dodd joins the On the Move panel to discuss the latest in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine.

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(Bloomberg) — Kelcy Warren, the billionaire pipeline mogul, has said he’s proud of the Dakota Access oil project like it were his son.So when a judge delivered a surprise ruling this week ordering the pipeline to shut until further environmental reviews are conducted, Warren flashed the pugnacious, bare-knuckled approach that has made him — and the project — a source of seemingly never-ending controversy in America.His company, Energy Transfer LP, announced Wednesday it will press on with operating the pipeline, despite the order to stop the oil from flowing by an Aug. 5 deadline. The company said it would continue to accept oil from producers in the Bakken shale field looking to ship oil on the pipeline next month while it appealed the ruling.It was, to Warren’s enemies in the indigenous community and conservation circles, an incendiary statement that would only add to the bitterness remaining four years after the project stoked weeks of protests at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.To his supporters, it was classic Warren: The 64-year-old CEO, a fund-raiser for President Donald Trump, has adopted a relentlessly aggressive approach to building pipelines that get the nation’s enormous oil and natural gas reserves to market. While that helped him create a corporate giant, and a $3.1 billion fortune, the pipeline industry is increasingly in the cross-hairs of an environmental movement seeking to keep fossil fuels in the ground.“Energy Transfer has taken the view that if you want to get anything built or done in this current regulatory environment, you have to be aggressive,” said Hinds Howard, a portfolio manager at CBRE Clarion Securities LLC. “It’s a strategy and a corporate culture that’s maybe out-of-step with the times.”The decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was one of three major blows to the U.S. pipeline industry in the space of 24 hours. On Sunday, developers of the Atlantic Coast gas pipeline canceled the project due to escalating costs and delays. The next day, the Supreme Court stood by a lower court’s decision blocking a key permit for TC Energy’s Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline.But the ruling on the 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) Dakota Access, which shuttles crude from North Dakota to Illinois, was perhaps the most shocking development of all because it ordered an operational pipeline to shut, something that’s never been done before for a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Dallas-based Energy Transfer said it believes Judge James E. Boasberg “exceeded his authority and does not have the jurisdiction to shut down the pipeline or stop the flow of crude oil.” The company has asked the district court to freeze its order, pressing Boasberg to stay his “literally unprecedented” decision until an appeals court can weigh in. (Energy Transfer clarified later on Wednesday that it has no intention of flouting the judge’s order and instead is taking the dispute to court.)The company took aim at both the impacts of the judge’s shutdown order and his underlying conclusion that federal approval for Dakota Access violated environmental law. Energy Transfer also argues that legal precedent suggests Boasberg’s shutdown order went a step too far.Energy policy analysts are divided on the prospects for a quick resolution in court. Height Securities LLC said the case in front of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals “appears weighted in favor of” Energy Transfer, since cases used to justify the decision didn’t involve active, operating pipelines.Rapidan Energy Group is less sure. The appeals court has repeatedly blocked Trump administration efforts to expedite energy environmental analyses, and Boasberg relied heavily on its past D.C. Circuit rulings in concluding that the Army Corps’ environmental review was insufficient. Both factors make it less likely the appeals court will issue a temporary stay of the shutdown order, the policy group advised clients.“I like their chances on appeal better than on the stays,” said Brandon Barnes, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. But the prospect of a successful appeal remains “up in the air,” he said.When it comes to Dakota Access, Energy Transfer has a wild card to play: Its cheerleader in the White House. Trump, who owned Energy Transfer Partners stock before winning the general election, has sought to boost Dakota Access and other pipelines since his first week in office. On his fourth full day as president, Trump signed a pair of executive orders to support the sector, including a directive mandating federal regulators reconsider their earlier decision to conduct deep environmental scrutiny of Dakota Access.Warren last month hosted Trump’s first in-person fundraiser since the coronavirus outbreak locked down much of the country in March. Former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry sits on the board of directors of the so-called general partner that controls Energy Transfer, an arrangement that Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has said represents “the kind of unethical, revolving-door corruption that has made Americans cynical and distrustful of the federal government.”Still, it’s unclear whether there’s much Trump can do to save Dakota Access from the coming legal battle. “The Trump administration’s tools are somewhat limited” outside of the courts, Height Securities LLC analyst Josh Price said.Energy Transfer has embarked on bold legal strategies in the past. The company took the unusual step of suing the Obama administration when it slow-walked a final permit for Dakota Access, and has pushed states to criminalize protests near pipelines, chemical plants and other infrastructure.In 2017, Energy Transfer filed an aggressive lawsuit against protesters, accusing Greenpeace and other groups of operating a criminal network aimed at destroying legitimate businesses. A federal court later tossed the claims. When asked on a conference call last year whether that marked the end of the company’s Dakota Access legal fights, Warren replied it wasn’t.“At times, they’ve had an aggressive approach to pipeline opponents, as well as adverse decisions from court and government,” said James W. Coleman, a professor at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. “They would say they got results. They got Dakota Access built.”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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Surging tech stocks are hiding the opportunity in some beaten-down names, says Fundstrat's Tom Lee.

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(Bloomberg) — European diplomats have moved to seize back the initiative on one of their continent’s most intractable fronts after U.S. efforts under President Donald Trump for a diplomatic victory unraveled last month.It’s the latest salvo between the U.S. and the European Union in the Balkans, where officials have accused the Trump administration of freezing them out of talks between Serbia and Kosovo that were to culminate in a White House meeting between the leaders.That June 27 summit fell apart after the president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, was accused of war crimes just days before. Now, Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will join the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo in a video conference Friday, with an EU summit planned two days later in a bid to resuscitate the stalled efforts.The EU needs to wrest control over the Balkan diplomacy and can’t afford to surrender a key matter of European interests to the U.S. as Serbia and Kosovo both seek a path to join the 27-member bloc, according to four officials familiar with the discussions. U.S. special envoy Richard Grenell says he supports the EU initiative.For the last decade, the Greek debt crisis, Brexit and now Covid-19 have fueled resistance among some of the bloc’s more established members toward letting both its poorer ex-communist newcomers and those waiting for membership deeper into the fold.That’s given the U.S., Russia and China an opening to increase their influence in the region. But there are signs that reluctance may be easing.In March, EU governments unblocked the membership path for North Macedonia and Albania by overcoming a French roadblock after months of deliberations. And Croatia, another country that emerged from the wars that broke up the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, will peg its currency to the euro in the coming days along with fellow EU newcomer Bulgaria — a step they consider vital to joining the richer West.Serbia and Kosovo have made much less progress in their accession efforts, in large measure due to a standoff following a 1998-1999 war that led to the latter declaring independence in 2008. There’s no compromise in sight as both nations stick to their positions while grappling with political challenges at home. Kosovo, a country suffering from a leadership vacuum, demands international recognition. Serbia, whose all-powerful president is facing violent protests, refuses to let it go.The EU officials said no settlement between the two is possible without the U.S. and that American engagement is welcome. But they’ve been critical of the Trump administration, including Grenell, accusing the U.S. of going it alone and damaging years of diplomatic work with ad-hoc efforts aimed at scoring a quick win for Trump.The Balkan jostling is a flashpoint in transatlantic tensions and underscores the growing chasm between the EU and Trump on issues ranging from trade to defense spending. It comes at a time when leaders such as Merkel are insisting that Europe forge its own path as strong post-World War II ties to the U.S. weaken.Grenell, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Germany until last month, has rebuffed the accusation of quick-win diplomacy, saying that the U.S. is mainly focused on an economic settlement and would leave the political talks to the Europeans.Grenell oversaw an agreement in February under which Serbia and Kosovo pledged to develop road and rail links to boost economic cooperation before resolving their long-lasting enmity. A month before, they signed a letter of intent to restore direct flights between their capitals, Belgrade and Pristina.U.S. officials have also pointed to EU failures in foundering talks in recent years — and the fact that five EU members don’t recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty.“We have never believed in a quick election-year deal between Kosovo and Serbia,” Grenell said in a series of tweets early Wednesday embracing the EU initiative. “And we never thought our sole focus on economic normalization would be a quick fix.”Still, Europeans have taken a dim view of U.S. overtures, viewing the Trump administration as treading on territory previously occupied by Merkel, who’s championed EU expansion in the Balkans. Last month, Merkel’s office and the EU’s special envoy, Miroslav Lajcak, responded with a flurry of shuttle diplomacy.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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Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) reported a $1.71 billion quarterly loss and announced 4,000 jobs cuts due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic sending shares down 8%.The stock dropped to $39.01 at the close on Thursday after the drugstore chain operator announced that it will also suspend its share repurchase program and will need to take a non-cash impairment charge of $2 billion mainly as result of the COVID-19 impact on its Boots UK business. As part of a restructuring plan to cut costs, Walgreens said it will close 48 of its Boots opticians stores and lay off 4,000 employees, or 7% of its workforce.Net loss was $1.71 billion, or $1.95 per share, in the three months ended May 31, versus a profit of $1.03 billion, or $1.13 per share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts on average had expected adjusted earnings of $1.19 per share. Revenue rose 0.1% to $34.6 billion.“Prior to the pandemic our financial performance for fiscal 2020 was on track with our expectations. However, this unprecedented global crisis led to a loss in the quarter as stay-at-home orders affected all of our markets,” Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina said. “Shopping patterns are evolving more rapidly than ever as consumers further embrace digital options, spurring us to accelerate our ongoing investments in digital transformation and neighborhood health destinations.”Walgreens total digitally initiated sales rose 22.7% in the third quarter, compared with the same period last year. The drugstore chain recently formed a strategic partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) and Adobe to launch a marketing technology and customer data platform for personalized healthcare and shopping experiences.Earlier this week, Walgreens announced that it will be expanding the size of its care clinics by nearly 700 retail stores over the next few years as part of an overhaul of its business model from being primarily a drug pharmacy to a primary care clinic.With Walgreens’ stock down now 34% year-to-date, analysts are sidelined on the stock. The Hold analyst consensus shows an unanimous 4 Hold ratings. Looking ahead, the $47.75 average price target implies 22% upside potential from current levels. (See Walgreens stock analysis on TipRanks).Morgan Stanley analyst Ricky Goldwasser earlier this month cut the stock’s price target to $45 from $49 and reiterated a Hold rating, saying that investors are weighing whether, or not the challenges the company is exposed to are valued into the shares.Goldwasser remains cautious for now and lowered her full-year per share earnings forecast by 8 cents to $5.48. The analyst expects Walgreens to report EPS of $1.16 in the fourth quarter, which is slightly below consensus estimates.Related News: Costco June Sales Beat Estimates As Shoppers Go Online; Top Analyst Raises PT Lookout Walmart, Amazon Is Coming for Your Grocery Customers, Says Analyst Walmart To Launch Online Subscription Service For $98 Per Year- Report More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Moderna Inks Deal With Rovi To Supply Potential Covid-19 Vaccine Outside U.S. * Sony Invests $250M For Minority Stake In Fortnite Maker Epic Games * Amazon: Top Analyst Raises Estimates… Again * GenMark Diagnostics (GNMK) Stock Is a Winner, But How Much Higher Can It Go?

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