Strong Earnings Beats Suggests a Trade on this Big Tech Winner

Earnings season is off to a strong start. Despite a few high-profile misses, most companies have beaten expectations. One company has had a series of better-than-expected numbers in the past year that’s about to report earnings once again. That company is Microsoft (MSFT). The tech giant has seen explosive growth in the past year thanks to a shift to remote work during the pandemic, and analysts are expecting revenue up 17 percent this quarter. Shares are at all-time highs, but are only ...
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The King of Streaming Is Down, But Not Out

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) took a dive in after-hours trading on Tuesday as the company reported earnings. While earnings were fine, subscriber growth slowed to 208 million. That’s up 14 percent from a year before, but it’s also a sign that the boost at the start of the pandemic is starting to wear off. Despite the selloff, shares of Netflix were a top media play in the past year, edging out other companies that have also gotten into the streaming space. The ...
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Reopening or Not, this Brand Leader Can Head Higher

Media companies have moved to embrace streaming services in the past few years. That move has proven astute, given the pandemic. Now, a handful of companies with other operations are likely to benefit from reopening. Those companies include the cohort of media plays that also offer theme parks, cruise lines or the like. The poster child for this reopening exposure is The Walt Disney Company (DIS). Unsurprisingly, shares are starting to get upgraded as it appears that the pandemic restrictions are starting ...
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This Big Tech Laggard Prepares for a Jump Higher

The past few years has seen the rise of a handful of companies reach a market cap of $1 trillion. A few are now closing in on $2 trillion thanks to continued growth. One player near the $1 trillion mark has been an underperformer in this mega-market-cap space over the past year. But now signs are on track for it to close in on a $3 trillion valuation in the next three years. That company? Amazon (AMZN). The company just received a ...
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The Best Defense is a Solid Offense, Like a Dividend Growth Play

Earnings season is coming in strong so far, as companies are comparing to the start of the pandemic last year. A reopening economy is also helping. But with stocks already back to all-time highs, investors are starting to worry about possible inflation. That suggests a need to focus on companies that can pass on higher costs to consumers. One such play just reported better-than-expected results. That company? Pepsico (PEP). Besides beating earnings, the company noted that it may not engage in any ...
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Bank Earnings Justify Higher Prices for Mega-Firms

A number of big banks reported earnings earlier in the week. All of them beat expectations, although all of the big banks gave Wall Street traders a few cautious items to think about as well. A recovering economy largely helped to reduce reserves, and earnings and revenue were up overall. Of the big banks, Wells Fargo (WFC) looks the most interesting here. The company posted earnings of $1.05 per share, well above estimates of $0.71 per share. The stock has already been ...
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Reopening Delays Bode Well for this On-Sale Sector

A rise in Covid shutdowns internationally, combined with concerns over vaccine safety, may point to a prolonging of a full economic reopening. In any event, the past few weeks have caused a pullback in a number of recently high-flying names. One of those areas is energy. While the sector is still up strongly for the year, the sector as a whole peaked in mid-March and has come back down. It’s starting to look like a solid entry point for long-term investors. For ...
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Over-the-Top Performance Shows the Value of this Tech Giant Play

Nvidia (NVDA) has done it again. The graphics processing giant just took the thunder from a number of competitors by releasing the specs on its first line of data-center chips. That will open up an entirely new market for the company, and one with massive potential in a world driven by a need to quickly process big data. The company also noted that it would likely exceed its revenue forecast, as the firm has been a beneficiary from the recent semiconductor ...
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